Chapter 14: Ono Risa

  I thought I had updated both chapters for today, but just now I found out that only one chapter was updated, I'm dizzy, the update speed is too fast, sorry.

  After arranging all the tasks of the soldiers and generals, Chen Kefu followed Luo Lin to the new city temporary headquarters they had chosen for the Broken Army Camp.

  This is a grand mansion located in the south of the city, and just standing outside this mansion can tell that it is absolutely a residence of a wealthy and noble family. The entire mansion occupies a large area in the southern city, with high walls making the entire mansion more mysterious, while the giant stone lions in front of the gate, even the vermilion gate, all show the noble status of the owner of this mansion.

  The owner of this mansion is none other than Gao Qi, the former master of Xin City. As the highest official in Xin City, he holds all military and political power in his hands. As a member of the royal family, he naturally disdains to stay with those commoner and slave soldiers in the large camp in the north of the city, but instead resides in this luxurious mansion in the south of the city with his young and beautiful concubine.

  However, the former master has now become a prisoner of war under the Sui army, and Gao Qi has wisely offered this luxurious mansion to the young general of the Sui army. At this moment, the entire mansion had already been cleaned up by Luo Lin with two teams of soldiers, and Gao Qi's original concubines and slaves had all been moved to another separate courtyard.

  Chen Kefu, surrounded by his loyal guards Luo Lin and others, followed Gao Qi into the mansion. The entire front yard of the mansion had been converted into a temporary meeting place for the Broken Army Camp, while the adjacent wing was used as a temporary office for the camp's clerical personnel, including the military advisor, army clerk, and other officials.

  After visiting the front yard, Chen Kefu also followed them to his next temporary residence, which was a place like Daguanyuan in Dream of Red Mansions. In the entire backyard, there was a very beautiful small building. Looking at the unique and elegant style of the small building, he estimated that this was probably the most luxurious and comfortable place in the entire mansion. The small building was not big, the first floor looked like a living room, the second floor was a bedroom, and the third floor seemed to be an observation deck and study. It was estimated that this was where Gao Qi and his concubines had their romantic trysts.

  The entire small building's furniture was made of sandalwood, completely imitating the interior layout of the Central Plains nobles. The bed in the main hall was covered with sable fur, and there were bear skin rugs on the floor. On the sandalwood tea table, there were fine ceramics from the Central Plains, as well as pairs of golden candelabras. Bronze incense burners floated in the air, emitting a strange fragrance. All this made Chen Kefu feel like Liu Lao Lao entering the Grand View Garden. This Gao Qi was indeed living a life of luxury here. It's likely that he was also infatuated with the elegant and refined lifestyle of the Central Plains nobles, which is why such a small building appeared in this city of Gaogouli.

  The decorations and furnishings in this small building, it's estimated that a fifth-grade general like him might not be able to afford them even with several generations' worth of salary. Being surrounded by the fragrance filling the room, Chen Kefu felt like lounging on the couch, sipping tea, and listening to music, and if there were also some dancing girls accompanying the beautiful melody, performing a captivating dance, it would be the most wonderful thing. He shook his head, chasing away those thoughts, and sighed inwardly - indeed, even heroes fall in this gentle land, and staying here for an extended period, which man could preserve his ambition and passion from being eroded and dissipated?

  Waving his hand at Luo Lin and the others, Chen Kefu said to Gao Qi, "Thank you, Your Highness, for bestowing such a beautiful place upon us. When you move to the Central Plains in the future, I will not forget this kindness. Today, I am also quite fatigued, and all of you have been tired from traveling all day. Everyone should get some rest early."

  Chen Kefu went upstairs alone, opened the window, looked at the night-colored garden below, listened to the sound of the wind blowing through the flowers, and smelled the fragrance of the flowers coming from the garden. His heart, which had been tense since crossing over, also relaxed a bit. It would be great if he had crossed over during the prosperous Tang Dynasty. If he had crossed over into a wealthy and powerful family in the prime of their prosperity, living such a life every day would probably be very comfortable.

  He stood in front of the window, lost in thought, when a knock at the door suddenly came from outside. Chen Kefu was startled awake by this sudden knock, and remembering that he was still in enemy territory, with 9,000 Goguryeo soldiers still stationed within the city walls, his heart tightened up instantly - had something unexpected happened again?

  As soon as the door opened, Chen Kefu looked at the person in front of him and his face suddenly became strange. There was no way not to be strange, for the visitor was a young girl wearing clothes that were completely different from those of the Goguryeo women he had seen before, but rather a kind of clothing that was very familiar to him. The familiarity came from the fact that the clothes worn by this woman were very similar to those of the Han women in the Central Plains.

