Wenren Chi's intention to deny turned to nothing when s.h.i.+ Junhe said the last words.

He was unable to deny.

But he couldn't admit boldly, either, so he had to smile bitterly.

“Father!”

Wenren Chi called in a soft voice, and even he didn't know what he was going to say next, or what else he could say.

s.h.i.+ Junhe smiled and suddenly asked, “Chi, do you know how many times you called me Father today?”

Wenren Chi was stunned.

s.h.i.+ Junhe then asked, “Do you remember since when you didn't like to call me Father?”

Wenren Chi raised his head in surprise and panicked.

“Don't be frightened. I don't mean to blame you,” s.h.i.+ Junhe comforted him.

But he turned to the dense fog outside the tent, as if recalling the past. “After I brought you home when you were young, you were afraid of strangers and refused to call me Father. Later, you got closer to Qingxue and mixed in this family as time pa.s.sed, and you became willing to call me Father gradually.

You don't know. I was scared then and thought…”

As if he thought of something funny, he curled up his lips slightly. “I thought you were telling me that you wanted to marry Qingxue, so you were willing to call me Father.”

Wenren Chi's face turned red again. “No. I sincerely take you as my father and want to get close to you. I always remember that you have been nice to me. Really!”

He stressed intentionally to convince s.h.i.+ Junhe or himself.

s.h.i.+ Junhe laughed with relief and patted the young man's uninjured left shoulder, soothing gently, “Stop. I know. I know that…”

After hesitating for a while, he said in a dignified voice, “You have your own consideration as you don't choose Qingxue. If you don't want to tell me, I won't ask… But I have taught you that you should be responsible for any of your choices. Now that you have chosen Baoning, no matter what would happen in the future, she is your wife. I hope you know how to treat her.”

Wenren Chi didn't hesitate this time and responded firmly, “Father… Please rest a.s.sured. Whatever would happen in the future, Baoning is and will be my only wife. I will do whatever I can to protect and love her for a lifetime. I will never break my promise.”

“Great! Great!”

s.h.i.+ Junhe finally relieved his tense expression, as if it was set in stone. Then he patted Wenren Chi's shoulder again.

He stood up with his back to Wenren Chi and said in a low voice out of the blue, “What's more, don't let Baoning know the deal between you and the Third Prince.”

Wenren Chi got stiffened all of a sudden and his mind went blank. There was only one thought in his brain, “s.h.i.+ Junhe has known it. This great man has seen through my dirty plan to take revenge.”

When he came back to reality, s.h.i.+ Junhe had walked out of the tent, as if nothing had happened just now.

Wenren Chi was restless and couldn't sit or stand. For several times, he wanted to rush to s.h.i.+ Junhe and ask, “What did you know?” or “Since you know my hatred toward you, how could you face me so calmly?”

But before he made the decision to talk with s.h.i.+ Junhe frankly, there were noises outside. A batman hurriedly rushed in to put on armor for him and meanwhile said, “The enemy came to attack. General s.h.i.+ told me to put on armor for you and prepare to fight.”

“What?”

Wenren Chi was taken aback. They had attacked several times, but the bandits on the Qingluo Mountain avoided meeting them. Now they made no move, but the bandits launched a surprise attack.

The bandits were not supposed to fight back the official soldiers in this way.

Would they want to defeat the troops of the s.h.i.+ Army with nearly ten thousand soldiers depending on about one hundred people?

Wenren Chi couldn't figure out those bandits' intention for now. He had to quickly walk to s.h.i.+ Junhe's tent.

Liu Caishu, Fu Chuan and other generals had arrived. s.h.i.+ Junhe had made arrangements before Wenren Chi came and said simply as soon as he came to sight, “Chi, later, you, General Fu and General Yan will lead the elites' team I leave to you to break out of the encirclement in the northwest. Don't keep fighting. Remember to conserve your forces and try to retreat from the Qingluo Mountain without injury.”

Wenren Chi frowned. “What about you?”

“General Liu and I will lead the remaining troops here to attack the bandits coming down from the mountain. Be sure to remember that the enemy must have expanded the strange tricks here, so you must be cautious when you retreat. Don't relax your vigilance. Understand?”

s.h.i.+ Junhe arranged casually, as if he didn't know about the hidden trouble.

But others were not fools. The general Yan Ji objected immediately, “General s.h.i.+, you are the commander-in-chief of the army. How can we let you fight in the forefront? If you are injured, we can't pay with our lives.”

“Right! General s.h.i.+, let me lead the soldiers to resist the enemy's attack. You retreat with General Chi, so that we can keep the foundation of the s.h.i.+ Army,” another general, Cao said.

The key point of the s.h.i.+ Army's name was s.h.i.+. This was an army created by Elder General s.h.i.+. Even the new soldiers were taught to be loyal to the s.h.i.+ Family, not the one in power, which was the reason why the soldiers of the s.h.i.+ Army other than the troop which used to belong to Wenren Bo were respectful but not fully loyal to Wenren Chi.

The reason was that he didn't have the family name of s.h.i.+.

s.h.i.+ Junhe waved his hand and stopped them from saying more, only stressing, “I don't need to explain, and all of you are clear about the current situation. Before breaking the array with five elements, we could never fight with those bandits. If we stay here, we would only be wounded or dead for nothing. Just do as I ordered. It's the most important to conserve our forces.”

