We Agreed On Experiencing Life, So Why Did You Immortals Become Real?-Chapter 381: Husband, You Have to Live Well—Don’t Leave Me Alone, Okay?
After the Second Prince passed away, the news spread throughout all of Qin, and it also reached the military camps of the commanders still out on campaign, including Xiao Mo.
When Xiao Mo saw the news of the Second Prince’s death, he remained silent for a long time.
Even though, on the battlefield, each person’s life and death were decreed by fate.
Even though Xiao Mo also did not believe a man as proud as the Second Prince would ever rebel.
Still—when Xiao Mo learned that the Second Prince had offered his own body as sacrifice for Qin’s hegemonic enterprise, his mood sank into a deep sense of loss.
Xiao Mo could even imagine how heartbroken Siyao would be when she saw this news.
“Xiao Yang, announce the news of the Second Prince’s death to the entire army, and make sure the soldiers understand how the Second Prince died.
Also.
Starting today, have the whole army wear white cloth on their heads, to mourn the Second Prince.”
Xiao Mo issued the order to his deputy general.
“Yes, General!”
Xiao Yang hurriedly withdrew.
In less than a day, the soldiers under Xiao Mo all learned of the Second Prince’s death, and they also learned that he had died for Qin’s hegemonic enterprise!
Xiao Mo’s army had been a force of a hundred victories to begin with, their morale at its peak.
Now the news of the Second Prince’s death added fury to the hearts of every soldier.
The next day, Qin’s soldiers wore white cloth on their heads, and the army of mourning assaulted the city.
The Chu commander defending the city had already felt that the army Xiao Mo led was extremely ferocious.
But on this day, he understood what true madness meant.
...as if he had become the target for the other side to vent its vengeance upon.
At the same time, after the Western Suppression King and Bai Qi learned of the Second Prince’s death, they also spread the news throughout the entire army.
The Western Suppression King and Bai Qi had long since been prepared to launch a counteroffensive against Yanhuo.
But because they were uncertain about the situation at Huai Mountain Pass, they had only continued to tug and pull with Yanhuo—so that if Huai Mountain Pass were to fall, they could immediately abandon every city they had seized and rush to the Qin imperial capital to defend the throne.
Now, learning that the crisis at Huai Mountain Pass had been resolved, with no worries at their back, they launched the counterattack at once. And just like Xiao Mo’s army, they tied white cloth around their heads to commemorate the Second Prince.
In addition, whether it was Xiao Mo or Bai Qi, both of them loudly publicized the news of Jin’s catastrophic defeat at Huai Mountain Pass.
Once Chu and Yanhuo learned that Jin had suffered a major defeat, even if they wanted to conceal it, they had no way to do so.
After all, the Second Prince was dead, and the Qin army wearing white cloth was the best proof.
And if the encirclement at Huai Mountain Pass had not been broken, how would Qin dare attack without any misgivings at all?
The morale of the Chu and Yanhuo armies plummeted, while the Qin army—because of the Second Prince’s death—meant to make these three states repay their blood debt in blood.
On the Huai Mountain Pass side.
After the First Prince shattered the Jin army, he used a month’s time to recover Jinzhou and Luzhou, the two great prefectures.
The Northern Pacification King also completely suppressed the remaining Wei Kingdom remnants, smoothly joining up with the First Prince, and then immediately driving into Jin territory.
Jin’s court fell into chaos.
After deep consideration, the King of Jin decided to request aid from Qi and Zhao.
In the seventh month after the Second Prince’s death—
Xiao Mo led the army like a bamboo spear thrusting through rotten wood, crossing the Chu River and taking Jingzhou.
At the same time, the Western Suppression King placed complete trust in the youngest general at his side, handing full command of the army to Bai Qi.
Bai Qi killed two hundred thousand enemies and drove deep into Yanhuo’s heartland.
