In late April, the weather in Ganzhou finally turned truly warm.
At noon that day, Wei Rao returned from training troops and had just entered the General's Manor when she heard A Bao's heart-wrenching sobs, as if the child had suffered immense grievance. Wei Rao hurried to the rear courtyard, where she found A Bao in Ma Momo's arms, crying so hard that her little face had turned crimson. Upon seeing her mother, A Bao immediately struggled to reach for her.
Wei Rao took her daughter into her arms. Nestled against her mother, A Bao's cries gradually subsided.
"What happened?" Wei Rao asked while gently patting her daughter's thin back.
Ma Momo, sweating with anxiety, bent forward to explain: "The young lady was perfectly fine all morning. But just now, when she went to play in the front courtyard, she suddenly remembered the Young Lord and insisted on seeing her father. Nothing we did could console her. We thought you'd be back soon, so we didn't send anyone to inform you."
Wei Rao looked at her daughter in surprise. Perhaps because she had grown a bit older, since the New Year, A Bao had clearly become much closer to Lu Zhuo than last year. Still, she remained stingy with calling him "Daddy" – Lu Zhuo had to exhaust all his tricks to make her giggle before she'd utter the word. Why was she suddenly asking for him today?
As she wondered, A Bao lifted her head and blinked her teary eyes at her: "Want Daddy."
Wei Rao's heart melted.
Actually, Lu Zhuo had only returned to the military camp yesterday morning. If they waited for him to come back on his own, it would take several more days.
"Mother will have lunch with A Bao first. After we eat, Mother will take you to find Daddy, alright?" Wei Rao said, kissing her daughter.
With her request satisfied, A Bao nodded happily.
Lunch was already prepared. The mother and daughter ate while chatting and laughing. True to her word, after the meal, Wei Rao had Bitao pack their belongings.
"How long will you stay at the camp this time, Princess?" Bitao asked.
Wei Rao glanced at A Bao and smiled: "That depends on our young lady. If she likes the military camp, we'll stay a few days. If she doesn't, we might return tomorrow."
Hearing this, Bitao, Liuya, Ma Momo, and the others all hoped the young lady wouldn't like the camp. Otherwise, with both the young lady and the Princess away, they would have little to do.
Lu Zhuo would be at the Suzhou camp these days.
Wei Rao and A Bao sat in the carriage, escorted outside by Zhao Bai and sixteen guards from the Princess Manor.
It was A Bao's first time leaving Ganzhou City. She leaned against the carriage window, gazing around curiously. Wei Rao sat beside her, holding her to prevent her from leaning too far out and accidentally falling.
"That's an ox," Wei Rao pointed out a plowing ox by the roadside to her daughter.
A Bao: "Big ox!"
"They're farming. All the food we eat comes from the fields."
"Farming!"
"That's a snow-capped mountain. Because the peak is too high and cold, the snow there never melts."
"Snow mountain!"
Whatever Wei Rao said, A Bao found it fascinating.
Eventually, A Bao grew tired from watching and became sleepy. Wei Rao held her daughter, lulling her to sleep. Once A Bao was asleep, Wei Rao laid her on the narrow couch with a cushion under her head. She sat beside the couch to prevent her daughter from rolling off.
The carriage jolted gently, causing A Bao's chubby cheeks to wobble slightly. Her long, curved eyelashes and two straight eyebrows were exactly like Lu Zhuo's.
Wei Rao gazed intently at her daughter, imagining how delighted Lu Zhuo would be to see her, and her heart softened.
After a long nap, A Bao woke up and continued watching the scenery outside. By then, they were very close to the military camp. The surrounding area was filled with military farmland, with few civilians in sight.Wei Rao had sent Zhao Bai ahead to the main camp to announce their arrival.
Mother and daughter sat by the carriage window, watching Zhao Bai ride alone toward the military camp. Before long, a black steed suddenly galloped out from the camp.
"Father!" A Bao already recognized Flying Ink.
Wei Rao smiled as she watched the distant figure. In the warm spring breeze, Lu Zhuo, clad in silver armor and riding the divine steed, looked like a celestial general descending to earth.
"Father!"
The closer Lu Zhuo got, the louder A Bao shouted.
Hearing her clearly, Lu Zhuo grinned widely. As soon as he reached the carriage, he first lifted A Bao out.
