Chapter 953: He Saw It

“Awake?”

Tian Tian opened his eyes and found himself lying on a woven sleeping mat. His armor had long since been removed. His wounds had been treated, and his body had been wiped clean.

Standing before him was Feng Siniang.

Tian Tian slowly sat up. Siniang did not move to support him. Instead, she turned around and began ladling chicken soup from a small stove nearby.

“I’ve troubled Mother.”

One look at the wounds was enough to tell that Siniang had stitched them herself.

“We’re family. Why be polite? Hungry, aren’t you? Drink a bowl of soup first and warm your stomach, then eat the chicken. I put some medicinal herbs inside to replenish your qi and blood.”

“Mm.”

Tian Tian accepted the bowl and began drinking.

Siniang turned sideways and sat beside him.

She had watched Tian Tian grow up from childhood. Unlike that irritating brat of her own, Tian Tian had always been obedient and sensible. Truly, if someone could give birth to a son like this, the boy could practically be called perfect.

Siniang did not possess some particularly deep mother-and-son attachment toward Tian Tian, but she was more than qualified as an elder.

The women of Prince Pingxi Residence feared Siniang most.

In truth, the children of the Residence feared this First Mother most as well.

“First time on the battlefield. Were you scared?” Siniang asked with a smile.

Tian Tian shook his head. “No.”

“Much better than your father.”

“Hehe.”

Tian Tian smiled a little sheepishly. He did not ask what his father had been like on his first battlefield.

A son did not speak of his father’s embarrassments.

“Your external wounds are actually easy enough to handle. Your physique is excellent. But the internal injuries, together with the qi and blood you overdrew, will need at least ten days before you recover a meaningful amount. For these ten days, you’re not putting armor on again.”

“Ah?”

Tian Tian looked surprised.

He still wanted to go into battle and fight, especially when he was fighting for his father.

In Tian Tian’s mind, there was not actually much concept of “Great Yan.”

If one absolutely had to say there was... it might even lean negative.

His biological father, for the sake of so-called “Great Yan,” had failed to protect his mother and had also “abandoned” him.

He simply did not hate the man, because he had another father who had stayed beside him and cared for him.

Of course, this was also an extremely common attitude among the soldiers and civilians of eastern Jin.

“The Chu army has retreated eighty li and is still falling back. Over the next several days, the army will be moving, making camp, pressing forward, and all that. I don’t understand the details, but from what your father said, there probably won’t be any major battle in the immediate future.”

“The Chu don’t dare fight us in the field. They’re afraid one defeat will turn into defeat all the way to the end. They intend to grind us down instead.”

“I’m not interested in warfare. You and your father can worry about that. As for your body, I’m warning you now: you’re still young. You still have growing to do. For these next few days, don’t even circulate your qi and blood. If you really leave yourself with some permanent deficiency, you’ll regret it. You’re not like your father. He failed his attempt to break through to Third Grade last time and has been weak ever since. Even Yu Huaping says whether he can ever enter Third Grade may depend on Heaven’s will. You’re different. As long as you cultivate steadily and temper yourself properly, Third Grade is no real threshold for you. Take ten thousand steps back. Your father is still counting on his eldest son staying beside him and protecting him once he grows old.”

“Mm. This child understands, Mother.”

“Good.”

Siniang reached out and rubbed Tian Tian’s head.

Tian Tian had grown up, after all. Being patted on the head and treated like a small child made him feel somewhat awkward.

“If only your little brother were as obedient as you.”

“Little Brother is still young. Once he grows up, he’ll become sensible.”

“Him? He just needs more beatings.”

Siniang understood perfectly well that her son’s problem was not that he was “still young” and therefore “didn’t understand things.”

That excuse could apply to almost any other child.

It could not apply to Zheng Lin.

Because he could clearly perceive what strength was, what survival was, what bloodline was.

Why did he feel such resistance toward his own father?

No.

More accurately, among almost every person and thing in the world, the one toward whom he felt the strongest, almost instinctive revulsion... was his biological father.

His bloodline was noble and powerful.

He had been born at Ninth Grade.

The more someone instinctively regarded himself as lofty and superior, the harder it became to accept that his own father was an ordinary ant.

Every time he saw his father, some part of him felt physically uncomfortable.

And even the attitude he showed now was already the product of having been beaten, disciplined, and frightened into forcibly restraining himself.

*You think you’re worthy of being my father?*

*For someone like me to have been born from you is a humiliation.*

Siniang understood even more clearly that although her husband had never openly said so, he must have seen through those thoughts in his biological son a long time ago.

