The Innocent Heart - Chapter 34

“Huo Qubing!!! Go!!!”

On the training ground, as the last drumbeat sounded, what followed, besides the shouts of the competing soldiers rushing from the starting line, was Guan Yueyao’s voice, shouting himself hoarse cheering.

His voice was so loud that although Huo Qubing, still hundreds of meters from the finish line, could not hear him yet, Guo Chun, sitting beside Guan Yueyao and preparing to record the ranks and scores, nearly had his eardrums pierced.

This young officer looked in astonishment at his colleague, who had already jumped up from his chair, shouting while hopping on the spot.

Guan Yueyao’s excitement quickly infected the surrounding crowd of onlookers. Although they didn’t know what “cheering” meant yet, seeing Langzhong Guan’s demeanor, they could guess he must be encouraging a friend. This kind of catchy slogan was quickly learned by everyone. On the Northern Army’s training ground, shouts of encouragement rose one after another.

Guan Yueyao watched the starting line anxiously, trying to distinguish Huo Qubing’s figure among the approaching black dots. Soon, he saw him.

Although he pushed himself hard, he simply couldn’t compare to Guan Yueyao, who had received more scientific, modern sports training over many years. Among the group of adult men, all taller than him, he could not easily pull ahead, constantly fighting back and forth among the top few runners.

At this moment, Huo Qubing was gritting his teeth, using all his might. It seemed he could only hear his own heavy panting in his ears, making him feel as if he was about to give up and slow down. He realized that regardless of his natural talent, the gap in physical ability due to age could only be closed by years of training; he had been too ambitious.

“Huo Qubing!!!! Go!!!! Go!!!”

Just then, a familiar, hoarse voice, almost cracking, roared into his ears.

It was Ah Yao! This voice seemed to possess a magical quality; the taste of blood in his breath faded, and his limbs, which had felt heavy, became light again.

“Someone is still expecting my victory!” Huo Qubing thought, suddenly letting out a fierce shout, then closing his eyes and accelerating towards the finish line.

Seeing his friend sprinting with full effort when he still had 200 meters to go, he was gradually pulling away from the other soldiers. Without a doubt, if he could maintain this momentum until the finish line, he would undoubtedly take first place in this group race.

Thinking of this, Guan Yueyao could no longer contain his excitement and rushed toward the finish line; he wanted to be the first to greet his friend there!

However, the suspense of the competition was not over yet. Seeing this youth, much younger than them, suddenly accelerate, the other soldiers in the same group also began to grit their teeth and speed up. The advantage Huo Qubing had managed to gain was slowly being caught up by the soldiers behind him.

Even Liu Che watching from the stands had not expected a simple running race to be this intense. The sweat shed by the contestants on the field, the mighty cheers, all of this was perhaps the very charm of competitive sports.

Finally, just as the race reached its climax, it wasn’t long before the result was determined.

Huo Qubing’s young, delicate body was the first to crash into the ribbon symbolizing the finish line. Due to inertia, he did not stop immediately but kept running forward a few meters until he crashed into a warm embrace.

“Wonderful!!! Qubing!!! You won!!! You are first place!!!!!!” Because of shouting for so long, Guan Yueyao’s voice sounded a bit hoarse, but this in no way diminished the excitement and joy in his tone now.

However, the final sprint had consumed too much of Huo Qubing’s energy. He was currently seeing stars, and a ringing sound constantly echoed in his ears. His body weakly leaned back into his friend’s embrace.

Guan Yueyao quickly noticed his friend’s abnormal reaction and perceived something was wrong. He stopped his chattering, supported Huo Qubing’s arm, and his tone became anxious.

“Don’t stop! Keep walking slowly, Qubing, don’t stop.” In the ensuing silence, Huo Qubing nodded gently and, supported by Guan Yueyao, slowly shuffled across the field.

Meanwhile, on the stands, after seeing Huo Qubing’s final victory, Liu Che was also ecstatic. He excitedly slapped the railing and looked at Wei Qing with an agitated expression: “As expected of Qubing! Wang He! Wang He! Go, tell Qubing that after the competition ends, he can choose any horse from My stables!”

Before Wang He could respond, Wei Qing, enduring the sideways glances from the various generals on the stands, knelt down.

“I beg Your Majesty to retract the decree. Firstly, the competition has not yet reached its final conclusion. I know you cherish Qubing greatly, but in the army, one must establish themselves through strength. If you show such favoritism, even if Qubing truly wins, I fear he will have difficulty convincing the others!”

