Chapter 118 - A Different Story

In order to let his wife and children have a talk, Shi Junhe went back to his study alone after the ceremony.

Seeing that Shi Qingxue pulled Wenren Chi and pushed the door open to enter, Shi Junhe stared at their hands and his eyes widened. He asked with displeasure, “What are you doing?”

Shi Qingxue was confused after being shouted at. “What’s wrong?”

Wenren Chi understood first and secretly withdrew his hand which was grabbed by Qingxue. He stepped backward. “Nothing.”

“Nothing.” Shi Junhe also realized that he overreacted and repeated the word.

“Yes?” Shi Qingxue looked at the two men in confusion but didn’t ask more.

She pushed Wenren Chi forward and frankly told Shi Junhe about the conversation between her and Wenren Chi. She didn’t hide anything or use extra words.

Then she asked Shi Junhe, “Father, what happened? You have guessed that, right?”

It was said that the father knew his son best, but Shi Qingxue also found Shi Junhe’s unusual reaction after they came back from the Qingluo Mountain. He had sent someone to Fan City to ask for help, but after the problem was solved, he didn’t send a message to his friend, which was not what he could possibly do, unless he had guessed from the beginning that the letter hadn’t been sent to the right person.

Shi Junhe didn’t deny but looked at Wenren Chi while frowning. “Have you told Qingxue everything?”

Wenren Chi nodded, but he didn’t explain the fact that he couldn’t lie to Shi Qingxue, which made him awkward.

Shi Junhe didn’t ask anymore but turned to Shi Qingxue and said casually, “It’s none of your business. Don’t get involved.”

The same answer as Wenren Chi’s almost drove Shi Qingxue mad.

She snorted and pointed at Shi Junhe crossly. “You, my father.”

Then she pointed at Wenren Chi with her slender finger. “You, my big brother.”

She took a deep breath. “You have come to a point where you are at each other’s throat. How can both of you say that it’s none of my business? Do you think it’s none of my business until I lose one of you or even both of you?”

While speaking, the nightmare that Shi Junhe and Wenren Chi died in the battle on the Qingluo Mountain in the previous life made her out of her mind again. She couldn’t control herself and tears fell from her eyes.

Qingxue didn’t want to show her weakness and wiped the tears as soon as they fell. She opened her eyes wide, with grievance in them.

Wenren Chi felt sadder and grabbed Qingxue’s hand in a hurry, wiping the tears on her face carefully when he comforted her in a gentle voice, “Say whatever you want. I have come here with you. We will find if there is misunderstanding, okay? Don’t cry.”

Even though he thought misunderstanding was just vain hope, as long as he could comfort Shi Qingxue, he didn’t mind thinking wishfully.

Shi Qingxue stopped crying immediately and turned to Shi Junhe, who raised his hands to surrender, expressing, “Fine! I will tell you whatever you want to know.”

She finally felt better and sniffed, saying softly, “Father, I don’t believe that you would have intentionally hurt Uncle Bo, so what on earth happened in the battle sixteen years ago?”

The battle among the three countries sixteen years ago was a heroic war story to Shi Qingxue, but in Shi Junhe’s opinion, it was a nightmare in his life.

The expression on Shi Junhe’s face disappeared and stiffened for a while before he sighed. “Mo Country had just overturned the political tyranny of the last dynasty and established the new government for more than twenty years. It was turbulent in the country and we should maintain peace and restore production, but Liang Country had coveted our country’s rich land for a long time. They attacked Zhao Country in name but intruded our border. The late emperor knew that if the neighboring country fell apart, our country would be in danger, so he ordered the Shi Army to go to the border of the three countries and help Zhao County resist Liang Country’s attack.

At that time, my father was ill and couldn’t go to the battlefield, so I and Bo led the army to the border. Two countries fought against one, and it went smoothly in the beginning, but after Liang Country realized their disadvantage, they gave up on Zhao Country and killed our people on the border. Zhao Country thought they were safe and started to fight passively.

One day, I and Bo led the Shi Army and we were attacked by Liang Country suddenly. Most of our soldiers got separated. There were only less than one thousand soldiers left in the troop we led. We had no choice but to fight back with difficulty in a deserted town and seek for chances to break through. But the enemies aimed at us and trapped us all the time. If there were no reinforcements, we would only end up with death.

So after more than half a month, I and Bo discussed that one of us should stay and the other would led a team to break through and search for reinforcements to get a chance of survival…”

Shi Qingxue concentrated on listening. Finding that Shi Junhe stopped all of a sudden and didn’t speak, she got anxious again. “Father, why don’t you go on? What did you decide to do? Who went to search for reinforcements? Who stayed to guard the town?”

Shi Junhe glanced at Wenren Chi and asked with a bitter smile, “What do you think?”

“Ah?” She had to guess?

Shi Qingxue frowned and had to ponder since Shi Junhe was waiting for her answer.

After quite a while, she asked hesitantly, “Father, did you stay?”

Hearing that, the two men uplifted their brows in surprise.

Shi Junhe stayed silent for a minute and asked doubtfully, “How did you know?”

