Chapter 9: Surprise Attack

 

The fall of Jicheng in Shuozhou, across the Guan River, caught everyone by surprise.

Xia Qing Sheng had been promoted to Lang General, and the city bustled with troops and provisions. Everyone anticipated imminent war, likely due to urgent circumstances in Yuzhou requiring Liangzhou's military support. Only when battle reports arrived two days later did people realize the truth—the Taibai Army had somehow crossed to the opposite bank of the Guan River.

Duan Xu had led General Wu in a feint attack on Yuzhou's northern city while secretly dispatching Xia Qing Sheng to cross the ice-covered Guan River during the deepest night snowstorm, when the Hu Qi archers' vision was compromised. They captured Jicheng in Shuozhou by complete surprise.

The moment Jicheng fell, Duan Xu immediately abandoned Yuzhou's northern city and led the Taibai army northward without hesitation, joining the Taibai forces in Jicheng. They now fought fiercely against the Danzhi army throughout Shuozhou.

When this news reached He Simu's ears, she felt no surprise. From the moment Duan Xu had inquired about wind direction, she understood his intentions.

The Hu Qi warriors were exceptionally fierce fighters. This young general had invaded Danzhi territory—his courage was undeniable, but whether fortune would favor him remained uncertain.

These tales filled Chen Ying with wonder. He rested his chin in his hands with an expression of pure admiration, even slowing his consumption of melon seeds and peanuts. "General Duan is incredible! They say he's the first Great Liang general to cross the Guan River!"

He Simu reflected that indeed, judging by both martial prowess and military strategy, he seemed far beyond what a family of third-generation civil officials could have produced.

"I want to become like General Duan someday! I want to protect my country and avenge my father!" Chen Ying clenched his small fist with determination.

He Simu spat out a melon seed shell and studied Chen Ying for a moment, considering this might prove a suitable path for him.

"Would you like to follow Duan Xu?" He Simu asked.

Chen Ying appeared puzzled, so He Simu elaborated thoughtfully. "These past days, I've observed the city. Everyone lives in misery, and no worthy families exist to entrust you to. Duan Xu appears decent enough. I assisted him with wind readings, which constitutes help rendered. Should he manage to return alive, I could arrange for you to serve under him. His family background is distinguished, and remaining by his side would ensure you never go hungry. You might even earn rank and title. Isn't that what mortals desire?"

As she spoke, she noticed Chen Ying's expression transform, his eyes brimming with tears. He tugged at He Simu's sleeve plaintively. "Sister Xiao Xiao... are you planning to give me away? I... I want to stay with you... I can eat less... I won't touch peanuts or melon seeds..."

He Simu regarded Chen Ying calmly for a moment, wiped the tears from his face, and spoke firmly with unwavering composure. "That's impossible. I told you from the beginning I would only care for you temporarily."

How absurd—their paths were divided between life and death. How could the living follow the dead for eternity?

Chen Ying hung his head in dejected silence.

He Simu pinched his cheek gently. "You assume you can simply follow Duan Xu at will? He might perish in Shuozhou and never return."

Chen Ying looked up, releasing a dispirited "Ah..." as if receiving a second devastating blow, unable to accept that his hero might die.

"If Brother General dies, what will we do?" he asked.

He Simu considered this an excellent question. She remained curious about Duan Xu. Should he die and become a wandering spirit, his name would appear in the ghost register, rendering his entire life story transparent to her.

The prospect held considerable appeal.

Then there was the Breaking Illusion Sword in his possession. She refused to let her aunt and uncle's treasure be buried underground with him, never again to see daylight.

He Simu asked Chen Ying, "Do you remember several days ago, when chatting with neighbors, there was the widow of a suona player... called..."

"Widow? What's that?" Chen Ying looked confused.

"Someone whose husband has died."

"Oh! Madam Song?"

"Precisely. Go invite her to crack melon seeds with us, and ask her to bring her family's suona."

Chen Ying obediently leaped from his stool and disappeared in a flash.

Shortly after, he returned with a woman in her forties. She carried a wooden box and wore white flowers in her hair. Her slightly plump figure lent her a clumsy appearance, and her expression remained downcast.

She lifted the curtain and entered where He Simu waited. He Simu invited her to sit, and she placed the box on the table before asking, "What does the young lady want with the suona... seeing this instrument lately always brings me sorrow."

She stroked the box tenderly. "My husband performed at weddings and funerals his entire life, yet in the end, no one played a funeral tune for him..."

Madam Song's husband had been the city's only suona player, killed during the massacre.

He Simu placed melon seeds and peanuts before her, waiting quietly for her composure to return before speaking.

"Madam Song, might I borrow this suona to play?"

Madam Song exclaimed in surprise, "Miss He knows how to play suona?"

"I learned some basics previously," He Simu smiled.

Madam Song immediately agreed. He Simu took the suona, moistened the reed, recalled carefully for a moment, then raised her hands and played "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix."

Madam Song sat amazed, clapping while her eyes reddened. She said she thought she would never hear suona music again.

"Madam Song, was my performance in tune?" He Simu inquired after finishing.

Madam Song nodded repeatedly. "Young lady's technique is masterful, completely accurate."

He Simu then asked Chen Ying, whose bright eyes sparkled with admiration. He also pronounced it beautiful and perfectly pitched.

