Chapter 2 Childhood Sweethearts
In the summer of the 13th year of Jiazheng, Baicheng.
Tang Ying was dressed in the uniform of a personal guard, squatting in front of the medicine stove in the corridor with a sad face, decocting medicine, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, his mind full of the injury of his commander Tang Yao.
Tang Yao is her biological father in this life whom she traveled through time and space to, and he was a widower for many years and the one who raised her personally.
There were footsteps behind her, and soon a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes slapped her on the shoulder: "What are you thinking about?"
The young man looked down and saw black and gray streaks on Tang Ying's face. He couldn't help but laugh: "Are you going to dress up and perform in a big opera?"
The man who came was Yu An, the son of General Yu Wanqing under Tang Yao. He grew up with Tang Ying and they could be considered childhood sweethearts.
Tang Ying kicked over with a sweeping kick, and Yu An jumped up nimbly: "Hey, if you don't want to sing, then don't sing. Why are you fighting?" This man was well-behaved and sensible in front of the Marshal, but when he was away from the Marshal's sight, he was a devil who had been punishing this group of people since they were young.
"I didn't do anything." Tang Ying's two slender eyebrows were almost twisted together, and her bright white face was full of impatience. She threw away the palm leaf fan, stood up, and walked around the medicine furnace twice in annoyance: "Don't pay attention to me."
Yu An had been hanging out with her since childhood and knew her bad temper. If he really provoked her, the consequences would be terrible. As her defeated opponent, he had suffered countless losses and had gradually learned his lesson in the past two years.
He stopped teasing and said, "What's wrong? Are you still worried about the Marshal's injury?"
"What do you know?" Tang Ying couldn't pat his head, so she could only settle for patting his shoulder. She seemed to shake off all her troubles and forced a smile that showed a row of fine white teeth: "Is it because Uncle Yu has been too busy fighting the war to take care of you recently, so you have time to wander around?"
The Northern Barbarians besieged the city for more than 40 days. There was a shortage of food in the city, and the imperial reinforcements were slow to arrive. Countless siege battles were fought, and seventeen or sixteen of the defenders of Baicheng were injured. If the fighting continued, it would be sooner or later that they would be unable to hold the city. What's more, there were only more than 20,000 defenders in the city, while there were 300,000 troops outside the city.
Did she travel through time just to die in a border town battle during the cold weapon era?
Compared to Tang Ying, who was full of worries, Yu An was still a heartless boy. Moreover, he didn't know more about the military situation than Tang Ying, so he didn't have a clearer sense of crisis than Tang Ying. He conjured a bunch of fragrant wild flowers from behind and offered them to her, blushing and defending himself: "How could I be free? I was just about to go to the city defense, and I saw a bunch of wild flowers in an abandoned house on the side of the road."
Tang Ying glared at him and said, "You must have climbed over someone else's wall again. What wild flowers are these? They might be flowers planted in someone's yard."
Yu An was anxious: "Really not! Ever since you told me last time not to climb over other people's walls without you by my side, I have never climbed over other people's walls again."
The two had been working together seamlessly since childhood. Whenever Yu An went out to do bad things, Tang Ying would be the one to command and keep watch. When Yu An took action and was about to be caught by the adults, Tang Ying would look at Yu An for help with timid eyes. Yu An got hot-headed and took all the responsibility, and was often beaten by Yu Wanqing.
At this time, Tang Ying would always squat in front of Yu An, who was screaming from being beaten, and admonish him earnestly: "I told you not to be naughty, but you refused to listen and insisted on making Uncle Yu angry! Don't do this next time, okay?"
Yu Wanqing hit him even harder: "Even Xiaoying can't stop you!"
When Yu An saw Tang Ying's innocent face, he screamed even more miserably.
Unfortunately, he has a short memory. All of Tang Ying's dark history was forgotten by him after a good night's sleep. When he woke up the next day, he thought Tang Ying was a well-behaved and lovely little childhood sweetheart, and he would always save a bite of the delicious food and drink for her.
Tang Ying liked this about him the most, but she still couldn't help teasing him.
"Who believes it?"
"Really not, Xiaoying, you have to believe me!"
