In that instant, he almost couldn't help but reveal the thing he had kept hidden deep inside to Qin Chu.
Just as he was struggling to speak, there was a knock on the door of the outer room, and a soldier's voice came from inside: "General Qin, the situation at the front has changed. The General requests your presence for a meeting."
Qin Chu immediately responded and then got up to put on his outer clothes.
After he finished dressing, he thought of Qin Rui's behavior just now, turned to look at the child and asked, "What were you trying to say just now?"
After being interrupted, Qin Rui's impulse subsided abruptly. He looked at Qin Chu, smiled, and shook his head: "It's nothing, brother, you should go now."
The matter was urgent, so Qin Chu didn't ask any more questions. He told him to sleep a little longer and then hurriedly left.
As the door closed, Qin Rui leaned against the blanket, staring blankly into space.
The oil lamp slowly dimmed, but he had no interest in fiddling with the wick.
He was thinking about what Qin Chu had just said.
Whether it's a young master or a bastard, these distinctions likely align with what Qin Chu said. Because whether it's a young master or what others call a bastard, they are still human beings.
But... what if he's not even human, but just a monster?
Qin Rui didn't think about it anymore.
He wasn't afraid of others knowing, nor did he care about anyone else's opinions. But Qin Chu was different; he couldn't bear to see even the slightest disgust in Qin Chu's eyes, not even cold indifference.
He will keep it a secret and will never, ever let Qin Chu know.
As the battle at the front became increasingly tense, Qin Rui trained hard with the soldiers every day, even freeing up the time he spent learning to read with Qin Chu in the evenings.
He wanted to be in the army when Qin Chu led his troops out of the city next time, rather than staying in the city anxiously waiting.
However, to everyone's surprise, in several battles against the Xiongnu, the troops were not led by Qin Chu, but by other generals. Moreover, even the rewards bestowed by the imperial court upon Qin Chu after his successful sieges were not particularly generous.
Although Qin Rui was young, he had a keen sense for such matters. He noticed that the officials in the capital seemed to dislike General Qin Chu, so he took some time to go to the kitchen to gather information.
He used to be unfamiliar with the affairs of the court, but after making a few inquiries, he figured out the reason.
His adoptive father, the emperor, was bedridden, and the court was entirely controlled by a few ministers. Although Prime Minister Lin was dead, there were other ambitious men. The title of general in Qin Chu was not bestowed by these regents, but by the bedridden monarch.
Therefore, those ministers who control the government will not have a very good attitude towards Qin and Chu.
Qin Rui had no recollection of the man who was supposedly his father, but now he felt that the sickly man had done some good deeds, at least he knew to bestow a general title upon his brother.
Previously, although Qin Rui was a prince, he was always busy protecting his life and did not care about court affairs at all.
But now he felt resentful. Why were those ministers trying to trip up his brother?
A seed has taken root in Qin Rui's heart.
He thought that when he grew up, he would never let his brother suffer such injustice again.
Upon arriving in Cangqingzhou, the kitchen became busy as it had to deliver meals to the generals in each courtyard in batches.
Qin Rui helped out inside, and naturally took on similar tasks, bringing food back for Qin Chu every day and delivering things to other generals along the way.
That evening, he was carrying a food box out of a general's courtyard when he heard the sound of things being smashed coming from a nearby room.
Qin Rui paused slightly and looked towards the window with the light on.
He had no intention of meddling in other people's business. The reason he stopped was because he recognized the person who had just shouted as Captain Zhang.
Unfortunately, this person seemed to have only shouted that out of extreme anger, and then said nothing more.
Since being flogged fifty times by Qin Chu, this Captain Zhang has been completely humiliated and no longer has the arrogant demeanor he once had.
However, out of consideration for his status, those who attacked him didn't go too far. Now, more than ten days have passed, and Captain Zhang's injuries have almost healed. There are always interesting things happening in the military camp every day, and gradually no one talks about him anymore.
