The day after the Mid-Autumn Festival was a rainy day. When He Yan woke up, everyone else was still sleeping on the bed, probably because they were still drunk from the night before. But the order to march outside had already been sounded, and they had to train even on a rainy day. So she got up from the bed and woke up everyone in the room one by one.

"I feel dizzy," Xiao Mai was young and could not stand such a hangover. He still felt the aftereffects of the hangover. "Brother He, what are you doing?"

He Yan handed him the water bag: "Hurry up and drink a few sips, wash your face, it's time to run."

Xiao Mai took the water bag and drank the water in big gulps. Seeing this, Hong Shan said with a smile: "Xiaomai, you and your brother need to practice more. How can you drink so little? You are not as good as your brother Ahe."

Xiao Mai glanced at He Yan and said, "Brother He, you can drink so much?"

"It's okay." He Yan said perfunctorily. She didn't feel a headache at the moment, but felt refreshed. However, she had forgotten when she returned to the house. She only remembered that she drank with Huang Xiong in front of the campfire, drank a few more bowls, and seemed to have opened eighteen cents... Oh, where is the eighteen cents?

"Why didn't I see the jar of wine that Commander Xiao appreciated?" Hong Shan also remembered, "That's a good thing, don't lose it."

"Maybe with Wang Ba." He Yan answered. He recalled it carefully again, but he really couldn't remember anything.

She used to be known for her ability to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, but it wasn't true. If you drink too much, you will still get drunk, but He Yan is different from other people when she is drunk. When she is drunk, she doesn't show it at all, and looks particularly clear-headed. When she was in the army, she was drunk once, and she discussed military tactics with the military strategist in the tent all night, and she looked energetic. The next day, the military strategist praised He Yan for being a rare hero in the world. In fact, He Yan didn't even remember what she did last night.

Even if she was drunk, others couldn't tell. She didn't walk unsteadily or talk nonsense. So, no one would see her lose control, but what did she do last night?

Unable to think of anything else, he quickly washed his face and packed up with the others, then went outside to get some dried cakes and ran away.

After the rain, the ground was wet, so she couldn't run too fast to avoid slipping. As He Yan was running, she felt someone was looking at her. She followed the gaze and saw the head coach Shen Han standing at the end of the horse trail, staring at her without blinking, with a complicated expression.

Seeing He Yan looking over, Shen Han turned his gaze away. This was very strange. She was very sensitive to people's gazes. Shen Han looked as if he was thinking about something. When she looked at Shen Han again, he had already walked away.

Perhaps because He Yan's gaze at Shen Han was too obvious, a new soldier running nearby said, "Even though the head coach is so fierce, he's still pretty good to you. What's your relationship? Why is he taking care of you like this?"

"Take care of me?" He Yan was puzzled: "How come I don't know."

If Shen Han really cared about her, he wouldn't have sent Lei Hou to the Vanguard Camp.

"Last night, when we were returning, I saw Coach Shen personally carrying you back to the house." The new recruit seemed dissatisfied, "You are so ungrateful. If it were me, Coach Shen would never be so considerate."

He Yan was stunned.

She asked, "Did you see Coach Shen carrying me back last night?"

"Yeah," the recruit looked at her strangely: "You don't remember? You may not remember, you are drunk." He stopped talking, and because his companions in front of him were calling him to catch up quickly, he didn't care about He Yan's expression and hurried to the front.

He Yan was left behind alone, unable to hide her surprise. Was she drunk? Shen Han actually carried her back?

What kind of logic is this? She had asked Hongshan and the others in the morning, and they were drunk early, and it was the new recruits in the same room who dragged them back. When He Yan came back, no one was awake, and no one knew when He Yan came back or how he came back.

He Yan doesn't think Shen Han is a considerate person.

She thought about it over and over, but she still couldn't figure out what was going on until the end of the run. So she decided to wait until the end of the run and the training started to look for Huang Xiong and the others. Maybe Huang Xiong knew. If Huang Xiong didn't know, she would go and ask Shen Han directly.

