After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 55

Wei Zizhou was stunned for a moment, then quickly corrected, “No, no, not that Pei Zhen married a young lady. It’s that a person who looks very much like Pei Zhen married a young lady. Of course, it’s nothing unusual for a man to marry a young lady, but…”

At the mention of this, Wei Zizhou couldn’t help but grin. “Cousin, you didn’t see it with your own eyes, that person looks almost exactly like Pei Zhen, just a bit taller and more robust. But I haven’t seen Pei Zhen in over five years. The last time I saw him, he was eighteen. If he’s grown taller over the years, he might look even more like that person.”

At this point, he couldn’t help but sigh. “Ah, too bad that person isn’t Pei Zhen. Otherwise… honestly, Cousin, if you saw Pei Zhen’s cold face turn around and immediately obey a young lady in everything, practically wanting to cherish her in the palm of his hand, you would definitely be shocked to the point of horror. Oh right, where is Pei Zhen? Isn’t he in the prefectural city? I also wanted to ask him whether he has a twin brother who ended up outside, this is just too similar, ”

“Impossible!” Before he could finish, Yang Yuanyi suddenly interrupted firmly.

“Ah?” Wei Zizhou looked bewildered, thinking: is he saying it’s impossible for Pei Zhen to obey a young lady in everything, or impossible for him to have a twin brother?

“Are you sure he was perfectly fine and not injured?” Yang Yuanyi suddenly asked again.

“Sure.” Wei Zizhou nodded. “He even lifted me up and almost beat me.”

“Why would he beat you?” Yang Yuanyi frowned.

Wei Zizhou: “Uh…”

“Alright, I more or less understand.” Yang Yuanyi waved his hand. “Could it be that you got it wrong? You were staring at some young lady on the street again, got caught by him, and he was about to beat you, so you mistakenly thought she was his wife?”

“How could that be?” Wei Zizhou immediately argued. “He personally said she was his wife. He even took her around the county town, made clothes for her, bought her hairpins, he treasured her so much. He was about to beat me, but his wife tugged at his sleeve and pulled him away, he listened to his wife so much… uh, I mean the person who looks like Pei Zhen, not Pei Zhen.”

Yang Yuanyi: “…”

“Forget it, I’ll come back later to ask you in detail.” His brows tightly knit, full of doubts but even more anxious, he turned and hurriedly left again.

Prefectural Residence, East Courtyard.

Old General Yang was eating in a side hall while listening to reports on military affairs.

Suddenly, Yang Yuanyi rushed in like a gust of wind and shouted, “Grandfather!”

Old General Yang frowned and, without even raising his head, said, “Yuanyi, how many times have I told you, handle matters steadily, don’t always be so rash.”

Yang Yuanyi looked anxious. He glanced at the general reporting nearby and hesitated to speak.

Only then did Old General Yang raise his head, wave his hand, and say to the reporting officer, “You may go back first. I will deal with this matter later.”

The officer quickly acknowledged and left. As he passed Yang Yuanyi, he cupped his hands and greeted, “Young General.”

Yang Yuanyi returned the gesture perfunctorily. Once the man had gone out, he quickly shut the door tightly and strode over to sit by the table.

Before he could speak, Old General Yang frowned and asked, “What is so urgent?”

Lowering his voice, Yang Yuanyi said, “Grandfather, there is news of the shizi.”

“!” Old General Yang’s beard trembled, and his hand holding the chopsticks paused. He turned his head in shock.

Yang Yuanyi met his gaze and nodded silently.

Very quickly, the old general’s expression turned serious. He stood up, glanced around, then hurriedly pulled him into the inner room and asked urgently, “What exactly is going on? Speak quickly!”

Yang Yuanyi quickly recounted everything Wei Zizhou had just said, but after finishing, he hesitated somewhat.

If that person really was the shizi, then first, he was not gravely injured and unconscious; second, he was not being captured or detained by anyone, so why had he not contacted them? He had even… married a young lady there?

After hearing this, Old General Yang also pondered and said, “There is something suspicious. If it really is the shizi, since he is fine, why has he not returned to Bingzhou or contacted us? Even upon seeing your cousin, why did he not acknowledge him?”

