Chapter 126: Gu Jie
When Wen Yao turned around and returned to the military tent, Zhao Xuanxu was standing by the door. Qianying was beside him, speaking to him with a solemn expression, but Zhao Xuanxu stared at the sky, his brows and eyes distant. His right hand dropped to his side, and he gently twirled his thumb and middle finger. It was unclear whether he had heard anything. Wen Yao landed and walked in quietly. Before Qianying could react, Zhao Xuanxu turned his head and looked at Wen Yao.
"Ah Yao." His expression of indifference vanished, transforming into a shimmering tenderness, his face visibly filled with joy. Qianying, standing by, closed her mouth, nodded at Wen Yao, and then silently withdrew.
"I have good news. You'll definitely be happy to hear it." Zhao Xuanxu walked over to Wen Yao and took out a letter from his sleeve. "The blood-killing Gu that Xin Man refined for Jiang Qiaosheng has reached perfection. Wang Fu is taking care of it. It has already cleared a thread of the ghost lantern."
This is very good news indeed.
Wen Yao took the letter and read it, then raised his eyebrows and laughed: "That's great!"
Zhao Xuanxu nodded, his unrestrained hair gently swaying behind him. He was born with a beauty that was sharp and heavy, without any neutrality, and would not make people confuse his gender. At this moment, his eyebrows were pressed against his eyes, his back was facing the skylight outside, and his appearance was strange and beautiful. Wen Yao didn't judge people by their appearance before. It was really because she had spent too much time in the rainforest and grassland in her previous life. She saw more lions than people, and thought tigers were more beautiful than people. But now, she kept squinting at Zhao Xuanxu, and felt that His Royal Highness Prince Yan was handsome no matter how she looked at him.
Our ancestors were right. It is true that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. And this is the real Xi Shi, Zhao Xi Shi.
However, Xijin City was quite far away, and even if she rode there and back at full speed, it would still take her some time to leave the tent. Zhao Xishi didn't know when she arrived, so after waiting for a while, she should have known that she had left the city.
Even so, Zhao Xuanxu didn't ask anything. He simply lowered his head and gazed at Wen Yao in silence. While Prince Yan was surly and gloomy, he showed no signs of shrewdness in front of Wen Yao, letting her manipulate him. It was always like that.
He stared at Wen Yao for a while, and seeing that she really didn't want to say where she was going, he stopped asking. He just slowly reached out and touched Wen Yao's arm, sliding down along the fabric, his five fingers firmly entwined with Wen Yao's fingers, and led her to sit aside.
Wen Yao's hair was a little messy after the hurried journey. Zhao Xuanxu naturally took out a pink comb from his sleeve, and gently and delicately straightened Wen Yao's hair with his fingers, then combed her hair from top to bottom.
Wen Yao's hair was smoothed down, and he squinted his eyes comfortably. Suddenly, he said, "I didn't kill Yelu Duhan yesterday."
"Yeah." Zhao Xuanxu's eyes curved up, with a slight smile: "What does Ah Yao want to say?"
Wen Yao placed his hands on his legs and tilted his head slightly: "I didn't kill him because I had my own considerations, not because I was interested in him."
"Yes, Ah Yao only loves me, I know." Zhao Xuanxu focused his eyes on his hands. His slender, white fingers with light calluses lifted Wen Yao's hair and said, "Just do what you want, but it's best not to hide it from me. I can usually guess that you are hiding something, and I know you are capable, but I still worry."
"Ayao, if you feel sorry for me, please don't make me worry, okay?"
"You..." Are you pointing at me?
Wen Yao laughed, raised her hand to hold Zhao Xuanxu's wrist, and patted it gently: "Come here, lean your ear over here, I'll tell you a secret."
Zhao Xuanxu embraced Wen Yao from behind. After being with her, his scent was very quiet, just a soft scent mixed with soap, which was incompatible with his first impression. Wen Yao felt a little emotional and leaned close to Zhao Xuanxu's ear, whispering a secret that she had never told anyone in this world.
