As Xiao Jue had said, the 23 unclaimed female corpses were buried on the Wind Riding Platform outside of Liangzhou City. Looking down from the Wind Riding Platform, the valley was covered by clouds and mist, like a fairyland.
The coffins were made of the best quality, made with silver from the Sun family's treasury. The Sun family had amassed a lot of wealth over the years, and they had even renovated a treasury to store their treasures.
Because the 23 corpses' names and origins were unknown, there were no words to be carved on the final tombstones. 23 wordless tombstones, 23 young girls laid to rest here. If they knew after death, they could sit here and watch the clouds move. If they were reborn, just as Xiao Jue had said, they could ride the wind freely and roam freely.
He Yan and Song Taotao stood not far away, Chi Wu stood on the side, looking at the people who were burning paper money on the ground. Xiao Jue did not come when the girls were buried. Many of the people who were burning paper money were looking for the missing girls, but they could not find their loved ones in the end. After all, many of the girls who were killed by Sun Ling did not even have a complete corpse, and were eaten by wolves and dogs in the wild.
A white-haired old woman was burning paper money in a metal basin. She was so old that she could barely walk. Her grandson had to carry her up the mountain path. Her granddaughter was kidnapped by Sun Ling four years ago and never appeared again. Even now, there was no trace of her granddaughter among the corpses in Sun Ling's courtyard.
The old woman trembled and said, "I'm burning paper money for these girls. In the future, if a kind-hearted person sees Da Niu, they will burn paper money for Da Niu … Miss, rest in peace …"
Song Taotao used a handkerchief to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes and said, "Being a girl is too hard. If there is a next life, I don't want to be a girl."
"This has nothing to do with being a girl or not." He Yan looked at the paper money flying in the air. "As a girl, we don't live to suffer. It's the same for men. If they are unhappy with their fate, they can walk a different path. It's just that … "She looked at the wordless tombstones." For them, there is no choice. This is too cruel. "
Song Taotao looked at her. "You are very different from normal men."
"What?"
"If it were an ordinary man, he would probably say, 'What's wrong with you women? All you need to do is sit in your room and dress nicely. When it's cold, there will be someone to put on your clothes. When you go in and out, there will be someone to serve you. There's no need for you to fight outside. She imitated the man's rough voice and said disdainfully, "Is it good to be a pet? Locking a bird in a cage and asking the bird to praise the cage for its beauty, I think they are the ones with problems in their brains. "
He Yan could not help but laugh. "You are also very different from ordinary women."
"I'm different. By the way," Song Taotao looked at her, "I still don't know your name. You're not Cheng Lisu. You're Second Young Master Xiao's subordinate, right?"
"My name is He Yan." He Yan said, "He as in firewood, Yan as in clear sea."
"So it's Big Brother He," Song Taotao said. "You can call me Taotao."
"This …" He Yan scratched his head. Wasn't this a little too intimate? Although they were all women, if others didn't know and saw it, they would probably start to have wild and fanciful thoughts.
"Then it's settled," Song Taotao said. "I've already agreed with Second Young Master Xiao that I will temporarily go with you to the Liang Province Guard. When Second Young Master Xiao's people arrive, he will send someone to send me back to Shuo Jing. Therefore, in the following days, I may have to stay with you. "Song Taotao's eyes curved into crescents as she smiled." I haven't been to the guard station yet. "She became happy again and chattered endlessly.
"Miss Song," Chi Wu looked into the distance. "It's getting late. This subordinate will send you down the mountain first."
"Let's go," He Yan also said.
They walked down the mountain with their backs to them. At the steps of the Wind Riding Platform, there were clusters of white chrysanthemums growing in the grass. When the breeze blew, the chrysanthemums nodded slightly, as if a graceful young girl was thanking them.
Not long after, they could no longer see them.
After going down the mountain and returning to the inn they were staying at, Song Taotao dove into the room to take a bath. She had been busy today and had left quite a bit of ash on her body from burning paper money. She needed to wash it off.