Yang Yuanyi was equally puzzled, but after hearing the old general’s words, he hurriedly spoke in Pei Zhen’s defense, “Grandfather, I think the shizi must have his reasons. Perhaps he is laying out some plan and cannot reveal his identity?”

After speaking, he added urgently, “Grandfather, it’s rare that we have any news. Perhaps we can find the shizi this time. Whether it’s him or not, I plan to personally go to Yongzhou.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he was glared at by Old General Yang.

“What’s the rush? I’m not finished speaking yet.”

The old general spoke in a deep voice, continuing, “We will certainly go, but Yongzhou has just changed its prefect. The new prefect, Yan Tonghai, is not one of our people, in fact, he was sent from above specifically to watch us, and even to watch the shizi. If you rashly lead troops into Yongzhou, he will likely impeach you before His Majesty. If we manage to find the shizi this time, that would be fine, but if we fail, it will certainly expose the truth that the shizi has already gone missing and is not in Bingzhou.”

Upon hearing this, Yang Yuanyi immediately calmed down and asked, “Then what should we do?”

Old General Yang stroked his beard and said, “This matter may sound difficult, but it is not. Although the prefect has been replaced by Yan Tonghai, most of the garrison commanders along the route are still those left behind by Lord Zhang. Yan Tonghai surely has not yet had time to replace them all.”

After thinking for a moment, he suddenly said, “Do this, you take fifty Black Iron soldiers, enter Yongzhou in disguise and in secret, and go to the garrison near Qing County to find the person. Remember, do not let any news leak out.

“Since Zizhou said he saw him in Qing County, and the man is a commander of a thousand, he is likely stationed at a garrison near Qing County right now. The commanders there were all arranged by Lord Zhang and should help you conceal this.”

“Alright, I’ll go handle it at once.” Yang Yuanyi immediately accepted the order and hurried out.

***

Yongfeng Town, at the foot of the Great Wall.

Three days passed. After more than a dozen new infected cases had appeared, the number of new cases today finally began to decrease.

Li Chanxiu had been so busy these past three days that he had barely slept. Today he finally relaxed a little. His intuition told him that the epidemic in the army had likely been brought under control.

In addition, apart from two laborers whose high fever did not subside and who failed to endure and died one after another, the rest of the laborers and soldiers who had fallen ill earlier had, due to timely medication, already begun to have their fevers subside.

Perhaps because the number of infected people was not large and the medicine supply was temporarily sufficient, this rate of successful treatment even surprised Li Chanxiu.

On the first day, when Physician Hu learned there was an epidemic on the city wall, he also wanted to come. But after Li Chanxiu found out, he asked General Chen to refuse.

Firstly, if both physicians came to the city wall, no one would care for the wounded in the infirmary; secondly, Physician Hu was older and more susceptible to infection than younger people.

Fortunately, after three days, the situation had finally stabilized. Even more fortunately, the Hu people had not attacked during these three days.

As his tightly strung nerves finally loosened, Li Chanxiu walked to a patch of dry grass at the base of the city wall, sat down to rest, and wearily pounded his waist.

He had just boiled a large pot of medicine, and at the moment his waist ached and his arms were sore.

It was nearing evening. The afterglow of the setting sun shone over this corner, casting a layer of golden light on his face.

Soldiers passing by greeted him respectfully; clearly, over the past few days, they had been won over by his ability and spirit.

At first, Li Chanxiu returned the greetings with a smile, but before long, drowsiness overtook him, and he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes.

In that half-awake, half-dreaming state, he suddenly felt someone sit down beside him. He abruptly opened his eyes, and after seeing a familiar figure, gradually relaxed his guard.

—It was Pei Er.

He murmured softly, “…Pei Er.”

Perhaps because he had barely slept these past few days, he was simply too tired; his eyelids felt as heavy as if weighed down by a thousand pounds.

Pei Er raised his hand and placed it beside his face, gently pressing his head toward his own shoulder, and said in a low, hoarse, soothing voice, “Sleep.”

There was something in that voice that seemed to lull one to sleep. Leaning against the shoulder Pei Er had deliberately padded with his cloak, Li Chanxiu, without realizing it, fell completely into a deep, sweet sleep.

