The Tyrant's Beloved Empress

52

An Chang Qing said those strong words with gnashing teeth but his red eyes and nose simply did not match his words. He reminded Xiao Zhige of a little silver fox that he had encountered while hunting. After being cornered, the small animal was also trying to seem brave by bearing its teeth this way.

Xiao Zhige smiled unconsciously. He patted his back gently as though smoothing out the ruffled fur of the frightened silver fox. He softly reassured him, "En, this will not happen again."

An Chang Qing's strained body gradually relaxed under Xiao Zhige's consolation. He rested his head on his shoulder and said in a muffled voice, "I understand that certain military affairs cannot be disclosed even to family members but you cannot hide the severity of the matter from me."

"I will not hide anything from you again. In the future, whatever you want to know, I will tell you everything."

Thinking back, Xiao Zhige was truly regretful that he did not let An Chang Qing know. Initially, it was to keep him from worrying but what if he had returned a few days later and Yanzhou's defense was broken? With An Chang Qing's stubbornness, he would not have abandoned Yanzhou and fled.

Xiao Zhige knew that the person in his arms may seem delicate but his claws were actually quite sharp.

An Chang Qing let Xiao Zhige hug him a little longer before leaving his embrace to resume combing his hair.

As his fingers swept past, Xiao Zhige suddenly grabbed his wrist. He looked at the blisters on his hand and frowned, "What happened?"

On the tender pair of hands were patches of blisters. Some of which had already popped, leaving a layer of dried skin and some new ones which had just begun to form. The fair-skinned hands had turned rugged with uneven patches of marred skin.

Seeing An Chang Qing pulling back his hand, Xiao Zhige did not ask further and said, "The bubbles have to be pricked before we can apply medicine."

"Pricking the bubbles is painful. And applying medicine is inconvenient when I have to use my hands. Plus, it's nothing serious."

Xiao Zhige's face turned black and An Chang Qing knew he was losing the fight. He said reluctantly, "I'll do it later."

"I'll help you."

Since An Chang Qing's hand was injured, Xiao Zhige did not have the heart to let him continue to comb his hair either. He called Chen Su to help him dress and they both went to see Hu Shi Fei.

When they returned from Hu Shi Fei's place, they saw Qi Wei and Tie Hu talking to Chen Su in the courtyard.

Once the war was over, Qi Wei was quite jubilant. Knowing that Xiao Zhige was wounded, he quickly brought Tie Hu to visit.

"What are you doing here?" Xiao Zhige narrowed his eyes and looked at them unpleasantly.

"We heard that you were injured so we came to visit," Qi Wei was oblivious to the hostility in Xiao Zhige's tone and babbled on with ignorance. He also did not forget to speak up for his good brother, "Xie Ling said that he had something urgent to do and could not come. I say, the war is over, what's there that's so urgent?"

Xiao Zhige smiled, "Xie Ling is right."

Eh? Qi Wei was baffled.

Xiao Zhige slowly explained, "It seems that you can afford to be idle. Don't you know that the soldiers have begun to work on the fields? Since you have nothing to do, go help them out."

Qi Wei, "Ha?"

Xiao Zhige continued, "Whoever else is free is required to go."

Qi Wei, "..."