The Innocent Heart - Chapter 86

Huo Qubing consulted with the elder and decided they should depart immediately to rush back to Juyong Pass.

The group gathered the supplies seized from the Xiongnu and prepared to load them onto the horses to be hauled back. This pile of spoils consisted of property the Xiongnu had plundered from the village they had slaughtered. In the eyes of Huo Qubing and Chen Zhi—both scions of nobility—these items were not particularly valuable.

Chen Zhi waved his hand, allowing the survivors to divide the goods among themselves.

Huo Qubing, however, after staring at the corpses of the Xiongnu for a moment, suddenly drew his blade and walked toward them.

“Qubing, what are you doing? Are you… venting your anger?” Guan Yueyao was somewhat puzzled. She still did not quite dare to look directly at the scene, only turning her head to steal a few glances from the corner of her eye.

“I am going to cut off the heads of these Xiongnu and take them back,” Huo Qubing said after a pause.

Guan Yueyao shuddered, though she knew Qubing’s actions were not born of some perverse personal hobby. Having lived in the military for a long time, they both knew that when evaluating merit, aside from slaying a general, capturing a flag, or being the first to scale a wall, the most important metric was the number of enemy heads taken. These five Xiongnu heads would likely be enough for the three of them to each earn a rank of nobility.

“Are you… are you truly going to cut them?” Out of a shared sense of human psychology, Guan Yueyao’s heart remained hesitant.

Huo Qubing held his blade, his brow furrowed deeply, appearing to be performing some mental conditioning for himself.

“Hey, what are you two doing? What’s the point of chatting at a few corpses?” Chen Zhi approached at this moment. His gaze inadvertently swept over the bodies before he looked away with some disgust.

“We are wondering whether we should take the heads of these Xiongnu back,” Guan Yueyao explained, looking from Huo Qubing to Chen Zhi.

“Exactly! That is how it should be! When the time comes, I want to see if those people still dare to look down on us!” Chen Zhi slapped his hand in agreement.

It turned out he had also noticed the somewhat strange attitude the officers and soldiers of Juyong Pass had toward them and had been suppressing his own anger.

“Chen Zhi is right. Even if not for the sake of rewards and merit, we should let those people see clearly that we are not merely imperial relatives and pampered youths who only know pleasure.” It seemed Chen Zhi’s words reminded Huo Qubing of his purpose, helping him settle his resolve.

No longer hesitating, Huo Qubing bent down with his blade. Grabbing the hair of one of the corpses with one hand, he hacked down forcefully at the neck.

Guan Yueyao instinctively closed her eyes but forgot to cover her ears. The dull thud of a sharp blade hitting bone soon made her flinch. Suddenly, her stomach churned violently. Daring not to stay a moment longer, she covered her mouth and bolted toward a nearby patch of shrubs.

The three had not eaten anything for nearly a day. Guan Yueyao dry-heaved for a long while, only managing to bring up a bit of stomach acid. She leaned against a section of withered wood, squatting on the ground to wipe her mouth, finally feeling a bit more comfortable.

“Phew…” The night wind brushed against her face, clearing her consciousness slightly.

Thinking of Qubing, Guan Yueyao suddenly felt she was quite useless. Qubing was clearly several years younger than her, yet he could already decapitate enemy heads without a change in expression.

Until this moment, Guan Yueyao truly understood what it meant to be a soldier—especially a soldier in an era like this, following an Emperor like theirs. She realized what a tragic and violent reality she would have to face in the future.

Did she want to retreat? Asking herself honestly, there was indeed a hint of it.

Should I simply confess my gender to Qubing and Lord Wei, and then, like Lady Wei, stay within the city of Chang’an, living a life free of worry for food and clothing but unable to go out freely?

“I don’t want that!” Guan Yueyao resisted almost instinctively.

It is merely killing the enemy. We are repelling invaders; we are the righteous side. Just as I once told the Son of Heaven: Dignity only exists upon the edge of a sword.

Guan Yueyao muttered to herself as if performing a ritual of self-hypnosis. This psychological suggestion was actually somewhat effective; the discomfort and guilt she felt during her first kill seemed to gradually fade with her chanting.

Having bolstered her mental state, Guan Yueyao supported herself against a tree trunk to stand up. Having squatted for so long, her legs were somewhat numb. She rubbed her legs with a grimace, but suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps behind her.

What was happening? Being in this peril-filled prairie made one constantly alert. Before Guan Yueyao could react, a dark shadow lunged to her side.

“Who goes there!” she cried out. Before she could see the newcomer’s face, a sound reached her ears.

“Blegh!”

It was actually Chen Zhi. He was currently bent over, leaning against a tree and vomiting heavily. It seemed he, too, had been severely unsettled by that excessively bloody and cruel scene.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. You’ll feel better once it’s out.” Guan Yueyao walked to Chen Zhi’s side, feeling quite sympathetic. She gently patted his back while offering comfort.

“Crap, I’m truly impressed. That kid Huo Qubing really has guts to actually hack through that.” Having emptied the last bit of food in his stomach, Chen Zhi mirrored Guan Yueyao’s earlier action, wiping the corner of his mouth with his sleeve while muttering to himself.

