Youth never returns
In the twelfth year of the Renzhao reign, Qingyan fell. Jinbei was transferred eastward to control Nanzhou. Later, the emperor ordered Tang Qi, son of the Marquis of Jianbei, to lead an eastern expedition to assist Jinbei in defeating the Nanzhou army. The following month, the Nanzhou army crossed Qingyan and attacked the Shuo border. Jinbei went into hiding, and Langce was besieged. The defending general, Tang Qi, requested reinforcements, but to no avail. He led his troops in a desperate resistance, and a month later, Langce's army trapped and killed Kaqiu. — *Shuoli* (Book of the Months)
At the Marquis of Jianbei's residence, Tang Yan was drying herbs. The snow of December had long since turned into spring in February. She and her mother had spent a rather quiet New Year. Perhaps it is true that people are different year after year, because Tang Yan was much calmer than usual.
She's the kind of person who only has a short attention span and no patience for many things, but once she picks up a medical book, she never puts it down. Even during the months her brother was away from home, Tang Yan devoted herself entirely to it.
The most important aspect of medical texts is practical application. Thanks to Tang Mian's prestige and her own lively personality, Tang Yan had established herself in various pharmacies in Luocheng from a young age. She even apprenticed under masters, personally learning from them. It could be said that Tang Yan's pharmacological knowledge was nurtured through the kindness of many. Before, whenever she went out, she would go up the mountain to identify herbs and prepare prescriptions. Qin Jianzhi always joked that she was becoming a medicine slave, but Tang Yan would simply put her hands in her pockets and say, "Then let all those herbs come to me!" After all, that was exactly what she wanted.
Qin Jianzhi didn't ask, and Tang Yan didn't speak, but they understood better than anyone else. Tang Yan hated joining the army, and hated the battlefield even more; it had taken her father away forever. But what could she do? Her brother loved it.
She didn't want her brother to go to war, but she wanted him to be happy.
So Tang Yan began reading scriptures and learning how to heal and save lives. She couldn't help her brother on the battlefield, but off the battlefield, she wanted to be his support. If one day her brother were to lie wounded and in a hospital bed like their father, she wanted to fight for his life, at least until he was sentenced to death.
But she didn't live to see that day.
When the news of the entire Wolf Strategy Army's southern camp being wiped out reached her, Tang Yan was completely stunned. Even after seeing the coffin parked at the door, she still felt that it was a cruel joke played by fate.
But fate isn't that bored.
“…I’m sorry.” Xuan Hejun returned with the coffin. Ye Jin sat on her horse, her voice filled with guilt: “It was too late when I received the news and rushed over. I didn’t know…I really didn’t know.”
Guilt can drive even the noblest to suicide.
"No..." Tang Yan actually wanted to say something to comfort her, but she couldn't say anything.
She moved over almost numbly. The coffin was just a step away, but Tang Yan's feet seemed to be nailed to the spot. She wondered if she could continue to pretend that nothing had happened if she didn't look.
However, Tang Yan still decided to go see her, just like Tang Qi did when she went to see Tang Mian lying in the coffin. She was resolute and determined, as the same blood flowed in the blood of the two siblings.
Unexpectedly, she didn't see Tang Qi; there were only a few bloodstained fragments of armor lying inside.
Tang Yan clutched her chest, feeling a long sigh of relief as if she had been saved.
No bodies, that's good.
Does the absence of bodies mean there is still hope?
“My brother,” Tang Yan raised her head and looked at Ye Jin again, her eyes flashing, “Sister Ye, if we haven’t found my brother’s body, does that mean he might still be alive?”
Ye Jin didn't give the answer she wanted to hear, but instead turned her head to the side with a look of extreme reluctance: "I'm sorry."
Tang Yan paused, Ye Jin's subsequent words shattering the little hope that had just arisen within her.
"Even if ten thousand horses trample him, I cannot bring him back."
The air was silent for nearly three seconds, then Tang Yan's desperate voice echoed: "What do you mean by 'trampled by ten thousand horses'! I don't believe it! How could this be... How could my brother... Why... Wasn't it just a relief effort? Why are they all dead... Why!"
