For generations, their ancestors had died on the battlefield. Yu Pin Yan knew the cruelty of the war well, but he never thought it would be so cruel. It was completely different from those intrigues of the court . Over here, there were only blood and fire, life and death, the light reflected from the sword and the shadow of the swords. The sky and the earth were red, and even the sun was stained with the colour of blood. No, maybe it was the blood from his forehead that dripped into his eyes.
Yu Pin Yan was distracted as he was taking lives. The leader of the enemy was close. Three hundred metres away, two hundred metres away, one hundred metres away. Yu Pin Yanâs eyes were filled with overwhelming murderous intent. He held up the butcherâs knife in front of the enemies where they were shocked to see his sudden appearance. The blade of the knife pierced their flesh. At the same time, he seemed to hear someone shouting by his ear, âElder brother, quickly move away!â
The head fell from the enemyâs neck, blood gushed out violently producing a âzi ziâ sound, and there was blood everywhere. Yu Pin Yan quickly turned the horse away as he saw an arrow whistling with the vigorous wind at breakneck speed. He only had time to move slightly to the left when he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
âThe general is shot. Protect the General! Quick!â Several soldiers screamed loudly and ran towards him. An enemy that tried to sneak an attack was killed by the soldiers who arrived in the nick of time.
The general, whose armour was covered with blood, was still lying on the ground, and it was unknown whether he was alive or dead. The arrow that came in a strong force could even pierce through the iron plate, so it was easy to pierce through an insignificant piece of chest armour. Some soldiers stepped forward to help the general up, but they didnât dare to pull out the sharp arrow in his chest. In addition to the overwhelming bitter emotions of losing his comrades, there was also the smell of blood that could never be washed away by all possible means.
Death was something that happened every day.
âWhat are you crying for? I wonât die yet!â Yu Pin Yan pushed aside the soldiers who supported him. He stood up as he trembled, raising his hand and pulled out the arrow from his chest.
âGe-General, are you alright?â The soldier said incoherently in surprise.
Yu Pin Yan took out a copper coin from his pocket which had been altered in shape by the arrow. When he spoke, the murderous glint in his eyes was completely restrained. âIâm fine. This coin helped me to block the arrow. Mount your horses and continue to kill the enemy.â
He turned over, jumped on the horseâs back and continued to rush forward. At this moment, the blood between heaven and earth faded away, and the fear and confusion of depriving others of their lives all turned into a strong desire to return alive. If he was alive, the people he loved could live, and all who stood in his way must die. This was war. It had nothing to do with benevolence, righteousness and morality. It was only about life and death.
The soldiers were ecstatic. They shouted, killed and charged towards the enemy camp. Many vultures followed the smell of flesh and blood. As they blocked the sunlight above their heads, and from time to time emitting a chilling howl.
The sky and earth were red, and the pain was irresistible. Yu Xiang screamed as she woke up. She looked around, and saw that there were no broken limbs, or smoke in the air, and she was clearly currently in the Old Madamâs bedroom.
The Old Madam was old, and she was a light sleeper. She only needed to take a nap for a quarter of an hour at noon and felt it was sufficient. She was sitting outside, looking through the accounts when she heard Yu Xiangâs scream, the Buddha beads in her hand fell to the ground. If her ears were sharp enough, what Yu Xiang shouted seemed to be âMove away, elder brotherâ?
The Old Madam tossed the account book aside, walked in with her stick and asked, âYou had a nightmare? Did you dream of your elder brother?â Ever since the landslide, she treated Yu Xiangâs dream seriously.
âN-No, I didnât dream of anything.â It would be fine if only Yu Xiang were afraid, but she didnât want the Old Madam to feel that way as well.
âDonât lie to me! I heard it! Did you dream that something happened to Yanâer?â The Old Madam vowed to find out the truth behind this.
âHow can that be, I just dreamt of a scene in the battlefield. There was blood everywhere and vultures howling in the sky. It was so terrible that I started to cry. Grandmother, itâs just a dream.â Yu Xiang reluctantly forced a smile. Only she knew that her heart was coming out of her throat.
âOther peopleâs dreams are just dreams, but yours arenât necessarily so.â The Old Madam sat down beside the couch and scrutinised her. This child was very spiritual. The first time she recited the Sutra, she got a mysterious feeling that the God Buddha was singing her ears, and made her forget whether she was in the sky or the mortal world.
Yu Xiang didnât want to recall the scene in her dream at all. She couldnât even feel whether Yu Pin Yan was alive or dead. To avoid the Old Madam from questioning her, she covered her chest and cried out in pain.
âWhatâs the matter? You were fine just now. Somebody, get a physician! Hurry up!â The Old Madam noticed that her face was pale and sweaty. She was hurting so much that she wanted to roll on her bed. She immediately threw the dream at the back of her mind and ran out to urge them over and over.
The physician came to check her pulse carefully. After checking several times, he still couldnât find out the cause of the condition. He just prescribed some medicine to calm the nerves and calm the Qi.
When Yu Xiang pressed her hand on her chest, she realised that the pain was not an illusion from the dream, but it was real. She knew very well that she wasnât ill or hurt. That meant that something had happened to Yu Pin Yan. She knelt in front of the Buddha in pain and prayed continuously, devotedly reciting all the scriptures she could remember in her head and knelt for a day and a night.
The Old Madam accompanied her at first. However, after three or four hours, she couldnât take it any longer. She went back to her room to rest after being persuaded by Ma Momo repeatedly.
âThis child is sincere. They are clearly not blood-related siblings, yet they are closer than blood related siblings!â The Old Madam sighed as she shook her head.
âLike what you have said, in the Young Missâs heart, Marquis is her elder brother. After all, they have a familial relationship while growing up together since young.â
âWhatâs she doing lately?â The Old Madam pointed towards the room in the East wing. ăă
âShe ordered someone to buy a lot of satin and embroidery thread, saying that she wanted to embroider a portrait of the late Marquis and make clothes for the young miss who was still roaming outside and yet to be found.â Ma Momo lowered her voice unconsciously.
The Old Madam was silent for a long time, and her voice didnât contain a trace of emotion. âYanâer is fighting in the battlefield, but she is embroidering the portrait of the deceased. She is afraid that Yanâerâs life isnât hard enough, and wouldnât die even if cursed, is it?!â
Suddenly, she felt that the last sentence was rather unlucky. She quickly recited Amitabha a few times, and then sighed, âI have seen through this. What kind of blood relationship isnât blood relationship, flesh and blood isnât so. Soon, their heart would be no better than a stranger. This person is far or near, close or distant, just look at the word âfateâ. She didnât have a mother and son affinity towards Yanâer. On the contrary, Xiangâer has a deeper relationship with our Marquis family. It was all the will of the heavens!â
The Old Madam finally dismissed Yu Xiangâs pedigree from her mind. She sat down on the couch for a while. Then she waved impatiently, âGo, burn all her embroidered statues, embroidery threads and embroidered bandages! Tell her that she mustnât get into trouble before Yanâer returns home, or she will be kicked out of this house with a divorce letter.â
Ma Momo quickly agreed softly and sighed that Madam had done so well in causing trouble for herself. If it werenât for the sake of keeping Young Marquisâ face, she would have been abandoned hundreds of times because she was so ignorant!