"Be careful," Wei Rao said with concern.
How could Lu Zhuo possibly drop his own daughter? He settled A Bao in front of him, holding the reins with one hand and encircling her small body with the other.
Thrilled by her first horseback ride, A Bao wanted her father to gallop.
Lu Zhuo laughed. "We can't run. Your mother is still in the carriage. If we run off, she'll be angry."
A Bao turned to look at the carriage window.
Wei Rao pretended to be hurt. "Is A Bao going to abandon Mother?"
After thinking it over, A Bao decided she couldn’t bear to leave her mother behind.
Lu Zhuo coaxed his daughter for a while, then turned to Wei Rao. "What brings you here so suddenly?"
Wei Rao gestured toward A Bao. "It's your precious daughter. She insisted on seeing her father and cried until her face turned purple."
Lu Zhuo burst out laughing again. He knew it—since he doted on his daughter so much, she surely held her father dear in her heart.
By dusk, the soldiers in the camp were having their evening meal. Seeing their commander holding an exquisitely delicate little girl, with a carriage following nearby, they all guessed that the lady and the young miss had arrived.
A Bao curiously observed everything around her.
While there was still light, Lu Zhuo had Wei Rao rest in his tent first. He took A Bao on a horseback tour around the camp. When soldiers greeted her, A Bao blinked at them without any fear, earning praises from everyone that Lu Zhuo was a tiger father with no puppy daughter.
After showing off his daughter, Lu Zhuo returned to his tent.
A new tent had been set up next to his for the wet nurse and A Bao to sleep in, so Lu Zhuo could spend the night with Wei Rao.
As Wei Rao frequently trained the militia, the earlier story of her impersonating Lu Zhuo’s cousin to drill in the camp had long since spread. Though teased by Meng Kuo and others, Lu Zhuo had grown thick-skinned and no longer felt the need to hide anything.
Still, it was a military camp after all. That night, the couple stealthily shared intimacy under the covers before calling it a day.
"How long do you plan to stay in the camp this time?" Lu Zhuo asked, stroking Wei Rao’s smooth hair.
Wei Rao smiled. "How long would you like us to stay?"
Lu Zhuo replied, "I’d be happiest if you stayed with me forever and never left." Leading troops while having his wife and daughter by his side—that was the heavenly life Lu Zhuo envisioned.
But Wei Rao couldn’t stay that long, and Lu Zhuo couldn’t realistically keep them there indefinitely. The military had its rules; as commander, he could occasionally make exceptions without much issue, but prolonging it would undermine his authority.
Wei Rao and A Bao stayed in the camp for two nights. Once A Bao had her fill of novelty, she didn’t even glance back at Lu Zhuo when Wei Rao carried her into the carriage, her mind already on the toys back at the general’s residence.
Lu Zhuo escorted them for two miles before returning to the main camp.
With the Dragon Boat Festival approaching, Lu Zhuo planned to return to Ganzhou City at the end of the month and stay for several days. However, before he could make arrangements, a messenger from Ganzhou Camp suddenly arrived, handing him a secret message retrieved from a carrier pigeon.
Lu Zhuo’s face turned pale.When he first arrived in Ganzhou, he dispatched several spies disguised as merchants to infiltrate the capitals of both Western Qiang and Wuda, also arranging messenger pigeons. However, Lu Zhuo had given orders that unless there was warfare, the spies need not contact him. But once they detected any signs of troop movements in either country, even if only suspicions, they must send word to him immediately.
Lu Zhuo unfolded the secret letter.
This missive came from the capital of Western Qiang, written two days prior. The spy, limited by his position, had only noticed Western Qiang mobilizing troops but could not discern their specific intentions. After all, besides bordering Great Qi, Western Qiang also neighbored Wuda and various other frontier states.
"Western Qiang shows unusual movements. Alert all border cities to maintain vigilance. Without my permission, no one is to leave their posts without authorization," Lu Zhuo declared sternly as he put away the secret letter.
The messengers immediately split into several groups to relay the orders.
Lu Zhuo quickly wrote a letter to Wei Rao before heading straight to the Ganzhou military camp.
In his letter, he merely mentioned unusual movements in Western Qiang and that he would lead troops to maintain alert. There might not necessarily be warfare, so she need not worry. However, until the alert was lifted, it would be inconvenient for him to return to the city.