“Stop talking about it, I want to vomit again…” Guan Yueyao interrupted Chen Zhi. These two, who usually didn’t see eye-to-eye, for the first time felt a sense of being fellow sufferers, and they silently shut their mouths.

By the time the two had composed themselves and returned to the group, a blood-stained cloth bundle had been added to Huo Qubing’s horse. One did not need to think to know what was inside.

Even though Guan Yueyao believed she had prepared herself mentally, her complexion still changed involuntarily when she caught sight of that bundle. But looking at her friend already mounted on his horse, his complexion was not good either. Although he put on a front of forced composure, Guan Yueyao knew him well enough to see the abnormality.

“Qubing, if you want to vomit, just go do it. It’s fine,” she advised, looking at Huo Qubing, whose face was pale and whose lips were tightly pressed together.

“No need. We should leave quickly. This is not a place to linger; staying even a moment longer could mean danger.” Huo Qubing shook his head, his tone stubborn and determined.

“Old gentleman, I must trouble you to lead the way.” With that, Huo Qubing squeezed his horse’s flanks, turned the horse’s head, and rode toward the Han civilians who had been waiting for some time.

Guan Yueyao sighed and exchanged a glance with Chen Zhi. Neither spoke, and they silently followed at the rear of the group.

Three Palace Attendants favored by His Majesty had escorted General Wei but failed to return for an entire day; the Commandant Li Ting, who remained in charge of Juyong Pass, was nearly going mad with anxiety.

However, with General Wei currently away on campaign, Li Ting did not dare to broadcast the news of his nephew’s disappearance for fear of shaking the army’s morale. He could only send out several squads of elite scouts to search for the three.

Unexpectedly, before the scouts could even depart, news arrived that the Xiongnu had plundered several border villages.

“It’s over, it’s over. They must have encountered Xiongnu on the way back and been killed.” Li Ting slumped onto the kang bed, his gaze growing vacant.

But despite such thoughts, the search had to continue. He dared not hesitate any longer, urging his subordinates to accelerate their assembly. If guarding the border were not equally vital, Li Ting wished he could personally join the rescue team.

Within the fortress, the soldiers already looked down upon these three young imperial relatives, who seemed to have come to the border town merely for leisure. Now, while they could have lived peacefully within the Pass, the soldiers were forced to risk the danger of encountering Xiongnu outside the Pass just to search for these troublesome youths. The troops were quite reluctant, and the assembly speed was inevitably sluggish.

“Commandant! Commandant! There is a small party of riders before the gate—about ten people!” Li Ting was pacing back and forth anxiously with his hands behind his back when a messenger burst in like an arrow.

Because he had run so fast, his breathing was extremely labored, which suddenly added a great deal of tension to his report.

“Could the Xiongnu be here?!” Li Ting’s expression shifted, but upon second thought, he felt it shouldn’t be. To attack a strategic stronghold like Juyong Pass, the Xiongnu would have to be insane to send only a squad of ten.

“The newcomers claim to be Attendants Huo Qubing, Guan Yueyao, and Chen Zhi. They encountered several Han civilians captured by the Xiongnu on the prairie and rescued them.” The messenger had caught his breath slightly and continued his report.

“Don’t leave me hanging like that next time, damn it!” Li Ting snapped, kicking his subordinate.

But since the three youths had returned safely—and regardless of whether they truly rescued any captured Han civilians—at least his official position was saved. Li Ting’s heart lightened as he left the messenger behind and ran out.

The group rode as fast as they could and finally returned to Juyong Pass before daybreak. At this time, the troops intended to search for them had already assembled on the drill grounds and were preparing to depart.

Before they could even leave, they heard that the three had found their own way back. They couldn’t help but curl their lips, expressions of indifference crossing their faces.

“I said it—just a few young lords having too much fun. There was no need for such a commotion; Commandant Li Ting made far too much of it.” someone complained loudly, followed by a chorus of agreement from those around.

“These people! They know nothing! On what grounds do they say such things about us!” Guan Yueyao was passing the drill grounds with Huo Qubing. After a night of exhaustion, hunger was secondary; they all desperately wanted to wash away the blood and dust, and then sleep soundly.

But suddenly hearing such baseless slander, Guan Yueyao stopped in indignation, rolling up her sleeves as if to go and argue with the gossiping soldiers.

“Ah, it’s good that you’re back, good that you’re back. You’ve all traveled through the night; you should rest and recover properly.” Li Ting suppressed the fire in his own heart and tried to smooth things over.

Huo Qubing naturally perceived that Li Ting appeared to be mediating while actually favoring the other side. His heart turned cold, and he suddenly shouted sternly:

“Commandant Li clearly knows we were lost on the prairie and only returned after fighting several Xiongnu to rescue these Han civilians. Yet you allow the soldiers in the army to slander and defame us. What exactly is your intention?”

Huo Qubing had been by the Son of Heaven’s side for a long time and had learned nearly eighty or ninety percent of Liu Che’s imposing, naturally authoritative air. For a moment, the noisy drill grounds fell silent. Hundreds of eyes turned in unison toward them, seemingly waiting for Li Ting’s next response.