Since the Sun residence was sealed, she naturally couldn't go back. Thus, she went back to the inn she came from. The innkeeper knew Xiao Jue's true identity. Now that Sun Xiangfu and his son had become prisoners, he didn't dare to be negligent. The innkeeper was so attentive that he seemed to be a servant of some household. He surrounded He Yan and the others.
He Yan said, "It's fine, I can do it myself." She took a handkerchief and went directly into the room.
Fei Nu was packing things in the room. When he saw her, he was shocked. He Yan asked, "Brother Fei Nu, what are you doing?"
Fei Nu said with a wooden face, "I'm staying with Chi Wu."
When they were in the Sun residence, the three of them stayed together. Xiao Jue was in the inner room while Fei Nu and He Yan were outside. Thus, they didn't feel that there was anything wrong. He Yan casually said, "It's so troublesome to move around."
Fei Nu stood still and looked at her in disbelief, "You're a woman. How can you stay with me in the same room?"
He Yan said, "… You don't have to put on an expression like you can't bear to be humiliated."
Fei Nu didn't say anything. He quickly packed his things as if she was a scourge. He couldn't avoid her and immediately left.
He Yan was the only one left in the room.
She was startled for a moment. Then, she shook her head and smiled. In the eyes of Xiao Jue and her servant, her behavior was very unexpected. But in her previous life, she had been in the army for a long time. What was so difficult about living with a man? She was a girl and she didn't feel shy. She didn't know why Fei Nu was acting so awkward.
He Yan walked to the bed and found that there was water and clean white cloth on the table. There was also hot water for bathing in the room. It must have been put there by Fei Nu. She still had injuries on her body. This person was like his master. Sometimes he was unreasonable, but sometimes he was quite considerate.
There was no one in the room. She sat down and took off her clothes. She took a rough bath. She didn't have time to examine the wounds from yesterday. After she changed the old cloth, she found that the wounds were not shallow.
Naturally, it was very painful, but she could endure it. He Yan leaned over and looked at the girl in the mirror. Her originally white skin had a knife wound. It certainly didn't look good.
Lady He cherished her beauty. She wanted to pamper her with nectar. She had just arrived, but she was already unrecognizable. If the real Lady He came back and saw this scene, she would be so angry that she fainted.
She was already very careful to protect herself, but once she decided to rely on herself to go out and lose the protection of her family, she was bound to get hurt. Humans grew from being hurt again and again, and scars would eventually become armor one day.
A female general's body could never be as flawless as an ordinary girl's. The old wounds on her body were like a piece of paper that had been scratched by a strange knife. It couldn't be considered beautiful. It could even be called terrifying.
Which girl didn't like to be beautiful? Even though He Yan had been a man for more than ten years in his previous life, when he changed back into women's clothes and looked at the scars on his back and body, he still felt ashamed when facing Xu Zhiheng. She never wore thin gauze clothes. Once, Xu Zhiheng gave her a waterlily colored pomegranate gauze dress. There were pomegranate flowers embroidered on the shoulders and neck. It was as thin as a cicada's wing. She liked it very much. But she never wore it even once. It was because her shoulder was pierced by an enemy arrow on the battlefield. When she pulled the arrow out, it left a scar that could never be removed.
She also remembered the look in Xu Zhiheng's eyes when he looked at those scars. Although he didn't say anything, he deliberately avoided looking at her. It was more hurtful than directly saying that he didn't like it.
He Yan stared at the bronze mirror in a daze. Why were scars a medal on a man, but a disgrace on a woman? How unfair was this? It was only natural for people to think that women used their beauty to serve others, so they had to maintain their beauty at all times.
What a load of nonsense.
He Yan lowered her head and carefully applied the ointment to the wound. Then, she wrapped the wound with a cloth. She did these things with ease. When it hurt, she didn't even frown. Soon, the wound was healed. After doing all this, she rested in the room for a while. Then, she pushed the door open and went to Xiao Jue's room.
The light in the room was on. Xiao Jue should be inside. He Yan knocked on the door. "Commander in chief?"
"Come in."
