This was the first good night’s sleep Xiao Zhenhuai had gotten since rushing to the border.
Even though he knew there was something unusual about the “Huo Ci” before him, it didn’t stop everyone from placing their hopes on “him.”
He sat in the courtyard, holding a cup of hot tea.
If it were that General returning from this scouting mission, he would definitely be boasting animatedly: how many people could hide in each spot, when was the best time to attack.
That subtle pride would even make a useless person like himself smile wryly in response.
He lowered his head to take a sip of tea. When he looked up again, “Huo Ci” was back, face smudged with two streaks of black soot, looking utterly dejected.
Xin Zhui followed behind, scratching his head and cheeks in frustration.
Jiang Xingyan had originally intended to go straight back to her room, but she sensed a gaze following her. Glancing back, she saw it was Xiao Zhenhuai.
She casually cupped her hands in a salute. “Your Highness, the Second Prince.”
The courtesy was observed, but she didn’t stop walking.
The current despondency was a world away from the confident assuredness of last night.
It piqued Xiao Zhenhuai’s limited curiosity.
He shot Su Mo a look.
Su Mo stealthily trailed behind Xin Zhui. Using his ‘Dragonfly Skimming Water’ lightness skill, he ghosted along the wall beneath the window of “Huo Ci’s” room.
“General, for Bei Luo to dare occupy the iron ore mountains right under our noses for so long, they must have made thorough preparations. That’s why they’re so brazen.”
“Moreover, Tuoba Hongxue regards you, General, as his lifelong rival. Defeating you is his greatest goal in life. He definitely wouldn’t give us any openings.”
“If there seems to be one, it’s absolutely a trap.”
Xin Zhui, worried that Jiang Xingyan was quite disheartened, laced his words with explanatory flattery.
It’s all because the enemy is too cunning, definitely not because our General’s Lady is too dull.
Xin Zhui glanced around, and after ensuring no one was nearby, lowered his voice further to persuade: “Besides, the General’s Lady hasn’t studied any military strategy at all.”
“To be this cautious and careful is already quite remarkable.”
“If it were the me from before, I’d have probably blabbered about it everywhere, who knows how many brothers that would have gotten killed.”
How long ago was that?
He didn’t dare say.
Probably when he was eight or nine?
Jiang Xingyan was deep in thought about her next move, but was frequently interrupted by Xin Zhui’s desperate attempts to scrape together words of comfort.
He had just saved her twice; she couldn’t very well lose her temper with him again.
Jiang Xingyan could only sigh, about to explain that she wasn’t taking it to heart.
Suddenly, a thought crossed her mind, making her swallow her original self-justifying words.
A faint, mischievous smile tugged at her lips. “Oh? How do I compare to your General?”
Xin Zhui was struck dumb.
No matter how much he went against his conscience, he couldn’t bring himself to say that Huo Ci wasn’t capable.
After all, by seven or eight, he could already solve all battle formations.
In sand table war games, he fought Old General Huo to a draw.
Other commanders couldn’t last three rounds against him.
It was truly a case of one misstep, then stumbling step after step.
Whatever you could think of, he would have considered it more comprehensively and deeply than you.
By the time he was past ten, even Old General Huo lost to him more often than not.
If Huo Ci were here in this situation, he would surely have spotted the problem at a glance.
So many potential ambush spots on a single mountain, even an amateur like Jiang Xingyan could identify them.
Yet the Bei Luo scoundrels hadn’t cleared a single one, leaving them as they were, almost as if waiting for the enemy to walk into a trap—there had to be a problem.
Jiang Xingyan looked at Xin Zhui’s troubled expression, both annoyed and amused.
“Alright, alright, he’s amazing, okay?”
“But I won’t be bad either!”
“Wasn’t the purpose of this scouting mission already achieved?”
“Finding out about the trickery in advance is much better than discovering it during the ambush.”
“In that sense, we even came out ahead!”
“They’re coming down the mountain for supplies tomorrow. Give me one day, and I will definitely come up with a plan to defeat the enemy!”
Xin Zhui stared, dumbfounded, at Jiang Xingyan, who had reignited with fighting spirit.
She seemed outlined by a warm yet resolute light, tracing her slender but tenacious frame.
A once-in-a-generation genius like the General is someone everyone looks up to.
But the General’s Lady’s kind of down-to-earth, unassuming, and undiscouraged effort seems even more touching.
Jiang Xingyan scribbled and drew on the makeshift table, then glanced at Xin Zhui standing there blocking the light. “Huh? Why is your face so red? Do you have a fever?”
Xin Zhui turned and ran. “I-I’ll go meet the remaining brothers.”
Jiang Xingyan sighed helplessly: Still just a half-grown boy, so impulsive.
——-
“What?! He truly addressed her that way?”
Su Mo nodded firmly.
When he first heard it, he almost gasped in surprise.
But the subsequent conversation between the two in the room was enough to confirm the truth.
Before Xin Zhui rushed out, Su Mo had already returned to Xiao Zhenhuai’s side.
He first placed a medicinal pill in Xiao Zhenhuai’s mouth, then fully disclosed the shocking information he had just overheard.
Xiao Zhenhuai stood up from his chair in shock.
He paced back and forth in the room.
The bitter taste in his mouth suppressed the surging tumult in his heart.
Inside Huo Ci’s shell… was his wife’s soul?
So, the two had swapped souls!
If soul transference truly existed, then didn’t that mean he had hope of becoming a healthy, normal person?
Xiao Zhenhuai had been raised by the Empress Dowager since childhood, originally because the Emperor wanted to relieve his mother’s boredom.
But because he was weak and sickly, he became disliked by both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.
The other high-ranking consorts only thought of bearing their own children and naturally wouldn’t raise him.
Thus, he was sent back to his birth mother.
He became the only prince in the history of the royal family to be exceptionally raised personally by a low-ranked consort.
It wasn’t a favor, but a laughingstock.
He thought that upon returning to his mother’s side, even if life was harder, there would be someone who genuinely cared for him.
Who could have expected that his birth mother would resent him for not being promising, for not giving her the chance to gain status through her son.
She left him in a cold, dark rear hall, neglecting him completely.
The eunuchs and palace maids, seeing his pitiful state, pooled their meager allowances to raise him.
He had always wanted to recuperate and improve his health, but because his foundation was damaged from a young age, it was difficult to fully recover.
The reason he knew about soul transference was also from searching for a cure; he had read about it in books on the supernatural and strange.
He never thought, his effort would pay off, and today, he would learn that such a miracle truly existed in this world!
Su Mo knelt and prostrated himself on the ground. “If it can be done, this subordinate is willing to exchange his body with Your Highness!”
Xiao Zhenhuai abruptly stopped pacing.
Yes, even if it were possible, whose body would he exchange with? Who would he let bear this hardship for him?
“Enough, let’s not speak of this for now.”
“Shouldn’t the most pressing concern right now be whether this General’s Lady can truly bear such a heavy responsibility?”