ROHYX Chapter 666 : Retreat

Dark clouds covered the entire sky, plunging the land into darkness. Shortly afterwards, raindrops the size of beans began to fall, drummin...

Dark clouds covered the entire sky, plunging the land into darkness. Shortly afterwards, raindrops the size of beans began to fall, drumming against the windows with a sharp, crackling sound.

Yuxi stood inside the house, watching the raindrops splash into blossoms of water on the ground. Soon, the rainwater streamed down the eaves, gradually merging into a steady flow.

Momo Quan asked, "With such heavy rain, won't this battle be even harder to fight?"

Yuxi smiled and replied, "The Northern Barbarians aren't fools. With such heavy rain, they'll likely halt the fighting." Defending a city was hard on rainy days, but attacking it was even harder. After ten days of battle, Yuxi believed that the Northern Barbarians must also be utterly exhausted. Their own side had already lost more than a hundred thousand troops, and the enemy's casualties were certainly no fewer.

Momo Quan's expression eased considerably. "Once those Northern Barbarians retreat, the General should be back as well." Speaking of it, she had only ever heard of Yun Qing and had never seen him in person!

Yuxi laughed. "Not that fast—at least a few more days!" That Bate'er truly lived up to his title of 'madman', attacking for ten days and nights straight. Fortunately, they had powerful reinforcements; otherwise, Yu City wouldn't have held out.

Just as Yuxi had predicted, the heavy rain made the Northern Barbarians' siege very difficult. Although Bate'er wanted to capture the city, he wouldn't sacrifice his men.

Seeing the Northern Barbarians withdraw—even though everyone knew it was only a temporary truce—people still sighed in relief. After ten days and nights of battle, even the stoutest warrior would have been worn down.

Gao Song looked at Yun Qing and said, "General, you should rest." Yun Qing had rushed back from Haocheng, travelling day and night with little sleep.

Upon returning to Yu City, Yun Qing went straight to the battlefield, where he fought for another three days without closing his eyes. By this time, his eyes were bloodshot. Gao Song was concerned that Yun Qing might collapse from sheer exhaustion if he didn't rest.

Yun Qing didn't try to act tough. After giving Chu Shaoguang a few instructions, he went to lie down in a nearby room. "If the Northern Barbarians attack again, be sure to wake me."

When the rain stopped, Gao Song couldn't bring himself to wake Yun Qing. He just wanted the General to sleep a little longer—after all, that man hadn't had a proper rest in over ten days, and even an iron man wouldn't be able to bear it.

Chu Shaoguang hurried in and reported, "General, the Northern Barbarians have retreated. They've retreated..." He thought that the barbarians would resume their siege once the rain stopped. He never expected them to withdraw.

Just as Gao Song was about to stop him, Yun Qing woke up. At this moment, Yun Qing's mind was especially sharp. He asked, "You're saying the Northern Barbarians have retreated?"

Chu Shaoguang nodded. "Yes, the Northern Barbarians have retreated." Joy was evident on his face as he spoke.

But Yun Qing's face showed no joy. He replied coldly, "They sure ran fast." Forty thousand reinforcements, all armed with fine weapons, were due to arrive tonight. Yun Qing had planned to wait until they arrived and then lead them out of the city to clash directly with the Northern Barbarians. However, Bate'er had fled so quickly that this plan had become useless.

Although Yun Qing felt regret, for the soldiers who had defended the city against the Northern Barbarians, the enemy's retreat meant that Yu City had held out. They all felt the joy of having escaped death by the skin of their teeth. Yet when they looked at the mountains of corpses, grief overwhelmed them once again.

Yun Qing left the task of clearing the battlefield to Chu Shaoguang and Cui Mo, while he took Gao Song back to the Yun residence. After being away from home for more than four months, Yun Qing now longed to return home with the urgency of a flying arrow.

Once Yun Qing had left, Chu Shaoguang lowered his voice and asked, "Old Cui, why did the General look so angry just now when he heard that the Northern Barbarian troops had withdrawn? Isn't their retreat supposed to be a good thing?"

Cui Mo replied, "The reinforcements will arrive tonight. Their weapons and equipment are the finest. If the Northern Barbarians hadn't retreated, they would all have been wiped out here." Then he cursed: "D@mn it! That disgusting lot really are sly. They realised something was wrong and pulled back."

Chu Shaoguang's face lit up with joy. "What's so good about the reinforcement weapons and equipment?" If Yu City's soldiers had been better equipped, at least half of them would not have died.

Cui Mo responded, "Full suits of armour, swords and spears forged from fine steel — tell me, isn't that good?" These weapons had belonged to Ji Xuan's private soldiers. When the Northwest Army attacked Haocheng, they suffered heavy losses at the hands of those soldiers. Once Haocheng had fallen, while the other prisoners were spared, these men were all killed. Not only were they killed, but their weapons and armour were stripped from them as well.

Hearing this, Chu Shaoguang's eyes shone with excitement.

Cui Mo patted Chu Shaoguang on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. The Northwest will be ours in the future. By then, we'll have all the armour and fine weapons we could want."

Hearing this, Chu Shaoguang quickly asked, "You lot who followed the General must have struck it rich. Pitiful brother me, I didn't even get to drink the meat broth¹." Those who had followed Yun Qing out of Yu City — as long as they survived — were said to have made a fortune. Or so he had heard.

