The world is divided and united, and the world is changing. Now the 36 states in the world are divided by the Guanhe River, and the north and the south are facing each other. In the south is the Liang Kingdom, an orthodox Han dynasty in the Central Plains, and in the north is the Danzhi Kingdom established by the nomadic Huqi people.
Unfortunately, the seventeen states north of the Guanhe River, once the heartland of the Han people and the land praised by countless literati and poets, changed hands decades ago and became the territory of the Huqi people.
Although the Liang soldiers were much weaker than the Huqi people from the grassland, they were separated by a natural barrier called the Guanhe River, and the Huqi people were not good at fighting on water, so the two sides had been living in peace for many years. But the Guanhe River, which was turbulent all year round, suffered a cold winter that was rare in a century, and the river sections flowing through Liangzhou and Yuzhou were all frozen.
This made the Huqi people very happy. They marched southwards, crossing the plains and rivers. In just ten days, they occupied the capital of Liangzhou and more than ten counties under its jurisdiction. In another ten days, they swallowed up most of Yuzhou and headed straight for Nandu.
The 400-year-old evil ghost He Simu has seen countless turmoil in the human world. Whether it is a peaceful and prosperous world or a chaotic and bloody world, it doesn't make much difference to evil ghosts. She knows all about these wars because of her hobby.
She is a picky eater who only likes to eat dying people and not those who are sick and dead. Therefore, her food selection range is very narrow, only the most common ones on the battlefield.
So wherever there was a war, it was like the beginning of a banquet for her, and she would happily rush there.
She had some things on hand, so she didn't catch up when the Huqi people defeated the Liang army and captured two states. When things were almost settled, the glorious Huqi people suffered a great loss in Liangzhou and were defeated by the Liang army. They didn't even have time to join the Danzhi army in Yuzhou, and were directly driven back to the north of Guanhe.
Perhaps they were unwilling to give up and spit out the meat they had eaten, so the Huqi people massacred the Liangzhou city when they retreated from Liangzhou, and half of the people died under the butcher's knife. This was the scene that He Simu had encountered before.
He Simu supported his chin and turned the jade pendant in his hand, waiting for the little guy on the couch to wake up.
The governor of Liangzhou was killed by the Huqi people, and his mansion was vacant, so the young general temporarily lived in the governor's mansion. After she fainted, her body was also settled in a courtyard of the governor's mansion. She had just recovered after being unconscious for a whole day.
The young general was a careful person. He really followed her instructions before she fainted and saved the little one from the pile of corpses and settled her in the same yard. However, the child had been sleeping for a long time and had not suffered any serious injuries, but he did not wake up.
There were two knocks on the door. Before He Simu could even say "Come in", the door was opened forcefully, showing that the person outside the door was impatient.
A female warrior in bright armor walked in. She tied her ponytail with a purple scarf, and her eyebrows were sharp and heroic, quite like a man. She held a food box in her right hand, glanced at He Simu who was sitting at the table, and then put the food box on the table and spoke in a flat tone.
"Awake? The doctor has examined you. You and your brother are just exhausted and nothing serious is wrong. You can leave the house when your brother wakes up."
Leaving home
She hasn't even found out about the young general yet. How can she lose the little bit of fun she just found during her holiday
He Simu held the female general's hand, revealing an admiring look on her face, and said fluently: "Sister, you are so heroic. Although you are a woman, you can be a general in the army. I am so envious. May I ask your name?"
The female general looked down at He Simu, her upturned phoenix eyes containing sharp eyes, and said briefly: "Meng Wan."
She did not ask He Simu's name. Her expression was cold as the lights flickered, and she obviously wanted to end the conversation as soon as possible.
However, He Simu did not give her a chance. She held Meng Wan's sleeve tightly and said calmly, "Nice to meet you. My name is He Xiaoxiao. My brother and I are weak now. We would like to rest in the mansion for a few more days. Could you please ask the general to make some arrangements? Oh, by the way, what is the name of the general who saved me today?"
Meng Wan narrowed her eyes. Her eyes were originally sharp, but now they looked more like a blade. She slowly lowered her head and looked directly into He Simu's eyes, as if she wanted to peel off her skin and see her true self. He Simu did not avoid her, but smiled.
"There's something wrong with you." Meng Wan said.
"Oh? What's wrong?"
"Everything is wrong. There's a massacre in Liangzhou, and your brother is unconscious. How come you're not afraid at all?"
He Simu turned his head and said calmly, "How does Sister Meng know that I'm not afraid? I'm just like this when I'm afraid. Besides, my brother and I survived the hell of the Liangzhou massacre. Now that the general is like a god descending from heaven, shouldn't we be more at ease?"
Meng Wan grabbed He Simu's wrist with his backhand and lowered his voice: "My intuition has never been wrong. You are not a good person. Why did you approach our general? Are you..."
He Simu's eyes flickered as he looked at Meng Wan with a smile.
"Are you... Duke Pei's man?"
... What? What Duke
He Simu was confused for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Sister, what are you talking about? What kind of a duke is this? I've never heard of it."
Although she hadn't said a single true word from the beginning, this sentence was absolutely true.
No matter how powerful the officials and nobles are in the world, what does it have to do with her
People in high positions and powerful positions are not particularly delicious. She is not like Yan Ke, the leader of the Ghost Palace, who only eats officials who hold power.
