The General Seized Her by Force - Chapter 2

Li Chu’s phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as she swept a glance toward Guan Lu, who instantly became as docile as a quail, squatting down to begin examining the corpses.

Li Chu was quite surprised herself. She had very few family members left; the only person who could call her with such a senior’s tone was her second uncle. As for the outside world, she was a General. Even her closest friends and older colleagues only addressed her as “Big Li,” following the nickname they used for her uncle, “Old Li.”

Li Chu stopped the motion of pulling out the arrow and walked toward the lady standing by the carriage.

Madam Wen stared blankly at the young woman before her. Had the name not been the same, she truly would not have dared to recognize her.

Seeing her mother looking toward her, the younger Madam Wen whispered a reminder, “Mother, have you forgotten? When Shu’er was four years old and got lost during our spring outing, it was Little Chu who carried her back.”

The little girl, who was only six at the time, had long since shed her childishness and grown into a tall, statuesque figure. Not only had her features matured into a bright, stunning beauty, but now, dressed in red with her dark hair tied back in a high ponytail using only a single ribbon, she looked exceptionally poised. As she turned her head, her thin lips were pressed together and her phoenix eyes held a heroic spirit. With the ends of her black hair brushing against her waist and the bright red ribbon fluttering in the wind, the entire person exuded a vibrant, upward energy, resembling a ball of scorching fire.

Meeting a savior who was also an old acquaintance during such a crisis—no one was more moved than Madam Wen. “I am Shu’er’s mother. Do you still remember Wen Shu, whom we called Shu’er?”

Li Chu’s expression had been neutral, her peripheral vision even sweeping across the lantern hanging in front of the carriage, but the moment she heard the name Wen Shu, she suddenly realized who the person before her was. “Aunt Wen?!”

“It is I.” A smile involuntarily appeared in Madam Wen’s eyes, but in the next second, the smile stiffened at the corners of her mouth.

Upon learning they were the Wen family, Li Chu no longer just swept her peripheral vision over the carriage. As she passed by, she reached out and lifted the carriage window curtain, attempting to poke her head inside, her tone full of joy, “Is Little Yang there too?”

“Little Yang” was the childhood milk name for Wen Shu.

Madam Wen: “…”

Haiqing, who was working hard to establish the General’s dignity nearby: “…”

Haiqing raised his hand to his lips, glaring at the General and coughing frantically. A dignified General, and yet she was lifting someone else’s carriage window curtain!

Madam Wen also looked Li Chu up and down with an unruffled gaze. Their family had only moved to the capital last year following her husband’s promotion; naturally, she had heard of General Li Chu. Knowing that she was a woman who had achieved great military merit on the battlefield, Madam Wen had instinctively expected her to be much more composed as an adult. When she first glanced at her, Li Chu had indeed appeared capable and heroic, but who would have thought that as soon as she opened her mouth, she would still be so free-spirited and impulsive?

The gaze Madam Wen cast toward Li Chu now, aside from a grateful smile, also contained pity and heartache. To still possess such a temperament after being on the frontier battlefield—how could that not be considered a stroke of good fortune?

Madam Wen replied, “Shu’er is in the capital.”

Li Chu saw it as well; the carriage was completely empty, and there was no other figure inside, so she looked toward Madam Wen with a slight sense of loss.

Before Haiqing could cough himself to death, Li Chu finally regained her sense of propriety and raised her hand in a salute to Madam Wen. “Why have you all come to the capital?”

She looked at the old Madam and Madam Wen. She remembered that the Wen family was from Pingjiang. Uncle Wen was the local magistrate, and little Wen Shu, who often dressed in men’s clothing as a child, had even attended the local academy. If she hadn’t gone to the academy and been taken out for fieldwork by her teacher, and then hurried away to relieve herself and gotten lost, she wouldn’t have encountered Li Chu, who had mistaken little Wen Yang for a rabbit in the grass.

Madam Wen explained the reason for their move to the capital to Li Chu. “Shu’er’s father received an imperial favor and was promoted to the capital. Plus, with Shu’er preparing for the imperial examinations, our whole family moved over.”

Madam Wen cast a glance toward the ground, her face turning pale as her voice dropped. “This year, we returned to Pingjiang to tend to the ancestral graves. Who would have thought we would encounter such a human disaster while returning to the capital.”

Li Chu shifted her footsteps, blocking the corpses from Madam Wen’s view. Her actions were thoughtful, but her words were blunt as she comforted her, “Don’t think about those things. As long as everyone is safe now, that is all that matters.”

