The husband I snatched halfway through his life is strange.

Chapter 251 Don't Believe Hearsay

The wind howled, and Yu Tingwan nestled in his arms, sensing the urgency in his words.

Riding a horse is quite different from riding a carriage; it's very bumpy. But it goes fast, and the surrounding scenery rushes by. The sound of hooves echoes through the silent mountain forest, raising dust wherever it goes, startling flocks of birds that flutter their wings in alarm.

It's not the direction back to Zexian.

We weren't on the main road, and there were no passersby in sight.

All of these were unfamiliar scenes.

The path leads through the forest, and it goes downhill along the path.

Yu Tingwan was, after all, a girl. At first, she was fine, but after a while, she couldn't sit still for long.

"How long will it take?"

Wei Zhao freed one hand and rubbed her aching lower back.

"Before the sun sets."

Wei Zhao: "Go to Wuyang City. I bought a house there a few years ago."

After thinking for a moment, he smiled.

"You'll like it there."

Yu Tingwan was about to ask him why he was so certain.

Wei Zhao: "The gold, silver and jewels and rare items looted from the corrupt officials of Ze County are all stored in the secret room there."

He was the real owner behind the money shops and pawnshops in Wuyang City. Once things passed through those two places, the path would be clear.

Well... Yu Tingwan really wants to see.

Wei Zhao: "Take a good rest when you arrive."

Yu Tingwan: ...

understood.

Have you rested enough? Shall we wait until dawn to have some fun?

Even though making love is a perfectly normal thing, Yu Tingwan felt a sense of urgency after his repeated reminders.

But it's still early.

Wei Zhao: "It's almost noon. There's a lake a short distance ahead, where you can grill fish. In half an hour, you'll pass the main road, where there's a teahouse that also sells food. What would you like to eat?"

"You're going to grill it for me?"

Yu Tingwan was skeptical, feeling that Wei Zhao was not capable of doing the job.

"has a problem?"

"……Have."

However, as long as she's not allowed to bake it, it's fine.

The girl's cooking skills are really limited to being edible.

She was quite eager to try Wei Zhao's cooking.

"Is my husband very familiar with this area?"

Wei Zhao nodded: "We will pass through here on our way to and from the capital and the border."

Wei's army had prepared enough dry rations. But even though dry rations are easy to store, they can still cause choking if eaten for too long.

If time was of the essence, and there was a tea shop ahead, someone would be dispatched on horseback to arrive a day in advance so that the shopkeeper could prepare a large quantity of steamed buns, bread, and dry rations for the soldiers to eat on the road.

Wei Zhao will not mistreat the Wei family army.

If time allowed, they would stop by the lake to rest and recuperate. Some soldiers would fish, others would hunt, and finally they would gather together to roast meat.

Yu Tingwan could hardly imagine what Wei Zhao would look like leading the Wei family army in armor.

but……

I've heard people mention you for a long time.

Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow.

I've gotten a little interested.

"Tell me."

Yu Tingwan: "You want to hear it?"

Yu Tingwan suggested, "You'd better not listen to it."

Wei Zhao: "Are you insulting me?"

"That's not true."

"Some people say he's arrogant. He's not even fully grown up yet, and instead of being a proper young master from a noble family, he's rushing to the battlefield. He doesn't even know his own limitations, yet he wants to command the Wei family army. He's bound to get beaten to a pulp."

Yu Tingwan: "Those words were harsh, but you won, which is a slap in the face to those who doubted you. They immediately changed their tune and praised you for your ability, saying you have inherited General Jingyuan's mantle."

Wei Zhao didn't care about these things.

After all, at first, no one believed he had that ability.

Less than a year after my uncle's death, the border region was in dire need of attention.

Emperor Yingqian then set his sights on the Wei family army, but the Wei family army only obeyed the sons of the Wei family. It wasn't as simple as sending any random general from who-knows-where to make them fight for you.

Wei Zhao offered to go and defend against the enemy.

However, he was met with scorn and condemnation from all the officials.

They scolded Wei Zhao for being reckless! The Wei family army should be made to submit to the court and serve the emperor.

What a blatant display of arrogance. Wei Zhao didn't dwell on it and asked, "What were you thinking back then?"

Yu Tingwan: "Me?"

She recalled her mindset at the time, stating honestly, "I didn't care."

“I couldn’t have known you back then. Listening to these stories meant I couldn’t eat an extra bite of food or skip a single day of work.”

Yu Tingwan: "But later, I started to care."

This time, unlike when Wei Zhao asked, she answered without reservation.

"Some people mentioned that you didn't even blink when you were beheading people on the battlefield. After you beheaded someone, you would even keep the head as a companion."

Yu Tingwan: "At the time, I didn't know if it was true or not. I just thought it was normal for a capable person to have some quirks."

Wei Zhao:......

Rumors are flying everywhere.

but.

He admitted: "I did collect the heads of enemy generals."

Yu Tingwan: ? ? ?

Wei Zhao didn't take it seriously: "It was given to the emperor of the enemy country as a greeting gift."

Yu Tingwan asked, "He didn't intend to kill you?"

"think."

"Cannot be killed."

Wei Zhao: "He got sick from anger."

Yu Tingwan: ...

That's really infuriating.

Wei Zhao: "Anything else?"

Yu Tingwan cleared her throat.

Not long ago, someone on the street said that you are not interested in women.

"I then knew that hearsay should not be believed."

Wei Zhao:......

It's good that the girl has this understanding.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The lake surface shimmered with a faint light, the sand and stones were clearly visible, and the water was an emerald green.

Fishing was a piece of cake for Wei Zhao.

Yu Tingwan saw several wooden houses not far away.

Is anyone still living here?

Wei Zhao cleaned and gutted the fish and then set up a campfire.

It's pleasing to the eye to watch him do this.

Yu Tingwan found a clean, smooth stone to sit on and watched him take out two porcelain bottles, each no bigger than the palm of her hand, one containing oil and the other spices.

It can be seen that they are well prepared.

Wei Zhao was always meticulous and thorough in his work.

The man lowered his eyes as he brushed on the oil. His hands were long and beautiful, and his movements were unhurried.

"Wei's army is skilled in battle, but its soldiers are not an impenetrable wall. There will always be casualties. Some are completely destroyed, while others are left with only broken limbs and remains."

The border has buried countless skeletons.

Not far from the military camp, countless graves stand year after year.

Wei Zhao's eyes darkened.

Soldiers risk their lives on the battlefield and die in the end, but few people remember their sacrifices.

“Every time we return to Beijing, there are quite a few wounded people.”

“Not every place has a post station, and not every night you can find a place to stay.”

It was a remote place, with no village in sight and no shop in sight.

Wei's army were all rough men, and it was nothing unusual for them to sleep on the ground.

But Wei Zhao did not want the wounded to suffer.

"The summer heat and mosquitoes are bearable, but the cold winter is unbearable. Over the years, we have built quite a few wooden houses specifically for them to rest in."

There was some surprise, but not much. If Wei Zhao weren't good, the Wei family army wouldn't have followed him so closely.

In Yu Tingwan's memory, people in other military camps were not treated like human beings.

It doesn't matter if you die, there's conscription every year.

There's no shortage of people.

There are many rules inside, and they are inhumane.

Seeing soldiers who were sick or wounded, some seriously injured, barely clinging to life, yet being abandoned and left to die on the road, they simply ignored them.

After all, in those people's eyes, they are a burden.

Compared to other military camps, Wei's army was like heaven and hell.