Qingxue smiled and explained complacently, “On the surface, no matter you stay or lead some people to break through, it is dangerous, but there’s no making without breaking. As long as you can escape, you will have the chance of survival. It’s better to leave… So Father, you would definitely make the more dangerous and difficult choice.”

Shi Junhe looked at Shi Qingxue’s trustful and admiring eyes, and he felt less depressed. He didn’t even feel sad as before when he met Wenren Chi’s doubtful eyes. He nodded peacefully. “Right. Most of people had to stay and wait for death. If nobody stayed to relax the soldiers, even the Shi Army wouldn’t wait to be rescued. So I arranged fifty picked soldiers to follow Bo and told them to break through, and I stayed with the others to guard the town.”

“Yes?” Wenren Chi couldn’t help but snort. “But why is it said that you didn’t rescue them in time and my father was trapped to death?”

Right, it was different from the story which circulated.

Shi Qingxue turned to look at her father, waiting for his explanation.

Shi Junhe turned away and looked out of the window. After a long time, he said helplessly, “I didn’t lie, but so far I don’t know what was wrong. The soldiers from Liang Country supposed to stay to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Shi Army transferred most of the soldiers to chase Bo’s team unexpectedly. I found that and was unwilling to sit still and await destruction. It happened that we met a discomfited troop from Zhao Country, so we joined hands and defeated the remaining soldiers of Liang Country, breaking through successfully…”

Wenren Chi’s eyes turned fierce instantly and he interrupted Shi Junhe coldly, “But you didn’t go to rescue my father at once and intentionally delayed to give the soldiers of Liang Country an opportunity to attack them. It caused my father to be killed by the main force of them!”

Shi Junhe was speechless. He opened his mouth and didn’t know what he could say.

It was a truth that Wenren Bo died on the battlefield, and it was true that he didn’t rescue them in time. As for the subjective factor, different people had different kinds of view.

“Brother!” Noticing that Wenren Chi was going to explode again, Shi Qingxue grabbed his arm in haste and changed the subject. “Didn’t you say that you have evidence to prove your assumption? What is the evidence? Show it to us, okay?”

Wenren Chi thought it was clear enough and there was no need to explain. At the same time, he couldn’t bear to make Qingxue unhappy, so he had to take out the letter to Shi Junhe.

He put it in front of the two.

It was addressed to Shi Junhe. They were both familiar with the handwriting, which was Mo Shujun’s.

“My dear son, the Shi Army was created by your father with his effort, and he personally gave the army to you. We don’t expect that you can make the army more powerful, but at least, its name can’t be changed. Now there are several major generals in the army who were not trained by your father, and Wenren Bo has equal shares of honor with you. It’s not helpful for the Shi Army’s stabilization. Hope you can think it over and make a decision.”

After reading the letter, Shi Junhe and Qingxue changed their expressions. Especially Shi Junhe had never thought there was such an incident more than ten years ago.

He met Wenren Chi’s cold eyes and explained in a hurry, “I have never seen this letter.”

“I believe it.” After Wenren Chi took it out, he kept staring at Shi Junhe, whose shock and confusion were not acting.

But he didn’t believe that Shi Junhe was innocent. “But can you deny that this letter is written to you by Mo Shujun?”

Shi Junhe’s face was pale and he remained silent, but Shi Qingxue didn’t want to cheat anybody, saying with certainty, “This is absolutely her handwriting. I won’t mistake it.”

“Qingxue!” Shi Junhe shouted, but he knew it would only show that he was powerless.

Shi Qingxue ignored him and asked Wenren Chi, “Even if Grandma wanted to harm Uncle Bo, at that time, she was far away in the capital city, and Father didn’t see this letter and wouldn’t do as she said. It was just a coincidence.”

Wenren Chi responded, “Coincidence? I also hoped it was a coincidence, but… Qingxue, do you know where I got this letter?”

Shi Qingxue blinked in doubt.

“Prince Junjiu’s people got it from the butler of the Shi Family, He Jun, by chance.”

Back then, He Jun was not only the butler of the Shi Family. He was a bodyguard of Shi Lei in the army. After the war broke out, Shi Lei was worried about his son, so he told He Jun to stay with Shi Junhe and protect him.

“No way,” Shi Junhe denied, his face ghastly pale.

Wenren Chi just stared at him and didn’t argue. Or it was pointless to argue.

They reached an impasse again.

“Wait.” Shi Qingxue broke the ice and then looked at Shi Junhe, suggesting, “Father, you haven’t finished your story. Go ahead!”

Shi Junhe gazed at Qingxue confusedly and couldn’t understand why she still bothered about what had happened that year.

But Shi Qingxue continued, “Since you refused to tell us, how about letting me guess? I think you met the troop of Zhao Country and then planned to rescue Uncle Bo, but the soldiers from Zhao Country didn’t allow you to, right?”

Shi Junhe didn’t answer, but his astonishment told them that she was right.

Wenren Chi was also startled. “Why? What on earth was going on?”

He was sure that he had found the truth, but Shi Qingxue’s words made him doubt that there was something amiss. He couldn’t even feel at ease to blame Shi Junhe. So what exactly happened that year?