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?”