Qin Chu wouldn't care about such trivial matters, but Qin Rui was born to hold grudges.
He wouldn't have done anything if we hadn't met, but now that we have...
Qin Rui observed his surroundings and, after confirming that the soldiers had all gone to eat, he casually approached the window of Captain Zhang's quarters and listened carefully to the sounds inside.
Qin Rui originally only intended to see if this person was up to something again, but unexpectedly, he actually heard something.
Inside the room, Captain Zhang smashed a kettle, wanting to slam his fist on the table but holding back.
He looked at his trusted aide and said angrily, "Can't I even order a dish? What are those guys in the kitchen for?"
The two soldiers in the room were timid and dared not speak. After a long while, only one of them hesitated and then advised, "General Qin is currently riding high. Captain, why don't you lay low for a while and keep a low profile?"
These words enraged Captain Zhang: "Bullshit! Why should I avoid him! He's just a guy who broke military regulations!"
As he spoke, Captain Zhang took out those notices again. The person depicted on the notices, although his expression was completely different, definitely looked like Qin Chu!
He refused to believe that there could be two people in the world who were so similar; Qin Chu was definitely this guy.
But no one else believed him! Even those who had previously surrounded him and mocked Qin Chu with him scattered hastily upon hearing this topic, and some even told him not to joke around.
The thought of this made Captain Zhang so angry he felt like he was going to vomit blood.
This is clearly the truth, so why doesn't anyone believe it!
"No, I must prove that Qin Chu is this guy," Captain Zhang said through gritted teeth. "As long as I can prove Qin Chu's identity, his current prestige will collapse, and I can regain the face I've lost!"
"But... how can that be proven?"
A soldier tried to dissuade him, but Captain Zhang waved his hand confidently: "All the boys have birthmarks. We just need to show them."
As he spoke, he beckoned to two soldiers, lowered his voice, and said with a vicious smile, "We don't know where this Qin Chu's birthmark is, so let's just strip him naked and throw him out. Then it will be clear at a glance!"
He'd done plenty of outrageous things in the capital, and now he didn't think he'd done anything wrong at all. Instead, he pulled two soldiers aside and began giving detailed instructions: "These next few nights, we'll keep watch..."
Under the window, Qin Rui stood up expressionlessly, his eyes dark and unfocused.
He glanced at the food box in his hand and quickly walked back to Qin Chu's residence.
He didn't rush over to stop it rashly, nor did he tell Qin Chu about it afterward.
But two days later, a major incident occurred in Cangqingzhou.
A captain surnamed Zhang violated military regulations by drinking heavily in the barracks. In the middle of the night, he got up to use the restroom while drunk, fell headfirst into the latrine, and died.
Chapter 71, Fourth Story (17)
The incident of Captain Zhang's death caused quite a stir in the military camp, mainly because the manner of his death was too bizarre.
These soldiers were all prepared to die when they entered the military camp, but no one expected that someone would fall into the latrine and die.
When the person who went to check said that he had been drinking, everyone understood. They all knew that Captain Zhang had a habit of drinking heavily, and that he even kept several jars of good wine in his tent in the military camp.
I never expected this person to be so unlucky. He fell and hit his head while going to the outhouse, and yet no one noticed all night.
Because the manner of his death was so gruesome, it was shameful to even talk about it, and no one suspected that it was revenge.
It was just a pity for Zhang's superiors. A member of the Zhang family died in his camp, and in this way at that. Even if the truth were told and it reached the capital, probably no one would believe it. The Zhang family would probably feel ashamed.
So he had no choice but to lie to Captain Zhang about his military achievements, saying that he had died on the battlefield.
After covering it up, the matter was basically over. With the war in full swing, nobody cared about how a good-for-nothing died, but they would still laugh at it when it was brought up.
Qin Chu was somewhat surprised when he heard this: "Fell to his death?"
