He pulled his mouth away from Qin Chu's grasp, and was even more confused upon hearing this: "Why?"
What the hell is wrong with that?
I can't exactly say, "Your smile looks like some idiot I once saw, and if you keep smiling, I'm going to beat you up," can I?
Qin Chu took a deep breath, forcing himself to erase the images from his mind and focus on the map in front of him.
But as he held the pen, he hesitated on the map for a long time, completely forgetting where he was supposed to circle.
The boy behind him was still stubbornly waiting for his reply, pressing his shoulders with both hands as if urging him, the warmth of his palms seeping in through the thin outer garment.
Qin Chu stared blankly for a long time, but couldn't come up with a plausible reason. He could only say succinctly, "It's ugly."
These two words seemed to have stirred up a hornet's nest; even with his back turned, Qin Chu could feel Qin Rui behind him pause in his breathing.
Soon Qin Chu could no longer see the map. The boy behind him stood in front of him, looking at him with an accusing expression: "How could you think I'm ugly, brother!"
It's not bad looking, it's just a bit of a threat to your life.
General Qin felt guilty for a moment, then patted the boy's lean waist and dismissed him like a child: "Get out of the way, I'm doing serious business."
Qin Rui didn't move away; instead, he reached out and snatched the pen from Qin Chu's hand, throwing it aside.
He persisted, "No, you must have seen it wrong, brother. Take another look!"
Qin Chu: "..."
Keep watching, or you'll probably break a leg tonight.
Qin Rui, however, became determined to get to the bottom of this matter.
"Brother, take another look! What's so ugly about me? Yesterday, the wealthy Lu from the city even offered to marry his daughter to me."
So how could he be ugly?
Everyone else can say he's ugly, but not Qin Chu!
Qin Chu looked at the lamp, then at the table and chairs, but avoided looking at him.
He was standing, while Qin Chu was sitting, so Qin Rui couldn't see Qin Chu's expression at all.
Qin Rui panicked and reached out to lift Qin Chu's chin: "Brother, look..."
Qin Rui stopped mid-sentence.
He looked down at the person in front of him, watching his fingers lift Qin Chu's fair chin, watching the indifferent person forced to look up at him in this way...
A sudden warmth emanated from where his fingers touched Qin Chu's skin.
Qin Rui belatedly realized that his actions were far too inappropriate, frivolous and disrespectful. If he had seen anyone else do such a thing to Qin Chu, he would have rushed over and chopped off that person's arm long ago.
He tried to let go, but he felt as if he had been frozen in place and couldn't move at all.
Qin Chu was taken aback by his action for a couple of seconds, then raised an eyebrow: "Are you itching for a beating?"
These words jolted Qin Rui awake from his daze, and he quickly withdrew his hand and clenched it into a fist.
He was still bothered by what Qin Chu had just said and felt unhappy, so he said, "Brother, if you think my smile is ugly, then I won't help you with your hair today. I'll help you tomorrow."
He then quickly returned to his current room and closed the door.
Only when he turned his back to the door and saw the complete darkness of the room did Qin Rui breathe a slight sigh of relief. He lowered his head and raised his right hand; the spot where his index finger had touched Qin Chu was now slightly red from being rubbed.
"This kid..." Qin Chu glanced at the side room, then looked up at his map again.
He didn't pay much attention to this little incident, after all, in his eyes Qin Rui would always be a child who never grew up.
Although... I've been looking rather repulsive lately.
Noah, however, chimed in at the opportune moment: "Heh heh heh, now do you believe my speculation? Haven't you already realized it yourself?"
"What did you notice?" Qin Chu asked him blankly.
Noah: "..."
Noah: "Didn't you just want to beat up Qin Rui? Doesn't that prove anything?!"
Qin Chu frowned and pondered for a moment, then asked, "Have you submitted your application for a return-to-factory inspection?"
Noah: "...Aaaaaah!" I'm so angry!
Unable to bear Noah's screaming onslaught any longer, Qin Chu finally explained properly: "If it were really Tiron, he would be covered in blood by now."
He spoke casually, without any doubt, clearly not taking it seriously at all, and was just giving Noah a perfunctory answer.
Noah, after a moment of impotent rage in Qin Chu's mind, finally calmed down and said in a deep voice, "Ha, you can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep!"
Qin Chu ignored him completely. He drew circles on the map for a while, then finally stood up to stretch and prepare to rest.
Just before getting into bed, Qin Chu noticed that his hair was still loose.
After lifting his hair and glancing at Qin Rui, General Qin, who was used to Qin Rui's five-star service and had no desire to lift a finger, regretted for the first time that he had upset Qin Rui.
Qin Chu glanced at the tightly closed door of the side room, but too embarrassed to admit it, she decided to just rummage around and tie herself up haphazardly.
Unfortunately, Qin Chu seemed to be born without this skill, and it seemed that hair was his true nemesis.
I just washed my hair, and it's getting even more unruly.
From the moment he started tying his hair up, General Qin's emotions went through stages of calm—impatience—irritability—and finally, Qin Chu successfully started fighting with himself, kicking over a chair.
A loud bang was heard, and Qin Rui, who was lying quietly on the bed, quickly sat up.
It's obvious what Qin Chu is doing.
