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Yanqing was walking back after completing his mission when his phone rang.
Sushang.
He frowned, seeing the name displayed on the screen. Aside from the fact that they weren’t particularly close—at least outside of work—Sushang had never called him before.
Yanqing pressed the button to answer and brought the phone to his ear.
“Sushang?”
“—Qing! Ah! Shush! Can you be quiet for a moment?” Yanqing winced, pulling the phone slightly away from his ear as an ear-piercing squeak followed by groans filled the line.
“Sushang? Is everything alright?”
“Yeah! Yeah!” his friend’s voice came through amidst groans and moans from several people nearby. Was she at the infirmary? The Alchemy Commission, maybe? Yanqing couldn’t help but feel a little worried. “Oh, sorry, this is super sudden but—wait, you didn’t pick up this call in the Seat of Divine Foresight, right?”
Hearing the sudden panic in her voice, Yanqing raised an eyebrow. “Uh, no?”
“Good, good. Because this would be extremely embarrassing if anyone heard—ugh! Guinaifen! Can you relax a little? It’s gonna be okay!”
More groaning—likely from Guinaifen—was followed by the sound of someone vomiting. Eughh.
“Is she alright over there?” Yanqing grimaced as the sound of vomiting didn’t stop, as if she was emptying her entire stomach—or desperately trying to throw something up that just wouldn’t come out.
“Uh, do you remember the sword you gave me after we dueled the other day?”
“Ah, that,” Yanqing recalled the souvenir he had given Sushang after she managed to stop him from doing something even more foolish while Heliobus possessed him. Of course, Yanqing remembered that incident. How could he forget such an embarrassing event? “Yeah, of course I remember.”
“Well, here’s the thing. Guinaifen was with me this morning when she saw the sword you gave me and complimented me on how beautiful it was.” Hearing this, Yanqing couldn’t help but smile, feeling a bit proud of himself. “I forgot to tell her that, in fact, the sword is one of your spiritual swords and not a real one, and, you know—”
“Oh no,” Yanqing said it faster than his brain could piece things together. But it didn’t take a genius to catch the two words: Guinaifen and sword, and put them together into a sentence. “Don’t tell me—”
“Yeah…” Sushang sighed on the other end, her voice sounding like a storm through the phone. “Sorry, but can you come? She keeps trying to throw it up, but I know the spiritual energy from your sword has merged with her body and is making her shiver from the cold.”
Oh, crap. This is what happens when a spiritual sword meant to pierce abundance monsters gets swallowed as part of Guinaifen’s ridiculous stage show. Ugh.
“Where are you guys now? Alchemy Commission?”
“Yeah, and Dragon Lady has given her some medicine to ease the cold she’s feeling—which isn’t working, considering medicine like that is rarely needed here in Luofu…”
Holding back the urge to groan, Yanqing nodded slowly, even though he knew the person on the other side couldn’t see him. “Alright, alright, just—tell her not to do anything stupid.”
“Oh, Lan, thank you so much!” Yanqing heard some noise on the other end, the sound of Sushang’s footsteps running before he once again heard the commotion of people being treated at the Alchemy Commission. Sushang was talking to someone—her voice muffled—before Yanqing heard, “Oh thank you so much, Yanqing! I love you!” from Guinaifen, who sounded like she was speaking with her mouth full, probably while brushing her teeth.
Then, he changed his course, which had been leading him toward the Seat of Divine Foresight, and turned toward the Alchemy Commission. Yanqing could only hope the General was too busy and buried under piles of work to remember that he hadn’t returned to report his mission yet.
When Yanqing arrived, Sushang waved at him from a distance, and he was grateful because, with how busy the Alchemy Commission was today, he could have spent an hour just looking for the two women who were there for such a ridiculous reason.
“Thank you,” Sushang looked at him with bright, grateful eyes, as if he were a lifesaver—which, if you think about it, he kind of was.
Yanqing waved it off, “Eh, that’s alright. It’s because of my sword, after all.”
