Extra 4: Ni Axi and the Young General
The setting sun shines on the fallen petals.
The young general held the reins and rode at full speed, the sand flying in the afterglow. His black hair was bare, two strands of light hair on his temples swayed in the wind. He was wearing a scarlet robe, but no armor.
"The General is back!"
When the soldiers guarding Yingkou saw him, they all smiled and said, "The general is back!"
When Xue Huai heard this by the fire, he stood up immediately with a bowl of wine in his hand. He saw a white horse galloping towards him from Yingkou. The scarlet figure lightly and steadily got off the horse's back and handed the reins to the soldier beside him.
"Little Scholar!"
If it wasn't such a serious occasion, Xue Huai would always like to call him that.
There were some fine beads of sweat on the tip of the boy's nose. He made a "hmm" sound and took the wine bowl from Xue Huai's hand and drank it in one gulp. The crystal clear water droplets slid down his jaw to his jagged larynx.
"How did you get it on your hands?"
Xue Huai noticed that there was a bloody cut on the back of his hand where he was holding the bowl.
"ah,"
Xu Hexue lowered her eyes and glanced, "On the way back, I gave Xuanxing a bath in Agate Lake, and he was scratched by a stone under the shallow water."
"I'll go get you some medicine."
"Need not."
Xue Huaicai was about to turn around, but he heard the young man say, "Don't I have a doctor?"
"...Miss Ni?"
Xue Huai reacted immediately, "She is a young lady and cannot stay in the military camp. By the time I invite her over, your wounds must have healed, right?"
He laughed out loud.
The young man kicked him in the knee, causing Xue Huai to stagger back two steps.
"What has she been doing these days?"
The boy asked somewhat uncomfortably.
He has been busy with military affairs at Juhan Pass these days.
"What else can I do? Of course, I will treat the women."
"Has anyone given her any trouble?"
"Of course there are some," Xue Huai stopped laughing and said seriously, "Although your military order means that no one in Yongzhou dares to dispose of women at will beyond the law, you also know that the customs here have been planted in the minds of those people and cannot be eradicated in a short time. How can a female doctor like Miss Ni who treats women's hidden diseases and arranges for women to learn gynecology from her not be gossiped about?"
"But didn't you tell me before you left? I have people following her every day , and no one dares to deliberately embarrass her. At most, they would gossip about her behind her back."
Xu Hexue didn't say anything, turned around and went to lead the horse again.
"Young Jinshi, she is not living where she used to live now." Xue Huai said with a smile after watching him climb onto the horse.
"Where?"
The young man looked down at her, raising his chin slightly.
"That girl named Ah Shuang is going to marry a man named what?" Xue Huai tried to recall and slapped his head. "Ah, Ah Shuang is going to marry a carpenter named Fan. Miss Ni should be drinking in Huailiu Lane right now!"
The reins were tightened, Xuanxing stretched his neck and neighed loudly, the setting sun was long, and the sound of horse hooves was far away.
In a courtyard in Huailiu Lane, a few feet of red cloth was hung on the tree in the courtyard. A red lantern was lit by a young man in wedding clothes. He turned around a little awkwardly and said, "Miss Ni, although it is a wedding banquet today, it is just some simple food. I'm sorry."
"Simple meals are good too,"
Ni Su handed him the cakes and cloth wrapped in red paper in her hand, " This is my gift to you two. I hope you and Miss Ah Shuang will live a peaceful life together."
"Thanks to you, Miss Ni, I am feeling better now. Now that you can come to our wedding banquet, we are even more grateful. How can we accept all these from you..."
Ah Shuang came forward and held her hand.
"You should receive gifts when you get married," Ni Su smiled at her, "Today I am sending you off, but I don't know when in the future, you will send me off, right?"
A Shuang and Fan Jiang looked at each other and accepted Ni Su's gift.
Many neighbors knew that Fan Jiang married a woman who had worked as a military prostitute among the Hu people, so today's wedding banquet was very quiet. Apart from Ni Su, there was only an old couple that Fan Jiang often patronized.
"A Jiang, live your own life. Just pretend you can't hear what others say." The old woman had only a few teeth left.
The old man also trembled and said, "Yes, just live your life well and don't worry about other things."
Ah Shuang's eyes were filled with tears as he and Fan Jiang supported each other and nodded.
While the newlyweds were worshipping heaven and earth, Ni Su and the old couple sat at the table and watched their backs. It was so deserted outside the open courtyard gate that the sound of horse hooves could be heard very clearly.
Getting closer.
Ni Su turned around and saw a tall figure standing outside the courtyard gate, with the breeze blowing his cinnabar red sleeves.
The young man had clear eyes and a bright look in his spirits.
Unexpectedly, someone else came at this time, and it was this young general. Ah Shuang and Fan Jiang hurriedly welcomed him in. The young man took his time to sit down next to Ni Su, tapping the table with his fingers, "You guys continue, don't worry about me."
Ah Shuang and Fan Jiang were worshipping heaven and earth again.
The boy was looking with his chin supported by one hand.
"What are you doing here?"
Ni Su asked.
"To attend a wedding banquet."
He answered lazily.
Ni Su didn't say anything, and he didn't say anything either, but his eyes moved from the newlyweds to her profile. A strand of light hair curled beside her earlobe, sticking to her fair and delicate skin.
Ah Shuang and Fan Jiang came to toast at this time, and Ni Su and Xu Hexue raised their glasses almost at the same time.
"Madam Ah Shuang, if you have a child in the future, what will you name him?"
Ni Su asked.
Ah Shuang's cheeks flushed, "This..."
