Nightfall

There were a lot of people near the city gate. Thousands of Tang soldiers entered the city in succession. They were shabby, injured, and tired.

Countless people in Chang’an welcomed them, waving their hands and smiling warmly.

This was the first rotation since the war had begun. They were all rearranged back to various counties after withdrawing from the front line. Only a few could return to Chang’an.

The Tang Empire had displayed a perfect administration and amazing efficiency in the war. Since the conscription started, hundreds of thousands of former veterans had joined the front line and all kinds of resources had been delivered to every battle, which had given the Empire a break.

But because the bloody war was still ongoing, the ceremonies all over the country were solemn and simple, including the one happening in Chang’an. However, the Empress’s presence still attracted many people.

As the crowd melted away, a common carriage stopped along the state highway.

Everyone in the city was cautious because their country was at war. As soon as they noticed the carriage, they reported it to the City Patrol Department. They became even more curious when they saw the soldiers of the City Patrol Department leave after they questioned the people in the carriage.

A hand opened the curtain, and Ning Que looked through the window toward the frozen state highway until he saw someone coming.

Dozens of riders arrived. Judging from their weapons and horses, they must have been from the Valiant Cavalry Battalion, which was the real royal military and had a higher status than the Yulin Royal Guards. However, they looked more battered than the soldiers who had entered the city.

Ning Que looked at the man on the horse and said, “You looked strange in that armor.”

The man was dusty but still full of spirit. Hearing Ning Que, he said with a smile, “I’m a soldier, not a landlord in Chang’an anymore.”

The man was Chao Xiaoshu, who had led the Valiant Cavalry Battalion to support the Eastern Border from afar.

He jumped off the horse and could not help coughing before he spoke.

Ning Que said, “You should not ride a horse if you are injured.”

Then, Ning Que turned around to go inside the carriage.

Chao Xiaoshu smiled and turned around to say something to Liu Wu. Then, he went into the carriage after Ning Que and said, “You came here to meet with me. How can you enter the carriage before I do?”

Pointing at the bandage on his body, Ning Que said, “Seven holes have been poked into me by the Abbey Dean and I’ve lost most of my blood. I can’t stand outside for a long time.”

As he took a look at his face, Chao Xiaoshu could not find any traces of youth. Thinking of the news he had heard, he said, “I thought that you died.”

Ning Que said, “I thought you died too.”

Then they smiled together.

Ning Que added, “Why did you think I was dead?”

Chao Xiaoshu answered, “I remembered that you said your story was not the same as the one in the storybook before you killed Xia Hou. With that being the case, when you met the Abbey Dean, you should have been killed.”

Ning Que said, “When I heard that you had gone to be a hero, leaving your wife and child behind, I thought that you would be killed, because a hero such as this must die to bring glory to himself.”

Chao Xiaoshu said after a while, “Many people died.”

Ning Que opened the window and looked back at the heavy carriages behind him.

He saw the remains of the soldiers of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion. Having been blown by the wind for so many days in the cold winter, the horsehides on their bodies had warped and turned blue.

“Hundreds of cavalrymen set out, but only a few dozen of you came back. Many people indeed have died.

“It is a pyrrhic victory on the Eastern Border,” said Ning Que.

Chao Xiaoshu said, “Compared to the Northern Army, who faces the Golden Palace alone, we are disqualified to complain. However, the border is empty and the soldiers recruited from the counties have really suffered a lot.”

Ning Que said, “I thought you would come earlier.”

Chao Xiaoshu said, “I had been chasing Long Qing to Chentang County until I found the problem was fixed by you for no reason. Then I went back to the Eastern Border. If the Academy had not protected Chang’an, and the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army had not been stalled in Verdant Canyon for seven days, and the Gushan Commandery and the Northeast Border Military had been unable to reorganize, I would not have come back.”

Ning Que said, “It takes time.”

Chao Xiaoshu looked at his bandages and said, “When can you recover?”

The question sounded simple, as if he was just acting concerned, but Ning Que knew that it was not that simple because he spoke about his injury at this moment.

“I don’t know.” He knew what Chao Xiaoshu was going to ask, so he continued, “As for my brothers and sisters, I don’t know either, so you should leave us alone.”

