Shuozhou City was in a state of chaos, with soldiers cleaning up the battlefield and civilians clearing the streets. Duan Xu stood in front of the army camp outside the city. He was still wearing armor, but the blood on his face and body had been wiped clean. Meng Wan stood beside him.
Duan Xu raised his hands, put them together, crossed his fingers and placed them on his lips, then separated them and crossed them again.
Although she knew that this was his habit when he was thinking, sometimes Meng Wan didn't know what he was thinking. She asked tentatively: "Shunxi, are you worried about Captain Han and He Xiaoxiao?"
News just came that Han Lingqiu was attacked by Danzhi on his way to pick up He Xiaoxiao to Shuozhou, and has been out of contact for the time being.
It is now the second morning, and there is still no news from Captain Han and He Xiaoxiao.
Duan Xu turned his eyes, and his originally empty gaze suddenly focused on light. He smiled and shook his head.
"I'm not worried about He Xiaoxiao."
"Then you are..."
"Report!" The spy came running over, knelt down in front of Duan Xu, and said, "Report to the general, Captain Han and Miss He's carriage has arrived, and they will reach the city in half an incense stick."
Duan Xu smiled at Meng Wan and said, "I say, don't worry about her, just send someone to greet her."
Meng Wan was surprised for a moment when he saw He Xiaoxiao's carriage. This carriage originally belonged to a wealthy family in Shuozhou. The wealthy family was also Han Chinese. They were very happy to see the Daliang army coming and offered their own carriage for driving.
So the carriage, which was originally very magnificent, was now stained with blood, half of the curtains were burned, and two arrows were stuck in the wall of the carriage. Han Lingqiu was injured, his left arm hanging by his side, blood gushing out.
It can be seen that the war was once brutal.
"Captain Han, are you all right?" Meng Wan jumped off the horse and walked in front of Captain Han.
Han Lingqiu shook his head and said briefly: "I was ambushed by the Danzhi army on the way and suffered some minor injuries."
"We just received the news. How many people were there? How did you fight them off?" Meng Wan said anxiously.
"About a hundred of us... We were outnumbered. We were at the edge of a mountain when suddenly a blue will-o'-the-wisp rolled down from the mountain... It didn't burn trees or animals, but only humans. The enemy suffered many casualties and retreated."
"What about you?"
“… Strangely enough, the fire didn’t burn us.”
A long sigh came from the carriage, and He Simu's voice came from inside: "There are many graves on that mountain. I think our ancestors are angry."
This... is a haunting in broad daylight
Meng Wan couldn't help but look at the carriage a few more times. Why was He Xiaoxiao always involved in ghost stories? At this moment, she not only felt that He Xiaoxiao had ulterior motives, but also felt that she was probably unlucky.
When the carriage arrived in front of Duan Xu, He Simu finally lifted the door curtain. Captain Han and the soldiers were all covered in dust, but she was intact, with a smile on her sweet face, but her complexion looked a little pale.
But her calmness didn't last long.
When she got off the carriage, her legs suddenly went weak. She stumbled a few steps, waving her arms, and fell directly into the arms of Duan Xu, who was standing in front of her.
The sound of the blow was so loud. Fortunately, Duan Xu was steady, otherwise she would have fallen to the ground. For a moment, there was silence around them.
Meng Wan's face turned pale.
Duan Xu opened his eyes wide in surprise, then raised his eyebrows slightly and kept a distance from He Simu.
He raised his hand and placed it on her forehead and said, "Little girl, you are sick. You have a fever."
After a pause, he smiled and said, "Didn't you feel it?"
Don't feel it
The little fox began to test again.
He Simu's eyes flickered slightly. She looked at Duan Xu for a moment, then wiped her eyes aggrievedly and said, "I was too scared on the way. I only relaxed when I saw you. Now I really don't feel well..."
As she spoke, her head tilted and she fell into Duan Xu's arms.
… This girl acted quite well! Meng Wan gritted his teeth.
In fact, He Simu was acting, but not really acting, because this body was indeed hard to control. She initially thought that she had been away from this body for a long time, but when Duan Xu explained it, she realized that this body was sick.
Being sick is a headache when possessed.
He Simu was lying on the bed with a blanket over her. This was a warm room that a wealthy Han businessman had specially prepared for her in the city of Shuozhou. The fire in the stove was burning brightly. The doctor took her pulse and asked her, "Have you felt sleepy, weak in your limbs, or have you had lower abdominal pain recently?"
"…" He Simu smiled gently and said, "It seems a little."
"Fear of wind and cold, loss of appetite?"
"A little."
"Chest tightness and shortness of breath..."
"A little."
He Simu maintained her unchanged smile. No matter what the doctor asked, she always gave the same answer - a little.
Whether this body is uncomfortable or not is one thing, and whether the evil spirit possessing it is uncomfortable or not is another. The evil spirit cannot even feel cold or warm, let alone pain, discomfort, chest tightness, shortness of breath and other advanced feelings.