"Zhao Xuanxu, I have memories from my previous life. I wasn't from here in my previous life."
In this era of slash-and-burn agriculture and the prevalence of cold weapons, many people believed in spirits and gods, believing in fate, destiny, and reincarnation. However, Wen Yao discovered that most of these staunch believers were ordinary people. Those at the pinnacle of power, who wielded power, rejected spirits and gods, and the idea of fate. She also knew that Zhao Xuanxu didn't believe in these gods and ghosts, because as a child, a Taoist priest had read his fortune and given him a name, and he had a certain dislike for wandering sorcerers.
But now Zhao Xuanxu had clearly taken it in. His hand, gently resting on Wen Yao's shoulder, suddenly tightened with such force that Wen Yao felt pain. In an instant, Zhao Xuanxu loosened his grip and shifted from kneading to caressing, gently rubbing the painful area and whispering, "In your previous life? Were you dead?"
He couldn't help but speak with anger: "Is there someone——"
Wen Yao knew he was mistaken and quickly replied, "No, no, I haven't died. One night, I was sleeping in my bed, and when I opened my eyes, I found myself here. Lying in the alley in the middle of winter, I almost starved to death."
Zhao Xuanxu's palm remained motionless on Wen Yao's shoulder, his breathing lightly suppressed. "You said you came suddenly, so will you leave suddenly?"
"To be honest, I didn't know it before. I was still waiting for a while, and I didn't take the things that happened to the people around me to heart. But now I have a feeling that I will never leave in this life." Wen Yao turned around and pressed the back of Zhao Xuanxu's neck, gently pulled him down, leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. The moment their warm and soft lips touched, they separated, and their breaths lingered.
Wen Yao smiled: "I just figured it out these past two days. It turns out that God sent me here to save the world."
"I don't need you to save me." Zhao Xuanxu interrupted Wen Yao: "Just take care of yourself." He was so smart that he obviously thought of what Wen Yao had just done outside, and it was inevitable that he would connect it with what Wen Yao was saying now. His heart rose to his throat, and his brows became gloomy.
"Ayao, you can hide it from me, but don't do anything dangerous." Zhao Xuanxu spoke each word with a calm and serious expression. It was obvious that he was not joking anymore. He said with great deterrence: "Otherwise, I will lock you up."
...Boyfriend, this kind of sexy word is not suitable for you to say.
Wen Yao was not afraid at all and laughed out loud.
After she finished laughing, she held up her face and murmured, "That's what I said."
She's a seasoned veteran, seeking profit and avoiding harm a lifelong instinct that has carried her from her youth to the present day. She's not great, not a hero with a heart of gold and boundless righteousness. She's the most narrow-minded person, caring only about those around her. As for others, she'll at best avoid actively harming them, offering assistance where she can.
But humans aren't plants or trees, so who can be heartless? Wen Yao has made so many friends here, traveled so many places, and eaten the food grown on this land. Take, for example, the old woman who sold her and Zhao Xuanxu combs, and the vendor selling steamed green rice dumplings in Gusu City—who isn't a living, breathing person? Who doesn't have their own hopes in life?
They are the weakest, and fate is the cruelest to them. When the powerful rulers of the world stir up the storm, these ordinary people with lives as floating as duckweed will not know where to go.
Wen Yao looked at Zhao Xuanxu again. Zhao Xuanxu was born into a royal family. Although he had the misfortune of having mad parents as a child, after all, he had enjoyed the blessings of this era. There was a give and take, and since some things had now, by chance, fallen on her and Zhao Xuanxu's shoulders, they had to step up and not back down.
She thought for a moment and said, "Bei Liao and Tian Shui have coexisted for a hundred years and fought for many years. Many of the former Tian Shui cities are now within Bei Liao territory, and Xijin is just one of them. Although the people here speak the Tian Shui dialect, they don't consider themselves Tian Shui people. They are closely connected to the Bei Liao people and cannot escape the connection. However, the Bei Liao nobles treat these people badly and don't regard them as human beings."
