HBBMAWH Chapter 98

It snowed lightly during the New Year. This was their second New Year after arriving in the capital.

A few days before the new year, Qingke celebrated his second birthday, officially becoming a two-year-old toddler. However, according to the lunar calendar, once the New Year passed, he would be considered a three-year-old toddler.

Qingke's reaction to this? None at all. He sat focused on a large rabbit fur blanket on the floor, diligently picking at a walnut. There was a tiny bit of walnut meat stubbornly stuck inside the shell, and Qingke's chubby fingers couldn't reach it. Frustrated, he slapped the walnut onto the ground.

Crack! The walnut shell shattered, and the meat inside turned into crumbs, impossible to salvage.

"Oh, it's gone."

Qingke sat up, then kneeled on the ground, staring at the smashed walnut with an air of seriousness, his round buttocks exposed from his open-crotch pants.

Just then, Yan Cai walked in and saw the scene before him. "..."

Could they still keep this child?

He bent down to pick up Qingke, glancing at the walnut crumbs on the ground with a hint of a headache. This mischievous child, if he had come home any later, he might have found him licking the floor.

After calling for Hong Yu to clean up the mess, Yan Cai saw Jiang Manyue returning from outside, covered in snow on his shoulders and head. As soon as he entered the warm room, the snow melted away instantly.

So they installed underfloor heating in their room. The kitchen sat with water all night, transferring residual warmth into the room. Once the door was closed, the room became warm and cozy, making people feel like lying down and sleeping.

After putting down their son, Yan Cai touched Jiang Manyue's palm. It was cold as ice, just like touching frozen metal.

"At this late hour, where did you go to freeze like this?"

"I went to get something."

With that said, Yan Cai stared at Jiang Manyue with eyes as dark as black crystals, making Jiang Manyue feel guilty. Jiang Manyue bent down, hugged Yan Cai, and apologized sincerely.

"I promised to resign from my position and return to our hometown early, but I've been breaking that promise."

Yan Cai pushed him away, maintaining a slight distance from Jiang Manyue, with a rare serious expression, furrowing his brows. 

"Tell me honestly, are you really unable to let go of this matter?"

Jiang Manyue bowed his head, nodded, his voice somewhat hoarse. Perhaps he caught a cold from being outside just now. Yan Cai stood upright.

"They were once my soldiers, my subordinates. If I were still their leader, I should be responsible for them. I want to try to prevent what I can."

"But you're not anymore."

"You're right. I'm sorry..."

"Hold on. I don't like you saying sorry, don't say it." Yan Cai raised his hand to cover Jiang Manyue's mouth. The warm lips and palm of his hand brought about a peculiar sensation, driving away the cluttered thoughts. Yan Cai asked Jiang Manyue again.

"We don't need apologies between us. I just want you to tell me, are you really unable to let go?" Despite asking this, Yan Cai didn't release his hand, as if reluctant to hear the answer. Jiang Manyue blinked innocently.

Yan Cai glanced at his own hand, realizing, and became embarrassed and angry.

"Fine, you can nod or shake your head."

Unable to speak, Jiang Manyue nodded. Lies were a kind of harm to the family, and there is nothing to hide between them.

"Alright. I understand." Yan Cai lowered his hand, opened his arms, and held Jiang Manyue, leaning on his shoulder and sighing heavily. "It's okay. Whatever you want to do, I'll support you."

"Cai Cai, thank you."

Yan Cai stood up straight, staring with his round eyes, and snorted twice.

"What's the use of thanks? It can't be eaten as food... Hmm!" Yan Cai covered his mouth, staring at Jiang Manyue in panic. "How could you ambush me like this? Our son is here!"

"Keke is already asleep."

Yan Cai lowered his head, and indeed, Qingke was already asleep, unaware of the intimate play between his two fathers.

"Alright. We can't just leave it at that. I have one more condition." Yan Cai extended a pinky finger. "Pinky promise. After this is over, we'll return to Qingqu."

"Okay. I promise you."

"However, you don't have to be too pessimistic. Everything in the world is unpredictable. Maybe the events of your past lives won't repeat in this lifetime. If there are no Beirong people trespassing the border like in your past life, then we can return home earlier."

Yan Cai spoke earnestly, but soon after, he was proven wrong. The Beirong people indeed launched a surprise attack.

