Chapter 109.2
Wei Zhan rested his chin on his hand, then called over Wenqiang and whispered something in his ear. Wenqiang's expression turned incredulous as he opened his mouth slightly, looking at Wei Zhan.
Wei Zhan nudged him on the shoulder, urging, "Go on, hurry up."
"Okay." Wenqiang quickly ran out of the tent.
Before he could get far, Yue Li emerged from the medical tent.
"Sister," as soon as Tiesheng saw Yueli, he hurriedly called out to her, "Did you see Uncle?"
"I saw him," Yueli nodded, then added, "The physician said Third Uncle should be able to move around tomorrow at the latest. I'll go back to inform Second Auntie and prepare them."
Seeing her about to leave, Tiesheng quickly came up with another excuse to keep her, "Sister, don't go just yet."
Yue Li turned her head to look at him, "Hmm?"
"Mother and Third Aunt must be very worried about us these days, right? After you go back, tell them not to worry..." Tiesheng struggled to come up with reasons.
Yue Li said, "They are indeed very worried. Today, they even urged me to come and check on you."
"You tell my mother not to worry. I'm working in Physician Lin's medical tent, and Physician Lin even said he wants to take me on as his apprentice in the future. He also asked me to apprentice at his pharmacy."
Yue Li's face lit up, "Really?"
Tiesheng kept looking outside, wondering why Physician Lin hadn't arrived yet. But he didn't forget to assure Yue Li, "Absolutely."
Listening to the two of them, Wei Zhan thought to himself that this young boy really knew how to lie. He lifted the curtain and saw Wenqiang running towards them. He smirked and raised his voice knowingly, "Frantically running around, what kind of appearance is this?"
Wenqiang thought to himself, bear with it, after all, Wei Zhan was his superior. He ran to the medical tent and said, "Miss Yue's donkey ran away."
"Ran away? How did you manage it?" Wei Zhan furrowed his brow.
Yue Li heard that her donkey had run away and immediately left Tiesheng, walking towards them. "What's going on?"
Wenqiang had to come up with an excuse, saying that the stable people hadn't tied Yue Li's donkey properly, and it was kicked away by the neighboring horse.
Wei Zhan sternly reprimanded Wenqiang, "You can't even take care of the head donkey."
Wenqiang glanced at him dejectedly, daring not to speak up, clearly knew it was Wei Zhan who asked him to take the donkey away.
Yue Li didn't respond to his words, but instead, looked at Wenqiang and asked, "Where did it disappear? Can you take me to see?"
Wenqiang said, of course, and immediately led Yueli towards the stable.
"Sister," Tiesheng called out to her as she was about to leave.
Yue Li turned back and told him, "I'll go take a look first, you stay here obediently."
With that, she left the medical tent. Wei Zhan's smirk grew wider, quickly following her.
The stable was near the grassy field, where many cattle and horses roamed by the riverbank. The golden sunset cast a radiant glow over the ground.
They stood in front of the stable, gazing for a long time, but only saw groups of cattle and sheep, no sign of the donkey. Wenqiang apologized, "Miss Yue, we're really sorry, it's all our fault for not keeping an eye on your donkey."
Wei Zhan remained composed. He cleared his throat and softly said to Yueli, "It's alright, I'll ride a horse to escort you back later."
However, Yue Li ignored him. She made a circle with her index finger and thumb, placed it to her lips, and blew a sound. A long-drawn eagle cry could be heard from the sky, followed by a black shadow diving down.
Yue Li reached out her arm, and the eagle landed steadily on it. She took something out from her pouch, let the eagle sniff it, then it flapped its wings and flew towards the military camp, eventually disappearing into a tent.
It was urging a donkey to walk towards the direction where Yue Li was.
Wei Zhan nearly popped his eyeballs out, knowing that Yue Li was a skilled huntswoman, almost unparalleled in archery. But he never expected her eagle to be so powerful too.
In so many military tents, it found her donkey.
"What is that place?" Yue Li frowned, her donkey running around the military camp, she was worried if it ended up in the wrong place.
"Major General's tent." Wenqiang quickly spoke before Wei Zhan.
Yue Li turned her head, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, and asked puzzledly, "How did my donkey end up in your tent?"
Wei Zhan's face shifted in the autumn breeze. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it without speaking, pursing his lips, indicating for Wenqiang to explain quickly, then turned to look at the herd of horses in the distance.
