Yu Jin Chang An - Chapter 14
Jin An and Li Shuang’s eyes locked. Soldiers stood all around, but only Li Shuang had crouched to meet the boy at eye level, speaking to him as if he were an equal.
“Yes.”
That single, steady word dropped like a stone into a pond. Ripples spread instantly through the surrounding men. Qin Lan’s gaze narrowed.
No one in Long Feng Camp knew better than him how closely Jin An was monitored. Since Li Shuang had ordered the child to live under guard, Qin Lan had personally instructed the men to watch his every move. Yet somehow, this boy had still managed to make contact with the black-armored man?
“Is he kin to you?” Luo Teng blurted before he could stop himself.
“Who is he really?” another soldier demanded. “Where did he come from? What does he want?”
“Why pass messages through you?”
“How did he strike down the Xi Rong commander? And why?”
Questions pelted Jin An like arrows, but the boy ignored them all. His gaze stayed on Li Shuang. The northern wind gusted across the wall, tugging loose strands of her hastily tied hair. Without hesitation, Jin An lifted his small hand—clumsy, childlike, yet strangely natural—and tucked the stray strands behind her ear.
“He won’t harm you,” Jin An said. His voice was calm, carrying a conviction far beyond his years. “He only wants to protect you.”
For a heartbeat, Li Shuang wavered. In Jin An’s clear eyes, she glimpsed another pair—the black-armored man’s crimson gaze, overlapping until the two became one.
So alike…
The wind died. Silence swept the wall. Soldiers exchanged uneasy glances.
Only Luo Teng broke it with a bark of laughter: “Heaven preserve us! Is this brat possessed? First he clings to our general, now he’s playing matchmaker for strangers too!”
Li Shuang coughed, dragging herself back to focus. But an idea struck her. She narrowed her eyes at the boy. “That man… could he be your father?”
It was the most reasonable explanation. Their resemblance, their shared protectiveness toward her—it fit. Perhaps she had once lost her memory at the frontier, bore a child, and returned to Great Jin forgetting it all. Now the man she had left behind had crossed the desert with their son to find her…
Yes. It was almost too perfect. Exactly like something out of a popular tale.
But Jin An tilted his head, confused. “Father?” He shook it once. “I don’t have a father.”
The soldiers stirred again, but Li Shuang pressed on. “Then what is your connection to him?”
“You said you’d only ask one question today,” Jin An reminded her, eyes clear.
Li Shuang blinked, then gave a wry smile. The boy remembered everything. “Very well. Tomorrow, I’ll ask you another. And you must answer honestly.”
“Good.” Jin An’s lips curved faintly. “Come ask me every day.”
Every day—meaning he could see her, stand close enough to touch her. The thought warmed him. For once, he almost wished time would stop here. To grow up would mean distance—walls of caution and formality between them. He would no longer be able to brush her hair from her face or fall asleep against her shoulder…
Li Shuang rose, dismissing him. “Ji Ran, take him to rest.”
Obediently, Jin An followed the guard from the tower.
Halfway down, his voice suddenly piped up. “Tell me…”
Ji Ran glanced back. The boy rarely spoke at all in the guard’s quarters, silent as a shadow—until the general appeared. Then his eyes lit up like a puppy’s. Now, to hear him start a conversation was unusual.
“What is it?” Ji Ran asked cautiously.
Jin An stopped, looked up, and said with solemn seriousness: “If a woman is angry with me, how do I make her happy again?”
Ji Ran nearly stumbled down the steps. Was that a child’s question?!
He, Ji Ran, had been in armor since fifteen, serving north and south, ten years hardened by steel and blood. At twenty-five, he hadn’t even held a maiden’s hand, while others his age had children at their knees. And now this boy—this little brat—was asking him about women?
His pride bristled. He couldn’t admit ignorance.
So Ji Ran forced his tone flat and gruff. “Give her gifts.”
“What kind?”
He clenched his jaw. Damn it, how should he know? “Something she wants.”
Jin An nodded seriously, eyes bright. “Thank you.”
Ji Ran exhaled as the boy trotted away, then wiped his brow discreetly. Heaven help him.
By evening, a message arrived from the capital. The Emperor, hearing of the invasion, ordered Li Shuang to abandon Lu City and fall back fifty li to Liangzhou, joining forces with Yu and Ji Provinces for a counterattack. It was a sound order—the Emperor was no stranger to war—but Li Shuang hesitated.
The Xi Rong had already lost two commanders. Their morale had to be shaken. If reinforcements were still days away, why not hold Lu City and watch?
But before she could decide, scouts rushed in. The Xi Rong camp blazed with bonfires, drums and horns echoing through the night.
“They’re celebrating the appointment of another commander?” Luo Teng scoffed. “As if one dead dog can be replaced by another!”
“No.” Li Shuang’s expression darkened. “It feels… deliberate.”
“They want him to know,” Qin Lan murmured. “They want the black-armored man to come. It’s a trap.”
Silence gripped the tent.
“Will he go?” Luo Teng asked at last.
No one answered.
Li Shuang’s duty was the city. Her troops were too few to face the Xi Rong head-on. If the black-armored man walked into the enemy camp alone, even he might not return.
But she could not shake the unease coiling in her chest.
Abruptly, she rose. “I’m going out.”
Her officers looked up, startled. But she had already left, striding through the night toward the guards’ quarters. If Jin An had contact with the black-armored man, she needed to warn him—and perhaps, through him, find the shadow warrior himself.
Ji Ran saluted stiffly as she arrived. “General, the boy’s been in camp all afternoon. Hasn’t left once.”
Li Shuang nodded and lifted the tent flap.
Empty.
The cot lay untouched. Jin An was gone.
Her gaze snapped back to Ji Ran. His spine stiffened instantly. “General, I have failed in my duty!” His voice rang with the blunt honesty of a soldier taking full blame.
But before Li Shuang could speak, a scout came running, breathless.
“General! The Xi Rong camp—it’s on fire!”
Li Shuang spun, racing to the city tower.
In the distance, the night sky glowed blood-red. The enemy’s heartland blazed, flames roaring up into the heavens.