After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 20

Pei Er stood in the cold wind, saying nothing.

Physician Hu knew he was always sparing with words and did not expect a real answer. After reminding him, “Go back in quickly,” he carried his medicine box inside.

After walking two steps, he suddenly thought of something and, uneasy, turned back to ask, “Right, earlier at General Chen’s place I heard someone say that after Centurion Jiang fell down the hillside, he was injured by you, and quite seriously injured. Is that true?”

Pei Er: “…Not sure.”

This time he did answer, only his tone was icy.

Physician Hu let out an “Oh,” nodded thoughtfully, and said, “Then it must not be too serious. Otherwise his elder brother wouldn’t have told me to turn back halfway.”

Originally he had been worried that if Pei Er had seriously injured the man, the grudge between them would grow big. Although the two had prior conflicts, for General Chen’s sake, it should still be adjustable.

Physician Hu did not know that on the hillside, Centurion Jiang had already intended to take Pei Er’s life. Just now he had been thinking that if Centurion Jiang were truly badly hurt this time, with the other party’s narrow-minded, vindictive personality, the grudge would likely deepen further and further.

If it reached the point of either you die or I die, it would be no good for Pei Er or for Li Chansiu, who was about to marry him.

But hearing Pei Er say he wasn’t sure, he relaxed, thinking perhaps the person who had reported to General Chen had exaggerated.

Thus reassured, he entered the tent, and on the way reminded Pei Er once more not to keep standing outside.

***

Inside Commandant Jiang’s tent.

Centurion Jiang lay on the bed, his face flushed purplish-red from holding back, groaning in pain.

Commandant Jiang sat by the bed, frowning. “The physician invited from the city will arrive soon. Bear with it a little longer.”

Upon hearing this, Centurion Jiang cried out in pain even louder.

Commandant Jiang was displeased and scolded with a frown, “Since it hurts so much, just now when Physician Hu was asked to examine you, why did you refuse.”

Centurion Jiang’s face twisted in pain. Enduring it, he said, “Brother, you’re not unaware, Shen Xiu works under Physician Hu. If Physician Hu examined me, wouldn’t she and Pei Er both know by tomorrow? Do I still want my face or not?”

Commandant Jiang sneered at this. “Serves you right! I’m telling you, from now on don’t set your mind on that criminal woman surnamed Shen.”

“Why not?” Centurion Jiang immediately bristled, glaring as he retorted. “So what if that surnamed Pei won the grand competition? A poor military household, he dares compete with me? Besides, I was the first to take a fancy to…”

“Shut up!” Commandant Jiang barked, cutting him off. “In the daytime at the drill ground, that surnamed Chen already said in front of a crowd of soldiers that he would preside over their marriage. What? You want to go snatch her in front of Chen Zhen?”

Centurion Jiang froze at this, then said in disbelief, “General Chen is going to preside over their marriage? A criminal woman and a poor military household, General Chen… is he too idle?”

“And you still have the nerve to say that? That surnamed Chen has already promoted that brat to Centurion.” Commandant Jiang sneered, then added in frustration, “Originally I wanted to use this grand competition to promote you to Thousand Commander. And what happened? Four or five people couldn’t hold back one Pei Er, and you even made a spectacle of yourself getting injured like this. Tell me, what can you accomplish?”

When Centurion Jiang heard that Pei Er had also become a Centurion, he immediately ground his teeth in anger. His already purplish-red face nearly turned black as he cursed, “It’s all because that b*stard struck too underhandedly!”

Then he couldn’t help complaining, “If last time you’d given me the task of escorting the grain, I’d have been promoted to Thousand Commander long ago. Why wait for some grand competition…”

Commandant Jiang sneered. “If I hadn’t stopped you last time, you’d already be like those thousand men, dead in the yellow sands.”

“That’s hard to say!” Centurion Jiang was unconvinced. “That was them. If I had escorted the grain, maybe it would’ve been delivered smoothly. If luck were good, I might even have shown my face in front of that Pei Shizi and been rewarded and promoted. Besides, with our connections to the north….”

