On the fifteenth day of the eleventh month in the seventeenth year of Qinghua, Liang forces withdrew.

The decision to withdraw was made by Qi Ying. At that time, the Liang Emperor had not yet passed away, and before his death, he received the memorial sent by Qi Ying from north of the Yangtze and approved it.

General Han Shouye was very dissatisfied with Qi Ying’s memorial.

Though he had been frightened senseless by Gu Juhan’s feint at Xuchang in June and had wanted to retreat to Jiangzuo, the subsequent smooth progress of Liang forces had suddenly restored his loyalty, righteousness, and lofty ambitions to their original state. Now he was fighting with increasing vigor and enthusiasm, even wanting to march straight to Shangjing to capture the Wei Emperor alive and restore the great cause. Yet when his blood was running hot, he received the imperial edict to withdraw, and upon hearing this memorial was submitted by Qi Ying, he naturally couldn’t accept it and went to argue with Qi Ying again.

Qi Ying was very tolerant toward this uncle. Moreover, since the war was now over, he had even less intention of clashing with him. He let him chatter and vent for a while, then let the matter rest.

Regarding the withdrawal, Qi Ying naturally had his considerations.

Though this northern expedition had been quite successful, the current Great Liang was still far from strong enough to annex Northern Wei. Now that they had entered the Central Plains, if they penetrated into the heartland, risks would increase. Once Northern Wei fought desperately, Liang forces, already exhausted from their long-distance campaign, would certainly be unable to cope. Withdrawing now was the prudent move and would also facilitate gaining more benefits for Great Liang during post-war negotiations.

From the beginning, Qi Ying had never planned to attack Shangjing. He only wanted to use this battle to weaken the Gu family’s power and wound Wei’s vitality, thereby securing ten years of peace for Jiangzuo. This way, even if he left the court, he could temporarily rest assured.

Since raising troops in April, he had been away from Jiankang for over seven months. When he returned to see Shen Xiling, it would probably take another half month or so. She had never been separated from him for so long—he wondered how the young lady was doing now and whether she was taking good care of herself.

On his desk were neatly arranged every letter she had sent. Even during the most intense fighting, he had read every letter word by word, watching her describe everything in her life in great detail—how Xue Tuan’er had grown fatter, how the lotus flowers in Wang Garden had bloomed fully then withered, what book she had taken from Wangshi to read today, and so forth. Reading them, he felt as if he were close to her, and this empty, cold military camp became gentle because of it, bringing him comfort in his infinite exhaustion.

Now he finally had time to sit down and write her a proper letter, no longer having to be as hasty and hurried as before.

However, after picking up his brush, Young Master Qi found himself somewhat at a loss for words. Though he missed her so much, for a moment he couldn’t write anything to put on paper.

There was even… something like being timid about approaching home.

Qi Ying was helpless and finally only briefly told her about his return date. Then he remembered the sentence she had appended at the end of her last letter: “Even if I don’t go to you, would you really not send word?”

She loved reading the Book of Songs, and this was a line from the Zheng Feng section, expressing both longing and a small complaint with slight anger—even if I don’t seek you out, would you really not tell me your news?

Charming and adorable.

He smiled faintly, thought for a moment, then added a line at the end of his letter: “Even if you don’t come, I still long to return.”

Returning to Jiangzuo would still take some time. Just crossing the river and entering Huaizhou territory would take five or six days.

The army had won a great victory, and with two high-ranking officials in the forces, officials from places they passed naturally couldn’t avoid fawning and flattering them, holding grand banquets wherever they went.

Since becoming general, Han Shouye had never fought such a satisfying battle. Naturally, he was full of pride and satisfaction on the return journey, completely forgetting his earlier cowardice and desire to flee. He attended every night banquet without exception, drinking until thoroughly intoxicated each night, then sleeping until the sun was high the next day, repeating this cycle.

Young Master Qi was not so easy to invite. Whenever invited, this lord always declined for various reasons, mostly citing busy official duties making it inconvenient to attend banquets. Every night he stayed in his military tent with the army. General Han would snort coldly whenever he heard this, seeming to mock the minister’s propriety and rigidity while expressing his dissatisfaction with the withdrawal, though there was nothing else he could do about it.

This night was the same.

Qi Ying declined the banquet invitation and returned to camp to rest. After bathing, he felt drowsy and, for once, planned to sleep early. Later he called Qing Zhu into the military tent to ask if any letters had arrived recently.

Though Young Master Qi spoke vaguely, he actually wanted to ask whether any letters had come from Shen Xiling’s side. He had sent his last letter nearly half a month ago but hadn’t seen her reply yet, which made him somewhat uncomfortable.

How could a loyal servant like Qing Zhu not understand his master’s meaning? However, there truly had been no letters from Fenghe Garden recently, and he couldn’t fabricate one, so he could only shake his head.

Qi Ying raised an eyebrow but said nothing more, waving his hand to dismiss Qing Zhu.

That little girl… didn’t even know to write back.

He sighed, read for a while longer, then went inside planning to sleep. Only then did he notice the bedding was bulging—someone was actually lying inside.

Qi Ying’s brow immediately furrowed tightly, and he turned his back at once.

Such incidents had occurred frequently recently. Most were local officials acting on their own initiative, thinking that the lords had worked hard during the northern expedition and had no female company in the military camp—it really wasn’t easy. Previously, when the battle wasn’t finished, naturally they couldn’t act rashly, but now that they had achieved such a great victory, breaking a little military discipline really wasn’t a big deal. So they all became active-minded and began placing people in the lords’ beds.

