章 34: Downfall
"General… You aren't sleeping again?"
Fei Li's hand paused but he didn't look up.. "I have a lot to do. Go ahead and rest."
"General Fei, you've been working a lot…" Actually, more than a lot, a concerning amount. Fei Li seemed to be neglecting sleep and food regularly in favour of working. Although it was worrying, Xi Ming still chose his words more carefully, fully aware that Fei Li would order him out if he wasn't careful. "Things are going well, are they not? You can afford to rest a little more."
Fei Li spared him a glance before he shook his head. "We need to act quickly to press the advantage while we have it, I can't rest yet. The sooner this ends, the better... The faster we act now, the less we lose." His eyes swept over the numerous papers covering every inch of the table before him. "If he didn't die… We don't have much time," he murmured to himself, seeming to have been caught in his own thoughts again, no longer paying Xi Ming any mind as he continued working.
Xi Ming stared at him in concern but eventually, he softly sighed, bidding Fei Li good night as he left.
After Xi Ming left, Fei Li raised his head, lightly placing the brush in his hand down on the table. He sat back, staring at nothing in particular. His emotions were even more restless lately, his thoughts even worse. Even if he could spare the time to rest, he wouldn't.
—
Lu Qinyi slowly opened his eyes. He then promptly shut them again, brows furrowing deeply. The otherwise soft glow of light from the cube sat beside him seemed painfully bright. Everything ached, a deep kind of ache that spread throughout his entire body.
"General Lu?"
Lu Qinyi cracked his eyes open again, giving a response that was somewhere between a grunt of reply and a groan of pain.
Yang Xun hurried to his side, checking him over. Besides Yang Xun and piles of medical supplies on every surface within the tent, the tent was quiet and barren. Beyond the tent was also silence. It must have been late into the night.
Yang Xun helped as Lu Qinyi struggled into a half sitting position, pushing a cup of water into the other's hand, watching as Lu Qinyi sipped it. He looked tired, and relieved. "You're awake, you're finally awake…" He let out half a laugh, his relief so overwhelming he seemed at a loss. Eventually, he lightly shoved Lu Qinyi's shoulder. "You owe me for scaring me that badly."
Lu Qinyi winced and Yang Xun hurriedly withdrew his hand. "Owwww. That hurt like bloody hell." Lu Qinyi complained, his voice was a bit raspy from disuse. He frowned, tossing the cup back to Yang Xun as he sunk back down, hissing in pain with one hand clutching over his abdomen. "I'd say we're even. I'm tired. I'm going back to sleep." He muttered, his eyelids already fluttering closed again before he had finished his sentence.
"...Heh. It's good to have you back General. Get better soon..." Yang Xun murmured to the already passed out Lu Qinyi. He sat back down, sighing quietly, running a hand over his own face. "It's not just me that needs you back…"
—
"You were meant to inform me as soon as he woke up again," Zhao Mei accused the moment she entered the tent.
Yang Xun rolled his eyes, busily supporting Lu Qinyi who was struggling into a sitting position. "Give me a break Zhao Mei, he only just woke up."
Zhao Mei walked over, looking over Lu Qinyi who was a pale mess, the bandages at his abdomen marked with blood, a scowl on his face. But he had life in him, and enough energy to be pissed at his predicament. She closed her eyes a moment, letting the relief sink in. She couldn't afford to be hopeful that he was actually recovering until she saw it with her own eyes. "You look awful, General Lu. How do you feel?"
"Mmmm. Fantastic. Like blossoms and roses." He muttered grumpily, leaning heavily on Yang Xun to keep himself sitting up.
Zhao Mei clicked her tongue helplessly, gathering up a bowl of clear broth to hand over to him. "Useless, even joking at a time like this."
He took a few sips, the deep furrow of his brows finally seeming to ease slightly. "Who said it was a joke? I do feel like blossoms and roses. If you trampled them and set them on fire."
"So you actually feel-" Yang Xun began but Lu Qinyi quickly cut in.
"Fucking terrible. Perhaps you two should try getting poisoned for yourselves some time."
"I'll pass. It was hard enough keeping you alive."
Lu Qinyi's brows furrowed again. "...How long was I out for?"
He was met with silence. Lu Qinyi looked from Yang Xun to Zhao Mei but neither would meet his gaze. "Days?" He prompted hopefully.
Zhao Mei's expression looked grim. "Weeks."
Lu Qinyi muttered a curse. "Bring me the records of what happened while I was out."
Zhao Mei paused before she reached out, taking a hold of one of Lu Qinyi's hands in hers while she pressed her other hand to his forehead. His fingers were icy to the touch while his forehead was uncomfortably warm. He looked beyond tired still and he was a few shades paler than he should be. Finally, Zhao Mei tucked his hand back into the blanket and shook her head.
Lu Qinyi frowned, his voice cold and direct. "It wasn't a request, Lieutenant Zhao."
"Then you can determine my punishment for disobeying when you recover. You aren't fit for work."
"I can think, I can work. We're in the middle of a war, we don't have time for me to recover." He set aside his bowl, trying to struggle to sit up further but Yang Xun gently but firmly pressed him down.
