After Exile, I Married the Amnesiac General [Rebirth] Chapter 9

Li Chanxiu walked to the entrance of the tent and ran into Zhang Hu, who was hurrying over.

Zhang Hu had clearly come in a rush; in the middle of winter he was running so hard that his forehead was covered in sweat, panting heavily.

The moment he saw Li Chanxiu, he asked anxiously, “Miss Shen, are you alright? I heard Centurion Jiang’s subordinates came to trouble you?”

Li Chanxiu had just been about to say “I’m fine,” when not far behind him Zhang He, who was lying on a wooden bed, craned his neck first and complained, “Big brother, you came way too late. Just now Miss Shen was almost taken away by Centurion Jiang’s men Xu Hong and Niu Feng. Luckily Pei Er acted in time.

“Oh right, big brother, that Pei Er is really impressive. With one horizontal slash he knocked Xu Hong flying, then with an elbow strike he made Niu Feng kneel on the ground trembling. Those two are usually arrogant and often bully soldiers like us from poor backgrounds. Didn’t expect them to be beaten into such a sorry state today, so satisfying, really satisfying!”

As he grew excited, Zhang He couldn’t help pounding the bed, but that pulled at his wound, and his face immediately turned pale from pain.

The wounded soldiers beside him hurriedly advised him not to move recklessly, and Zhang Hu also scolded him with a stern face.

Li Chanxiu turned his head and looked at him with a smile. “Your wound hasn’t healed yet, don’t get excited. If you keep moving like this and tear the intestines that haven’t grown back yet, then there’ll be no saving you.”

Zhang He instantly didn’t dare move. For a moment even his hands and feet stiffened.

It was a scare tactic, but clearly very effective.

After speaking, Li Chanxiu’s smiling eyes inadvertently swept toward the innermost part of the tent, passing over that quiet corner. Just now he seemed to have sensed a gaze falling on him, but when he looked, there was none.

He lowered his eyes, quickly withdrew his gaze, turned around, and continued walking out.

Zhang Hu had just finished scolding Zhang He. Seeing this, he hurried after him and said uneasily, “Miss Shen, I’ll escort you back to the pharmacy. In case those men under that Jiang fellow come again…”

In the corner of the tent, Pei Er lifted his eyes again and looked toward the two at the tent entrance.

Seeing Li Chanxiu smile and say something, and Zhang Hu, though still worried, not continue following afterward, he gradually lowered his eyes again.

When Miss Shen had been troubled earlier, everyone had said to wait for Zhang Hu. But looking at this person now, he was… nothing special.

He was big and burly, with an honest-looking face, a round face and thick neck. Standing in front of the refined and graceful Miss Shen, he really… spoiled the view.

At the tent entrance, Zhang Hu suddenly glanced inside the tent. After a moment, he frowned and moved his gaze away again.

Strangely enough, these past few days whenever he came to the tent, he would occasionally feel a chill at the back of his neck, as though someone were staring at him. But when he turned to look, he could never find the gaze.

It had been the same just now, he clearly felt someone looking, but when he turned his head, everything appeared normal.

He secretly shook his head, then scolded Zhang He a few more times, telling him to behave himself from now on. Evidently he had also been somewhat frightened by what Li Chanxiu said earlier.

Then, still uneasy, he chased after Li Chanxiu. Although Miss Shen had just said the matter was already resolved and that Centurion Jiang’s two subordinates wouldn’t come again so he didn’t need to escort her, he was still worried and planned to follow from a distance, just in case.

In the corner of the tent, as if sensing something, Pei Er suddenly lifted his eyes, his gaze sharp as he looked toward the tent entrance.

Not far away, the broken-legged wounded soldier Chen Qing saw him looking down at those two licorice slices one moment, then raising his head to look toward the tent entrance the next, over and over again, and finally couldn’t help saying, “Hey, Pei… Pei Er, do you like Miss Shen?”

As soon as the words fell, a pair of sharp black eyes shot over like blades, carrying a cold chill.

Chen Qing immediately felt his heart tighten and stammered, “N-no, I didn’t really say anything, right?”

“Besides, it’s not anything unusual. Miss Shen is so pretty and kind. Even before, when she had just arrived at the wounded soldiers’ camp and wasn’t yet known as Divine Doctor Shen, everyone liked having her change their bandages. Who knows how many secretly fell for her.”

Pei Er tightened his grip on the licorice slices in his hand, his gaze gradually lowering.

“But that’s all useless,” seeing he no longer looked so frightening, Chen Qing grew bolder and continued, “with that Centurion Jiang around. He’s been pestering Miss Shen endlessly. I heard he took a liking to him when Miss Shen first arrived.”

“Speaking of which, it was also because he wanted Miss Shen to bow her head and submit that he transferred Miss Shen to our wounded soldiers’ camp, only then did she later save you and Zhang He. Oh right, doesn’t Miss Shen seem to have something on her mind today? You definitely don’t know why.”

Pei Er lifted his head again and slowly looked toward him.

