That night, He Yan was soaked all over, so when he returned home, he fetched water and took another bath in the house, and changed into dry clothes before leaving. Xiao Jue's cloak was wet by her, so He Yan went to Shen Muxue to get some soap to clean it, and then tied a rope to the tree branch outside the door to hang it, intending to return it to him after it was dry.

It was a bit tiring, but the kindness of the coaches of Liangzhou Guard was not completely in vain. When he woke up the next day, He Yan felt relaxed all over, and was warm in the morning.

It is not nonsense to say that hot springs can cure diseases.

She quickly got up, washed, and started running. While she was eating, she saw the people from the vanguard battalion practicing infantry in the drill ground.

Lei Hou was standing at the front. The vanguard battalion and the ordinary recruits were already distinguished in their attire. The ordinary recruits only had two sets of uniforms, one red and one black. They were single-layered in spring and summer, and thin cotton was sewn into the lining in autumn and winter. The uniforms had no other decorations except the belt, and were not tailored to fit the body. The big ones would just roll up their sleeves, while those who were fatter like Hong Shan would tie their clothes tightly, as if they would tear at any moment.

The people in the vanguard camp wore dark blue riding uniforms, which were made of much finer fabric than theirs and looked very fitted. These people were one thousand outstanding men selected from the Liangzhou Guards. They were all tall and majestic, and standing here was intimidating.

Lei Hou was born tall and outstanding, and the riding suit looked like it was tailor-made for him. Yesterday, I heard from the coaches that he also performed very well in the vanguard camp, and probably for this reason, the coach let him stand at the front of the team, so he was majestic and particularly eye-catching.

He Yan was so lost in thought that Hong Shan suddenly walked up behind him. Seeing this, he patted his shoulder and asked, "Why, are you feeling uncomfortable?"

"No," He Yan said, "I just think the clothes of the Vanguard Battalion are much better looking than ours."

"Not just clothes?" Xiao Mai interrupted, "I heard they eat better than us, they get two more steamed buns and meat porridge every day."

"Okay, stop talking," Hongshan interrupted Xiaomai's endless chatter, "Can't you see that your brother Ahe is upset?"

He Yan: "I'm not jealous of him."

"That's right," Xiao Mai said, fearing that He Yan would be upset, "He was defeated by Brother He. What's so great about that?"

He Yan smiled and was about to speak when Lei Hou seemed to notice their gazes. He turned around and saw He Yan was stunned for a moment, but he quickly looked away and concentrated on training.

"This kid is quite arrogant?" Hong Shan exclaimed, "It's incredible."

He Yan said nothing and continued to stand there, watching Lei Hou train for a while, until Liang Ping urged them to hurry over, and then He Yan stopped.

As the coaches said, Lei Hou's footsteps were also very good, agile and flexible, and he really deserved to be a member of the vanguard camp. However, He Yan still remembered that she had fought with Lei Hou when they were fighting for the flag on Baiyue Mountain many days ago. At that time, the situation was urgent and she felt a little unnatural. She couldn't think about it carefully, and later she put it out of her mind. Seeing Lei Hou today brought back the memories of the fight that day.

But she still hadn't come up with a conclusion.

What's unnatural about it?

Liang Ping urged fiercely, He Yan stood up and went to the weapon rack to get a gun, thinking forget it, they were all in Liangzhou Guards anyway, if it really didn't work, he could just find a chance in a few days and fight Lei Hou again.

However, before He Yan could start fighting with Lei Hou, he received the news that Xiao Jue was leaving.

Liangzhou Wei received an urgent report that the people outside Zhangtai City, thousands of miles away from Liangzhou, had been frequently harassed by Wutuo people. When Wutuo people arrived, they robbed money and food and bullied men and women. Zhangtai County Magistrate was in great pain and had to ask Xiao Jue for help. He asked Xiao Jue to lead the troops to drive away these Wutuo people.

