The voice sounded unfamiliar, and Lin Yinan couldn't remember who it was.
Unable to sleep, she simply sat up, grabbed a handful of her messy hair, and...
"Qianwu, who's outside?"
Upon hearing that Lin Yinan had woken up, Qianwu quickly pushed open the door and came in.
"Girl, you're awake."
Who were you talking to just now?
Qianwu smiled, her eyes crinkling, "It's the second young lady of the Yun family."
It took Lin Yinan a while to come to her senses and finally remember who the second young lady of the Yun family was.
"Yun Ying, what does she want with me?"
As Qianwu helped her get dressed, she said, "I don't know. When I asked her, Miss Yun always kept her head down and didn't say anything."
Lin Yinan took the clothes from her hands.
"I'll do it. You go and call her in. Don't let her catch a cold outside."
A moment later, Qianwu led Yunying into the house.
Yunying glanced at Lin Yinan furtively, then lowered her head, not daring to look at her again.
The older siblings are decisive and efficient, but when it comes to the little girl, she seems a bit timid, which is quite unlike a child raised in a military family.
Lin Yinan tried to soften her tone, "What brings you here?"
Yunying looked up and down several times, as if she found it difficult to speak.
Lin Yinan put on her socks and prepared to get out of bed; she didn't have time to waste with the little girl.
"If you don't tell me, I'm leaving."
Just then, my stomach started growling loudly from hunger.
Yunying blushed even more upon hearing this. She bit her lip hard and mustered her courage to say, "Sister Lin, I... I want to learn martial arts."
"Oh, why do you want to learn martial arts?"
Lin Yinan asked her with great interest, "You have two older brothers and sisters, so you don't need to work so hard."
Yunying's handkerchief was already twisted into a pretzel, and she looked at Lin Yinan with a firm gaze.
I want to be as good as you!
"Learning martial arts is tough and tiring."
"I'm not afraid!"
The girl was very determined, and Lin Yinan didn't know how to refuse her for a moment.
Such a delicate young lady from an official family might give up after a couple of days of learning, which conveniently lowers the difficulty of my training, and it's quite boring to be alone anyway.
She glanced at the clothes the little girl was wearing, then hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but didn't.
"Okay, then come find me again tomorrow at 5:00 AM."
Yunying bowed deeply to her gratefully, "Thank you, Sister Lin."
After seeing Yunying off, Qianwu brought her food: a bowl of not-too-thick porridge with minced meat, which tasted delicious, but also had some rough, scratchy mixed flour pancakes.
Lin Yinan quickly rinsed her mouth, picked up the pancake and started eating it in big bites. With a good appetite, she felt that the mixed flour pancake wasn't so bad.
Halfway through the meal, there was a knock on the door.
Qianwu opened the door, and standing there were Liu Ji and his sister. Perhaps they had just returned from outside, because Liu Yu's little face was red from the cold.
After welcoming the brother and sister into the house, Liu Ji stood in front of Lin Yinan and bowed deeply to her.
"Sister Lin, I'd like to give you the horse I got yesterday."
Lin Yinan swallowed the pancake in her mouth with difficulty, and then drank some porridge to make the pancake in her esophagus slide into her stomach faster.
She looked up at him, puzzled. "What are you thinking?"
Liu Ji was open-minded, with clear, bright, and resolute eyes.
“Sister Anan’s family has helped my brother and me a lot. With an extra horse, my brother and I simply can’t support it right now, and we might not be able to protect it when we go out in the future. I didn’t help much yesterday, so this horse originally belonged to Sister Anan.”
"Okay, then I'll accept it. You can tell me if you encounter any difficulties in the future."
"I will."
After finishing their meal, Lin Yinan found Lin Shuo, who was repairing the livestock shed in the yard, and gave him some instructions. Lin Shuo praised Liu Ji as a quick-witted and intelligent person.
Lin Yinan wholeheartedly agreed.
"Something's wrong! There's trouble at the gate!" Lin Yisong rushed in from outside the courtyard and shouted when he saw the two people.
Lin Shuo put down what he was holding and looked at his second son, who was acting rashly, with displeasure. "What's the rush?"
"Those people in the woods were kneeling outside the gate, begging Master Yun to take them in," Lin Yisong said, panting.
Yunye is brave and resourceful; he would never let the magistrate's men in. Once Lin Yinan understood this, she was no longer worried.
"What did Second Master Yun say?"
"Master Yun told the guards to just do what they were supposed to do and not to pay any attention to them."
“Those people must have seen you come back last night and started causing trouble again.”
Lin Shuo said quietly, "I don't even have the mind to go out and watch the excitement."
The next day, Lin Yinan was surprised to find that Yun Ying was wearing the same black clothes as her, which looked like they were made to resemble her style.
It was quite thoughtful of Lin Yinan to test her, so she arranged a 15-minute physical training session for her, followed by military boxing and archery practice.
Unfortunately, Yunying was not strong enough to draw Lin Yinan's bow.
Yunying was deeply captivated by Lin Yinan's unparalleled archery skills.
Lin Yinan originally thought that Yun Ying would give up after one day, but Yun Ying endured the muscle soreness all over her body and came for three consecutive days.
On the fourth day, she also brought the bow and arrows that Yun Mo had found for her.
Seeing how serious she was, Lin Yinan decided not to slack off any longer and began to teach her carefully.
...
At the same time, a team of over a hundred people was traversing the snow-covered mountains and forests.
They were led by General Udahan, who came to find his younger brother, Udati, who had gone hunting a few days earlier.
"General, we've found traces of the young general and his men ahead," a scout reported on horseback.
Udahan brandished his whip and ordered, "Full speed ahead!"
The team struggled to walk on the knee-deep snow.
After walking for nearly an hour, suddenly, a wolf howled from the silent forest.
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