In front of them, Guinaifen lay on the bed. Unlike the other patients who were bandaged on their arms, legs, or heads, Guinaifen’s body was wrapped in thick blankets as if she had just returned from a snowstorm in Belobog. Once in a while, her forehead would wrinkle, and she mumbled about cold, swords, and—well, Yanqing himself.
Ugh. Yanqing hoped no other patients were listening.
Yanqing touched Guinaifen’s forehead, which, as he expected, felt very cold. With his spiritual ice energy, he was immune to the cold that radiated from him every time he entered battle, but he couldn’t say the same for others.
He raised his hand and formed a seal, the same one he used at the end of every fight, causing the swords made from his spiritual energy to disappear. As he finished, Guinaifen grimaced and squirmed in her sleep, before settling down and starting to snore as if nothing had happened.
Yanqing sighed, his hand reaching out again to feel Guinaifen’s forehead, which was slowly warming up. Once he was sure that the sword-swallowing woman would be fine, he turned his attention to Sushang, who was sitting in a chair beside the bed, looking relieved. Now that he focused on her, he noticed her arm was bandaged.
“Are you alright?”
Hearing his question, Sushang frowned in confusion before looking down and realizing Yanqing was staring at her arm. “Oh, this,” she said sheepishly, “Don’t worry about it. Just a result of my stupidity trying to save Guinaifen.”
Yanqing shook his head slightly, remembering that these two women had previously gotten into serious trouble with Heliobus after being caught live streaming in a restricted area—another one of Guinafen’s ideas. He couldn’t help but wonder what other problems they would get into because of their side job. He just hoped they wouldn’t cause too much trouble for the Cloud Knights because—
Oh. Speaking of Cloud Knights, now that he was looking around, there were a lot of Cloud Knights lying in the treatment room. He frowned. Had something happened while he was away on his mission?
“Has something happened?”
Sushang looked around, realizing what Yanqing meant. “Uh, no?”
Hearing Sushang’s response, which sounded like a question in return, he raised an eyebrow. “Has the General been here?”
“The General?” Sushang frowned, looking up at Yanqing from her position beside the bedrest. “Why would he be here?”
“Uh, because you’re hurt?” Yanqing said this as if it were obvious, though it only made the girl in front of him frown even deeper. “And also because of the many injured Cloud Knights here.”
“He won’t be here just because I'm hurt.”
“No, he will,” Yanqing insisted. “He cares about the Cloud Knights. He is always there whenever I’m hurt.”
Sushang let out a sigh, before her mouth formed a smile—a smile Yanqing realized was mocking.
“Do you know how many other Cloud Knights get hurt every day?” Sushang asked, looking at Yanqing deadpan. “Thousands, Yanqing, thousands. The General doesn’t care about any Cloud Knight, he just cares about you."
“Yes, because I am a Cloud Knight—”
“No, because you are his son.”
Yanqing flushed. Then just as pink started to spread across his cheeks, his frown deepened. “I-I’m not!”
Sushang raised an eyebrow, trying to challenge his evasiveness with just a look. Yanqing hated it, and he hated how Sushang wasn’t the first person to say something like that to him.
“Uh-huh,” the girl then turned her back on him, as if not giving him a chance to argue, while fixing Guinaifen’s blanket that had gotten messy due to the patient’s frequent restless movements.
Yanqing let out an annoyed huff, purposefully making a loud ‘Tsk’ sound before walking out of the Alchemy Commission, hoping to avoid their debate over whether or not he was The General’s son being overheard by the other Cloud Knights, which would only make it an even more frequent topic of conversation than it already was.
The next day, while Yanqing was on a mission, an idea popped into his head.
Sushang had mentioned that thousands of Cloud Knights from all over Luofu were injured every day while carrying out missions, right? He could easily be one of them. Actually, no. Yanqing’s actual plan was indeed to become one of them. Among the thousands of people going in and out of the Alchemy Commission, surely The General wouldn’t notice if he was one of them, right? Hence, proving to Sushang that The General didn’t play favorites among the Cloud Knights he led.
