After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 81

Li Chanxiu could hardly believe it at first. He listened carefully for a while longer, confirming that he had not misheard and that the two wounded soldiers were not making it up.

Someone in the southwest had indeed raised troops in the Crown Prince’s name. It was said that the proclamations had already reached Chang’an, and the emperor had been furious at the time.

Thinking that his father might already be safe, Li Chanxiu felt an uncontrollable surge of joy and excitement. He forcibly suppressed his emotions so that nothing unusual showed on his face.

But after calming down, he quickly felt something was off. In his dream, his father had left the place of confinement amid the chaos when Luoyang fell. But from what he had just heard the wounded soldiers discussing, Luoyang was still under siege and had not been taken.

In addition, after leaving Luoyang in the dream, in order to facilitate receiving him, his father had gone directly to Qinzhou, which was closer to the northwest, rather than Liangzhou where the rebel army had risen. And in the dream, more than a year later when he eventually made his way to the southwest, he had also learned from his father’s former subordinates that when his father had just left Luoyang, he had not immediately raised troops.

Although during those years of confinement, his father had suppressed too much hatred toward the emperor, at that time he still felt it was not yet the moment to raise troops. First, he had not yet found Li Chanxiu; second, the strength of his former subordinates was insufficient; third, at that time the northwest had fallen and refugees were rising throughout Great Zhou, if he had raised troops then, the emperor would certainly have focused only on mobilizing forces to attack him, instead giving the Hu people an opportunity.

But why had news of his father raising troops suddenly spread now? Was it because Wuding Pass had been held this time, and nothing had happened in the northwest for the moment?

Had his father really already left Luoyang and was now among the rebel forces in Liangzhou?

All sorts of thoughts surged in Li Chanxiu’s mind at once, making it impossible for him to focus.

Just then, Physician Hu walked in. Li Chanxiu quickly asked him to continue treating the wounded soldiers, while he himself stood up and went outside, wanting to use the oncoming cold wind to calm himself for a while.

But as he walked, when he came back to his senses, he found that without realizing it, he had walked out of the military camp and returned to the small courtyard where he and Pei Er lived.

On the way back, a sudden impulse had even surged in his heart, he had wanted to throw caution aside and leave directly for the southwest to find out the situation.

But after calming down, reason told him he could not panic. In two days his cold poison would flare up; if he left now, wouldn’t something happen on the road? Moreover, there were refugees plundering and military chaos everywhere now. Traveling alone, two fists could not beat four hands, if he got swept up in the turmoil and taken elsewhere, it would only delay things.

How about going to the county town tomorrow? He had already thought of an excuse, he would tell Pei Er that he didn’t know how to process the pelts the other had given him last time, and that there was no clothing shop in the town that could handle them, so he had to take them to the county to find someone.

Once in the county, if he still couldn’t find any trace of his father’s former subordinates, he would immediately seek Xuanping’s help and see if the other could lend some men and horses to escort him to the southwest.

Originally, he had wanted to wait until Lu Zhi returned from Western Qiang, so that when he left, he could bring some warhorses to his father along the way. But now, he could no longer wait…

Just as he was frowning in thought, the sound of wings suddenly flapped above his head. A shadow swept past, and then a majestic golden eagle with sharp round eyes landed in the courtyard.

Li Chanxiu was overjoyed at the sight: “Little Black, you’re back?”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but step forward and rub the eagle’s head. After not seeing it for several days, he really had missed this silly bird.

The golden eagle, now familiar with him, immediately pressed against his palm and rubbed its head eagerly, like a cat being stroked, not showing any trace of the fierce raptor it had appeared to be just moments before.

Li Chanxiu laughed: “You came back at a bad time, there’s no meat at home today.”

The eagle naturally couldn’t understand what he was saying. After rubbing against him for a while, it raised its head to look at him. Seeing no response, it continued rubbing, as if urging him to feed it.

Helpless, Li Chanxiu said, “Then wait here, I’ll go to town and buy you some meat.”

With that, he stepped toward the main house, intending to go to the bedroom to get money.

The eagle immediately followed, wings half-spread, walking with a waddling gait, sticking close step by step like a domesticated guard dog clinging to its owner.

As they passed by a pile of hay stacked in the courtyard, the eagle suddenly sensed something. It let out a sharp cry, flapped its wings, and rushed in front of Li Chanxiu, its hawk eyes fierce as it screeched threateningly toward behind the haystack.

Li Chanxiu instantly became alert, realizing there might be something behind the haystack. He quickly pulled a dagger from his sleeve, his gaze sharp as he looked over and demanded, “Who’s there? Come out!”

As his voice fell, a figure slowly walked out from behind the haystack, it was a woman. She wore an ordinary black-gray padded cloth robe, clutching her right arm. Several drops of bright red blood fell from between her fingers, yet her expression was cold and stern, showing no sign of pain.