Cui Mo laughed. "What are you talking about? All the plundered wealth was confiscated by the General." He then became serious and explained, "The General said that the money should be kept for the families of the brothers who died in battle. Hearing this, those who had gone along with him didn't try to grab more. They just pocketed a little and stopped." A few pieces of jewellery or a couple of silver ingots, yes — but nothing more. They were alive and could still earn money to support their families. However, the wives and children of the deceased would have to rely on that compensation to survive.

Chu Shaoguang knew Cui Mo's character — he was someone who called things as they were. So he dropped talking about earlier rumours and urged, "Enough about that! Let's go clean up the battlefield!"

Cui Mo wasn't the type to overthink. Hearing this, he replied, "You can handle that yourself. I haven't had a good night's sleep for days. Let me finally get some real rest!"

In truth, Chu Shaoguang was exhausted, too, but when he saw Cui Mo's bloodshot eyes, he couldn't bring himself to refuse. He smiled. "Then you go ahead and sleep well. Come and help me after you've rested."

The rain had stopped, and the air was exceptionally fresh. Yuxi was inside the house with Zaozao and Liu-er when Jian Gancao came hurrying in, smiling and calling out: "Madam, there's a rainbow outside! You must come and see — it's beautiful."

The sky was a brilliant azure, and red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet intertwined in radiant harmony, like a golden bridge stretching majestically across the heavens.

Yuxi carried Liu-er out of the side room and stood in the yard to look up at it. She then lowered her head and asked Liu-er, "Look at that rainbow, isn't it beautiful?" If she had been a better painter, she would have painted this beautiful scene to treasure forever.

Three-month-old Liu-er knew nothing about beauty. She just blew little bubbles towards the dazzling, multicoloured rainbow in the sky. But Zaozao, who was in Zeng Shi's arms, clapped her hands very approvingly and exclaimed, "Mom, rainbow! Pretty, pretty!"

Zeng Shi praised her, saying, "Such a clever girl; she learns instantly."

When Yuxi heard this, she frowned. Children could not always be praised—too much praise would make them proud and conceited. However, Yuxi didn't want to correct Zeng Shi in front of everyone and planned to remind her privately instead.

As the rainbow slowly faded, Yuxi carried Liu-er back inside.

When Yun Qing returned to the residence, he didn't ask Xu Wu for a report and went straight to the back courtyard. Seeing this, Gao Song quietly reminded him, "General, you haven't bathed for half a month. Should you wash up before seeing Madam?" They still remembered the time when Yun Qing had actually suffocated Yuxi with his body odour. Now that Madam was unwell, it would not be good if she fainted again.

Yun Qing glanced at Gao Song, who immediately pulled his head back.

As soon as he stepped into the back courtyard, he heard Zaozao's joyful laughter. Hearing that sound, all of Yun Qing's exhaustion vanished in an instant.

Hearing the firm, resonant footsteps, Yuxi stood up with delight. Just as she rose, Yun Qing lifted the curtain and entered.

Zaozao looked at the bearded man standing at the door, tilting her head and her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she wondered who he was and what he was doing at her house.

Yuxi had a lot to tell Yun Qing, but in the end, what came out was: "You're back." A thousand thoughts and words condensed into just those words.

Yun Qing stepped forward and embraced Yuxi, replying softly, "Mm, I'm back—safe and sound."

Yuxi hugged Yun Qing back tightly, choking up: "It's good you're back, it's good you're back." Now that he had returned home safely, she no longer had to live in constant fear.

Zaozao wasn't having it. She didn't know which villain had made her mother cry, but she shouted, "Mom, bad man! Beat the bad man..." as she crawled towards him. She had crawled to the edge of the bed without realising, and then rolled straight off. Zaozao always fell off the bed. The first time she did so, she bumped her head and got a big lump. After that, they put thick quilts on the floor so that she wouldn't get hurt if she fell off again.

Yuxi wiped her tears, pushed Yun Qing aside, and said with a smile, "With this little tyrant's temper, what will we do in the future!"

Having rolled onto the quilt, Zaozao quickly crawled over it and stood up. She approached them, pushing Yun Qing hard and chanting: "Bad man, bad man..."

Yun Qing scooped Zaozao up and said with a laugh, "This girl—what a forgetful one! Only four months apart, and she's already forgotten me."

Yuxi laughed. "With that full beard, how could she recognise you?" It had only been four months, yet Yun Qing's beard had grown back again. She remembered when she first met him, she thought he looked like some bandit who had come out of nowhere!

Yun Qing kissed Zaozao and said while kissing her, "Zaozao, I'm your father. Don't you remember? I'm your Dad."

But Zaozao didn't want him to hold her. She struggled hard, but when she couldn't break free, she cried in distress. "Stinky, stinky..." Yun Qing hadn't bathed in a month, and after spending the last few days killing enemies, his smell was unbearable — even for most adults, let alone Zaozao, who was used to things smelling nice.

Yun Qing gently patted Zaozao's bottom. "And to think your father dotes on you so much—yet not only have you forgotten me, you even dislike me now."

Yuxi said with a smile, "You really do stink terribly—go wash up! Once you're clean and shaved your beard, Zaozao will recognise you again."

Yun Qing shook his head. "Although the Northern Barbarians have retreated, there are still many things I need to take care of: clearing the battlefield and burying the fallen soldiers, for example. All of this must be done."

Yuxi said nothing more, merely fetching a set of clothes for Yun Qing to change into. "Come back early, and I'll ask Mama Bai to make your favourite lamb dumplings."

Yun Qing nodded. "Alright."

Footnotes Full List

1. 连肉汤都没喝着 (lián ròutāng dōu méi hē zhe) → idiom/slang meaning not getting even the smallest share of the benefits.

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