Dream of the Red Chamber: The Zhen Guo Duke’s Household Guards Return to the Capital

As dust billowed three yards high along the dirt road outside the capital, Niu Jizong slapped his sword hilt and laughed, asking whether the boy back home still remembered his father. Bringing up the rear, Jia Cong swept his gaze across the ruins, his heart pounding. He had been pressed into the army at twelve and spent three years enduring the bitter cold along the northern frontier. Hou Lian came over and called, “Brother Cong, snap out of it!” I rubbed the old, frost-cracked scars on my knuckles and glanced at the outline of the distant city gates. The northwest battle report should arrive before the men do.