“Shut up!” Commandant Jiang’s gaze suddenly turned sharp.

Centurion Jiang froze, then as if thinking of something, his expression changed. Lowering his voice, he said, “Brother, could it be that the grain incident last time was you and…”

The rest of his words abruptly died under Commandant Jiang’s warning look.

After a while, Commandant Jiang sighed and also lowered his voice. “In any case, lie low recently. In a couple of days when there’s a rest day, I’ll go back and speak to Father. Our business with the north should pause for now.”

Centurion Jiang immediately understood, the grain incident really had something to do with his brother, but…

“That matter’s already passed. Besides, doesn’t Father have some connection with the newly appointed Prefect? Have him send more gifts, make some visits, and just transfer General Chen away, wouldn’t that do?”

“What do you know?” Commandant Jiang glared at him. After a moment, he lowered his voice and said, “There may be trouble in Bingzhou.”

“What?”

Commandant Jiang’s voice dropped even lower. “It’s said that that Pei Shizi in Bingzhou hasn’t shown himself for quite some time. There are rumors something happened. Why do you think those above suddenly transferred Lord Zhang of our Yongzhou away? I reckon it’s to test whether this matter is true.

“That Lord Zhang was a disciple of Pei Shizi’s grandfather and was strongly recommended by Pei Shizi to serve as Prefect of Yongzhou. If they transfer him away and Bingzhou shows no reaction, it means Pei Shizi may really have met with trouble.

“Right now it’s the big figures above making their moves. At this critical juncture, we’d better behave and not let ourselves be caught in any wrongdoing, especially…” Commandant Jiang gritted his teeth and did not continue.

But Centurion Jiang naturally understood he was referring to the grain. Fortunately, all those responsible for escorting it had died.

Suddenly, his expression changed. “Brother, that Pei Er wasn’t he one of the ones escorting the grain…”

Then, regretful and vicious, he said, “If I’d known, on the hillside today I should’ve finished him off completely.”

“What are you panicking for? Didn’t he lose his memory?” Commandant Jiang said.

“But what if he remembers…”

“Even if he remembers, he may not know the truth,” Commandant Jiang said lightly. “Besides, is it hard to kill a person? Only you are foolish enough to do it at an occasion like the grand competition. You should learn to hold your temper.”

After a pause, he added uneasily, “And also, what I told you today, you’d better let it rot in your stomach. No one must…”

Before he could finish, the physician invited from the city arrived.

Commandant Jiang immediately fell silent and signaled to his younger brother with his eyes.

The two of them at once stopped speaking.

Just now, while talking, his attention had been diverted, and Centurion Jiang did not feel the pain so intensely. Now that they had suddenly fallen silent, the pain returned unbearably.

Especially when the physician examined him, a miserable scream instantly erupted from the tent.

Commandant Jiang frowned.

Not long after, the physician from the city wiped the sweat from his forehead and said nervously, “Th-this… it was treated a bit too late. But, sir, you need not worry, one can still be used, it won’t delay passing on the family li…”

“What do you mean one can still be used?” Centurion Jiang, already unable to bear the pain, flew into a rage at once upon hearing this and hissed angrily, “I’ll kick you until you’re left with only one too, let’s see if you can still say that!”

“Th-this, it truly was too late. This old man is powerless,” the physician said, trembling in fright and wiping his sweat repeatedly.

Centurion Jiang seemed as if frozen. After several breaths, he suddenly howled heart-rendingly, “Nonsense! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill, I’ll kill Pei Er. Brother, help me kill him, kill Pei Er, and this physician too…”

“That’s enough. Haven’t you made a fool of yourself enough?”

“……”

***

The brazier by the bed burned red, its light filtering through the gap in the door curtain and adding a streak of brightness to the tent.

