Chapter 60: You’re Thinner

Shi Qingzhou led Long Xiaoyuan into his tent.

Not all those in the troop could sleep in tents during the march at night.

In fact, there were only three tents, one for Shi while the other two for two generals who were lower than Shi in the ranking.

Having not seen a marching tent before, Long said while looking around the simple arrangements inside, “Qingzhou, have you slept in this way these days?”

Shi said with a nod, “Yeah.”

Sitting on the bed, Long said, “It’s hard. Do you sleep comfortably on it?”

Shi said with a faint smile, “Yes, it’s fine after you get used to it.”

“Getting used to it…” Long said with his heart ached, “Qingzhou, you’ve grown used to it these days?”

Shi said with a smile after glancing at him, “It’s different from at home.”

“Point taken.” Long sighed and walked up to Shi.

“I only care about you…”

Shi fell into silence.

Long put his arms around Shi’s waist and felt the stiffness of Shi, thus, getting his hearts more ached.

After a long time, Long said, “Qingzhou, let’s sleep.”

Shi said with a nod, “Eh.”

They undressed their coat and slept on the bed.

Long held Shi into his arms, making Shi stiff again.

Long buried his face into Shi’s neck, letting Shi turn as stiff as a piece of wood.

Long gloomily bit Shi’s neck and said, “I’m sorry for not contacting you earlier.”

Shi curled his lips and said lightly, “Your Majesty, you’re over-worried.”

Long sighed. “If you’re not angry, why do you keep calling me Your Majesty and why is your body stiff when I embrace you? Is this your not angry look?”

Shi lowered his head and said nothing.

“Alas…” Long sighed again. “Qingzhou, can you share your thoughts with me?”

Shi still kept silent.

Long held Shi tighter and asked, “Qingzhou, you still don’t trust me?”

A trace of dark gleam passed through Shi’s eyes, but Shi didn’t look at Long at that time, so the latter didn’t spot this.

Trust him? He didn’t trust Long at all. If he had trusted Long, he wouldn’t…

Long said that it was a misunderstanding, but how could such a word remove his disappointment and unhappiness these days?

No, he couldn’t do it.

Thus, he kept silent.

Seeing this, Long just said instead of forcing Shi, “Never mind, it’s too late. Let’s sleep first and talk about it later.”

“Eh,” Shi replied and then closed his eyes…

Long sighed in his heart once again and felt like he received his karma!

Thinking of which, Long gloomily sniffed Shi’s neck and closed his eyes, too.

However, both of them didn’t sleep well this night.

Shi woke up the next morning finding that Long was still sleeping.

Long had rushed here. Plus, Shi remained estranged from him. Thus, he didn’t fall into sleep until almost daybreak.

Naturally, Long who was that exhausted couldn’t wake up quickly and didn’t even know when Shi got up.

Shi got out of bed and stepped outside after wearing his clothes.

The troop made up of more than 3,000 people ate breakfast without making any noise.

Shi subconsciously frowned when seeing that Long didn’t wake up after everyone finished breakfast. Subsequently, he bowed his head down and entered his tent.

Long was still sleeping. Standing beside the bed, Shi had mixed feelings upon seeing the one on the bed.

Long got dark circles around his eyes. Shi noticed this and slowly lowered his head.

A few moments later, Shi turned around and walked away.

His vice general came over and asked when the tent could be taken down…

In fact, the tents of the other generals had been taken down, so when this one was put down, they could march forward.

Shi lightly made an order. “We’ll set out an hour later.”

The vice general got stunned. An hour later? Why?

But, as a sensible man, the vice general didn’t ask his question out.

Now that the vice general didn’t ask why, Shi didn’t make an explanation, either. He directly went into his tent and sat on the bed waiting for Long to wake up.

He then waited for the whole hour.

An hour later when Shi was hesitating whether he should wake Long up, the latter finally opened his eyes…

The moment Long opened his eyes, he saw Shi and instinctively gave the latter a bright smile.

Shi was slightly dazed.

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Long sat up and said, “Qingzhou.”

Shi said with a nod, “Your Majesty, you’re awake. We’re about to set out…”

“Ah, is it that late?” Long got stunned and hurriedly put on his clothes.

Shi ordered breakfast to be served. Long freshened himself up and took several bites.