Qin Rui almost laughed. Why was he angry with Qin Chu? Didn't he know how infuriating his brother's mouth was?
Realizing that the subtle emotions in his heart had mostly dissipated, Qin Rui pushed open the door and went out.
Sure enough, Qin Chu was sitting at the table. His once smooth, long hair was now frizzy and tangled, a mess everywhere. Even his belt was tangled with strands of hair, clearly pulled off in his anger.
When others comb their hair, it's just combing their hair; when Qin Chu combs his hair, it's as if he's performing eighteen kinds of martial arts.
Qin Rui felt both sorry for him and wanted to laugh, so she immediately went over and asked, "Brother, what are you doing?"
"fine."
Qin Chu held her messy hair in one hand and looked for a hair tie with the other.
Despite having his hair such a mess, this person seemed quite proud, looking at Qin Rui and saying, "I've already taken care of it myself."
Is this what you call a solution?
Upon seeing the messy, unidentified object in Qin Chu's hand, Qin Rui almost knelt down before him.
He couldn't bear to see Qin Chu ruin her hair like that, so he immediately grabbed a comb to untangle it and went over: "Don't move, I'll help you."
After freeing Qin Chu's hair from its cruel owner's grasp, Qin Rui looked at the pitiful strands of hair, tangled and violently pulled, and regretted his actions of returning to the room earlier.
"Seriously, why are you using so much force?"
The hair that refused to cooperate in Qin Chu's hands, whether through violence or non-violence, became incredibly obedient in Qin Rui's hands.
He quickly untangled the knot, combed it out strand by strand, and then used a strip of cloth to tie Qin Chu up, so that all he would need to do tomorrow morning was put on the hair crown.
Qin Chu sat there, being served comfortably by Qin Rui.
The irritation caused by the hair had long since subsided, leaving only a pleasant and comfortable feeling of having one's hair smoothed. The strange feeling that had arisen earlier because of Qin Rui's smile and Noah's words had also vanished without a trace.
Look, the child he raised can even take on the important task of combing hair.
Is that bastard any good? Definitely not.
By daytime, Qin Chu had long forgotten the little incident while looking at the map the night before, let alone Noah's reminder.
However, certain things always happen frequently and are unstoppable.
One dark and windy night, there wasn't a single star in the sky.
The courtyard where Qin Chu lived was quiet, with only the occasional yawn of the soldiers on night watch, waiting for someone to relieve them.
Now that the attack on the Xiongnu has been a great success, the imperial court has issued an edict that some soldiers can return to the capital, while the rest will remain at the border as garrison troops.
When the decree was issued, the entire military camp was in turmoil. After all, anyone would miss home after spending several years in such a desolate and harsh place.
Qin Chu, as the de facto highest-ranking general on the border, has been busy lately, so he slept only slightly at night.
After a while, the soldiers on night watch outside were rotated.
Then a slight noise seemed to rise from inside the main house, which lasted for a while before the house fell silent again.
The soldier on night watch outside didn't pay much attention; he was more concerned about potential intruders outside the courtyard than the house.
Suddenly, a loud, muffled sound came from the main house, which had just quieted down, as if someone had fallen hard to the ground.
The soldier was startled and rushed over to knock on Qin Chu's door: "General Qin? General? Is there an assassin?"
There was no response from inside. Just as the soldiers were about to break down the door and gather their forces, the lights came on, and Qin Chu's cold, yet irritated voice came from inside: "It's nothing, you can go back."
The soldier hesitated for a moment, but still obeyed and returned to his post.
Inside the inner room, Qin Chu sat on the bed, one hand on his forehead, staring at Qin Rui.
Qin Rui sat on the ground, his face still somewhat dazed. He looked up at Qin Chu, then down at his chest; there were no footprints, but…
"Brother, you kicked me?"
The boy raised his voice, his expression and tone filled with utter disbelief, and he instantly sounded aggrieved: "I just came back to sleep for a while, and you actually kicked me down, brother?"
Hearing Qin Rui repeat what had just happened, Qin Chu's temple throbbed with anger, and he subconsciously replied, "Who told you to climb in the middle of the night..."
Qin Chu swallowed the rest of his sentence as he looked at the boy's angry, helpless, and aggrieved gaze.
Because he knew that Qin Rui had done the right thing.
Although he and Qin Rui had long since started sleeping in separate rooms, they weren't completely separated. After all, the kid couldn't sleep well at night and would often come back late at night and brazenly crawl into his bed.
Later, Qin Rui gradually managed to fall asleep, but he also developed a habit of not going back to the side room after getting up in the middle of the night, and would just snuggle up next to Qin Chu and continue sleeping.
This was all commonplace for Qin Chu, and he had no reason to be wary of Qin Rui.
But today was truly an accident. Qin Chu had a rather bad dream. Hearing a noise, he groggily opened his eyes and happened to meet Qin Rui's face.
To make matters worse, Qin Rui gave him a smile.
In that instant, Qin Chu immediately became alert, feeling that some shameless person was sneaking around trying to cause trouble again, and immediately kicked them.
Qin Rui was caught off guard by Qin Chu, and Qin Chu didn't hold back his kick, so Qin Rui was kicked flying and fell to the ground.