Chapter Thirty-Four: Boundless Joy

  Looking at Ye Jing'er who was shy and lowered her head, Gao Yuan's heart jumped a few times without warning. He had seen many women in his past life, but he had never met a woman as pure as Ye Jing'er, like a clear spring.

  "I could have come back much earlier, but something unexpected happened and it was delayed. Later, my uncle insisted on dragging me to drink with him, so it's already this late... I was worried you'd be asleep..." He stopped talking here.

  "You said you'd come see me today, so I believed you would definitely come, that's why I've been waiting." Yeh Chin-er lowered her head, her voice as weak and small as a mosquito.

  Gazing blankly at each other, just because of one sentence from him, Ye Jing'er waited until the moon was high in the sky.

  "Xiang Er, I miss you!" After a long while, Gao Yuan finally said a sentence.

  Ye Jing'er raised her head, looked at Gao Yuan, nodded vigorously and said, "Gao Ge, I miss you too!"

  He let out a long sigh and stretched out his hand to grasp the two small hands Ye Jing had placed on the windowsill, which were icy cold, making him feel a pang of heartache. He clasped his hands together, tightly enclosing her small hands in his palms, and brought them to his mouth, blowing warm air onto them to warm her up.

  Ye Jing was taken aback by Gao Yuan's intimate grasp of her hands for the first time, feeling both shy and afraid, wanting to pull away but unable to bear leaving those warm palms, seeing Gao Yuan's bright eyes staring at her without blinking, she quickly lowered her head, her whole body trembling slightly.

  "How have you been lately?" Gaoyuan asked softly.

  "Alright, isn't it good that you're taking care of us now? Mother doesn't have to do laundry for others anymore, and little brother is well-fed and has grown taller."

  "This isn't what I should be helping with?!" Gaoyuan smiled and said: "Jing'er, don't worry, from now on I will never let you guys go through the kind of days you had before again. You follow me, and I definitely won't let you regret it, nor will I let Aunt regret it."

  "Hmm!" Ye Jing'er responded softly, "Everything is fine at home, are you doing well in the army camp? The army camp is full of rough men, where are you, haven't they bullied you?"

  "Who dares to bully me? I won't bully them even if it's good for nothing!" Gao Yuan smiled lightly, "Those big-headed soldiers are a bit rough, but they're also very straightforward and interesting."

  "Our Fufeng City soldiers, I used to see them often too, they really don't look like some of the soldiers, but rather like bandits, completely different from the soldiers I saw in Jicheng when I was a child." Yeqing'er said.

  "Xiang Er, did you live in Jicheng when you were a kid?" asked Gao Yuan.

  "Yes, at that time I was just a little over six years old, had just started to remember things, and there were many soldiers wearing armor in our home, all tall and strong. Grandfather even took me to the king's palace, where the soldiers inside were even stronger, so tall, so strong, and so majestic!" Ye Jing'er tilted her head up, trying hard to recall the past years.

  Although he was calm and collected in his heart, Jing'er inadvertently revealed a lot of information. Ye Shi had also told him some things, but they were vague and ambiguous. Listening to Jing'er's words, it seemed that their family used to be quite prominent. Not only did they have soldiers stationed at home, but Jing'er's grandfather could also enter the king's palace at will. They should be a well-known aristocratic family with the surname Ye. I'll ask my uncle about it later and maybe we can find out some clues.

  "So the soldiers you brought, they really don't look like soldiers!" Ye Jing'er said with a smile.

  "They didn't used to be like soldiers, but I've taken them in, just you wait and see, after a while, I'll turn them into real soldiers. Don't look at the fact that the soldiers you saw when you were young looked sturdy, but there's an old saying you may have heard, 'a big mountain with no firewood to burn'. My soldiers may be small in stature, but each and every one of them is strong, this is called concentrated essence, do you know?" said Gao Yuan.

  Yè Jīng'er burst out laughing, "The essence is all concentrated, and it's impressive that you came up with this excuse. Who would have thought of making excuses like this? If we really fight, of course, the one who gets hit on the head will be at a disadvantage."