Before they could say anything, s.h.i.+ Junhe looked at Wenren Chi and Fu Chuan, commanding, “This is my order. Just do it. Don't make me repeat it.”

“Yes, sir!”

All people had no choice but to agree.

All others left the tent one after another and went to make preparations. Only Wenren Chi stood there still.

Yan Ji was confused and wanted to call Wenren Chi, but Fu Chuan pulled him away.

“Chuan, why did you stop me? Didn't General s.h.i.+ tell us to take action as soon as possible?”

Fu Chuan sighed. “Perhaps they have something to talk about.”

“Talk?” General Yan's eyes lit up. “Does Chi also think General s.h.i.+'s idea is improper and plan to persuade him to retreat with us?”

Fu Chuan smiled bitterly. “I hope so, but it might not work.”

Yan Ji didn't think so and pouted. “It's nonsense to make the commander-in-chief follow in the rear. What is General s.h.i.+ thinking?”

The most important one in the army was the commander-in-chief. If he died, the s.h.i.+ Army would have to return to the capital city in frustration.

Fu Chuan wrinkled his brows and sighed helplessly. “General s.h.i.+ considers more than every one of us. First, if the general doesn't stay to resist the enemy, the remaining soldiers would probably know that they are abandoned and the morale would be low. How would they resist the attack?”

Even if the remaining soldiers would die, they needed a general to accompany them.

“Second, His Majesty ordered us to attack, but we have attacked several times and were defeated. Now that we are even going to retreat, His Majesty would surely blame us, so General s.h.i.+ will be left to…”

Yan Ji was speechless for a while and soon realized something wrong. “Aren't we retreating? Why would General s.h.i.+ be left here? Would he avoid being blamed if he stays here?”

“He would have gone. How would he be to blame…”

Fu Chuan mumbled and dragged him away, without caring if Yan Ji could understand.

In the tent, the two stood silently for quite a while, as if they were waiting for the other side to speak first.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was afraid they would delay and said, “Don't worry too much. Lead your soldiers to retreat as planned. We have suffered great losses this time, and I hope we will suffer no more.”

“What about you? Wouldn't you be a great loss?” Even if none of them said anything, they knew that s.h.i.+ Junhe would surely die if he stayed here.

Wenren Chi finally understood why the bandits on the Qingluo Mountain chose to attack at this time. It was difficult to destroy the whole s.h.i.+ Army, but it was easy to kill s.h.i.+ Junhe alone, and this man was willing to walk right into the trap.

s.h.i.+ Junhe laughed and said out of the blue, “Chi, we are father and son. I don't want to be your enemy.”

Since he had said that, Wenren Chi knew that s.h.i.+ Junhe was clear about everything and had made the best arrangement for their grat.i.tude and resentment. They didn't have to be enemies but they knew everything.

Such an end must be the most satisfying for Wenren Chi. He could take revenge and face s.h.i.+ Qingxue calmly. He didn't need to feel powerless when Qingxue inquired him in his dream every night.

But he felt grieved and restless with anxiety.

It was terrifying that he suddenly didn't want s.h.i.+ Junhe to die in this way.

“Then…” Wenren Chi struggled with a lot of thoughts and finally said with difficulty, “I will stay, too.”

After speaking, he felt relaxed all of a sudden.

But s.h.i.+ Junhe refused determinedly, with his face changing. “No way!”

For fear that his voice was too tough, he softened his tone and advised, “Chi, listen to me. The s.h.i.+ Army is the effort of my father and me, including your father's hard work. Any single soldier couldn't be injured easily. I won't rest a.s.sured if I leave the army to anybody else, and I am sure you won't, either.”

He used the tactic to retreat for the sake of advancing.

But it was pointless to cope with the stubborn Wenren Chi.

He lowered his head and responded unhurriedly, “Life and death are decreed by fate. Let's listen to G.o.d.”

It was fine no matter G.o.d decided to make s.h.i.+ Junhe stay alive or die at last. And his own ending was not important.

s.h.i.+ Junhe was calm when he decided to face death but was easily irritated by Wenren Chi's words, with his beard trembling. However, no matter what he said, Wenren Chi didn't answer but showed an expression with his neck high, indicating that “Even if you punish me, I will admit my destiny. And I will surely stay here.”

“You are the only child of the Wenren Family. Are you going to disregard it?” s.h.i.+ Junhe rubbed his brows tiredly, with complex feelings.

His guilt toward Wenren Bo urged him to make a decision, but unexpectedly, Wenren Chi chose to die with him.

It was…

Wenren Chi didn't nod or shake his head or dissuade him. He just said, “I am going out to select the soldiers who would be left to resist.”

He went away without looking back, as if he was afraid that he would change his mind.

s.h.i.+ Junhe had no choice. He didn't even know why it would have become like this. He wanted to save that child, but would he drag the boy down to die with him?

“Bo, would I have to apologize to you once more?”

When he was worried, lost in thought, a clear and joyful voice came into his mind like the suns.h.i.+ne penetrating the dense fog.

“Father, here I am.”