Chapter 157 Tender Affection Always Ended in Regret
“Elder Brother,” Lin Feiyang shouted. The soldier tried to stop him but was thrown away. Di Qing was startled at the popping-up person.
“Catch him.” As the voice just fell, soldiers rushed up. Lin Feiyang kicked away some. Was there a killer? Lin Xiaosa dashed out of the commander’s camp. No matter how bad Di Qing was, he was still Xiaoli’s elder brother.
“A bunch of rubbish...” Di Qing howled with rage. So many people were still unable to catch a little thief. Lin Feiyang slapped furiously and defeated the surrounding soldiers after several rounds. The thief was too rampant. Lin Xiaosa leaped into the air and blew the man’s back. Lin Feiyang could not have time to dodge it and was hit heavily on the back. The palm was throw out with hundred-percent Spirit Power. Then, the man was blown away, and soldiers rushed up to seize Lin Feiyang.
“Say! Why do you barge into the barrack?” How dared the person was to break into the military camp! Di Qing squeezed Lin Feiyang’s neck, and Lin Feiyang’s face went crimson.
“Elder brother... save me.” Lin Xiaosa stopped and thought that the voice sounded similar to Feiyang’s. He turned around.
“Elder brother...” The man called again. Lin Xiaosa ran to the man. Night wind whipped the man’s inky hair. Lin Xiaosa could see the man’s look clearly against the bonfire.
“Feiyang...” Xiaosa’s younger brother? Di Qing loosed his hand. Dare to break into the military camp at midnight? If Lin Feiyang was someone else, he must have been killed already. Lin Xiaosa helped Lin Feiyang up and found that his younger brother was more handsome than three years ago. The inky hair hanged down to the arms, and the sword-shaped eyebrows arched with clearer eyes. Lin Xiaosa held his brother tightly and never imagined that it was three years since they met last time. The soldiers were at a loss. How could an intruding cat burglar become the Commander-in-Chief’s younger brother?
Lin Xiaosa had a hot wine served on the table. Di Qing sat on the main seat. Lin Feiyang did not like Di Qing at all, because Lin Feiyang’s brother was detained by the Emperor and the whole family had to be parted. The more Lin Feiyang thought, the angrier he got.
“... Father is missing you...” Lin Feiyang was afraid that the brother could not bear the truth, but he had to persuade his brother to go back to the North Desert to see the father.
“How is everything going with father...” Lin Xiaosa hoped all of his family members were fine. His status as the Qi Kingdom’s Commander in Chief completely enslaved him. Di Qing did not say a word but was aware inwardly that Lin Xiaosa was not allowed to return to the North Desert. When the dishes were well served on the table, Di Qing filled the cups for all. The air was scented with the smell of delicious food and good wine. The two brothers drank up the cup to show their respect for the Emperor. And after drinking several cups, Lin Feiyang became talkative and mentioned their father’s illness. Lin Xiaosa could not sit well any longer. His respected father was approaching death, and he was painfully anxious about his father. Di Qing had expected the result. But one could not be in the two places at once. The war was imminent. How could the Commander-in-Chief leave now? Besides, Lin Xiaosa and Xu Linghe were sworn brothers, which would be of great use in solving the stagnant situation. Di Qing was so selfish that he always budged others, and he also grasped Lin Xiaosa weakest point. But Lin Feiyang did not know it but just hoped his elder brother could come back with him. Di Qing would not let Lin Xiaosa go. The scout sent back the news that the Jin City was suffering from famine. Di Qing would not miss this golden opportunity. The Qi Kingdom preceded the Jin Kingdom in economy with abundant national treasury, so Di Qing was confident about the war. Even if the Jin Kingdom had silk and chinaware, the Kingdom was just founded for a year and used to be taxed by the Qi Kingdom. To get out of the plight, Xu Linghe had to rely on the economy. Time waited for nobody. Di Qing thought as long as he could take advantage of the golden opportunity, he was pretty assured to capture the Jin City successfully. The problem of the refugees was boiling water that could drag Xu Linghe down. Di Qing drank up the cup and outed with his whole plan: Lin Xiaosa assembled the military forces tomorrow, and whosoever dared to violate the order would be disposed of by the military law. However, Lin Xiaosa’s mind was completely occupied with his father’s illness, and not in the mood to fight. Besides, it was not easy that his younger brother came to see him, so Lin Xiaosa would like to accompany his brother more. No one knew when they would meet again if the war started.