Fan Jiang was standing nearby, feeling a little embarrassed, but he carefully glanced at the young general who stood up, and blurted out, "Qingqiong."
"If the Qingqiong in 'My sword is wiped with blood from battle, and this sword breaks the Qingqiong' is a boy."
Hearing this, Xu Hexue raised his thin eyelids and met Fan Jiang's gaze.
"General, we have heard this poem of yours before."
Fan Jiang said.
Xu Hexue felt a little uncomfortable when he noticed the woman's eyes on him. He was about to speak when he heard her say, "This is a good name."
He stared at her.
She is smiling.
The afterglow of the setting sun had not yet faded. She was wearing a smoky blue dress, black hair, and a red hairpin. The jade beads on her earlobes swayed gently as she drank.
The newlyweds sat down and chatted with the old couple.
The sky gradually darkened.
"Do you want to go back to Juhanguan again?"
Ni Su took a bite of the cake and asked him.
"I'm afraid a war may break out this time," said Xu Hexue.
There was silence between the two again.
Xu Hexue clearly wanted to say something, but he held the wine glass for a moment, and the laughter in his ears seemed a little vague.
The old couple's grandson was a young man in his twenties. He had come to take them home, but when he saw Ni Su there, he actually sat down and chatted with Ni Su in random places.
Ni Su started chatting with him.
Xu Hexue glanced at the young man's smiling face. He remained expressionless and just gently pulled Ni Su's sleeve. Ni Su turned around to look at him, but heard a cry of "Ouch". She subconsciously looked at the young man and found that he had fallen off the bench for some reason.
Sprawled out in all directions.
Seeing this, Fan Jiang hurried to help.
Ni Su turned around again, and the boy's eyes were clear with an undisguised smile.
"You are my medical worker."
He said.
"yes."
She answered.
"Then why didn't you ask about my visit to Juhan Pass?"
"You're not injured, what can I ask you?"
Xu Hexue was silent for a moment, then raised one of his hands. In the dim warm yellow light, the scar on the back of his hand, which had already formed a bright red blood scab, was particularly conspicuous.
He was just proving to her that he was hurt.
But unexpectedly, the next moment, she suddenly came to hold his hand.
It was the same warm temperature, so there should have been nothing special about it, but he couldn't help but his eyelashes twitching, and within a few breaths, his cheeks felt slightly hot.
"Have you applied the medicine?" her voice fell.
“No.”
"Come back with me later and I will apply medicine for you." Ni Su said, raising her face. She didn't know if it was because of the light of the red lantern, but the boy's earlobes were red. She stared at him and suddenly curved her eyes.
"why are you laughing?"
Xu Hexue asked her.
Ni Su shook her head, but said, "You are going to Juhan Pass this time, can I go too?"
After saying this, Xu Hexue paused, but soon he raised his eyes, the light in his eyes became brighter, "You want to go?"
"I'm your medical worker."
Ni Su said with a smile.
He couldn't suppress the slight curve of his lips, but he still maintained the calmness of a general. "There might be a war, aren't you afraid?"
"What am I afraid of?"
Ni Su looked at him and said, "Do you believe that I can still protect you this time?"
"Protect me?"
Xu Hexue raised her eyebrows slightly.
"yes,"
Ni Su did not let go of his hand, "I came here to protect you."
Protect you, the young and free you, the living you.
You don't want to be stigmatized, you don't want to be tortured to death, you don't want to be a lonely soul wandering in Youdu for a hundred years with no one to pay tribute to you. You want to live well, with your Jing'an Army soldiers, with the people, and with your country.
“There are many good places to visit in Juhanguan.”
The young man drank a lot of wine, and his cheeks were slightly red. His voice was clear and pleasant, "I can also take you to our horse farm to play."
"I want to ride with you."
"Ah," the boy was stunned for a moment when he heard her words, then he said uncomfortably, "Okay."
"Can I fly a kite?"
"Can."
"Give your hanging star a bath?"
"...Xuanxing," the young man chuckled when talking about his horse, "It has a bit of a temper, especially when it's bathing, it likes to play tricks on people."
"I know."
"How did you know that?"
Ni Su just smiled but didn't answer him.
The city gate was about to close. Xu Hexue led the horse to take Ni Su back to her residence. She held a lantern in her hand and stood in front of the door to look at him. He jumped on the horse and said, "You go in."
Ni Su nodded, opened the door and walked in.
The sound of horse hooves hitting the ground gradually faded away, but before Ni Su had walked a few steps into the yard, she heard the sound approaching again. She turned around and saw the young man on horseback calling her under the bright moonlight: "Ni Axi."
His cold voice fell: "Tomorrow, wait for me to pick you up."
He really loves to laugh.
Ni Su looked into his curved eyes.
The sky was full of bright stars. The young man rode all the way back to the military camp outside the city. After bathing, he let his wet long hair fall down. He only wore a snow-white gown and read letters under the lamp.
"Six pages of letter paper, five pages are about trivial matters between you and Li Xizhen," he flipped through the letter paper and laughed, "Zhao Yonggeng, you are really..."
But when his eyes fell on the inkstone, he suddenly put down the letter in his hand, ground the ink, dipped the brush, and sat in front of the desk with a straight posture, less fierce than during the day, and now he looked more bookish.
"Written by Yong Geng himself, It is September in Yongzhou, the wind and sand are still blowing, but I am still the same,"
The pen rustled on the paper:
"Last year I met a woman named Ni Su, a female doctor. She was daring and determined, not afraid of hardships and dangers, not afraid of what others would say, and dared to do what others would not do. I respect her very much..."