When the run was over and everyone was running to the straw huts or tents to take shelter from the rain and drink water, Cheng Li arrived.

The young man was holding an oil-paper umbrella with a few red and white koi painted on it, which was quite interesting. He couldn't find He Yan, so he asked around and finally found him under the straw shed.

"Brother He!" he shouted.

He Yan didn't expect Cheng Lisu to come to see her, so she stood up and walked over to him, wondering, "It's raining so hard, why don't you stay inside?"

"This is not the place to talk." Cheng Lisu pulled her under the umbrella and searched for a long time before finding the long frame with a flagpole on the back of the martial arts arena. He stopped and looked at He Yan and said, "I was drunk yesterday. This morning I heard my uncle talking to Brother Fei Nu, and then I knew that you went to see my uncle last night."

"I went to see your uncle?" He Yan was shocked.

"nice."

He Yan couldn't believe it. She actually went to see Xiao Jue? Now she was quite dissatisfied with Xiao Jue, and it was also because of the Vanguard Battalion. She certainly didn't go to see Xiao Jue to reminisce and drink tea, so...

"Why am I going to see your uncle?" He Yan asked slowly.

Cheng Lisu hesitated to speak: "You might have been drunk last night..."

He Yan: “…”

She tried her best to put on a normal smile and said, "You can tell me what's going on."

"You had a fight with my uncle and broke his zither." Cheng Lisu answered honestly.

He Yan closed his eyes.

"Who won?" she asked.

Cheng Lisu didn't expect He Yan to still care about the result at this time. He scratched his head and said, "It must be my uncle. I heard that he asked Coach Shen to take you back."

He Yan: “…” Fine, she took advantage of her drunkenness to go and compete with Xiao Jue, and she lost. Wouldn’t Xiao Jue have an even worse impression of her now, and she would be one step further away from entering the Nine Banners Camp?

He Yan suddenly felt discouraged, thinking that it was probably impossible to get close to Xiao Jue through the Nine Banners Camp. Why not try another route and slowly get promoted as before, although the pace would be slower... But she didn't know what rank He Rufei would have when she grew up to the point where she could get close to him?

Cheng Lisu looked at her sympathetically and tried to comfort her: "Brother He, you don't have to be discouraged. My uncle...my uncle is not that petty. I came here to tell you that you'd better not go to my uncle these days to avoid making him angry. That evening fragrance harp is very expensive, and he didn't let you lose money, which is already very lenient."

"I can't afford it either." He Yan replied dejectedly.

"You see, things are not that bad." Cheng Lisu added, "Don't be too sad, I will speak well of you in front of my uncle!"

He Yan said listlessly: "Thank you very much."

Cheng Lisu left, and He Yan looked at the figures of the red and white brocade carps going away, and felt powerless. She had never taken the brothers' words that drinking was a mistake, but now it seemed to be true. Liangzhou had only been drunk once, and he had already poked the basket.

Why did Shen Han carry her back to the house himself? I think it was because he witnessed such a chaotic moment and knew that she would never be favored by Xiao Jue in the future and her career was hopeless, so he felt sympathy for her and did so.

He Yan thought, why not find an opportunity to go to Xiao Jue and apologize sincerely, maybe he can still save the situation?

…

At this moment, in the room of the commander-in-chief of the Liangzhou Wei Right Army, Xiao Jue was sitting at the table, looking at the post in his hand.

The invitation was sent by Liangzhou Magistrate Sun Xiangfu and him, saying that the inspector Yuan Baozhen from the capital would arrive in Liangzhou in a few days. The Magistrate held a banquet in his mansion and invited Xiao Jue's nephew Cheng Lisu.

Fei Nu stood behind Xiao Jue and said, "Young Master, it is inconvenient to take Master Cheng with you to the city. It may be a banquet at Hongmen, and he may be threatening."