Chen Qing had said so much, and seeing that Pei Er was actually paying attention for once, he couldn’t help grinning. Mysteriously, he said, “I know why.”

Pei Er didn’t speak and continued looking at him.

Chen Qing, however, began to play coy and deliberately didn’t say.

Pei Er stared at him for a moment. Suddenly, with a clang, he drew his blade; the edge was sharp, the cold light intimidating.

Chen Qing was instantly frightened into stammering. He hurriedly said, “Wait, wait, I’ll talk, I’ll talk! No need for that, brother, really no need…”

But the next moment, he saw Pei Er pick up the broken wooden stick he had been using as a crutch and begin shaving it little by little. First he trimmed away the uneven branch stubs on the surface, then shortened the length to a suitable size, and finally expressionlessly handed over the newly shaved “new crutch,” his dark eyes fixed steadily on him.

Chen Qing: “……”

He suddenly felt somewhat flattered. “F-for me?”

Then he saw Pei Er actually nod and continue staring at him.

At this moment Chen Qing was no longer afraid. Instead, he let out a long breath and felt he had made a major discovery, 

He suddenly realized that Pei Er was actually a pretty decent person. Although he had a young master’s temper and ignored anyone who spoke to him, sometimes even more intimidating than General Chen in the camp, after getting to know him, he was actually quite good, just spoke less, had a colder personality, and wasn’t as hard to get along with as everyone had thought.

Wasn’t it so? He even shaved a crutch for him?

Chen Qing held the crutch and looked it over from side to side, feeling quite satisfied. Leaning on it, he simply sat down on the broken wooden stool in front of Pei Er’s bed, crooked a finger, and lowered his voice: “You know, right? Miss Shen is a female dependent of criminals sent into exile.”

Pei Er’s black eyes stared straight at him.

Chen Qing: “……”

“I mean, the female relatives implicated by crimes committed by their families and sent into exile,” he explained briefly, then continued, “According to court regulations, these exiled women of marriageable age must all marry local military households, settle down here, and open up wasteland to develop the frontier.”

“Previously, the prefect of our Yongzhou was kind and allowed these women to choose for themselves, and even gave half a month more grace than the court required. But I heard yesterday that Yongzhou has a new prefect now, and what the previous one said no longer counts. Now according to court regulations, Miss Shen and the others must get married within ten days and marry military households here.”

“During these ten days, they can still choose for themselves and find someone they like. Once the ten days pass, that’ll be hard to say. Miss Shen must be worrying about this matter.”

“Besides that, there’s also Centurion Jiang. He’s been pestering Miss Shen for a long time, and just now even sent people to ‘invite’ her. He definitely won’t let Miss Shen marry someone else, so that’s why she looked troubled today. Got it?”

After saying this, he deliberately glanced at Pei Er, only to see that the man’s eyes were dark and deep, his expression even colder than usual, his right hand tightly gripping the hilt of his curved blade.

Chen Qing felt a bit nervous again. After thinking for a moment, he deliberately spoke in a relaxed tone: “Actually, if you ask me, that Jiang fellow is just a ‘toad lusting after swan meat.’ With his looks, how is he worthy of Miss Shen?

“Speaking of which, Miss Shen used to be a young lady from an official family. Although her grandfather was only a minor official in the capital, that’s still not someone people like us could ever meet. If not for her bad luck and being exiled, forget us, even Centurion Jiang might never have seen her once in his lifetime.”

After saying that, he glanced again at the silent Pei Er. Considering that the other party had shaved him a crutch, he couldn’t help kindly advising: “Brother, to be honest, even though Miss Shen has fallen into being a criminal dependent, people like you and me still won’t have a chance.”

“If you ask me, you’re definitely not the only one in the wounded soldiers’ camp who’s taken a liking to her. But look, after the new document came down yesterday, did anyone go recommend themselves to Miss Shen? Better to think it through, if she hadn’t become a criminal dependent, people like us wouldn’t even have a chance to see her, let alone have her personally change our medicine and save our lives. You’re already extremely fortunate. Just treat it as… your fate together ends here.”

As Chen Qing spoke, a surge of poetic sentiment suddenly rose in him, but unfortunately he didn’t have much learning, so he could only shake his head and stare at the tent roof.

Pei Er’s hand gripping the knife loosened, then tightened again; tightened and loosened again. He grew increasingly silent.

What Chen Qing said was right, if not for the other party falling into exile as a criminal dependent, how could someone like him have the fortune to be saved by her and personally receive acupuncture and medicine changes?

The poor soldiers in the wounded camp all felt unworthy of Miss Shen, and he… had even worse conditions than they did…

He had no family, no memories, wasn’t as clever as the Zhang brothers, couldn’t even give away a bowl of food, his status couldn’t compare to Centurion Jiang, and he didn’t even have a single copper coin in his pocket, destitute and downcast, except… perhaps he still had some decent martial skills.

Was there a way?

Could he even dare to hope?

