Slanting sun and evening glow, falling red like threads.

The young general gripped the reins, galloping on horseback. Wind and sand flew in the afterglow. His dark hair bun was unadorned, two strands of fine hair at his temples swaying in the wind. He wore crimson robes without armor.

“The General has returned!”

The soldiers guarding the camp entrance saw him and simultaneously broke into smiles. “The General has returned!”

Xue Huai heard these words by the bonfire. He still held a bowl of wine in his hand and immediately stood up. He saw a white horse galloping swiftly from the camp entrance, that crimson figure lightly and steadily dismounting from the horse’s back, handing the reins to a soldier at the side.

“Little Advanced Scholar!”

If not for such a formal occasion, Xue Huai always preferred to call him this.

The young man had some fine beads of sweat on the tip of his nose. He hummed in acknowledgment and smoothly took the wine bowl from Xue Huai’s hand, drinking it down in one gulp. Crystalline droplets slid down his chin to his prominent throat bone.

“What happened to your hand?”

Xue Huai noticed the back of the hand gripping the bowl—there was a bloody cut on it.

“Ah,”

Xu Hexue glanced down lightly. “On the way back, I gave Xuanxing a bath at Agate Lake and got scratched by a stone beneath the shallow water.”

“I’ll go find you some wound medicine.”

“No need.”

Xue Huai was about to turn around when he heard the young man say, “Don’t I have a medical worker?”

“…Miss Ni?”

Xue Huai reacted at once. “She’s a young lady—she can’t stay in the military camp. By the time I go to fetch her, your wound will have healed, won’t it?”

He laughed heartily.

The young man kicked the bend of his leg, causing Xue Huai to stagger back two steps.

“These past few days, what has she been doing?”

The young man asked somewhat uncomfortably.

He had been busy with military affairs at Juhan Pass these days.

“What else could she do? Naturally treating women’s illnesses.”

“Has anyone made things difficult for her?”

“Naturally there have been some.” Speaking of this, Xue Huai stopped laughing and said seriously, “Although with your military orders in place, no one in Yongzhou City dares to casually dispose of women beyond the law anymore, you also know the customs here are planted deep in those people’s minds—they can’t be pulled out clean all at once. A female medical worker like Miss Ni who treats women’s private ailments and arranges for women to learn gynecology from her—how could she not attract gossip?”

“But didn’t you tell me before you left? I have people following her every day. No one dares deliberately make things difficult for her. At most there’s just more idle gossip behind her back.”

Xu Hexue said nothing and turned to lead his horse again.

“Little Advanced Scholar, she’s not at her original lodgings right now.” Xue Huai watched him mount the horse before saying with a smile.

“Where is she?”

The young man looked down from his elevated position, lightly raising his chin.

“That woman called A’Shuang is marrying someone surnamed what was it…” Xue Huai tried hard to recall, slapping his forehead. “Ah, A’Shuang is marrying a carpenter surnamed Fan. Miss Ni should be at a wedding feast in Sophora Willow Lane right now!”

The reins tightened. Xuanxing stretched its neck and neighed long. The sunset afterglow spread endlessly. Hoofbeats sounded distantly.

In a courtyard in Sophora Willow Lane, there were only a few feet of red cloth, all hung on the tree in the courtyard. A red lantern was lit by a young man wearing festive clothes. He turned back somewhat awkwardly. “Miss Ni, although today is a wedding feast, it’s still just simple food and drink. Please forgive us.”

“Simple food and drink is also very good.”

Ni Su handed him the pastries and fabric wrapped in red paper in her hands. “This is my congratulatory gift for you two. I hope you and Lady A’Shuang will have a peaceful life together and never part until white-haired.”

“Thanks to Miss Ni, my health has improved. Now that you can come to our wedding feast, we’re even more grateful. How can we accept these gifts from you…”

A’Shuang came forward and grasped her hand.

“One should receive congratulatory gifts when marrying.” Ni Su smiled at her. “Today I’m giving gifts to you two. In the future, who knows when, you’ll be giving gifts to me, won’t you?”