Because Bai Qi had previously buried four hundred thousand Chu troops alive—and because he did not accept the surrender of Yanhuo’s army, slaughtering another two hundred thousand—
Some people called him the “Killing God.”
On another front, the Northern Pacification King and the First Prince advanced together, striking straight to Taiyuan in Jin.
In the first month of the next year after the Second Prince’s death—
Xiao Mo and Xiahou Nan successfully linked up, encircling Chu’s imperial capital.
Xiao Mo sent a letter to the King of Chu, urging him to surrender.
The King of Chu refused, resisting to the death.
Xiao Mo gave the order to assault the city.
The stubborn resistance of the Chu army truly exceeded even Xiao Mo’s expectations.
But under the simultaneous attacks on the eastern and western gates by Xiahou Nan and Xiao Mo, Chu ultimately reached its end.
In the fifth month, the City-Guarding Grand Array of Chu’s capital broke.
Three days later, Xiao Mo led the army into Yingdu.
Chu’s ministers urged the King of Chu to flee the palace, intending to escort him to Qi, so he could rise again in the future—this could be foreseen.
But the King of Chu shook his head directly, refusing on the grounds of: “Since I am already a ruler of a fallen state, why must I become a homeless dog again?”
That day, the King of Chu ordered the killing of every concubine, wife, and daughter in the harem.
Just before the Qin army breached the palace—
In the great hall, the King of Chu personally hung a white silk sash. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
He adjusted his robes, combed his hair, then stepped onto a stool and faced death with open resolve.
When Xiao Mo entered the palace, it was already filled with corpses and remains.
This King of Chu, whom Chu’s people called a muddle-headed tyrant, in his final moment still maintained the last dignity of Chu’s royal house.
Not a single member of the Chu royal family survived.
Xiao Mo issued the order to bury them all.
Thus, Chu was destroyed.
In the month Chu fell, Xiao Mo had all the books in Chu’s imperial library, the household registers and maps, and the land records organized and sent to the Qin imperial capital. Then he opened the palace treasury and rewarded the three armies.
Because Xiao Mo’s reputation was known far and wide, most people knew that the army under his rule would not harass civilians and had strict discipline. Therefore, the people of Yingdu all kept to themselves, and order within the city did not fall into chaos.
The following month, Xiao Mo led the army to sweep away Chu’s remaining remnants.
Meanwhile, Bai Qi and the Western Suppression King fought the final decisive battle with Yanhuo’s army.
This battle would determine Yanhuo’s fate.
Just as Bai Qi and the Western Suppression King held the advantage, Qi and Zhao dispatched troops to support Yanhuo and Jin.
The battle situation reversed.
Yanhuo held onto its last seven cities.
The Western Suppression King’s army became locked in stalemate with them, unable to take them for a long time.
On Jin’s side—
After the Northern Pacification King and the First Prince took three of Jin’s prefectures, because of the combined Qi–Zhao forces, the Qin army also could not advance.
In the eleventh month, Xiao Mo completely cleared out Chu’s remaining resisting lords. The ruler of Qin also dispatched several officials to Chu to take charge of governance.
After leaving two hundred thousand troops to garrison key fortresses throughout Chu, Xiao Mo led the rest of his elite troops deep into Yanhuo territory.
Xiao Mo’s army and the Western Suppression King’s army echoed each other, shattering the Yanhuo–Qi allied forces.
Within half a year, Xiao Mo, the Western Suppression King, and Bai Qi together took six cities, surrounding Yanhuo’s imperial capital.
In mid–second month of yet another year—
The ruler of Yanhuo knew the greater trend was gone, and sent envoys into the Qin camp to surrender.
Xiao Mo accepted the surrender.
The next day, the ruler of Yanhuo led the hundred officials, holding the Yanhuo state seal, and went out of the city to surrender.
Frost King Xiao Mo, representing the great army, received the capitulation.
Yanhuo fell.
After Chu and Yanhuo were destroyed, the kings of Qi and Zhao saw that the greater trend could not be reversed. They knew that at minimum they had to preserve Jin—otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before their two states were swallowed by Qin.