As early as the reign of the previous emperor, Wutuo State had been subservient to the Wei Dynasty and paid tribute every year. But since the current Majesty ascended the throne, the Wutuo people have been restless. After the chaos of the Nanman and Xiqiang was quelled, the Wutuo people also stayed quiet for a while. But for some reason, they have become even more aggressive recently and dared to directly harass the people at the border.

Your Majesty is kindhearted and turned a blind eye to the actions of the Wutuo people. In addition, there are peace advocates in the court, such as Xu Xiang, and other generals did not dare to take on this hot potato. Probably for this reason, the county magistrate of Zhangtai asked for help from Xiao Jue of Liangzhou.

"Commander, when are we leaving?" The coaches were all standing in Xiao Jue's room. He Yan sat where Cheng Lisu usually wrote. The middle door was not closed, and they did not avoid talking to He Yan about this matter. But there was nothing to hide about this matter. It would take a month to go from Zhangzhou to Taizhou, and Xiao Jue's absence would definitely be noticed.

"tomorrow."

"So early?" Liang Ping was surprised, "But the army hasn't had time to tell the vanguard battalion..."

"No need," Xiao Jue said, "I don't plan to take them with me."

The coaches looked at each other in bewilderment. He Yan was not surprised. Although the new recruits of Liangzhou Guards had been trained for more than half a year, they had never been on the battlefield. It was not a good idea to rush to Zhangtai and then fight with the Wutuo people in Zhangtai. It would consume too much energy. Besides, the Wutuo people were cunning and fierce. The new recruits might not be their opponents. After thinking about it, Xiao Jue's Nanfu soldiers were the most suitable.

Xiao Jue brought new soldiers to Liangzhou, and the soldiers of the Southern Palace should be stationed elsewhere. With the military power in his hands, he can lead the troops there legitimately. If he gets good news, His Majesty will be happy and reward him something, and she can also become an immortal.

Thinking of this, he nodded secretly, thinking that Xiao Jue's decision was indeed a good one.

He also explained to the coaches what they needed to pay attention to in the next few days. By late at night, all the talents had left. Xiao Jue stood up from the table, walked to the middle door, and stretched out his hand to lock the door, but was suddenly blocked from behind, and He Yan's head stuck out from behind the door.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

He Yan didn't let him close the door, and tilted her head to look at him, "Commander-in-chief, you're leaving tomorrow?"

Xiao Jue ignored her and closed the door. He Yan was half stuck in the door, and he couldn't close it, so he just let it go and walked into the house. He Yan easily walked through the door and entered his room. He followed him and said attentively: "Commander-in-chief, have you ever thought about taking me with you when you go to Zhangtai?"

"You?" Xiao Jue sneered, "Why bring you along? Do you think there aren't enough people holding you back?"

In this person's eyes, perhaps everyone except him is a drag.

"That's underestimating me. I can help you deal with the Utos."

"Forget it." He looked her up and down, raised his eyebrows and said, "A guard can hurt you, and you are still talking about asking for help, Miss He, you are dreaming."

"That was a special case last time, and Ding Yi is not an ordinary person." He Yan explained, but she knew that Xiao Jue was right. Her injuries had not healed yet, and she was very careful during training these days, fearing that she would pull the wound and leave sequelae. If she went to Zhangtai with him, she might cause trouble on the battlefield. And she couldn't use her expertise in arranging troops - a team only needed one commander.

"Okay." He Yan said with some regret, and suddenly remembered something, looking at Xiao Jue: "Commander-in-chief, it will take a month to go from here to Zhangtai, and after the fight with the Wutuo people, I'm afraid it will be deep winter when you come back. My wounds have almost healed, so what should I do these days? Even if it is three times the daily training, you are not here, I did it, you won't object, right?"

"Or?" She stared at Xiao Jue suspiciously, "Are you actually planning to use the Zhangtai battle to escape from the Golden Cicada shell? Are you not planning to return to Liangzhouwei? Are you going to leave me here alone?"

Xiao Jue stopped putting away the books on the table, turned around, and startled He Yan who was looking up at him.

