"Master? Why have you come...?" Zhou Fugui knocked on the door. Liu Xia and Fei Yun, seeing Zhou Fugui's arrival, asked together with surprise and joy.
After Hou Luoqi had given Liu Xia and Fei Yun to Zhou Fugui, the two female slaves naturally became his servants. Although Zhou Fugui was far from as wealthy and extravagant as Hou Luoqi, Liu Xia and Fei Yun were willing female slaves to him. The reason was self-evident: one was an old eunuch who only knew how to torment and insult them, while the other was a courteous gentleman, a truly good man... at least, that's what Liu Xia and Fei Yun thought.
Liu Xia and Fei Yun were registered as slaves in the Great Yan Kingdom, but Zhou Fugui did not treat them as mere female slaves. Whether in speech or behavior, he treated them with courtesy, as equals. How could such a master not be served willingly and wholeheartedly by Liu Xia and Fei Yun? They were willing to follow him for life.
The past days of displacement, hardship, dependence, and bullying felt like yesterday. In comparison, Liu Xia and Fei Yun felt incredibly fortunate.
However, Zhou Fugui seemed to intentionally avoid the two women. When he occasionally visited the rented room, it was during the day, never at night. But today...
It was already completely dark. So why had he come? Could it be that their master... had a change of heart? The two women thought shyly in unison.
Although Liu Xia and Fei Yun were female slaves, people always strive for better. They always held a vague hope in their hearts.
"Can't I come? Did I scare you? Then I'll leave." Zhou Fugui chuckled upon hearing this and pretended to turn to leave.
"Oh my, Master, we're overjoyed that you could come. How could we be scared?" Fei Yun pouted coquettishly.
After speaking, Fei Yun took Zhou Fugui's arm and, without further ado, pulled him into the room.
Fei Yun was a more lively person, and having become familiar with Zhou Fugui, she knew he didn't care about the formalities of status.
"Master, if you were coming, you should have sent someone to inform us beforehand. Then my sister Fei Yun and I could have bathed and tidied ourselves to await you." Liu Xia, a more steady person, bowed slightly with her hands clasped at her eyebrows in a Han-style greeting and chuckled softly.
Although Liu Xia and Fei Yun were women from the Western Regions, they had been sold to the Han territories since childhood, so they were well-versed in these Han courtesies.
"Bathed and tidied? It's no matter, I'll just have a few words with you and then I'll be going," Zhou Fugui said, stunned for a moment.
"Master, you're leaving as soon as you arrive?" Fei Yun pouted upon hearing this. "Are you angry with me and Sister Liu Xia?"
"Angry? What's there to be angry about? You two little rascals, why would I be angry with you?" Zhou Fugui asked Fei Yun in surprise.
Fei Yun's charming innocence and Liu Xia's graceful beauty, even if Zhou Fugui had been angry, would have dissipated it. At the same time, Zhou Fugui's resolve, which had been difficult to harden, was now becoming increasingly unbearable...
"Hehe, it's good that you're not angry. If Master is happy, then I am happy too." Fei Yun dragged Zhou Fugui into the room and knelt before a low table.
"Master, please be seated. I'll go and prepare some wine and dishes." Liu Xia bowed again and then turned to leave the room to prepare the food and wine.
"Hey, hey..." Zhou Fugui called out twice, but Liu Xia had already left the room. He could only turn to Fei Yun and say, "I've already eaten. What are you preparing wine and dishes for?"
As Zhou Fugui spoke, his stomach rumbled loudly.
Zhou Fugui had indeed not eaten. After releasing the white bear Chi You back into the wild, he had rushed back to Xue Lin City without stopping.
"Pfft!" Fei Yun couldn't help but tease Zhou Fugui, "Master is telling lies. That's not a good master."
"Alas..." Zhou Fugui sighed. "Actually... how should I put it? I came today because I do have something to say to you two."
"Something to say to us two?" Fei Yun asked, looking around. She then noticed that the white bear Chi You hadn't returned with Zhou Fugui and asked, "Where is Little Chi You?"
"Abandoned..." Zhou Fugui replied dejectedly.
"Abandoned? Master, you..." Fei Yun almost burst into tears. Clinging to Zhou Fugui, she anxiously grabbed his arm and asked, "Really? You really abandoned it? How could you abandon the pitiful, adorable, and well-behaved Little Chi You? Master, are you teasing me?"
"Why would I tease you?" Fei Yun rubbed against Zhou Fugui, making him restless. Coupled with the pain of releasing the white bear Chi You, he was agitated and couldn't steady his mind. He sat up straight, stared at the bronze mirror on the low table, and said, "Pitiful, adorable, and well-behaved? That's a ferocious beast, a man-eating beast. If I don't abandon it, should I keep it to harm people?"
After speaking, Zhou Fugui looked at himself in the bronze mirror and touched the beard on his face, which was as messy as overgrown weeds.
In this world, men grew beards after reaching adulthood, or they would likely be mistaken for eunuchs... Since Zhou Fugui arrived in this world, he had never shaved, so he had a full beard, making him look even more like a barbarian than a barbarian...