“Your Majesty, something terrible...” A little soldier shouted suddenly at the gate of the Commander-in-Chief’s camp. The moment Di Qing was about to step out of the camp, a figure popped in. The little soldier hid outside the camp with the fear that the Majesty’s fury would burn to him. You Qingcheng darted to the main seat. Di Qing scowled heavily at her. How could a woman come to the military camp? But You Qingcheng put all of her heart on Di Qing and totally ignored it was in the military camp. Shui’er saw the Majesty took on a stern look.
“Master...”Shui’er wanted to return to the palace. Women should not go to the military camp. But the Queen wanted to make a scene in the military camp, so Shui’er had to follow her. You Qingcheng looked at Di Qing with her eyes filled with tears. Lin Feiyang stared at her blankly and wondered whether the woman did not cherish her life. She had been gone through a frontal craniotomy and was forbidden to take a strenuous journey. Was she courting death? Lin Feiyang could not help worrying about the woman’s body. After all, his carriage knocked her down. Di Qing disliked the crying women most. And the Qi army had been defeated, so he was in a worse mood, thinking why the woman ran to the barrack instead of staying in the palace. Di Qing swept his palm, and wine cups and pots fell into pieces on the ground. A piece of broken cups bounced on the woman’s instep, and blood oozed from the white silk shoe. But the pain on the foot could not compare to that on the heart. You Qingcheng stared at her husband, frightened. She came a long way to see her husband, but only met with his loathing. Her tears coursed down her cheeks like water pouring from a broken dam, and depression welled up. Because she left there in a hurry, blood still oozed from the cut. You Qingcheng bore the pain wand warned herself not to fall down. Shui’er was worried about the queen and knew that how grieved the queen was.
“Send the Queen back to the palace...”
“No, I have my own feet...”
The little soldier was put in a dilemma. The Emperor was quite hardhearted, as the queen’s foot was bleeding and the wound needed to be bound. Even the little soldier took pity on her. But Di Qing did not know the woman’s worry but just put his heart on reoccupying the Jin City. He got excited over the assumption that he could tread Xu Linghe underfoot. You Qingcheng turned around and left. Her hair streamed out in the night wind, emphasizing the gauze in her hair. Lin Feiyang knew how severe the wound under the gauze was. The woman did not cherish her life indeed. It would be intolerable by the course of nature that Di Qing failed her. Lin Feiyang was worried about You Qingcheng, as her gauze was stained with scarlet. She might experience one more frontal craniotomy if her wound was not stanched.
“I will go out to sober up myself...” Lin Feiyang ran to the gate of the camp. The woman left slowly, and everything began blurring. Blood dropped along her cheeks. But You Qingcheng did not realize that. Her heart was torn at the thought of the person’s cold eyes. Shui’er was terrified at the queen’s look, and hurried to press the gauze to stop the bleeding. However, blood soon reddened her hands in a blink of eyes.
“Master, hold on. Let’s go to the clinic now...” The little soldier was dismayed about the Queen’s situation, so he ran back to the camp to report the Emperor to have a look at the Queen.
“Your Majesty, the Queen perhaps cannot hold on...”
“She will not die...” Di Qing fixed all of his attention on the war, and even blamed the woman for creating more trouble there. However, the Queen was at the death’s door, but the Majesty still had those irresponsible remarks. The soldier failed to ask the Majesty for help, so he turned to the military doctor hurriedly. But when he ran out of the camp, he could not found the Queen anywhere.
Lin Feiyang held the woman and ran out of the barrack, and he was distraught by Shui’er’s sobbing. Why did the little maidservant know nothing but weeping? As the carriage jolted along the way, Lin Feiyang, afraid of hurting the woman’s wound again, leaned against the seat and immobilized her head with his hands. When the carriage stopped at the clinic, the doctor had stood at the gate. Lin Feiyang got off the carriage hurriedly. The doctor came up and let out a sigh, as he had foreseen that things should turn out like this. The woman was so self-willed that she dared to leave the clinic just after the surgery. No wonder that accident happened to her again. Lin Feiyang ran to the backyard directly. The doctors had prepared the hemostatics and gauze. Shui’er did not move a step from her master, boiling water and cleaning the wound for her master. The woman was lying unconscious.
“Seal up the acupoint first.” The doctor was fully confident about his medical skills. And the woman was a living signboard for his clinic, so she was supposed to be well. If the news spread the whole town that the woman recovered, so the people in the town would like to see what different the woman was as she had experienced the frontal craniotomy. Therefore, the doctor would not treat the woman casually.