With Qi and Zhao exerting themselves to protect Jin, Jin gradually shifted from disadvantage to advantage.
Even if Xiao Shi led the Northern Wasteland generals to exhaust every scheme, before absolute troop strength, everything still seemed futile.
Xiao Mo and the Western Suppression King also had no way to immediately support the Jin front.
Qin had just swallowed Chu and Yanhuo. It needed to digest them, and pacify the people of the two states, preventing repeated uprisings.
And after roughly three years of campaigning, Qin’s armies were already exhausted. The burden on the people was too heavy, and they needed to rest and recover.
If at this moment Qin forcibly chose to hard-resist the three-state coalition of Qi, Zhao, and Jin, then the moment the battle situation turned unfavorable, it would be hard for Chu and Yanhuo not to have people with strange thoughts.
By then, what they had eaten could very well have to be spat out in full.
After weighing it again and again—
In mid–fifth month, the ruler of Qin ordered a withdrawal.
Aside from the soldiers left to garrison Chu and Yanhuo, and the three prefectures along Jin’s border, all other armies withdrew.
In addition, to soothe the people of Chu and Yanhuo, the ruler of Qin comforted and rewarded certain great clans and aristocratic families willing to submit, and reduced the taxes of the two states’ people by half—for a total of twenty years.
After Xiao Mo and the others returned to the capital, everyone received rewards.
Xiao Mo destroyed Chu and assisted the Western Suppression King in destroying Yanhuo. His fame in court and across the realm had already faintly surpassed even his father’s.
As for the ruler of Qin’s rewards, Xiao Mo did not take them to heart.
But looking at the ruler of Qin’s expression, Xiao Mo felt that this heroic and far-seeing sovereign had aged by a great deal in the span of three years.
After the rewards, Xiao Mo immediately returned to the Frost King’s residence, going first to see Qin Siyao.
Xiao Mo and Qin Siyao had not seen each other for three years. And Siyao had also lost the second brother who loved her the most. Xiao Mo had never been able to set his mind at ease.
“Husband, you’re back.”
In the Frost King’s residence, after Xiao Mo saw Qin Siyao, Qin Siyao’s eyes curved in a smile. She bowed to him in courtesy, just like always.
“Mm. I’m back.” Xiao Mo nodded.
“I’ve prepared hot water for Husband. Husband should bathe first. Then we’ll go to Mother together. Husband hasn’t returned in three years—Mother misses Husband very much as well.” Qin Siyao said softly.
“Alright.”
Seeing that Siyao did not mention anything, Xiao Mo did not know what he could say either.
After bathing and changing into fresh clothes, Xiao Mo and Qin Siyao went to the Xiao residence.
Three years without seeing her—looking at how his mother had more and more white hair, and many wrinkles had formed on her face—Xiao Mo’s heart felt awful.
Especially since he had been campaigning for years and had not kept his mother company properly, his guilt only grew deeper.
And Qin Siyao was still the same as before—bright and lively, playing and joking with Xiao Mo’s mother. Their relationship was even closer now, their smiles as radiant as they used to be.
Only, watching that beautiful smile on his wife’s face, Xiao Mo felt a stab of pain.
Xiao Mo knew it—Siyao was only forcing herself to smile.
Because the country had been consumed by war, Qin had not had the leisure to hold a funeral for the Second Prince.
So it was only in the month after Xiao Mo returned to ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) the capital that preparations finally began for Qin Jingyuan’s funeral.
Although Qin Jingyuan’s body had not been brought back to the imperial capital, the ruler of Qin did not insist. He respected his son’s final wish.
Inside the coffin were placed the garments and ceremonial crown Qin Jingyuan had once used.
On the day of the funeral, Qin Siyao wore mourning clothes, and still did not cry even once.
She stood beside Xiao Mo, quietly watching every step of the burial rites for her second brother, quietly watching her second brother laid to rest in the imperial mausoleum.