The moment Li Chanxiu saw her face clearly, he froze.

The woman looked at him, seeming somewhat hesitant as well, and cautiously probed: “You… are you Shen Xiu?”

At that moment, the golden eagle suddenly took flight, about to swoop down and peck at her. The woman’s eyes instantly turned icy, and she raised her hand to draw a dagger from her waist.

Li Chanxiu reacted quickly, grabbing both of the eagle’s legs and forcibly pulling the flapping bird back. His hair was quickly messed up by the eagle’s struggling, and two small feathers even fell onto his head.

“Little Black, don’t move,” he said, pressing the eagle down firmly and scolding it seriously.

Only after the eagle finally calmed down did he look back at the woman in black, a smile inevitably appearing in his eyes.

“You’re Yi Xun?” he asked as he stood, his tone carrying a hint of certainty.

The woman in black was startled. “You… you know me?”

Li Chanxiu smiled: “I’ve heard my father mention you. Seeing you suddenly appear here, and knowing… well, the name ‘Shen Xiu,’ I guessed who you were.”

Of course, it wasn’t really like that. Just because his father had mentioned her didn’t mean he could recognize someone he had never seen.

The truth was, he had seen her in his dreams.

Yi Xun was the daughter of the southwestern chieftain Yi Mu. Back when Li Chanxiu’s father was in the southwest, he had once shown kindness to Yi Mu. Yi Mu then became sworn brothers with him, vowing never to betray him.

Later, Yi Mu was ambushed and killed by other chieftains. It was Li Chanxiu’s father who stepped in, punished the culprits, and preserved the Yi family’s sphere of influence.

However, after his father was confined, the Yi family’s territory was ultimately taken, through schemes by officials sent by the court, and divided among other chieftains. After that, Yi Xun’s mother took her and her younger brother to join his father’s former subordinates and pledged loyalty to his father.

In the dream, when Li Chanxiu had just arrived in the southwest, Yi Xun had been assigned as his guard. Later, when he was reading military texts and saw that Yi Xun was also interested, he lent the books to her and arranged for her to command troops.

Eventually, Yi Xun became a very formidable female general in the army and one of his right-hand aides.

Seeing this capable companion from his dreams appear before him now, Li Chanxiu couldn’t help but feel happy. More importantly, if Yi Xun had come, did that mean the people who came to find him had also arrived?

Thinking of this, he quickly revealed his identity as well.

From his tone earlier, Yi Xun had already been certain of his identity. Now hearing him confirm it, she immediately dropped to one knee and respectfully said, “This subordinate greets the Princess.”

Li Chanxiu had just reached out to help her up, but upon hearing the word “Princess,” his smile instantly froze, and his movement stiffened.

Yi Xun was not speaking out of turn. In fact, Li Chanxiu did indeed have a princess title, it had been granted two years ago by his imperial grand-uncle, the current emperor.

As for why the other party suddenly gave him a princess title, it was naturally not out of any good intention, but because at that time he had already turned sixteen and could be sent out for a political marriage. This would not only bring benefits to the imperial family, but also disgust and torment his father.

In fact, if the emperor had wanted to marry him off to the steppe back then, his father might even have agreed. That way, arrangements could be made to have him seized along the marriage route and directly join up with the old subordinates. After all, Li Chanxiu was getting older and it was no longer suitable for him to continue dressing as a girl like when he was young, and the journey to the steppe was long, if a princess being sent for marriage was snatched away along the way, it would not be unusual.

But the emperor had insisted on marrying Li Chanxiu to a son of a noble or aristocratic family in the capital. That way he wouldn’t be able to leave, and his identity would be exposed. In the end, his father simply made him drink some herbal concoction to pretend to be gravely ill, as if he were about to die, and only then did he finally escape this disaster. That so-called princess title was only mentioned a few times and no one really took it seriously.

But the matter of his concealed gender, even among his father’s former subordinates, was known only to a very few. After all, it needed to be kept secret; the fewer people who knew, the better.

So for a long time, most of his father’s old subordinates believed that Li Chanxiu was female. In addition, out of respect for his father, when they mentioned Li Chanxiu privately, they mostly used “Little Highness” as a substitute. Two years ago, when the emperor conferred the title of princess on Li Chanxiu, although the old subordinates did not acknowledge the emperor, they still felt that their lord’s daughter being called a princess was nothing wrong.

Thus afterward, most of the old subordinates also used “Princess” to refer to Li Chanxiu.

The people who came to find Li Chanxiu this time should already have been informed that he was actually male. It was just that… they were probably used to calling him “Princess” and hadn’t changed their form of address yet.

Sure enough, Yi Xun quickly realized the mistake in address, hurriedly lowered her head a bit more, and corrected herself: “This subordinate greets Little Highness.”