A’Shuang and Fan Jiang exchanged glances and accepted Ni Su’s congratulatory gift.

Many neighbors knew that Fan Jiang had married a woman who had been a military prostitute among the barbarians, so today’s wedding feast was very sparse. Besides Ni Su, there was only an elderly couple that Fan Jiang often helped.

“A’Jiang, live your own lives. Whatever others say, just pretend you can’t hear it.” The old woman had only a few teeth left.

The old man also said tremblingly, “Yes, just live your own days well. As for the rest, who cares?”

A’Shuang’s eyes filled with tears. She and Fan Jiang supported each other, standing together and nodding.

The newlyweds bowed to heaven and earth. Ni Su and the elderly couple sat at the table watching the two people’s backs. The wide-open courtyard gate was cold and deserted, so much so that the sound of hoofbeats came very clearly.

Getting closer and closer.

Ni Su turned her head and saw a tall figure standing outside the courtyard gate, the clear breeze blowing his vermilion red robe.

That young man’s eyes were bright and clear, his spirit soaring.

Not expecting anyone else to come at this time, especially this young general, A’Shuang and Fan Jiang hurriedly welcomed him through the door. The young man was unhurried, taking a seat beside Ni Su, his fingers lightly tapping the table. “Continue. Don’t mind me.”

A’Shuang and Fan Jiang bowed to heaven and earth again.

The young man propped his chin with one hand, watching.

“What did you come for?”

Ni Su asked.

“To drink wedding wine.”

He answered lazily.

Ni Su didn’t speak, and he didn’t speak either, but his eyes moved from the newlywed couple to her profile. A strand of fine hair curled beside her earlobe, clinging to her fair, delicate skin.

A’Shuang and Fan Jiang came to toast at this moment. Ni Su and Xu Hexue raised their cups almost simultaneously.

“Lady A’Shuang, if you two have a child in the future, what do you plan to name it?”

Ni Su asked.

A’Shuang’s cheeks flushed. “This…”

Fan Jiang stood beside her, also somewhat embarrassed, but he carefully glanced at that young general who had stood up, and he blurted out, “Qingqiong.”

“The ‘Qingqiong’ from ‘Battle blood wipes my sword, this sword breaks the blue vault’—if it’s a boy.”

Hearing this, Xu Hexue’s thin eyelids lifted. He met Fan Jiang’s gaze.

“General, we’ve heard that line of poetry from you.”

Fan Jiang said.

Noticing the woman beside him turning her gaze to him, Xu Hexue felt somewhat uncomfortable. Just as he was about to speak, he heard her say: “That’s a very good name.”

He stared at her.

She was smiling.

The sunset afterglow hadn’t dispersed. She wore a smoky blue shirt and skirt, dark hair with vermilion hairpin. The blue jade beads at her earlobes swayed gently with her drinking motion.

The newlywed couple sat down, laughing and talking with the elderly couple.

The sky gradually darkened.

“Are you going back to Juhan Pass?”

Ni Su took a bite of pastry and asked him.

“Going this time, I’m afraid there will be war.” Xu Hexue said.

Between them was another stretch of silence.

Xu Hexue clearly wanted to say something, but he held his wine cup for a moment, the laughter filling his ears seeming somewhat blurred.

The elderly couple’s grandson was a young man in his twenties. He had originally come to take them home, but seeing Ni Su there, he actually sat down and began making sporadic conversation with Ni Su.

Ni Su chatted idly with him.

Xu Hexue glanced at the young man’s smiling face. His expression remained unchanged, but he lightly tugged Ni Su’s sleeve. Ni Su immediately turned to look at him, but then heard a cry of “Aiya.” She instinctively looked toward the young man—for some reason, he had already tumbled off the long bench.

Sprawled out.

Seeing this, Fan Jiang hurriedly went to help him.

Ni Su turned her face again. The young man’s eyes were clear as crystal, carrying undisguised amusement.

“You are my medical worker.”

He said.

“Yes.”

She answered.

“Then during these days I was at Juhan Pass, why didn’t you ask about me at all?”