Sometimes her husband’s mind was even more delicate than Xiong Liqing’s, and she was a genuine princess.

So Siniang could understand why her husband spoiled his daughter.

Put herself in his position and ask honestly what she would do... and Siniang felt that if a brat dared despise her that way, she might have strangled him to death with her own hands already.

By comparison, her husband had actually done very well all these years.

He genuinely adored Big Girl.

But with Zheng Lin, he had simply treated the boy as a child who had entered his rebellious phase early, deliberately pretending not to know the truth.

And then there was Tian Tian, the eldest son he had raised beside him from swaddling clothes onward, serving as the comparison.

Against Tian Tian... his biological son truly looked like nothing at all.

“You keep eating. I’ll go call your father.”

“Father is busy with military affairs. There’s no need to—”

“In your father’s heart, I’m afraid the entire central command tent isn’t as important as this son of his. You didn’t see him while you were lined up on the far bank facing the enemy. He sat in the commander’s seat and dug ten grooves into the armrests with his ten fingers.”

“This child was unfilial and made Father worry.”

“Good boy. You will always be his pride.”

Siniang rose and left.

Tian Tian continued drinking his soup. Once the bowl was empty, he simply picked up the chicken with his hands and began eating.

He truly was hungry.

For a martial cultivator, food had long since ceased to be merely “cuisine.” It was replenishment for the body.

Before long, the curtain lifted.

Zheng Fan walked inside.

“Father...”

Tian Tian set down the bowl and prepared to salute.

“Keep eating. Since when did our family have so many rules? Your father hasn’t proclaimed himself Emperor yet.”

Tian Tian smiled and remained seated on the edge of the bed, continuing to eat.

Zheng Fan sat beside him and looked at his son.

“Anywhere else uncomfortable?”

“Just a little sore. Two days of rest and I’ll be fine, Dad. This child can still put on armor and fight.”

“Bullshit. You fought very well this time, and you commanded very well too. Father is extremely satisfied. You gave your old man face. Now you rest properly. The Chu have apparently decided to learn from Qian and become complete turtles hiding in their shells. We’ll need time to forge the axes and hammers before we can smash that shell apart properly. His mother, bring the boy more food. This won’t be enough.”

“All right.”

Siniang went outside to prepare more food.

Zheng Fan patted his own knee.

“Actually... Father regretted it back then.”

“Dad?”

“Father always hoped that once you grew up, you would become a man who could stand tall between Heaven and Earth, like your biological father. Only then would I not betray the promise I made when he entrusted you to me. But I overlooked something. For a father, sometimes simply seeing his son live safely and happily is already enough to satisfy him.”

“Dad, your son likes going into battle. I like being a general. Really.”

Zheng Fan reached out and placed his hand atop Tian Tian’s head.

When Siniang rubbed his head, Tian Tian felt embarrassed.

When his father did it... it felt perfectly natural.

“As long as you like it. As long as you like it. Whenever you get tired, whenever you’re exhausted, whenever you decide it isn’t interesting anymore, you can tell Father.”

“Dad, for a son to serve as his own father’s vanguard, father and son going into battle together... isn’t that wonderful?”

“Heh. Rest well. First, spend two days doing absolutely nothing. Don’t think about anything either. After that, come to Father’s command tent and help me review memorials.”

“Yes, Dad.”

...

Zheng Fan remained for a while longer.

Only after watching Tian Tian eat quite a bit more did he finally leave.

With the army spreading out across the front, the volume of military affairs that needed to be processed in the command tent had suddenly exploded.

Liang Cheng was currently commanding one sector of the army.

The Blind Man could handle much of the military paperwork, but Zheng Fan still needed to sit there and maintain overall coordination.

After eating his fill, Tian Tian did not lie down to sleep again.

He dressed himself.

He hesitated for a moment.

Remembering First Mother’s instructions, he ultimately did not put his armor back on.

But he still carried his saber in hand.

Tian Tian headed toward the command tent.

Not to enter it.

If someone asked which single tent stood closest to the central command tent whenever the army marched on campaign... that would naturally be the Sword Saint’s.

And if one asked which cluster of tents stood closest... those naturally belonged to the Prince’s Brocade-Clad personal guards.

“Your Highness!”

“Your Highness!”

Tian Tian’s performance in the battle on the riverbank had genuinely won the respect of the Brocade-Clad personal guards.

As the Prince’s eldest son, he had planted his shield at the very front of the formation.

That was courage and responsibility.

He had remained calm while commanding the entire force and made correct, rigorous decisions.