After contemplating for a moment, Wenqiang said, "Everyone thought Miss's donkey had run outside the camp, but it unexpectedly went into the Major General's tent."
Wei Zhan said sternly, "Incompetent, letting such a big donkey escape and into my tent."
The tone was filled with dissatisfaction towards Wenqiang. But in Yue Li's ears, there was anger towards the donkey. Her face suddenly showed a hint of embarrassment. The General had saved them and helped her father, and yet her donkey had recklessly wandered into the military camp and ended up in his tent.
"I'm sorry," Yue Li lowered her eyes and said, "It's my fault for not training it properly."
"It's just an animal, how can it be your fault?" Wei Zhan saw that she didn't continue to question how the donkey ended up in his tent and breathed a sigh of relief, smiling slightly and straightening his clothes.
In the meantime, the eagle was riding on the donkey's back and had already reached them. Yue Li picked up the rope scattered on the ground, wrapped it around the donkey's neck, patted its back, indicating for it to go to the river to drink. It then trotted away.
"It's usually very well-behaved, but today I don't know what happened. Probably it got scared in a new place, so it ran around. When you get back to the tent, see if it damaged anything, and I... will compensate you."
He turned his head, sincerely telling Yue Li, "No need, there's nothing valuable in my tent."
Looking at the eagle soaring back into the sky, he asked Yueli, "Is that your eagle? How does it listen to you so well?"
"Yes," Yuel L also followed his gaze towards the sky, saying slowly, "I picked it up when it was still an egg. After hatching, I trained it for a long time, and it gradually understood my words. It often accompanies me into the mountains for hunting, a great help to me."
"Last time when Ah Heng fell into a ravine, it was the one who found him."
"You're so skilled." Wei Zhan withdrew his gaze, looking back at her face with admiration. He was already pleasantly surprised when he saw her lynx in Xiaotao Village last time, and now even the fierce eagle, she could tame. "Do you train horses too?"
Yue Li shook her head, saying, "I don't know, we haven't encountered horses while hunting. But all living things have spirits, as long as you follow their temperament, they will obey."
"If I encounter a good horse during hunting in the future, I'll ask for your help in training." Wei Zhan said.
Yue Li thought for a moment, he had given her a quiver of good arrows before, saved them, and helped him tame a horse. So, she readily nodded, "Okay."
Wei Zhan was very happy.
"Do you remember what you promised me before?" Wei Zhan turned his face to her.
Yue Li turned back and met his eyes, pondered for a moment, then asked, "Is it about teaching you archery?"
Wei Zhan's lips curved with a hint of a smile, saying cheerfully, "You remember."
The warm golden light of autumn covered her pale purple outer robe, casting a shadow of her curled long lashes and her unadorned face. The light pink gloss on her light cherry lips made it hard to look away.
But she gently pursed her lips and then uttered three words, "I'm sorry."
"I can't teach you." Yue Li said softly.
Wei Zhan's smile gradually faded, "Why not?"
"It's inconvenient," Yue Li glanced at him, whispering, "My father has arranged a marriage for me. I'm getting married at the end of next year."
Promising to marry someone and appearing in front of others all day would embarrass the in-laws. Her father had also said that this was the last time she could go hunting.
When she returned this time, she wouldn't be allowed to go into the mountains anymore. She would stay at home to prepare for her marriage.
With a bang, Wei Zhan felt a thunderbolt explode in his ears. For a moment, he couldn't hear any sound, and his face became very pale.
Yue Li said guiltily with her head down, "I'm sorry."
He was somewhat dazed, so much so that he seemed trance-like, and blurted out, "Is he good to you?"
"I've never met him," Yue Li lowered her eyes, a hint of shyness in her voice, "My father said he is a man of few words and trustworthy. My father rarely praises others, so he should be good."
After she finished speaking, she sneakily glanced at Wei Zhan's expression and saw that his face didn't look good. She felt even more guilty for breaking her promise.
Wei Zhan was speechless for a moment, many words stuck in his throat.
"How, how did the betrothal suddenly happen?" It took him a long time to find his voice.
"It wasn't sudden," Yue Li tucked back the stray hair blown onto her cheek by the wind, twisted it behind her ear, and whispered, "A few months ago, Aunt Chen came to talk about it, my father inquired about that family, and looked at the person. It was only finalized a few days ago."
