Chapter 155: You’ll Understand How Hard It’s For People To Say Goodbye.

“The Emperor, how is the Emperor? He… is he…” Chen Ge couldn’t say it.

“He’s still alive.” Xiao YuAn un-tied Yan HeQing’s clothes and started to treat his wounds.

Yan HeQing’s face was extremely pale due to the excessive blood loss, making him fall into a coma. His pulse and breathing were very weak, so Xiao YuAn treated him with some herbal medicine to stop the bleeding. Then he took off his coat and wrapped Yan HeQing tightly with it. After Chen Ge saw this, he quickly did the same thing.

“We have to get him back to the barracks as soon as possible.” When Xiao YuAn finished speaking, Chen Ge instantly carried Yan HeQing on his back.

“Physician Xiao, it’s not too late outside, let’s go now.”

Xiao YuAn nodded, took the torch, and followed Chen Ge towards the exit of the cave. However, before they could step outside the cave, they saw a distant firelight shaking, and they heard the sound of disordered footsteps.

Xiao YuAn was so frightened that he hurriedly put out the fire, and Chen Ge quickly returned to the cave. They then held their breaths, hiding inside the depths of the dark cave, not daring to make a single move.

From the outside, they could faintly hear the voice of a man passing through the entrance of the cave: “General Yang is too cautious ah. He’s making us search through the first caves again.”

“Do you really think that he’ll make us spend the whole night here?”

“I heard that General Yang doesn’t have the intention of resting until he finds that Emperor.”

“Even though it’s a boring and hard job, I can understand why General Yang is doing this. After all, he has to cut the grass to get rid of the roots. Anyway, this place is already covered with traps. It’s not like the Emperor of the Southern Yan Kingdom can grow wings and fly away.”

“Alright, alright. You two, stop gossiping around and hurry up! General Yang will personally come back here at any given moment, and if he catches you two gossiping around, instead of doing your job, you two will lose your heads!”

After the soldier said that, the outside of the cave was surrounded by complete silence. Only the sound of footsteps could be heard from afar and near the cave.

On the other hand, inside the darkness of the cave, Chen Ge gritted his teeth as he said in a low voice: “Physician Xiao, what should we do? Should we hide on the roof of the cave?”

Xiao YuAn rubbed his hands until they were warm, and then covered Yan HeQing’s cold cheeks. Then he said with a worried voice: “The roof of the cave can’t hide three people. Besides, we don’t know when the Eastern Wu soldiers will retreat, and Yan-ge won’t survive much longer in his current condition.”

The burning light outside the cave drove away the moonlight, meaning that the soldiers were wandering around the cave. With this, the two of them clung to the stone wall as much as they could, not daring to come out of the dark. It was a good thing that the soldiers of the Eastern Wu Kingdom were mainly paying close attention to the outside of the cave, rather than the inside.

“No, if we continue like this, we will be discovered.” Chen Ge put down Yan HeQing, who was resting on his back, and said: “I’ll make them go away. Once I do that, Physician Xiao, you have to run away with His Majesty!”

Before Chen Ge could rush outside, he was stopped by Xiao YuAn, who held his arm tightly, and then said: “Make them go away?”

Chen Ge gritted his teeth: “Yes, Physician Xiao. When there’s no firelight coming from the outside, and you don’t hear any noise, then you have to immediately carry His Majesty and take him to the East. Don’t look back! And don’t wait for me!”

Xiao YuAn looked at him and calmly replied: “Let me do it instead.”

Chen Ge immediately spoke out with an urgent and angry tone of voice: “Physician Xiao! How can I possibly let you do it?! You-…..”

“Chen Ge, I’m not interested in this rotten entanglement bullshit, you can go and play your role. Besides, you should also know that Huang Yue wants my life. Since Yan-ge is still in a coma, he can’t protect me, so I can’t simply go back to the Southern Yan barracks just like that; and even if I did go back, it will only be a dead end for the both of us. Yan-ge can only be carried back by you. Chen Ge, you’re a wise man, think about it more carefully.” Xiao YuAn calmly analyzed the situation. His tone of voice and attitude were so soft, that even Chen Ge felt that he was being suffocated.

“I…..” Chen Ge wanted to defend himself, but in the end he couldn’t speak. He was so angry at this, that he punched himself on the head. Then he held his head and cursed several dirty words one after the other.

Xiao YuAn looked at Yan HeQing for a moment as he interlocked his fingers with Yan HeQing’s hand, and softly caressed Yan HeQing’s face with his other hand. Xiao YuAn’s fingertips were like a paintbrush made out of clouds as he fondly depicted Yan HeQing’s eyebrows: “Chen Ge, I’ll have to trouble you with one more thing.”

XYA don’t put yourself in danger!!!!! 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Footnotes

方识人间别意长 fāng shí bié yì cháng; A part of the poem《鹧鸪天·惜别》written by (严仁 yán rén) Yan Ren [around 1200 AD], from the Song Dynasty [960-1279]. ‘If you take a look at the rushing river flowing Eastward, you’ll naturally be able to understand how people feel when they have to say goodbye to their friends and relatives when they leave their hometown’. Instead of expressing the emotion of parting directly, it’s compared with the “rushing river flowing Eastward”, turning the abstract emotion into a concrete image, making it more meaningful.