Zhen Jili hurriedly pulled Ji Huan to the side of the road and, before she could react, pushed her head down.
The troop of men and horses swept past like a gust of wind, and Ji Huan got a noseful of dust, choking uncontrollably.
The riders had all passed, but Zhen Jili was still holding her down. Just as she was about to struggle free, she heard him hiss through gritted teeth, "Don't move!"
Just then, the clopping of horse hooves stopped right beside them.
A somewhat cold voice came from above.
"Why is a woman here?"
Ji Huan's heart leaped into her throat.
Zhen Jili stuttered nervously, "R-Reporting to the General, this is my younger sister. There's an urgent family matter, so she came to find me…"
Before them stood a fine black steed, its coat a solid color, save for its four hooves, which were as white as snow. It was a truly magnificent animal.
A tall man sat ramrod straight on the horse's back. He wore dark brocade robes under black armor, with a longsword at his waist and leather boots on his feet. The faint outline of bulging muscles could be seen on the arm that held the reins.
Ji Huan took a quick glance, but her eyes stopped at the horse's belly, not daring to look any higher.
After a moment's pause, the voice rang out again.
"Send her away as soon as possible."
The low, curt command carried an unspoken threat. Coming from him, it was a military order.
Zhen Jili quickly dropped to one knee. "Yes, sir! I'll send her away at once!"
The man on the horse said nothing more, turning his mount to enter the camp.
Ji Huan noticed Zhen Jili beside her had grown even more tense. His breathing was rough and hurried, and she could even hear him swallow hard.
Glancing to the side, she saw he was drenched in sweat, his brow deeply furrowed, and his eyes darting about. It was the look of someone facing an incredibly difficult decision.
'What is he going to do?'
The thought had barely formed when Zhen Jili suddenly shot to his feet, sprinted a few steps forward, and spread his arms to block the horse, shouting loudly:
"General, wait! Please hear me out!"
The horse was forced to a halt.
Zhen Jili frantically wiped the sweat from his brow and did his best to steady his trembling voice. "G-General, I have a solution! I-I can solve your worries, and I can solve the Great Zhou's urgent crisis…"
Ji Huan stood frozen, her head still bowed, completely dumbfounded.
'She hadn't expected Zhen Jili to be so bold. He was daring to propose a strategy to the biggest boss in the entire camp based solely on her word, without even running another test! She'd figured he might skip a rank or two, but she never imagined he'd leap this high up the chain of command!'
Zhen Jili's original plan had been to go back and study the formula, produce a finished product, test it on more soldiers, and only report his findings after confirming its efficacy.
But in that moment, he didn't know what had come over him. He had just acted on impulse...
Now, cold sweat dripped down his back and his legs were trembling, but he had no intention of backing down.
To be able to see the General and speak to him directly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
'If he missed this chance... The only people he knew were a few deputy commanders, and there was no guarantee they would present his findings for him. Even if they did, they might just take the credit. Wouldn't all his hard work be for naught?'
An intimidating silence descended. Mustering his courage, Zhen Jili slowly raised his head and met the General's gaze.
A shiver ran through him. Unable to bear the crushing pressure any longer, he silently retreated to the side, clearing the path.
'It's over, it's over, I was too reckless. How could the General possibly bother with a nobody like me? If the medical department finds out about this…'
The General urged his horse forward, his gaze sweeping over Zhen Jili and Ji Huan, who hadn't lifted her head the entire time.
"Settle your sister, then come to my tent to discuss this in detail."
Only after the rest of the riders had entered the camp did Zhen Jili snap out of his stupor.
"The General believes me? The General believes me?! The General believes me!!!"
He repeated it three times, then spun around and grabbed Ji Huan's shoulders in his excitement. "I'm going to make it! Sister, I'm going to make it! Did you hear me, sister? I can finally…"
He was rambling incoherently, repeating the word "sister" over and over, and as he spoke, he actually started to cry.
Ji Huan pushed him away, rubbing the shoulder he'd gripped painfully. "Don't get too into character, buddy. Who are you calling sister?"
Zhen Jili wiped his tears, paying no mind to her comment about being 'too into character.' He stammered a few words of thanks before taking off toward the camp, disappearing in a flash.
Ji Huan headed back the way she came, waiting for a while on the hillside before Uncle Xie finally appeared.
As expected, he hadn't managed to find out anything.
"A couple of years ago, General Kou was still stationed in Liaodong. The troops here were led by Old General Nie's son. The fighting was especially fierce back then, and a lot of men died. Perhaps…"
Ji Huan said nothing. In truth, she had already expected as much.
"'A general dies in a hundred battles; a warrior returns after ten years.' But in the end, how many ever return?"
'She sighed to herself. Still, she felt that selling the hand cream to the army was the right decision.'
'After all, if the war dragged on, it would not only consume vast resources, but also result in countless more casualties.'
'And what would happen when it was time for another conscription? It wasn't a distant concern.'
'Widow Xie's second son was of conscription age now. How many more tragedies like the one that befell Sixth Ancestor Grandma's family would there be?'
'And if the Great Zhou were to fall, Beiliang would drive straight through their lands. The people of the Northern Pass would be the first to be enslaved.'
'Viewed that way, she was contributing in her own small way, even if her original intention had only been to make money.'
The carriage was empty on the way back. Ji Huan sat cross-legged on the floorboards, watching the military camp shrink in the distance until it was nothing more than a tiny black dot.
She suddenly thought of the General on horseback.
Although she hadn't seen his face clearly, the murderous aura he exuded—one that could only be forged over years on the battlefield—had truly made her break out in a cold sweat.
'That must have been Kou Changqing.'
She'd heard he first donned armor and went to battle at thirteen, possessing the courage to hold a pass against ten thousand foes. Before he was even twenty, he had reclaimed the seven prefectures of Liaodong that Dongyue Country had seized early in the late emperor's reign, an unparalleled achievement. During the five years he guarded Liaodong, enemy forces fled at the mere rumor of his approach and never dared to invade again.
In contrast, the front at the Northern Pass had suffered one defeat after another.
The court had first sent Old General Nie to stand guard, but alas, the hero was old, and he soon shed his blood on the battlefield. He was replaced by his son, but it was a case of a tiger father siring a dog—the son was nothing more than an armchair general.
She'd heard that in the end, it was Mr. Zhang who had gone against the consensus at court to have Kou Changqing appointed as the joint Commander of the Northern Pass, hoping he could turn the tide.
Mr. Zhang's gamble had paid off.
In just a few short months, the Zhou Army had won victory after victory, not only reversing their decline but also beating Beiliang so badly they were left with no way to fight back. If the enemy hadn't also recently appointed a formidable new commander, the war might already be over.
Beiliang, a land of perpetual ice and snow, was accustomed to fighting in extreme cold. They had deliberately dragged the conflict out until winter, hoping to achieve a decisive victory in a single battle.
At least half of the Great Zhou's soldiers were conscripted from the South. With their hands and feet covered in frostbite, their combat effectiveness would be reduced by more than half, putting them at a major disadvantage.
If this problem could be solved, perhaps the Great Zhou army wouldn't have to desperately hold out until the spring thaw.
Ji Huan hoped with all her heart that the hand cream could truly make a difference.
She hoped this God of War from Liaodong could also become the guardian deity of their Northern Pass.