Li Chansiu’s lashes trembled lightly as he slowly opened his eyes. Seeing that streak of light, he knew it was nearly noon.

He hadn’t expected to sleep so long, as if making up for all the rest he had previously lacked.

The tent was warm from the brazier. Propping himself up to sit, he felt much better than yesterday. It was just that because he had been cold before and curled up the whole night, his bones now ached a little.

Suddenly thinking of something, he immediately lowered his head to check. Discovering that aside from the thick padded robe worn outermost having been removed, the other clothes on his body had not been touched, he could not help but let out a sigh of relief.

In winter the clothes were worn thick; even if the outer padded robe was removed, nothing would show, at most… one would think it flat.

In any case, his identity had not been discovered as abnormal.

Reassured, he got up and dressed, while thinking of Pei Er.

Though his consciousness had been hazy last night, he still remembered that Pei Er had held him by the brazier to warm him. Yet upon waking, he did not see the other, was he outside? Or had he returned to the wounded soldiers’ camp?

As he was thinking, the tent curtain was suddenly lifted.

Li Chansiu instinctively looked up. When he saw it was Aunt Xu, he could not quite say why, but for an instant there seemed to be a hollow feeling.

He quickly put on his usual smile and greeted, “Aunt.”

Perhaps because he had caught a chill yesterday, his voice was somewhat hoarse.

Seeing that he was awake, Aunt Xu immediately showed delight on her face and said, “You’re finally awake. Just in time, the porridge is warming on the brazier outside. I’ll bring you a bowl.”

With that, she hurriedly turned and went out.

Li Chansiu followed behind. “No need, I’ll go out and eat.”

When he reached the outer area, he discovered that Physician Hu, Hu Yuan’er, and Little Ah Yun were all there. Glancing at the daylight outside, it was indeed nearly noon.

Pei Er also did not seem to be in the outer tent.

Aunt Xu quickly ladled the porridge and urged him to rinse his mouth and eat quickly.

The porridge was made from rice that Physician Hu had brought from home to cook. Li Chansiu wanted to give money, but it was refused, so he did not insist further.

After drinking two mouthfuls, he finally asked about Pei Er.

“Him?” Physician Hu said with a smile. “He kept watch over you for quite a while last night. After seeing you were fine, he returned to the wounded soldiers’ camp.”

There was clearly a hint of teasing in his words.

Li Chansiu lowered his head slightly, using the act of drinking porridge to conceal his expression.

In truth, Pei Er had indeed wanted to stay last night. But he and Li Chansiu were not yet married; if he stayed here and did not return to the wounded soldiers’ camp for the night, he feared others would gossip.

He himself did not mind, but he did not like others speaking ill of Li Chansiu.

“Speaking of which, when he left last night, he said he’d come see you this morning. It’s nearly noon now and we still haven’t seen him,” Physician Hu added.

Li Chansiu frowned, immediately wondering whether he had been injured during yesterday’s grand competition. Not to mention the morning’s hand-to-hand bouts, there was also the later fall down the hillside, who knew what had really happened.

“Perhaps he’s injured. I’ll go take a look at him later,” Li Chansiu said naturally.

Physician Hu, however, laughed. “I think he’s sturdy as can be. Last night in the freezing cold, he stood outside blowing in the cold wind for nearly half a quarter-hour. No matter how we called, he wouldn’t come in.”

He even stood in the cold wind?

Li Chansiu frowned. He felt it even more necessary to go check, perhaps he had caught a chill and developed a fever.

After finishing the porridge, he washed the bowl, then went to fetch the medicine box.

It happened that Aunt Xu was taking Little Ah Yun back to the apothecary to work, so Li Chansiu walked with them.

On the way, Aunt Xu asked, “Have you and that Pei Er set a date for the wedding yet? If not, you should discuss it with him later. General Chen may be waiting for word, he personally said yesterday that he would preside over your marriage. This matter can’t be delayed. What if Centurion Jiang tries to interfere again? And I think that Pei Er is quite good. Yesterday when he saw you sick, he was terribly anxious.”

