After Su Wan'er's rectification, those in the Su family's army with ulterior motives quietly disappeared. The army had temporarily returned to peace. Although they had suffered heavy losses in the previous battle with General Han, the southern border had suffered even more. Moreover, the Yuwen family had forcibly conscripted teenagers and old men, losing the support of the people. They would need some time to recover.
To reward the soldiers, Su Wan'er held a victory banquet in the camp. After the victory last time, they had transported a large amount of grain from the defeated southern border camps, which would last them for ten days. So it was appropriate to give the soldiers a treat.
Although all the soldiers were celebrating together, in the tens of thousands of tents, people from different ranks were just gathered together. Only a few senior and high - ranking generals celebrated with Su Wan'er and Gu Jingtian.
When the banquet was halfway through, everyone was drinking heartily. Somehow, they started joking. At first, the old generals were teasing the young ones. They said that someone liked to look at the stars at night but actually missed his wife, and someone who seemed brave on the battlefield was actually afraid of ghosts and dared not sleep alone.
Su Wan'er just smiled it off. But throughout the banquet, Gu Jingtian seemed preoccupied. He stared at her from time to time but always remained silent. Su Wan'er was used to his bookishness. He was not talkative and had remained the same even after years in the army.
"General Gu, we've been talking about these young fellows. How could we forget about you? Hahaha," an outspoken old general suddenly teased Gu Jingtian.
"Ah?" Gu Jingtian was called out suddenly and actually hadn't been paying attention to what everyone was saying.
"When are you and General Wei going to tie the knot?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone at the table burst into laughter.
Su Wan'er was also stunned. "Tie the knot? What do you mean?"
"Alas, General Gu is too young and inexperienced. A beautiful girl like General Wei is hard to come by. You should seize the opportunity quickly," the old general said, then poured a bowl of wine for Gu Jingtian and encouraged him to drink it.
Gu Jingtian immediately understood. He just smiled faintly and said nothing, looking at Su Wan'er. He thought she was really beautiful and truly rare, but... it was too early to talk about seizing the opportunity.
"She's not just rare. She's also good at fighting. She's truly a one - of - a - kind in the world."
"I wonder if General Gu has proposed yet. If not, I'll make a move first. Hahaha," said an old subordinate of Gu Jingtian. Although his rank was not high, he had known Gu Jingtian for years and naturally came to tease him.
"I think your skin is itching again. Stop asking for a beating." After saying that, he still looked at Su Wan'er's reaction, still not daring to act rashly.
Su Wan'er was straightforward, but her straightforwardness dampened everyone's spirits. "I'm afraid you've all misunderstood. General Gu and I were raised by the same grandmother since childhood. We're like siblings."
Everyone fell silent. They all felt quite embarrassed, but Gu Jingtian himself laughed. "My sister is right. You've all misunderstood. We'll let it go this time since you didn't know, but don't say such things in the future."
"Ah, come on, drink, drink." Soon someone came out to smooth things over, and the matter was dropped.
Su Wan'er drank a few more cups and then said she couldn't hold her liquor and wanted to go back to her tent to rest. To her surprise, Gu Jingtian followed her and grabbed her hand.
"Brother Jingtian..." Su Wan'er instinctively tried to break free, but Gu Jingtian seemed less willing to compromise this time.
"I gave you, the marshal, face in front of everyone. Now give me, your brother, some face too," Gu Jingtian said as he led her slowly away from the crowd.
"Where are we going? Are we going to the border river to enjoy the breeze?" Su Wan'er knew little about such things. Her mind was blank at the moment. Gu Jingtian was right. She should give her brother some face, but it seemed this was not just a matter of face.
"Yes, we're going to enjoy the breeze. It'll help us sober up," he said and actually led her to the riverbank.
"Ah? This..." Su Wan'er immediately saw a bunch of well - made paper lanterns on the ground. They were all lined up, in different colors and with various patterns.
"Sky lanterns. Don't you remember? You learned everything quickly when you were a child, but you just couldn't learn how to make these. I always made them for you to release," Gu Jingtian said softly, as if it had happened just recently. But Su Wan'er thought about it. It had been at least ten years, and she only had a vague memory of it.
"I've been in the mood these days. Since the army is not busy, I made a few more. How about we release them while the wind is good?" His tone was as casual as asking if she wanted to drink a glass of water or have a meal. But Su Wan'er looked at the at least a hundred sky lanterns on the ground and felt dizzy.
"These... did you make them all by yourself?" How was that possible? It must have taken so much time. If it were her, she would have taken a long time to make even one.
"What, don't you believe me? I can tell you what's drawn and written on each one. If you don't believe me, go and check," Gu Jingtian said as he casually picked up one. It read: If only life could be as it was at first sight, why should we grieve over painted fans.
Su Wan'er took a quick glance. Probably only he in the camp could write such a poem. Only he could be so sentimental.
"I... I believe..."
Big tears dropped on her clothes, and then her vision became blurred uncontrollably.
"Hey? Wan'er, why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?" Gu Jingtian immediately panicked, like a child who had done something wrong. The air of a scholarly general he usually carried was nowhere to be seen.
"Um..." Su Wan'er choked and couldn't speak. "It's okay. I... I just remembered something. Let's release them later." As she spoke, she cried, and then sat down on the bridge by herself.
She just wanted to cry now, to cry her heart out. Just for a while. It was rare that there was no one around. She could put down the strength of a female general and the burden on her shoulders.
"Okay, cry if you want. I'll be with you." Gu Jingtian had always been like this, indulging her since childhood.
The more Su Wan'er looked at the sky lanterns, the more her tears flowed. She hated herself for being so bored at this moment, remembering when she first entered the palace.
At that time, she liked Si Junlin. How much she liked him. It was that kind of uncontrollable joy. But at that time, she didn't know that Si Junlin had only chosen a daughter from the Su family to balance the power of the Su family. When she first entered the palace, Si Junlin naturally showed her some courtesy, but she was happy all day long just because she thought she was going to marry the best man in the world.