Tang Yan was held tightly by Ye Jin, crying desperately, as if her life depended on it. In just a few months, she had lost her father and brothers.
Perhaps the screams were too painful, because in a house in Cangzhou, hundreds of miles away from Luocheng, a man whose body was wrapped in bandages suddenly woke up from a nightmare. The fear of surviving the ordeal made him vomit.
"Awake?" someone spoke beside me.
Tang Qi's bones ached, and when he tried to speak, his throat felt like it was being torn apart. He coughed a few times and struggled to breathe.
"If you can't speak, then rest. Your life was saved at a high price, it's very valuable."
Shen Zhiqing got up and placed the medicine next to him, then continued, "I'll go call Ye Qian over."
When Ye Qian pushed the door open and came in, Tang Qi was already sitting up and leaning against something. His arm was tied with a wooden board, his legs and feet were immobile, and half of his body was wrapped in bandages, making him look extremely disheveled. But even so, when he saw Ye Qian come in, Tang Qi still smiled and said in a loud voice, "Long time no see."
"Long time no see?" He chuckled. "If we hadn't met soon, you would have lost your life in Cangzhou."
Ye Qian sat on the edge of the bed, preparing to get him medicine, but Tang Qi leaned over and reached out to grab it first. The movement was too big and pulled on his wound, causing a little blood to seep through the white cloth. Tang Qi tilted his head back and drank it all.
"It's a bit bitter." He frowned.
Ye Qian glanced at him without saying anything, but Shen Zhiqing, who brought in hot water, gave Tang Qi a clear look: "If you're going to kill yourself now, just spit out all the medicine I've given you. I'm not doing business at a loss."
Tang Qi turned the cup upside down and shook it, then shrugged and laughed, "It's all gone, not a drop is left."
He put down the cup and leaned back against it. The three people in the room sat in silence.
"How...how did you fall in Cangzhou? And how..." Ye Qian couldn't help but ask, but after a pause, he still didn't ask the second half of the question.
"How could he die?" Tang Qi smiled and finished the sentence for him.
Ye Qian nodded, his eyes looking at Tang Qi.
"Where is this? Has anyone else seen me besides the two of you?" Tang Qi asked.
“It’s my farmhouse in Cangzhou, which is quite remote. The medicine that saved you was bought by him. Don’t worry, no one else knows about it except him and me.”
When they encountered the seriously wounded and unconscious Tang Qi on the outskirts of Cangzhou, they had already heard the news that the entire Langce Southern Camp had been killed in battle, and that the Jianbei Marquis's mansion had even set up a mourning hall. So when they unexpectedly saw Tang Qi, they knew that something was amiss.
Shen Zhiqing made a quick decision and secretly helped Ye Qian send Tang Qi to this house. Tang Qi's bones were broken and the injury was very serious. Ye Qian did not dare to bring anyone to treat him, so he had to tie him up with a wooden board and bandages himself. It is said that long illness makes one a doctor, and with all these years, he can indeed be considered a half-doctor.
They only managed to stop Tang Qi's bleeding and temporarily save his life. Although he is awake now, his body is still very weak and his internal organs are in complete disarray. He has been relying on some nourishing herbs to keep him afloat these past few days.
"So what exactly happened?" Ye Qian asked.
"When you found me, did you see what was on my face?"
Ye Qian felt a chill run down his spine. At that time, there was indeed something else on his face. To be precise, half of someone else's face had fallen off and was covered in blood. The whole scene was terrifying.
“That’s a human skin mask,” Tang Qi continued. “Is the item still there?”
Shen Zhiqing gestured with her chin to indicate the direction: "It's soaking in water. Whose face is that?"
Tang Qi lowered his head, and Shen Zhiqing waited several seconds before hearing his voice: "Lin Zhengye, my subordinate. Also... Jiacuo's younger brother."
Where are the others?
"Dead, died in my place." He said in a hoarse voice, then laughed self-deprecatingly, "That's how I survived, isn't it ridiculous?"
