MLIAM Chapter 38
by VolareThe army officially set off.
Wei Yan, nestled under Yu Shuli’s protection, contentedly played the role of a useless, nominal military advisor.
Because his physical condition didn’t allow him to ride a horse for long periods, Yu Shuli somehow procured a carriage.
Zhong Nian, acting under his self-proclaimed status as a “distant relative,” diligently spread a thick cotton blanket in the carriage, serving tea and snacks. He finally dispelled Wei Yan’s idea of sharing a horse with Yu Shuli, smoothly coaxing him into the carriage.
Ding Sheng glanced at Wei Yan, who was sitting in the carriage like a lord, enjoying the scenery, and then looked at his own dusty appearance, feeling somewhat unacceptable.
He released the reins, caught up with Yu Shuli, who was riding ahead, and said, “General, why can he ride in a carriage? This is going to war, not an autumn outing!”
Yu Shuli half-covered his lips, perfunctorily saying, “He’s not feeling well.”
To hell with him not feeling well, he was afraid that Wei Yan would suddenly get horny and pounce on him in broad daylight, ready to kiss him at any moment.
This damn guy was good in every other way, except he had no sense of boundaries. Even though their engagement was off, he still acted like nothing had happened, rubbing against him here, touching him there, and even trying to steal kisses when he felt like it.
Several times Yu Shuli wanted to lash out, but he was always choked by Wei Yan’s resentful words: “It’s okay… you can hit me, after all, I’m just your ordinary savior.” He was forced to give up.
A couple of kisses wouldn’t kill him, Yu Shuli was magnanimous, thinking it was fine and letting it go.
But touching his slightly swollen lips, he was still embarrassed after all.
This damn Wei Yan, really chewed like a dog.
Ding Sheng was also stubborn. Hearing Yu Shuli defending Wei Yan, he was naturally unconvinced and immediately turned around to pull Wei Yan out of the carriage: “I want to see how he’s not feeling well. Many of our brothers have had days when they weren’t feeling well, but are they all as delicate as him, needing to ride in a carriage? It’s just delaying our journey.”
“Vice General Ding, don’t be angry.” Zhong Nian also steered his horse over, saying, “The journey isn’t being delayed. The young general said that there’s no need to worry about the person in the carriage, just follow our normal schedule.”
“Hmph.” Ding Sheng snorted, still grumbling, “So he’s special?”
“It’s not exactly special, just a slight preferential treatment,” Yu Shuli honestly said.
Seeing Yu Shuli admit it, Ding Sheng stamped his feet: “General! How can you let him run wild!” His voice was deafening.
Yu Shuli was also startled by his loud voice.
Ding Sheng’s words were ambiguous, and Yu Shuli assumed that Ding Sheng had found out about Wei Yan sneaking into his room to kiss him. He subconsciously covered his mouth.
Ding Sheng was still staring at Yu Shuli with a disappointed look, as if he was about to bore a hole through him.
Yu Shuli felt guilty, so he simply let go of his hand, admitting without being asked, “Mosquito bites.”
Ding Sheng was a little confused: “What?”
“My mouth, it’s mosquito bites.”
“Oh.” Ding Sheng’s attention was then drawn to Yu Shuli’s mouth, muttering, “These mosquitoes, they sure know how to pick a spot.”
The bite was right on the lip bead, just right…
“Wait… where are the mosquitoes when it’s almost winter?!” Realizing what was happening, Ding Sheng roared, “General! If you want to protect him, don’t bite yourself to force a clumsy change of subject!” Ding Sheng had always had a fiery temper and was sharp-tongued, so usually no one dared to provoke him.
Fortunately, he was a crude man who didn’t understand romance.
Yu Shuli secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and leisurely said, “Since you’re not convinced, then I’ll be frank. He donated three thousand silver bills to the army.”
Ding Sheng’s eyes widened, three thousand silver bills?!
People join the army to earn money and build a family fortune, but this young master is spending money to join the army?
What’s wrong with him?
Before Ding Sheng could think further, he heard Yu Shuli say, “I’ve always been fair and just. If you can also come up with that amount of money, you can also go to the carriage. Of course, if you all have other suggestions, you can always come to me.”
Indeed fair and just…
Ding Sheng was silent, his cannons completely extinguished.
He couldn’t come up with three thousand silver bills, so he pulled the reins and left in frustration.
A group of soldiers who had long been displeased with Wei Yan surrounded Ding Sheng, and Captain Zhang asked, “How is it? What did the general say?”