His eyes fell on He Yan's face, and he lowered his head and said, "First, I'm not as boring as you. Second, you're not my fiancée, so there's no need to say anything about leaving you here alone. Third, isn't my absence just what you want?"

"What do you mean by appreciating my feelings?" He Yan said, "Please don't wrongly accuse me."

He stared at He Yan with a half-smile, his dark eyes were deep, and he only asked: "Oh? Then why do you ask so many questions? When will I come back? Will I come back? It's very important."

"Of course it's important!" He Yan blurted out, "I will miss you!"

How could she not think about it? The more outstanding she was in front of Xiao Jue, the more favor and trust she gained from him, the faster and more openly she could approach He Rufei as a slightly equal. How could she not think about such a living Bodhisattva, Jin Baobei?

As if he was surprised by her words, Xiao Jue turned his head away and sneered, "You really can say anything."

"Don't lie all the time. Apart from my identity, I have never lied to the governor. What I said just now was sincere. Wouldn't the governor miss me if we parted ways for the time being?"

Xiao Jue: “Not really.”

He Yan: "...After all, we've been through life and death together, you don't have to be so heartless."

Xiao Jue asked, "Are you done? If you are, please go back to your room. I'm going to lock the door." He grabbed He Yan's shoulders and pushed He Yan towards the middle door.

"Captain, sometimes I wonder if our roles are reversed. You are so defensive against me, as if you are the woman and I will tarnish your innocence."

"You talk too much nonsense."

He Yan's legs were stuffed into her room by him. Knowing that this man really didn't want her to stay in the room, she took advantage of the fact that her upper body was still able to move and quickly took out a handful of small items from her arms and stuffed them into Xiao Jue's hands.

With a "bang", the door was closed.

He Yan said to the other side through the door: "Although you are so ruthless, I still value friendship. I don't have much to do for you on this trip to Zhangtai, so I'm giving you these. Eat them slowly on the way. I'll be waiting for your good news at the guardhouse."

Having said that, he did not wait for a reply from the other end. He got on the bed, blew out the light, and went to bed.

On the other side of the door, Xiao Jue looked down at his palm.

It was a handful of persimmon frost soft candy, wrapped in only a thin layer of cake paper. It tasted sweet just by looking at it.

Song Taotao was just like Cheng Lisu. Since arriving in Liangzhouwei, she had sent small gifts every now and then. She loved sweets, so she asked Chiwu to buy a lot in the city and gave a lot to He Yan.

He Yan thought that when Xiao Jue was young, he carried the sachet of sweet-scented osmanthus candy with him. It was true that he loved sweets. He refused to take the candied haws I bought for him last time, probably because they were bought at a street vendor in the city. The second young master Xiao refused to eat such street snacks. But this handful of persimmon frost soft candy was made by the chef of a decent restaurant at which Song Taotao asked Chi Wu to make it. This should be acceptable to Xiao Jue.

You can't be so picky that you won't eat even this.

I hope he can understand the principle of giving good things in return!

…

He Yan woke up the next day and went to the martial arts arena for daily training. It was almost noon and when he was having lunch, Cheng Lisu came running over.

In order to avoid seeing Song Taotao, he moved to the shophouse where He Yan used to live. Everyone thought he couldn't hold on for long, but he actually held on until now. However, compared to the house he lived in before, it was much simpler, and it was difficult for him to maintain his handsome appearance. His face looked thinner, and he even forgot to match his hairband with the same color as his clothes.

He ran to He Yan, panting. He Yan was drinking wild vegetable soup and was almost knocked down by Cheng Lisu. He Yan asked, "What's the matter that makes you run so fast?"

"My uncle," Cheng Lisu said, "Brother, my uncle is gone!"

"I know."

"You knew?" Cheng Lisu was stunned, then he said angrily: "Why didn't you tell me? If Coach Shen hadn't told me today, I wouldn't have realized that he had left!"

"Has he left?" He Yan was also a little surprised. She hadn't noticed Xiao Jue when she woke up in the morning, and thought that Xiao Jue would leave later, but she didn't expect him to leave so early. Maybe he didn't want to alarm others.