She pushed the door open and entered. Second Young Master Xiao was putting away the Evening Fragrance Zither on the table. He Yan almost forgot that he had come to Liangzhou City to repair the zither. Speaking of repairing the zither, He Yan remembered that when she was drunk, she crushed his zither.
"Commander in chief." He Yan braced himself and said, "Have you eaten?"
Xiao Jue stopped what she was doing. "If you have something to say, say it."
"Are we going back to the Imperial Guard Station tomorrow?" He Yan asked. "How do you plan to deal with me?"
Now that Xiao Jue knew that she was a girl, what if Xiao Jue really wanted to send her back to Shuo Jing? Now that she finally had some clues about He Rufei, she would rather die than go back.
"How do you want me to deal with you?" Second Young Master Xiao sat down at the table and looked at her calmly.
He Yan hurriedly moved a stool to sit beside him and analyzed the situation seriously. "You have seen my abilities. This time, when you brought me to Liangzhou, I was the one who warned you about the assassin, and I was also the one who helped you distract Yuan Baozhen. In the end, I killed Ding Yi. If I think about it carefully, I have done more for you than Big Brother Fei Nu. "
Fei Nu, who was sitting next to them, sneezed.
"A person like me, as a subordinate, as a confidant, I am good at understanding others." He Yan praised himself without any burden. "With me, the Liangzhou Guard will be like a tiger that has grown wings. Commander in chief, I think that if you put me in the Nine Flags Battalion, you will not regret it. "
Xiao Jue smiled and asked slowly, "Nine Flags Battalion?"
"I know that you are a straightforward person, and you must be suspicious of my purpose in joining the Nine Flags Battalion. I will be frank with you, because it takes too long to make a name for yourself. I heard that in the Nine Flags Battalion, even if you are handicapped in the future, you can still become an official. Our He Family relies on me to bring honor to our ancestors, and I think that the Nine Flags Battalion is a good place to go. "
Her words were magnanimous. Xiao Jue picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. She said calmly, "You don't have to wait until the future. I think you are handicapped now."
He Yan, "… What?" Could it be that Xiao Jue could tell that she was Young Mistress Xu and was blind in her previous life?
Just as she was feeling nervous, she saw this person point at her own head.
He Yan, "…" He was the one with a problem in his head! Why was she scolding him all of a sudden?
However, he had no choice but to lower his head. He Yan forced a smile. "Commander in chief, don't you think so?"
Xiao Jue stared at her and sneered. "Liar, the Nine Flags Battalion does not accept incompetent people."
"Incompetent people?" Xiao Jue could question her character, but she could not question her ability. He Yan slammed the table. "Who are you talking about?"
"Someone like Ding Yi, you were injured when you fought with him." Xiao Jue's mouth twitched. Her beautiful eyes were full of ridicule. "If you are not incompetent, then what are you?"
"That is … that is …" That was because Lady He's body was weak. Moreover, she had learned her lesson from her previous life. Of course, she had to be careful!
"If Brother Fei Nu was here, he would also be injured!"
"You can use your deceitful mind to practice martial arts. Perhaps you will improve a lot."
The more familiar this person was with her, the more he began to reveal the nasty side of him when he was young. He Yan took a deep breath and suddenly smiled.
"Alright, I don't care if you insist on saying that. I don't care if you are prejudiced against me. It's just that I suddenly miss the red mole on your waist."
Xiao Jue's calm expression suddenly cracked.
"This rumor is originally a rumor, but as it spread, it became true. I was originally the daughter of a military officer at the city gate. My family is not prosperous and I am not famous. It is my good fortune to be able to have the same name as the Governor's. " He Yan stood up and said slowly, "In the future, when others talk about me, they will say that I was once glorious and that I was the Governor's beloved woman. Thinking about it, I feel that it is not a loss. It is just that it is difficult for the Governor to be tied to someone like me. However, the Governor does not care about what others say, so it should not matter to you. "
Xiao Jue stared at her. Her gaze was like a knife. She said in a low voice, "What beloved woman?"