The fifth brother, sitting across the table, nodded and said readily, "This kind of person only deserves to die like this."
Qin Rui was practicing calligraphy at the table when he heard this, he just smiled slightly but didn't say anything.
Anyway, he didn't do anything special. He simply added an extra cold dish to the food box when delivering meals to Captain Zhang. Captain Zhang had been abstaining from alcohol for so long due to his injuries, so it's no wonder he couldn't resist this dish. He got drunk that very night.
Then Qin Rui simply set up some small obstacles in various places outside Zhang Xiaowei's house, so that if Zhang Xiaowei didn't fall in the outhouse, he would fall somewhere else.
Unfortunately, this guy was unlucky enough to fall in the outhouse. He was usually very domineering and never allowed other soldiers to share his outhouse, so it's no wonder that no one noticed him all night.
Qin Rui had long discovered that his empathy was extremely weak; for example, if someone died now, he wouldn't feel the slightest fear.
He had wondered about it before, but then he realized that he might not even be a person, which was normal.
Anyone who heard about this would have just laughed it off, but Qin Chu sensed something was amiss and asked Lao Wu, "The military camp has been very strict lately, why did he decide to drink? And of all things, he just happened to fall in the outhouse?"
Upon hearing Qin Chu's words, Qin Rui paused, his hand holding the pen still, and looked up at the two people talking.
Seeing his expression, Qin Chu immediately shifted her attention and reached out to press his head: "Write your words."
Qin Rui pointed to a character on the paper and asked Qin Chu, "Brother, look at this character. It has so many strokes. No matter how I write it, it doesn't look good."
With Qin Rui's interruption, Qin Rui also put Zhang Xiaowei's matter out of his mind, since this person was not his soldier anyway.
Qin Chu stared at the words Qin Rui was pointing to for a while; they were indeed difficult to write.
To be honest, Qin Chu wasn't very familiar with the writing system of this world, but having traveled through so many similar worlds, he wasn't completely clueless. With Noah's help, teaching Qin Rui to read and write wasn't a problem.
It was fine to write on the ground with a stick before, but now that he has the opportunity to pick up a brush, it's a bit of a challenge for Qin Chu.
Qin Chu looked at the character with many strokes for a while, but couldn't offer any constructive suggestions. In the end, he only said, "Write it bigger."
The fifth brother, who was watching Qin Chu earnestly instructing people from the opposite side: ...
Although he wasn't very good at writing either, Qin Chu's opinion didn't sound very reliable.
Qin Rui also looked up at Qin Chu: "Brother, could you write one for me to see?"
Qin Chu: "..."
Qin Chu was very reluctant; they had already bought the calligraphy practice book, so why should he write it? But faced with Qin Rui's eager little eyes, Qin Chu had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.
He took the brush from Qin Rui and was about to start writing when he heard Qin Rui whisper a reminder: "Brother, you're holding the brush wrong."
Qin Chu: "..."
How embarrassing! It made him look like an illiterate person.
Following the method Noah gave him in his mind, Qin Chu held the pen and wrote a large character on the paper, imitating the calligraphy model. Then he looked up and examined it for a while, thinking that it should be pretty good.
Upon seeing this, the fifth brother immediately craned his neck to look at the paper. He saw a huge character lying on the paper. Those who knew would recognize it as a single character, but those who didn't would think it was a random combination of four characters. Even his mother didn't recognize it after the family split up.
Just as the fifth brother was about to laugh, Qin Rui peeked over and immediately clapped, "Brother, you're amazing! You wrote so beautifully!"
The fifth brother swallowed the words he wanted to say: "..." Oh no, this kid is blind.
Qin Chu immediately gained a surge of confidence and nodded with a reserved expression: "Yes, I'll practice according to this."
The fifth brother was speechless: "..." It's over, they're blind to their own feelings as older brothers.
Unable to bear watching this awkward boasting any longer, the fifth brother quickly took his leave.