"Yelü Duhan, at least he lived in Bianliang for so many years. Now look at Xijin City, he governs it pretty well." Wen Yao said, "If he becomes the emperor of Northern Liao, people like the people of Xijin should have a better life. They won't be divided into different classes and oppressed by layers of oppression."
Nomadic and agricultural peoples have always had friction. Peaceful coexistence is only possible when their cultures converge. Judging from the current situation, Yelu Duhan is that intersection.
Wen Yao looked at Zhao Xuanxu and said in a relaxed tone, "I heard that Yelu Anduan has brought 300,000 troops to Xijin Prefecture and will also take the field. Northern Liao has two commanders. Killing either one will be a deterrent. Let's start with Yelu Anduan."
"Okay." Zhao Xuanxu hugged Wen Yao tightly from behind, and agreed to whatever Wen Yao said. But his stubbornness surged again, and he emphasized to Wen Yao again and again, "You can do whatever you want, but you can't hurt yourself and you can't leave me."
"Haha..." This kid, why is he still lingering on about it even though she's already changed the subject. Wen Yao doesn't lie easily. Her eyes slowly drifted from Zhao Xuanxu's face to the top of his head, and she softly replied, "Yeah."
*
Over the next two or three days, both Tianshui and Northern Liao assembled their armies for battle. Yelu Anduan brought 300,000 troops, while Zhongli He also used the tiger talisman to mobilize 200,000 troops from several of his commanding armies. Tensions on both sides grew even more intense.
Wen Yao hadn't been outside for days. Instead, she practiced archery on the training grounds, wearing the wrist guard Zhao Xuanxu had hand-sewn for her the previous year. She hadn't received any systematic training, mastering all manner of weapons on her own. From one arrow to three in a row, she could fire in a matter of seconds, leaving the instructors nearby stunned.
"Commander Wen!" Someone rushed in. "A caravan is parked outside, and they want to see you."
Wen Yao plucked the bowstring and tossed it aside. His clear, clean features were covered with a thin layer of sweat, and he asked with eagerness, "Who?"
A middle-aged man with a handsome appearance was brought up. He was dressed like a wealthy merchant, but he was not at all panicked in the military camp. He raised his hand to salute Wen Yao, and the mountain and cloud pattern on his cuffs was clearly visible.
So fast?
Wen Yao raised an eyebrow and waved to the people around her to get out. She led the man into the tent and said, "Thank you for your hard work. You must have come here in a hurry."
"It's not hard. We first took a boat, covering a thousand miles a day." The man carefully pulled a wooden box from his sleeve, which had an ingenious lock. He exhaled and said, "I'm finally able to see you, my lord. I've lived up to your trust."
Wen Yao took the wooden box, channeling her inner energy with a gentle squeeze. The seemingly sturdy copper lock snapped in half. She looked at the object lying quietly inside the box: a square token, its center a deep black. The fierce Saker Falcon's claws were sharp, its feathers fully spread, a majestic and imposing presence.
Wen Yao closed the box and saluted the man: "Thank you so much, it's hard work."
The military camp was a strategic location, so it wasn't advisable to stay there for long. The man brought the items to Wen Yao and was soon led away. He hadn't only brought this wooden box; to conceal his whereabouts, he had brought a variety of other things, including a letter from Jiang Qiaosheng.
This girl has been reborn, and her handwriting shows that she is very proud. She asked Wen Yao to wait for her, and she would go kill Feng Jimin first to avenge her previous humiliation, and then come to help Wen Yao kill Yelu Duhan.
After many twists and turns, Jiang Qiaosheng finally realized that Wen Yao's heart was entirely with Zhao Xuanxu. Lou Chengyi had escaped and become Yelu Duhan, completely eliminating her chance to compete with Zhao Xuanxu. She also completely disregarded their childhood friendship and gleefully helped Wen Yao devise a hundred ways to kill Yelu Duhan, completely forgetting the bargain she had made with him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
