Reborn After Widowhood – Chapter 122
Chapter 122
The imperial army stayed outside Wuduo Mountain for several days.
During this period, Ling Rucheng personally led his soldiers to dig a grave outside the mountain.
As for the soldiers who died in the Battle of Wuduo Mountain, except for a few generals who could be transported back to the capital for burial by their families, the vast majority of soldiers could only leave a small wooden plaque with their place of origin and name engraved on it and wait for the court to give their family pension, and then they would be buried together with thousands of comrades in this extremely simple tomb in the barren mountains, sharing the same tombstone.
On the day when the dead were officially buried, Hua Yang, on behalf of her mother empress and younger brother in the palace, led Ling Rucheng and the other generals to watch the ceremony and burn incense.
The mountain wind was biting cold, blowing the hem of Hua Yang’s plain white skirt.
Her hand holding the incense was stiffened by the wind, but she actually didn’t feel anything. She just looked at the grave pit and the lonely tombstone in front of her with compassion.
.In her previous life, after Chen Jingzong went to war, Hua Yang also dreamed of him, not just for a night or two.
In the final analysis, at that time, she was just disgusted with Chen Jingzong’s various unscrupulousness. There was no deep hatred between the two. In the four years of husband and wife getting along, apart from sarcasm, there were also laughter. Even the intimacy in bed, which she resisted, was not the whole torment. There were times when she remembered that her body was soft and her face felt hot.
Now that Chen Jingzong was standing beside her, she no longer had to spend many long nights sleeping alone. But how heartbroken and sad must be the parents and wives of these men in the grave?
After offering incense, Hua Yang returned to the camp with red eyes and cold cheeks.
Chen Jingzong came over with a warm towel, sat next to her, and helped her wiped her face.
His face also looked unusually heavy. Hua Yang asked, “How many people in your guard station that sacrifices their lives in this battle?”
Chen Jingzong lowered his eyes: “One thousand one hundred and thirty-two people.”
Hua Yang hugged his neck and pressed her face against his shoulder.
She had never met these people, but Chen Jingzong had trained with them for more than a year and fought side by side with them on the battlefield.
Chen Jingzong didn’t want her to be immersed in such sad emotions, so he smiled and patted her back: “Okay, it’s over. Pack up quickly. The army is about to set off.”
The death of tens of thousands of soldiers in exchange for the stability of hundreds of thousands of millions of people was worth it.
.
The imperial army captured Prince Yu in Nanyang Prefecture in Henan, which was two thousand miles away from the capital.
Speaking of which, if Hua Yang and Chen Jingzong went to the Chen family’s old house in Lingzhou instead, it would be much closer.
But no matter how far the journey was, they still have to go back to the capital.
It was a scorching summer when they left, but when they returning to the capital, they encountered a freezing cold winter. No matter how tightly the tents were pitched at night, the wind could still find gaps and get in, making the pots of charcoal fire seem useless.
Strange to say, the quilts used by Chao Yun and Chao Yue at night were not as warm as those in Hua Yang, but the two maids were fine while but Hua Yang was infected by the wind cold. She kept coughing while sitting in the carriage during the day and even kept coughing when sleeping in the tent at night.
After nightfall, Chen Jingzong sneaked over quietly.
In order to conceal his presence, the lights in Hua Yang’s tent were turned off early.
“I told you not to join the army before. You’re sick now, aren’t you?”
Squeezed into the bed, Chen Jingzong said while touching her forehead.
Fortunately, there were two imperial doctors who followed her. After two nights and one day of fever, her forehead was finally no longer hot.
Hua Yang said weakly: “If you came here just to say this, you can leave now.”
Chen Jingzong: “I came here to serve Grand Princess in bed.”
Hua Yang pinched the inside of his right upper arm so many times in vain. Hua Yang already knew that the flesh on his body was too tight, only the flesh on the inside of his upper arm was easier to pinch.
In fact, there was a lot of meat around the thighs, but when she reached out there, Chen Jingzong instead became happy.
