Duan Xu saying he didn’t have a great name was clearly him being far too modest.
“Duan Shunxi? Who in the royal court doesn’t know this name?”
The pearl in He Simu’s hand emitted a bright light under the clear moonlight. She was sitting on the roof of the governor’s residence, wearing a cloak, with one hand resting her chin and the other holding the pearl, listening to the voice coming from within it.
“The Duan family has produced Hanlin scholars for three consecutive generations. They are relatives of the emperor; Duan Shunxi’s maternal grandmother was the Eldest Princess, the late emperor’s biological sister. Before his father, Duan Chengzhang, resigned from his post due to illness, he served as the Minister of Rites. Their family is a renowned family of civil officials, and last year he achieved second place in the imperial examination and became an official; his future was very bright.”
He Simu leaned against the roof ridge, looking at the full moon, and asked, “Then who is Duke Pei?”
“Oh, Ancestor, you actually know about Duke Pei. Right now, there are two fiercely competing factions in the court: one is Prime Minister Du’s faction, and the other is Duke Pei’s faction. Duan Shunxi’s father is a trusted aide of Prime Minister Du, so he naturally belongs to Prime Minister Du’s faction. The current emperor likes to employ young people. Prime Minister Du is old, and Duan Shunxi has a strong background and is favored by Prime Minister Du, so he is being groomed as a future candidate for prime minister.”
“Unfortunately, he has a nemesis, Fang Xianye, who passed the imperial examination with him and took first place. Now Fang Xianye serves as the Royal Advisor. Fang Xianye comes from a poor family and was originally Duke Pei’s subordinate. After achieving first place, he naturally returned under Duke Pei’s patronage. This kid is very smart and meticulous, always one step ahead of Duan Shunxi in everything.”
“Previously, at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, the emperor suddenly wanted to invite the young talents at the banquet to discuss military strategy. This time, Duan Shunxi outshone Fang Xianye and received high praise from the emperor. As a result, Duke Pei immediately submitted a petition saying that since Duan Shunxi possessed military talent, he should train more. The delighted emperor then appointed Duan Shunxi as a General of the Imperial Guards.”
“Duan Shunxi was originally a civil official under the Prime Minister. His smooth path to the prime minister’s position was suddenly blocked, and he was promoted to a military post instead. He has a civil official background and absolutely no military connections. Going to the Imperial Guards, he was bound to make mistakes. Fang Xianye seized this opportunity, and with one letter of impeachment, sent him out of the capital to become a Middle General in the Tabai Army. Who would have thought that as soon as he arrived at the Tabai Army, he would encounter the Huqi tribe’s invasion? The General of the Tabai Army died in battle, and he was appointed in an emergency as the General of the Tabai Army.”
He Simu massaged her temples. She twirled the pearl in her hand and said, “I understand; he must be a famously unlucky person that everyone knows about.”
From a renowned noble family and a future prime minister, falling all the way to becoming a border general whose life was threatened at any moment. No wonder Meng Wan was like a firecracker ready to explode, shouting about wanting to protect Duan Shunxi.
He Simu looked at Duan Xu’s room not far away. It was late at night, but the room was still lit with a dim lamp, his silhouette reflected on the window, as straight as a pine tree.
“But I see this young general doesn’t have any worries at all; he smiles all day and doesn’t complain about his situation,” He Simu said, resting her chin and speaking casually, “Is he truly open-minded and letting nature take its course? In this mortal realm, studying for ten years to get a degree, doesn’t everyone want to be the prime minister?”
“If there were a chance, even the emperor might want to be prime minister, hahahaha. Duan Shunxi is famous for his cheerful nature, always smiling when meeting people. But what he thinks in his heart, who knows? He comes from a noble family and has extraordinary talent; wouldn’t he want to be the person below one but above ten thousand?”
“Ah… how boring.”
Everyone in the world scrambles for profit. This young general was merely an ordinary human, trapped in this whirlpool of fame and wealth, tossing and turning in this life.
Having seen the ocean, it’s hard to look at other waters. Her uncle could be said to be the most authoritative, gentle, and resilient person she had ever met in this world. The Powang Sword had once had such a master; how could it be satisfied with an ordinary person like this?
At the same time, Duan Xu, who was reading military reports in his room, sneezed. The military officer in the room immediately looked at him and said, “It snowed heavily today, has the General caught a chill?”
Duan Xu shook his head. He put down the military report and stared blankly at the lamp for a moment, then raised his gaze to look at the military officer.
“Qingsheng, has the assassin who attacked me today been caught?”
Xia Qingsheng showed an embarrassed expression. Hugging his sword, he said, “Not yet. That assassin has great martial arts skills and escaped very quickly; we lost his trail. General, you must always bring guards when you go out; otherwise, it’s too dangerous.”
