The fall of Jicheng in Shuozhou, across the Guan River, came as a surprise to everyone.

Xia Qing Sheng had been promoted to Lang General, and the city was bustling with troops and provisions. Everyone was saying that war was imminent, probably because the situation in Yuzhou was urgent, and troops from Liangzhou needed to provide support. It was only after two days when battle reports arrived that people realized something was wrong—the Tabai Army had somehow crossed to the opposite bank of the Guan River.

Duan Xu led General Wu in a feint attack on Yuzhou’s northern city, while secretly dispatching Xia Qing Sheng to cross the ice-covered Guan River during the deepest night snowstorm when the Hu Qi people’s archery was hindered. They took Jicheng in Shuozhou by surprise.

As soon as Jicheng was captured, Duan Xu immediately abandoned the northern city of Yuzhou and led the Tabai army north without looking back, joining the Tabai troops in Jicheng. They fought fiercely against the Danzhi army in Shuozhou.

When this news reached He Simu’s ears, she wasn’t surprised. From the moment Duan Xu had asked her about the wind direction, she knew what he was planning.

The Hu Qi people were exceptionally fierce warriors. This young general had invaded Danzhi territory—his courage was certainly great, but whether his luck would be sufficient remained to be seen.

These stories were extraordinary to Chen Ying. He rested his chin on his hands with a look of admiration, even slowing down his pace of eating melon seeds and peanuts. He said, “General Duan is so formidable! They say General Duan is the first general of the Great Liang to cross the Guan River!”

He Simu thought to herself that indeed, judging by both his martial prowess and military strategy, he didn’t seem like someone who could have been cultivated by a family of third-generation civil officials.

“I want to become someone like General Duan in the future! I want to protect my country and avenge my father!” Chen Ying clenched his small fist.

He Simu spat out a melon seed shell and turned to examine Chen Ying for a moment, thinking this might be a suitable place for him.

“Would you like to follow Duan Xu?” He Simu asked.

Chen Ying looked confused, so He Simu thought for a moment and continued, “These past few days, I’ve been looking around the city. Everyone is living in misery, and there aren’t any good families worth entrusting you to. Duan Xu seems decent enough. I helped him read the wind, so that counts as having helped him. If he manages to return alive, I can arrange for you to follow him. His family background is illustrious, and if you stay by his side, you won’t go hungry in the future. You might even gain rank and title. Well… isn’t that what mortals want?”

As she spoke, she noticed Chen Ying’s expression change, his eyes welling with tears. He tugged at He Simu’s sleeve and said, “Sister Xiao Xiao… are you going to give me away to someone else? I… I want to stay with you… I can eat less food… I won’t even eat peanuts or melon seeds…”

He Simu calmly looked at Chen Ying for a moment, wiped the tears from his face, and said firmly with a pleasant expression, “That’s not possible. I told you from the beginning that I would only take care of you for a short while.”

How ridiculous—their paths were separated between life and death. How could a living person follow a dead one for a lifetime?

Chen Ying hung his head, remaining silent.

He Simu pinched his face and said, “You think you can just follow Duan Xu if you want? He might die in Shuozhou and never return.”

Chen Ying looked up, letting out a dejected “Ah…” as if he had received a second blow, unable to accept that his hero might die.

“If General Brother dies, what will we do?” he asked.

He Simu thought this was a good question. She was still curious about Duan Xu. If he died and became a wandering spirit, his name would appear in the ghost register. Then his life story would be completely transparent to her.

She was somewhat looking forward to that.

Then there was the Powangjian in his possession. She didn’t want her aunt and uncle’s treasure to be buried underground with him, never to see the light of day again.

So He Simu asked Chen Ying, “Do you remember a few days ago, when we were chatting with the neighbors, there was a widow of a suona player… called…”

“Widow? What’s that?” Chen Ying looked confused.

“Someone whose husband has died.”

“Oh! Madam Song?”

“Yes, go invite her over to crack melon seeds with us, and bring her family’s suona as well.”

Chen Ying obediently jumped off the stool and ran off in a flash.

Before long, he returned with a woman in her forties. The woman was carrying a box, and wearing white flowers on her head. She was slightly plump, which made her appear clumsy, and her expression was downcast.

She lifted the curtain and entered the room where He Simu was waiting. He Simu invited her to sit down, and she placed the box on the table and asked, “What does the young lady want with the suona… seeing this thing recently always makes me sad.”

She stroked the box and said, “My husband performed at weddings and funerals all his life, but in the end, no one played a funeral tune for him…”

Madam Song’s husband had been the only suona player in the city, and he had died during the massacre.

He Simu placed melon seeds and peanuts in front of her, quietly waiting for her to compose herself before speaking.

“Madam Song, may I borrow this suona to play?”

Madam Song exclaimed in surprise, “Miss He knows how to play the suona?”

“I learned a little before,” He Simu smiled.

Madam Song immediately agreed. He Simu took the suona, moistened the reed, carefully recalled for a moment, then raised her hands and played “Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix.”

Madam Song was amazed, clapping her hands while her eyes reddened. She said she thought she would never hear the suona played again.

“Madam Song, is my tune on key?” He Simu asked after finishing the piece.

Madam Song nodded repeatedly, saying, “Young lady’s technique is excellent, completely on key.”

He Simu then asked Chen Ying, whose bright eyes were full of admiration. He also said it sounded good, not off-key.

Fortunately, it was passable. She couldn’t tell if the tone was accurate or not.