Fortunately, her playing proved acceptable. She couldn't judge tonal accuracy herself.

He Simu then asked Madam Song if she might borrow the suona temporarily.

"What do you need it for?"

"I know someone facing mortal danger. Should he die, I plan to send him off properly," He Simu replied casually.

She reasoned that if he perished, his coffin would surely be transported from Liangzhou back to the Southern Capital. The journey would seem desolate without funeral music.

One funeral song in exchange for his Breaking Illusion Sword.

Once dead, he could hardly protest. Ultimately, it constituted fair exchange—one item for another. This violated none of her principles.

Though the person lived still, He Simu had already completed funeral arrangements, exchanging half a basket of eggs for a month's rental of the suona.

After Chen Ying escorted Madam Song out, he returned bouncing with curiosity. Standing on tiptoes and leaning against the table, he examined the suona in its box with fascination.

"Sister Xiao Xiao, how do you know everything? You can even play suona!"

"Merely a pastime," He Simu picked up the suona and twirled it in her hands. "My father taught me this in childhood. There was scarcely any instrument he couldn't master."

Though born an evil ghost, she had been raised in the human world before inheriting the Ghost King's position. Her parents seemed determined she should live as mortals do. Consequently, she could now pass convincingly as human without revealing her true nature.

Encountering a perceptive fox like Duan Xu was another matter entirely.

"Sister Xiao Xiao, what was your father's profession?" Chen Ying jumped onto a small stool and sat upright as he asked.

He Simu pondered, spinning the instrument several times before finding appropriate description. "My father... was once a supervisor of butchers. In my hometown, there's a district where all residents work as butchers."

If her father, the former Ghost King, heard this comparison, he would surely applaud and call it brilliant.

"Ah, butchers like Zhang who sells pork on the street?"

"Something like that." He Simu smiled, her gaze growing distant. "Butchers are indeed challenging to manage."

"How did Sister Xiao Xiao's parents pass away?"

Chen Ying remained at an age of innocent curiosity, asking whatever entered his mind without understanding some questions were inappropriate.

He Simu gave Chen Ying a pointed look, and he was frightened into silence by the dark shadows in her eyes.

She simply smiled and dismissed the topic, sending Chen Ying to purchase two ounces of soy sauce. He immediately ran off as if granted reprieve.

After Chen Ying left the courtyard, He Simu withdrew the trembling bright pearl from her chest and asked, "Feng Yi, what news?"

"I've come to report, Elder," came the cheerful voice of a young man from within.

"I investigated Duan Shunxi more thoroughly. The Duan family has four children—he's the third son. He showed remarkable talent from youth, possessing photographic memory and ability to recite over a hundred poems and essays by heart. When seven, his grandmother in Daizhou fell gravely ill, so he was sent to attend her. During this period, his writings circulated widely and gained fame throughout Daizhou. These experiences were quite ordinary. The sole unusual occurrence was when he was fourteen, returning to the capital from Daizhou, he encountered bandits."

"All his servants and attendants perished, yet he alone survived and reached the Southern Capital. He has remained there since."

He Simu tapped her fingers thoughtfully on the table. "All his servants and attendants died, yet only he survived? What became of the Duan family's matriarch afterward?"

"Shortly after Duan Shunxi arrived in the Southern Capital, the old lady passed away."

This meant virtually everyone who knew him during those seven years in Daizhou was no longer in this world.

What remarkable coincidence—could such coincidences exist in nature?

Or was he concealing something?

He Simu cracked melon seeds, reflecting that this young general truly was a treasure, with more mysteries revealed the deeper one investigated. Conveniently, she felt rather hungry lately and could journey to the Shuozhou front seeking sustenance. She could also verify whether the young general remained alive and well.

In the depths of night, before Shuozhou Prefecture, battle cries shook the heavens as steel clashed against steel.

He Simu concealed her true form and strolled among flashing blades and struggling flesh. She wore her favored red and white triple-layered curved-hem robe, jade pendants at her waist glittering brilliantly.

Continuous deaths, continuous soul fires blazing, bright lamps ascending toward reincarnation's cycle. The blood-soaked battlefield, through an evil ghost's perception, resembled a grand festival of sky lanterns.

She crouched and selected a dying Hu Qi warrior with promising bone structure. With two fingers, she brushed his eyes, and as he blinked, he beheld the evil ghost before him.

"I can fulfill one wish for you, then I'll consume you. Is there anything you desire?" He Simu addressed him in the Hu Qi tongue.

Seeing his familiar bewildered expression, she briefly explained the arrangement's advantages and disadvantages in his language. The Hu Qi warrior grasped her robe with one trembling hand and called out desperately, "Lord of the Azure Heaven..."

He Simu tilted her head. "I am no Azure Heaven Lord."

"Lord of the Azure Heaven... kill that... man!" The Hu Qi warrior raised his finger, his blood-covered face unrecognizable, yet the hatred and fury in his eyes blazed clearly.

He Simu followed his gesture. In her world illuminated by soul fires bright as daylight, Duan Xu rode a chestnut warhorse, armored and wielding his blade, cutting through the masses with blood splashing three feet high.

His expression remained calm and cold, devoid of anger or hatred. Yet beneath that tranquil surface, something lay hidden.

Something concealed that she couldn't perceive clearly.

"You want me to kill that person?" He Simu pointed toward Duan Xu and turned back to her prospective meal.

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