CH 65

Two days later, Zhao Yelan finally recovered. There was no one else in the room. He put on his clothes and had just walked out the door when he heard Yan Mingting say to Zuo Ran: “Take the prescription from the doctor and boil two pots. Make it available to everyone.”

“Okay.” Zuo Ran raised her head and called, “Zhao-daren, why are you up?”

Yan Mingting turned around with a wave of his hand, and Zuo Ran hurried off to get to work. He walked to the door and asked in a soft voice: “How do you feel, is there any discomfort?”

Zhao Yelan shook his head and asked: “What kind of medicine are you brewing? Is anyone else sick?”

“It’s just medicine to reduce the heat. They’re running around outside every day, so it’s just in case,” Yan Mingting said.

“I was negligent.” Zhao Yelan had simply thought that these soldiers were well-trained and physically strong, so he just let them go to work.

“Your biggest oversight is yourself.” Yan Mingting helped him sit down, and then asked the doctor to make a diagnosis. After confirming that there was no major problem, he was relieved.

Zhao Yelan asked about the current progress, and Yan Mingting replied: “Rest assured, ba, the refugees from Zhizhou have been evacuated according to your previous method. If there is no accident, they should now be almost to the disaster relief point, and then they will be able to go on to other lands smoothly.”

Zhao Yelan pondered: “Where are the people from the city? Have they all been evacuated too?”

“Some people don’t want to leave and have been temporarily placed in charity houses.”

“How long can the water source that Yin Pinglu found last?”

“I’m not sure. It’s only that the water is getting less and less, and many people are going to fetch water every day.”

“Let the residents who don’t want to leave fetch water themselves, otherwise they will wait at home for someone to come to their door,” Zhao Yelan said. “Ask your people to pick up water and send it to the disaster relief point to minimize casualties during the journey.”

“All right.”

At noon, everyone ate pancakes and white rice porridge. Magistrate Sun said that some people in the city were already preparing to leave for other places, because if they went to fetch water by themselves, the round-trip distance was not short. It was better to leave with the others, so that at least there were people from the government who could guarantee them a sip of water.

“Zhao-daren, there is nothing else to do here, you fellows should evacuate quickly,” Magistrate Sun said.

“You aren’t going?”

“There are still some people in the city who are unwilling to leave, and I cannot abandon them,” Magistrate Sun said. “Many thanks to everyone who came to help these days, otherwise I would not have been able to properly handle so many refugees with such ease. Especially Zhao-daren, who fell ill. It is a blessing for the people to have a good official like you, ah.”

“There’s no need for that, I’m just doing my best.” Zhao Yelan thought he wasn’t as good as all that. He had just happened to encounter a disastrous situation and couldn’t bear to see so many lives disappear before his eyes, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten involved.

Moreover, compared to him, Magistrate Sun was the real local official, and at this juncture he was still unwilling to give up the remaining people and wanted to live or die with them.

Zhao Yelan admired his perseverance, but he also knew that a gentleman did not stand under a dangerous wall, and after minimizing the damage, he should leave with his own people.

“We will take the official route. Come to us if you need anything.” After Zhao Yelan ate half of his sesame seed-coated cakes, he picked up the porridge and drank most of the bowl in one go.

At this time, Yan Mingting silently moved his porridge in front of him.

Zhao Yelan: “Drink it yourself.”

“I can drink wine later,” Yan Mingting insisted.

Zhao Yelan had no choice but to drink another bowl. However, when everyone went back to pack their luggage, he saw Zuo Ran staring straight ahead while holding an empty jar. There was not a drop of wine dripping from it.

“Can’t you change the jar?” Zhao Yelan asked.

“No, we ran out of wine yesterday.” Zuo Ran sighed. “Magistrate Yin took out everything he had in stock at home, but there are too many soldiers and not enough for everyone to drink.”

Zhao Yelan was taken aback: “Not even a single jar?”

“En.”

Zhao Yelan walked into the room. Yan Mingting looked back at him while packing his bags: “Drink the medicine first, ba. There’s some more for the road, so as not to suffer from heatstroke again.”

