After lunch in the military camp, with the soldiers resting, Li Shuang worried about the approaching winter month. The cold weather and insufficient grain stores of the Western Xiong might drive them to raid the Great Jin frontier territories for food. But worry was just worried—there was still over a month before the harsh winter, and the camp had little to keep busy with.
With time on her hands, Li Shuang pulled out a small storybook from a stack of military registers.
Raised as a boy by her old man since childhood, Li Shuang’s martial arts and weapon skills surpassed many young masters, leaving few feminine habits intact. However, reading story books remained her sole girlish indulgence. Whether they were popular romantic tales, accounts of talented scholars’ past affairs, stories of jianghu heroes’ grudges and loyalties, or supernatural chronicles of gods and spirits—she enjoyed them all without discrimination.
In the desolate northern frontier, these few story books she’d brought from the capital were her only comfort against loneliness.
Just as Li Shuang was deeply engrossed in reading, holding up her finger that the child had bitten, heavy footsteps approached from outside with a “thump thump.”
Luo Teng didn’t even knock before lifting the tent flap and storming in: “General! I said we shouldn’t have brought that little brat back! As soon as he woke up, people came complaining to me!”
Li Shuang cleared her throat, silently hiding the book under the table before looking up with a serious expression: “What happened?”
“I didn’t go see myself. I assigned a captain to look after him, and the captain sent two soldiers over. They say he knocked over the food they brought and beat up both soldiers pretty badly. With my temper, I’d just execute such an ungrateful wretch, but since you brought him back…”
Li Shuang nodded: “Mm, I’ll go take a look.”
When Li Shuang entered the small tent, she was quite startled by what she saw. The child was completely bound in ropes, wrapped like a rice dumpling, and thrown on the bed with only his head free to breathe. The floor was a mess of trampled food, and a room full of people surrounded him, each still maintaining a wary distance—one could imagine how much trouble this child had caused.
Li Shuang found it amusing: “What’s all this about?”
The soldiers finally turned to look at her, hurriedly making way and saluting.
When Li Shuang’s figure appeared at the tent entrance, the child’s gaze had already fixed firmly upon her. Now, without obstruction, the child stared brazenly into her eyes, with complex emotions in his gaze that no child should possess.
With just that look, Li Shuang could tell this child’s past experiences must have been extraordinary.
She lowered her eyes to scan the scattered food on the ground and asked the child: “Were you afraid someone would poison your food?”
The captain scratched his head beside her: “General, this child seems to be mute. He wouldn’t speak at all earlier…”
“Yes.”
The child’s clear, distinct voice was like a slap to the captain’s face. The captain turned to glance at him, gritted his teeth, and stepped aside without another word.
Hearing this, Li Shuang laughed: “If we wanted to kill you, why would we need poison? Any blade in this room could do the job?” As she spoke, she casually drew a sword from a nearby soldier. While everyone was still stunned, she swung the great blade forward. Seeing her bold, sweeping move, everyone’s faces immediately turned pale, thinking their general, who was usually so careful with military provisions, was about to cut the child in half.
But after a swish, they saw that Li Shuang had precisely cut through all the ropes binding the child, her control of force and distance perfect to the point that not a hair on the child’s body was harmed.
The great blade left her hand, cleanly returning to the soldier’s scabbard.
While the two directly involved were unharmed, the soldier holding the scabbard had broken into a cold sweat.
The child continued to stare at her intently.
If Li Shuang’s bold sword move had been frightening, then the child’s unwavering gaze without even a blink in the face of such an imposing strike was equally terrifying.
Because either he had seen through Li Shuang’s intent not to kill him, or he simply had no sense of fear.
For a child, either possibility was shocking.
But this was only the others’ shock. Li Shuang merely crouched before him, meeting his gaze at eye level with a calm look: “I don’t know what you’ve been through before, but here, no one owes you anything, and no one wants to harm you. I brought you back out of moral duty. Now you’ve spilled your lunch, so you won’t have lunch today. Military rations are precious, and as punishment, you won’t have dinner tonight either. No one gets special treatment here.”
Li Shuang turned and left after speaking. The captain hurriedly followed, and soon her voice came from outside: “You big men, tying up a child like this—aren’t you embarrassing the Changfeng Camp?”
The captain could only complain: “General, you don’t know how formidable this child is…”
“Enough, return to your posts.”
As the voices outside faded, the soldiers saw the child sitting quietly on the bed without moving, so they also withdrew.
In the now-quiet tent, the child lowered his head to look at the ropes cut by the sharp blade. He grabbed one piece and held it—this was the rope she had cut. Why did he feel that even the rope she had cut carried her scent…
A scent enticing enough to make him addicted.
Throughout the afternoon, Li Shuang was at the training ground drilling troops.