All day, she did not speak a single word.
On the night after the funeral ended—
Qin Siyao kept vigil for her brother for two days and two nights.
But Xiao Mo and the Crown Prince saw how haggard Qin Siyao looked. After persuading her again and again, they finally convinced her to return to the residence to rest.
Back at the Frost King’s residence, she sat blankly in the courtyard, quietly watching the stars in the sky.
Xiao Mo sat beside Qin Siyao, quietly keeping her company.
“Husband...”
No one knew how long passed before the woman finally spoke. Her voice carried a trace of hoarseness.
“Mm.” Xiao Mo answered softly. It was the first time he had heard her voice today.
“Husband, do you know? When I was little, the ones who loved me most were my two older brothers.”
Qin Siyao’s lips curved slightly. A thin mist of tears covered her eyes, her tone calm, as if she were telling the most ordinary story.
“Whether it was Big Brother or Second Brother, they never once yelled at me, never once had the heart to scold me.
No matter what I did wrong, they never blamed me.
When I was little, Big Brother and Second Brother often dueled. The one who lost had to be my horse.
So many times, Second Brother lost, and I would ride him around and around.
Even though Second Brother complained every time, he still always let me ride on his shoulders.
Whenever there was something tasty or something fun, the first people Big Brother and Second Brother thought of... were always me.”
As a princess of Great Qin, I was mischievous and ran around all day, without a shred of what a girl should look like.
Because I knew that in this world, Big Brother and Second Brother would protect me.
Later, I was very lucky—I met Husband, and I met the person I liked.
In this world, there was one more person who truly liked me, who truly protected me.”
As she spoke, Qin Siyao stretched her legs out beneath her skirt, her delicate hands clasped between her thighs.
“No matter what it was, I never had to face it, because very, very soon, Big Brother, Second Brother, and Husband would help me solve it.
All I had to do was be Qin’s princess.
I often thought... I might be the happiest woman in the world.
After I marry Husband, we’ll have several children. Big Brother and Second Brother will have several children too.
Then the children can play together, go on spring outings together.”
As she spoke, Qin Siyao’s lips began to tremble faintly.
“But...
But Second Brother...
Second Brother is gone...”
At last, the tears in Qin Siyao’s eyes could no longer hang on. They surged out like a spring, her voice thick with choking sobs.
“Why?
Why was Second Brother so foolish...”
Seeing the woman beside him crying like this, Xiao Mo gently pulled her into his arms.
Qin Siyao’s tears soaked Xiao Mo’s clothes. The emotions she had suppressed for so long finally could not be held back—like a broken dam, they burst out in full.
“Husband, I’ll never see Second Brother again.
Never see Second Brother again...”
Never see him again...
Never see him again...
“I only have Husband and Big Brother left...”
Qin Siyao sobbed, her chest heaving.
Xiao Mo did not say a single word. He only held her, quietly watching her, quietly keeping her in his arms.
No one knew how long passed.
Qin Siyao’s crying grew softer and softer.
Later, only one choked sound after another remained.
And in the end, only one sob after another.
Qin Siyao pressed herself against Xiao Mo’s chest, as if only this could make her feel warmth.
“Husband...”
After a long time, Qin Siyao finally calmed. She lifted her head and stared blankly at her husband.
“Husband, can you promise me one thing?”
“What is it?” Xiao Mo gently stroked her cheek.
“Husband, you have to live well. Don’t leave me alone, okay?” Qin Siyao looked straight into Xiao Mo’s eyes, her delicate hands gripping the collar over his chest.
Looking at the pleading gaze trembling in the woman’s eyes—
Xiao Mo froze slightly, not knowing how to answer.
“Can Husband promise me?” A flicker of panic flashed in Qin Siyao’s eyes.
“Yes. I promise you, Siyao.”
Xiao Mo smiled faintly, gently stroking her hair.
“I will never—
Leave you.”