Shi said involuntarily, “Your Majesty, you don’t need to rush things like this. It’s fine if you’re a little later.”

Long said with a nod, “No, I’ve delayed you.”

Long finished breakfast and wore his mask.

He usually carried masks with himself when out of the palace just in case.

When Shi stepped outside with Long, those soldiers didn’t know because they stood at attention with their backs against them, but the vice general turned dumbfounded.

Of course, the vice general hadn’t known that the stranger coming outside with his general was His Majesty.

Even so, he got stunned, didn’t he?

Who was able to sleep in his general’s tent?

After all, his general was not only a general but also the empress!

He felt that he discovered something big.

However, he knew what he could say and what he couldn’t say.

Therefore, he instantly lowered his head and pretended that he saw nothing.

When the troop was on the march, Long followed Shi behind.

He couldn’t take the carriage back, so he followed Shi behind on a horse.

The troop marched on at a slow speed, probably because Shi cared about him.

Even so, he felt the pain all over his body when the troop took a break, especially his butt. Alright, he was too fragile!

At lunch, Shi secretly walked up to Long.

“Eat full at lunch. Otherwise, you’ll be more powerless.”

“Oh.” Did Shi discover that he was in bad condition?

Long said shyly in an undertone, “I seem to have caused trouble for you.”

Right, he had definitely caused trouble for Shi.

Shi shook his head without saying a word.

Subsequently, Shi walked away. Long sighed and considered his thoughts too simple.

He had thought that he could make peace with his empress on the way back! But, it didn’t go as he expected, did it?

This troop was different from that one that took part in taking down the bandits of Mount Yong.

Serious and decent, it was the real army.

How could he take advantage of such a troop to make peace with his empress? It was good that he could follow Shi behind, wasn’t it?

No, it should be said like this that it was lucky he could have a horse to ride on!

After all, the majority of the soldiers marched forward on foot.

Under those circumstances, he regarded himself as a lucky dog.

Almost sunset, the troop stopped outside of the imperial palace.

The emissary delegation needed arrangements, so did the troop. Without the demand of His Majesty, the troop couldn’t enter the imperial palace and had to go somewhere it was supposed to be!

The Imperial Edict from His Majesty arrived right on the time, because Long had asked Sun Youjing, together with the Left-Prime Minister and the Right-Prime Minister, to welcome Shi back before he was out of the palace.

All the ministers were here to welcome His Grace back, which could show how much importance His Majesty attached to His Grace.

After the cordial welcome ceremony, Shi went to the imperial palace.

The emissaries of the Northern Barbarians were brought to the post house by the officials of the Ministry of Rites and waited for His Majesty’s Imperial Edict.

Otherwise, the emissaries couldn’t even enter the imperial palace.

Back the imperial palace, Shi headed for the Qiankun Palace. Long wasn’t with Shi and entered the imperial palace under the help of the Shadow Guardians. When Shi reached the Qiankun Palace, Long had waited there for Shi.

Long was the only person there. The group of eunuchs and palace maids were ordered to back down.

Hence, when Shi arrived at the Qiankun Palace and entered the inner room, he only saw Long clad in the army uniform who was smiling at him.

Long watched Shi’s approaching step by step and suddenly held Shi into his arms.

Shi slightly dropped his eyelids with a stiff body that was much softer than yesterday. Long then gently kissed Shi’s ears.

“Qingzhou, welcome back.”

Shi slightly closed his eyes.

Having embraced Shi for a long time, Long let go of Shi.

“Qingzhou, you hungry? I’ll go and ask them to prepare dinner.”

Shi said with a nod, “Sure.”

Long ordered dinner to be prepared after letting Shi go inside to get changed.

Shi not only got changed but also took a quick bath.

Shi showed up in the outer room in less than 15 minutes.

With the table full of food, Long sat by the table and waited for Shi.

Long instantly beckoned Shi after seeing the latter and said, “Qingzhou, you took a bath?”

Shi replied to him with a nod, “Yes.”

“Come here and sit down. You must be hungry.”

Shi walked over and sat down.

Long ladled a bowl of broth for Shi. “It’s Old Duck Soup. You should nourish yourself. Look at you, you’re thinner.”

Shi slowly lowered his eyelids…