That was ability.

To true soldiers, a commander who possessed both responsibility and competence was already enough to make them willing to fight to the death without feeling wronged.

Death itself... was not truly frightening.

What soldiers feared was dying a worthless, humiliating death.

Tian Tian carried his saber and greeted everyone.

The personal guards who had suffered serious wounds had already been sent to the rear for treatment. After the first stage of care, they would be sent back to Fengxin City.

Those with lighter injuries remained here.

As for the brothers who had died... their bodies had already been collected and buried on the southern bank of the Wei River.

Only then did Tian Tian realize he had slept for an entire day and night.

His father had deliberately ordered those men buried there to make one attitude perfectly clear: now that Yan’s army had crossed the Wei River, its power would not retreat back across it again.

Otherwise... would the bodies of the fallen brothers not risk being desecrated by the Chu?

After meeting the personal guards, Tian Tian walked back out.

He still felt he ought to imitate his biological father and say something to them.

In truth, the guards seemed to be waiting for it too.

But the words simply would not come.

This was something he needed to practice.

Tian Tian did not leave camp to visit the newly raised graves.

Instead, he returned to his own tent.

“Where did you go?”

Inside the tent, Liu Dahu stood holding a plate of grapes.

“Brother Huzi, I went out to get some air.”

“Here. His Highness asked me to bring these over.”

“Thank you, Brother Huzi.”

Tian Tian had always respected Liu Dahu.

Liu Dahu and Chen Xianba seemed almost opposite in temperament, but Liu Dahu’s steadiness and reliability were things no one else could replace.

“You’re a general now too. A real general.” Liu Dahu looked at Tian Tian with emotion.

“Brother Huzi, you could be one too.”

Tian Tian believed that if Liu Dahu asked his father, he would certainly be given an independent posting.

“No. I’m different. Compared with you and Xianba, I’m lacking too much. The place beside His Highness is where I fit best. It’s also where I’m most useful.”

“Talking badly about me?”

At that moment, Chen Xianba lifted the tent flap and entered.

He slapped the dust from his armor.

“Ah Hu, any cold tea left?”

Liu Dahu tossed him the waterskin hanging at his waist.

Chen Xianba caught it and drank deeply.

“Motherfucker. Tell me if this doesn’t piss you off. I led my troops south and chased them more than eighty li in one breath, and those damned Chu bastards went and retreated more than ninety. Made me run around for nothing. Several brothers under me even ran their horses lame. What a loss. What a damned loss.”

Chen Xianba had possessed a fiery temper since childhood.

After entering the army, it only grew worse.

Fortunately, he had always revered the Regent Prince and had been hauled to the Prince’s side for several years to grind down some of those edges.

And fortunately for everyone involved, the person who had stolen his opening battle this time was Tian Tian.

If anyone else had dared snatch that first engagement from him... he would have exploded long ago.

“How are your injuries?” Chen Xianba asked with concern.

“They’re fine, Brother.”

“Mm. That’s more like you. I’ve always said you’re built out of iron, just like me. You can take a beating. On the battlefield, that means you have a hard life and won’t die easily!”

“Can you say something nicer?” Liu Dahu complained. “Death this, death that, every other sentence.”

“Grandmother’s. We’re in an army camp. If we don’t talk about death, what are we supposed to talk about? Flowers beneath the moon? Who has the leisure to worry about stupid taboos like that?”

“Our Prince does.”

“...” Chen Xianba.

Chen Xianba immediately stopped muttering on that subject.

“Hehehe.” Tian Tian laughed.

Chen Xianba sat cross-legged on the ground.

“Now we’re screwed. The Chu have made up their minds to shrink completely into their shell. I heard the old veterans saying we’ll probably end up fighting another grinding campaign like the Yan-Chu national war back then.”

During the old Yan-Chu national war, General Nian had built Heaven knew how many forts and military stockades before Zhennan Pass.

That was where the nickname “Old Turtle Nian” had come from.

Even Prince Jingnan had been ground down there for a long, long time.

In the end, it had still required the current Regent Prince leading troops along the Wang River route and launching a surprise attack on Chu’s grain stores to break the deadlock.

Now the Chu had learned from the loss.

They had suffered enough from the great strategic flanking maneuvers of Yan cavalry.

They would not give Yan the same opportunity twice.

Tian Tian said:

“Father Commander and Grand General already anticipated this. It’s about time the infantry tactics of eastern Jin showed the world what they can do.”

Chen Xianba sighed.

“It just feels unsatisfying. Too dull.”