When she returned to camp in the evening, she passed by the child’s tent. Her footsteps paused briefly as she hesitated whether to go in and check on him. After all, she had once been found and taken in the same way, and it was hard not to feel emotionally invested in a child with similar circumstances.
Just as she reached the tent entrance, the flap was suddenly lifted with a whoosh.
The child stood barefoot on the ground, looking up at her intently, his eyes filled with her image and the sunset.
Li Shuang was stunned for a moment, then smiled: “You’re quite perceptive, able to sense someone outside while in the tent.”
“I sensed it was you outside,” he said.
Li Shuang’s eyebrows twitched in amusement as she crouched down: “Oh? How did you sense that? Did you grow a wolf’s nose that can smell scents?”
“Mm, I can smell your scent.”
Li Shuang found this increasingly interesting: “Tell me, what do I smell like?”
“Special…”
Especially fragrant blood.
The child lowered his gaze to her hand, where white bandages still wrapped her index finger. He could still clearly recall the taste of her blood in his mouth. He reached out, lightly touching the back of her hand. Where his fingertip met her skin, it was as if electricity passed through them—a tingling sensation and something seemed to writhe at his heart, itching, about to break through.
Being touched on the hand by the child, Li Shuang didn’t feel offended, but rather found it interesting:
“Special? Could it be that because you drank my blood while unconscious, you’ve claimed me as your master?” She said this jokingly, but it caused the child to freeze, looking up at her blankly.
Li Shuang didn’t notice his momentary daze, but looking at the child’s thin hand, she suddenly felt sympathetic. Thinking of her childhood, she was moved by compassion once again.
She looked around, then led him into the tent and took out a piece of candy from her sleeve. She placed it in the child’s palm, “Eat it secretly. I gave orders not to bring you food, so if others found out, it would make me lose face.”
The child took the candy but didn’t eat it. Li Shuang wanted to say more, but she heard Qin Lan’s voice from outside: “Has anyone seen the General?”
Li Shuang looked back toward the tent entrance, then turned to pat the child’s head:
“Perhaps no one explained clearly to you today. This is the Changfeng Camp of the Lu City garrison of the Great Jin Dynasty. I am Li Shuang, Commander of the Changfeng Camp. If you trust me, find time to tell me about your background. If you have family or parents, I’ll help you meet them. If not, I can help find a family in Lu City to adopt you. Take your time to think it over, and when you’re ready, come find me.”
Li Shuang stood up and turned to leave the tent. The child almost instinctively reached out to grab her clothes, not wanting her to leave, but Li Shuang had already lifted the tent flap, letting the evening sunlight stream in diagonally.
The twilight hurt the child’s eyes, his heartbeat suddenly skipped, his body stiffened, his steps faltered, and he failed to grab Li Shuang’s clothes.
Li Shuang went out and greeted Qin Lan directly: “I’m here, what is it?”
“The young master’s carriage has arrived,” Qin Lan answered while quickly leading Li Shuang away.
The heavy tent flap fell, concealing the child’s figure inside. No one saw how, in the tent that blocked the sunset light, the child clutched his chest and slowly fell to one knee. His breathing became rapid, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
A red flame pattern began slowly growing from beneath his clothes, climbing up his neck and face until it reached the corner of his eye.
His body…
Was expanding…
At the main entrance of the Changfeng Camp, a vermillion carriage came to a stop. A young master wearing fox fur brushed aside the servant’s helping hand and jumped down from the carriage himself. He took a deep breath.
In the distance, he heard the rapid footsteps of someone in military armor approaching. The beautiful young master looked up, and a bright smile immediately appeared on his face: “Sister.”
He wanted to run to Li Shuang, but before he could take two steps, she reached him first and flicked his forehead with her middle finger. The clear, sharp “thunk” made the youth grimace in pain, drawing in two sharp breaths through his teeth as he rubbed his forehead vigorously:
“Sister, your strength has grown even greater…”
His muttering earned no sympathy from Li Shuang, only a cold snort: “I can hit even harder if you’d like to try?”
Li Ting hurriedly shook his head: “No, no need.” He looked at Li Shuang, putting on a pitiful, wronged expression. “Sister, I missed you. You haven’t been home for two or three years now.”
Li Shuang had always been weak against gentleness rather than force. Seeing him like this, she couldn’t maintain her anger. Still, she tried to sound stern: “You’re willful, and the old man indulges you. If anything happens to you here, I won’t be responsible!”
“I know Sister won’t ignore me!” The youth smiled like sunshine, his eyes curving into crescents, adding three degrees of warmth to the cold frontier and making it impossible for Li Shuang to stay angry.
“Alright, alright.” Qin Lan stepped forward to mediate, “General, it’s cold outside. Let’s have the young master sit in the tent first.”
Once inside the main tent, the evening meal had already been served. The camp meals were simple, each person with a small table. After eating quietly for a while, Luo Teng suddenly lifted the tent flap and entered: “General.” He saluted, brushed the snow off himself, and stepped forward saying, “General, that boy you brought back is gone.”
