Cry of the Midnight Jackdaw

Chapter Seventy-seven,
Old Man

“Your Highness, the food is warmed up……” A private soldier brought food from the mess cook’s area, it had already been warmed up three times- it was the first time he was serving royalty of this degree, a true descendant of nobility, and furthermore, this master had had naturally angry brows, prestigious without raging, and looked to be the reincarnation of Alkaid[1], a person who was like a demon- even though he had served for about a month, but when speaking with He Xuan, he was still scared to the point of trembling with fear. Inside the room, He Xuan was draped with an outer robe, with the right hand rubbing the sword handle, turning a deaf ear to his words, and was still discussing military affairs with General Lan.

That servant shrunk his head in and waited to the side, not daring to say anything again, Lan Shou Yi peeked at his trembling hands, and spoke up, “Your Highness has also spoke for a long time already, how about eating, one cannot sit too long with age, this old subject should also go back to rest.”

He Xuan then seemed to see the person in the corner, he indifferently waved his hand, then that attendant hurriedly lowered his head and made a small run inside, and placed the food box in his hands onto the table.

“Ig was being inconsiderate. Hurry back and rest, General, the rest of the matters can be discussed again tomorrow.” Lan Shou Yi got up and clasped his fist, He Xuan slightly nodded his head as a signal, and once Lan Shou Yi left, he then opened the lid of the food box. The conditions of an expedition were tough, and naturally could not compare to the crown prince residence- only three flour buns, one porridge of mixed grains, and a few small side dishes, there was little oil and flavour in the vegetables, with only a thick salty flavour filling the mouth.

He Xuan calmly ate two buns, then finished the porridge. The attendant waiting to the side cleaned up the bowls and dishes into the food box, and hurriedly covered the box like it was a very important task, then hurriedly lifted up the curtains and withdrew.

The northern lands were filled with frost and snow, yet Nan Liang was right at the end of autumn. There was a bright moon in the horizon, the night winds sent in an air of frustration from the grasses and trees in the mountain forest, making people’s hearts anxious. The soldiers at this time finished dinner, they were more pitiful than the generals, and could only gnaw at dry biscuits in their throat, and each person only had a diluted husked grain porridge. After stuffing the dinner in two mouthfuls, they would then line up to go to the vat at the back to wash their bowls. Some others who ate earlier were surrounding bonfires warming up in twos or threes at this time while the patrolling scouts on guard stood straight at the sentry station, these were all good men of Jin, their gazes keen like a just unsheathed blade.

He Xuan walked around by himself, felt a bit bored for the time being, then turned back and returned to the big tent. They departed from Shang An’jing, passed through the Mao County, Tu Ling, Mt. Hui, to Feng Province for almost five days now. Before setting out, He Heng summoned him into the Tai He Hall, and instructed him on his tasks. Execute the rebellion’s general Bai Xiao as well as the rebel army of Jin and Nan Liang, punish Liu Guang Yuan for the crime of not leading the army stern enough, then quell Qing Ling as well as several of Nan Liang’s counties. Feng Province was an important town closest to Qing Ling, the terrain was strategically difficult, easy to defend but hard to attack, and now that Bai Xiao resided in Feng Province to resist Liu Guang Yuan, when He Xuan and them came to support, they could only stop at Feng Province. They must first conquer Feng Province, then meet with Liu Guang Yuan.

Bai Xiao was like his name, brave and good at battles, and a rare general with both talents in wisdom and bravery, to fall to this extent now, was truthfully unfortunate. Even He Xuan could not underestimate him- these two days, he was discussing a plan with Lan Shou Yi to make a breakthrough, Bai Xiao was subordinate to Lan Shou Yi in his early years, and knew of the plans Lan Shou Yi was accustomed using, thus, He Xuan was the main general, with Lan Shou Yi on the side as support.

The mountains had many insects, even in autumn when the weather turns cold, in the night, there would still be unceasing buzzing. He Xuan could not deal with this annoyance, took out a paper fibres from his bag, tore it into two, and rolled them into small balls and stuffed them into his ears, that the sounds then stopped. The candlelight in the tent gleamed, stretching He Xuan’s shadows very long, and cast it on the wall to the side, making it all cold and desolate. He Xuan sat for a while, then got up and took out a stack of papers, and carefully spread it open in the middle of the table, flattened it, and just as he was going to lift his brush and dip in some ink, he saw the ink in the slab was already dried, only leaving some dried marks. He Xuan paused for a moment, then reached out and ground the ink himself, then turned his head to ponder what to write.

A few days ago during the expedition, they were rushing each day, and could not make the time to write. Tonight, he finally found some free time, and decided to use it to write a letter to home.

He originally thought there would be words filling his heart and stomach he could not finish saying, and wanted to write each and every one of them for Xiao Zuo to hear- upon imagining the look of him reciting them one by one with knitted brows, he slightly curved his almond-shaped eyes.

But perhaps the closer one was to home, one would get cowardly, once it was time to dip in ink and raise the brush to write, he turned clumsy, and did not know how to start.

The tip of the brush suspended in the air for a moment, the beady drop of ink swayed like it was going to fall, then He Xuan seemed like he just woke up from a dream, and wrote.

“Dearest Li Nu:

Do take these words as a meeting. Having separated for so long, [I] increasing yearn more ardently. Yet because of travels, one has not been free to write, and now has reached Feng Province. Jin has already entered winter, is there any rain or snow? Thee fears the cold weather, do not forget to dress more.”

After writing this, He Xuan originally wanted to say Nan Liang’s autumns had the mountain ranges burning all over with maple leaves, with hundreds of thousands of miles of azure waves joining together, created by the spirits of the heavens and earths, that could then give birth to a spirited and handsome person such as Li Nu, but he also felt these words were not convenient to be said to others, so he then suppressed it and did not mention it, and only switched to write about some miscellaneous things on the path to expedition.

Once he finished writing, it merely filled one page. He Xuan blew on it, pressed it on the table with a paperweight, and once the ink completely dried the next day, he rolled it up and had the attendant deliver it back.