However, they bypassed the army and raided another county bordering Beirong, which was a month's journey away from the army. It was an obscure small county called Qingyang, which not many knew existed before.

After the Beirong people entered the city, they looted, burned, and plundered, taking all the food and cloth from the county office's storeroom. Astonishingly, after seizing everything, they set fire to the entire city before leaving.

Due to the cold weather at the time and the considerable distance between this place and others, trading between counties wasn't convenient. Hence, it wasn't until a week later that they discovered the city had been burnt to the ground.

No one had anticipated that Qingyang County, so impoverished, would attract the attention of the Beirong people. 

In the Beirong palace, the King of Beirong coldly watched the man kneeling below.

The man trembled in fear, kneeling on the wet ground, soaked with sweat and tears.

"Is this your answer to me? Ha, a dilapidated county. Dig three feet, burn it all to ashes, and there's no treasure of the Han people you spoke of. Tell me, where is the treasure?" the King of Beirong asked coldly.

"I... I might have been mistaken. It's not Qingyang... maybe Qingchang, or Qing... Please spare me, Your Majesty. Everything I said is true!" The man kept bowing, tears streaming down his face. "It's true. I heard it from my great-grandfather. He secretly saw the person burying the treasure back then and even stole a few things, the ones I gave to you."

"Just these few?" Greed gleamed in the King of Beirong's eyes. Indeed, those few items were all valuable, each priceless. This man had no idea of their worth, thinking they were just ordinary trinkets.

"My great-grandfather said the few he took were the least valuable in the treasure. He couldn't take the valuable ones. The ones my great-grandfather took weren't worth much, so nobody cared and left them lying around... The really valuable ones could cover every inch of the palace with gold, encrust the palace walls with magnificent gems, and turn the palace gate into pure gold..."

The man had to raise the stakes, praising the so-called treasure to the skies, even convincing himself that such treasure indeed existed in the world.

In reality, the man didn't believe it at all. Though his great-grandfather often boasted about his childhood exploits and even showed them a few good things. However, the man always felt his great-grandfather was just bragging.

Those few good things were treasures hidden away by his great-grandfather, not to be touched, and later fell into the man's hands.

After he ended up in Beirong, strapped for cash, he considered selling them off, only to be discovered by the King of Beirong, who overheard him trying to sell them at a high price to a pawnshop.

But he couldn't recall the exact name of the county his grandfather mentioned. All he remembered was that it seemed to be called something like Qing something, so he forced himself to come up with one.

Little did he know that the warlike King of Beirong would actually lead his men straight to Qingyang County, ruthlessly massacring the city without a care for whether it would provoke conflict with the Chen Dynasty.

Thinking of the brutality of the King of Beirong, the man felt a cXierli in his heart.

"So, what's the name? It's alright, take your time. We can try them one by one," the King of Beirong chuckled, as if he had just heard a joke.

The man trembled, bowing repeatedly until his forehead bled. Qing... what exactly was it? He truly couldn't remember what his great-grandfather said all those years ago.

In the extreme contrast between the man's tearful distress and the King of Beirong's hearty laughter, stood another man with a furrowed brow outside the curtain.

Indeed, they couldn't let him remain on the throne. Beirong would sooner or later perish in the hands of this wanton and arrogant individual.

Meanwhile, in the Chen Dynasty, the Emperor finally received this report, so enraged that he slammed down the documents, veins bulging. Clearly, the methods of the city's massacre had hit a nerve with the Emperor.

If he still tolerates such an invasion of the Chen Dynasty without retaliation, then his reign as Emperor would be over.

When the Emperor was on the verge of getting sick from anger, Jiang Manyue was also pondering a question.

Wrong again. Why did it turn out like this? In the previous life, Beirong raided Qingchang, so before this, he had already ordered Chen Nan to guard a county called Qingchang. To be honest, Chen Nan didn't quite believe his words, but under Jiang Manyue's strong persuasion, he still took people over to guard.

Unexpectedly, this lifetime, the trouble arose in a county called Qingyang that he had never heard of before.

Qingchang? Qingyang?

The author has something to say:

It’s the final stage. It was originally set to be 300,000 words, but it looks like it will be finished with almost 400,000 words.

We're nearing the end stage now. Originally set for three hundred thousand words, it seems it'll take about four hundred thousand words to finish.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

Table of Contents