Chapter 424: Greetings, Your Majesty, What Happened?

She suddenly heard a faint whimper coming from the pile of rubble.

She paused, listening intently again. The cry for help was mixed with the sound of the rain, making it indistinct.

"There’s someone under here!"

Ji Qingwu rushed forward first. The burnt bricks were still scalding, and she flinched as her fingertips touched them. A few soldiers came over to help her dig.

Pushing aside the charred bricks, they found a young soldier buried underneath, his face blackened with soot. He was clutching a sack to his chest.

The young soldier’s unfocused eyes reflected the face of the woman before him.

"These millet seeds... must be saved... The Northern Border can’t go without grain..."

A falling brick from the fire had smashed a hole in the young soldier’s head. ’This is bad,’ Ji Qingwu thought.

She immediately knelt, tore her skirt into strips of cloth, and began to bandage his wound.

The young soldier’s consciousness was already fading. "Mother said... not to waste food... must save the seeds..."

Ji Qingwu’s eyes stung. She responded loudly to his words.

"Okay, the millet seeds are saved! You have to be saved too! Don’t you dare fall asleep!"

Kneeling in the mud, Ji Qingwu pressed her hands firmly against the wound on the young soldier’s head. Blood mixed with rainwater seeped out, staining her sleeves red.

"Your mother is still waiting for you to come home!"

The young soldier’s breathing grew fainter and fainter.

Ji Qingwu’s movements grew more frantic. Rainwater streamed into her eyes, but she had no time to wipe it away.

The great fire was finally extinguished, but the rain did not let up.

The soldiers let out a collective sigh of relief, their gazes fixed on the slender figure kneeling to save the man.

The young soldier was covered in burns and had a fatal head wound. It was obvious he wouldn’t make it. Her efforts were futile, but she refused to give up.

This stubbornness that seemed to come from her very bones was reminiscent of someone from the past. A slight change came over Li Chengxun’s expression.

His face a mixture of complex emotions, he stepped forward, wanting to pull her up.

But an arm shot out, blocking him.

Wei Ting suddenly roared, "Nobody move!"

Li Chengxun’s pupils contracted. He too noticed something was wrong.

Just then, thunder cracked again, and a sound of something cutting through the air pierced the curtain of rain.

CRASH! The watchtower next to the granary collapsed, and several massive, round logs came plummeting toward the young soldier’s position.

By the time Ji Qingwu realized the danger, it was too late.

In a flash, a silver glint flickered. Someone sliced through the falling timber with a blade and pulled her into a roll, tumbling them several yards away.

His back slammed hard against a stone roller on the ground, but he kept her head held securely against his chest.

The sudden turn of events left everyone stunned. They quickly surrounded them, calling out, "General!"

"General! Are you all right?"

Ji Qingwu lifted her head from the cold, silver armor and met Wei Ting’s half-closed, narrow eyes.

He brushed the soot from between her brows with his hand.

"As long as you’re all right."

Ji Qingwu’s throat tightened. She turned her head to look at the granary, now a pile of rubble crushed by the giant logs. The young soldier was still under there!

’He could have lived.’

’If he hadn’t tried to save the millet seeds, if the watchtower hadn’t collapsed, if there hadn’t been this fire... that young soldier could have lived...’

The corners of Ji Qingwu’s eyes turned red.

She tried to pull away from Wei Ting’s arms, but her hand accidentally touched something warm and wet seeping through the back of his clothing.

She let go, staring in a daze at her blood-stained fingertips. Rain fell on her hand, diluting the blood.

Ji Qingwu’s arm trembled slightly.

Wei Ting’s face was a mess of bruises and grime, and his lips had lost their color, yet he stared at her, a light laugh escaping him like a sigh.

"This time, I recognized you."

Ji Qingwu took a deep breath. "Turn around. Let me see the wound on your back."

The smile on Wei Ting’s lips widened. "Are you worried about me?"

Ji Qingwu said, "If your spine is injured, you could be paralyzed. If it’s serious, you could die."

’If a general injures his spine, how can he lead troops into battle?’

But Wei Ting just smiled nonchalantly. "The Doctor’s medical skills are superb. I’ll be fine."

Ji Qingwu glared at him. "If you were giving birth, General, I could guarantee your safety. For anything else, my powers are limited."

Wei Ting paid her sarcastic words no mind. Gazing into her bright, vivid eyes, he said softly, "I just want to hold you a little longer."

Ji Qingwu froze for a moment. Remembering he was injured because he’d saved her, she stopped herself from punching him.

Wei Ting couldn’t collapse now. Ji Qingwu raised her arms, wrapped them around his back, and embraced him.

Wei Ting grunted in pain.

Ji Qingwu roughly located his wound by touch.

The robe under Wei Ting’s armor was charred black. Ji Qingwu untied her long headscarf.

She frowned. "The wound is deep. Let’s bandage it to stop the bleeding for now. Have the camp doctor treat it for you later."

Wei Ting used a pitiful, hopeful tone. "Can’t the Doctor treat me?"

Ji Qingwu pressed her lips together and didn’t answer.

The rain gradually subsided. The sky returned to its previous sunny state, the thick, dark clouds having dispersed at some point.

If not for the puddles on the ground and the clothes of the crowd dripping wet, one would think from the weather alone that the brief downpour had never happened.

Just as Ji Qingwu was bandaging Wei Ting, the thunderous, urgent sound of countless hooves rang out.

The ground trembled, ripples spreading across the puddles. Even Ji Qingwu’s chest vibrated from the tremors.

Someone was returning. It was the sound of a mighty army.

Ji Qingwu’s hand unconsciously loosened the long scarf she was using as a bandage, and she turned to look toward the camp gate.

Wei Ting stared intently at her face. He saw her eyes suddenly light up, her gaze fixed on the camp gate as if nothing else in the world could enter her sight, or her heart.

His own eyes dimmed, and a dark emotion flickered within them.

Ji Qingwu didn’t see the change in Wei Ting, but Li Chengxun saw it clearly. As another man, he recognized the emotion for what it was—jealousy.

In the distance, sand and mud billowed up as an armored army surged forward like a black dragon bursting from the earth.

The warhorse at the very front was pure black, its horseshoes kicking up gravel with a CRACKLE.

The rider wore Xuan Armor. Each scale of the Mystic Iron armor was engraved with a chi dragon pattern, and the joints were adorned with moonstones from the Western Regions, which flowed with a cool, clear light as he moved.

Beneath the Xuan Armor, a dragon was subtly woven with dark gold thread. The edge of his Great Cloak was trimmed with wolf fur, and the obsidian inlaid in his saddle glinted with a dark light.

The warhorse stopped before the collapsed granary. A cool breeze lifted the black silk ribbon tying back Emperor Wu Su’s hair.

Ji Qingwu’s gaze swept past the man’s handsome profile and landed on the slightly open collar of his inner tunic, which was embroidered with dark gold thread.

Because she smelled the scent of ambergris mixed with the metallic tang of blood.

There was a wound on his neck, winding its way up toward the back of his ear.

’He’s injured after all.’

Ji Qingwu’s nails dug into her palms.

For some reason, the moment she saw him, it was as if all of her own wounds had reawakened, the pain so intense she could barely stand it.

And all the courage she had gathered before completely evaporated in that instant.

She had planned to welcome his return at the main gate of the military camp. On her way here, she had imagined their reunion a hundred times, but none of them were like this.

Now, she was covered in mud, her skirt in tatters. How could she face him in such a wretched state, especially in front of all the soldiers?

The crowd knelt in greeting, shouting, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

Zhao Mingyan gazed at the granary ruins before him. "What happened?"