Taking a few glances at him, Zhao Yelan drank the medicine in one go and grimaced.

“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable?” Yan Mingting asked, stepping forward.

“It’s a little bitter.”

“It is? You never said it was bitter before, ah.”

Zhao Yelan stared at his chapped lips and raised his head to kiss them. He licked them thoroughly, and asked after his lips were moist: “Is it bitter or not?”

“Where is it bitter?” Yan Mingting smiled. “It’s obviously sweeter than tanghulu.”

For the convenience of travel, no carriage was used this time, and everyone rode lightly on horseback. After bidding farewell to Magistrate Sun, everyone began to move directly north.

Zhao Yelan originally wanted to ride a horse by himself, but Yan Mingting was worried, fearing that he couldn’t bear it alone, so he insisted on dragging him onto his horse.

After more than half an hour, Yan Mingting stopped abruptly and took off his outer layer. The others couldn’t bear the heat either, so they followed his lead and took off their outer layers. For the sake of the two women, they did not go shirtless.

Seeing this, Yin Pinglu whispered a few words to Zuo Ran, who nodded and turned around to say: “General, the two of us are going to the front to take the lead. You just follow behind.”

After speaking, they hurried to the front of the crowd. Everyone saw and didn’t wait any longer, taking off their tops to go shirtless.

Zhao Yelan looked around at all those muscular arms and inevitably became a little jealous.

“Does it look good?” Yan Mingting asked cooly behind him.

“It’s really good-looking,” Zhao Yelan said sincerely.

“…….”

Yan Mingting was angry, but couldn’t ask everyone to put on their clothes when it was hot to the point of death, so he could only remove his inner layer irritably.

Zhao Yelan glanced back, then faced forward as if nothing had happened, a suspicious blush appearing at the base of his ears.

In the evening, everyone enjoyed the shade at the base of a mountain and ate dry rations.

Zhao Yelan found a secluded place and stood under the shade of a tree, eating sesame seed cakes. After a while, Yan Mingting came over and handed him a water bag: “Drink some water first.”

Zhao Yelan grabbed it and took a sip, then turned his back to continue eating without looking at him.

Yan Mingting was puzzled, and was about to speak, but he heard someone calling him and had no choice but to go over there first to see the situation.

Hearing the sound of his footsteps fading away, Zhao Yelan turned his head, and his eyes fell on the other’s back. The muscles of his arms and waist contained a wild strength without losing any aesthetic beauty. The shoulders were wide, the waist narrow, and the legs long. He had a good figure.

He had also seen Yan Mingting soaking in the bathtub, but at that time he was only concerned with checking whether he was injured, and did not have so  many colorful thoughts. But seeing him stand out amongst a group of shirtless men, he couldn’t help feeling a little proud.

Look, among so many tall and mighty men, only the best-looking one was worthy of him.

“My lord, what are you looking at?” Zuo Ran suddenly appeared beside him, following his line of sight. “Are you looking at the General?”

Zhao Yelan was taken aback, and sent her a sharp look: “Are you always so silent when you walk?”

“I am, ah, it’s just that you were too focused,” Zuo Ran said innocently.

“……” Zhao Yelan didn’t want to continue this topic, and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Getting another sesame seed cake.” Zuo Ran smiled and ran to Yan Mingting’s side. Whatever she said made Yan Mingting suddenly look over with a smile.

Zhao Yelan quickly looked up at the sky, still holding half a piece of sesame seed cake in his hand.

Zuo Ran got the cake and ran a few steps forward to find Yin Pinglu.

After Yan Mingting finished talking with the others, he returned to Zhao Yelan and asked with a smile: “What were you looking at just now?”

“I wasn’t looking at anything.” Zhao Yelan took a few steps backward and leaned his back against the tree, then stopped and bowed his head to eat the cake.

Yan Mingting took two steps forward, tilted his head to observe his expression, and suddenly laughed: “Did you peek at me?”

“What nonsense are you talking about!” Zhao Yelan glared at him.

“If you want to see it, just look at it directly instead of being sneaky.” Yan Mingting raised his arms and deliberately demonstrated the power of a man.

Zhao Yelan: “……Be careful of mosquitos biting you to death.”