"Why didn't he take Song Taotao with him when he left?" Cheng Lisu began to complain, "Who are you trying to trouble by staying in Liangzhouwei?"

He Yan was speechless. Logically speaking, Song Taotao was such a cute and lovely girl that young men would be eager to please her, but Cheng Lisu avoided her like a snake. What kind of vision did this kid have?

She asked: "What did Song Taotao do to you? I think he is sensible and well-behaved."

"Brother, please forgive me." Cheng Lisu said with a bitter face: "When I first knew about this marriage, I wanted to take a sneak peek, but I ran into her. I don't know how she guessed my identity, but she scolded me at the door."

"What are you scolding?"

"What else could it be? A useless young man who is neither good at literature nor martial arts has no future. That's all. Everyone in Shuojing knows that I am incompetent. If that's all, I wouldn't be so angry. But later she said that it's okay to marry me, but I must study hard in the mansion, pass the imperial examinations, and enter the official career in the future and strive to be the best. If it's really difficult to learn, I can also take the path of martial arts. In the end, I have to be a diligent and hardworking person."

"How can there be such a vicious woman in the world?" Cheng Lisu said this with resentment: "My beloved girl must be like me, not arguing about trivial matters, being free and unrestrained, drinking together, and having fun together, so that we can have similar interests. If I really stay with her, what's the difference between the rest of my life and being in prison? So, big brother, don't say good things about her anymore. I am really afraid and don't want to live that kind of life!"

Now He Yan didn't know what to say even if he wanted to. Sometimes when two people get along, falling in love at first sight is one thing, and getting tired of each other after a long time is another. You hope that he will be determined and hardworking, but he yearns for a leisurely life in the wild. They are not the same kind of people, but they insist on being together. Even if it is difficult to detect at the time, time will give the answer.

She spent her entire life in her previous life trying to understand a truth, but her two children saw it clearly.

"If you really don't like her, just find a way to cancel the engagement. There's no need to be so picky with a girl. Just be friends." He Yan thought for a moment before speaking.

"Forget it," Cheng Lisu waved his hands, not wanting to talk any more, "She and I can't be friends. We don't share the same views."

He Yan changed the subject again and asked Cheng Lisu if he could move to Xiao Jue's house since Xiao Jue was gone. Cheng Lisu unexpectedly refused and just said that he wanted to be as far away from Song Taotao as possible.

It's like hiding from the plague god.

After the daily training was over, He Yan returned to the house, washed up, and stared at the locked middle door in a daze.

Although Xiao Jue didn't talk to her much on weekdays, she knew he was just next to her. After he left, she felt that she was alone in the huge house, and it was very lonely. She suddenly missed the time when she lived in the same shop with Xiao Mai and the others. Now, she could listen to people chatting and not feel bored.

It was too quiet and he couldn't fall asleep. If he couldn't fall asleep, he would easily have wild thoughts. He Yan sat up from the bed again, thought for a while, stood up, put on his shoes, walked to the front door, and took out a silver thread from his sleeve.

This silver thread is from Cheng Lisu's hairpin. The hairpin is made into a yellow carp. The silver thread is the carp's whiskers, which are particularly cute. When He Yan first saw it, he touched it a little too hard and directly pulled the whiskers off. Cheng Lisu just said it was okay and let her throw it away. But He Yan felt a little distressed and thought that he might be able to sell it to make tea, so he put it away.

At this moment, she took out the curled silver thread, straightened it, and stretched it out from the gap in the door. She put her ear against the middle door and listened carefully to the movement.

This was a skill that a craftsman taught her when she was in the army. The craftsman was a locksmith. Sometimes, when a wealthy family had a locked box left by their ancestors or dug up by chance and couldn't open it, they would ask him to open it. He was quite famous in his hometown. Later, when the city was conscripting able-bodied men to serve as soldiers, the locksmith hid his own children and grandchildren and came on his own.

He Yan still remembered that the locksmith was quite old, and when he smiled he was missing a front tooth, which was a bit funny. Because He Yan was about the same age as his grandson, he got along well with He Yan. He also taught He Yan one or two tricks of lock picking.