He Simu then asked Madam Song if she could borrow the suona for a while.

“What do you need the suona for?”

“I know someone who is in mortal danger. If he dies, I plan to send him off,” He Simu said casually.

She thought that if he died, his coffin would surely be transported from Liangzhou back to the Southern Capital. It would be quite desolate without a funeral tune along the way.

One funeral tune in exchange for his Powangjian.

By then he would be dead anyway, unable to protest. Ultimately, it was an exchange—one thing for another. It didn’t violate her principles.

Though the person hadn’t died yet, He Simu had already completed the funeral arrangements and exchanged half a basket of eggs for a one-month rental of the suona.

After Chen Ying escorted Madam Song out, he came bouncing back. Standing on his tiptoes and leaning against the table, he looked at the suona in the box with curiosity.

“Sister Xiao Xiao, how do you know how to do everything? You can even play the suona!”

“Just something to pass the time,” He Simu picked up the suona and twirled it in her hand. “My father taught me this when I was young. There was hardly any instrument he couldn’t play.”

Although she was born an evil ghost, she had been raised in the human world before inheriting the Ghost King’s position. Her parents seemed to have wanted her to live like a living person. As a result, she could now barely pass as a human without revealing her true nature.

Of course, encountering a little fox-like Duan Xu was a different matter.

“Sister Xiao Xiao, what did your father do?” Chen Ying jumped onto a small stool and sat up straight as he asked.

He Simu thought for a moment, spinning the horn in her hand a few times before finding an appropriate description: “My father… was once a butcher supervisor. In my hometown, there’s a place where all the residents are butchers.”

If her father, the former Ghost King, heard this comparison, he would surely applaud and call it brilliant.

“Ah, butchers, like Zhang the butcher who sells pork on the street?”

“More or less.” He Simu smiled, her gaze becoming somewhat absent-minded. “Butchers are indeed difficult to manage.”

“How did Sister Xiao Xiao’s parents pass away?”

Chen Ying was still at an age of innocence, asking whatever came to mind without knowing that some questions were inappropriate.

He Simu gave Chen Ying a look, and Chen Ying was frightened by the dark clouds in her eyes, falling silent.

She simply smiled and ignored the topic, sending Chen Ying to the street to buy two ounces of soy sauce. Chen Ying immediately ran off as if granted amnesty.

After Chen Ying left the courtyard, He Simu took out the trembling bright pearl from her bosom and asked, “Feng Yi, what is it?”

“I’ve come to report to you, Elder,” came the cheerful voice of a young man from the other end.

“I investigated Duan Shunxi more thoroughly. The Duan family has four children, and he is the third son. He was known for his talent from a young age, with a photographic memory, and, was able to recite over a hundred poems and essays. When he was seven, his grandmother in Daizhou fell seriously ill, so he was sent to attend to her. During this period, his writings were frequently circulated and became famous in Daizhou. These experiences were quite ordinary. The only unusual thing was that when he was fourteen and returning to the capital from Daizhou, he encountered bandits.”

“All his servants and attendants were killed, and only he survived, making his way to the Southern Capital. Since then, he settled there.”

He Simu tapped her fingers on the table thoughtfully and said, “All his servants and attendants died, and only he survived? What happened to the Duan family’s old lady afterward?”

“Not long after Duan Shunxi arrived in the Southern Capital, the old lady passed away.”

This meant that almost everyone who knew him during those seven years in Daizhou was no longer in this world.

What a coincidence—could there be such coincidences in the world?

Or was he trying to hide something?

He Simu cracked melon seeds, thinking that this young general was truly a treasure, with more to discover the deeper one dug. Conveniently, she was feeling a bit hungry lately and could go to the Shuozhou front to find some food. She could also check if the young general was still alive and well.

In the deep of night, before Shuozhou Prefecture, battle cries shook the heavens as swords and blades clashed.

He Simu concealed her true form and strolled among the flashing blades and clashing flesh. She wore her favorite red and white triple-layered curved-hem robe, with jade pendants at her waist glittering brightly.

Continuous deaths, continuous soul fires blazing, bright lamps ascending to the cycle of rebirth. The blood-colored battlefield, in the eyes of an evil ghost, resembled a grand festival of sky lanterns.

She crouched down and selected a dying Hu Qi warrior with a full skull. With two fingers, she brushed his eyes, and as he blinked, he saw the evil ghost before him.

“I can fulfill one wish for you, and then I’ll eat you. Is there anything you want?” He Simu asked him in the Hu Qi language.

Seeing his familiar bewildered expression, she briefly explained the pros and cons of the Hu Qi language. The Hu Qi warrior grasped her robe with one hand and tremblingly called out, “Lord of the Azure Heaven…”

He Simu tilted her head: “I am not any Azure Heaven Lord.”

“Lord of the Azure Heaven… kill that… fellow!” The Hu Qi warrior raised his finger, his face covered in blood and unrecognizable, but the hatred and anger in his eyes were clear.

He Simu followed his finger. In her world illuminated by soul fires as bright as daylight, Duan Xu rode a chestnut warhorse, armored and wielding a blade, slaughtering through the crowd with blood splashing three feet high.

His expression was calm and cold, without anger or hatred. Yet beneath that calm surface, something seemed to be hidden.

Something hidden that she couldn’t see clearly.

“You want me to kill that person?” He Simu pointed at Duan Xu and turned back to her prospective meal.