Yu Jin Chang An (With Jin's Chang'An)

Chapter 14

Jin'an locked eyes with Li Shuang. There was a circle of soldiers surrounding them, but apart from Li Shuang, no one else would crouch down like this, looking into his eyes and speaking to him directly.

"Yes," Jin'an answered Li Shuang firmly.

The resolute word surprised the surrounding soldiers. Qin Lan narrowed his eyes even more.

In the Changfeng Camp, no one knew better than him how closely the guards monitored Jin'an. Since Li Shuang ordered Jin'an to stay in the guard camp, he had instructed the guards many times to watch the child closely. But even so, Jin'an still managed to pass information to that man in the black armor?

"Is that man from your clan?" Luo Teng couldn't hold back and blurted out from behind. As soon as he spoke, another soldier nearby asked, "Who is he exactly? Where does he come from? What does he want?"

"Why did he want you to leak information from my Changfeng Camp?"

"How did he kill the Western Regions general? And why did he do it like this?"

The leaders bombarded Jin'an with questions, but he just stared into Li Shuang's eyes. At the opportune moment, the northern wind swept over the city wall, tousling Li Shuang's hastily combed hair. The little Jin'an raised his small hand amidst the noisy questioning, his movements childish yet natural. He helped Li Shuang tidy her hair, tucking the fluttering strands behind her ears.

"He won't harm you." Without answering any of the chaotic questions, he spoke with a maturity and certainty beyond his years. "He just wants to protect you."

Li Shuang looked into Jin'an's innocent yet earnest eyes, momentarily lost in thought. In that moment, she seemed to see Jin'an's eyes overlapping with the crimson eyes of the man in the black armor.

Their eyes... so similar.

As the north wind passed, everyone on the city wall fell silent. Their gazes shifted nervously between Li Shuang and Jin'an.

Only Luo Teng blurted out, "Damn it! Is this kid becoming clever? It's one thing for him to tease our general, but now he's helping someone else tease her!"

Li Shuang cleared her throat, snapped back to attention by Luo Teng's brash shout. Her mind raced, and suddenly she had a speculation: "Could that man in the black armor... be your father?"

This speculation seems to be the most reasonable explanation. That's why this child, whether in temperament or appearance, bears some resemblance to that shadowy figure. That's why he likes to stick to her, just like that man in the black armor...

But why does he like to stick to her?

Could it be... because she's really his... mother?

Li Shuang was startled by her own thought, but... thinking like this doesn't seem unreasonable.

She might have really lost some memories outside the Great Wall. Those memories might involve her giving birth to a child in the northern regions, and then losing her memory and returning to Great Jin. And the people around her, to avoid hurting her, have avoided discussing this topic, so she has been unaware all this time. And now that she's in the northern regions, the man who was left behind found out about her arrival and brought the child over the vast desert to find her!

This speculation makes perfect sense! Because that's how it's written in those popular novels!

Li Shuang stared blankly at Jin'an, momentarily lost in her own speculation and unable to snap out of it.

But Jin'an felt inexplicably puzzled by Li Shuang's sudden statement: "Father?" He shook his head. "No, I don't have a father."

This was quite a statement. Li Shuang had heard Jin'an say before that he didn't know his origins, so now when he says he doesn't have a father, he probably just doesn't know who his father is.