The General Always Has a Leak in His Left Side

When Ji Anzhi was fifteen, he saw someone on the battlefield.

Riding a black horse, drenched in blood, his back ramrod straight. Everyone around him instinctively made way.

"Who's that?"

"Someone from the Shen family."

Ji Anzhi was the bastard son of a camp prostitute, raised under the name of a man who had been collecting pay without serving for twelve years. He could do everything because nobody had ever taught him anything. He had long accepted that nothing good in this life would ever be his.

Later, Shen Sheng tossed him a remark from a few paces away: "Your left ribs are exposed."

Later, he changed his age and reported to the vanguard camp, but kept his name. He was afraid Shen Sheng wouldn't remember him otherwise.

Later still, he rose from personal guard to squad leader to deputy general, and eventually took the marshal for himself. Everyone thought Shen Sheng had taken him. No one knew it was the other way around. He never told anyone in his life, and the thought always made him grin.

"Would you rather command a battalion on your own, or stay on as my deputy?"

"How about I die at your grave?"

--

Ruffian soldier gong x cold-faced general shou. Younger gong, nine-year age gap.

Gong's point of view. A low-ranking soldier rises through the ranks; love grows over time. Spans a long period.

Not both virgins. The shou has a white moonlight, who also gets a major role.

Neither lead is morally spotless.

Alternate universe.

Premise: Companionship on the road to growth.