After a pause, she suddenly glanced around, then covered Little Ah Yun’s ears and lowered her voice. “His body should be fine too.”

Last night he lifted the young lady up in one go, certainly not weak. It seemed the severe injuries before hadn’t affected him.

Li Chansiu: “……”

Little Ah Yun, whose ears had suddenly been covered, looked utterly confused: “?”

After parting with Aunt Xu and her daughter, Li Chansiu coughed lightly, composed his expression, and continued toward the wounded soldiers’ camp.

Just as he reached outside the tent, he heard great commotion within.

“Really?”

“No way?”

“Is your news reliable?”

Quite a few wounded soldiers were gathered together, some secretive, some astonished, some wiggling their brows and making faces, who knew what they were discussing.

Zhang He lay near the entrance of the tent, also looking as though he was struggling not to burst into laughter. Seeing Li Chansiu arrive, he quickly wiped his face, composed himself, and greeted, “Miss Shen is here. Looking for Pei Er? He’s not here at the moment. Early this morning he was summoned by General Chen.”

Li Chansiu paused slightly at this. So he had been called away by General Chen.

It wasn’t serious injury, nor was he sick…

Coming back to himself, he pressed his brow and felt that his earlier worry had come for no reason.

Perhaps because the other had taken care of him last night, he had subconsciously wanted to return the favor. That was what he thought in his heart.

But since he had already come, it wouldn’t be good to turn back just because he hadn’t seen Pei Er. Why not help Zhang He check his injury? That fellow had just been holding back laughter so hard, wouldn’t want him to strain his wound.

As he was thinking this, the laughter inside the tent suddenly grew louder, 

“No way, he really shouted like that?”

“He did, absolutely miserable!”

“That physician really dared to say it, hahaha!”

“Who would’ve thought Centurion Jiang, tall and mighty as he looks, would turn out to be useless in the future.”

“Hey, you can’t say that. The physician said one can still be used.”

“I say from now on we call him Jiang One-Bead, haha!”

The last sentence was clearly Chen Qing’s voice.

Li Chansiu withdrew his thoughts. Just then he heard footsteps behind him. Before he could turn, Chen Qing happened to look over and exclaimed in surprise, “Miss Shen, Pei Er?”

Then Chen Qing snickered, “Pei Er, I heard you kicked Centurion Jiang and broke one? Tsk tsk, that wouldn’t be revenge, would it? Before he kicked and broke the eggs Miss Shen gave you, and yesterday you kicked and broke his…”

Suddenly, Li Chansiu’s ears were covered by a pair of dry, large hands. Chen Qing’s voice instantly became distant and muffled.

He looked puzzled and turned to glance at the person who had suddenly come up behind him.

Pei Er was still dressed in his worn robe, a black iron curved blade at his waist. His face was cold and handsome, yet the roots of his ears were suspiciously red.

After a moment, he released his hands, coughed lightly, and said by Li Chansiu’s ear, “Filthy talk. Don’t listen.”

Before Li Chansiu could fully react, he quickly asked again, “Are you feeling better?”

Li Chansiu nodded and smiled faintly. “Much better. Thank you for yesterday.”

At this, Pei Er visibly let out a breath of relief.

Although Pei Er had returned, it was not suitable to discuss marriage in the wounded soldiers’ camp. And it would also be awkward to drag him away immediately after just meeting.

So Li Chansiu first helped Zhang He check his injury. Then, lifting the medicine box, he smiled and asked Pei Er, “There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. Is it convenient to talk outside?”

Pei Er had long been finding Zhang He somewhat troublesome. Hearing this, he hurriedly nodded.

The two left the tent together. Li Chansiu had originally planned to go talk at that southeast corner spot, but Pei Er led him instead to a jujube-red fine horse.

Seeing him pause in confusion, Pei Er explained, “The general awarded this horse to me.”