"Yuan Baozhen has a private relationship with Xu Jingfu and has long been Xu Jingfu's man," Xiao Jue said calmly, playing with the note in his hand and looking at the osmanthus tree by the window, "This time he came for me, but I also want to know what Xu Jingfu is planning in Liangzhou."

"What does Young Master mean?" Fei Nu asked hesitantly.

"Yuan Baozhen is Xu Jingfu's man, but Sun Xiangfu may not be one too." Xiao Jue curled his lips and said, "The magistrate of Liangzhou should have been replaced long ago."

"Young Master is planning to attend the banquet, and I want to go with you, but Master Cheng needs protection in the guardhouse. If someone plots something bad..." He didn't finish his words, referring to He Yan. Now, the only person in Liangzhou Guards whose identity is unknown and who is in extreme danger is He Yan.

"Besides, Master Cheng trusts He Yan very much. If the young master is not around..." If Cheng Lisu listened to He Yan and was deceived by He Yan, or was simply schemed by He Yan, it would be a loss.

"When will Luanying arrive in Liangzhou?" Xiao Jue asked.

"Luanying is still in Loujun right now." Fei Nu replied, and then looked at Xiao Jue, "Young Master, why don't you reject the invitation?"

"No," Xiao Jue lowered his eyes, "I have to go to this banquet."

…

When Cheng Lisu came back, he saw Xiao Jue sitting at his desk reading a book. The book was a messy storybook that he had secretly bought from the coach. He was startled and walked up to him without saying a word, saying, "Uncle!"

Xiao Jue was flipping through his book. When he heard this, his hands trembled. He looked at him and frowned, "What's your name?"

"I...I was wrong!" said Cheng Lisu.

"What's wrong?" Xiao Jue looked at him calmly.

You don't seem angry? Cheng Li was always surprised that Xiao Jue didn't scold him for not practicing calligraphy and reading these messy books. He guessed that Xiao Jue was in a good mood today, so he stepped forward and said, "I'm right, I'm here to apologize to you on behalf of my elder brother. I heard that my elder brother challenged you to a fight last night... no, a sparring match. Uncle, you're not angry, are you?"

Thinking of the madman who had gone mad and overwhelmed Wan Xiang Qin last night, Xiao Jue's eyes darkened and his tone was as indifferent as ever: "No."

"That's good! Uncle, you are still so magnanimous!" Cheng Lisu hurriedly flattered him.

Xiao Jue glanced at him, took out a post from his pocket and threw it in his face, "Look for yourself."

"What is this?" Cheng Lisu asked as he picked it up and looked at it. "Isn't this a post? Someone posted it to you, uncle, and my name is on it. Is it going to Liangzhou City? Great! I'm almost getting tired of staying in the guardhouse all day. Let me see, it's the inspector Yuan Baozhen... Why does this name sound familiar?" He looked at Xiao Jue suspiciously: "Uncle, who is Yuan Baozhen?"

"Don't you remember?" Xiao Jue curled his lips and reminded him, "Your marriage with Miss Song was suggested by this Lord Yuan and your father. Song Ci was once Lord Yuan's boss."

"Song, Song family?" Cheng Lisu's hand loosened the post, and the post fell at his feet. He seemed not to see it, and just stared at Xiao Jue blankly, with an uncertain expression, "Why did the Song family come to Liangzhou?"

"It's not the Song family," Xiao Jue said calmly, "it's Yuan Baozhen."

"Aren't they all the same..." Cheng Lisu murmured, "They came to Liangzhou and specially invited me to a banquet. They didn't want to capture me and take me back to Shuojing. I don't want to marry her... I don't want to get married..." He seemed to come to his senses suddenly and grabbed Xiao Jue's sleeve, "Uncle, you can't just watch your nephew jump into the fire pit!"

"What does it have to do with me?" Xiao Jue pulled his sleeves out of his hands and flipped through the book casually.