  But upon closer inspection, he felt that the clothes of the women around the emperor were somewhat different from what he had seen before, but overall they looked roughly the same. He did not expect that in this new city under Goguryeo's control, he would be lucky enough to see something so familiar.

  Chen Kefu looked at the woman who seemed to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, especially when he saw her wearing a dress that was almost like a Han woman's clothes, but with some subtle differences.

  Could it be that this woman is a Central Plains person? According to what he knew, the Goguryeo Kingdom was not entirely composed of Goguryeo people. In addition to the Goguryeo tribe, there were many other ethnic groups in Goguryeo, such as the Khitan people, the Mohe people, the Turkic people, and the Han people.

  But when Chen Kefu saw the woman's face, he felt extremely surprised and even shocked. This face was too familiar, before he crossed over, he had liked the owner of this face very much. He had even gone to her concerts several times on purpose, and he was certain that this face belonged to Namie Amuro, Japan's first world-class singer. Not only did she sing well, but she also looked very beautiful, and Chen Kefu had liked her a lot before crossing over. He never expected to see her here, which left him extremely surprised and shocked.

  Chen Kefu looked at the woman in front of him with some confusion, "Who are you? Is that a Hanfu you're wearing?"

  The young girl bowed deeply to Chen Kefu and said in a somewhat stiff Central Plains dialect, "General, hello. I am Su Mei Ye Lian from Yamato, I just arrived by boat in Pyongyang and then came here." She pointed to her clothes and continued, "General, this is the traditional clothing of our hometown, called Wu Fu, it was transmitted from the sea to our Eastern Land during the Three Kingdoms period of Central Plains, it's a Han costume." The young girl bowed deeply again to Chen Kefu.

  The bright light in the room shone through the open door onto her face, which had just lifted up, and Chen Kefu couldn't help but be taken aback. Since crossing over into this Great Sui Dynasty, he had been staying in the military camp every day and had never seen the charm of women from this era before. At this moment, this girl who called herself Su Wei Ye Lishuang made him feel a sense of astonishment. The woman in front of him, who claimed to be Su Wei Ye Lishuang, was young, beautiful, gentle, and quiet, with fair skin and a high bun on her head. At first glance, she looked similar to the singing goddess An Shangmei from his original soul's heart, and even seemed more beautiful than her.

  For this young girl, the name of Yamato and Japan are synonymous. However, the name "Japan" was used later on, and the current Japanese islands were unified only a few decades ago. According to modern times, it seems that Japan is currently in the 33rd generation of emperors, during the reign of Empress Suiko, the first female emperor in Japanese history.

  This period is also called the Kōjin Period. The current Japanese name for Japan, Yamato, was not used until later; at this time, the native word for Japan was Wa or Wakoku, and the Chinese called it Wei. The Soga clan knew that this was the most powerful clan in Japan during this era. Emperor Sushun, the 32nd emperor of Japan, was assassinated because he did not listen to the advice of the Soga clan; he is the first Japanese emperor to be murdered.

  Even the current Empress of the Tang Dynasty was because her mother was the same father and different mother's sister, Su Wei's clan leader Su Wei Mazi. But what about this Su Wei Yeli Sha in front of him? Why is he a person from the Su Wei family still appearing here? Chen Kefu was momentarily at a loss.

  Chen Kefu was also stunned by the person in front of him, who had actually seen a woman named Anzu Namie in the Sui Dynasty over 1,000 years ago. She was a woman from Yamato wearing Wu clothing similar to Hanfu, except for her name, even her appearance was almost identical.

  Chen Kefu pulled her hand and said with some doubt: "You really are from Dongying, what brings you here?"

  Su Moye Li was looked at by Chen Kefu's straight gaze, making her a bit shy. She was just an ordinary girl from the Great Harmony, a girl who had been sold to human traffickers since she was a child and received various musical skills training for the purpose of being sold to high-ranking families in Goguryeo or Zhongyuan to entertain them when she grew up. At the age of sixteen, she finally ended her training and was sold to Goguryeo, where she was bought by King Gao Qi's steward in Pyongyang. A few days ago, she had just been sent to this buyer's side in Xincheng, but today the entire city of Xincheng was captured by the Sui army.

  At this moment, she was also arranged by Gao Qi to accompany this nobleman of the Sui Dynasty. For Su Weiye Lian, who is not very proficient in Central Plains speech, Chen Kefu's words still made her somewhat incomprehensible. She didn't understand at all and thought that someone had offended the nobleman somewhere. For a while, Chen Kefu kept asking her, and she kept bowing and nodding.

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