Good idea. Except, he hadn’t thought about how to get into the Alchemy Commission. Specifically, how he would get injured.
Luofu had been relatively peaceful lately, and the only missions that could result in injuries were those involving battling Abundance monsters, soldiers corrupted by the mara, or fighting—huh, who? There was no one else in Luofu besides his master who agreed to spar with him every time he asked.
The best option was to fight Abundance monsters. It was a common occurrence, which meant the healers at the Alchemy Commission wouldn’t question it too much. But, the problem was, that Yanqing never wanted to be a common case. He always wanted to be a special case. It wouldn’t make sense for a disciple of The General, who had personally raised him, to get injured over something as trivial as what happened to lower-ranked Cloud Knights, right?
Yanqing groaned. He was stuck at a crossroads between wanting to prove the facts and put an end to the teasing about him being The General’s son, or preserving his pride as a skilled fighter and mission expert.
Then finally, fate handed him an answer when a Cloud Knight brought him a mission order from the Seat of Divine Foresight to eliminate some spiritual beasts that had appeared in Exalting Sanctum and were disturbing the locals.
It's not something to be taken too seriously, really. Yanqing said he would always uphold the values taught at the academy and be humble, but come on! with his above-average skills, he couldn’t help but click his tongue when he saw the deer-like monsters running around. What an easy target they are.
Yanqing easily dispatched two of them without even needing to get close. His five spiritual swords hovered in the air, splitting into two groups to pierce the creatures right in the neck, freezing them in ice before they shattered into fragments of dust. Then, as if they had a mind of their own, the swords moved again in search of new targets.
“Oh no you’re not—”
Yanqing groaned. One of them escaped while being chased by his spiritual sword, turning toward Aurum Alley. Swiftly, he summoned Yanzhuo, infused it with spiritual energy, and mounted it to hover in the air, following the beast that was now causing chaos along the bustling food street.
“Sorry! Sorry! Coming through!”
Yanqing flew over the heads of residents and tourists who screamed and scattered. One of the Abundant Ebon Deer crashed into a food stall, making the vendor scream as their stock of ingredients got wrecked. Yanqing formed a hand seal, summoning more swords and directing them toward the deer. And then—
“Ugh!”
From behind, he was hit by a Malefic Ape. The massive ape-like monster, towering like a mountain with terrifying strength, threw his small body off Yanzhuo, just as he was focusing on killing the deer with his ice. Seeing the monster growling, he growled back, hovering in mid-air.
“Oh, you think you’re smart for sneaking up on me, do you?”
With agility, Yanqing formed another hand seal and directed Yanzhuo toward the monster. He altered his descent, and his small body landed atop the roof of one of the food stalls that had already been ravaged by the Abundant Deer. The ape growled as Yanzhuo pierced its side, howling amidst the chaos of the villagers' screams as the sword sliced the creature's body in two. The sound of ice explosions from his spiritual sword echoed here and there, signaling that the task of chasing down the rampaging Abundance monsters in Aurum Alley was complete.
Standing on the now-collapsing rooftop, Yanqing caught his breath and performed a hand seal, summoning Yanzhuo and his spiritual swords back to him. His body ached slightly from the fall onto the roof, but beyond that? Tsk. Of course, he was fine. He wouldn’t be a Lieutenant if a trivial issue like this—
Oh no.
Oh, crap!
Yanqing cursed inwardly. He was supposed to get injured!
His mind raced as he observed a few Cloud Knights and officials running around, calming the locals and cleaning up the chaos on the crowded food street. Yanqing felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, signaling that the building he stood on could no longer support itself. And just as one of the officials noticed his presence and pointed in his direction, the building collapsed, and Yanqing did nothing to save himself.
“Help!”
Yanqing became aware of someone carrying his small frame, running through a place—he realized it was the Alchemy Commission. Finally, he cheered internally, but cursed himself for waking up too soon.
