Fu Zhen had just sent Ziyan to pick some flowers for a vase. Hearing this, she picked up a white porcelain plate: "How dark? How thin?"
Yang Tong gestured: "So thin that his eyes have sunken, and there’s no flesh on his cheeks. As for being dark, well, he’s almost like the bronze drum in our backyard training ground."
"Is that so?" Fu Zhen recalled the dark bronze drum and couldn’t help but take out a handkerchief to wipe the white porcelain plate in her hand absentmindedly, "Did he get injured? How is his spirit?"
The guard from yesterday’s skirmish said there weren’t any serious injuries, just some scrapes on his hands and feet, but who knows?
"Supposedly not." Yang Tong shook her head, "Subordinate saw the General riding boldly, full of spirit, just like when he was marrying you, Young Madam! He carried such energy everywhere!
"When he saw me, the General’s eyes lit up! He asked what Young Madam was doing and then sent me to tell Young Madam that he’ll be back soon! You and Young Madam don’t worry!"
Hearing this, Fu Zhen couldn’t help but blush.
It was as if someone had suddenly seen through her heart.
She feigned calmness: "It’s good that he’s not injured. What does it matter if he’s a bit darker or thinner? He’s young, he’ll recover soon enough with some care."
Back in the capital, although he was never a handsome gentleman, he was decent. After the battle, he became so dark... oh well, a few days ago, Mother brought some excellent bird’s nest, I’ll let him have it all.
Isn’t he still thin? We can also arrange for some Dongpo Pork and roast suckling pig from Wanbin Building.
These days, out of boredom, I learned a few special dishes from Wanbin Building’s chefs, they all said I could graduate soon, I’ll cook them for him to try later.
If he likes it, I’ll make it more often. If not, it’s no big deal. After all, I just learned to pass the time.
Fu Zhen set her plan in mind, yet for some reason, she felt not just her face but her whole body heat up.
A charcoal that had been burning for a month in her heart was now glowing red.
"...Young Madam? Young Madam?"
Bixie, who had no idea when she’d arrived, waved a hand in front of her face until Fu Zhen’s gaze focused on hers, then withdrew the hand: "Could you give this plate to the servant? It needs to be used to hold some dried fruits."
Fu Zhen looked down at her hands and only then realized that she had polished the plate to a shine.
The red charcoal in her heart again burned on her face. She cleared her throat, set down the plate, and said, "Quickly go and do your work!"
After saying this, she glanced down and hurriedly left the courtyard.
The cool autumn breeze dissipated some of the heat on her body, and hearing the commotion from the front yard, her steps turned light.
Just as she was about to step over the threshold, Jiang Lin and his men carried in two trunks.
Before Pei Zhan departed, it was Fu Zhen who personally prepared his weapons and luggage, and now her eyes fell on the trunks, instantly recognizing them as the ones Pei Zhan had taken with him.
"Young Madam!" Jiang Lin and the others saluted her, "The General has gone to report back at court and will return later. This is the General’s luggage, and I shall carry it to the side courtyard for him."
Fu Zhen nodded and made way for them.
Halfway through, she turned around again: "Take it to the main room."
Jiang Lin was stunned.
But Fu Zhen walked away without looking back.
The guards scratched their heads, looked at each other, then turned the trunks around and carried them towards the main room.
The two trunks were placed side by side in the center of the spacious main room.
After the guards withdrew, Fu Zhen emerged from behind the bead curtain, peered out the door, then retracted her body and approached the trunks.
The exterior of the trunks was nothing special, he wouldn’t have taken them with him to the battlefield anyway.
Fu Zhen opened the lids one by one, only to find clothes, military books, and weapons categorized and neatly organized just as she had packed them.
Fu Zhen was not known as the "perfect wife and mother" in everyone’s eyes; her aspirations since childhood were to be on the battlefield, not because she liked warfare, but because she believed as the daughter of a military family she should fight against foreign enemies without hesitation.
During her years of growth, there was turmoil in the northwest, so with her fervent heart, she never truly focused on how to become a perfect wife and mother.
When she was still Liang Ning, she knew nothing of needlework, cooking, or the traditional virtues of obedience.