“As long as you're alive... I'll do whatever you ask me to in the future... I promise I'll never make you angry again...”
“My lady, I was wrong. I was really wrong... I shouldn't have said that a man should have multiple wives and concubines. I shouldn't have spent my days philandering... I shouldn't have quarreled with you and made you angry...”
The rotten leaves slipped under his feet, and the rough bark scraped across his arms, but He Muhao held the person on his back even tighter.
“When you recover, we'll return to the capital. I'll definitely dismiss all the others... I'll only stay with you. Only you!”
A hot tear splashed onto the withered leaves. He almost gritted his teeth as he said,
“You said you wanted to see the misty rain in the south of the Yangtze River and the lone smoke on the vast desert... I'll accompany you. We'll go everywhere!”
“I... I've only loved you in my whole life. You can't die!”
By the end, this usually suave young master was howling like a child.
“Save... your strength...” A weak voice came from his back. It was faint but full of the familiar hint of disdain. “Your crying... sounds so awful...”
He Muhao trembled all over and almost fell to his knees. “You're awake? How do you feel?”
“I'm fine... it's just...” The person on his back softly uttered a word. “Hungry...”
“Okay... okay!” This simple word made He Muhao's eyes instantly turn red.
He almost excitedly quickened his steps. “Wanting to eat means you're getting better. Wanting to eat means you're going to be okay! I'll take you down the mountain right away, and we'll go back to the city for a meal!”
...
Wan Mo opened her eyes three days later.
In her hazy vision, there was not only He Muhao but also Li Wanming and Xiao Jingnan...
Li Wanming was astonishingly thin. Her pointed chin made her eyes look especially big, and there were dark circles under them.
On Xiao Jingnan's pale and gaunt cheeks, there was a bloodstain about an inch long, starting from his cheekbone and extending into his temple. The wound had scabbed over, obviously not a fresh injury.
What... was going on?
Wasn't her younger sister in Qingzhou? And wasn't Xiao Jingnan at Longji Pass?
Why were they all in front of her?
Could it be that she was already dead, and everyone was now reunited in the underworld?
Wan Mo was shocked and struggled to sit up.
Her movement startled He Muhao, who was sitting by the bed with bloodshot eyes.
“You're awake?”
Just as Wan Mo was about to speak, He Muhao jumped up and shouted excitedly as he ran outside, “Eldest sister! My wife is awake!”
Hey...
Wan Mo thought helplessly, You should at least tell me what's going on first...
“Second sister!”
Li Wanming took a big step forward and tightly grasped her hand. Her eyes were red. “How are you? Do you feel better? Does the wound on your body still hurt? You don't know. You had a high fever for three days. It scared us to death!”
Wan Mo frowned slightly. Her throat was dry and painful. She reluctantly raised her hand and pointed at Xiao Jingnan. Her voice was hoarse. “Him... you all...”
“We...” Xiao Jingnan knew her confusion and was about to answer when Zhao Yanke suddenly popped out from behind him, took a big bite of the white pear in his hand, and the juice splashed everywhere. “Second sister, I've got good news for you. We won the battle!”
Won...
Won?!!
Wan Mo was stunned for a while before she realized what he was saying.
They had won this battle in the southern border?!!
“As I said, we still have to rely on our Boss Xiao!”
Zhao Yanke put his arm around Xiao Jingnan's shoulder and said excitedly, “Fortunately, he hooked up with that national teacher from the Ghost Crying Path in advance. The national teacher defected at a critical moment, launched a palace coup, and directly led the troops to force the king to abdicate and killed their King Anluo... Otherwise, we don't know how long this battle would have lasted!”
“It's true, second sister!” There was also a look of relief on Li Wanming's face. “After we captured Qingzhou, we were still on guard against the counter - attack of the Anluo army. Who would have thought that on the fourth day of defense, they retreated overnight! Later, we found out that there had been a change in the Anluo royal city...”
“Right?” Zhao Yanke continued with a smile, “The day I and Wanxin came back, we heard General Guo say that the Anluo people had stopped attacking the city. We thought it was strange at that time. We thought the Anluo people were planning something big, but unexpectedly, they just retreated directly... Hahaha!”
“You still have the nerve to say that!” Li Wanming suddenly changed her expression and glared at him fiercely. “As the king of a country, you actually disappeared on the battlefield? And you made my two sisters go out to look for you... If anything happened to my sisters, I would never forgive you!”
Just thinking about this made Li Wanming grind her teeth in hatred.
Zhao Yanke's momentary recklessness made her two sisters search for him all night. Her eldest sister even encountered the Anluo people and had a narrow escape from death. Her second sister even met a bear and almost lost her life on the spot!
If it weren't for Wan Mo's good fortune and that she didn't hurt any vital parts, and if it weren't for the fact that they happened to meet the Feng family army who were looking for them... Wan Mo might really have died.
“Hehe...” Zhao Yanke smiled sheepishly and hid behind Xiao Jingnan. “I... I've realized my mistake...”
Suddenly, the curtain was lifted, and Wanxin walked in with a medicine box. Seeing that Wan Mo was awake, her eyebrows relaxed. “Second sister, you're awake?”
She drove everyone out and left only Li Wanming there to help change the dressing.
“It was really dangerous! When you were carried back, you were like a blood - soaked gourd. There were wounds all over your body, and a large piece of meat was torn off your shoulder...” Wanxin poured out the medicinal powder as she chattered on.
Li Wanming bit her lip, her fingertips trembling slightly. She carefully lifted the gauze stuck to the wound.
The hideous claw marks on her shoulder came into view. The bloody wound made her eyes heat up, and her voice suddenly rose. “Are you stupid? Even if there was a bear, couldn't you run? I don't believe any bear could catch up with you! You had to confront a bear there...”
“Little sister!” Wanxin scolded softly. “If second sister had run away, wouldn't she have left Young Master He there alone?”
“It would be better to leave him there!” Li Wanming scolded. “A playboy and a useless person. He deserved to be eaten by the bear!”
“Wanming...” Wan Mo said hoarsely, “He... he saved me... If it weren't for him deliberately making a sound to distract the bear, I might... have been bitten to death long ago...”
The room suddenly fell silent.
Li Wanming didn't expect this. She silently lowered her head and said nothing.
“See, I've always said that Young Master He is not a bad person,” Wanxin said with a smile, pursing her lips. Her expression became even softer.
She dipped her fingertips in the cool ointment and gently applied it to the wound. “He was just deliberately brought up wrongly, but his nature is not bad.”
The burning pain on Wan Mo's body subsided a bit. She turned her head awkwardly and said in a muffled voice, “I... I don't want to talk about this now... You should tell me first how we won this battle...”