Duan Xu didn’t like bringing guards; this was well-known throughout the southern capital. For a young master from a family like his, bringing four or five servants when going out was already considered humble, but he always traveled alone.
According to his own words, he had been robbed before, and the servants who had served him loyally for years fought with all their might to help him escape, but all died under the robbers’ swords. He highly valued past bonds, so he didn’t want to have new servants.
This argument spread in the southern capital, earning Duan Xu a good reputation as someone who highly valued the bonds of friendship.
“Great martial arts skills… his position on that tower was very well-hidden. The fact that he could aim at me from such a distance proves he is indeed an expert,” Duan Xu said softly, ignoring Qingsheng’s advice.
“Even if you were by my side, you might not necessarily have been able to notice the assassin’s presence.”
Duan Xu smiled faintly.
Let alone an ‘ordinary’ girl who didn’t know martial arts?
In the middle of the night, Xue Chenying woke up from a nightmare and realized that Sister Xiaoxiao wasn’t in the room. He tried calling for her several times but got no answer. He picked up a candlestick and searched around the courtyard, but still couldn’t find her.
He stood frozen in place for a long time; the scenes from his nightmare seemed to reappear. Chen Ying slowly began to panic. He pushed open the door holding the candlestick and ran into the street, shouting “Sister Xiaoxiao!” along the way.
Where did Sister Xiaoxiao go?
Did Sister Xiaoxiao think he ate too much and abandoned him?
Chen Ying’s eyes slowly welled up with tears; the street in front of him became blurry. He remembered his mother and father, and all his deceased relatives; they had all disappeared after he woke up one day and never came back, as if this were a bad omen.
The people he couldn’t see when he opened his eyes, he might never meet again in his life.
Because it had snowed all day, a layer of ice formed on the ground, and Chen Ying slipped and fell while crying.
The candlestick fell to the ground, its flame extinguishing with a ‘pft’ sound, emitting a faint blue smoke.
Just as the fire went out, a gentle woman’s voice was faintly heard.
“Sweet child, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
Chen Ying raised his head and saw a young woman wearing a green jacket standing ten steps away from him on the cold, deserted, and quiet street.
The snow that had just stopped now began falling again. The woman stood in a dark spot, so only her beautiful silhouette was visible. A pair of emerald jades hung from her ears, and her hands cradled a black-and-white urn decorated with a pattern of children playing.
Chen Ying staggered up from the ground. Seeing no one around him, he stood there awkwardly.
“I’m looking for someone,” he said in a small voice.
The woman took a step forward, her footsteps soundless on the snow.
“Who are you looking for?”
This one step was enough for him to see the woman’s ruby red, smiling lips.
Chen Ying hesitated for a moment, but still answered her, “I’m looking for… Sister He Xiaoxiao, do you know her?”
“He Xiaoxiao? Mother knows her very well, Mother knows where she is. Here, let Mother take you to her,” the woman said as she took another step closer to Chen Ying.
Unconsciously, Chen Ying took a step back, like a wild animal instinctively sensing danger. Confused and cautious, he said, “My mother died a long time ago, and she didn’t look like you; why do you call yourself my mother?”
The woman fell silent, her smile slowly fading. Her surroundings were very quiet; only the cold wind blowing the shop banners on the street made a howling sound.
The woman stepped forward again; this time she completely entered the light. Only then did Chen Ying realize that her eyes were pitch black, without any whites. And the child-patterned urn she was hugging was covered with bloodstains.
The slender, elegant hands holding the urn were stained with fresh blood, which flowed down from her palms, trailing the urn and dripping one by one onto the snow.
The surrounding silence made the sound of the blood dripping on the snow seem distinct.
It seemed the woman didn’t feel anything was wrong. She blinked her pitch-black eyes, smiled gently, and coaxed him patiently, “Not yet, indeed, but soon you will. Come here, quickly come to Mother.”
Chen Ying stared at this woman with wide eyes and an open mouth, his entire body trembling in fear.
Based on his most basic instinct of fear, he wanted to turn around and run with all his might. However, his legs instinctively became weak and uncontrollable. Xue Chenying could only shout vainly, “D… don’t come any closer! I want… I want to find Sister Xiaoxiao! She can… she can do magic tricks!”
Doing magic tricks was naturally useless for exorcising ghosts, but Chen Ying didn’t know what more terrifying abilities He Xiaoxiao possessed.
The woman smiled and approached Chen Ying, but suddenly a loud shout came from nowhere, startling the crows on the roof into flight.
“Captain Meng, that’s him! He’s very evil! He broke the curfew and injured several of our brothers!”