The young man followed her and explained repeatedly, his face flushed with anxiety: "...Xiaoying, I remember everything you said, I didn't lie to you!"
Both the Tang and Yu families were used to the silly boy hanging around Tang Ying, and both sides were interested in getting married. A few days ago, Tang Yao and Yu Wanqing joked while defending against the enemy on the city wall: "After this battle is over, why not marry my Xiaoying to your silly boy?"
Yu Wanqing swung his sword to cut off an arrow that was shot at him from the side and laughed loudly: "I will ask the matchmaker to come to my house when the time comes!"
When Yu An heard the news, he was almost crazy with joy. He hugged Yu Wanqing's injured arm and shook it: "Dad, are you serious? Did the Marshal really say that? Really?" He was slapped away by his own father.
After so many days, he still felt warm in his heart when he saw Tang Ying. He hoped that the war would end as soon as possible and the northern barbarians would go back to their hometown.
"Xiaoying, I really didn't lie to you..."
After repeated explanations like the young Tang Monk, Tang Ying prepared the medicine without changing her expression, put it on a tray, picked it up together with the bouquet of wild flowers, and said with a smile: "You have grown so big in vain." Where's the brain?
She walked a long way away before the young man behind her let out a cry and came to his senses: "Stop! Xiaoying, stop right there! Do you mean to say that I have no brains? You you..."
Tang Ying turned around and smiled: "Are you going to hit me?"
Yu An smiled foolishly - he couldn’t win, but... he couldn’t bear to do it.
With a smile on her face, Tang Ying stepped into the heavily guarded front hall with renewed energy, and finally delivered the medicine bowl to the commander-in-chief's desk: "General, the medicine is ready."
There were many things scattered on the large desk in front of Tang Yao. Suddenly, a steaming medicine bowl was placed on it. He frowned and said, "Take it away!"
Unfortunately, the man who brought the medicine was not afraid of him at all and reminded him again: "Marshal, it's time to take the medicine!"
Tang Yao's mind, which had been immersed in the war and military intelligence, finally shifted slightly to the frowning, unhappy little face in front of him. There was no need for her to repeat herself. He quickly picked up the bowl of medicine and drank it all in one gulp.
"I've finished drinking it." Marshal Tang had no ability to resist the fair little face in front of him that looked so much like his deceased wife. He even handed the bowl of medicine, which he had drunk without a drop left, to her in a flattering manner, asking her to check it.
In fact, seventeen years ago, when he led his troops on patrol, his wife died of hemorrhage during childbirth, leaving behind a little baby girl who was as hungry as a kitten. He saw the shadow of his deceased wife on that wrinkled face, and he had no power to resist the little girl in front of him, as long as she cried.
Fortunately, Tang Ying has never been a crybaby since she was a child. I don’t know if it’s because she knew that she had lost her mother since she was a child, she has never cried and asked him for her mother. Ever since she was a toddler, she liked to pester him, and when she grew up, she even pestered him to the martial arts field.
He thought it was interesting, so he tried to teach her how to practice. Unexpectedly, the little girl never complained and persisted. Even many of his generals praised her: "A tiger daughter of a general!"
Baicheng is located in the border town. It is the first line of defense between Southern Qi and Northern Yi, and it is also the largest city on the border. The Tang family has been stationed in the northern border for generations. By the time of Tang Yao, all his uncles and brothers had died on the battlefield after a great battle. The remaining weak boys and girls were raised by the frightened widow of the Tang family in the old house in Bingzhou, and she refused to let her children set foot on the battlefield. So only Tang Yao's lineage was stationed in the northern border.
Compared with those nephews in the old house in Bingzhou who were buried in studying the books of sages, Tang Ying was indeed worthy of the praise of a daughter of a general.
The little girl took the medicine bowl and put it down, then walked around behind him to untie the fine cloth wrapped around his shoulders and back: "Let me take a look at the wound."
What is it like to have a very caring, sensible and well-behaved daughter?
If someone was willing to discuss this with Tang Yao, Marshal Tang would definitely break his usual habit of silence and talk incessantly for three days and three nights, and he might not be able to finish.
