Chapter 13

After drinking Coptis root soup for over half a month and enduring a dark and sunless half month, my injury had basically fully recovered. Liang Ji brought me the final bowl of medicine. I had grown accustomed to this mode of interaction, yet he suddenly came to bid me farewell.

I stared at him, unable to react for a moment, feeling a sense of loss. “Leaving in such a hurry?”

He simply smiled at me.

I sighed. “You have your ambitions, so I won’t keep you. It’s just, how will I find you in the future? You won’t stay in Yannan forever, will you?”

“Find me?” He seemed somewhat surprised, his face showing a blank expression. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I have no fixed residence. I go wherever I want. As for the future, even I can’t say for sure.”

Hearing this, I felt an abrupt sense of disappointment, yet couldn’t articulate why.

His eyes carried a smile, still pure and clear. “If fate allows, we will naturally meet again.”

I escorted him to the city gates. He said, “Even if you escort someone a thousand miles, there must ultimately be a parting. General, seeing me off to here is enough.”

“Stop calling me General. Just call me Liu Min. Or you can call me A’min.”

His smile paused. The emotion revealed in his eyes actually felt like ripples disturbing the surface of a calm lake. But the change was so fast, it seemed like an illusion. He followed my request and called out, “A’min.”

I nodded, holding my horse’s reins. I didn’t want to look at his retreating back, so I tightened my grip, preparing to mount my horse and leave.

“A’min.”

I turned to look at him. A peace amulet had appeared in his hand at some point. The surface was already faded and whitened, looking as if it had quite a few years on it.

“I have no worldly possessions and can produce nothing of value. This was given to me by the very first patient I treated. You…”

I reached out my hand. He placed the peace amulet in my palm, closed my fingers over it, and said, “Wishing you peace.”

After saying that, he turned, mounted his horse, whipped his crop, and rode away without lingering for another glance.

I held the peace amulet tightly. Watching his departing figure, it felt as if my chest was blocked by a breath of air.

“I was a step too slow, and I actually let him walk away first.”

Without him chatting with me to relieve my boredom, my days were indeed much duller. Fortunately, I would soon be able to return to the military camp. Daily training would keep me fulfilled. The peace amulet was kept close to my body. Whenever I thought of it, I’d take it out to look at it, wondering if he had reached Yannan yet.

A month after he left, Huang Yue summoned me into the palace.

She mentioned I had merits in protecting the Emperor and asked if there was any reward I desired. Ever since I regained consciousness, I knew the tonics and medicines she had sent to my manor were plenty, so naturally, I didn’t dare ask for anything more.

After going back and forth for a long time, she finally cut to the chase. She said, “Last time, I didn’t get to hear General Liu’s answer. I wonder what thoughts you have regarding your marriage?”

My heart skipped a beat. Aunt Ji had finally stopped hounding me with blind dates; why had it switched to someone else?

Was me not getting married really such an earth-shattering issue?

“How about *Zhen* selects a marriage for you from within the court?”

“Thank you for Your Majesty’s profound favor. It’s just that this subject’s ambition is to serve the country, and I have no plans to start a family. If I were to marry and have children, I certainly couldn’t continue like this…”

She interrupted me. “There isn’t only one military general in the court. Furthermore, there are no wars at present. If your lifelong matter is delayed because of this, *Zhen* will feel uneasy.”

She paused, her tone becoming meaningful. “Or could it be that you already have someone in your heart, which is why you do not want *Zhen* to arrange a marriage?”

That could count as a reason. I bit the bullet and said, “Your Majesty is wise. This subject indeed… already has someone in her heart.”

Huang Yue looked intrigued. Twirling the jade tassel at her waist, she asked, “Who is it?”

*Who is it?* How should I know?

A figure suddenly popped into my mind, but I felt that naming him wouldn’t be very kind, somewhat like biting the hand that fed me. Besides, I couldn’t even find him anyway.

But wouldn’t not being able to find him serve perfectly as a reason not to get married?

While I was torn, Huang Yue asked me, “Could it be Wenmu?”

I was startled and looked at her. She narrowed her eyes in a smile, not revealing a hint of her true thoughts. “Since your triumphant return, Wenmu has constantly mentioned you in *Zhen*’s ear. *Zhen* thought that since you fought side by side and shared life and death, it is perfectly natural for some affections to have developed.”

“Sharing life and death is true, and the affection is true as well. But Little General Ji and I only have fifteen years of comradeship, of brotherhood. There are absolutely no romantic feelings between us.”

I couldn’t drag Ji Wenmu down with me. He still loved Huang Yue; how could I let Huang Yue betroth him to me?

“Oh?”

Huang Yue opened her eyes slightly, her gaze falling squarely upon me, as if carefully scrutinizing the truth of my words.

I put on my most sincere expression and let her examine me without dodging.

After a long while, she looked at me with a half-smile. “*Zhen* was even thinking of arranging a marriage for the two of you. It seems I almost matched the wrong mandarin ducks.”

Cold sweat broke out on my forehead. It really was close.

I lowered my head. Vaguely, I seemed to hear a sigh. Peeking over quietly, the half-smile on Huang Yue’s face had vanished, replaced by a deep and complex expression.

She seemed relieved, yet also as if enveloped by an even greater vexation.

She just stared at the high palace walls, lost in thought.

I didn’t dare disturb her. A long time passed before I heard her murmur as if in a dream, “What am I going to do with him.”

That sentence was clearly not meant for my ears, and I didn’t reply. She seemed to have forgotten I was even there until a white bird startled her back to reality.

The white bird flew out from some unknown bush, darting straight toward the outside of the palace.

She finally remembered I was still beside her. Putting away her dazed expression all at once, she waved her hand to let me leave.

I bowed to take my leave, but she called out to me again. “General Liu, if you extremely loved that white bird just now, would you carefully raise it in captivity, or let it fly freely everywhere?”

I turned back. “To answer Your Majesty, it depends on what kind of bird the white bird is. If it’s a sparrow, naturally keeping it in captivity is better. But if it is a hawk or a falcon, they belong to the sky and freedom.”

“Wouldn’t having someone care for it at all times be more secure? Letting them wander alone outside means they could face danger at any time.”

“Your Majesty’s words are reasonable. It depends on what Your Majesty desires. A falcon that loses its wild nature is no longer a falcon; it becomes no different from a sparrow.”

Instantly, Huang Yue looked much more fatigued, as if her spirit had been drawn out of her. She dismissed me. As I walked back, I carefully pondered the conversation we just had, and suddenly woke up.

She wasn’t talking about a bird at all; she was talking about Ji Wenmu!