Wei Qing spoke urgently and with great concern; his suggestion was reasonable. Liu Che understood himself that too much of a good thing was harmful; excessive imperial favoritism could also be a form of killing with praise (Pèng Shā). He waved his hand somewhat sullenly. Wang He understood and silently retreated to a corner.

“Then tomorrow, I will let Qubing go pick out a horse with Me,” Wei Qing had just stood up with a sigh of relief when he heard the sovereign, who favored his relative to such an extent, muttering quietly. He sighed helplessly in his heart—these two were really both causes for worry.

“Ah Yao, do you think I can win the next round?” On the side of the training ground, Huo Qubing, having recovered, sat casually on the ground. Guan Yueyao squatted beside him, rubbing his legs, trying to help his muscles relax.

“Do you want the truth?” Guan Yueyao did not look up, still focused on the work in his hands.

“Of course!” Huo Qubing replied without hesitation. In fact, even without deeply considering Guan Yueyao’s rhetorical question, Huo Qubing vaguely guessed the outcome.

“Your chances of winning the next round are slim, but that’s unavoidable. Neither of us is a professional runner; we cannot make up for the age gap with others through innate physical gifts and long-term training. Even I might not be able to outrun them. But when we grow as old as they are now, they definitely won’t be able to catch up to our speed even on horseback!”

Guan Yueyao’s last sentence was admittedly a bit exaggerated, but it successfully eased Huo Qubing’s previously tense mood.

“Anyway, we are young. Winning is a pleasant surprise, and losing is excusable, right? The most important thing is to enjoy the process. Qubing, did you like the feeling of sprinting in that hundred-meter dash just now?”

Huo Qubing recalled carefully: that exhilarating feeling, the massive cheers when he rushed to the finish line first—all of it stimulated his nerves once more.

“I liked it,” Huo Qubing smiled and said with certainty.

Guan Yueyao smiled knowingly upon hearing this. He finally finished the work he was doing and sat back down next to Huo Qubing, throwing an arm around his shoulder.

“Right! The most important thing in sports is enjoying the thrill of constantly challenging and breaking past one’s own limits!” Saying this, he leaned in and whispered into Huo Qubing’s ear: “In the era I lived in before, many people spent a fortune to experience all kinds of extreme sports: bungee jumping, mountaineering, skydiving, rock climbing…” As he spoke, Guan Yueyao’s eyes showed a look of longing. It was a pity that he had transmigrated before he could experience these wonderful sports.

“Mountaineering? What kind of extreme sport is that?” Huo Qubing curled his lip dismissively.

“Do you know Mount Everest? The highest peak in the world, a snow mountain over eight thousand meters high! I saw on the news that every year, people die on the way trying to reach the summit!”

Huo Qubing fell silent after hearing Guan Yueyao’s words. Although his speech still contained some vocabulary he couldn’t immediately understand, from the measurement of “over eight thousand meters,” he seemed to be able to visualize the towering majesty of the mountain Guan Yueyao described.

After a while, he spoke again: “Is the mountain you mentioned within the future territory of My Great Han?”

This piece of geographical knowledge slightly exceeded the scope of Guan Yueyao’s knowledge from the modern era. He racked his brain for a moment, and finally said somewhat uncertainly: “It seems to be right on the border line—half on our side and half belonging to another country.”

Upon hearing this, Huo Qubing showed a look of excitement: “When I finish dealing with the Xiongnu, I will go see that highest peak in the world you mentioned!”

“Great! We’ll go together then!”

This youthful, innocent dream and promise between the two was lightly spoken, leaving its mark in time. Neither of them took it seriously at the moment. Compared to the grand undertaking of striking north against the Xiongnu, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which seemed even more mysterious and distant to the Han Dynasty, felt as remote as an unreal dream.

The two youths simply enjoyed this sunny afternoon, nestled close to each other, sharing their naive yet beautiful dreams. Guan Yueyao’s fanciful ideas, commonplace to modern people but incredible to Huo Qubing, a noble youth born and raised in Chang’an, carried his thoughts away from Chang’an. Following Guan Yueyao’s less-than-vast knowledge, Huo Qubing realized for the first time the colorful diversity of the world—it wasn’t just the prosperity of Chang’an or the smoke of war in the northern deserts that currently existed only in imagination.

These sporadic bits of idle chatter completely alleviated his involuntary nervousness about the next upcoming competition. After all, the world between heaven and earth was so vast—what was there to care about a small gain or loss, a small success or failure?