“You weren’t injured. What was I supposed to ask you?”

Xu Hexue was silent for a moment, then raised one of his hands. In the warm yellow, hazy light, the wound on the back of his hand that had already formed a fresh red scab was particularly conspicuous.

He was simply proving to her that he had been injured.

But unexpectedly, in the next instant, she suddenly grasped his hand.

It was the same warm temperature—there should have been nothing special about it, yet he couldn’t help but have his eyelashes flutter. Within a few breaths, his cheeks grew faintly hot.

“Have you applied medicine to it?” Her voice fell.

“Not yet.”

“Then come back with me in a bit. I’ll apply medicine for you.” As Ni Su spoke, she raised her face. She didn’t know if it was the light from the red lantern, but the young man’s earlobes were red. She stared at them, then suddenly curved her eyes in a smile.

“What are you smiling about?”

Xu Hexue asked her.

Ni Su shook her head but said, “When you go to Juhan Pass this time, can I go too?”

At these words, Xu Hexue paused, but very quickly he raised those eyes, the divine light even brighter. “You want to go?”

“I’m your medical worker.”

Ni Su said with a smile.

He couldn’t quite suppress the slight upward curve of his lips, yet still maintained the surface calm of a general. “There might be war. Aren’t you afraid?”

“What do I have to fear?”

Ni Su looked at him. “Do you believe that if I make this trip, I can even protect you?”

“Protect me?”

Xu Hexue raised his eyebrows lightly.

“Yes.”

Ni Su didn’t release his hand. “I came here to protect you.”

To protect you like this—young and unrestrained, alive and breathing.

Don’t bear a tarnished name, don’t suffer the death of a thousand cuts, don’t be that lonely soul wandering the Netherworld for a hundred years with no one to offer sacrifices—I want you to live well, together with your Jing’an Army soldiers, together with the common people, together with the land.

“Juhan Pass has many good places to visit.”

The young man had drunk quite a bit. His cheeks were slightly flushed. His voice was crisp, cool, and pleasant. “I can also take you to our horse farm to play.”

“I want to ride horses with you.”

“Ah,” the young man suddenly heard this sentence. He froze for a moment, then said somewhat uncomfortably, “Alright.”

“Can we also fly kites?”

“Yes.”

“Give your Xuanxing a bath?”

“…Xuanxing,” mentioning his horse, the young man laughed softly. “It has quite a temper, especially when bathing—it loves to play tricks on people.”

“I know.”

“How do you know?”

Ni Su only smiled without answering him.

The city gates were about to close. Xu Hexue led his horse to escort Ni Su back to her lodgings. She held a lantern in her hand, standing at the door watching him. He mounted the horse and said, “You go inside.”

Ni Su nodded, pushed open the door, and walked in.

The sound of hooves stepping on the ground gradually faded, but before Ni Su had walked a few steps into the courtyard, she heard that sound draw near again. She turned her head. Under the bright moonlight, the young man called to her from horseback: “Ni A’Xi.”

His crisp, cool voice fell: “Tomorrow, wait for me to come get you.”

He really did love to smile.

Ni Su gazed at his curved eyes.

The sky full of brilliant stars. The young man rode all the way back to the military camp outside the city. After bathing, his long wet hair hanging loose, wearing only a snow-white long robe, he read letters by lamplight.

“Six pages of letter paper, five pages writing about your trivial matters with Li Xizhen.” He turned the letter pages, laughing in spite of himself. “Zhao Yonggeng, you really are…”

But his gaze fell on the inkstone. He suddenly put down the letter in his hand, ground ink, dipped his brush. He sat before the desk, his posture upright. He had lost some of that daytime sharpness—at this moment he carried more of a scholarly air.

“To Yonggeng, personally opened. At this time in Yongzhou’s ninth month, the wind and sand remain as ever, and I am as before.”

The brush tip rustled across the paper:

“Last year I met a person named Ni Su, a female physician. She dares to hold to her aspirations, does not give rise to worry and fear because of hardship and danger, does not fear others’ words because of worldly customs. She dares to do what others dare not. I greatly admire her…”