Chapter 245.1: Hello Chang’an
Chapter 245.1: Worrying About the Ancestral Tomb
“Damn it, I just momentarily lost myself… how dare I raise my voice at Your Highness!”
So hateful—this woman was truly fated to clash with him!
“N-nothing…” Chang Kuo’s eyes were full of affection yet still respectful. “Just asking… how are the injuries? Any critical wounds?”
“Don’t worry.” Chang Suining smiled at him. “A mere Ge Zong, how could he possibly harm me?”
Chang Kuo felt a pang in his heart—just bragging, then.
But looking at the wounds all over her…
It had been a long time since he’d seen someone so fond of bragging.
It had been that way in the past, and it remained the same now.
The heavy snow blurred the view. Chang Kuo drew in a breath of icy air, gripping the reins and turning his face away. Large tears finally rolled down his cheeks.
Chang Suining tilted her head, looking at him. “What’s wrong?”
Chang Kuo said nothing, only letting his broad shoulders twitch slightly.
Chang Suining understood, sighing lightly toward the sky.
For a woman who had been strong all her life, rarely shedding a tear since childhood, it was remarkable that the people around her—one or two—were crying like babies.
She could understand the crying in the private chamber with Wu Jue, but now, in front of so many people…
It was different.
Chang Kuo’s bond with Ah Li was deeper than Wu Jue’s, though both were fatherly relationships.
He had carried these feelings for a long time, far longer than she could imagine. For her, the years after death felt like the blink of an eye, but for him, they had been real twelve years.
Twelve years of pain, just like his leg injury, every flare-up piercing to the bone. Even when he suppressed it in silence, it never left him.
So when the tears came, they could not be stopped.
All those pent-up emotions overwhelmed him, and he didn’t even realize he had cried all the way to the Prefect’s Mansion.
He never made a sound, only tears dropping one after another. Perhaps because of this, the tightness in his chest worsened. Combined with his recent fatigue and the end of the battle, his body finally gave out.
“Plop!”
As Chang Kuo dismounted outside the Prefect’s Mansion, he suddenly tilted and fell into the snow.
“General Chang!”
“Father!”
Everyone was shocked and rushed forward.
The Northern Di Princess, who had just dismounted behind, covered her mouth in surprise—what had happened?
Had he been startled by seeing her?
Even at his age, could he not handle such a little shock?
While they helped him, she hurried forward, nervously checking his breathing.
Thankfully, he was still conscious…
Chang Kuo sensed her action and, thinking she wanted him dead, rolled his eyes and fainted completely.
The Princess hurriedly urged, “Quick… get him inside!”
That night, both the Prefect’s Mansion and Hezhou were sleepless—except for the unconscious Chang Kuo.
He slept for two full days.
On the third day, when he woke, Deputy General Jin was by his side.
“General, you’re finally awake!”
He leaned forward to help Chang Kuo sit up.
Chang Kuo felt sore all over. As he tried to recall what had happened before fainting, his brow furrowed tighter.
After so many years without seeing him, and now he had fainted in front of this woman… surely someone had carried him back!
He clenched his newly weak fists in indignation.
“You’ve been unconscious for two full days…”
Hearing this, Chang Kuo’s face turned darker—two whole days!
“Why didn’t anyone wake me?”
Leaving him to sleep like that? Couldn’t they have tried something, like having a physician give a few injections, or at least dumping a bucket of ice water over him to wake him up? There were plenty of methods!
“You were completely unconscious at first, but later only asleep.” Deputy General Jin scratched his head, smiling apologetically. “Even I could hear your snores… You’ve been extremely tired lately. Two days of rest was probably good for you.”
Chang Kuo remained resentful. “So many urgent matters outside need my attention, and no one asked me?”
Deputy General Jin whispered, “It was the young lady’s order.”
“The young…” Chang Kuo stiffened.
“Suining gave the order…”
Ah… that explained it.