Li Shuang froze at these words: “Gone? How did he disappear?”
“Just a while ago, soldiers passing by his tent heard strange sounds. When they went in to check, he wasn’t there. Everyone’s been searching the camp for a while now, but there’s still no sign of him.”
Li Shuang frowned. When Luo Teng had lifted the tent flap earlier, she had seen that outside it was completely dark, and heavy snow was falling. For a child to run out of the military camp in such weather, he would surely struggle against the cold. “Send people to search outside the camp.”
Luo Teng pursed his lips: “Why bother searching, General? In my opinion, he’s just an ungrateful wolf cub, impossible to tame. If he wants to run, let him run. It’ll save us rations—the weather’s cold this year, and we don’t have extra grain to feed idle mouths.”
“Search thoroughly. If he truly can’t be found, then let fate decide.”
Luo Teng accepted the order and left.
Li Ting, sitting to the side, asked Li Shuang: “Sister, you recently took in a child?”
“Mm.” Li Shuang responded, but her thoughts were elsewhere. Observing the weather outside, she noted how this year’s winter had brought heavy snow so early, making it exceptionally cold. While the cities within Great Jin had rice supplies from Jiangnan, the Western Xiong would struggle more with each degree the temperature dropped…
Poverty breeds change—with the Western Xiong facing famine this year, a major battle seemed likely…
“Li Ting.” Li Shuang spoke casually while eating, “In the northern frontier, you may stay for one month at most. After that, I’ll dispatch a small squad to escort you back to the capital.”
Upon hearing this, Li Ting’s eyes immediately widened: “Why! I spent half a month just traveling here, and I’ve barely arrived… you’re only letting me stay for a month…”
“Letting you stay for a month is already generous.”
Seeing Li Shuang’s firm attitude, Li Ting grew anxious: “Father said I could stay until I wanted to leave! He’s the Grand Marshal of all military forces—you have to listen to him.”
“A commander in the field may disregard even imperial orders. This is Changfeng Camp, and I make the decisions.” Li Shuang’s tone carried the domineering authority of one used to having the final word. She gave him a sidelong glance, “Talkback again, and I’ll send you home tomorrow.”
“Sister, you’re being unreasonable!”
“Indeed, I am unreasonable. What are you going to do about it?”
“…”
Backed into a corner, Li Ting had nothing left to say. He gritted his teeth, “I’ll go back if sister returns with me.”
Li Shuang’s lips curled into a mocking smile, letting out a cold laugh: “Boy, have you forgotten your sister’s temper after not being beaten for a few years?”
Li Ting swallowed hard and fell silent like a frost-bitten eggplant. He seemed to lose his appetite, merely poking at his rice with his chopsticks.
Li Shuang thought he was just showing his young master’s temper and didn’t coddle him, contentedly eating her meal. But after a while, Li Ting called out again: “Sister.”
Li Shuang ignored him.
“You want me to return to the capital because you think the frontier is harsh and dangerous, right?” He paused before continuing, “Don’t you know that Father and I worry about you the same way when you’re at the frontier?”
Li Shuang remained unmoved: “This talk is useless. If you worry about me, don’t come here to be a burden. Go home properly, let the old man arrange a marriage for you, help him build connections, make his position as General more secure—that would make me safer here.”
Li Ting: “…”
The words were devastatingly direct, and though Qin Lan, Li Shuang’s trusted advisor of many years, was in the tent, he kept his eyes on his food like an old monk, pretending not to hear.
“You’re not even married, yet you want me to marry!” When the emotional appeal failed, Li Ting grew angry, “I know why you don’t want to return to the capital—you’re afraid of seeing Crown Prince Brother! It’s because he married someone else that you’ve decided to avoid him and never return to the capital!”
At these words, Li Shuang’s body slightly stiffened, remaining silent.
Qin Lan set down his bowl with a “thud” and sternly rebuked from the side: “Young Master, the General commands Changfeng Camp to protect the realm. How can you speak such words that misunderstand the General?”
“I…” Li Ting’s mouth moved, glancing carefully at Li Shuang, knowing he had spoken too harshly, and immediately fell silent.
Just as the atmosphere in the tent grew awkward, Li Shuang suddenly felt her hair stir near her ear—wind from outside had blown in from behind.
Li Shuang’s eyes sharpened, and without a word, she threw her chopsticks straight behind her.
Before anyone else had noticed her intent, when Qin Lan looked back, he discovered that where Li Shuang had thrown her chopsticks, someone had somehow cut a slit from the outside, just large enough for someone to peek through.
“What thief dares!” Qin Lan shouted. Soldiers immediately poured into the tent, and torches outside lit up the area brightly, but there was no longer any sign of anyone there.