  "Who said that? The other day in Xicheng, those few Xiongnu men were quite tall and strong, weren't they? But weren't they still beaten down by me with just a few casual strikes?" Gaoyuan proudly raised his head and said.

  "Who is you, they are not you! You must be the best!" Ye Jing'er said with a smile, a few days ago Gao Yuan had subdued several bandits in Xicheng with ease, this had already spread like wildfire within Funei City, and Ye Jing'er had naturally heard about it too. Unlike others who were simply delighted, she was both happy and proud.

  "Tell me how you knocked down those few thugs, okay? I want to hear!" Ye Jing'er begged.

  "Go!" Gaoyuan looked at Ye Jing'er, it seems that every girl has a heroic dream in her heart.

  Two people, one outside the window and one inside, held hands tightly and spoke in hushed tones, discussing how to subdue He Lanxiong and others, and then Gaoyuan continued to talk about how he would deal with those big-headed soldiers. Listening to this, Ye Jing'er felt both tense and excited. She had never known that there could be such interesting things happening in the military camp.

  Suddenly, the sound of Ye Shi's coughing and getting out of bed came from inside the house, Ye Jing'er was shocked and quickly pulled her hands out from between them, while Gao Yuan also quickly squatted down under the windowsill. If Ye Shi were to discover him here, it wouldn't be good. At midnight, squatting under his daughter's windowsill, if she were to get angry, it wouldn't be a joke.

  Fortunately, after a few coughs, it calmed down again. Gaoyuan slowly got up, and the two of them looked at each other, stuck out their tongues, and burst out laughing.

  "Mother's getting up at night!" Ye Jing'er said in a low voice: "I was so scared to death!"

  "I'm scared to death!" Gaoyuan patted his chest lightly.

  "A big man like you is still afraid?" Ye Jing'er stared with wide eyes.

  "I'm not afraid of others, I'm just afraid of your mom! If he thinks I'm a loafer, squatting here to take advantage of his daughter, I'd be in trouble!" Gaoyuan pointed at the opposite side and said softly.

  Yè Jīng'er's face suddenly turned red, "Gāo Dàgē, you've been wearing the sachet I gave you all along, right?"

  "Of course, I've been wearing it all along!"

  "The jade you gave me, I've been wearing it all along!" Ye Jing'er pulled out the jade pendant from her neck and showed it to Gao Yuan, then put it back. "You'll be going back to the military camp again tomorrow morning, how long will you be gone this time?"

  "It's hard to say, it may take a bit longer, if I come back, I'll let Cui tell you." Gaoyuan said in a low voice, "You have to keep this window for me."

  "Alright!" Ye Jing'er said with a blush, lifting her head to gaze at the moon which was gradually setting in the west. Suddenly covering her small mouth, "Good heavens! It's already this late, you still have to go to the military camp tomorrow, Gao Da-ge, hurry back and sleep, otherwise tomorrow during the day you'll be out of energy. These soldiers are all cunning, if your energy is low, they will take advantage of you."

  "Don't worry, they won't dare to deceive me. It's late anyway, I'll leave now. You rest well, women need to sleep well or they will age quickly." Gaoyuan said with a light smile. "You sleep, I'm leaving!"

  "You go ahead, I'll watch you leave, and then I'll go to sleep," said Ye Jing'er.

  Gao Yuan nodded and backed away step by step, Ye Jing'er gazed at him in a daze.

  Gao Yuan smiled and waved at her, turned around, and disappeared from her sight like a cat. She stared for a while longer, finally confirming that Gao Yuan had left, before happily closing the window, snuggling into bed with a smile, preparing to sleep. But she couldn't fall asleep, lying in bed, staring at the canopy above, her mind filled with Gao Yuan's smiling face.

  Gao Yuan returned home with a satisfied heart, the previous intoxication had long since disappeared without a trace, he only felt his spirit was particularly vigorous and healthy, there was a hint of sleepiness, he walked out the door, took a look at the sky, decided to go to the military camp, at this time, just in time to catch the military camp's breakfast, also can check if they were still following the rules he had set down when he wasn't around.