When the flesh of his arm was pinched, Chen Jingzong took a sharp breath: “Warming the bed is also a kind bed serving, what did I say wrong?”
Hua Yang: “No matter what you say, you start making mistakes from the moment you open your mouth.”
Chen Jingzong: “Okay, I’ll shut up now.”
As he spoke, he held her waist, lifted her up, and kissed her.
Hua Yang immediately turned her face away and pushed him away: “I’m sick like this, if you kiss me, won’t you afraid I pass on the sickness to you?”
Chen Jingzong took her back, held her warm cheeks in his hands and said, “With just your skills, can you still make me sick? If you can make me sneeze, you win.”
Maybe Hua Yang’s illness was not serious enough. After a few days, she recovered, and Chen Jingzong didn’t seem to be affected at all.
But at night, Chen Jingzong would still sneak over, euphemistically saying that he would warm her bed.
Hua Yang was afraid of being seen, but she really liked Chen Jingzong’s “bed serving” method. With the quilt covered and this “big heater” with just the right temperature beside her, even if the cold wind howled with snowflakes outside the tent, Hua Yang did not feel any cold.
The next morning, the wind had stopped but the snow was still falling, so it was covered with snow outside.
Chen Jingzong got up early and went to Ling Rucheng’s commander tent for a while. After coming out, he went straight to Hua Yang.
Hua Yang was sitting on a chair wearing a cloak and was letting Chao Yun comb her hair.
Seeing the snowflakes on Chen Jingzong’s hair and shoulders, Hua Yang could imagine how heavy the snow outside.
Chen Jingzong took the feather duster from Wu Run’s hand, and while sweeping the snow on his shoulders, he looked at Hua Yang and said, “Commander Ling said that the army will continue to be stationed here and wait until the snow stops before setting off.”
Hua Yang nodded.
After Hua Yang get dressed up, Chao Yue came back from the kitchen, carrying a food box, which contained vegetarian dumplings that she had made for the princess and prince consort, as well as vinegar sauce for dipping.
After placing the dishes and chopsticks, Wu Run and the others left.
Chen Jingzong used a large bowl and Hua Yang used a small bowl. The two sat facing each other, one tall and strong and the other slender and exquisite, just like the pair of bowls.
Chen Jingzong glanced at Hua Yang and whispered: “Do you still shed tears when you think of the late emperor recently?”
Hua Yang shook her head.
Chen Jingzong: “Then, do you want me to get some meat to replenish your health?”
Hua Yang glared at him.
Chen Jingzong: “We are the people who stole fish together during the filial piety of our old lady. Why do you have to stick to etiquette in front of me. As I said before, the old lady never wants me to eat vegetarian food and go hungry for those false etiquettes. The late emperor loves you so much, and he only hopes that you will eat more and drink more, and return to your previous round and beautiful appearance as soon as possible.”
Hua Yang was still silent.
Chen Jingzong: “Are you afraid that one day I will laugh at you for this?”
Hua Yang neither admitted nor denied.
Chen Jingzong raised his hands and swore to Heavens: “If I dare to ridicule you for this, I will let Heavens punish me to be your eunuch in this life and the next life.”
Hua Yang smiled, picked up a dumpling and took a small bite, but still said: “Chao Yue and Feng gonggong are both good cooks. It doesn’t make much difference to me to eat meat or vegetables, so why should I break the rules for this. But if you are craving for meat, feel free to eat it, as long as you don’t keep it in front of my eyes and don’t let others see you, I’ll just pretend I didn’t know.”
Chen Jingzong looked at her: “I can eat the meat by myself, but I can’t do the other thing by myself.”
Even if Hua Yang couldn’t understand his words, she could still understand his eyes.
She glared at him, lowered her eyelashes and said, “Don’t worry, since I promised you, I won’t default on my debt.”
Chen Jingzong looked serious: “I’m not insisting on it, it’s just at that time, I wanted to know if you were willing to break the rules for me.”
Hua Yang gently stirred the dumpling soup in the bowl with a white porcelain spoon: “Then let’s forget what I promised you before. You respect Father Emperor so much, Father Emperor’s spirit in heaven will also be happy.”
