Chapter 84
"Is that even a question?" Si Yanmo raised her chin. "Would we have acted like this back at Wufeng Pass? Someone still doesn't trust me."
"Why not? When we were leaving that day..." He pulled her closer, whispering in her ear, his breath brushing against her neck, "Didn't you hug me like this too?"
Si Yanmo blushed immediately, amused by his words. "I...I was just trying to comfort you, okay? Besides, how...how are they the same?"
Her voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, until it was almost inaudible.
"How is it different?" Zhou Yanqing pretended not to understand anything and moved even closer to her, his lips almost touching her earlobe. "Isn't this how you hug someone?"
"Of course not!" She tried to push him away, but he grabbed her hand and kissed her. "Look at last time, there was nothing like that..."
"Oh, you mean this?" The man suddenly looked enlightened, and looked extremely irritating. "But I really wanted to do that back then too."
"Really...really?"
This was something she hadn't expected. Wasn't he testing her back then? How could that be?
"Take a guess?"
Seeing that Zhou Yanqing was still teasing her, Si Yanmo got really angry and pushed him away.
I won't guess!
Oh no, we've messed up!
Zhou Yanqing quickly tried to coax him in a gentle voice, "Oh, I was wrong, I was wrong, I just wanted you to guess."
As he spoke, he secretly reached out and pulled the person back. "I'm telling you, that's what I wanted to do back then."
"How could that be? We had only known each other for a short time back then."
His serious demeanor made Si Yanmo unable to tell if he was being genuine or not, but she felt it was unlikely and that he was probably just teasing her.
Zhou Yanqing held her hand tightly, their fingers intertwined, and said with even greater determination, "I really didn't lie to you. I should have done it back then. You're the first person to say those things to me. Amo, I think I realized my feelings too late."
“You…” Si Yanmo didn’t know what to say. It seemed that nothing she said could respond to his feelings. She just felt a bittersweet feeling in her heart.
This feeling was somewhat unfamiliar, but she didn't find it offensive.
She hesitated for a few seconds, then leaned on Zhou Yanqing's shoulder. "Have you ever thought that I'm not worthy?"
"No, no one deserves it more than you." He cupped her face in his hands, treasuring the girl before him. "And you? Would you hate it like this?"
Si Yanmo paused for a few seconds, nodded, then shook her head. "Before... I would have hated it. I didn't like this feeling of being out of control. But now..."
"What's wrong now?" The puppy's eyes were practically overflowing with expectation and unease.
"Now I feel... it's not so bad, nor so terrible. Maybe... it's not so bad."
The tension in his mind suddenly snapped, and Zhou Yanqing was enveloped in immense joy. He quickly pulled the woman closer around the waist, his eyes gleaming. "Are you telling the truth?"
Seeing her nod, he felt that everything had meaning, and he laughed foolishly. After a while, he buried his head in Si Yanmo's neck and rubbed against her like a puppy.
"No going back on your word."
"It seems there's no going back on this." Si Yanmo said, both amused and exasperated.
"Then you are not allowed to mention divorce."
"That depends on the situation."
"Amo!" The puppy got angry and bit her neck, but didn't bite hard, which made Si Yanmo laugh.
"Okay, okay, I'll try not to say it."
"Sooner or later I will make you willingly say that you will never leave me."
Hearing this, Si Yanmo pulled his head off her neck and rubbed his face, "Then good luck, little dog."
"Why are you calling it 'puppy' again?" Zhou Yanqing frowned.
You're like a puppy!
Oh well, let her yell if she wants to. As long as she's happy.
Under the moonlight, a young couple embraced tightly, while a boy sat under a tent, feeling lost about the future.
"Father, Mother, can I really do it?"
——
As Si Yanmo hurried toward the border, she realized just how vast the Qin region truly was.
Rumors circulated in the Southern Capital that the newly enthroned King of Qin had only been on the throne for a short time and had already expanded the territory, more than doubling the original land area of Qin.
Si Yanmo didn't go out often back then and didn't have much of a concept of travel. Now that she's started traveling, she realizes that it will take more than a month to reach the border.
She couldn't imagine how Sachi had managed to lead so many people this far.
The closer we got to the border, the colder it got, and snow had already started falling in several neighboring cities.
The fields were covered in snow, which hung on the trees, and at a glance, almost no other colors could be seen.
Everyone got off the carriage to rest, and Chen Wu and Sano started a charcoal fire together.
Si Yanmo stood in the snow, but instead of feeling excited about the snow, she looked at the unharvested grain not far away.
"I've heard about this freezing disaster for two months now, how come it's still snowing after all this time?"
Seeing that she was dressed lightly, Zhou Yanqing took a coat from the car and wrapped it around her, explaining, "Sak is cold for nine months of the year, otherwise he wouldn't have been coveting Qin territory all this time."
But this is only the border of Qin. Who knows what it will be like when we get to Sak?
A complex mix of thoughts welled up in Si Yanmo's mind. They came to help Sano, but what about the others? What about the people living here? Are they destined to live like this year after year, not even knowing if they'll ever have enough to eat?