“Help!” The man carrying him shouted again. “We have a casualty!”
He was then laid down on a bedrest, footsteps approaching. Yanqing didn’t know his exact condition, but he hoped that the dust and dirt from the collapsed building, along with the pain in his leg—likely from a scrape when he fell—would convince them that he was truly injured.
“Lieutenant Yanqing?”
One of the Alchemy Commission staff, thankfully not The Dragon Lady—phew, Yanqing sighed in relief. If it were her, the High Elder would immediately know he was conscious—checked his temperature before inspecting his injured leg.
“He was hurt when the Abundance monsters caused havoc in Aurum Alley. Not from them directly, but a building collapsed on him.”
Uh-huh, not bad. At least this time his injury would be labeled as 'unlucky' rather than 'incompetence'. Yanqing felt like hugging those who brought him here tightly.
He lay there, forcing his eyes to stay shut, and soon fell asleep without realizing it as they performed the medical procedures, bandaging his wounds and moving him to a recovery room.
The next time he opened his eyes, he found himself in a quiet, closed room, where the usual noise from the Alchemy Commission was muted. As a high-ranking member of the Cloud Knights, he knew they had prepared a private room for him. This would at least reduce the number of people panicking over his condition—or gossiping about him. Most importantly, it would make it harder for The General to easily find out about his situation.
Ha! You hear that, Sushang?
Yanqing tried to calculate how much time had passed while he slept. Thirty minutes? No, that felt too long. He estimated he’d slept for about twenty minutes, the time it took for them to bandage his wounds. The journey from the Alchemy Commission to the Seat of Divine Foresight would take fifteen minutes, ten if he ran. And if someone had reported to The General, it would take him about thirty minutes to arrive.
So, The General would be here in roughly ten minutes from now. But Yanqing knew that wouldn’t happen. He knew how busy his master was.
With a satisfied smile, as if his claim had become fact, Yanqing settled comfortably in his bed, timing when he should 'wake up', ready to leave while the healers insisted, “You need more rest, Lieutenant!” to which he’d reply, “Oh, I’m fine, really. It’s nothing!”
Hah, this is too easy. Sushang wouldn’t believe it immediately, but he had witnesses who could vouch when he said that The General, in fact, did not come when he was injured. And he, in fact, was not his—
Yanqing startled slightly when the door to his room suddenly burst open. He quickly shut his eyes, keeping his expression natural, as the familiar sound of footsteps—the ones he had heard every day since childhood—approached his bedrest.
Not even thirty minutes?! How is this possible?!
Footsteps halted right beside his bedrest, and Yanqing had to restrain himself from frowning. The presence of the General, no matter where he was, always attracted attention. And with him being here, and with so many Cloud Knights outside who must have seen him—ugh! Yanqing hadn’t expected his plan to go this awry.
For a few seconds, nothing happened. Yanqing only heard Jing Yuan’s steady breathing while—he wasn't mistaken—he was staring at him in his supposedly unconscious state. Then, slowly, a large hand, slightly rough from hundreds of years of wielding a guandao, reached for his cheek, gently stroking it.
Yanqing felt like squirming. He was sure his face was already flushed. It had been a long time since he’d allowed himself to be treated like a child—even though if he were honest, he missed it, but he was a Lieutenant now! The thumb softly brushed his cheek, then moved to push aside a few strands of hair covering his face and—
H-huh?
His master’s hand suddenly lifted. Yanqing held himself back from peeking to see what was happening because he knew his master was still right in front of him. Unconsciously, his hand fidgeted as the room fell silent, before the hand that had been caressing his cheek landed on his forehead, tapping it lightly with two fingers.
A sigh was heard from beside him. “You could save both of us some time and tell me what you want, or you can keep pretending to play patient.”
Yanqing was sure his lips twitched slightly, but he was optimistic that his ears were deceiving him. He was supposed to be unconscious, right? He had fainted due to an injury from a fall and, uh—basically, he was out! The General certainly wasn't talking to him.