Chen Jingzong: “I do respect the late emperor, but that can’t be counted. Otherwise, if our family’s old lady knows that I can faithfully mourn for the late emperor but refuse to obediently show filial piety to her, she’ll be furious. What if something happened again, and she refuse to entrust you with a dream to help me?”
Hua Yang picked up a fat, white dumpling and handed it to him.
Chen Jingzong opened his mouth knowingly and concentrated on eating the dumplings without saying anything.
After eating the hot dumplings, Hua Yang felt warm all over and wanted to go out for a walk.
Chen Jingzong was not the kind of old man who think that people who were sick should lie still on the bed to recuperate. Not to mention that now the snowflakes were fluttering and there was no wind, which was perfect for the delicate princess, who had just recovered from the cold, to go out and get some fresh air.
Since she was going out, Hua Yang put on a pair of thick-soled fox fur boots, and the jacket and cloak she wore were all white. With the hood on, if she stood alone in the snow far away, no one would be able to spot her.
Chen Jingzong held the umbrella with one hand, and raised the other hand for Hua Yang to hold as Wu Run was used to doing.
In the ice and snow, the soldiers who had travelled long distances did not have the leisure of the grand princess and prince consort. At this moment, they all stayed in their respective tents, preferring to huddle together with dozen soldiers, sniffing each other’s foot and sweat, rather than venturing out to enjoy the snow.
Chen Jingzong took Hua Yang out of the military camp.
The surrounding area was completely white, and even the tents in the military camp were covered with snow. Only some soldiers on duty were scattered among them, stamping their feet from time to time.
“Where to go?” Hua Yang asked uneasily after leaving the military camp for some distance.
Chen Jingzong: “There is a tree over there, do you see it?”
Hua Yang followed his line of sight and saw an old tree in the vast whiteness. Its bare branches were covered with snow, and it was hard to tell what kind it was.
Hua Yang followed Chen Jingzong step by step.
As they got closer, Chen Jingzong led Hua Yang around the old tree, and four lines of footprints circled the old tree.
Hua Yang was actually reluctant to destroy the inside of the circle.
Chen Jingzong asked her: “Would you like to build a snowman?”
Hua Yang put her hand deeper into fox fur muff: “You can build it yourself, I’ll watch.”
Chen Jingzong sneered: “When we were in Lingzhou, you still disliked the small snow in our Lingzhou. The snow in the north is heavy, but I didn’t see you liking it that much.”
Hua Yang: “I like it with my eyes.”
Chen Jingzong looked at her delicate and warm fox fur muff and went to collect snow by himself. Finally, he piled two three-foot-tall little snowmen in the circle, holding hands.
The little snowmen one was tall and one was short, and their heads were all round balls. It was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.
Hua Yang deliberately asked: “Is this your father holding your hand when you were a child?”
Chen Jingzong:……
He almost pushed the big snowman away!
It was definitely impossible to push, so Chen Jingzong found a thin branch in the snow and wrote “husband” and “wife” on the round bellies of the two snowmen.
Hua Yang said disgustedly: “I’m not that ugly.”
Chen Jingzong squatted in front of the snowman and raised the corners of his lips: “What nonsense are you talking about? These are your parents-in-law.”
Hua Yang:……
She didn’t care whether the snow was icy or not. She held the fox fur in one hand, grabbed a handful of snow from the ground with the other, and threw it at Chen Jingzong’s shameless face!
Why aren’t you updating??? Is everything alright?
I’m a little sad, today marks the third day I’ve visited for my daily dose of Hua Yang and Jingzong only to find it empty 🥺😞
Hope Ollie (TL) is healthy and well?
I also hope all is well! Reading the daily chapter is part of my routine and I have been feeling all out of sorts ever since this last update, checking every day – I really enjoy the story but your well being is the most important!
So funny! I love their banter. Sadly for Jingzong, the old lady doesn’t have much more to tell him because a lot has changed and she passed only a few years later in her other life. Will he blame her then for not breaking the taboos?