Chapter Eighteen: After the Famous General

  The lovely Su Yu-huan glared at the four sturdy and majestic men in front of her, although somewhat comical, but she kept a straight face, still managing to maintain the atmosphere.

  It's not her fault that she's arrogant, she grew up by the side of Princess Dachang since childhood, and although it can't be said that she's familiar with all the princes, marquises, dukes, and earls, at least she can call them by name. Moreover, Ding Hou and Su Yuping are both military men who have been leading troops for many years, and they also know General Su Yuxuan of the capital's aristocracy.

  Although the person in front of him looks good and has a strong presence, Su Yuhuan really doesn't know him and he's probably not some kind of noble. Moreover, as a grown man, glaring at a young lady like that is already an impolite behavior, so it's only natural for Miss Su to scold him.

  However, Su Yu Xuan suddenly became fierce and the man opposite her, who was wearing a cyan-colored middle garment with a long sword at his waist, looked displeased: "You little girl, how dare you speak to our family's young general like that?!"

  "Hey, hey——" The iron shop owner couldn't bear to watch the two customers fight in his own store, so he hastily came forward to mediate: "General Wei, please don't get angry, this young lady is not an outsider, she's the third daughter of the Ding Marquis' manor." As he spoke, the shop owner turned around and explained to Su Yuhe: "Miss, don't be offended, General Wei has been stationed outside for many years and only returned to the capital with General Pingxi a few days ago. It's normal that he doesn't recognize you. Let's all consider the face of the Duke's manor and not ruin the harmony."

  "General Wei Shaoyou?" Su Yuheng's eyebrows slightly furrowed, thinking to herself that this must be the sixteen-year-old who joined the army, fighting his way up from a low-ranking soldier to a military officer, because his grandfather was once a famous General Dingyuan, so all the subordinates in the army respectfully called him "Young General".

  But in an instant, Su Yuhuan's heart had gone through the identity of this General Wei, and she smiled slightly, curtsied: "So it was General Wei."

  The young general in grey clothes bowed slightly, his tone still cold and hard, but his words were much more polite: "I am Wei Zhang, I was rude to you just now, I will go to the Marquis's residence later to apologize."

  "General Wei doesn't need to be polite, my brother has a sworn brotherhood with you, so saying 'please forgive me' would be too formal." Su Yuxuan wasn't one to be petty either, and immediately pulled Yao Yanyu to turn around and leave: "We still have things to attend to, let's go first."

  Wei Zhang nodded slightly, watching as two girls in fine clothes led a group of maidservants away hand in hand.

  The green-clad officer standing beside him glanced at the lieutenant general's face, then followed his gaze and saw that the two girls had already boarded the carriage one after another. He smiled softly and said, "Has the lieutenant general's red raven star moved?"

  "Fart." Wei Zhang coldly glanced at the person next to him, turned around and asked the iron shop owner, "What did that girl just want to do?"

  The shopkeeper hastily handed over the drawing that Yao Yan had just made: "That girl wants to make such a small knife, and says it must be extremely sharp and cannot rust. This is really strange, General, take a look at this, what kind of hidden weapon is this in the Jianghu?"

  Wei Zhang took a look and saw that the paper had drawn eight kinds of knife blades, each with different tips, some curved and some pointed. At a glance, you could tell that they were extremely useful sharp tools. In addition, there were two handles, which looked like pen holders in size, with spiral threads, apparently designed to be screwed onto the blade.

  After reading it, Hou Wei Zhang couldn't help but frown, he had truly never heard of such a thing.

  The man in the green robe burst out laughing and said with a carefree tone, "This little knife? Even as a hidden weapon, it wouldn't be very useful. But that little girl was scared off by our young general's single glance and hid behind someone's back, definitely not someone who can kill. She must want this for eating roasted meat or something. I think this thing is more suitable for cutting chicken legs and duck necks."

  The shopkeeper of the iron store smiled and said: "It's still Mr. Jun who is right, those rich girls playing with these fancy things are just playing."

  "Wei Zhang asked: 'You make it sound good, but can you really do it?'"

  "I don't know, I'll have to take this small matter back and ask our Master Chen. He always says that one can only do what one is capable of doing, so I dare not promise anything rashly."

  Wei Zhang's fingers, covered with old calluses, pointed at the pattern and said: "Do your best to make it, do it as well as possible, if you succeed, bring it to my house and I'll give you double the silver."

  "Yes, the small shop will do its best." The shopkeeper didn't dare say more. He could casually brush off those two girls earlier because they were from a noble family and were just playing with some trinkets; even if they weren't satisfied, at most he would lose a few taels of silver. But this gentleman in front of him was a different story - provoking him would have serious consequences.

  Wei Zhang smiled faintly, his eyes deep and unfathomable, and didn't say anything more.

  Su Yu Xiang and Yao Yan Ru got on the horse carriage and headed towards Zhen Guo Gong Fu. Along the way, Su Yu Xiang pulled Yao Yan Ru to talk about Wei Zhang's life story.

  "This General Wei is quite something, I've heard my brother say that he's a god of war when it comes to fighting. His martial arts skills are exceptional, and in the heat of battle, he charges forward on his horse, taking on hundreds alone. As the son of a famous general, there are also old comrades of his grandfather's in the army who respect him and are happy to follow him."

  "How vicious?" Yao Yan thought of that bloodthirsty gaze, and her heart tightened again. She thought to herself, "This bastard always uses that murderous gaze on me, what a damn bastard! In the future, he'd better not fall into my hands, or I'll make him regret it."

  "Alas!" Su Yu Xuan said, suddenly sighing, "It's just that this young general's fate isn't very good."

  Yao Yan said, "What's wrong with being a proud and arrogant person like this?"

  "The old general spent his life on the battlefield, and it's said that he was left with a lifetime of injuries. When he was over 40, he had a son who was born with seven disasters and eight difficulties, a sickly child. Before the age of 30, he died, leaving behind Wei Zhang, an only child under six years old. Less than a year later, Wei Zhang's mother also met with an accident and followed his father."

  Then someone said that the child of the Wei family was born with a poisonous fate, and would bring harm to his parents. At first, when Old General Wei was still alive, the people in the Wei family couldn't do anything to the young man who had killed his parents. But in the year he turned 14, Old General Wei also died, and things started going badly for Wei Zhang. It's said that a distant uncle from a side branch of the Wei family designed a plan to take over his inheritance, under the guise of "tempering" him, and sent him off to a military camp, while secretly erasing Old General Wei's name, thinking that he would die directly in the military camp.

  "Is it that cruel?" Yao Yan couldn't help but bite her lip, but was it just a fight over family property, and yet they had to persecute a fourteen-year-old boy like this?

  Su Yu Xiang sighed, "That's true! I also heard it from the old nurse at home. Some people are blinded by wealth and can do anything for it. But it seems that heaven hasn't abandoned Wei Zhang yet. It's said that his martial arts skills were passed down from his grandfather, and he has been making a name for himself in the military camp. In just five or six years, he has already become a captain. This time, when he returned after making a meritorious achievement, the emperor even awarded him the title of General Dingyuan, which was held by his grandfather. So now, he is indeed a true general."

  Yao Yan nodded slightly, thinking that although it's said that real men are in the military camp, someone like Ding Hou's son would still have guards by his side even in the military camp and would never personally charge into battle to kill enemies. In comparison, someone like Wei Zhang is considered a true man.