"It has nothing to do with you!" Cheng Lisu walked around the table and came to Xiao Jue's side. "Uncle, you know I don't like Miss Song! If I marry her, I would rather die. I will hang myself on the wedding day! Uncle, you won't just watch me die, right?"

Xiao Jue stopped what he was doing, looked at him indifferently, drew the long sword from his waist and placed it on the table.

Cheng Lisu stuttered, "What is this for?"

"You can commit suicide now and see if I will just stand by and watch you die."

Cheng Lisu stared at the knife and said with a tearful face: "Uncle, I really don't want to go back to Shuojing. I have been with you for half a year and have long been accustomed to life in Liangzhou Guard Station. I really can't live without you." He hugged Xiao Jue's legs and burst into tears.

Xiao Jue pressed his forehead, as if he could no longer bear it, and said, "Get up."

Cheng Lisu didn't move.

"Again, get up."

Cheng Lisu still held Xiao Jue's legs and blinked at him, "Unless you promise me not to hand me over to the Song family."

"Aren't you tired of staying in the guardhouse and want to go to Liangzhou City?"

"I don't want to think about it now!"

The young man said in a calm voice, "That's Supervisory Secretary Yuan Baozhen."

"Uncle, you are still General Fengyun Xiao Huaijin!"

"Yuan Baozhen has seen you before and knows that you are avoiding him in Liangzhou. How about he complain to the Song family that you are neglecting him?"

Cheng Lisu immediately replied, "How could he have met me? I have never met him. My parents would not have had time to hide me if I looked like this. If he had really met me, he would not have recommended me to Lord Song. Miss Song and I are not a good match at all!"

"Really?" Xiao Jue's eyes moved slightly as he looked at the angry young man. "You have to go. Since he has never seen you, it's not completely impossible."

Cheng Lisu’s eyes widened.

"Find someone to go to the banquet in your place."

Cheng Lisu was stunned for a moment, and finally understood after a while. He stopped howling and pretending to cry while hugging Xiao Jue's legs. He stood up and clapped his hands, "Great! Uncle is right. He has never seen me anyway, so why not just find someone else to replace me!"

"Do you have a candidate?"

Cheng Lisu looked at him, "I..."

"There doesn't seem to be a young man of your age and build in Liangzhou Guards." Xiao Jue said, "If you are too far away, you will be discovered."

The Liangzhou Garrison's barracks were mostly filled with big, strong men, and even the younger ones were mostly sturdy and dark. Cheng Lisu was a young master from Shuojing, raised in luxury, with delicate skin and tender flesh, and he was different from the new recruits in the barracks at first glance.

"If you can't find it, you'd better go and do it yourself." Xiao Jue said nonchalantly.

"Who said we can't find it!" Cheng Lisu was anxious, and an idea suddenly occurred to him, "My elder brother, my elder brother is almost the same as me!"

Xiao Jue raised his eyebrows and said noncommittally: "He Yan?"

"Yes, it's my elder brother. My elder brother is about the same age and build as me, and he is also very smart. He will definitely be able to adapt to the situation and deal with Yuan Baozhen. Yuan Baozhen can take me away, but he may not be able to take my elder brother away."

Cheng Lisu was very new to He Yan. In his opinion, He Yan was the most omnipotent person besides his uncle. He Yan could definitely do what others couldn't do.

Seeing Xiao Jue didn't say anything, Cheng Lisu's heart tightened, thinking that He Yan had just gone to fight with Xiao Jue last night, and Xiao Jue must still be angry with He Yan because of this. He might not want to see He Yan. Just as he was thinking about how to persuade Xiao Jue, he saw his young uncle close the book in his hand and said calmly, "Okay."

Cheng Lisu's words of persuasion were stuck in his throat, and he only had time to utter "ah"?

Xiao Jue looked at him and said, "If you can convince your eldest brother, let him go in your place."

…

After the afternoon training, when He Yan was resting outside the martial arts arena, Huang Xiong and his men came over. Without saying anything else, they first gave He Yan a piece of the silver that Shen Han had sent him last night, and then asked He Yan where the Eighteen Immortals on the altar had gone.