According to He Simu's usual experience, if the person possessed by her falls ill, the original owner will most likely have to wake up and state the condition, otherwise a minor illness could turn into a serious one.
Fortunately, the doctor this time was a military doctor, and he had seen countless patients who could not speak. Seeing that He Simu's answer was irrelevant, he stopped asking questions and neatly abandoned the "ask" part of "look, smell, ask, and feel" and prescribed medicine for her.
He Simu sat on the bed, bored, telling Shen Ying ghost stories while waiting for the medicine to be boiled.
There was a knock on the door, three quick knocks. He Simu said without even raising his head, "Come in."
Shen Ying, who had been frightened by the ghost story and turned pale, was overjoyed and jumped up and shouted "General Brother". Only then did He Simu look up.
Duan Xu stood in the room holding a bowl of steaming medicine. He was not wearing armor, but a light round-necked robe, and he smiled brightly when he looked at her.
"Girl, take your medicine." Duan Xu sat beside He Simu's bed.
He Simu asked Chen Ying to go out first. She took the medicine from him. The scars on his fingers had scabbed over, leaving some marks of varying depths on his fair skin. One could not help but guess that there must be many scars under his clothes that could not be seen.
This might also be an intentional guidance - with his martial arts skills, he might still have some time to spare after killing three times in the chaotic army, and how many people could hurt him
He Simu thought secretly in his heart, but showed a flattered smile on his face, and said: "How can I trouble the general with such a small matter?"
"You are the Fengjiao Zhanhou in my army, and also a meritorious contributor to Tabai. Your illness is no small matter."
"Is this a custom of Tabai? If General Xia Lang is injured, will the general personally bring him medicine?"
"That won't happen. I heard Meng Wan say that you like me, so I think you'll be happier if I send you medicine."
As soon as the words "You like me" came out, He Simu sprayed a mouthful of medicine all over Duan Xu's face.
The black soup dripped down Duan Xu's well-defined face, like a piece of jade taken out of an ink pool.
He blinked and laughed like a child who had succeeded in his trick.
He Simu was speechless at Duan Xu's inexplicable joy, so she had to take out her handkerchief, holding his face while wiping it, saying sorry. Duan Xu did not refuse, and let her wipe the medicine on his face, looking at her with a pair of bright eyes and a smile.
He Simu's hand moved from Duan Xu's jawbone to his cheekbone, and he used a little force to probe his bones, thinking that the young general's skull was indeed well-shaped.
Duan Xu observed that her gaze moved towards the side of his face, and he slightly raised his head and smiled leisurely.
"So that's how it is. It's not me that the girl likes, but my skull. Does the girl like to collect skulls?"
This conversation could be connected to the ghost story she just told Shen Ying.
Although in the stories about this ghost, she did like collecting skulls and had hundreds of them.
He Simu smiled slightly and said, "I just have some quirks because I have been wandering around the world for many years. How can I compare to you, General, who was able to escape from bandits at the age of fourteen and travel hundreds of miles to the Southern Capital."
Duan Xu's eyes flickered slightly, and he smiled and said, "Investigate me."
"Same here, you're no better than me."
"So, what is your conclusion?"
"What conclusion have you drawn about me?"
He Simu held Duan Xu's face. She shed her timid and docile shell, stared directly into his eyes, and pulled his face closer.
At a distance that was almost touching her ears, she whispered, "We are carrying a movie character on stage - at least don't break this layer of paper."
She paused for a moment, then released her hand that was holding his cheek and distanced herself from him.
Just when they were only two feet apart, Duan Xu suddenly held He Simu's shoulders and pulled her closer again. He whispered in her ear: "Maybe there are a thousand layers of paper. If you pierce this layer, there is still the next layer, Miss He."
After he said this, he moved away from her. The boy smiled brightly, as if all those subtle probings just now were fake.
"To me, you are a strange person who has lost all five senses. Although I don't know what you are up to, I am willing to believe you. Since you have helped me, I will treat you as a distinguished guest and take good care of you. That's all."
He Simu crossed his arms, looked at Duan Xu for a while, and said, "Young General, how do you know that a strange man like me will always help you? Maybe I will turn around and help Dan Zhi."
"Oh? From what I've observed, their skulls aren't very pretty. I don't think they'll please you as much as mine do."
This young general is really eloquent.
"Are you so sure?" He Simu asked.
"I'm not sure." Duan Xu turned his head and said with a smile, "It's just that I love gambling by nature, and I'm lucky. I always win the bets by turning danger into safety."
"Do you think you can win the bet?"
"If you don't gamble, you won't win."
Duan Xu stood up calmly with the medicine bowl in his right hand, put his left hand behind his back and bowed slightly, said he would give her another bowl of medicine, then turned and left.
He Simu looked at his brisk steps and murmured, "It's really a piece of thousand-layer paper."
People say that a gentleman is like jade, but his temperament is more transparent and brighter than jade, like water jade.
This is probably due to his shining eyes.
But in reality, he is like a thousand-foot-deep cold pond, with no bottom to be seen.
These eyes are really deceiving.