Chapter 85 – The Old General and His Little Foot Soldier (2)
Gu Ye had an embarrassed look on her: she was that one who could use the best ingredients and somehow ended up with disgusting tasting pickled vegetables. Aye, in her previous life, she was a complete fool when it came to cooking. It didn’t look like she was any better in this life either. The rice that she prepared remained at the “cooked” and “edible” level. Even her grandfather’s cooking was a little better than hers. Aye… when would she her wish of having delectable food come true?
When she was busy with pickling vegetables, her grandfather and brother were busy as well. Everyday they would go into the mountains and checked all the traps that they had set previously – naturally, the traps were empty most of the time. Gu Ming was very surprised: why was it that when his sister went to check them in the past, she was always able to bring back game meat?
He raised this question with his grandfather. Gu Xiao couldn’t figure that out either, so all he could say was, “Your sister was luckily”. Hello? It was abnormal to have game meat every day, okay? It wasn’t like preys were fighting to jump into the traps on Mount Congmong.
When there was no game meat, they’d chopped some firewood and bring them back. It looked like the sage apothecary had no intention to leave before winter and Xiao Ye-er didn’t want to share the save stove with her grandfather and brother. With three stoves going over winter, they would need a lot more firewood than they currently have.
Luckily, as his granddaughter insisted on massaging him with the medicinal oil daily in combination with hot compress treatment with the salt bag, the pain in his leg was now almost negligible.
Gu Xiao couldn’t help but thought about his old general and his old injuries from the battlefield. Every rainy days, the pain he experienced was no better than what he used to have. Should he asked the sage apothecary for some of his medicine and send them over along with the salt package?
Back in the days, when he joined the army in Gu Qiao’s dad’s place, he was just a 15-16 year-old child. When he saw all the dead and mangled up bodies on the battlefield, he almost peed his pants and even dropped his sword on the ground. If the old general didn’t show up in time and lopped off the right arm of a soldier than was aiming at him, he wouldn’t be standing here today.
“Pick up your weapon if you don’t want to die! Your enemies are not going to show you mercy just because this was your first battle! Think about your family that are waiting for you back home. Do you want them to receive the news that you have died instead?” Yelled the old general at him as he pointed at the enemy soldier, now with his right arm missing, and had him lopped his head off.
Killing your enemies on the battlefield was only scary the very first time! Gu Xiao had nobody waiting for him back home, but he had the ambition for achievement. From that moment forward, he had gripped his sword in his hand tightly. Even when he was seriously injured and on the verge of dying, he had never let go of it. With his viciousness, he had slaughtered many of the enemy’s soldiers. The old general liked him very much and picked him to be on his close team.
The old general taught him not just skills of physical combat, but also military strategies and tactics. He had grown and mature over all the battles and became a good general himself. When he became a Fourth Grade general and could lead his own troops, he continued to think of himself as the general’s little foot soldier. He always remembered that the old general had saved his life and given him everything that he had today.
That was the reason why when the old general and his family was set up and were exiled to the northwest, he decisively left his high-paying official role that he had earned with his life and went with them to serve him by his side.
Thinking about that, there was a longing look on Gu Xiao’s face. He looked toward the north: a fast horse could get him to his old general in just five days. He would like to deliver the medicine himself when the time comes. Even though he was no longer fighting along side the old general, he could at least assist him in a different way. Now that he had a goal in mind, he worked even harder than he was before!