Drop of Cinnabar in the Heart (1) (1/2)
Dark clouds covered the blood red setting sun. The strong, viscous smell of blood permeated the deadly battlefield. The accumulation of corpses appeared ferocious and terrifying, and the strong sense of death made it nearly impossible to breathe.
A young and tall figure looked at the gloomy sky. His gaze was bleak and lonely. The steed under him snorted loudly, and then lowered its head and continued to gnaw on the weeds on the ground. He slowly lowered his head and looked at the black foal with a touch of warmth in his eyes——she was the one who gave him this horse!
“General, what are you thinking about? Are you…thinking about my future sister-in-law?” The person teasing him was his deputy, Dafu. They had been together since they were new recruits and had known each other for nearly ten years.
They had experienced life-threatening situations together and could give their backs to one another. So, in private, the two often tease each other as amusement.
Upon hearing his words, Zhao Han just smiled and didn’t say anything. Sun Dafu, on the other hand, continued, “General, don’t be shy ah! This is a good thing! Look, I’m three years older than you and my son is already five years old. Yesterday, I received a letter from my wife, saying that she had hired a teacher for him. You, on the other hand, don’t even have a wife yet. People often say, ‘get married and start a career’. Getting married first won’t delay you from making accomplishments and becoming successful ah! It’s no wonder that the General’s Estate kept sending you letters, urging you to go back. Does the old general want great-grandchildren?”
That's right ah! In a blink of an eye, he was almost thirty years old. He hid in the army again and again to evade his family’s urges for him to get married. This time, he finally couldn’t avoid it! His family had arranged a marriage for him. The other party was also a descendant of a military family. It was said that she had a straightforward personality and looked pretty and kind.
Looking back on the past few years, in order to avoid his family’s urges for him to get married, he had transferred from the Tanggu Garrison, which was closer to the capital, to the bitterly cold and remote northwestern borders. He hadn’t returned to the capital for many years.
His parents did everything that they could to force him to get married. His mother pretended to be ill many times to trick him to return from the borders. When he hurried back to the capital, he was indeed greeted by his cheerful mother, who had a ruddy complexion and was holding a thick pile of portraits of noble misses in the capital.
In order to make him agree to take a look, his mother, who was such a gentle and demure noblewoman, forced herself to use the tricks of crying, screaming, and threatening to kill herself…
Seeing that he was so dead set on not getting married, his mother had even privately asked if he had any unmentionable illnesses. Or perhaps…he didn’t like women?
Who said he didn’t like women? It was only that the person he liked had already become another person’s wife…
The image of that small fishing village with a faint fishy scent floating in the air and the sounds of waves appeared in his mind again. A thin figure came out from the dilapidated house that looked as if it was about to collapse. She smiled sweetly at him and she cheerly called him, “Older Brother Han”…
If, at that time, his grandfather and father didn’t accept the title bestowed by the imperial court, they would still be ordinary hunters in a small fishing village. If so, wouldn’t he be able to appear in front of her every day, teach her how to set traps, and take her hunting? Wouldn’t he be able to secretly help her sell the game that they caught and save up the money bit by bit?
Wouldn’t they be able to quietly avoid the villagers and secretly roast pheasants, or wild hares, with her special seasonings, eating happily together? Moreover, wouldn’t they be able to take this as their little secret that he could keep for her?
If he hadn’t left, wouldn’t he have been able to stand by her side during the most difficult time of her life? Wouldn’t he be able to share the burden with her and support her?
If he didn’t leave, wouldn’t he be able to light a lamp for her when she came home late?
If he never left, wouldn’t he be able to help her carry a heavy basket when she was tired?
If he had stayed by her side, would he have been the one who married her?