“He said that if we can’t stand this Wu Qingqing, we can each pay three thousand silver bills and go sit in the carriage. If we have any other opinions, we can always find him.”
Old Fourth clenched his fists, secretly unconvinced.
Wei Yan watched them talking from afar, silently lowering the carriage curtain.
…
After Ding Sheng left in a huff, Zhong Nian turned to Yu Shuli and reported in a low voice, “Young general, I investigated, and it’s true that His Majesty sent someone to Quzhou. The prime minister is also on his way, but he fell ill midway and was delayed.”
Yu Shuli nodded.
It seems… Wei Yan didn’t lie to him.
Seeing that Yu Shuli seemed to be in a better mood, Zhong Nian carefully asked, “Young general, Young Master Wu asked me to ask you, can he come out to ride a horse for a while?”
Yu Shuli “laugh”A word, “If he wants to ride a horse, why ask me?”
“Young Master Wu was a little bumpy in the carriage, and he was so dizzy that he didn’t say a word. Later, he vomited, but he was always worried about affecting the journey, so he didn’t allow his subordinates to inform the general…” Zhong Nian explained for Wei Yan.
Hearing him speak for Wei Yan, Yu Shuli interrupted him: “Zhong Nian, think clearly, who exactly are you working for.”
Zhong Nian was stunned.
Yu Shuli continued, “Haven’t you noticed that you’re paying too much attention to him?”
“Think about your duty. You’ve been more attentive to him these past few days than you’ve been to me. Look at Ding Sheng’s attitude, and then look at yours?” Yu Shuli glanced at the large group behind him, many of whom were staring at the two of them. Although they were far away and couldn’t hear what they were saying, they could still see the atmosphere between them.
Yu Shuli sighed: “Zhong Nian, don’t let me and his pretense fall apart. Relax a little, don’t be afraid of offending him, and don’t be too careful with him. Right now, he’s just a distant cousin of yours, you don’t need to be servile to him.”
Zhong Nian then realized that his attitude towards Wei Yan was too cautious, making it easy for people to see through.
He quickly said, “This subordinate knows his mistake.”
Sensible, honest, but a little stupid, but he was teachable.
Yu Shuli waved his hand, signaling him to leave.
Zhong Nian honestly returned to the carriage, and Wei Yan opened the curtain, asking him, “How is it? What did the young general say?”
Zhong Nian glanced at him: “Your legs are on your body, why ask me?”
Wei Yan: ?
He asked, “Why this tone? Did your general scold you?”
Zhong Nian glared at him, his voice loud: “No big or small! Is the general’s business something you can ask about?” After saying that, his body trembled, not daring to look at Wei Yan, silently chanting in his heart: “Offended, Prime Minister, don’t cut off my head…”
The impudent Prime Minister Wei touched his nose, lost in thought.
When he wanted to ask something else, Zhong Nian turned his head away: “I’m busy, don’t always look for me, it’s annoying.”
The surrounding soldiers all looked over, each with curious and inquisitive eyes.
Even the usually good-tempered Zhong Nian was angry, just how annoying was this Young Master Wu?
Wei Yan glanced at Zhong Nian, who was inexplicably angry, and then looked at Yu Shuli’s back in front, knowing that Zhong Nian was probably instructed by Yu Shuli.
Did he dislike him that much?
Wei Yan laughed in anger: “Alright, I’ll go talk to your young general myself.”
He got up and got out of the carriage.
Thirteen was driving outside, and when he heard this, he turned around: “Young Master Wu, it’s not easy to stop the carriage here.”
Wei Yan nodded. He said, “I know. You go inside, I’ll drive.”
Thirteen and Zhong Nian shuddered. “You… you… you can ride a horse?”
…
If the carriage’s horse counted.
Wei Yan whipped his whip all the way to catch up with Yu Shuli.
Yu Shuli wasn’t riding too fast, and the horse pulling the carriage should also be a good horse, surprisingly able to gallop like the wind even with the four wheels rolling.
Yu Shuli felt something was wrong and looked back, seeing the figure rushing towards him while pulling the reins, he couldn’t help but twitch his lips.
He slowed down his horse, gnashing his teeth as he looked at Wei Yan who was coming beside him: “Young Master Wu, what’s the matter now?”
Yu Shuli slowed down, and Wei Yan also followed suit.
