"Who are you?" the man shouted in anger.
Unexpectedly, the woman didn't even look at him. She smiled at the woman coming towards her and said, "Are you Chu Qiao?"
Chu Qiao nodded and looked at her intently. She saw that the woman had delicate eyebrows and eyes, her skin was as smooth as a baby's, her eyes were warm and her face was gentle. At first glance, her bare face was as white as snow, her black eyes were like stars, and she looked like a graceful water lotus, fresh and white. There was a hint of heroism on her face. She looked at Chu Qiao with a frank and generous expression, not at all ashamed that she was also being looked at. However, what attracted Chu Qiao's attention the most was not her appearance, but the cloak she was wearing. If she remembered correctly, this cloak was worn by Zhuge Yue last night.
Seeing this, the corners of her eyes tightened slightly and her brows slowly frowned.
"My master asked me to give this to you."
It was the Canhong Sword. Chu Qiao took it and nodded in thanks, saying, "Thank you very much. May I know your name, young lady?"
"My last name is Meng. I think we will meet again soon. Goodbye."
After saying that, the woman surnamed Meng pulled the reins, and the warhorse quickly turned around and rode away, leaving the angry Commander He Xiao standing there indignantly.
"Sir, who is this woman?"
The guards around were all the elite members of the Southwest Town Envoy, and they were all the most trustworthy subordinates. Chu Qiao did not shy away from saying, "I guess this is Major General Meng Feng who has dominated the battlefields of Xia and Yan in the past six months."
"Meng Feng? Meng Tian's little granddaughter?"
Chu Qiao said nothing. She lowered her head and pulled out the Canhong sword. The sharp edge of the sword could faintly illuminate her dark eyes. It has been two years since she last saw this sword, and in these two years, she has become proficient in using the Broken Moon Sword.
Ge Qi asked quietly, "She is Meng Tian's granddaughter? Why doesn't she look like that to me? To be honest, she looks a bit like our Princess Bai Sheng."
“Don’t talk nonsense!” He Xiao explained hurriedly, “She is an orphan adopted by General Meng. She was raised as a boy since she was young and went to study at the Shangwu Hall with the men of the Meng family. After Zhuge Yue was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the army, she was also sent to serve under him. She has been very active on the battlefield in the past six months. Why did she come here? Sir, should we chase her and investigate? Maybe there is a trick.”
Chu Qiao said nothing, but just stared at the sword in a trance. He Xiao called out twice before she answered. She looked very calm and said calmly, "It's best for everyone to pretend that you didn't see what happened today."
After hearing this, everyone immediately understood and the army continued to march forward.
At the same time, Meng Feng finally caught up with Zhuge Yue and his companions who were traveling in disguise. She secretly took off her cloak and handed it to Zhuge Yue's personal guard. Then she changed her clothes and walked to Zhuge Yue's side calmly, saying, "The things have been delivered."
Zhuge Yue seemed not to have heard and walked away. Meng Feng looked at his back with a smile, but his head was analyzing hard. Generally, there are two types of people who leave without waiting for others to finish speaking: one is that they are not interested in the matter at all, and the other is that they are afraid of being seen through by others. She looked at her classmate from Shangwu Hall, whistling leisurely. What General Zhuge was thinking was known to everyone!
"It's worth the trip, it's worth the trip." Three days later, Chu Qiao finally arrived at the Yanbei military camp under the Xuekui River. After unloading the food and grass, it was already dark. Chu Qiao was invited to have dinner. After eating, she chatted with some colleagues for a while and then returned to her tent.
After not seeing him for a year, Ping An has grown a lot and has become a grown man. He happily boiled water for her and talked to her in a very affectionate manner.
Yan Xun was not in the army. Now a pass was built next to the Xuekui River, named Longyin Pass, which was separated from Yanming Pass by a river. After the Yanbei army gathered at the pass, he had moved the military headquarters to the pass and seldom came here.
After trudging in the snow for many days, she hadn't had a comfortable bath for a long time. Now lying in the bathtub, she felt so comfortable that she just wanted to fall asleep. However, she still had some official documents to approve and process, so she had to take a quick bath. Then she dragged her tired body to sit under the lamp and began to read carefully.
The night grew darker, and even the air had the unique smell of the army. The lights shone on Chu Qiao's face, and half of her thin outline was projected on the tent. From the outside, it was a clear and beautiful shadow.
It has been a year since I last saw Yan Xun. During this year, apart from the normal correspondence of official documents, they had almost no interactions. Occasionally, they exchanged letters, which were also written in a businesslike tone.
Until a while ago, an old maid suddenly came to Huihui Mountain and found Chu Qiao. She put down the things that Yan Xun asked her to bring one by one, and then praised Chu Qiao with auspicious words. After talking for a long time, Chu Qiao finally understood that she was sent by Yan Xun to propose marriage.
Talk about marriage? What a ridiculous thing, two people want to live together for the rest of their lives, but they need others to sharpen their tongues, and their relationship has even reached the point where they need to get married.