"No, Chi You wouldn't eat people, nor would it harm anyone." Fei Yun felt exceptionally sad that the white bear Chi You had been abandoned by Zhou Fugui. However, life had to go on, and they had to serve Zhou Fugui. So, Fei Yun got up, fetched a basin of water, and took a horn comb. She walked behind Zhou Fugui, let down his hair, and began to comb his hair and beard.
Zhou Fugui, lost in thought about the white bear Chi You, allowed her to do as she pleased.
"Her brows and eyes flutter like a silk lantern's warmth, ink-like waterfalls cascade down her robes. Holding hands, combs in hand, the deep affection passes, yet strands of hair linger around our fate." For some reason, Fei Yun, who had been lively and bantering with Zhou Fugui moments ago, now quietly recited a poem as she meticulously combed Zhou Fugui's beard and hair. Her face was serene, but her expression held a touch of sorrow.
Zhou Fugui's eyes sharpened as he heard this. He saw Fei Yun's expression in the bronze mirror. He didn't dwell on how sorrowful and sad the poem's content was. However, Fei Yun's quiet sobs and tender affection as she combed his beard and hair deeply touched Zhou Fugui. The words he had intended to say became stuck in his throat.
"Abandoning people" was much more difficult than "abandoning bears"... Zhou Fugui sighed inwardly.
"Why are you suddenly sad?" After a long pause, Zhou Fugui asked.
"Master..." Fei Yun, with tears in her eyes, continued to comb Zhou Fugui's hair and asked, "If Master abandons Chi You, will he also abandon us?"
"I..." Zhou Fugui was instantly choked, unable to utter a single word. The words he wanted to say were even harder to express...
"I am but silken vines, and Master is the tall tree. Without the tall tree, the silken vines wither." At this moment, Liu Xia entered the room with a plate of wine and dishes. She knelt before Zhou Fugui and said softly, weeping.
At this point, how could Liu Xia and Fei Yun not clearly understand Zhou Fugui's intentions?
"This tall tree of mine is hardly a towering one..." Zhou Fugui gave a bitter smile and said to the two women, "A master is not a master, and a servant is not a servant. Born into this world, why must there be distinctions? Everyone should be close, everyone equal. The world should be for all, that is the Great Harmony. You two girls, I am not a tall tree, nor a towering one, nor am I your master. We are all fellow travelers in this world. Since we share the same suffering, we should support each other. If you two girls face any difficulties, I will certainly do my best to help. However, Liu Xia and Fei Yun, as a general of the Great Yan, my life is inherently precarious. And the blades are not blind. What if one day... one day I fall on the battlefield, what then will you do? Therefore, you two girls, it would be best to make plans for yourselves early."
Zhou Fugui was destined to march south and fight north, west and east. From the day he was forcibly conscripted into the army, his fate was sealed. For him, settling down was almost a distant dream.
Those who survived a hundred battles on the battlefield were, after all, a minority. A general's fame was built on the bones of countless soldiers. Countless men had fallen on the battlefield, their bones buried in the black soil, before a renowned general could emerge.
Zhou Fugui and Murong Huiying were deeply in love, but due to various reasons, they could never be together harmoniously. Murong Huiying had long been devoted to Zhou Fugui, and he had already delayed her.
As for Xiao Qing, her background was pitiable. Living in a foreign land, with no one to rely on, she could only depend on Zhou Fugui. After he had been intimate with her, he left Youzhou and was exiled to Xue Lin City to guard the border. They were together for less than three days before Zhou Fugui had delayed another woman.
Therefore, Zhou Fugui did not wish to burden Liu Xia and Fei Yun any further.
Another reason was Hou Luoqi. Hou Luoqi's intentions were clear. By giving Liu Xia and Fei Yun to Zhou Fugui, he wanted to win him over, even to pull Zhou Fugui into his schemes.
After much deliberation, Zhou Fugui decided that staying away from trouble was the best course of action.
"Master..." Liu Xia said tearfully, "Since I followed Master that day, I am Master's person in life and Master's ghost in death. If anything happens to Master, I will never live alone."
"Yes, Master..." After being meticulously groomed by Fei Yun, Zhou Fugui looked even more handsome and valiant, his eyes like stars, his face like polished jade. Fei Yun gazed at Zhou Fugui adoringly and said, "Master, you are so handsome, how could anything happen to you? It won't, it definitely won't. Master, please don't send us away, okay? We will die if we leave Master..."
If one is handsome, one won't die? If one is handsome, swords and spears won't target them? Perhaps if one is handsome, swords and spears will target them even more fiercely...
Zhou Fugui grumbled a few words in his heart, then sighed, "Since you are so insistent, I have nothing more to say. Do as you please."
"Master, I will serve you wine," Liu Xia said joyfully upon hearing this.
"Master..." Fei Yun's eyes, like dots of ink, darted around, and she said with a charming smile, "What's the fun in just drinking wine like this? Why don't I serve you a bath? Drinking wine after a bath, wouldn't that be more enjoyable for you, Master?"
"Bath... bath... and drink wine?" Zhou Fugui stammered upon hearing this.