“If you came a little bit late, I could not save her, either...”
The doctor reprimanded, as he loosened the gauze and checked the wound. Lin Feiyang looked grave and thought that the woman ventured her life to see the Emperor Qi. What unreasoning passion she had! But her passion was quenched by the cold-blooded man. This time, the woman was hurt badly. The doctor bathed the wound for her.
Shui’er was seized with remorse. They must be absolutely crazy to go out of the palace. Now, the master was on the verge of death and her skin was burning hot. Shui’er thought that they should have stayed in the palace if she had known things would be so terrible.
“The lady has been hurt so badly.”
Lin Feiyang became more worried. The woman’s face was as pale as a paper, and her breath was too feeble to feel. Fortunately, the doctor’s medical skills were so brilliant that he stanched the woman’s bleeding in time and wrapped new gauze around her forehead. The doctor even cut her hair that stuck to the wound. Her hair scattered on the pillow in disorder. When things were settled, Lin Feiyang followed the doctor out of the room.
When Shui’er woke up, the Queen was still sleeping against the wall and she looked better. Afraid the Queen might get hungry after waking up, Shui’er got out of the bed and pushed the door open, only to see Lin Feiyang was leaning against the door. Shui’er guessed whether the man had been staying outside the room for the whole night. The man looked tired with knitted eyebrows. Shui’er bypassed the man in order not to wake him up. It was quiet in the courtyard. The draught from the mountain blew chillingly.
The owner was also busy preparing food for the female tenants. Last night, Young Master Lin gave the owner more taels of silver. It seemed that the female tenants were wealthy persons. The owner bought some fresh food material from the town and asked the cook to prepare food in the entire morning. When the delicious dishes were served on the table, they came to wake up the distinguished guest. But You Qingcheng had no appetite for the fatty dishes. What were they indeed? Since Shui’er had been around her master restlessly overnight, her stomach cried out for food already, so she gulped a full bowl of chicken soup. Lin Feiyang also enjoyed the dishes, but he found the patient did not like the food. The owner had prepared so many dishes, but met with cold shoulders. You Qingcheng just drank some hot soup. After the meal, the owner felt awkward, because he had intended to fawn on the patient, but out of his expectation, she did not enjoy the meal at all. But the owner thought he could save many taels of silver.
Days were so boring. You Qingcheng was unwilling to lie on the bed and wanted to go out for a walk. The owner prepared wooden wheels. Lin Feiyang held You Qingcheng and put her carefully on the wheels, and Shui’er stepped behind them. Shui’er had more crush on the man within these few days, and believed that it would be happy to marry a man like him. She was fascinated by the man around the flowers. You Qingcheng looked into the distance. The river had been frozen and water fog rose in front of the eyes. This winter was much colder than ever before. Chill sprang up from the feet, and the hands were numb with cold. You Qingcheng had never thought that her husband would be so heartless that he would abandon everything for authority. Lin Feiyang shielded her from the draught, hoping the woman would feel better. During the half of the month, the woman always wore a distressed look. Lin Feiyang hoped her to be happier so that he could feel at ease to leave there. He accompanied her everyday, but the woman was always sad, which made Lin Feiyang upset. Shui’er was infatuated with the man’s gentleness. Although Shui’er knew that the man was not gentle to her, she irrevocably fell in love with him. The first thing that Shui’er woke up to do was to find the man’s figure. Just with a glance from the distance, Shui’er could feel her heart beat for the man.
Parting was always sad. Without the man’s attentive care, You Qingcheng thought she would have died already, so she knelt on the knees to express her gratitude. It was the man who saved her life. As she got along with him for a month, she got used to his company. Lin Feiyang could not control his heart, but he knew that he was offering the unrequited love because the woman fixed her heart on the Emperor Qi. Shui’er looked at him quietly, merely hoping that the dream would never end. As long as Shui’er could see him every day, she felt happy. Shui’er was more eager not to let him go. But Lin Feiyang knew that it was just a dream. The owner got a large number of taels of silver and knew that the female patient was the Queen of the Qi Kingdom. The doctor became well-known for the successful frontal craniotomy, and more and more patients came to ask him for help especially. Afraid of missing the greater business opportunities, the owner had more medical rooms built. It was time to part. Lin Feiyang mounted his horse, and attendants followed their master to the military camp.