He lowered his head and said to himself, "I find it ridiculous."
The people in the room fell silent again. Shen Zhiqing opened her mouth but said nothing. All the doubts she had had these past few days vanished under the weight of this particularly heavy fact.
"Then... how did the entire Langce Southern Camp die in battle?" Ye Qian asked.
Tang Qi swallowed hard, even a simple swallow felt like a knife cutting his throat: "Gyatso..." Tang Qi's throat bobbed as he said the name, and he took a deep breath and continued: "He and Zheng Ye knocked me unconscious and put Lin Zheng Ye's face on me. When I woke up, they were already dead."
He suddenly choked up, suppressed his trembling voice, and then said, "The rest of my brothers and I waited for the belated reinforcements."
"Xuanhe Army?" Ye Qian asked.
Tang Qi shook his head, his tone filled with hatred, and said, "It was Deng Ning, he led the Shenghui Army, and we followed him to prepare to retreat from Katyu."
He could barely hold back his tears, and could only try his best to keep his voice steady: "Just as we were about to leave Katyu, he led his troops to surround us."
Shen Zhiqing felt a chill run down her spine and was even a little afraid to continue listening.
“We were already a large number of wounded and dying soldiers at that time, and they did not spare a single one of us,” Tang Qi said, his eyes reddening, each word sounding like he was gritting his teeth. “Deng Ning seems to have a roster of our Wolf Strategy Army’s soldiers who went on the expedition. Every time they killed someone, they would take that person’s military tag and then cross that person’s name off the roster.”
"...to prevent anyone from escaping."
Ye Qian spoke with great distress, never imagining that Lang Cejun would experience such things before his death.
“Someone protected me; he was stabbed by Sheng Huijun’s sword.” Tang Qi continued calmly, “Blood splattered all over me.”
"Alright, that's enough."
When Shen Zhiqing spoke, she couldn't bear to listen anymore.
Tang Qi didn't stop: "But he still protected me. He smeared his blood on my face, pretending I was dead. Sheng Huijun moved him off me."
He chuckled again, saying mockingly, "I really am just like a dead man, completely still."
"They were tricked by me, and I escaped. Of all the people, only I survived."
Why was he able to fool Deng Ning? Because he was using Lin Zhengye's identity. Lin Zhengye was not in the Wolf Strategy Army, so he didn't have a military badge and wasn't on the military roster.
That's how he is—using someone else's identity, being protected by others, and becoming the only one alive in the world.
"Ye Qian, wouldn't it be better if he were dead?"
Tang Qi looked up, his expression blank, and said again, "But I dare not die."
“Zhong Le…”
"They all died because of me, so I must live. Live to seek justice for them, live to avenge them, live..."
He paused, seemingly unable to think of a third reason to live.
Tang Qi's current appearance made Ye Qian feel that he was determined to die, as if he would end his life at any moment.
“Your life is not worth so many people dying for you, Zhong Le. You underestimate them.” Ye Qian looked at him and said, “They died not for you, but for their ideals, and even more so for Da Shuo.”
Tang Qi can't bear the weight of so many lives on his shoulders; it will break him.
"Since we're still alive, we have to do what we should do as living beings do. The matter of Lang Cejun is not over yet."
No one can save someone who is determined to die, so he had to keep Tang Qi alive first. No matter what, he had to keep him alive so he wouldn't dare to die.
"What's going on with Ye Jin?" Ye Qian asked.
Tang Qi looked blank for a moment, as if she hadn't reacted yet: "Ye Jin? What happened to her?"
Ye Qian was stunned and asked him, "You didn't see Ye Jin? She brought your coffin... She brought back the news of the death of Lang Ce Nan Camp. She returned to the capital with Sheng Hui."
“How could that be? I only escaped after the Shenghui Army withdrew. I didn’t dare to go to Jingzhou with them, let alone return to Luocheng. I knew that Shen Zhiqing’s new granary was located in Cangzhou. Under those circumstances, I could only gamble on Cangzhou. I didn’t even see Ye Jin.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