Of course it was only in private; in name, the horse still belonged to the camp, but from now on it would be for Pei Er’s exclusive use.

Li Chansiu was puzzled and still did not understand his meaning.

The back of Pei Er’s ears reddened further as he stammered, “Would you like to… ride with me? I want to take you somewhere.”

Li Chansiu did not know where he intended to take him, but if riding was required, it was likely some distance away. Though only several thousand soldiers were stationed in Yongfeng Town, the camp itself was indeed vast.

He nodded quickly and stepped closer to the tall horse before him. Just as he hesitated, his waist was suddenly grasped by a pair of strong, large hands.

A “pardon me” sounded by his ear, and then his body lifted into the air, abruptly raised up.

Li Chansiu froze at once, instinctively lowering his head to look at Pei Er.

Pei Er held him up, neither blushing nor out of breath, only his voice slightly hoarse as he explained, “This makes it easier to mount.”

Clearly, he assumed Li Chansiu could not ride and worried he would not be able to get on.

Li Chansiu: “…” Actually, I can ride.

But being grasped at the waist and lifted like this felt strange. He hurriedly grabbed the reins and seated himself on the horse.

Immediately after, Pei Er stepped into the stirrup and mounted in one fluid motion, taking the reins.

Li Chansiu instantly felt his back press against the other’s broad chest and stiffened unconsciously.

Though winter clothes were thick and he could not feel much, the sensation of being encircled from behind still made him somewhat uneasy.

He instinctively straightened his spine like a green bamboo, trying not to touch the person behind him.

Suddenly the horse galloped. Li Chansiu’s body tilted back out of habit and bumped into a somewhat cold, firm embrace.

He stiffened, then quickly sat upright again. But the jujube-red horse ran fast, the up-and-down jolting causing him to bump back from time to time.

At first it was awkward; each time he immediately straightened, his waist tense. After several times, he gave up completely. They were both men, leaning was leaning.

With that thought, the next time he knocked back into the other’s chest, he simply stopped straightening and relaxed his waist.

Suddenly, a strong arm crossed his waist, like an iron band, tightening around him as he already leaned in Pei Er’s embrace.

Li Chansiu stiffened again.

Pei Er’s hoarse voice explained by his ear, “When the horse runs it jolts. I’m afraid you’ll fall.”

Only then did Li Chansiu gradually relax, like a small animal lowering its guard.

Pei Er silently exhaled in relief, lowering his gaze to the crown of black hair in his arms, the porcelain-white side of his face. The tightly pressed lips eased slightly.

After relaxing, Li Chansiu realized that Pei Er had ridden the horse and taken him all the way out of the camp.

He was slightly surprised. Female relatives sent into exile could not leave the military camp without cause, unless accompanied and supervised by soldiers, or already married to a local military household and living outside the camp in the household’s home.

In Yongfeng Town, many soldiers had settled near the camp. Over time, clusters of varying size for military families had formed. Even Yongfeng Town itself had originally come about this way.

Pei Er led Li Chansiu to the nearest military-family settlement to the camp. After dismounting, he extended his arms, intending to lift Li Chansiu down.

Li Chansiu coughed lightly. “I can do it myself.”

With that, he deftly swung down from the horse.

Pei Er lowered his raised arms, feeling a slight emptiness. But thinking of what he was about to say next, his chest filled again with anticipation.

He led Li Chansiu to the front of a house. Under the other’s puzzled gaze, he pushed the door open and brought him inside.

It was a residence with a courtyard, one main room and two side rooms. One of the side rooms stored miscellaneous items, and the other was a kitchen with a cooking stove.

The house had rammed-earth walls and a thatched roof. It was somewhat low and the lighting was poor. But compared to the tents in the army, it was better at keeping out wind and rain.

Li Chansiu blinked, turned around, and asked, “This is…?”

The roots of Pei Er’s ears reddened as he said, “After we marry, we’ll need a place to live.”

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