Li Chanxiu gave a light cough, concealing the brief trace of awkwardness in his eyes, helped her up and said: “No need for such courtesy. Your father and my father were sworn brothers, speaking of it, you can be considered my elder sister.”

After speaking, he looked at the injury on her right arm and frowned as he asked: “You’re injured. Wait for me a moment.”

With that, he turned around and quickly went inside to fetch medicine, dragging the golden eagle along with him so it wouldn’t go peck at her again.

Yi Xun had just wanted to say “No need,” but before she could speak, Li Chanxiu had already left with the eagle. She could only close her mouth again and stand there hesitantly, somewhat at a loss.

Li Chanxiu soon came back, handed her a bottle of high-quality wound medicine, and also gave her a roll of white cloth strips, saying: “Treat your wound first.”

After saying this, he turned his back to her, propriety forbids looking.

The wounded soldiers’ camp was full of men, so he could help them treat their injuries. But Yi Xun was a woman, so he could only let her handle it herself.

Yi Xun froze for a moment after taking the medicine, said “Thank you, Your Highness,” and then untied her sleeve and began applying the medicine.

With his back to her, Li Chanxiu asked: “How did you get injured? Where are the others?”

Yi Xun had applied the medicine halfway when she heard this and hurriedly replied: “Reporting to Your Highness, on the way here I encountered several refugees robbing people, and was accidentally injured during the fight. As for the others…”

Her tone paused, and she lowered her head as she said: “This subordinate got separated from them.”

Li Chanxiu: …Huh?

So only one came?

“Your Highness, please be assured. We were scattered by a band of defeated troops retreating from Chang’an. They were likely seized by those chaotic soldiers and forced into service. But that group of troops is not formidable, they should be able to get away soon, perhaps… arriving three or four days later than me. I heard there were Hu attacks here and was worried something might happen to Your Highness, so I didn’t wait for them and came ahead to find you.”

Li Chanxiu: “…” I see.

But with only one person here, and injured at that, it would be better to wait a few more days, wait until the others arrived, then leave together.

Moreover, before leaving, he would need to arrange everything that should be arranged. Although he couldn’t truly bid farewell to Pei Er, at the very least he had to find an excuse, otherwise, if he suddenly left, Pei Er would certainly worry and go looking for him.

But… what reason should he use?

Thinking randomly, he said: “Treat your wound first. Also, no need to call me ‘Your Highness.’ Here, just call me Shen Xiu or Miss Shen.”

Yi Xun nodded. After quickly tending to her wound, she put her sleeve back on and said: “This subordinate is done, Your Highness, Shen… Shen… Miss.”

Only then did Li Chanxiu turn around. After glancing at where she was standing and the blood on the haystack, he said: “It’s not safe here. Come with me first.”

Talking here, if Pei Er came back and saw them, it would be hard to explain. Especially since he was currently in a situation where he could easily be suspected.

With that, he turned and led Yi Xun out of the courtyard. Seeing this, the golden eagle hurriedly waddled after them.

Li Chanxiu noticed and stopped. The eagle couldn’t stop in time and bumped straight into his leg.

Li Chanxiu: “…”

“Stay at home,” he said with some amusement, nudging the eagle aside with his leg.

But as soon as he took two steps after turning, the eagle followed again.

When Li Chanxiu stopped, it stopped too, staring with its round eyes. When Li Chanxiu walked, it followed again.

Li Chanxiu: “…”

He felt a wave of helplessness. Smiling apologetically at Yi Xun, he grabbed the eagle, dragged it into a side room, and shut it in, saying: “Stay home properly. I’ll go to town and buy you meat.”

The eagle immediately struggled desperately. It had been flying freely outside these past few days and hadn’t been confined for a long time, now suddenly being shut in again, it was extremely unwilling. After being forcibly stuffed inside, it desperately pushed its head out through the window, its round eyes looking at Li Chanxiu in grievance.

Li Chanxiu pretended not to see. Turning to Yi Xun, he smiled and said: “Apologies for the laugh. Let’s go out first.”

Yi Xun nodded hesitantly, feeling that the Little Highness was different from what she had imagined. He was gentle and polite, easy to get along with. Although he lived in poverty here, he didn’t seem to find it difficult.

He even kept a golden eagle, somewhat… plump and lively.

Li Chanxiu walked out of the courtyard with her. After locking the courtyard gate, he took her toward the clothing shop in the town.

He planned to find Xuanping’s hidden contact, the shop assistant at that clothing shop, to help, letting Yi Xun pretend to be the other’s distant relative and temporarily stay in the town to recover from her injuries. Once the others arrived, they would leave together.

On the way there, Li Chanxiu thought of the wounded soldiers’ discussion and couldn’t help lowering his voice to ask: “Yi Xun, my father… has he left Luoyang? Has he really raised troops?”