Qi Ying had already lost his temper over this once before. He hadn’t expected such a thing to happen again today. Qing Zhu and Bai Song were also too careless—they couldn’t even notice a living person being sent into his tent.

He was truly somewhat angry, so much so that his voice turned cold. With his back to the person on the bed, he said sternly: “I’ve already said not to send people in anymore—get out.”

Young Master Qi spoke so coldly that even someone unfamiliar with him should have known he was angry after hearing this. Yet the person on the bed didn’t seem to know fear. First there were rustling sounds as they got off the bed, then they boldly embraced Young Master Qi from behind!

Qi Ying’s frown deepened, and he immediately moved to pull the person away. Before his hand could touch them, he suddenly heard the person behind him say pitifully: “I worked so hard to find you—how can you drive me away so quickly?”

The voice was gentle and crystal clear.

…It was actually Shen Xiling’s voice.

That person was indeed Shen Xiling.

The young lady had truly grown capable. Even before Qi Ying sent her a letter, she had learned of Great Liang’s planned withdrawal. Unable to contain herself any longer, she secretly took a few people and ran out from Jiankang, traveling north all the way to find him.

She really missed him too much and had never been separated from him for so long. When she heard he was returning, she couldn’t wait even one more day and ran out recklessly to find him.

Naturally, she wasn’t completely without strategy. She also inquired about the army’s route along the way. After traveling hard for nearly half a month, she finally caught up with them in Huaizhou.

This half month had been very arduous for her. From Jiankang to Huaizhou was nearly five hundred li, and afraid of missing him, she had to travel urgently, sometimes not resting at night and traveling through the night. In the bitter cold of winter, she shivered in the carriage but refused to find an inn to rest, preferring to endure the cold and continue traveling.

As if possessed.

Fortunately, this hardship wasn’t in vain—she finally caught up with the army in Huaizhou.

She had Liuzi find Brother Bai and asked if he could let her see the young master. When Bai Song saw her arrival, his usually expressionless cold face actually changed color with surprise. After a long while, he calmed down, considered carefully, then took advantage of the night to bring her into Qi Ying’s tent.

All along the way into the military camp, she felt both nervous and joyful. Unfortunately, when she arrived, Qi Ying hadn’t returned yet—he was reportedly still out socializing. She sat on the bed waiting for him, but since she was extremely tired from traveling, she was very drowsy at that time. After waiting briefly, she accidentally fell asleep, only waking when Qi Ying called Qing Zhu in and their conversation disturbed her.

After more than half a year apart, she finally heard his voice again—deep, cool, bringing both peace and stirring to her heart, almost making her eyes well up immediately.

She had almost rushed over to embrace him then, but she wanted him to discover her first so she could see surprise appear in his eyes. She forcibly suppressed her agitation and didn’t run out from under the covers. Who would have thought that when he came in, he would immediately want to drive her away, and from what he said… he seemed to have mistaken her for someone else?

Besides her, had other women come to his tent?

Had they even been in his bed?

Shen Xiling immediately felt wronged.

After she embraced him and said those words, the man she had been thinking of day and night suddenly turned around. Those phoenix eyes she hadn’t seen for so long suddenly showed bewilderment and amazement, and then she got her wish to see the joy in his eyes, like a bright moon rising over the sea—brilliant and expansive.

He looked… so very happy.

Shen Xiling’s fatigue and grievance suddenly dissolved easily in that brightness in his eyes, and then he pulled her into his arms. His hands tightly encircled her waist, and she heard him ask in an extremely low voice by her ear: “How did you come?”

How did you come?

Such a plain sentence, even carrying a slight sigh, yet she could hear the intense emotion behind it, which also stirred up more agitation in her.

Her eyes growing warm, she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, not directly answering him but only saying: “I missed you so much…”

I missed you so much.

I missed you terribly.

So even though we were separated by such a great distance, I still had to come find you.

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt Qi Ying’s arms around her waist tighten again, and even his breathing became irregular. She sensed his emotional stirring and felt her own heart sway.

However, he then quite abruptly pulled her away, grasping her arms to look her up and down. His brow furrowed again as he scolded her with an extremely stern tone: “How did you come? Did you come alone? With bandit troubles being so severe everywhere recently, what would happen if something had occurred to you traveling alone?”

This wasn’t unreasonable for Qi Ying to be angry about.

Though Great Liang had won this battle, they had paid a heavy price. Due to insufficient forces, they had temporarily conscripted militia from various commanderies and counties during the war, so all along the southern return route, they could see many commanderies and counties with nine out of ten households empty. Most men had died in battle, leaving only women, children, and the elderly and weak. With the year’s end approaching, everywhere was somewhat unstable, especially with mountain bandits descending to harm the people. In some areas, there were even absurd incidents of broad daylight robbery of decent women—a scene of complete chaos.

In such chaotic times, with her such beauty, if something had happened…

With Yang Dong’s incident as precedent, Qi Ying couldn’t help but think too much.

He was truly very worried about her.

Author’s Notes:

Tomorrow at 18:30, you understand what I mean, right!

Also, thank you to Little Bear Cookie Angel for the long review! I bow until my lumbar disc protrudes!! I sincerely feel that everyone in the comments section is too amazing… you could make me unemployed in minutes…

Everyone is also welcome to continue guessing the plot! (Convenient for me to freeload ideas [no]