Chapter 13

After drinking Coptis root soup for more than half a month and enduring those dark, sunless days, my injuries essentially fully recovered. Liang Ji brought me my final bowl of medicine. I had just gotten used to this dynamic when he suddenly bid me farewell.

I stared at him, unable to process it immediately, and a sense of loss washed over me. “You’re leaving in such a hurry?”

He just smiled at me.

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

“Find me?” He seemed somewhat surprised, his face blank. After a moment of thought, he said, “I have no fixed abode. I go wherever I wish. As for the future, I couldn’t say for sure.”

Hearing those words, a sudden wave of disappointment hit me, yet I couldn’t articulate why.

His eyes held a smile, as clear and pure as ever. “If we are fated, we will naturally meet again.”

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

“Stop calling me General. Just call me Liu Min, or you can call me Amin.”

His smile hitched. The emotion that flashed in his eyes felt like ripples spreading across a calm lake, but the change happened so fast it seemed like an illusion. Complying, he called out, “Amin.”

I nodded, holding the horse’s reins. Not wanting to watch his retreating back, I tightened my grip on the reins, preparing to mount and leave.

“Amin.”

I turned back to look at him. Somehow, an amulet had appeared in his hand. Its surface was faded white, showing it was quite old.

“I have no worldly possessions and can offer nothing valuable. This is what the very first patient I treated gave me. You…”

I reached out my hand. He placed the amulet in my palm and folded my fingers over it, saying, “I wish you safety.”

With that, he turned, mounted his horse, cracked his whip, and rode away without lingering for a single extra glance.

I held the amulet in my hand, watching his retreating figure, feeling as if a breath was blocked in my chest.

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

Without him to chat with and relieve my boredom, the days grew predictably dull. Fortunately, I would soon be able to return to the military camp and train every day, which kept me fulfilled. I kept that amulet close to my body, occasionally taking it out to wonder if he had reached Yannan yet.

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

She mentioned my merit in protecting the Emperor and asked if I wanted any reward. Having woken up to find all her tonics and precious medicines delivered to my estate, I naturally didn’t dare ask for anything else.

After a long back-and-forth, she finally got to the main point. She said, “I didn’t get to hear General Liu’s answer last time. I wonder what your thoughts are regarding your marriage?”

My heart skipped a beat. Aunt Ji had finally stopped hounding me about matchmaking, why was someone else picking up the baton?

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

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

“I thank Your Majesty for your profound favor, but this subject’s ambition lies in serving the country, and I have no plans to start a family. If I were to marry and have children, I surely wouldn’t be able to…”

She cut me off. “You are not the only military general in the court. Furthermore, there is no war right now. If your lifelong affairs are delayed like this, *Zhen* will feel uneasy.”

She paused, her tone growing meaningful. “Or could it be that you already have someone in your heart, and that is why you don’t want *Zhen* to arrange a marriage?”

I suppose that was an excuse. I braced myself and said, “Your Majesty is wise. This subject indeed… already has someone in my heart.”

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

Who is it? How was I supposed to know?

A figure suddenly popped into my mind, but I felt it would be ungracious to name him—biting the hand that fed me. Besides, I couldn’t even find him.

But if I couldn’t find him, didn’t that make it the perfect excuse to avoid marriage?

While I was agonizing over this, Huang Yue asked, “Could it be Wenmu?”

I was startled and looked at her. Her eyes were curved in a smile, revealing no emotion. “Ever since you returned in triumph, Wenmu constantly mentions you in *Zhen’s* ear. *Zhen* thought that since you fought side by side and shared life and death, it would only be natural for affections to grow.”

“Sharing life and death is true, and the bond is true. But Young General Ji and I only share a fifteen-year bond of comradeship and 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 widened her eyes slightly, her gaze locking onto me unblinkingly, as if meticulously examining the truth of my words.

I put on my most sincere expression, unflinchingly letting her inspect me.

After a long while, she looked at me with a faint, unreadable smile. “*Zhen* was actually thinking of arranging a marriage between you two. It seems I almost played the mismatched matchmaker.”

Cold sweat broke out on my forehead. That was a really close call.

I lowered my head. Faintly, I thought I heard a sigh. Peeking up quietly, I saw that the faint smile on Huang Yue’s face was gone, replaced by a deep, complex expression.

She seemed relieved, yet also as if she had been enveloped by a much larger vexation.

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

I didn’t dare disturb her. A long time passed before I heard her murmur, “What am I supposed to do with him?”

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

The white bird flew out from some bush and darted straight out of the palace.

Remembering that I was still there, she concealed her dazed expression and waved her hand for me to leave.

I bowed and was about to withdraw when she called out to me again. “General Liu, if you were extremely fond of that white bird just now, would you carefully raise it in captivity, or would you let it fly free?”

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

“Wouldn’t having someone care for them constantly be more proper? Leaving them alone out there, they face constant danger.”

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

Instantly, Huang Yue looked much more exhausted, as if her vitality had been drained. She permitted me to leave. As I walked back, I carefully chewed over that conversation and suddenly woke up.

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