"I remember you took it last," Huang Xiong asked, "I went to find a few empty wine jars today, brothers, each of you can share some, what do you think?"

"I think it's very good," He Yan said, "but maybe we have to wait until the next flag-winning event comes out before we can say anything about it."

"What do you mean by that?" Wang Ba was a little impatient, and suddenly understood something. He looked at He Yan: "You, you didn't...drink it all."

Facing everyone's burning gazes, He Yan nodded and said, "I'm so sorry, I accidentally drank it all."

"He Yan!" Wang Ba shouted, "You've gone too far! That was the prize for all of us, and you drank it all by yourself. Even the bandits are not as domineering as you!" He rolled up his sleeves, thinking about beating He Yan, but halfway through, he remembered that he couldn't beat the man in front of him. It was not right to hit him, and it was not right not to hit him. He felt very embarrassed for a moment.

Jiang Jiao and Shitou didn't think anything of it. They were not big drinkers and had no interest in wine, so they said nothing. Although Huang Xiong was not as excited as Wang Ba, his eyes were also full of accusations.

If it were any other day, He Yan would have felt sorry for her behavior, but she had become somewhat numb to the bad news that had come one after another in the past few days. She was really unable to deal with the thoughts of the people in front of her, so she just sat there without saying a word.

Seeing her silent and depressed look, several people looked at each other. Thinking that not being able to enter the vanguard camp this time was a big blow to He Yan, he drank to drown his sorrows last night, and he was still so depressed today. But then he thought again, his sorrow was really worth it. Others were only willing to spend a few dollars of rice wine, but he used several hundred taels of silver, and he still couldn't get rid of his sorrow. It would cost a lot of money to get revenge.

Just when several people didn't know what to do, someone's voice broke the silence.

"Brother He...Brother He, so you are here!" Cheng Lisu ran over breathlessly, with beads of sweat on his forehead, as if he had been running all the way here.

This was the second time He Yan had seen him in one day. But as soon as he saw him, he remembered that he had offended Xiao Jue last night, and suddenly felt a headache. He Yan raised his head and asked listlessly, "Why are you here?"

"I came to you to discuss something important." Cheng Lisu looked at the people around him, pulled He Yan up and said, "This is not the place to talk, Brother He, come with me."

He was Xiao Jue's nephew, so naturally others didn't dare to say anything. Even though he still had to settle the account with the Eighteen Immortals, he could only watch Cheng Lisu drag He Yan away, and he himself stayed there staring at them.

He Yan was dragged by Cheng Lisu and jogged all the way to where Cheng Lisu lived. When He Yan got here, he didn't want to go in. He knew that Cheng Lisu lived next door to Xiao Jue. If he went in and bumped into Xiao Jue, it would be awkward to see him and his eyes meet.

Cheng Lisu finally became smart for once. Seeing He Yan's embarrassed expression and standing there unwilling to move, he said caringly, "Don't worry, my uncle is out, there's no one here!"

He Yan heard this and walked in with him.

As soon as he entered, Cheng Lisu looked around, then closed the doors and windows, as if he was planning to kill or burn someone. He Yan was speechless when he saw him like this.

"You came to see me, you won't talk about your uncle again, right?" He Yan greeted in advance, "Brother Cheng, thank you for your concern, but I really don't want to hear any news about him recently." Please give her some face.

As soon as she finished saying this, she felt someone pressing on her shoulder. Cheng Lisu turned her around, grabbed her hand, held it tightly, and pressed it against his chest.

He Yan almost punched the man unconsciously.

She suppressed the urge to hit someone. Although she had been with men a lot, they were usually arm in arm. It was very awkward to have their fingers interlocked like this.

However, the young boy in front of him had a clear expression on his face, and he didn't realize that his actions caused any misunderstanding. But in his eyes, there was really nothing to hide when two men behaved like this.

"Brother, please save me!" Cheng Lisu said sadly.