The locksmith had long ago died in the First Battle of Mo County, but He Yan still remembered the lock-picking skills. The locksmith could make the "士"-shaped lock used by the rich and powerful, and the "吉"-shaped lock used for weddings, but he only taught He Yan the "一"-shaped lock used by the common people. He probably thought that if he could return to his hometown and do his old trade one day, he could still make a living with his skills. He didn't want to teach his apprentice to starve the master to death, but who knew that this thought would not come true in the end.

He Yan went to unlock the door with a lucky thought. Fortunately, the middle door in Xiao Jue and Cheng Lisu's room was in the shape of a "one".

But after a moment, there was a "click" sound, and there seemed to be a sound of a door lock being broken at the other end. He Yan pushed lightly and the door opened.

The moonlight fell on the desk in front of the window. The window was not closed, and the shadows of the trees outside swayed slightly, falling on the ground like water plants in a pond. He Yan tiptoed in, and then stood still. He didn't know why he did such a thing, and felt annoyed for a moment.

If someone was hiding in the dark at this moment, they would probably think she was a thief. She was not here to steal anything, and it was not her first time to come to Xiao Jue's house. She opened the middle door only because she couldn't sleep and was bored to death.

But now that I'm here, it would be a bit regrettable to say goodbye now.

He Yan looked around. The sword Xiao Jue usually hung on the wall was no longer there. There were two or three books scattered on the table. He Yan went over to take a look. They were all military books. He didn't take his zither either. He hid it aside. It shone brightly in the moonlight, like a rare treasure.

Xiao Jue's house was not actually very luxurious. Compared to Cheng Lisu's house, it was even too simple, so simple that it looked a bit tacky. But He Yan remembered that when Xiao Er was in Xianchang Hall, he was very particular about it. The room he stayed in alone was even more luxurious than the teacher's room. The blanket on the floor was not cold at all in winter.

He seemed to be a little afraid of the cold, so when the weather turned cold, he always wore brocade clothes and fox fur in winter. But now this room was cold everywhere and not as warm as before.

What has he gone through over the years to become the commander-in-chief of the Right Army today?

As He Yan was thinking, she walked to the table without realizing it. Her fingers touched something. She looked down and saw a handful of colorful small grains scattered next to the pen holder. She picked them up and looked at them under the moonlight. They were the persimmon frost gummy candies that she had stuffed into Xiao Jue's hand yesterday.

The soft candy had been outside for a long time, and it was not as soft as before, and the sweet smell seemed to have faded a lot. He Yan counted them, and there was not a single one missing. He actually did not move them and just left them here? He neither tasted one or two of them, nor did he take them to Zhangtai?

Why is this?

Even if she thought the candied haws were too crude before, or it was because of Mr. Xiao's pride, she didn't want it. Now this soft candy was made by a pastry chef in a wine shop in the city. Although it can't be called a delicacy, it is definitely not crude. She stuffed it into Xiao Jue's pocket last night and closed the door. No one saw whether Xiao Jue took it away or what his reaction was. But if he really likes sweets, he will definitely not leave it here.

It was as if I could see that person casually throwing the candy on the table, not even bothering to glance at one.

Was he afraid that she had poisoned it? Or had Xiao Jue's tastes changed over the years?

There was no answer to this question. He Yan was deep in thought. Suddenly, she felt something brushing against her face, bringing a slight coolness and moisture. It was furry. She looked up and saw something like salt grains falling from outside, flying in the wind to the table.

Late in the night I knew the snow was heavy, and from time to time I could hear the sound of bamboo breaking.

She took two steps forward and through the window could see the towering Baiyue Mountain in the distance. The cool and distant moonlight fell on the wilderness and danced with the snow before her eyes.

"It's snowing." She said silently in her heart.

It turns out that the winter snow in Liangzhouwei comes so early.

——Digression——

My uncle went offline for a few days due to a short business trip, so we Yanyan finished a few beautiful chapters on our own.