He Yan replied with a smile, "I am so outstanding that everyone in the Liangzhou Guards knows me. They have always admired me as a rare good man. When they suddenly found out that I am a woman, they would definitely not believe it. They would also wonder why a woman entered the military camp. I can only say that it is because the Governor loves me deeply and cannot bear to be separated from me. That is why he hid me in the military camp and even brought me to Liangzhou Guards. If others heard this, they would only be envious of my good luck. Of course, they would also sigh at how deep the Governor's love is. "
When Xiao Jue heard this, she did not get angry. Instead, she laughed, "Shameless!"
He Yan placed her hand on the table and quickly said, "I am not an unreasonable person. I did not ask the Governor to let me enter the Nine Flags Camp through the back door. I only hope that the Governor will give me a chance to prove myself. We will return to the Guard Station together and pretend that this did not happen. I also hope that the Governor will put aside his prejudice against me and treat me as an ordinary soldier. Oh right, "she seemed to have thought of something," I am currently injured and need to change my dressing at night. It is inconvenient for me to live with men. I will have to trouble the Governor to find a room for me alone, the kind where I can bathe in. "
Xiao Jue said coldly, "Don't even think about it."
"Then I can only be the Governor's beloved woman." He Yan turned around indifferently, "Even if you put me in a carriage and send me back to Shuo capital, I can immediately spread the news. Oh, I think this inn is not bad. As long as I scream … "
Xiao Jue facepalmed, "He Yan!"
He Yan smiled with a hidden dagger, "Who told me to be a liar?"
Xiao Jue, "I promise you."
He Yan's face changed faster than the innkeeper's three year old child. She patted her chest and said regretfully, "I am a little disappointed that I can't be the Governor's beloved woman."
Xiao Jue's face turned ashen, "Get out!"
He Yan happily whistled and left.
The next morning, when Fei Nu and Chi Wu woke up and went out, they found that He Yan was even earlier than the two of them.
It was probably because she was going to return to the Liang Province Guard Station. She purposely tidied herself up and picked out a set of clothes that Cheng Li did not wear often. She was born with delicate features. If Fei Nu did not know that she was a woman, she would have praised her in her heart for being such an elegant young man.
Chi Wu did not know He Yan's identity. She crossed her arms and looked at him from afar. She whispered to Fei Nu, "You said that this person is invincible in the Liang Province Guard Station? Look at his body, it doesn't seem like it. "
Fei Nu sighed. That was not the only thing that didn't seem like it.
As they were talking, Song Taotao came up from downstairs with a handful of red dates in her hand. When she saw He Yan, she naturally reached out and smiled, "Big Brother He, these are the dates the innkeeper sent over. They are very sweet. Do you want to try them?"
Liang Province was rich in red dates. They were all big and sweet and looked very pleasing to the eye. He Yan took them and said, "Thank you."
The young man and young woman stood there, pleasing to the eye and causing people to daydream. Chi Wu poked Fei Nu's arm and said mischievously, "I feel that something is wrong. Could it be that Second Miss Song has taken a fancy to He Yan? What about Young Master Cheng? "
Fei Nu looked at him with a complicated expression, "… … What are you worrying about!"
"How can this be called worrying about nothing? Young Master Cheng is Young Master's uncle. Of course, we have to help Young Master Cheng. How about I teach that boy a lesson in private and tell him to stay away from Second Miss Song? Our Young Master Cheng is pure and kind. How can he be He Yan's opponent? Look at him, look at him smiling at Second Miss Song. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can't stand it anymore. "
"Don't talk so much. Young Master hates people who gossip." Fei Nu said, "You and I just need to do our job well."
Chi Wu still wanted to say something, but the door opened and Xiao Jue came out.
"Commander in chief." He Yan greeted her warmly.
Xiao Jue acted as if she didn't see her. She passed by her and didn't even give her a glance. She said to Fei Nu, "Is the carriage ready?"
"They are waiting downstairs." Fei Nu replied.
"Let's go." He went downstairs.
Chi Wu and Fei Nu looked at each other. Chi Wu asked in a low voice, "Did the surnamed He make our Young Master angry?"
