Powerful leads
*
Xiao Shu was appointed a general at nineteen. At twenty-three, he led his army in the slaughter of three cities. No one ever survived his sword. Everyone called him a madman. He wore a mask year-round, and no one had ever seen his face.
Huo Pingchuan was a border garrison commander. The year the three cities were slaughtered, he was in the fourth. He watched refugees pour in from the north, bringing their families with them. They smelled of smoke, and there was no light left in their eyes. An old woman clutched his hand and said, "General, our home is gone. Everything is gone." She held a child in her arms, already dead, but she didn't know it.
Huo Pingchuan remembered the old woman's face. He also remembered the madman's codename. He swore that one day he would cut off that man's head with his own hands.
Later, that man disappeared.
*
Huo Pingchuan found someone by a ditch in the wilderness.
He was covered in wounds, his mind was damaged, and he couldn't even remember who he was. The first thing he did after waking was kneel and bow his head. When Huo Pingchuan stopped him, he immediately shrank back into a corner of the bed, his voice trembling. "I'm sorry..."
Huo Pingchuan came in with a bowl of porridge. The fool didn't dare sit at the table. He squatted on the floor, holding the bowl and taking tiny sips. Frowning, Huo Pingchuan lifted him onto a chair. "Sit. From now on, you'll always eat sitting down."
On a stormy night, the fool crawled out from under the covers, grabbed Huo Pingchuan's sleeve, and trembled. Curled into a tiny ball, he buried his face against Huo Pingchuan's chest. The next day, red-faced, he spent the whole day explaining, "I didn't mean to."
Huo Pingchuan taught him to write. His hand shook around the brush, and the character for "Chuan" came out crooked. Huo Pingchuan guided his hand through it once. The fool blushed for ages, then whispered, "Your hand is so warm."
One day, Huo Pingchuan went out on an errand. When he returned, he found the man sitting on the doorstep, waiting for him. At the sound of footsteps, he jumped up and pretended not to look at Huo Pingchuan, but dust from the threshold clung to his clothes.
Who could have imagined that this man had once kicked open a city gate, stood atop a mountain of corpses in the rain without fearing even the thunder, and wielded a long blade to sever a military banner? Thousands fled at the sight of him. He used to grip the reins, and no one could hold him back once he charged. He used to sleep in campaign tents, and even the emperor had to give way to him.
*
One day, Huo Pingchuan came back from outside with a portrait. They had plastered them all over the city. The court had issued it: at last, someone had drawn the true face of the enemy state's young general. The man who had worn a mask for years had finally been unmasked.
Reward: Ten thousand taels of gold, dead or alive.
Huo Pingchuan stood in the doorway and unfolded the portrait. The man in it had deep-set brows, a sharply defined jaw, and a face that seemed carved from ice.
He looked exactly like the fool standing before him.
Huo Pingchuan didn't sleep that night. He set the portrait on the table and stared at it for a long time. The face in the portrait was cold and sharp, like a drawn blade. He remembered the day news came that three cities had been slaughtered, and how he had stood on the city wall all night. He remembered the old woman holding the child. He remembered the oath he had made.
Then he thought of the fool. How earnestly he tried to learn to use chopsticks. How he had burned the porridge and held out the bowl, saying he was sorry. How he was afraid of thunder and crouched by the door, too scared to knock.
Huo Pingchuan turned the portrait over and laid it face down on the table.
He wanted to kill him. He ought to kill him. He had to kill him.
*
Ten thousand horses and a vast army trample across mountains and rivers. Iron hooves crush the cold moon over the borderlands. Blood and fire consume ten thousand miles of homeland. He stands there, not a flicker of emotion crossing his brow.
Reading guide:
1. One-on-one romance
2. Sweet in the early chapters, angsty later. A little angst is good for you, but this isn't for readers who can't handle it.
3. I'm not very experienced with this kind of story. I'll start another one after I've learned more ^
4. Also known as: After I Took In the Amnesiac Young General of the Enemy State
Theme: Ten thousand hooves trample across mountains and rivers, yet his brow never furrows