The strong wind lifted the carriage curtain, and Thirteen sat in the carriage, his hands and feet twitching from the bumps, holding Wei Yan’s washbasin and vomiting non-stop.
“Well, there’s something. I missed you.” Wei Yan said with a straight face.
Thirteen’s face was ashen: “Young Master Wu, don’t torture me…”
Yu Shuli pursed his lips, glanced at the unlucky Thirteen, and pulled the reins to a stop, saying to the back, “We won’t rush on today, set up camp, and rest well. After all, we’ll be on the battlefield tomorrow, so we need to conserve our energy today.”
The soldiers responded one after another and went to rest. Yu Shuli got off his horse and walked to the riverbank with Wei Yan.
“Speak.”
Wei Yan smiled lightly: “Speak about what?”
Yu Shuli glared at him: “It can’t be that you really missed me, right?”
Wei Yan raised his eyebrows: “Why can’t I?”
…
Taking a look at Yu Shuli’s stormy expression, Wei Yan quickly spread his hands in surrender: “I was wrong.”
“What was wrong?” Yu Shuli picked up a few stones and threw them into the water, turning his head to look at him.
“I shouldn’t have kissed you like that last night.” Wei Yan said, “Next time I’ll be gentler, so it won’t be obvious.”
“Is that the point?” Yu Shuli gritted his teeth, “Young Master Wu isn’t someone who wouldn’t be considerate. Thirteen vomited like that today, but you didn’t stop the carriage. Surely, there’s a reason why you had to find me.”
He turned to look at Wei Yan, his eyes deep: “You really want to rest early today? Why?”
Wei Yan knew that although Yu Shuli was kind and simple, he was far from being completely open with him.
A military career requires caution, and it was only natural for Yu Shuli to be wary of him.
He wasn’t disappointed by this, but rather happy that Yu Shuli was able to be on guard: “He who knows me… is the young general.”
He moved closer, and Yu Shuli was about to frown and push him away, but Wei Yan signaled him to stop with a look.
Wei Yan winked, indicating: someone is eavesdropping.
Yu Shuli was startled. Looking back, there were many weeds on the riverbank, and there seemed to be a figure faintly visible.
But the soldiers were all wearing the same armor, so it was very difficult to identify who it was.
They were in a position where they didn’t have to worry about the other party hearing them, but they were afraid that the other party could read their lips.
Yu Shuli simply grabbed Wei Yan and pressed him in front of him, using Wei Yan’s body to block him, and said, “Don’t startle the snake.”
Wei Yan’s intention wasn’t to catch people now, after all, there was no evidence.
But having received such an unexpected surprise as Yu Shuli’s embrace, he naturally nodded to cooperate with the other party.
He smiled and moved even closer, pressing his finger on Yu Shuli’s lips, preventing the opposite side from seeing his lip shape: “I’m looking for you, just for this matter.”
Yu Shuli was a little puzzled.
Wei Yan rubbed his still slightly swollen lip bead, and only after being slapped by Yu Shuli did he explain to him: “The matter of the fake account books has been going on for a long time. Tomorrow we’ll be on the battlefield, and we can’t afford to be distracted. If we’re going to make a move, tonight is the best time.”
The mole, naturally, doesn’t want to be exposed as soon as they return.
A greedy person, of course, wants both, taking the benefits from that side, and preferably not being exposed here in Yu Shuli’s side.
That way, the long-term benefits would be greatest.
Yu Shuli narrowed his eyes.
Before this, he hadn’t really thought carefully about who the mole was. After all, the generals in the military camp were as close as brothers to him, and he didn’t want to suspect his own brothers.
But as Mu Shaoyang said, the mole’s actions on the army pay and provisions at this time were clearly not giving them, the remaining soldiers, a way to live.
Such a person… could no longer be called a brother.
“Do you know who it is?” Yu Shuli asked Wei Yan.
Wei Yan nodded. “Come to my tent tonight, and I’ll tell you.”
What scandalous words?
Yu Shuli hesitated.
He remembered the unpleasant experiences of the previous few nights, feeling that this was another trap Wei Yan was setting for him, so that he could flirt with him openly and honestly afterwards, so he didn’t really want to agree. “I’m not coming, I want to rest early tonight, don’t bother me.”
Wei Yan sighed, regretting the decrease in his credibility: “If you don’t leave, how will others come to steal the account books?”
Yu Shuli looked at him suspiciously: “Are you so kind?”
Wei Yan shrugged: “Honest to God.”