The street was crowded. The man held the lantern high and seemed to accidentally take off her mask. The light from the lantern just happened to shine on her face, revealing an ordinary yet pretty face, which looked very unfamiliar.
The man immediately apologized repeatedly. Yan Shiyue snorted and pulled Huo Qijing's sleeve unhappily. Huo Qijing patted her on the back to coax her, and the two of them walked away pulling each other.
After taking a few steps, Huo Qijing took off the mask and put it on her face. At this moment, the two of them exchanged quick glances.
When they returned, the shadow guard also came over to report: "It's Chu Ningyuan."
Yan Shiyue was surprised.
It was Chu Ningyuan? She thought it would be someone from Chao Shang.
But it makes sense. They went to the exorcism ceremony on a whim. Even Emperor Ming Yan didn't know about it, so other people probably wouldn't have thought of it either. So this person must have done it on a whim.
Fortunately, she had also prepared for this move and disguised both of them on their faces and clothes.
Huo Qijing whispered, "This man is brave and resourceful, and he has prestige among those people. I will find a way to recruit him for my service."
Yan Shiyue nodded and said, "How do you think he figured it out?"
...
...
Huo Qijing thought for a moment and said, "Hand."
Yan Shiyue glanced at her injured hand and said, "So, do you think he was suspicious because of Wu Qi, or did he simply suspect you and me?"
"Wu Qi," Huo Qijing said, "He must suspect that you are Wu Qi. If he simply suspects you or me, what does it have to do with him? Why would he come to investigate?"
Yan Shiyue was fully confident in her acting skills: "Maybe he was instructed by someone? Normally he wouldn't be able to tell!"
He just looked at her.
She glared back: "Is it not true? How is my acting not like that?"
She wasn't bragging. What she was most confident about in her life was her acting skills. Her voice and movements were definitely not feminine. She was wearing armor at the time, so her stature could not be seen. She did not hesitate to make herself ugly and put a texture on her right cheek that looked like a healed scar. Even acquaintances might not be able to recognize her if they looked closely.
Huo Qijing said mercilessly: "Small, thin, short, and eats at my place every day at noon."
Yan Shiyue: “…”
The evidence is indeed irrefutable.
But it doesn't matter. There can be many reasons why a person is treated specially. If this one is excluded, others will naturally make up other reasons.
She stopped talking.
It was already midnight, and a big bonfire was lit in Fuyuan. A group of dragon guards were dancing happily around the bonfire, occasionally throwing bamboo into the fire, which made crackling sounds.
She reached out and hugged his arm, and he immediately carefully grasped her wrist and held her injured hand in his hand.
She said, "I've been here for so long, but this is the first time I'm spending the New Year with you!"
He didn't say anything, but just reached out and gently touched her head. After a while, he said, "We can spend every year together in the future."
She was silent for a while: "Can I sing a song for you?"
He hummed.
She sang in a very low voice: "The most romantic thing I can think of is to grow old with you, collecting every bit of laughter along the way, saving it for later, sitting in a rocking chair and chatting slowly. The most romantic thing I can think of is to grow old with you, until we are too old to go anywhere and you still treat me as the treasure in your hand."
…………
During the Chinese New Year, the government offices were closed, but the lives of the Yulin Army were still going on as usual and they were still on duty.
After touring the palace, she found a place to meditate.
The tops of the white marble pillars of the garrison are flat and about the size of a bowl. She can now sit on them steadily for an hour without shaking. Although this is just the entry level for Qing Weiliao and others, she thinks it is very cool, so she finds a pillar to sit on every day.
I picked a pillar at random and posed in the cold. From time to time, I could hear footsteps and faint voices nearby.
"The little hunchback is ill again."
Zhang Heng said, "He's the one I hate the most. He's always pretending..."
She now has a glorious and resounding nickname among the second generation of military personnel: Little Hunchback.