"But just now, I heard your brother discussing with Physician Lin about introducing his son to you," Wei Zhan rushed to say what he had heard.
Yue ali's face blushed slightly, her voice weak, "Because it's just an agreement between the two families for now, it's not finalized yet. My father is afraid of complications affecting my reputation, so he hasn't announced it. He's waiting for the matchmaker to finalize things before telling my uncles."
Wei Zhan's voice choked up again, he didn't know what to say. After a long struggle, he squeezed out two trembling words, "Congratulations."
"Thank you." Yue Li turned her face towards him, forced a smile, and said, "I should go back now, Major General."
Before Wei Zhan could respond, she blew a short whistle, and the donkey, hearing the sound, trotted over. She embraced the donkey's neck, swiftly climbed onto its back, waved to Wei Zhan, and walked away into the distance.
Wei Zhan watched the long shadows of the person and the donkey under the setting sun, inexplicably feeling tears welling up in his eyes.
*
Yue Li returned from the military camp and didn't go home but went straight to her uncle's houses. She shared the situation in the camp with her aunts and heard that everyone was fine, Tiesheng had found a doctor as a teacher, and they were all overjoyed, eagerly awaiting their return.
By the time she got back home, it was already late. She first led the donkey back to its stall, and as she walked towards the main hall, she saw a dark object behind a pillar.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a jar. When she opened it, a fragrant aroma of osmanthus honey wafted out from the jar.
It was a full jar of osmanthus honey.
Honey was rare in this season.
She sniffed the fragrant scent of honey in the jar, her eyes inexplicably welling up with tears.
The villagers were poor and rarely had the opportunity to eat honey.
When she was young and went to the mountains with Jingzhe, she saw a hornet's nest in the mountains, and childishly said she wanted to keep the hornets to make honey.
Jingzhe laughed at her foolishness and said these hornets couldn't make honey. He promised that when they grew up, he would go to the town to earn money and buy a big jar of honey for her to eat.
Thinking back to that distant memory, she couldn't help but feel a little sad. She sniffed, suppressed her sadness, and then hugged the jar and walked towards Jingzhe's house.
Jingzhe's house was not far from hers, and she arrived in no time.
She saw lights on in Jingzhe's house, and there were several faint shadows in the main hall and under the eaves.
It should be his father and grandfather.
Yue Li imitated a few bird calls with her mouth. Soon, Jingzhe's figure dashed out of the house and ran quickly towards the woods.
When he stood in front of Yue Li, he was already panting.
"Ah Li!" It had been years since the last time they used their secret code, he was both surprised and delighted.
Yue Li tilted her head back and handed the jar to him, "You gave this to me, right? I don't want it, take it back."
The corners of Jingzhe's mouth drooped suddenly, and the light that had lit up in his eyes upon seeing Yue Li darkened instantly, "This is the wages given to me by Master Xu in town for working as a laborer, not the money from my parents."
Yue Li raised her damp eyelashes and met his narrow, anxious gaze, still steadfastly trying to hand him the jar, "No matter where your money comes from, it's impossible between us. I can't accept your things, take it back."
"Ah Li." Jingzhe was more determined than her, he grabbed her hand, pressing it on the jar, "When I was younger, my parents could make decisions for me. But now that I'm grown up, I want to make my own decisions. I like you, and I want to marry you."
"Your parents won't agree," Yue Li kept her head low, feeling conflicted.
"Don't worry," Jingzhe reassured her. "They won't be able to sway me. If they don't agree, I can take you and Old Man Yue to the town to find work. I'm strong enough to support you with my own two hands. If they don't agree, then so be it. We can always move to town and cut ties with them."
Yue Li tried her best to suppress her emotions, her nostrils quivering slightly, her eyes rimmed with red. Her raven-black eyelashes were damp with tears.
She shook her head and said, "Jingzhe, I'm already betrothed. I can't accept your honey."
She pushed the jar forward a bit, but finding his grip too strong, she placed the jar on the ground and turned to run, leaving Jingzhe dumbfounded, watching her retreating figure disappear into the thin autumn mist.
Yue Li knew that no matter how much Jingzhe promised, he could never truly sever ties with his parents.
Jingzhe's mother was a formidable woman, not one to be trifled with. If Jingzhe really abandoned his parents and went to town with her, she couldn't imagine how she would slander them in the village.
She couldn't bear the thought of her father suffering any more grievances on her account.