He checked his body for a moment and nodded slowly. “Hmm… after these two days’ rest, I feel much better.”
“….” A brief pause, then Deputy General Jin smiled knowingly. “I knew it. You simply needed rest, General!”
The phrase “rest” could have meant “discipline,” at least from a daughter’s perspective.
Then, the exhausted general began looking for his daughter.
Deputy General Jin quickly replied, “The young lady is currently with Madam Yun. I’ll have her sent here immediately!”
Hearing Madam Yun, Chang Kuo asked about the Yun family mother and son’s injuries.
“They were seriously injured… Madam Yun was also unconscious for a while and just woke this morning. The physician says that since they’ve woken, there’s no threat to their lives.” Deputy General Jin added, “Second Young Master can now get out of bed to handle the Prefect’s Mansion affairs.”
Chang Kuo finally relaxed. “That’s good.”
Thinking of Yun Hui’s heavy injuries, he couldn’t help but comment, “Youth really is wonderful.”
Unlike him—he was already old.
Chang Kuo suddenly felt a pang of melancholy. He had never feared aging, but seeing his old master still young and energetic while he himself was frail and partially disabled… he realized his ability to contribute was limited.
Lost in thought, he heard footsteps crunching in the snow outside.
“Father, you’re awake?”
Chang Suining entered with soldiers respectfully calling her “Young Lady.”
Deputy General Jin also hurriedly saluted. “Young Lady!”
Chang Suining smiled and nodded. “Thank you, General Jin, for your efforts these past two days.”
“Not at all!” Deputy General chuckled. “The young lady has been busy with the city’s affairs!”
Chang Kuo waved to his subordinates. “Alright, all of you stay outside. I need to… speak with Suining alone.”
They bowed and left.
Chang Kuo rose from the bed slowly, every movement deliberate.
He knelt on one knee, clasped his fists, his voice hoarse and trembling. “…I failed to welcome Your Highness properly.”
As he tried to move, Chang Suining reached to help but couldn’t.
He was like a mountain—unyielding and firm.
“What do you mean ‘failed to welcome properly’? Should I have gone to the underworld to greet you?”
Unable to move him, Chang Suining said firmly, “Sit up and speak.”
“Yes!” Chang Kuo lifted his head and sat, tears brimming.
Chang Suining teased, “If you faint from crying again, your reputation won’t survive. The soldiers might even start gossiping—crying day and night, can you out-cry Xu Zhengye?”
Chang Kuo forced the tears back.
Chang Suining pressed a hand to his shoulder, helped him sit by the bed, poured him some hot tea, and sat herself on a nearby stool.
“Thank you, Your Highness…” Chang Kuo’s heart calmed, and he grasped the tea cup. His expression was complex. “Your Highness, you…”
He had no idea how to even start.
Chang Suining understood. “I’ll speak. You just listen.”
The room was warm, a brazier glowing, incense burning. It kept the cold at bay.
She began recounting how she had woken from her springtime near-death in Hezhou’s Zhoujia Village.
“I failed to protect Ah Li… I feel guilty for not fulfilling Your Highness’s trust. Please punish me if you must.” Chang Kuo spoke with grief.
“Ah Li’s accident was both chance and human error. Zhou Ding and the Pei family have already paid their dues. By worldly standards, it’s over.” Chang Suining said, “If there’s karmic debt, it’s between her and me. It is not yours.”
“Wu Jue once said that my insistence on saving Ah Li disrupted her destined course, leaving her soul unstable and unable to form true bonds in this world.”
Chang Suining recalled her later discussion with Wu Jue: “So she remained weak and timid, never able to fully flourish, despite all the protection and love she received.”
Chang Kuo was stunned. Everything had a reason and a karmic order.
“I have secretly arranged a proper memorial for Ah Li with Wu Jue. All karmic debt between us has been repaid. In the next life, she should be reborn into a family with loving parents, able to live healthy and carefree.”
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