She single-handedly attracted all the attention of the warmongering Zhang Heng, who would not stop arguing with her every day. Zhang Heng also became her biggest motivation for learning martial arts... She was ready to defeat Huo Qijing as soon as he nodded!
"Ningyuan, I heard that General Huo's mansion did not accept any annual gifts, and did not give any annual gifts. It is really unique in Chang'an City."
A steady voice responded, "Yes."
"Tell me, he locks the door every day, what does that mean?"
"My wife is dying, I don't have the mood to do these things."
"Oh, if His Highness really dies, I wonder how he can still be so glorious!"
Chu Ningyuan said calmly: "The Huo family is already prosperous, he has military merits, and he has such a temperament, so the emperor naturally likes to use him."
Zhang Heng said, "I just don't like him!"
Chu Ningyuan rebuked him: "Don't mess with him, you are no match for him!"
"So what if he's not a general? I don't believe he has the nerve to hit me! Besides," he chuckled, "don't we still have you?"
Chu Ningyuan said: "I am no match for him either."
Zhang Heng said, "We haven't fought, how can you boost others' morale and destroy your own prestige? I don't think that Rabbit God is very capable. The story of thousands of troops seizing the flag is just a boast! Isn't it just to make it sound better when the Lord is summoned?"
Chu Ningyuan didn't answer.
Someone changed the subject: "Didn't Ah Heng say he was going to get married this year?"
"What kind of marriage is this!" Zhang Heng said, "I get annoyed just thinking about it. Women are all so clingy and crying, how can it be as fun as fighting!"
Then a group of people started talking about what the young ladies in the capital looked like...it was very lively.
Yan Shiyue opened his eyes helplessly.
That place was the tea room of the garrison. It was warm and there was tea to drink. Their group often went there. The wall had a distinct curve.
But she didn't expect that the pillar where she was sitting, which was facing the arc, had an effect like a loudspeaker collecting sound, and could hear their whispers clearly from such a distance.
Seeing them finally come out after talking, Yan Shiyue stepped forward and saluted: "Captain Chu."
Before Chu Ningyuan could say anything, Zhang Heng asked, "Hey, isn't this the little hunchback?"
Yan Shiyue ignored him and looked at Chu Ningyuan. Chu Ningyuan asked, "What's the matter?"
She said, "Let me talk for a moment."
Zhang Heng said, "What's your trick? You look shifty and you're not a good person! Why are you calling Ning Yuan?"
She still ignored him, and Chu Ningyuan asked, "Why?"
She said, "Teach you a lesson."
This sentence was definitely a provocation in the garrison. Zhang Heng exploded at the time and said angrily: "You little hunchback, do you want to die?! Come on, let me teach you a lesson!"
Chu Ningyuan also raised his eyebrows, and then slowly walked over. Yan Shiyue made a gesture of invitation, and Chu Ningyuan followed her. She gestured to the pillar where she had just sat: "Please sit down."
Zhang Heng continued barking.
Chu Ningyuan looked at her, and she had an expression that said "I don't care if I sit down or not."
Then Chu Ningyuan really jumped up and sat on it, saying, "Please give me some advice."
"There's nothing to teach you." Yan Shiyue said, "I told you I'd teach you a lesson. Just sit here for a quarter of an hour. If you're lucky, you'll understand."
She turned and left.
Zhang Heng angrily said: "You damn hunchback..."
He kicked over, and Yan Shiyue jumped up lightly to get out of the way, pointing at him and saying, "The guards are fighting privately, disrupting the army and slandering the army. According to the law, they should be executed!"
Zhang Heng said angrily with his nostrils flaring: "Who do you think you are? How dare you kill me! I must teach you a lesson today!"
See, that's why she hated him.
It's not just because he barks all the time, the key is that his father always brings up the "Seventeen Prohibitions" with an air of being righteous and carrying the banner very well, but when someone says something to him, he gets so angry as if his ancestral grave has been dug up, as if these Seventeen Prohibitions are only applicable to his family.
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