Meng Wan obviously didn't believe her. She loosened He Simu's wrist and said sternly, "I don't care what you are planning, give up as soon as possible! What kind of background and talent does our young master have? It's just that he is sincere and unprepared, so you villains framed him and almost ruined his future! Now we are not in the court, but on the battlefield. I will risk my life before you can hurt our young master again!"
Meng Wan's righteous and passionate speech left He Simu speechless. He felt that he had been blamed for everything.
But Meng Wan's words reminded her of the hands that handed her the handkerchief, those hands with neatly trimmed nails, white and slender, but scarred.
It looks like the hand should be holding a pen, not a hand that goes to the battlefield.
Hearing Meng Wan calling the young general "Young Master", it seemed that they had known each other when the young general was not yet a general.
"From what you said, the general is in a miserable state?"
"Stop pretending..."
Just as Meng Wan was about to speak, she heard a clear rumbling sound. They turned their heads and saw that the little guy on the bed next to them had woken up at some point and was looking intently at the lunch box between them.
Xue Chenying, who had slept for a day and a night, was awakened by the aroma of food.
He Simu looked at the child who was wolfing down his dinner in front of him and comforted him, "Eat slowly, no one is going to snatch it from you. You said you were eight years old, so you called..."
“Xue…Chen Ying…” the child said incoherently with a pile of rice in his mouth.
"Ah, then I'll just call you Shen Ying."
"Okay... Sister, who are you? Where is my dad?"
He Simu thought about it, and couldn't bear to interrupt his good mood of eating, so he said: "My name is He Xiaoxiao, your father, you finish your meal first and I will tell you."
Shen Ying nodded and buried her little face in the rice bowl again.
He Simu supported his chin, thinking that this kid was totally unguarded and was closest to Fan.
Meng Wan was busy with military affairs, so he left after saying something harsh, leaving a few people to watch over the yard. Chen Ying was only concerned about the meal, so as soon as Meng Wan left, he ran to the table and asked He Simu if he could eat these things.
So now he was burying his head in the food and devouring it. He Simu propped up his chin and looked at his glowing eyes, and asked casually: "Is it fragrant? Is it delicious?"
"Fragrant! Delicious!" Chen Ying's mouth was full. He took a break from his busy schedule to glance at He Simu who was casually picking up the food, and said, "Sister... don't you like it?"
"Ah... I can't say I like it, nor can I say I don't like it..." He Simu said incoherently, picking up the food in the bowl as if completing a task.
Anyway, evil spirits have no sense of taste, so they can't taste anything. Of course, human flesh and soul fire are not delicious, they just fill the stomach.
From this perspective, being a ghost is quite miserable.
Shen Ying finally filled his stomach. He put down the bowl and burped loudly, blinking his big eyes and looking at He Simu.
"Thank you young lady, I'm full now. Where is my daddy?"
He Simu looked him up and down. The child was wearing coarse cloth clothes with many clumsy patches. His family must be very poor. Moreover, the rough stitches of the patches might have been sewn by his father. According to this, his mother might have passed away.
Although the child is thin, he has a good-looking appearance, with a round face and round eyes, which makes him look cute and naive.
"Besides your father, do you have any other relatives in this world, mother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc." He Simu asked.
Shen Ying shook his head honestly, he lowered his head and said: "Most of my family members are gone, and my father and I are the only ones who depend on each other."
He Simu rubbed his forehead. This child seemed to have a complete soul fire. Why did he have such bad luck that he lacked soul fire
"Do you remember what happened before you fainted?"
Chen Ying was stunned. He seemed to resist recalling those scenes, and the color on his face faded. He held He Simu's hand and said, "The bad guys... the bad guys are killing people non-stop... my dad... my dad was... stabbed in the stomach... he bled a lot..."
Finally I remembered it.
He Simu let him hold her hand and shake it, and said calmly and seriously: "Your father is dead. I will take you to bury him tomorrow."
Hearing the word "dead", Chen Ying's eyes widened instantly, then she pursed her lips, tears dripping down her cheeks, she felt flustered and aggrieved.
"Really? Sister, please think of a way... Can my dad survive? My dad was cut by a sickle before, and there was a big cut on his leg. He bled a lot... But then the doctor came... He stopped bleeding... He was able to work in the fields... When my mother was still alive, she said that it was okay to have a minor injury... Everyone has minor bumps and bruises..."
The more panicked the child became, the more he talked. He cried as he talked, and cried as he talked, as if his mouth was out of control and words kept coming out. He talked about his father, his mother, his grandparents, and his grandparents, as if he had to rack his brains to find some way to prove that his father survived being stabbed in the stomach.
He Simu just looked at him quietly, without saying anything or moving, just watching him cry out of breath, speak incoherently, and his voice getting smaller and smaller.
Finally, Shen Ying stopped talking, took a deep breath, and said in a hoarse voice: "My father said... the dead cannot be resurrected, is it true?"
This time He Simu finally spoke. She nodded and said, "It's true."
Chen Ying's eyes trembled, but she stopped crying, just looked confused.
"Who are you then, sister?"
"Your father has been kind to me. Since you have no relatives, I will take care of you for a while and entrust you to a good family."
Shen Ying shook his head listlessly, then nodded. He whispered for no reason, "My dad said I always cry and don't act like a man at all."
He Simu patted his head and said, "When my parents died, I made a big fuss. If I could cry, I would definitely cry harder than you. You have done much better than I did back then."