"That's exactly why we need you to recover your strength now. If you don't and you collapse again, it will really be all over." Yang Xun stated, his hand forcing Lu Qinyi to remain in place.
"The poison has been expelled from your body. It was a kind that prioritized speed and incapacitation over damage. The lingering effects should clear up quickly and it's expected you'll make a full recovery. Rest a little while longer and I'll brief you the moment you've recovered some of your strength." Zhao Mei reasoned before she turned and left, leaving no room for further argument.
Lu Qinyi gazed at the flap of the tent in displeasure, but he really was too tired to maintain even that, blinking a few times wearily. Yang Xun scooped up the bowl that had been set aside, pushing it into his hands. "Drink up and sleep."
"Since when did you two get to give me the orders…" He complained, but his voice was quieter now and laced with the weariness he had managed to force down earlier but no longer could. He didn't complain further after that, sipping at his broth.
"Since always, General. If you treated us more like subordinates and less like friends, perhaps we wouldn't be able to."
For a long moment, Lu Qinyi didn't have the energy to respond. But after he finished his meal and slumped back in bed, he finally replied. "You're both. You're just awful at being subordinates." He murmured before carefully rolling onto his side, closing his eyes to sleep again.
—
Zhao Mei had only just lifted the flap to the tent when she had to rush forward, dropping the documents in her hands while she quickly caught Lu Qinyi's collapsing form. She pulled at his robes, checking for blood staining his fresh bandages. Thankfully, there was nothing.
Yang Xun had been insistent on keeping watch over him despite how Zhao Mei felt it was unnecessary. His condition was stable and slowly recovering now. She had been the one to convince Yang Xun to rest in his own tent tonight and he had only agreed on the condition that Zhao Mei would keep an eye on Lu Qinyi. She understood now, Yang Xun was likely worried about this exact situation, that Lu Qinyi would stubbornly force his still too weak body out of bed.
"Ah. Good timing Mei Mei."
She glared at him but he paid it no mind, leaning on her as a crutch as he slowly stumbled his way forward, pulling them both toward the table where he could grasp on to hold himself up. But Zhao Mei pulled him back again, adjusting her arm around him to grip him better. "Back to bed. You haven't recovered enough yet."
Lu Qinyi sighed. "I've recovered as much as we can afford." He gazed at her carefully before looking over the papers now scattered over the ground before slowly adding, "You know that as well as I do. We can't afford any more time. I need to return to commanding."
Zhao Mei said nothing but she did eventually support him to sit by the table. She then collected up the mess covering the floor, setting them, and a book pulled from her robes, on the table. "Yang Xun won't approve regardless. He has always been a man of heart before logic, and you gave him quite the scare when you wouldn't wake up."
Lu Qinyi sorted through the documents, reading over each of them. "Then don't tell him I've returned to work yet, let him think I'm still resting. Keep him busy and away from me when you can so I can keep working quietly."
"He knows you well, do you truly think you can fool him for long?"
"If I could fool him for long, he wouldn't be one of our most talented, would he? I don't need long. Once I can stand on my own again, he won't have a place to argue any more."
"He already suspects you might try something, which is why he asked for me to keep an eye on you."
He glanced up from the paper he was reading for a moment, quirking an eyebrow at her. "That was a misjudgement on his part. No… Not a misjudgment. Mistaken trust."
Zhao Mei frowned faintly at that. "If you don't choose your words more carefully General, I'm not beyond stuffing you back into bed with nothing to do but sleep all day."
"Please don't, if I have to spend another day with nothing to do, I might lose my mind."
Zhao Mei's expression then turned serious as she pushed the book on the table closer to him. "I won't. Yang Xun is making a mistake in insisting you rest. You need to return to work as soon as you can manage."
Lu Qinyi pulled it closer, reading the entries. Whenever his lieutenants assumed control in his stead, Zhao Mei kept brief but thorough records, reporting the situation each day, the actions taken and the consequences, including loss of life. He was familiar with it so read each entry at a skim. The more he read, the worse his expression became. Finally, he tossed the book aside, resting his head in his hand as he stared blankly, silently.
"...I wasn't informed it was this bad." There was an accusing note to his voice, his tone cold.
"You looked like death, General Lu. You weren't in good enough condition to resume duties until today, and even now... It would have been useless if you had pushed yourself and ended up back in a coma."
Lu Qinyi ran his fingers up into his hair, letting out a slow exhale. "We lost so many. That bastard has really done us under…"
Zhao Mei collected the book he discarded. "...General."
"I know." He sighed heavily. He looked awfully tired, leaning heavily against the table. "I need the night at least to think of something." He picked up another of the papers. "I'll give you instructions in the morning. You're dismissed."
Zhao Mei gave him a long look before she stood up, saluting to him before she left silently.
クリエイターの想い 
mehasacupcake
mehasacupcake This novel got accepted into Chrysanthemum Garden!! I'm so thrilled, I believe the site is a better fit and I love the community over there. I'm very excited to find more people who enjoy this story as much as I do.
I'm slowly transitioning over all the chapters onto there. I'm not sure if I'll continue posting for WWIO on Webnovel anymore. PNJ will continue to be updated however.
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