Chao Xiaoshu slightly frowned and asked, “Why so slow?”

Ning Que answered, “It’s not easy to hurt us, and it’s not easy for us to heal as well.”

As long as he thought of his severely injured brothers and sisters and the Third Sister, who was sitting in a wheelchair, he could not help keeping a serious look on his face. If the powerhouses of Haotian Taoism were to infiltrate Chang’an, they would be in big trouble.

Because they had entered the city from the east gate, they would have to pass through Eastern City.

When the carriage passed by the Old Brush Pen Shop, Ning Que saw it through the window and recalled plenty of memories about it.

Chao Xiaoshu sighed and said, “Since the spring of the 13th year of Tianqi, when you and Sangsang came to Chang’an, to the late winter of the 18th year, five years have passed, but it seems like it has been 10 years.”

Looking at the Old Brush Pen Shop and the shops next to it, Chao Xiaoshu remembered that spring rain in the 13th year, the killing, and the noodles without egg, and he smiled.

Ning Que stared at him and suddenly said, “In fact, we don’t know each other very well.”

Chao Xiaoshu said, “True, we’ve only seen each other a few times.”

“Don’t you think it is weird?”

“20 years ago, I met the dead emperor, who was still the Crown Prince, in the House of Red Sleeves for the first time, and we had a fight. After that, we drank together, and since then, I’ve become Second Brother Chao.

“A bowl of wine was a life… so was a bowl of noodles.”

He added, “Chang’an is such an interesting place because many things like that happen every day. The people living here are enjoying it and there is nothing strange.”

Ning Que thought it over, and replied, “Indeed.”

Chao Xiaoshu did not go back home. Instead, he went to the palace.

Seeing Chao Xiaoshu enter the palace following a eunuch, Ning Que turned toward the imperial study alone.

He had experienced many important turns during his tough life and been to many significant places. The imperial study in the Imperial Palace was one of them.

He wrote the famous calligraphy work there. That was the first time he met the dead emperor. He had a long conversation with Li Yu there and he killed her brother the next day.

He put his crutch in front of the bookshelf and slowly moved to the desk, opened up some paper, and began writing.

He kept writing and writing.

The dead emperor loved his writings, but he had been unwilling to give him any. Even when he had to, he felt like his heart was being cut. Now, he wished he had written more for him to make him happy.

He was willing to write now, but His Majesty could not see it.

The imperial study was very quiet, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of the brush gliding over the paper. All of sudden, he heard someone reprimanding sternly.

Ning Que was stunned.

The imperial study was close to the Front Hall, so the sound must have come from there.

For a second, he thought that he had heard His Majesty lambasting some moron.

As he had said in the carriage, he was not familiar with Chao Xiaoshu, but they could watch each other’s back.

He was not very familiar with His Majesty either, but His Majesty dared to give Chang’an, and the future of the Li Royal Family, to him. He had to complete the job with his life.

Because this was Chang’an, and things like this happened all the time.

His trust did not start with the calligraphy work. It started because he heard His Majesty lambaste a moron in the imperial study. He liked to call people moron, it made him happy.

But His Majesty was dead, and no one would call anyone a moron in the Imperial Palace.

He shook his head and continued writing.

Suddenly, his right hand began to feel numb.

That was because he heard the sound from the Front Hall again.

And this time, he heard it clearly.

There was someone calling people morons.

It was the Empress.

Ning Que laughed and felt so happy.

In the depths of the palace, a huge map marked with complicated lines and annotations was illuminated by dozens of bright candles so people could see it clearly.

A middle-aged officer of the Military Ministry, pointing at the map with a long wooden rod, was explaining to everyone in the hall. It was obvious, however, that not all of them were willing to listen.

The Empress felt a little tired. She took up a cup of tea and drank it slowly.

She looked so peaceful and graceful that the generals and ministers were unable to remember when she had called them morons upon learning that they had trouble transporting grain to the Western Army.

Chao Xiaoshu stood quietly in the corner and said nothing, but he also could not help thinking of His Majesty, who had once called people morons in this same room.

Some people were alive and returned home, and some people had died and they also returned home—maybe they had never left. That was very good.-