Chapter 344: Chapter 334: Initial Intentions
Whether the father-son relationship of the Fang Family was deep, Xie Jue knew very well. Marshal Fang was extremely strict with Fang Chuning. Precisely because of this, when the Marshal sent Fang Chuning to the Ningzhou Battlefield, Xie Jue thought the Marshal was being somewhat harsh, but he didn’t think much of it. Fang Chuning wasn’t just playing around on the battlefield; he genuinely fought for military merits. He and Xie Xun were both in the vanguard. Before Xie Xun came to the battlefield, Fang Chuning was also in the right flank vanguard, always at the forefront of every battle without protection, unlike Xie Jue.
Although Xie Jue also went to the frontlines, after turning seventeen, his appearances on the battlefield sharply decreased. The Lord believed that if anything happened to him on the battlefield, it would be a substantial loss for the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry. Ningzhou Iron Cavalry did not lack warriors like Fang Chuning and Xie Xun, but they were short of strategists like Xie Jue, so later on, Xie Jue was always protected on the battlefield.
Fang Chuning and Xie Xun were both fearless vanguards, frequently injured critically, facing life-threatening situations. Marshal Fang had only this one son, yet he heartlessly allowed him to keep fighting with the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry. If it was for experience, three to five years should have sufficed.
"Chit-chat."
"Ting Feng, stop joking. Since when do you enjoy chit-chatting with people?"
"Haven’t I always enjoyed chit-chatting with you?"
Indeed, he did not enjoy idle talk with others, but Fang Chuning was different. Sharing the same tent, they couldn’t discuss battles every day, and Fang Chuning talked a lot, wasn’t it just about chit-chatting?
"...Alright!" Fang Chuning said, "That was pleasing to me."
Xie Jue, "..."
He even started to whistle, scaring away the fish that was about to bite.
"Before you went to Ningzhou, what did the Marshal tell you?" Xie Jue asked again.
Fang Chuning slightly frowned, his smile fading. Xie Jue’s words were too nonchalant, and Fang Chuning detected something odd. "Ting Feng, can you stop beating around the bush?"
Xie Jue didn’t know how to tell Fang Chuning, his background was still a mystery, and it couldn’t simply be laid bare to Fang Chuning.
The afternoon sun was too intense, Fang Chuning wondered if the alcohol from last night was still affecting him; his head felt like splitting, and the sun made him dizzy. He no longer cared about the fish in the pond, only wanting to discern clues from Xie Jue’s demeanor; what exactly warranted such probing?
Xie Jue also looked at him. The two sat side by side by the pool, their expressions relaxed. Fishing was their favorite pastime.
"When I ask you something, will you tell me the truth?"
"Would I lie to you?"
"Whatever you say, I believe." Xie Jue’s eyes were a lighter shade, and the fragmented afternoon light fell into his pupils, making them appear even lighter, impossible to see through. Yet his tone was very certain, as long as Fang Chuning said it, he would believe.
Fang Chuning barely remembered what happened before he went to Ningzhou that year. It seemed like he had a fight with his father, although he wasn’t clear about what they argued over. "When I went to Ningzhou with you, it was my own will. Father didn’t agree, we even had a fight. I was young and impulsive, and I deliberately provoked him, saying things about ’wrapping my body in horse hide,’ so I got a beating."
Xie Jue sighed with relief, his lips slightly tilting upwards, "That’s good!"
"I got beaten, and that’s good?"
"Have you been beaten few times?" Xie Jue said, "The Marshal beating you was an everyday affair."
"Right, I was picked up."
Xie Jue did not bicker with him. Fang Family’s father-son relationship was so bad partly because Fang Chuning was hard to discipline, untamed and rebellious, while the Marshal desired a son like his older brother.
"Are you pondering why I went to Ningzhou that year?" Fang Chuning looked at the bobber on the water. "Why? Going to Ningzhou was either of my own will or my father’s. If my father sent me, do you think he had ulterior motives? What purpose could he have? He and the Lord had been close for years, surely he wouldn’t send me to spy on the Ningzhou Iron Cavalry, my father wouldn’t do that, nor does he have a reason. So, what’s the matter that you’ve been probing back and forth?"
"Just fish, it’s nothing."
"Do I look like a fool? We’ve gotten to this point, and you’re still saying there’s nothing. If it’s related to me, why not tell me directly?" Fang Chuning coaxed him, his voice softening, "Ting Feng, tell me."
The deputy general behind could feel goosebumps. His master would only show this demeanor in front of Xie Tingfeng.
"Your fish has been caught."
Fang Chuning raised the rod, indeed catching a heftier river fish. He unhooked the fish, placed it in the basket, and continued pressing the matter, "Ting Feng?"
"It’s not something very important." If he minded that Fang Chuning initially went to Ningzhou on his father’s orders to watch over him, wouldn’t that be laughable? At this juncture, he still had the leisure to mind such trivialities, but he really did mind.
"If it’s not very important, would you risk coming to Zhongzhou to find me?"
"To everyone, it’s a small matter. To me, it’s relatively significant, so I wanted to know. Now I have the answer," Xie Jue said quietly, "No need to ask further."
The talk reached this point, and Fang Chuning understood that asking further would yield nothing, so he dropped the matter. Yet, he remained puzzled; traveling from Ningzhou to Zhongzhou, just to ask him why he went to Ningzhou?
Why did Ting Feng care?
Back then, he went to Ningzhou for Ting Feng’s sake. He felt Xie Tingfeng wasn’t like Xie Zhang, skilled in archery and horseback, with a cold demeanor, needing his protection on the battlefield, so he followed Xie Jue to the frontline.
At age thirteen, Fang Chuning, though from a noble family, had never experienced a real battlefield. His sole wish was to protect Xie Jue.
He only wanted to protect him!