"...What happened to you?" He Yan asked.

"You must first promise to help me, otherwise you may never see me again in the future!"

"Is it so serious?" He Yan asked, but he didn't think so in his heart. Cheng Lisu was always exaggerating, and he could make the smallest things sound thrilling. Besides, if something really went wrong, his uncle was Xiao Jue, so he would naturally help him. "Tell me what it is first, then I can help you think of a solution."

"Brother, do you remember what I told you before? I ran away from marriage. My family wanted to arrange a marriage for me, but I really didn't want to, so I begged my uncle to take me to Liangzhou." Cheng Lisu said this with a sad look, "Now my family won't let me go. The colleague of the old man they picked for me has come to Liangzhou and sent a letter to my uncle, asking my uncle and me to attend the banquet together. Oh my God, I am a boy with no official position and no fame, why did they write my name on the letter? It's obvious that they are plotting against me, and they want to take me away when I get there!"

What he said sounded like he was raping a woman, and he was just about to go to the government office and beat the drum to protest his injustice.

"That's not necessary," He Yan said, "If you don't want to leave, your uncle will protect you. Can they force you to leave in front of your uncle?"

Cheng Lisu couldn't say that Xiao Jue might really watch him being taken away, and might even be happy to get rid of this burden. He coughed lightly and said, "Brother, you know my mother has a lot of complaints about my uncle. If he comes forward for me, wouldn't he be putting himself in an unjust position again? My mother will hate him to death, and I don't want to cause trouble for him!"

He Yan didn't expect Cheng Lisu to protect his uncle so much. He Yan felt deeply moved. It seems that this is the blood relationship that cannot be changed no matter what.

"So what do you want from me?" she asked, "Do you want me to help you beat that gentleman away? Beating an official is against the law."

"What are you thinking, big brother!" Cheng Lisu let go of her hand, "I'm not that rude. I was thinking that the gentleman had never seen me before and didn't know what I looked like. Big brother, we are about the same age, both handsome and of similar stature, so why don't you go to the banquet in my place. If the gentleman wants his men to catch me, with your skills, you can easily escape. If they can't catch me, it's their problem, not my uncle's."

"I'll replace you?" He Yan said, "No, no." She turned around and wanted to leave, but she felt a sense of resistance in her heart. A substitute again. She had been He Rufei's substitute for her whole life. Now that she could finally use her own name, why was she being someone else's substitute again?

God must be making things difficult for her!

"Brother——" Cheng Lisu screamed heartbreakingly, "You really can't just stand by and watch him die! Think about it, you and your uncle went to the banquet, stayed by his side, and were with him day and night. If you did a better job, your uncle would definitely change his mind about you when he saw how considerate and thoughtful you were. Moreover, you stood up for his nephew. To express his gratitude to you, maybe... maybe he would let you go to the Nine Flags Camp!"

He Yan: “…”

Cheng Lisu was really saying all kinds of nonsense just to avoid going to the banquet. Xiao Jue was not someone who would trade favors. She might follow Xiao Jue day and night and provoke Xiao Jue's anger. If she did something wrong again, she would really be struck out.

Seeing that she was determined not to help, Cheng Lisu collapsed to the ground, pointed his finger at the top of his head, and cursed and howled: "Heaven, why are you doing this to me! Yuan Baozhen, what deep hatred did I have with you in my previous life that you have to push me into the fire pit again and again!"

He Yan was about to go out, and had already walked to the door, but when he heard the words, he paused and looked back: "You just said... Yuan Baozhen?"

"Yes," Cheng Lisu looked at her and answered subconsciously, "The man who ruined my engagement is the current Supervisor Yuan Baozhen."

He Yan's eyebrows jumped, and after a moment, she quickly walked towards Cheng Lisu and stretched out a hand to the young man who was sitting paralyzed on the ground.

"Stop howling, it's just a banquet, right? I'll help you."

——Digression——

My uncle is really good at tricks, hahahaha