“Ice may freeze three feet deep, but it can break in an instant,” Liu Dahu said. “Endure until the moment is ripe, and sooner or later the ice will shatter. Then you’ll have your chance to show what you can do, just like Prince Jingnan and our Prince back then.”

“Hey!”

Chen Xianba immediately brightened.

Then he turned toward Tian Tian.

This upright young son of Yan, who normally seemed capable of holding up Heaven and Earth, actually showed a faint trace of grievance now.

“Back then it was Prince Jingnan and our Prince. Now I’m afraid it’ll be our Prince and Little Prince Jingnan.”

Tian Tian immediately said:

“Brother, don’t worry. Next time I definitely won’t compete with you. Even if Father Commander orders me to go, I’ll volunteer to serve as your deputy.”

Chen Xianba’s eyebrows rose.

“You said it. Deal?”

Liu Dahu teased:

“Have some dignity. How old are you already, fighting your little brother over a mouthful of food?”

“So what? None of your business. I’m the one who taught Tian Tian horsemanship and mounted archery. Between brothers, why bother separating yours and mine?”

Chen Xianba reached out and hooked one arm around Tian Tian’s shoulders.

Then, pointing between himself and Tian Tian as he looked at Liu Dahu, he said:

“Truthfully, if the Prince weren’t in such a hurry and gave us brothers another five years, he could sit comfortably at home drinking tea while the two of us went out and pacified the whole damned realm for him!”

“You don’t blush saying something like that?” Liu Dahu laughed.

“Hahahahaha...” Chen Xianba laughed too.

In a certain sense...

Chen Xianba was not entirely wrong.

In that other destiny, he had once led an army that smashed more than half of Qian and forcibly dragged Yan back from the edge of internal and external collapse, almost renewing the dynasty’s life.

Then... he met Tian Tian... who had smashed half of Yan.

And in the end... he died beneath Tian Tian’s saber.

Yet now, the two men could hook arms around one another and laugh, boasting with the seemingly absurd but genuinely vibrant confidence of youth.

...

“My life is saved.”

Xiong Tingshan looked at his severed arm and smiled.

Xie Yu’an smiled with him.

“Your Highness, leave the rest to me.”

“Can you hold?” Xiong Tingshan asked.

Xie Yu’an smacked his lips.

“Hold first. Worry about the rest afterward.”

As he spoke, he pulled an orange from his pocket and began peeling it.

“The Yan have come south this time with the momentum of a blazing sun. They look determined to have everything. Look at you. Even Your Highness is already discouraged, aren’t you? But me... I happen to like this feeling. A mountain pressing down above my head while I keep mine lowered and continue digging my tunnel anyway. That... is what makes things interesting.”

“What if... there were no mountain?” Xiong Tingshan suddenly asked.

If there were no very real crisis created by the Yan... what exactly would the Xie Clan do?

“Your Highness, now you’re making the conversation boring. The Xie Clan is a whole household of loyal and righteous subjects.”

Then Xie Yu’an carried the orange over to one of Xiong Tingshan’s personal guards.

“Open.”

The guard opened his mouth.

Xie Yu’an stuffed the entire orange inside.

He dusted off his hands and left the tent.

Then he entered another.

“My lord, Master Wu...”

“Still hasn’t regained his senses?”

“No.”

Xie Yu’an nodded and entered.

Inside the tent, Wu Qing was curled into one corner.

Mucus and tears hung from his face.

His entire body continued trembling.

It was difficult to imagine that one of Great Chu’s Twelve Chief Shamans could be reduced to this state.

Xie Yu’an crouched down.

He pulled out another orange.

“Master Wu, have you woken up yet? If you haven’t, I can spend the whole night peeling oranges and feeding them to you.”

Wu Qing’s body suddenly stopped trembling.

He lifted one hand and pointed at Xie Yu’an.

His gaze locked onto him with terrifying intensity.

“You... you... you...”

“Hm?” Xie Yu’an blinked.

“Hahahahahahaha...”

Wu Qing burst out laughing.

Then...

“Wuwuwuwuwu...”

He began sobbing.

Xie Yu’an felt a headache coming on.

He tossed the half-peeled orange onto the ground and stood, preparing to leave.

He still had far too much work to do.

But just as Xie Yu’an reached the tent entrance...

Wu Qing suddenly spoke clearly from the corner.

“He...”

“Who?” Xie Yu’an turned around at once.

Wu Qing was not looking at Xie Yu’an at all.

Instead, he stared at the half-peeled orange he had somehow picked back up.

“He saw it long ago.”

[End of Chapter 953]