"Let's get to work." Fei Nu didn't answer and followed her downstairs.
"Second Young Master Xiao treats people coldly as usual." Song Taotao stood on He Yan's side, which made He Yan feel quite moved. The little girl said to her sympathetically, "It must be very difficult for you to work under him. When I return to Shuo Jing, I will talk to my father and see if I can get you an official position in the capital. With your skills and character, it shouldn't be difficult. "
"Huh?" He Yan didn't expect Song Taotao to have this plan. She waved her hand and said, "That's not necessary. Thank you for your kindness, Miss Song. It's just that I am doing well in the Liangzhou Guard. Military Governor Xiao is not an unreasonable person. He is very good. It is my honor to work under him."
Song Taotao only thought that she was speaking up for Xiao Jue and didn't think much of it. "How is he worthy of you working under him? The people in Shuo Jing all say that he is cold and heartless … "
Although Xiao Jue's temper wasn't very good, He Yan couldn't go against his conscience and scold him. He only smiled and said, "He isn't good. But didn't he find a way to make trouble for the Sun family's father and son who bullied you? If he really isn't good, why would he care about the unclaimed female corpses in Sun Xiangfu's residence? Why would he bury them and invite monks to help them cross over? "
"But …" Song Taotao still wanted to argue.
The young man smiled and patted her head. He said warmly, "Miss Song, you are still young. You don't know that many things can't be seen on the surface. Many people also need to get along with them to understand their character. Those who are kind and considerate to you are not necessarily good people. Evil people that you think are cold and heartless may have a side that others don't know. "
Song Taotao was stunned. Before she could figure it out, He Yan had already walked down the stairs. Her head seemed to still be warm from the young man's palm. She blushed and quickly chased after him. She muttered softly, "What do you mean by young? You are not much older than me."
In the end, they didn't continue arguing.
He Yan lowered his head and smiled. The words that Xiao Jue said to those pitiful girls yesterday echoed in his ears.
"Outside Liangzhou City, there is a mountain peak called Chengfeng. These girls had no choice when they were alive. They are buried here. May they be free to ride the wind in their next lives. "
He could understand the despair of those girls, which was why he said such words.
Therefore, she magnanimously forgave Xiao Jue's rudeness to her and didn't take his bad behavior to heart.
After all, there weren't many gentle people in this world.
She went downstairs and saw Xiao Jue standing in front of the carriage. She walked over and asked, "Commander in Chief, will you ride with me?"
Song Taotao was a little girl after all. When they came here, they all rode horses. When they came back, they couldn't let Song Taotao ride with them. Therefore, they ordered Fei Nu to arrange for two carriages.
Xiao Jue tilted his head and looked at her.
He Yan explained, "I can't sit in the same carriage as Miss Song. We are a single man and a single woman. If others see us, Miss Song's reputation will be tarnished."
Xiao Jue asked, "So?"
"So I should sit in the same carriage as Commander in Chief." He Yan said with a smile. He was about to get into the carriage when Xiao Jue grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him down.
If He Yan didn't grab his sleeve, he would have lost his balance.
"You don't think of yourself as a woman, and you don't think of me as a man?" He raised his eyebrows, "Liar, I'm afraid you are too immersed in the act, so I'm reminding you. The mission is over. You don't have to think of yourself as Cheng Lisu. "After he said this, he brushed off the sleeve that He Yan had just grabbed.
Chi Wu passed by and happened to hear Xiao Jue's last sentence. He immediately grabbed He Yan's clothes and pulled him to the side, "That's right, that's right! You still think of yourself as Young Master Cheng? How can you be so blind? Come here and ride with us! "
He Yan was just joking. He didn't really want to ride with Xiao Jue. He quickly got on the horse.
Fei Nu instructed the coachman, "There are girls in the carriage. Don't ride too fast."
He Yan was stunned and couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't that she was thinking too much. It was just that she was injured in the fight with Ding Yi. She couldn't ride too hard.
Who knew if this was intentional? She was also a girl.
Chi Wu said, "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
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