After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

"What do you want from me?"

Xiong Kai was completely unfazed by Zhu Yixuan's indifference and said expressionlessly, "Baizhang, you can't be so soft-hearted. If you could be as decisive as Shen Yi, you would be on equal footing with him now instead of being overshadowed by him."

Zhu Yixuan sneered, "Xiong Kai, are you trying to teach me how to do things?"

Xiong Kai slowly raised his eyelids and looked at him. "Commander, I'm just stating a fact. I'm a cripple now, and it's impossible for me to take revenge. But I don't want to see Shen Yi continue to be so glorious. In my opinion, you are of noble birth, the eldest son of the Zhu family, while Shen Yi is just an unlucky ferryman. Why should he be this minor commander? Are you really willing to be overshadowed by him?"

Zhu Yixuan crossed his legs, propped his chin on his hand, and sized up Xiong Kai in front of him, revealing a meaningful smile. "Xiong Kai, don't try to play mind games with me. Tell me, what do you want to do?"

Xiong Kai suddenly looked up, his eyes flashing with intense hatred. "I can be a hidden arrow in the hands of the centurion and do things for him. As long as the centurion can vent my anger in the future, I don't care about Shen Yi's life. I just want him to be like me!"

Death is not the most painful thing; living incompleteness is the real torment. He also wanted Shen Yi to taste the feeling of being despised and scorned!

Zhu Yixuan was not angered by Xiong Kai's words. After weighing the pros and cons, he smiled, stood up and said kindly, "I don't know what grudge you have with Shen Yi, and I don't intend to get involved in your affairs. But I can give you a chance to turn things around. As long as I make a name for myself in the future, you will definitely benefit from it."

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round; there's nothing in this world that money can't solve, and what I happen to have the least of all is money. What do you think?

Xiong Kai was not satisfied with Zhu Yixuan's answer, but there was one thing Zhu Yixuan had said that really resonated with him: he needed money, lots and lots of money, because only money could make up for his lost self-esteem.

"Good! Deal!"

After the two made their agreement, Xiong Kai quickly left the battalion commander's place, as if he had never been there.

Before the autumn harvest, the Longxia Kingdom once again provoked China.

General Cen Yingfan, having reached his limit of tolerance, ordered a major offensive.

On the battlefield, Xiong Kai kept his eyes on Shen Yi, watching him sweep all before him. The hatred in his heart burned brighter and brighter like a raging fire. On the other hand, Zhu Yixuan was once again tripped up by Bai Feng.

Xiong Kai was furious and roared, "Zhu Baichang, romantic feelings will only be a stumbling block to success. Ignore him!"

Bai Feng was so frightened that he threw himself into Zhu Yixuan's arms and cursed at Xiong Kai, "You bastard, I'll kill you first when I get back!"

"Enough! Get out of my way!" Zhu Yixuan roared, angrily trying to push Bai Feng away.

He caught a glimpse of an arrow flying towards him out of the corner of his eye. He didn't have time to dodge, so he could only instinctively pull Bai Feng over.

With a loud bang, blood splattered everywhere. Before the smug smile on Bai Feng's lips could disappear, he collapsed with his eyes wide open.

Zhu Yixuan was also stunned.

Xiong Kai roared, "Zhu Baichang, watch out!"

Zhu Yixuan realized what was happening and, without thinking too much, quickly focused on fighting the enemy.

The battle lasted for a day and a night before it ended.

The surviving soldiers returned to their camp.

Zhu Yixuan looked at the desolate surroundings and suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

In the past, whenever they left the battlefield, Bai Feng would always stick close to him, chattering and complaining about this and that, and giving him some bad, unsavory advice. He used to just find it annoying, but now he inexplicably misses it, and his heart trembles slightly.

Xiong Kai quietly approached him and said in a low voice, "Bai Feng is dead. His body has been taken away by the officials and will be sent back to Zhaohua County in a couple of days. With Zhu Baichang no longer an obstacle, he will surely rise to prominence in the future."

"Shut up!" Zhu Yixuan turned around fiercely, gritting his teeth and glaring at Xiong Kai.

Xiong Kai lowered his eyes and continued to persuade, "Commander, Bai Feng's death was an accident. Please accept my condolences. I heard that Shen Yi has made another contribution today. Deputy General Pan strongly recommends him for the position of Grand Commander. If he really becomes the Grand Commander, you will have to rely on others from now on."

"Chief, your time is running out. If Shen Yi continues to accumulate merits, who in Zhaohua County will remember you in the future?"

Zhu Yixuan suddenly stood up and quickly walked into the tent.

Xiong Kai watched his retreating figure, a slight smile playing on his lips. He felt a pang of regret; the next chance to fight would have to wait until after the autumn harvest. He wondered if Zhu Yixuan could seize this last opportunity.

After thinking for a moment, he lifted his foot and followed Zhu Yixuan's steps.

Song Yongnian watched this scene coldly from a distance. Once Xiong Kai left, he immediately went back to inform Shen Yi.

“Brother Shen, I thought Zhu Yixuan would be very sad after Bai Feng died, and I even wanted to go and see him for you. I didn’t expect that guy to get so close to Xiong Kai. The two of them were whispering to each other. I think Zhu Yixuan might have betrayed us.”

Shen Yi sheathed the longsword he had just cleaned and said seriously, "Xiong Kai was originally one of Zhu Yixuan's men, so it's not strange that the two of them are talking together. I just didn't expect Bai Feng to die like this."

Song Yongnian always felt that it was strange for Zhu Yixuan and Xiong Kai to be walking together. Seeing that Shen Yi didn't think in that direction, he stopped talking. But privately, he told Shen Dagou and Ye An to be on their guard.

Shen Yi, whose hearing was extremely poor, was quite helpless about his brothers whispering behind his back. He shook his head with a helpless smile and said, "It's almost harvest time. The weather has been bad this year, and I don't know if it will affect the harvest."

The group of people stopped talking. "Brother Shen, how about we ask the officials to help us send a message back?"

Shen Yi wanted to, but Liu Jianzhang had left the military camp in the spring and hadn't returned yet. He guessed that Liu had been picked up halfway through the journey, and he didn't know if Liu would come back again this year.

He had used all the jade and money Su Tai had sent him to bribe officials, and now, while he wasn't penniless, he couldn't afford to ask anyone for favors.

"Never mind, let's see. Or I can ask Zhu Yixuan. He's been keeping in touch with Zhaohua County, so he should know more than I do," Shen Yi pondered.

Upon hearing this, Song Yongnian and the others quickly stopped them, saying, "Forget it, forget it. We're so far away anyway, even if we knew about the situation at home, we couldn't help. It's better not to know, so we don't have to worry."

After being persuaded by everyone, Shen Yicai gave up the idea of ​​looking for Zhu Yixuan, but he still kept it in his heart.

Su Tai, whom he was concerned about, was also paying attention to the situation in the field.

Because of the bad weather, Su Tai went to the field herself to try harvesting wheat when the government ordered it.

It took five days of hard work to harvest all the wheat in the field. After careful calculation, good heavens! In previous years, one mu (unit of land area) could yield 1,000 jin (unit of weight) of wheat, but this year it was less than 800 jin (unit of weight), and the quality was not good either.

The village chief went to the town to report the news with a solemn expression, and returned to inform the whole village that the grain tax would be raised again this year.

The villagers gathered at the village entrance, discussing the matter animatedly. (End of Chapter)