Madam Wen was slightly startled; the feeling of lingering fear was interrupted, and she found she couldn’t continue to dwell on it. She followed Li Chu’s lead and sighed, “Yes, it is fortunate that everyone is safe.”

Saying this, Madam Wen, along with the old Madam, thanked Li Chu.

The old Madam reached out and took Li Chu’s hand, patting the back of it gently. “Good child, it is all thanks to you. You are the savior of our Wen family; you have saved our whole family twice now. When we return to the capital, I will personally visit your home to express my gratitude.”

Li Chu did not engage in hollow pleasantries with her. She gripped the elder’s warm, withered palm and smiled, saying, “We’re family; it’s only right.”

The old Madam’s eyes grew hot; she assumed Li Chu meant, “It is my duty as a General to protect the citizens of my country.” She nodded repeatedly. “Good child.”

Li Chu had to enter the palace to see the Emperor, and the Wen family was in a hurry to return for their own matters. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they climbed back into the carriage.

Li Chu helped them up one by one, then stood below the carriage and said, “You all go first. I will follow behind and escort you into the city.”

She acted as their backbone. With her words, the Wen family servants, who had been shaking like chaff, finally found the courage to continue their journey.

After the carriage had traveled a distance, Haiqing turned his head and said, “General, you were in a hurry to get to the palace.”

Li Chu walked leisurely toward Guan Lu. “The capital region has always been peaceful. It is very suspicious that there were bandits for no reason today.”

When Guan Lu saw the General coming toward her, she was so frightened that she covered her head with both hands, repeating, “General, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have called you ‘Big Li’ in front of everyone. You have a great heart and great talent—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Li Chu grabbed the back of her collar and hauled her up, tossing her to the side. At the same time, a cold, gleaming dagger whistled through the air, passing exactly at the height of Guan Lu’s knees. Had she still been squatting on the ground, that position would have been her heart.

Guan Lu spun around and, after steadying herself, looked down with a lingering fear. Of the five bandits on the ground, the only one who had been alive was now holding a dagger, preparing to leap up.

Li Chu reacted extremely quickly. With one hand, she grabbed and clenched, yanking the arrow shaft from the chest of the survivor. With a flick of her wrist, she backhanded the sharp arrowhead, slicing the throat of the man. The survivor, who had just stood up, lay straight back down.

Li Chu kicked him twice, and seeing that he was truly dead, she tossed the blood-dripping arrow to Guan Lu. “I was wondering why, when all the others were dead, this one was still breathing. Turns out, his heart was grown off-center.”

Guan Lu wiped the blood from the arrowhead with a handkerchief. “I originally wanted to keep him alive to send to the Jingzhao Yin office to see if we could get any information out of him.”

Li Chu replied, “Dead or alive, sending him there is the same.”

Li Chu mounted her horse and swept a downward gaze over the corpses. “I get the feeling these men were specifically targeting the Wen family.”

To prevent any further accidents on the road, she decided it would be more stable to escort them into the city.

Haiqing asked, “Didn’t Madam Wen say they only arrived in the capital last year? In just one year, what kind of enemy could they have made to want the lives of the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law?”

Li Chu had no idea. “Let’s enter the city first.”

Li Chu escorted the Wen family to the city gate. She sat on her horse, leaning over to look into the carriage window. “Old Madam, Aunt, I have urgent matters to attend to. I will see you off here today.”

Madam Wen lifted the curtain and poked her head out. “Thank you for today.”

Since they had encountered bandits, the Wen family had to go to the Jingzhao Yin office to report the crime, so there was no need for Li Chu to make an extra trip.

The carriage moved slowly, and by now, the sky was completely bright, roughly after the hour of Mao (5:00 AM – 7:00 AM).

Li Chu was anxious to return to the capital for two reasons: First, the border war had ended, the Xiongnu had sued for peace, and either she or her uncle, both of whom held military power, had to be in the capital. Second, her missing cousin had been found. However, she had to see the Emperor before she could return to her manor.

For some reason today, the main road, which should have been sparsely populated in the early morning, was bustling with people. Haiqing took out a horn and blew it, and as the dull sound echoed, passersby scattered to both sides of the road.

Li Chu spurred her horse and galloped toward the Imperial Palace.

The three of them were too eye-catching. The passersby craned their necks to look:

“It’s General Li returning to the capital.”

“It seems the border war has ended. I told you, no matter what, the Xiongnu are no match for our Great Jiang!”

“The horses have already run far, stop looking. Let’s go see the list first. The imperial examination results are being posted today; let’s go see who made the first rank.”