Zhou Yanqing seemed to have seen through her thoughts and pulled her to sit by the charcoal fire to warm herself. "Don't worry, every year at this time, the granary department will send people to transfer some of the grain from the southern city to this area."
"What about Nasak?"
“In the past, the Southern Capital would provide disaster relief, but in the past two years, King Sak has been feared by the Southern Emperor, and the warehouse department has become increasingly lax.”
This matter is related to Zhou Yanqing. After Qin Zixiu died on the battlefield, he vowed to avenge his master and, after regrouping his troops, fought his way through the enemy lines.
At that time, Zhou Yanqing was unstoppable, but this also caused Sak, which was originally the farthest from the Southern Capital, to completely lose its border with the Southern Capital. In addition, when the current Sak King ascended the throne, he was unwilling to pay tribute to the Southern Capital, which caused the Southern Emperor to be dissatisfied and his support for Sak was not as good as before.
Now that the freezing weather has struck, the people of Sak are likely to suffer.
Perhaps this is why King Sak insisted on driving the Sawa people out?
As a member of the Uk tribe, he was supported by Uk nobles, so naturally he had to protect the interests of his own side.
It's just that innocent civilians are suffering.
Just then, a loud-voiced old woman carrying a basket walked over from a short distance away. Seeing the group, she greeted them warmly, "Oh dear, why are you still out here in such cold weather? Come on, my house is just a few hundred meters ahead."
Si Yanmo felt a little embarrassed by the old lady's enthusiasm and was about to refuse when Zhou Yanqing spoke first, "Auntie, we're just taking a rest and won't bother you any further."
“If you want to rest, you should definitely come to my place. It’s freezing cold, what’s the point of starting a fire?” The old woman simply pulled Chen Wu aside as he was adding firewood, and with her other hand she pulled Sano up, scolding the group like an elder, “Hurry up, come with me.”
The old woman was so overly familiar that Si Yanmo even began to doubt her identity. She secretly performed a divination for the old woman but found nothing amiss.
At this point, Zhou Yanqing couldn't refuse the old lady's request, so she gestured for Chen Wu and the others to put their things on the carriage and follow the old lady to her house.
The group had been sitting for too long and wanted to stretch their muscles, so instead of sitting in the carriage, they followed behind the old woman like little chicks, leaving a trail of tiny footprints in the snow.
Zhou Yanqing noticed her helplessness and smiled as she whispered an explanation, "Don't be afraid, everyone here is like this."
"Bringing a complete stranger home?" Si Yanmo was both amused and exasperated.
“It’s cold, and the area is sparsely populated, so we’ve learned to help each other out. They’ll even strike up a conversation if they think you might be too shy to speak up.” As he spoke, he pulled Si Yanmo’s hand over and gently stroked it to warm it up.
This piqued Si Yanmo's curiosity. "Aren't you afraid of running into bad people?"
Zhou Yanqing chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Where are there so many bad people?"
"There must be quite a few troublemakers here, maybe even some of Sack's spies."
Hearing her say that, Zhou Yanqing recalled the days when she and her master fought against the Sak people on the border.
"Yes, there are."
Sak's spies would indeed take advantage of the villagers' enthusiasm to cause trouble and then frame Qin.
He also asked these fellow villagers why they weren't more vigilant, knowing full well that someone might cheat them.
Do you know what they're saying?
As they walked, they soon came across a fence, followed by a rooftop covered in snow behind a tree.
Zhou Yanqing's mysterious demeanor made her even more curious. "What did they say?"
"They said they knew some people would deceive them, but they also knew some people would freeze or starve to death. What they feared more than being deceived was that if they didn't maintain this enthusiasm, one day when they too collapsed in the snow, no one would care about them."
It's cold enough here; if people's hearts also turn cold, then we really can't survive.
After hearing what he said, Si Yanmo couldn't help but look up at the old lady again.
The old woman's face was etched with deep lines from years of toiling in the wind and snow. Her eyes weren't large; whether hidden by wrinkles or because she always smiled, making it impossible to see the joy in them, Si Yanmo could still read a burning passion within them.
It was a clarity she had never seen in the eyes of others in her past life.
The old woman smiled and invited everyone into the house. Even though firewood was scarce in the winter, she still boiled some hot water for them to warm up.
"Your uncle went to town and won't be back for a while. Let's have a meal together when he gets back!"
Unable to refuse such hospitality, Zhou Yanqing knew that the old woman wouldn't let them leave if they didn't agree, so she gestured to Chen Wu to give the old woman some silver.
They had a long way to go, so they didn't take much with them, mostly just travel expenses.
Although it was snowing in the countryside and didn't offer much help to the family, it was still a small token of their goodwill.
Unexpectedly, before Chen Wu could make a move, it was Sano who took out silver and gave it to the old lady first.
"Auntie, we apologize for the inconvenience, and we didn't bring much with us. Here's some silver; please keep it to buy some food."
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