“Impossible.”

Not long after, Yan Mingting said with a mournful face: “Oh no, look at my back, have I been bitten?”

“That’s right.”

There was a big puffy bite on his back.

Zhao Yelan found some mosquito repellant in the forest and rubbed it on his back for a while, then asked: “Does it still itch?”

How could it not itch? His heart itched badly.

“I’ll do it myself, ba.” Yan Mingting gave a long sigh and looked at him sadly, pointing out, “It’s still so hot today, it’s easy to get too excited.”

Zhao Yelan choked, and stuffed the last bite of sesame seed cake that he couldn’t finish into the other’s mouth.

Yan Mingting was very moved and said in his heart, he left the last bite for me, he loves me so much.

They continued to move forward in the evening, but their speed had dropped and the horses walked forward slowly. Zhao Yelan gazed up at the night sky. It was full of stars, very beautiful, but he couldn’t be happy.

“Looks like tomorrow will be sunny,” Zhao Yelan sighed.

“Don’t worry too much,” Yan Mingting said. “Sometimes the sky isn’t accurate, what if it rains?”

Zhao Yelan reluctantly gave a faint smile: “I hope so, ba.”

Seeing that he was not in high spirits, Yan Mingting said: “Everything has its pros and cons. Although tomorrow will be sunny, that does not hinder the beauty of the night sky now, ah. It is rare to see so many stars in the capital, so seize the opportunity to see more of them.”

Zhao Yelan gave a light laugh, but then seriously looked at the stars. Some were big, some were small, some sparkled and shined, and some connected to form patterns. Zhao used the stars to form pictures, pointing dozens of them out to Yan Mingting. He asked: “What do you think that one looks like?”

“I don’t know.” Yan Mingting’s gaze kept falling on his profile, and the corners of his lips curled up unconsciously. “What is it?”

“It’s Hongshao.” Zhao Yelan laughed out loud, echoed by Yan Mingting.

The others didn’t know what had happened, hearing inexplicable laughter on the road.

The night was getting dark, and Zhao Yelan’s eyelids were a bit heavy. Yan Mingting pulled him back to lean into his arms and said: “Take a nap, ba.”

Zhao Yelan nodded and leaned against his chest to prepare for sleep, but not long after he closed his eyes, he felt something pressing against his back.

He opened his eyes abruptly with a reddening face, and said without looking back: “Calm down.”

“Hm?” Yan Mingting lowered his head slightly, moved close to his cheek, and asked, “What did you say?”

“I said, you had better calm down a little,” Zhao Yelan said in a low voice.

“What’s wrong with me?” Yan Mingting was puzzled.

“What’s wrong with you? We’re on the road now.”

“Yes, we’re on the road……so what?”

Seeing that he had made it clear that he would pretend to be innocent, Zhao Yelan didn’t want to argue with him any longer. He closed his eyes again, but couldn’t get to sleep at all. The horse bumped up and down as he lay against the other’s chest, and his ears were filled with the sound of the other’s heavy breathing as his face turned redder and redder.

What’s more, his back was being poked uncomfortably the whole time, and it was difficult to ignore.

“Go to the front, I have something to say to you,” Zhao Yelan said.

Yan Mingting didn’t know his reasoning, but he hurried to the front at full speed, and then they walked into a remote grove nearby.

“What’s the matter?” As soon as Yan Mingting spoke, the other turned around and reached out to touch his body.

Yan Mingting was taken aback: “ ? ” He wanted to be so wild?

Zhao Yelan’s expression was more complicated. He was sullen at first, then gradually lost, lowering his head unsurely to look. Then he noticed the saber at his waist, and reached out to touch the tip of the scabbard.

Hell. He had been careless.

The expression on Zhao Yelan’s face was about to crack, especially when he realized that he had directly grabbed it after his casually irritated words just now.

“That is……I seem to have made a mistake just now, in fact, the thing is this…..” He wanted to continue to explain, but was taken captive by Yan Mingting into the depths of the forest.

“I’ve never seen you so proactive in stirring up a fire, and also on the road! Hurry and take responsibility for me!” Yan Mingting said.