Chapter 107: Gu Changxiao’s Helplessness
Gu Changxiao’s first strike severed the Wolf-eyed Tartar’s saber, his second cut off his arm, and his third leap ended with a direct thrust to the Tartar’s heart, pinning him before Jinsui.
Immediately after, he glanced at Jinsui, his eyes not holding the blame for her impersonation of the Li King that Jinsui had feared, nor the joy of friends reuniting after a long absence.
Instead, they held a trace of admiration and concern.
In his eyes, Jinsui saw a very disheveled version of herself.
After that one look, the blood gushing from the Wolf-eyed Tartar subsided. Gu Changxiao withdrew his saber and continued to kill other Tartars.
More people rushed from the river beach to join the battle. Jinsui recognized the familiar shout as that of Hao Duojin, a good friend of Hei Hu.
She was pulled up from the ground and shielded, moved as far away from the battlefield as possible.
It was Han Xing.
She also saw Hei Hu and the pale, cold youth filled with guilt, the same youth who had saved her from the assassin Qing Feng that day.
Huo Zi’an had also arrived. He must have been stunned to see the Real Li King saving the Fake Li King.
When those twenty-odd Tartars were felled one by one, one of them, who had escaped on horseback and fled a great distance, was still shot down by Hei Hu’s arrow.
After all the enemies were annihilated, Jinsui suddenly felt a searing pain in her shoulder, followed by a sensation as if she had been run over by a cart from head to toe, her entire body aching.
Only then did she realize she was injured: a saber wound below her shoulder, burns on her arm, and an arrow lodged in her thigh.
Damn it! When did I get hurt? I didn’t even feel it until the enemies were completely wiped out.
The pain made her unsteady, and she knelt on one knee, clutching her shoulder.
She knew the most important thing she should do now was get an anesthetic needle, but she couldn’t.
Enduring the dizziness from severe blood loss, she grabbed Han Xing’s hand and looked him directly in the eye, her voice firm, as if entrusting her life to him:
“Don’t let anyone touch my body! Not even the military doctor, no one! Do you understand?”
Han Xing, usually calm, was also shocked: “But Your Highness, you are severely wounded.”
Jinsui’s ears felt a little warm. With Gu Changxiao not around, hearing others address her like this felt quite amusing.
However, when she heard others call her “Your Highness” in front of Gu Changxiao, she felt too embarrassed to look up.
“My injuries are not important! I will treat them myself! Absolutely, absolutely do not let anyone touch my body, do not take off my clothes, understand?”
Han Xing nodded heavily, and with a clang, he drew his own saber: “To touch Your Highness, one must step over my corpse!”
Jinsui smiled at him, wanting to say it wasn’t that serious, but before she could open her mouth, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness.
When Jinsui woke up again, she found herself lying in a very simple thatched hut.
Outside, it sounded like many people were arguing about something. It was the kind of hushed argument that tries not to wake someone sleeping, yet buzzes in your ear like flies.
She instantly remembered what had happened and quickly tried to lift her hand to touch her clothes.
However, she found she couldn’t lift her arm at all. Looking down as much as possible, she was relieved to see her clothes were still the same. Although stained with blood and burn marks, they hadn’t been changed.
Her shoulder, thigh, and arm wounds had been bandaged. She grimaced in pain; bandaging wounds without cleaning them properly would lead to infection.
It was her own request that made things so difficult; how could she clean them if she wouldn’t even let anyone remove her dirty clothes?
First, I need to go into my space to thoroughly treat my injuries. Fortunately, my other hand is still somewhat functional, and more fortunately, my internal organs were not injured, otherwise, I would have had to have the military doctor perform surgery.
After she changed her dressing and bandaged herself, and changed into clean clothes, she emerged.
The clamor outside had turned into pleas, laced with sobs.
She quickly opened the door and saw Han Xing standing like a guardian at the small entrance, holding his saber.
Hei Hu and Wei Assistant Secretary were begging him with all their might, their lips chapped from pleading for him to open the door and let the military doctor in.
Chen Yunniang and two women stood anxiously to the side, holding items. Further away stood a tall figure, Gu Changxiao.
Seeing Jinsui emerge, everyone was overjoyed. Hei Hu burst into tears.
Jinsui covered one ear: “This King is fine, I’ve made you all worry.”
Han Xing’s eyes were red, his lips cracked, and his hair disheveled. He smiled at Jinsui: “Your Highness, your subordinate has fulfilled his duty.”
Just as Jinsui was about to praise him, she saw his body go limp, and he leaned against the door, fainting.
What followed was another bout of chaos. Hei Hu carried him to a bed. After Jinsui examined him, Chen Yunniang and two girls bandaged him.
What Han Xing needed most now was rest. The soldiers who had pursued the bandits with him said he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in days.
After escorting Your Highness back last night, he hadn’t closed his eyes for a moment.
If Gu Changxiao hadn’t arrived, Jinsui would naturally be busy now clearing the battlefield, treating injured soldiers, and coordinating post-war efforts… a pile of matters waiting for her decision and arrangement.
Looking towards Border City, the sky was already bright, but there was still firelight there.
Building a city takes years, but completely burning one down only takes days.
Jinsui instructed everyone to tend to their injuries if wounded, and to carry out post-war work if not.
She needed to have a private talk with Gu Changxiao first.
This area was a new settlement built by the Military Farms for land reclamation, and it had become a temporary stronghold after Border City was burned.
She had intended to find a quiet place further away, but her thigh hurt too much to walk far, so they talked under the tree in front of the hut.
The view was open, and they could detect anyone approaching.
The pale, cold youth appeared from somewhere, keeping watch from a distance.
Jinsui noticed he seemed a bit embarrassed to look at her and couldn’t help but ask Gu Changxiao: “What’s wrong with this child?”
Gu Changxiao’s mouth twitched. After two months and so much that had happened, he found his feelings towards Little Taoist Ji were still the same…
Helplessness. Yes, that was the feeling of helplessness.
You could never guess what this person would do next.
Like now, we have such important matters to discuss, do you think it’s appropriate to first concern yourself with a guard’s emotions?
But Gu Changxiao still answered: “He feels very guilty for not being able to protect you.”
Jinsui was both touched and surprised: “Are you blaming him? He protected me; without him, I would have died at the hands of the assassin long ago. In last night’s situation, it’s normal that he didn’t arrive in time…”
Seeing her deviating further from the topic, Gu Changxiao quickly interrupted: “I’m not blaming him. Last night, he and that person named Hei Hu worked together to protect the women and children, and they made a great contribution.”
Later, Jinsui learned that the battlefield wasn’t only at the South City Gate. The reason Han Xing arrived so late at the North City Gate was that a group of Tartars had broken out from there.
They had to fight them fiercely.
Another battlefield was where the Zheng family’s cattle and horses were let loose by the Yan Prefecture Army. They took the opportunity to retaliate, intending to rob the women and children of supplies.
Fortunately, Hei Hu and the pale, cold youth intercepted the Zheng family’s cattle and horses outside the valley.
Perhaps I became too immersed, but today’s chapter, though plain, made me cry. Thank you all for your love and support for Jinsui, thank you.