It was as if, knowing the person beside him was Pei Er, he relaxed his guard and even trusted him. That should not have been the case, given his identity and situation, he ought to remain vigilant at all times.

But his eyelids remained heavy.

He did not know how long he thought this. During that time, it seemed he was picked up and then laid down…

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and was startled to find himself lying on a bed, while outside it was already completely dark.

He hurriedly sat up and discovered this was his temporary lodging at the foot of the city wall.

On the table not far from the bed, a small oil lamp was lit. Pei Er sat beside it, holding a military text and reading.

Seeing that he had woken, Pei Er immediately set down the book and walked over to ask, “You’re awake? Are you hungry?”

When he saw Li Chanxiu still dazed and not yet fully aware, he simply went out, called a soldier, and before long returned with a bowl of porridge.

“There’s not much to eat at night, have a bowl of porridge to fill your stomach first,” Pei Er said, handing him the bowl.

Li Chanxiu finally came back to himself, quickly took the bowl, and thanked him.

Holding the spoon, he stirred the porridge for a while, then suddenly looked up and asked, “What time is it? How long did I sleep?”

It was probably because he had been too tired earlier; his voice was somewhat hoarse.

“It’s midnight. You slept for nearly four hours,” Pei Er replied, then frowned and advised, “Don’t tire yourself out like this tomorrow. For tasks like boiling medicine, let the soldiers do it when possible.”

Li Chanxiu had just taken a sip of porridge. Hearing this, he smiled at him and said, “Tomorrow shouldn’t be so tiring.”

Hearing this, Pei Er quickly understood and relaxed a little. “The epidemic is under control?”

Li Chanxiu nodded. “More or less.”

Then he asked, “What about you? How are the pits outside? And the other garrisons, have they controlled the epidemic?”

Pei Er shook his head and frowned. “The pits still need to be dug tomorrow. As for the other garrisons, there’s no news yet.”

After saying this, the two fell silent again.

Since that night, every time they were alone together, as long as they weren’t talking about serious matters, they seemed to fall into this kind of awkwardness.

Or perhaps it was only Li Chanxiu who felt awkward.

He truly couldn’t find anything to say. After a moment of stiffness, he lowered his head to look at the porridge he was stirring and asked, “By the way, are you hungry?”

Pei Er looked at him through the gently flickering lamplight. He had just eaten and hadn’t felt hungry, but at that moment, as if possessed, he nodded. “Mm, hungry.”

Li Chanxiu was startled upon hearing this and immediately felt embarrassed again.

He had only asked casually because he didn’t know what else to say, not expecting that the other was actually hungry. But there was only one bowl of porridge, and he had already eaten from it…

He hesitated awkwardly and began, “Then you…”

He had meant to say, “Then go get another bowl of porridge,” but before he could finish, Pei Er suddenly sat down beside him, his broad hand covering Li Chanxiu’s hand holding the spoon, grasping it. Then, under Li Chanxiu’s astonished gaze, he scooped a spoonful of porridge and fed it into his mouth, then scooped another spoonful and ate it himself.

Li Chanxiu: “…”

“There’s only this one bowl left. I’m not very hungry, just eating a little is enough,” Pei Er explained without changing his expression.

Li Chanxiu: “…” Maybe you should just eat it all.

The soldiers on night watch would more or less stash some dry rations; at worst, he could go borrow some.

On the city wall, the cold night wind blew past the camp banners.

A patrolling soldier yawned. Since learning that the Hu people might attack, three days had already passed. Everyone had gradually relaxed from their initial tension.

Perhaps the general had misjudged, and the Hu people might not come?

Someone couldn’t help but think so, clinging to a bit of luck.

Suddenly, in the darkness in the distance, there seemed to be some movement, like the sound of something falling into a pit, followed by a sharp gust of wind.

The patrolling soldier quickly ducked his head, instinctively raising a hand to touch the top of his helmet, only to feel a sharp arrow!

The soldier’s face changed drastically. Looking again toward the base of the wall, faint firelight had already appeared in the distance.

“Enemy attack! Quick, enemy attack! The Hu people are attacking!” the soldier shouted in panic.