Pei Er lay back on the wooden plank bed, one hand behind his head, staring blankly at the tent roof.

***

The next day.

Perhaps as retaliation for Li Chanxiu’s failure to show tact yesterday, Centurion Jiang suddenly had people spread the word that aside from him, no one should even think of marrying Li Chanxiu.

The implication was: whoever dared to marry her would be going against him.

This was clearly meant to cut off Li Chanxiu’s idea of marrying someone else, and also force her to take the initiative to meet and submit.

After all, once this statement was spread, in the entire camp, probably no one except Centurion Jiang would dare even think about marrying Miss Shen.

When Li Chanxiu learned of it, frost-like coldness covered her face.

Centurion Jiang was like a patch of dog-skin plaster, hard to shake off and extremely disgusting.

If not for fearing that directly killing the man might lead to the matter being traced back to him and expose his identity, causing more loss than gain, he truly wanted to add some arsenic to the other party’s wound medicine.

This person was truly one of the rare few who could make him this displeased.

Early in the morning, Li Chanxiu suppressed his unhappiness, forced a smile, and dealt with the concern from Physician Hu and Aunt Xu.

Physician Hu, knowing about the matter, said he would go find Commandant Jiang and ask him to restrain Centurion Jiang.

But it was obvious, since Centurion Jiang dared to spread such words, he wasn’t afraid of offending Physician Hu. Li Chanxiu had no hope in this.

After breakfast, he went to the wounded soldiers’ camp as usual.

The wounded soldiers had probably all heard about the matter. When they saw him, they all looked sympathetic, wanting to speak but hesitating.

Especially the Zhang brothers, they wanted to help but couldn’t think of a solution, and looked anxious.

Li Chanxiu forced himself to respond to their greetings and walked all the way to the innermost part of the tent. When he saw Pei Er, his heart strangely calmed.

“Let’s do the acupuncture first.” He set down the medicine box, took out the silver needles, and smiled at the other party.

The moment Pei Er saw him arrive, his gaze stuck to him the entire time. Seeing that his expression appeared normal, he seemed to relax slightly. Then he frowned faintly again, as if troubled by something.

Li Chanxiu didn’t notice. During the acupuncture, his mind drifted again.

Seeing Pei Er, he once again thought of the method from yesterday, but… he still hadn’t made up his mind. Especially since he still hadn’t asked Pei Er whether he dared to oppose Centurion Jiang.

Pei Er also occasionally looked at him, something seeming to brew in his dark eyes.

Li Chanxiu, lost in thought, didn’t notice. Or perhaps he was deliberately avoiding the other party’s eyes.

Several times he wanted to speak, but whenever he met those black eyes, he forcibly stopped.

The noise in the tent made it impossible for his mind to calm, and the air felt increasingly heavy and stifling.

After inserting the final needle, he hurriedly put away the silver needles, said “That’s all for today,” picked up the medicine box, and left.

He didn’t even have time to lift his head for one more glance.

Pei Er stared blankly at his figure disappearing in an instant, like a cloud of mist drifting away beyond reach.

The ink-dark color brewing in his eyes instantly dissipated, and the words he had wanted to say suddenly closed tightly again.

He lowered his head to look at the two licorice slices in his palm.

Miss Shen had forgotten to bring him new ones today.

She hadn’t even spoken much to him.

He truly wasn’t the special one; just like Zhang He, Chen Qing… and the other wounded soldiers in these tents, none of them were special.

They were merely fortunate enough to have briefly been saved and cared for by this kind-hearted Miss Shen.

Pei Er clenched his fist, gripping the two licorice slices tightly in his palm, using so much force it seemed he might crush them.

Suddenly, his vision darkened.

He abruptly lifted his head and saw “Miss Shen,” who had gone and returned.

Li Chanxiu stood before Pei Er, her clear and beautiful eyes looking at him, her breathing still slightly unsteady, evidently from hurrying back.

He looked at the young person before him, handsome and cool with a trace of surprise on his face, and at those pitch-black eyes without a trace of impurity…

There was no one more suitable than the person before him.

He clenched his fingertips as he thought.

Other than Pei Er, who else would dare, under the words released by Centurion Jiang, to marry him? And the other party was obedient and easy to coax, had no family, and he himself had saved him, success would be easy…

There was no one more suitable.

Li Chanxiu thought again in his heart.

Just one or two months, do it this way for now, to get through the present difficulty.

At worst, before the marriage, he would explain things clearly to the other party; at worst, when his father’s old subordinates came to find him, he would give the other party more silver as compensation when he left.

As for Centurion Jiang, Pei Er need not worry that marrying would offend him; he had a way to deal with it.

As if having made the final decision, Li Chanxiu steadied himself, looked at Pei Er, who was slightly stunned by his sudden return, and his cool and delicate eyes suddenly curved, revealing a gentle smile.

“Can you come out with me for a moment?” He said, his tone soft, like drifting clouds on the horizon, floating into Pei Er’s ears.

“I have something important I want to tell you.”