Xin Zhui came rushing in, all flustered. The moment he laid eyes on the empty bowl sitting beside Huo Ci’s hand, his brain just couldn’t catch up.
“General, why did you eat A-Yan’s longevity noodles?”
Before anyone could answer, he figured it out himself.
He slapped his palm. “Right! A-Xing is still in the General’s body right now. So doesn’t that mean the noodles went into the General’s stomach? What a waste!”
Huo Ci’s mouth twitched.
What kind of nonsense is that?! You’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you, kid!
Xin Zhui smacked his forehead. “Then I won’t make up for my birthday today. I’ll wait until A-Xing switches back, and we’ll celebrate together.”
Huo Ci’s eyes blazed so fiercely they could have shot fire. “Once this General switches back, the first thing I’m doing is transferring you to guard Shanhe Pass!”
Xin Zhui stomped his foot and tattled, “A-Xing, did you hear that? This is blatant revenge and targeting!”
Jiang Xingyan couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s ‘blatant,’ not ‘blatant.'”
The four of them bantered back and forth until a rooster crowed and the horizon began to glow with the pale light of dawn.
“Yun-ge, let’s go home.”
“Alright, whatever the young miss says.”
Xin Zhui and Huo Ci both fell silent, each nursing their own private sorrows.
Jiang Xingyan gently supported Yun Chunfeng’s arm, and the group made their way out of the supply camp together. The moment they stepped outside, they saw all the soldiers gathered together.
When they saw Jiang Xingyan emerge, they shouted in unison, “Happy birthday to Miss Jiang! May every year bring a day like today, and every year bring a morning like this!”
They repeated it three times before finally stopping.
Jiang Xingyan wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and scolded with a laugh, “I just stopped crying, and now you’re all making me cry again. Today I’m happy, so how about I give every soldier a red envelope?”
The soldiers grew even more excited, their voices booming louder: “Miss Jiang is mighty! Miss Jiang is generous!”
Jiang Xingyan laughed along with them.
That smile dazzled Huo Ci’s eyes.
“Today, I also have a big gift for everyone: pack up your things — we’re returning in triumph! We’re going home together!”
The soldiers’ tears came streaming down too.
For their comrades who had died on the battlefield or succumbed to grave wounds, they held a great fire outside Shanhe Pass, letting them return to dust and earth.
They only carried back soil stained red with blood.
Every soldier carried a packet on his back — a keepsake to bring home to their parents and loved ones.
Jiang Xingyan stood on the reviewing platform, counting the remaining soldiers of the Huo family army.
When they had set out, there had been a full hundred thousand. Now, only a little over seventy thousand remained.
Only they themselves knew that even this was the lightest casualties possible.
Among those seventy thousand-plus soldiers, nearly ten thousand had lost arms or legs — including Old Zhang.
He’d had half his body blown off.
If not for the timely rescue, he would have lost his life too.
Yet he bore not a trace of resentment, still joking around with the soldiers every day.
He told the best stories, and a crowd always followed him around, taking turns carrying him on a spring bench.
Lying on the spring bench, he hummed a tune from his hometown: “Not for office, not for rank, but for the Western Zhou’s realm and its people. This time I go to the field of battle — I’ll not slay the Northern Luo thieves, I’ll not return home!”
The soldiers all cheered him on.
But everyone knew that in the dead of night, he often wept softly.
He’d lost the lower half of his body, become a cripple, unable to carry on the family line. His mother would never hold a grandchild again.
Xiao Mi had returned from the battlefield with all his limbs intact.
But his life had been protected by five older brothers.
When the black powder struck, the brothers beside him had pressed him firmly beneath them until the enemy was driven back.
From that day on, Xiao Mi requested a transfer to the supply camp, no longer charging into battle.
Not because he feared death, but because he hadn’t yet fulfilled his duty to care for the parents and families of those five brothers. He didn’t dare die yet.
Only that young Zhao, who had just gotten engaged, had been blown to bits — nothing left but a pool of blood-soaked red earth.
“Take our brothers home!”
“Home!”
Huo Ci was deeply shaken. He had once thought that casualties were just that — something every soldier should be prepared for.
But A-Yan had shown him that every soldier was a living, breathing person.
They had their own joys and sorrows, their own families and friends who loved them.
The fact that they could step forward in the nation’s hour of crisis didn’t mean they could simply be allowed to die.