The nanny came to propose marriage in name only, but in fact she just came to inform her. The betrothal gifts flowed like water, filling Chu Qiao's room and extending along the corridor to the yard. They were all rare treasures, including pearls as big as a child's fist, finished corals more than a person tall, cicada silk gauze clothes that could fly if you blow on them, jade shoes carved from a whole piece of Cuilan Saigon jade, chicken bloodstone teardrop necklaces produced in Minglang Mountain, colorful enamel from Nangong, as well as rare treasures from the Western Regions and rare furs. It was like all the beauty of the world was before her eyes in an instant, shining with dazzling golden light, making it impossible to open your eyes. Moreover, Yan Xun also announced that he would build a Nada Palace on Sunset Mountain as her residence. Only then did Chu Qiao realize that the word "Nada" meant true love in the northern Hu language.
All the luxuries that the world can imagine were laid out before her. Perhaps she should be moved, perhaps her eyes should be filled with tears, and she should be excited and grateful, but there was not the slightest cheer or excitement in her heart. She sat on a bamboo chair, her fingertips pale and cold. If it was a year ago, she might have jumped for joy, but now, she always felt that this was a disguised form of comfort and compensation from Yan Xun.
Yan Xun gradually changed, becoming unrecognizable to her. Many times, she would doubt the meaning of everything she had done. Even if Yan Xun won, it was just the Yan family replacing the Zhao family, and one dynasty replacing another. All her previous ideas were moving towards another track, and she was still shamelessly deceiving those kind-hearted people, encouraging them to rebuild their homes, encouraging them to actively join the army, and encouraging them to fight bravely. They sacrificed their lives on the battlefield, thinking that they were establishing a different era for future generations. However, in the end, perhaps their sacrifices were in vain. These simple people are fighting a war that has nothing to do with them, and they are completely unaware of it.
Whenever she thought of this, Chu Qiao felt like she was a bastard and a complete liar.
She leaned quietly on the desk, her head resting on the book, feeling a little tired. The candlelight flickered faintly, and a sliver of flame burst out from time to time. Everything was so quiet, and in a trance, she seemed to be falling asleep.
Yan Xun had been standing outside the tent for a long time. Upon learning that Chu Qiao had arrived a day earlier, he rode his horse back to the base camp overnight with only more than twenty guards. Under the current circumstances, such an approach is obviously irrational. There are too many people who want his life now, not only Daxia and Quanrong, but also Yanbei, including his seemingly loyal ministers. However, his desire to see her was so urgent that he lost his mind for once. But he ran all the way here and stood in front of her tent, but he didn't dare to go in.
Yan Xun, the king of Yanbei who intimidated the whole world, led his troops into the heart of Daxia when Yanbei was in danger. But now he was afraid of a small tent and even felt it was a luxury to approach it.
Nanny Yin came back and said that when Ah Chu heard about the marriage, she was so happy that she cried and knelt on the ground to thank the emperor loudly. He knew that the old people said that to cheer him up. How could someone like Ah Chu cry for joy in front of them? Why would I kneel on the ground and thank him? They have been together for so many years, he could almost imagine her expression when she heard all this. She would definitely sit there indifferently, listening to the old nanny's chattering, quietly without saying a word, with a wandering gaze, as if she was listening, yet as if she was not listening, and then when the nanny finished speaking, she would gently nod her head and say "I know."
Yes, that's it.
Yan Xun simulated the scene in his mind. Beside him were books and documents that had not been closed yet, and on the table was cold tea. She was wearing a casual cotton shirt, sitting on a chair, with her long hair spread on both sides, looking indifferent as if everything had nothing to do with her.
Although, that was their wedding, it was a wedding they had fantasized about countless times when they were in Zhenhuang.
Yan Xun didn’t know what went wrong. Maybe he knew, but he was unwilling to face it. He thought that he still trusted Achu, and he knew that Achu would never betray him no matter who in the world. But precisely because of this, he didn't want to keep her in the army and didn't want her to have too much contact with the Southwest Town Government. Things in the world are always changing. Even if you don't have this idea, other people and other things will push you, hold you, and drive you to take this path. He was afraid that one day, his and her positions would put them in opposition, and when they both had a group of supporters behind them, they would be unable to retreat.
Achu is an outstanding military strategist, but not an outstanding politician. She will never understand how much darkness there is in politics. And how many rivers of blood will he have to wade through to achieve his wish? How many heads have been piled up to build this mountain? He did not regret it, he did all this voluntarily, he was not forced into prostitution, no one forced him to do this, he even enjoyed it, he really enjoyed the process of scheming and killing. The resentment and hatred that had accumulated in his heart for many years were like worms, gnawing at him day and night. Those humiliations were nightmares that he would never forget in his life. However, he just hoped that when he did all this, she would not watch from the side, stare at him with her black and white eyes, and then gradually lose hope and fall into despair.
Maybe she will be angry now, but time will smooth everything out, and he will spend his whole life making up for it and explaining it.
Yan Xun smiled confidently, and when the day came when he ruled the world, she would understand everything he did today.
The light in the big tent reflected a thin shadow, with the outline of the eyebrows and eyes so clear that he could even distinguish where the nose, eyes and hands were.
The moon shone on his body, and the black fur coat looked heavy and oppressive. The man's figure was bleak, and behind him was a desolate white. In the distance, soldiers were singing the Yanbei long song, the melody was melodious and seemed to be turning to the sky.
Yan Xun slowly stretched out his hand, and under the moonlight, a faint gray shadow was projected onto the tent. Yan Xun raised his hand high, getting closer and closer. Finally, the gray shadow touched the tip of the black shadow's nose, cheek, and forehead. The virtual light and shadow simulated the outline of the woman in the tent, like a lover's hand.