A group of patrolling soldiers ran out from a side street; five or six people stood between Chen Ying and the woman. The person leading them was Meng Wan.
She turned her head and saw Chen Ying, then thought to herself, isn’t this He Xiaoxiao’s little brother? She then turned around, drew her sword, and pointed it at the strange woman in front of her.
The woman had stopped walking, her face showing displeasure.
Meng Wan looked into the woman’s pitch-black eyes. She had never encountered such a bizarre occurrence. Her hand gripped her sword tighter, “Is this woman possessed by an evil spirit?”
“Those who don’t want to die, get out of the way! Hand that child over to me!” This woman revealed a terrifying face, letting out a roar like a wild beast; her nails quickly lengthened, and she opened her mouth to reveal sharp fangs.
Meng Wan’s hands trembled slightly; she also wasn’t entirely sure. As the woman lunged, she steeled herself and pointed her sword, shouting, “Lao Xu, Lao Wang, quickly take this child away!”
In the blink of an eye, this woman suddenly widened her eyes and opened her mouth, her pitch-black eyes full of disbelief, and all her evil aura turned into extreme terror. In the next second, her legs gave out, and she knelt firmly on the ground, her sharp fangs and nails vanishing without a trace; she crawled and trembled, like a sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
Meng Wan still maintained her sword-pointing posture. She stared in confusion at the woman kneeling beneath her, not understanding why her attitude had suddenly changed so drastically in the blink of an eye.
“S… spare me…”
The woman was so terrified that she couldn’t speak clearly. She just kept kowtowing extremely hard, until her forehead hit the ground with a thudding sound, as if she felt no pain.
“Who exactly are you…” Meng Wan stared at the woman warily, but before she could finish speaking, the woman vanished without a trace, followed by a puff of blue smoke.
The situation became dead silent, as if the woman earlier had merely been an illusion.
“Heavens, that woman was actually a ghost!” The soldiers behind her were stunned for a moment, then someone exclaimed.
“Look at the sins committed by this Huqi tribe; a city massacre is a massive disaster, it’s bound to attract unclean spirits!” The soldiers started discussing.
Meng Wan looked back, still feeling a bit scared. Just as she was about to ask Chen Ying, unexpectedly she saw a figure at the end of the street behind him.
The figure wore a pale pink fur cloak and a hooded hat. The black gauze of the hat fell to her shoulders and blew in the wind, obscuring her face. The person stood quietly amidst the falling snow, as if the darkness around her was caused by her dark aura. The only object shining brightly from head to toe was the blue light flickering at her waist.
That’s… Duan Xu’s hooded hat?
Meng Wan was stunned; before she could ask, the figure suddenly wailed and cried hysterically. Like a living clay doll, she cried bitterly while running towards Chen Ying, holding the hem of her cloak. She then crouched down and stroked Chen Ying’s little face.
“Chen Ying! You scared me to death! Are you alright? Sister is all alone now; you are my only family left, nothing bad can happen to you!”
Chen Ying was touched by her; he then hugged her and cried, “Boohoo, Sister Xiaoxiao, I was looking for you earlier! But I met a weird woman instead, she was so scary!”
The wind blew the black gauze from her hooded hat. Meng Wan saw the siblings hugging and crying, only then was she sure that this girl was He Xiaoxiao.
“That monster was so arrogant just now, why did it suddenly disappear?” Lao Xu from the night patrol team asked in confusion.
Before Meng Wan could analyze it, He Simu cried and said, “This must be because of Captain Meng’s prowess; that evil spirit was frightened by your aura, didn’t dare to act recklessly, and was forced to flee!”
Meng Wan stared at the sword in her hand in confusion, then looked in the direction where the female ghost had disappeared, and said uncertainly, “Is that so?”
The soldiers seemed to be enlightened, and all agreed.
“This girl is right; you are both women, but you are a female general who protects the country, while she is a female ghost who harms people. Any ghost with self-respect would definitely feel ashamed!”
He Simu stood up, grasped Chen Ying’s hand, and wiped his tears, “Thank you, Captain Meng, for saving the two of us.”
Meng Wan sheathed her sword again, frowned, and said, “What kind of sister are you, leaving your brother alone on the street in the middle of the night. Don’t you know there’s a curfew?”
He Simu twisted her fingers with an extremely pitiful expression.
Meng Wan looked at the frail little girl in front of her, looked at her black and white eyes, and thought that she was probably just too nervous earlier, and saw things wrong.
When He Xiaoxiao stood at the end of the street earlier, when the wind blew her black gauze, she seemed to see a pair of pitch-black eyes exactly like the female ghost’s for a split second.
Perhaps it was just an illusion.
