Sheng Li, Wang Hao, and Hu Jingguo stopped by a forest. Wang Hao prepared a tent house for them to spend a night there while Hu Jingguo helped him. Oppositely, Sheng Li was seated on the rock and was in deep thoughts.
"He is missing the Crown Princess. I have never seen him like this," Wang Hao said while trying the rope of the tent on a paling which was put under the ground.
"Sheng Li, why do you not light the fire?" Hu Jingguo handed him a task, diverting his mind from Ying Lili. Sheng Li turned to look at him and nodded. He gathered the wooden sticks and a few dead leaves. Rubbing the two pebbles, he lit the tiny heap of dead leaves first that ignited the fire in the wooden sticks. Hu Jingguo and Wang Hao had set up the tent house.
Wang Hao brought the meal boxes that the Crown Princess had packed for them. He gave the meal box to Sheng Li and Hu Jingguo, who sat down on the ground. Wang Hao gave the grains to the horses as well before sitting beside Sheng Li.
'Did she take her meal?' Sheng Li thought, looking at the rice cakes and the meatballs.
"Your highness, you shall start," Wang Hao wanted the Crown Prince to eat before them. Sheng Li gazed at him while Hu Jingguo stopped eating.
"Lili does not take her meals without me. She might have told me that she will take care of herself, but I feel like she will be careless towards her health. She is as stubborn as me, so she will not listen to anyone there either," Sheng Li pronounced.
Hu Jingguo snickered and said, "Lili will not act carelessly. She has to look after the Capital in your absence. You shall eat. Your Lili has prepared your mealbox with so much love. So, eat it." Sheng Li hummed and dug into the food.
They kept talking while having their meals. "Hu Jingguo, you will not follow us to the base camp of Tan Gengxin. This is your first time so, I do not want you to get injured in any case." Sheng Li did not want to bring Hu Jingguo with him but because Ying Lili requested him to take Hu Jingguo, so he did not refuse her. Though, he had decided not to let Hu Jingguo get harmed in all this.
"Sheng Li, what is the plan?" Hu Jingguo was curious.
"I will formulate the plan after analyzing everything there. He knows about Luoyang and I know he is first targeting the Imperial Palace. Weng Wei told him everything…all the secret routes just to fulfill her desires. It is good that before her death, she told about her spies which you killed," Sheng Li stated and looked at Wang Hao. "You had explained everything to Xiao, right?" He inquired.
"Yes, your highness. The secret routes have been closed," Wang Hao stated.
"Wait! Is this like a war kind of situation? Sheng Li, you left Ying Lili behind so that if the enemy attacks, she will lead the army there?" Hu Jingguo furrowed his brows together.
"You are right. Though the chances are small since Tan Gengxin is not in Luoyang. He escaped Luoyang, the day Lili got injured," Sheng Li asserted. "If there is any general who's working for Tan Gengxin, for any reason, attacks at Luoyang, Ying Lili will lead the military. But the probability is very less," Sheng Li pronounced.
"The Han Army is enough to push them away. Moreover, they will not make a mistake in attacking Luoyang when their leader is not here. That is why the Crown Prince and I will end the root cause of all this – the main conspirator who all these years helped Weng Wei in her evil deeds," Wang Hao explained to Hu Jingguo who had understood everything by now.
"Finish your food. We need to leave in the early morning," Sheng Li told them and they resumed eating.
After they finished their meals, Wang Hao told the two to go into the tent house, but Sheng Li refused. "I will stay awake. You two shall take rest," Sheng Li affirmed.
"But, your highness-"
"Wang Hao, you have been on a journey for many days and you still are! Go and take a rest," Sheng Li commanded him. Wang Hao could not refuse the order of the Crown Prince and went inside the tent house.
"Go inside," Sheng Li told Hu Jingguo.
"I will, but after conversing with you for a while," Hu Jingguo replied. Sheng Li skeptically peered at him. "I do not get a good sleep until I talk to someone," he added. Sheng Li amusingly looked at him.
Sheng Li had a wooden stick in his hand with which he was drawing something in the ground. "I thought you would beat me up when Ying Lili hugged me," Hu Jingguo stated, and gave a wry laugh.
Sheng Li chuckled. "I cannot do that. It is your first time on such a mission and Ying Lili is very close to you. So, hugging you was out of concern," the Crown Prince proclaimed. Hu Jingguo was impressed by the Crown Prince. He was indeed a great husband. If there would be someone else in place of Sheng Li, then Hu Jingguo might have gotten punished.
Sheng Li moved his left sleeve up and saw the butterfly that was painted on his wrist. That night when Ying Lili drew it on his hand, he was overwhelmed with many emotions for her at once. A smile formed on his lips, recalling that night.
Sheng Li pushed his sleeve down, covering his wrist.
"Today when her eyes were misty, I did not want to leave. Now, I understand why the wives of soldiers, Commanders, and Generals always worry about their husbands. You never know what is ahead on the battlefield! I am feeling guilty for killing the soldiers from the enemy's side. Their wives might have cursed me." Sheng Li threw the wooden stick on the ground while chuckling.
"But as a warrior, it is your duty. You could not do anything about that," Hu Jingguo stated.
"I could but killing was my hobby. I felt no remorse while killing mercilessly. But when Lili entered my life, I started being considerate and my restless heart turned calm. Today, I felt guilty when Ying Lili had tears in her eyes. She might have cried after I left. It just hurts," Sheng Li pronounced, while gazing at Hu Jingguo.