Their families deserved a proper accounting.
A single grain of sand from an era, when it falls on a person’s head, becomes a mountain.
Watching the Huo family army shout with earth-shaking vigor, Xiao Zhenhuai patted the stunned Xiao Chonghua.
“After we return to the capital, remember to keep it a secret.”
Xiao Chonghua nodded blankly.
He urgently needed to get back to the capital. How had a single battle left his brain so useless? He just couldn’t wrap his head around things.
For instance, that “secret” his second brother had just mentioned — he only understood what secret needed keeping when, on the road back to the capital, he saw Huo Ci, who had disguised himself in advance.
The great army marched in a mighty procession, returning in triumph.
When Xiao Ao received the news, his emotions were complicated.
“Huo Ci” had truly wiped out Northern Luo this time. For their Western Zhou, this was tremendous good news.
But over on the Great Xia side, they had suddenly closed the trade routes to Western Zhou, barring any Western Zhou subject from entering Great Xia.
They had even begun stationing troops along the border.
Could it be that Shangguan Hanshan truly couldn’t tolerate him, and wanted to annihilate Western Zhou entirely?
He had originally planned to find an excuse to take back military authority once Huo Ci returned victorious.
Now, looking at it, not only could he not seize the military authority — he would have to heap on generous rewards.
Otherwise, if Great Xia attacked, who could hold them off?
“Your Majesty, the Empress requests an audience outside the imperial study.”
Xiao Ao said impatiently, “Deny it!”
Su Sheng had no idea why Xiao Ao couldn’t even be happy about the annihilation of Northern Luo. He bowed even lower with greater deference:
“Your Majesty, the Empress has brought Princess Shi’an to pay her respects. The Empress says she has prepared lotus leaf and lotus seed soup, which clears the heart and brightens the eyes. She begs Your Majesty to take care of the dragon body.”
Xiao Ao felt suspicious.
The Empress had always been extremely proper. Now that he’d said he wouldn’t see her, she still insisted — could she have some good idea?
“Let them in.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Before long, the Empress entered with the well-mannered Mu Shi’an.
“Your servant girl greets Your Majesty. May Your Majesty’s dragon body be healthy, and your fortune and longevity endure forever.”
“Shi’an, rise. It’s been a long time — you’ve grown into a young lady.”
Mu Shi’an remained respectfully kneeling on the ground: “Your servant girl has long failed to pay her respects to Your Majesty — that is already a grave offense. Your Majesty’s magnanimity in not holding your servant girl’s negligence against her leaves your servant girl endlessly grateful and fearful.”
Xiao Ao burst out laughing. “Look at that sharp tongue. I had intended to punish you, but now that you’ve said all that, I can’t bring myself to issue the decree. Get up and sit. There’s no one else here — the Empress is your aunt, and I am your uncle by marriage. Don’t be so formal.”
“Your servant girl wouldn’t dare.”
Mu Shi’an lowered her eyes and rose, settling gracefully beside the Empress.
The Empress’s face was full of smiles. “Your Majesty, Northern Luo’s destruction is truly tremendous good news. General Huo is young and accomplished, having rendered magnificent military service — his future is boundless. If Your Majesty doesn’t know how to bestow rewards, why not grant a marriage between General Huo and Shi’an? Then, when the time comes—”
Before the Empress could finish, she saw a fierce wariness and suspicion flash in Xiao Ao’s eyes.
Her heart lurched. She knew it was bad.
She had been too eager to fulfill her niece’s admiration for Huo Ci, and to draw Huo Ci into her son’s camp.
But she had forgotten that His Majesty already feared the civil officials’ faction led by her father, and was deeply wary of Huo Ci’s military authority.
Now, she was trying to unite the two forces he most guarded against — wasn’t that courting death?
A layer of cold sweat broke out on the Empress’s forehead.
She forced herself to stay calm.
If she panicked, it would only drag her son down with her.
“When the time comes — what? Why has the Empress stopped speaking?”
Xiao Ao’s gaze turned dangerous.
Suddenly, inspiration struck the Empress. She smiled and said, “When the time comes, I’ll adopt Shi’an as my own, have her change her surname to Xiao, and then summon Huo Ci as the imperial son-in-law. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Hasn’t Your Majesty always lamented having only five half-grown boys and no dear daughter? Well, hasn’t your daughter arrived?”
