Xiao Jinghan was a well - known "scourge", despised by everyone like a rat scurrying in the street, for in the legends he was a god of war who killed without mercy.
But when Yi Qing closed her eyes, the voice echoing in her ears was so kind and gentle.
He said, "Let her go. She's innocent."
Thanks to this sentence, Yi Qing, who was only twelve at that time, managed to survive.
No, actually the real Yi Qing had died. Her soul had been replaced, giving birth to the current Yi Qing.
Yi Qing could still remember that day clearly. Her face was covered in blood, and the men behind her looked as fierce as demons.
Hearing them talk about selling her to a brothel, the newly - transmigrated Yi Qing was contemplating whether to follow in her predecessor's footsteps and ram herself into a tree when Xiao Jinghan descended like a divine being and saved her.
Yi Qing had never witnessed how Xiao Jinghan killed without mercy. However, with only twenty thousand troops, he managed to repel the one - hundred - thousand - strong army of the Northern Di tribe, thus safeguarding the tottering Jin Dynasty and the Han people's territory. This alone was enough for Yi Qing to respect him for a lifetime.
He was a national hero, with merits that could never be tarnished, not even by the sun.
In that battle, more than half of Xiao Jinghan's soldiers were killed or injured, and he himself narrowly escaped death. Yi Qing had witnessed this clearly.
Moreover, Xiao Jinghan had a deep connection with her step - mother.
Xiao Jinghan had been raised by her step - mother's father, Yi Qing's nominal grandfather. So they were like siblings.
The reason he had saved Yi Qing back then was simply that he didn't want his "sister" to have blood on her hands.
"The current situation is this," Zisu said coldly. "Xiao Jinghan is dead, and the common people are cheering. The emperor wants to be a whore and yet set up a memorial arch for chastity. He's just like a man who kills the hound after the hares are caught. He got rid of Xiao Jinghan but still has to pretend to be deeply attached to his brother and never forget his original intention."
"The emperor has issued an imperial edict to build a general's mansion in the capital city, select an heir for Xiao Jinghan to observe mourning for him and offer sacrifices."
"Okay." Yi Qing served Zisu another bowl of chicken soup and lowered her eyes. All her emotions were hidden behind her long eyelashes.
The forced marriage and Xiao Jinghan's death were a series of unexpected events. Yi Qing tossed and turned all night and couldn't fall asleep.
"Zisu, I've made a decision to solve the current dilemma," she said to Zisu the next day, with panda - like dark circles under her eyes.
"What?"
"You know the relationship between my wonderful step - mother and Xiao Jinghan, don't you?" Yi Qing said with a smile.
Zisu nodded. "They're closer than real siblings."
"Do you think my wonderful step - mother will still force me to marry in someone else's place if she knows I've given birth to a son for her brother?" Yi Qing squinted her eyes.
Just imagining that scene made her extremely delighted.
Her step - mother would be half - angry to death but would have to accept her as the "widow of her younger brother" for the sake of the child. Just thinking about it was exciting.
"You're crazy!" It took Zisu a while to understand what she meant. She looked at Yi Qing as if she were a madwoman. "Do you think you can just pretend to be the mother of Xiao Jinghan's son? If it were that easy, someone else would have done it already!"
Zisu thought Yi Qing was really daydreaming.
Who would dare to have such an idea?
But Yi Qing was confident. The more she thought about it, the more reliable her plan seemed. "Don't worry. I know a secret about Xiao Jinghan. It'll definitely work. I'll go and prepare. I'll start as soon as Baozi comes back for his afternoon nap."
Zisu looked at her warily. "I won't stop you if you want to go crazy, but don't have any bad ideas about Baozi."
Yi Qing burst into laughter and patted her on the shoulder. "He's my own son. How could I harm him?"
"You're really hard to figure out."
"It's easy to figure out," Yi Qing said. "Zisu, you're fast. Go to the city to gather more information. Find out exactly when Xiao Jinghan's coffin will return. Of course, be discreet. Don't let people think you're on his side and throw rotten vegetables at you."
At noon, Baozi came home for lunch. Yi Qing cooked his favorite dishes, and the little fellow ate until his belly was round.
"Have another bowl of chicken soup."
Baozi obediently took the bowl of chicken soup she handed him and drank it all in one gulp without any hesitation.
"Mom, why am I so sleepy?" Baozi's eyelids were almost stuck together. He leaned against Yi Qing sleepily and asked.
"Because it's noon. It's time for your nap." Yi Qing held him in her arms and gently patted him.
After Baozi fell asleep, Yi Qing opened her medicine chest, turned the little boy over, pulled down his pants, and exposed his little bottom.
She smiled and stroked it, then closed her eyes and tried to recall. When she opened her eyes again, they were clear.
She first dipped her finger in the pigment and outlined a rough shape on Baozi's bottom. She lowered her head to examine it, shook her head, and murmured to herself, "It seems a bit too small."
She wiped it off with a warm, wet towel and then lowered her head again to draw carefully.
She drew and wiped, wiped and drew. After repeating this several times, Yi Qing was finally somewhat satisfied.
After washing her hands, she took out the prepared safflower and other medicinal materials from the medicine chest, crushed them into a paste, filled it into the outline she had drawn, and then covered it with a warm, wet towel.
After more than an hour of fussing, a heart - shaped bluish - red birthmark - like mark appeared on Baozi's originally fair and tender little bottom.
Yi Qing admired herself immensely.
Zisu didn't return until evening. "It's expected to enter the city the day after tomorrow."
Yi Qing nodded, with a confident smile on her face. "There's still time."
"How are you going to tell Baozi? Have you done everything you need to do?"
"I haven't told him yet." Yi Qing also felt a bit troubled when thinking about this. "But I've done everything I need to do."
In fact, being forced into this situation, she knew she didn't have the ability to completely protect Baozi from being affected.
"I'll try my best to make him suffer as little as possible."
Unexpectedly, after Baozi heard that Xiao Jinghan was his biological father, he was surprisingly calm. He just said to Yi Qing with a bit of regret, "I thought my father had been dead for a long time, which was why you never mentioned him. I was afraid of making you sad, so I didn't dare to ask. Actually, I could have met him, but it doesn't matter now. Mom, don't be sad, okay?"
How could such words come from a child who was not even five years old?
Yi Qing was both gratified and heart - broken. She stroked his head and said, "Mom isn't sad. Although your father is gone, mom will always be with you."
On the third day, Lu Tianzuo and Chang Yuanzhi, Xiao Jinghan's capable lieutenants, carried the coffin and passed by Li's Village.
Along the way, although the emperor's edict recognized that Xiao Jinghan had sacrificed himself for the country, neither the officials nor the common people came out to pay their respects.
Although they couldn't change the emperor's order, they could at least avoid the memorial ceremony.
When they reached Li's Village and saw a whole table of sacrificial offerings, paper money fluttering in the air, and a mother and son in mourning clothes, everyone was stunned.
Yi Qing pushed Baozi forward and pointed at the coffin, saying in a deep voice, "Baozi, kowtow to your father."
Little Baozi in mourning clothes had a solemn and cold expression that didn't match his age. He lifted his robe and knelt down, kowtowing three times respectfully.
Yi Qing then handed him a bowl of wine. "See your father off for the last time."
Baozi held the bowl with both hands and slowly spilled the wine in front of him.
The mother and son carried out the whole set of actions as if there were no one else around. They seemed to be completely immersed in their own world, oblivious to the solemn atmosphere and the grand occasion in front of them.