Another sigh, this time accompanied by a pinch on his nose, blocking his air.
“Yanqing.”
His master’s voice sounded firm, though there was a playful hint in it, just like when he was a child and got caught stealing the wooden sword his master had kept in the storeroom and forbade him from going near.
“I know you heard me,” he said, now patting his bandaged leg—proving that the white cloth wrapping was, in fact, just a façade and not a real serious injury. “Drop the act.”
“Wh—No?” Yanqing opened his eyes, instantly staring at the General before him with furrowed brows. “No, I’m not!” he insisted, though he knew the small smile on his master’s lips proved that he didn’t take his words seriously at all. “I am a patient!”
General Jing Yuan, in full uniform, stood towering above him, arms crossed over his chest, one eyebrow raised, and with a smile that—ugh! Yanqing hated it when his master acted like he knew everything.
“And you’re here because you…” His words halted for a moment, as his master looked at him with an amused expression before continuing, “Fell?”
Yanqing puffed out his cheeks. “I’m hurt on duty,” he said, then pointed outside the room where they could see the silhouettes of other patients—mostly Cloud Knights—walking by. “Just like any other Cloud Knights, every day, every time they go out on missions.”
In response, the General just nodded slowly. “Right.”
“Besides, what are you even doing here, General?” Yanqing, still lying down, folded his arms across his chest, now glaring at his master with narrowed eyes. “You are the General of the Luofu, you can’t be here just because a Knight is injured, right?”
“You know why I’m here.”
"Uh, no?" Yanqing then sat up from his bedrest, his carefully planned act vanishing instantly. "You can't be here just because I’m here."
“Can’t I?”
“Yes, you can’t,” Yanqing spoke with full conviction, unaware that in front of him, the General was only responding with an amused smile, as if all of this was his entertainment amidst his boring workload. “Because you weren’t here yesterday when Sushang got hurt, or the day before when another Cloud Knight got injured, or the day before that—ugh, I know you get my point, General.”
The General hummed. “Sushang was hurt? Oh, what a pity. I hope she’s doing well now.”
“Yes, she was, because that stupid performer friend of hers stupidly swallowed one of my—wait, that’s not the point!” Yanqing shook his head slightly, now focusing his gaze intently on the man in front of him.
Jing Yuan chuckled, shaking his head while, once again, tapping his forehead with two fingers. “I do not want you to be like the others, assuming that just because I am the Divine Foresight, I truly have divine sight on everything.”
“Well, that is your title, after all,” Yanqing muttered quietly.
“Though it is true that I care about all the Cloud Knights under my command, you know I can’t possibly know and come here every time they get injured,” he began, now looking at Yanqing as if he were talking to a toddler. “Every time an underage personnel gets injured, they call their guardian to come and check on them. I’m sure they called Sushang’s parents when she got hurt yesterday. And as for you…”
The General stopped there, though Yanqing already knew the rest without him having to say it. Tsk.
His master was kind enough not to state the obvious—that he, the General of Luofu, the Divine Foresight, was his ‘guardian’ in this case. That was true. Yanqing had no one else who could take his master’s place in this matter. And, deep down in his heart, he didn’t want anyone else to replace his master’s role.
Being raised by a General had its own ups and downs. You know how kids like to brag about their parents being better than their friends' parents? Yanqing didn’t need to do things like that because his friends had already read about the General’s greatness in storybooks since they were little. Also, as the most important figure in Luofu, being raised by Jing Yuan meant that Yanqing never lacked anything. In fact, compared to others, Yanqing felt a bit spoiled.
The downside? Yanqing never wanted to consider this a downside, because he didn’t want to seem ungrateful. But sometimes, the privileges and advantages he had were often attributed to the General and not to himself. His intelligence, his talent in swordsmanship, his position in the Cloud Knights, and—Oh, you know Yanqing? He’s ordinary but looks so talented because the General is only paying attention to him!
