Flowers Bloom from Battlefield

For years, Long Kingdom has grown, and the period of war that started the kingdom has become nothing but a history, far away from the current new generation. The number of soldiers around the areas had started to decrease so much as there were no more rebels for the past few years.

Inside a small city, a young boy was running around happily. Around him, several boys were also running around, targeting the young boy.

"Jun Xiao, are you helping your father with his work again?" one of the kids asked.

The one named Jun Xiao was a young kid with a tender appearance. He smiled cheekily when he heard the answer. "Of course, Father allows me to help him out with his work."

Another one sneered. "What's the fun of doing the work for adults? We already have to learn a lot of things to be a scholar, why do you make things difficult by helping your father in his work?"

"It's fun."

"Are you telling me that copying literary words every single day is fun? Jun Xiao, you have to renew your sense of fun things."

Jun Xiao chuckled. He helped his father to do his work not because he liked the work. After all, seeing those works that filled with numerous words caused his eyes to hurt too. However, his father would always tell him interesting stories after he had finished the work. Because of those stories, he decided to help his father.

After playing around for some time with the boys, Jun Xiao made his way back home. He saw that his father was busy writing something on the paper.

"Father, I'm home."

Jun Xiao's father, Jun Kang, raised his head when he saw his son. He smiled gently. "You play around for a long time. Have you finished your task of copying the scripture?"

"I have finished them, Father," Jun Xiao replied as he ran to his father's side. Peering over the paper that his father had written, he noticed that it contained a report about a prince.

"You shouldn't get involved in my work too much, Jun Xiao," Jun Kang patted the boy's head. "This is an important letter for an important person."

"I want to help you again, Father," Jun Xiao replied resolutely.

"Then you can help me to deliver the letter to the palace after I have finished writing."

Jun Xiao nodded his head vigorously. "After I have delivered the letter, I want to hear more about the first female general in this country, Father. I want to hear more about what happened in the training hall against the audacious minister from Gu Yue Kingdom."

"Oh?" Jun Kang arched his eyebrows. "I thought that I have already told you this stories countless times?"

"It's not enough, Father."

Jun Kang smiled wryly. He was still writing his report as he told the story to his son. "A few years ago, a group of ministers comes from the Gu Yue Kingdom to make a different trade with the Long Kingdom. As the show of respect, General Hua came to this area personally with her husband. During one of the meeting, they offend the general because of her gender.

Although General Hua didn't mind about it, her husband was angry and ordered a challenge against that minister. Coincidentally, that minister was very proficient in martial arts, so they compete in martial arts."

Putting his brush down, Jun Kang looked at his son. "I believe you know what happens afterwards."

Jun Xiao nodded his head excitedly. "General Hua defeats him in a matter of seconds. Father, she's really cool! I want to be like her in the future."

"Xiao'er, it's hard to be a general. You're far better with learning as a scholar. Don't you want to be like me and write more interesting stories every day?"

"Okay, I'll work harder, Father!"

Jun Kang smiled with satisfaction at his son's response. He folded the paper before putting it into a map and handed it to Jun Xiao. "Hand this to Prince Ming Hui. Remember that no one is allowed to open the letter except Prince Ming Hui."

"Yes, Father!"

Running outside the house, Jun Xiao put the letter on his breast pocket before heading towards the palace. This was not the first time his father tasked him to go to the palace. Her father had asked him to do this a few times.

Upon reaching the door, the guards only need one look before allowing him to get inside.

"Arara, you're coming here again, Jun Xiao?" one of the servants asked with an inquiring tone.

Jun Xiao grinned. "Yes! Father asks me to deliver another letter to Prince Ming Hui."

"His Highness Prince Hui is on the courtyard. You can go there to meet with him," the servant pointed to the left.

"Thank you!"

Getting the pointers, Jun Xiao ran towards the courtyard happily. Upon reaching the courtyard, he saw a man was sitting down with a young girl in front of him. It was not hard to guess that the young girl is the young princess.

Ming Hui noticed Jun Xiao coming. He crossed his arm. "I thought that you already send a letter not long ago, Jun Xiao."

"Greetings Prince Ming Hui," Jun Xiao bowed politely. "I have indeed sent a letter not long ago, but my father asks me to deliver this letter today."

Taking the letter, Ming Hui nodded his head. "I understand. Your task is over, you can go back now. The servant will give you some snacks."

"Many thanks, Prince Ming Hui."

Ming Hui patted his daughter's head. "Today's study is finished. You can go back now."

"Yes, Father," the young girl replied softly before walking away elegantly. Because Ming Hui had drilled the young girl in studying about etiquette since she was at a young age, it was easy to see that her posture was extremely good.

Ming Hui opened the letter as he made his way back to his workroom. The room was filled with paper everywhere because he rarely cleaned up. Reading the content for a few moments, he laughed when he noticed what Jun Kang wanted to say.

"Jun Hua is still very relentless. Even though she has married and become a mother of four children, she's really active," Ming Hui muttered amusedly. The report on the paper was about Jun Hua's activity in this city because this girl visited not long ago. As the one who got the task to escort the princess, Jun Kang was very familiar with the princess's activity.

Putting the paper on the side, Ming Hui returned his gaze back on the stack of paper that he placed on his table. Just recently, he had managed to finish compiling some of Jun Hua's past achievement until the point where the trade had finished. They were so many that he noticed that it was enough to make five books.

"I wonder what's the title should be," Ming Hui chuckled as he took his brush. As he had written in a different style than a normal report should be, he knew that this book wouldn't pass as a historical record. The best that it could be was passing down as a legend among the people here.

Of course, that was only if the book was not lost in the passage of time.

Ming Hui pondered for a moment before deciding. He had found a perfect title for the book.

'Flowers Bloom from Battlefield'

"The most beautiful flowers are those that still bloom beautifully during hard times," Ming Hui chuckled. He put the brush away and picked it up. He wanted to show it to the person in question to let her see what he had written here. If she allowed it, he would want to let more people see this book.

As times passed by, more and more people would forget about this. With the era changing to peaceful era, they wouldn't pay much attention to the past anymore. He made this with the hope that they would not completely forget about this legend. The legend of a woman who didn't follow the norm of the era and showed her prowess in the way that people would never expect.

"Ming Hui, where are you? Jun Hua is coming!" from the back, Fan Lanying's voice could be heard.

"I'm coming," Ming Hui replied. He picked up the book. It was the time for him to show this to the person in question: the flower that bloomed beautifully in the midst of the harsh war era in this world.

~fin

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A bit clarification, although FBFB is placed in the genre historical, the setting is still in a fictional world. I'm following the culture and tradition of the place, but you won't find the same story as the one I make in the real part of the history.

The closest one I use as reference for this novel is the warring state era in 500 BC, to be exact, the conquest of Qin Shi Huang Di in the first unification of China. There are a lot of differences, such as a lot characters that didn't exist in the history, the geography of the land, the number of kingdoms (in that era, there are 7 big kingdoms), and also the different sequence of the battle. I won't delve too deep, but you can search about it by yourself in the internet if you're interested in the historical part that I use as reference.

But please bear in mind, there are a lot of things that only come out of imagination and not real event in history.

That should be all. Thank you!

With love,

Sorahana