The child who seemed frightened into stupor in Eunuch Qi’s eyes immediately raised his head.
He looked up at Chu Zhao.
Chu Zhao said to him softly, “Young Highness, this is your uncle. His name is Xie Yanlai.”
The child turned his head and looked at Xie Yanlai again.
“Don’t be afraid,” Chu Zhao said, lowering her head slightly and looking at Xie Yanlai together with the child. “Your uncle will block the rebels from breaking through to us. If there are rebels ahead, he will also come fight them with us. In this imperial city, your uncle will use his life to protect you.”
The girl on horseback looked at him with eyes bright and sparkling, a faint smile at her lips, pure and lovely and gentle, but in an instant Xie Yanlai’s hair stood on end.
Chu Zhao! How vicious you are!
In the entire Xie family, there was only one person who could be called uncle by the Young Highness and recognized as such—and that was Xie Yanfang.
Others might perhaps get to see the Young Highness once, but to be acknowledged as uncle would be impossible.
For him, Xie Yanlai, it was absolutely impossible.
Now, Chu Zhao had pushed him in front of the Young Highness at this moment of crisis, this juncture between life and death!
She didn’t need to say these words at all!
This was enticement!
As Chu Zhao’s words fell, the child who had never spoken opened his mouth.
“Uncle.” His voice trembled slightly as he looked at this young general before him, staring intently at his face as if to engrave him on his heart. “Thank you.”
Xie Yanlai’s hand hanging at his side gripped his blade tightly. He withdrew his gaze and said, “Go!”
With this word “go,” Chu Zhao didn’t linger. She held the child with one arm, spurred her horse into a gallop, and shot like an arrow toward the inner city.
The riders following her transformed into a shower of arrows.
Xie Yanlai stood before the city gate, feeling the fierce wind and bloody scent slide past.
“Yanlai.” The other imperial guards now also walked to Xie Yanlai’s side.
Earlier they had followed Xie Yanlai out, at first deliberately lagging a few steps behind to let the young lovers talk, but then they couldn’t get through—Miss Chu’s people had blocked them.
These people didn’t wear military robes, but their bearing was terrifying.
Now they had finally left.
“This Miss Chu—” one imperial guard said, the alarm in his eyes still not dispersed, “to actually have so many troops—”
Xie Yanlai glanced at them. Didn’t expect that, did you?
“Still thinking about fiancée? That she came to find me because she cares about me, because she depends on me?” he said with a cold laugh.
Could this girl be viewed with ordinary eyes? Romantic love between men and women—ha!
Ahead, hoofbeats sounded urgently again as another contingent came galloping. Like those who had passed earlier, they wore no military robes.
“Miss—” one person called out loudly, his voice deep and resonating through the city gate.
Chu Zhao’s voice carried back faintly from the inner city: “Uncle Zhong, you guard the city gate well.”
Zhong Changrong was about to rein in his horse when his gaze fell on the young general standing before the city gate. He froze, then the scar on his face twitched.
“You!” he shouted, his eyes fierce. “What are you doing here!”
Xie Yanlai raised an eyebrow, his gaze unflinching: “Why shouldn’t I be here?” He laughed coldly. “Rather, I should be asking you.”
This boy—what attitude! Zhong Changrong cracked his whip, not letting it fall on Xie Yanlai but snapping it in the air.
I’ll deal with you later!
“Since you’re here,” he said irritably, pointing outward, “the watchtower and this place are yours. I’m going inside.”
As he spoke, he made a gesture to divide his forces. The troops instantly split into two parts—one following Zhong Changrong’s unslowing hoofbeats as they galloped through the city gate, the other standing at attention before Xie Yanlai.
All this happened in an instant. Zhong Changrong didn’t even slow down before charging through.
Xie Yanlai was furious, only managing to shout: “What do you take me for!”
But it was useless—Zhong Changrong had already passed through the city gate and was out of sight.
“Yanlai, you’re so familiar with Miss Chu’s uncle,” a nearby guard said in surprise. “You two—”
“We have no relationship at all!” Xie Yanlai glared and rebuked sharply. “I’m not familiar with him either!”
The guards made sounds of acknowledgment. If you don’t want to say, then don’t—after all, it’s your private matter.
Xie Yanlai was annoyed and about to say something when the guards changed the subject first, pointing at the troops standing at attention and asking in low voices, “What should we do?”
Xie Yanlai looked at the forces before him and swung his blade to cast out the stifling anger in his heart.
“Follow me to the watchtower!” he shouted. “Guard the city!”