Wei Rao replied, telling him to stay at the camp with peace of mind and not to worry about her and their daughter.
As all border cities heightened their vigilance, Ganzhou City also secretly raised its alert level. Watching her carefree daughter, Wei Rao silently hoped this would prove to be a false alarm. Though she trained troops, she did not wish for opportunities to deploy them. The battlefield was merciless—even a commander like Lu Zhuo could face life-threatening dangers, let alone ordinary soldiers who might perish at any moment.
All were flesh and blood; if seriously wounded, survival often depended on fate alone.
The last conflict had been six years ago. With the border peaceful for so long, Wei Rao devoutly prayed for national stability and the people's safety.
Not only Wei Rao thought this way—the border troops and civilians shared the same sentiment. However, the Central Plains' prosperity had always made it a coveted prize for frontier nations. When these nations lacked strength, they coexisted peacefully with Great Qi. But once they grew confident in their military power, they would inevitably reveal their aggressive nature.
On a drizzling night, fifty thousand Western Qiang Iron Cavalry descended like ghosts upon Guazhou City. Though Lu Zhuo had issued commands, the defending general at Guazhou, confident the enemy would not attack on a rainy night, neglected his duties. The Western Qiang cavalry swiftly breached the city gates, and Guazhou fell.
When news of the city's fall reached the Ganzhou military camp, Lu Zhuo was furious. He deployed troops and launched a full-frontal counterattack while ordering an urgent eight-hundred-li dispatch to deliver the battle report to the capital.
This time, Western Qiang had sent two hundred fifty thousand iron cavalry. With their strong combat effectiveness, Lu Zhuo's two hundred thousand troops would struggle to hold them off alone. Upon receiving the report, Emperor Yuanjia prepared to dispatch the Taiyuan Imperial Guards for reinforcement. Unexpectedly, a battle report also arrived from the northern border: Wuda had simultaneously launched an attack with Western Qiang, sending two hundred thousand iron cavalry in a fierce assault.
Six years earlier, Wuda's three hundred thousand iron cavalry alone had plunged Great Qi into a grueling war. Now, with both nations joining forces—four hundred fifty thousand troops in total—Great Qi suddenly faced a catastrophic threat.
After consulting with his ministers, Emperor Yuanjia ordered the Duke of Yingguo to lead the Divine Martial Army and the Marquis of Xiting to command the Soaring Dragon Army to reinforce the Ganzhou troops. Meanwhile, the Marquis of Pingxi would lead the Valiant Tiger Army and the Marquis of Zhennan the Flying Eagle Army to support the northern front. The capital was left with only sixty thousand troops from the Imperial Guard and Imperial City Guard for defense.
For a time, the entire nation was gripped by panic.
With the front lines under intense pressure, Lu Zhuo had no time to break away. He only wrote to arrange for Wei Rao to take A Bao and return to the capital first.
As long as he was there, Lu Zhuo would not allow Ganzhou to fall—but he could not let Wei Rao and their daughter face even the slightest danger.Wei Rao understood Lu Zhuo's feelings; she too couldn't bear to put their daughter at risk.
Wei Rao summoned Zhao Song, Bitao, Liuya, and the two matrons. She instructed Zhao Song and Bitao to lead the group back to the capital under the escort of the guards from the Princess Manor she had brought along.
Bitao wept, "Aren't you coming with us, Princess?"
Wei Rao smiled and said, "I will wait here for the heir."
Zhao Song knelt and declared, "This subordinate will stay and wait with the Princess."
Wei Rao said coldly, "I have Zhao Bai and five hundred manor guards—what use do I have for you? Zhao Song, remember this: I entrust A Bao to you. If she suffers even the slightest harm under your watch, even if the heir protects you, I will not spare you!"
Zhao Song pressed his lips tightly together, his entire body tense, and finally accepted the command in a low voice.
Wei Rao's gaze swept over each person before her—all trusted aides of her and Lu Zhuo, all familiar playmates of A Bao. She believed that even if A Bao cried along the way, in time, she would temporarily forget her father and mother, obediently return to the capital, return to the Duke of Yingguo's Manor, and dutifully wait for her parents to come home.
"Pack your things and set off today."
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