Tsk.
He never talked about this with the General, though. Topics like this would make him seem like a child throwing a tantrum. And he knew that no matter what he said, Jing Yuan’s treatment of him wouldn’t change. Their relationship was both personal and professional, indeed. But after living together for almost his entire life, sometimes the line between the two blurred, making it seem like he and his master had a world of their own.
Yanqing pouted, lowering his head when he realized that his act this time didn’t change anything and only made the facts clearer. Facts that, if he were honest, warmed his heart a little, even though they made him half-dead with embarrassment.
Jing Yuan's hand reached out, now resting on his head, patting it a few times before ruffling his blonde hair affectionately, causing a few strands to slip out of his ponytail. Yanqing grimaced, showing a protesting expression even though he did nothing to stop him.
“Now come on, get up on your feet. We need to go.”
The General withdrew his hand, now gently squeezing his shoulder before walking away from the bed, heading towards the exit. Yanqing panicked instantly.
“Wh—No! I’m a patient, remember? Lady Bailu is gonna be mad at me if I go!”
Now what? The General wanted them to leave this room together? With him trailing behind, clearly becoming the center of attention? Ugh, that’s like a free pass to become the main star in the top gossip of Luofu!
“Besides, where would you take me to?”
“To where you work, the Seat of Divine Foresight?” His master raised an eyebrow, looking at him as if he’d asked a ridiculous question—before the gaze turned amused, “Or did you want me to take you to the disciplinary commission and report you for, let’s say, slacking on duties?”
“S-Slacking?” Yanqing stammered. “No, I’m not slacking, I just—”
“Playing pranks on the General of the Luofu?” The General chuckled softly. “Oh, that’s even worse, don’t you think?”
Yanqing’s face heated up.
“Ugh, that’s not—”
He’s not pranking the General, for Lan’s sake! He was injured on a mission. How many times does Yanqing have to say it?
Still chuckling, Jing Yuan’s hand now reached for the door of his room and slowly turned it, ignoring Yanqing, who was now shifting restlessly on the bed.
“Come on,”
“Wait, General!”
Yanqing grabbed his blue and black hanfu robe, which had been removed by the healers when they treated him, before realizing that all his accessories, especially the series of 'good luck' charms he usually wore, had been taken off and placed neatly on the table. Ugh! Why did the General give him so many trinkets in the first place?
“General!”
Yanqing picked up his wallet, his jade charm, his red string bracelets, and his longevity lock while continuously glancing at his master, who was ignoring his calls completely.
If it’s like this, there’s only one option.
With his face fully flushed like a tomato, and slightly trembling hands, his mouth moved to speak.
“Ugh, Baba!”
And he stops.
Huh. Still works every time, no matter where he uses it.
Yanqing tilted his head, letting his blond hair sway to the side. Then, while holding back his embarrassment, he looked at the man in front of him with wide eyes, sparkling with hope.
“Let’s just—return to the Seat of Divine Foresight, okay?”
Jing Yuan flashed a brief smile before sighing, closing his eyes, and shaking his head slowly. That look of his was there, the same gaze he had given him since the first time that strong arm carried his tiny body. The same look every time he switched roles from a General to—uh, you know what.
Then, extending his hand, waiting for Yanqing to take it—which of course wouldn’t happen—he nodded and smiled again.
“Alright.”
Yanqing walked slowly behind him, trying to suppress a smile as he realized that the weapon he had been using all this time—to ask for more money, to ask for a new sword, uh, basically all his efforts to win the General’s heart—still had an effect on him.
It was after he made eye contact with some Cloud Knights on their way out of the Alchemy Commission, their amused, teasing glances and mocking smiles that made him realize his behavior just now.
Did he just call his General “Baba”?
Yanqing groaned.
Old habits die hard, it seems. And after all the chaos and struggle to prove otherwise, he was now starting to realize the fact that, he is indeed his son, after all.