Yang Xian ended up kicking Shi Yan out of the room after explaining what the latter supposed to do. He couldn't believe that Shi Yan still didn't know what to do even though they have already explained everything so clearly.

Prince Ji Sheng shook his head as he left the room. "Have some rest, Xian. You'll need it."

"Thank you."

All this time, Wei Liuying was still sitting in Yang Xian's lap. She raised her head to look at his face. "Now, can you let me go?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I miss you."

At this time, Wei Liuying couldn't answer anything anymore. The position was not that uncomfortable, but she felt a bit awkward to stay in his embrace like this for a long period of time. Though, she didn't mind that much.

"Because you miss me, you want me to stay on your lap?" Wei Liuying asked in low tone.

Yang Xian tightened his grip slightly. "Why not? I want to make sure that you're not going to leave anytime soon."

His answer only made Wei Liuying speechless. He could just do that by having her stay near him, alright?

However, Wei Liuying didn't feel like rebuking Yang Xian and chose to silently sat on his lap. She could faintly feel his warmth on her back, the warm of a living person. A smile formed at the corner of her lips.

She was glad that he was still alive and be here with her.

Her hand lowered and looked at Yang Xian's hand just right below her chin. The muscle could be seen clearly thanks to his disheveled robe. At the same time, there were various blades marks that had started to fade with time.

Some marks were small while some others were bigger. Wei Liuying normally didn't notice them as they were covered with his clothes. It was only now she managed to properly pay more attention.

If one didn't pay close attention, there were also some marks that couldn't be seen. 

"You have a lot of scars, Strategist Yang."

Yang Xian arched his eyebrows. "Call me Yang Xian or just Xian like usual is enough. And they're just old wounds from my childhood."

"You have old wounds from childhood?" Wei Liuying asked curiously.

For a moment, Yang Xian didn't say anything. He moved his hand and messed up Wei Liuying's hair once more. This time, she didn't even have a reaction and just waited patiently as if she knew that he was not comfortable with it.

She didn't press him and simply waited. After all, it was his decision to tell her or to never tell her about it.

His past…

Wei Liuying had never heard anything about Yang Xian's past before. Some soldiers did mention about it from time to time but they only wanted to say that he was an orphan that Prince Ji Sheng picked up. In addition, he was not a noble and rather commoner.

Or perhaps… even slave?

She didn't know. He never said anything about his past but he always said that he was a commoner.

"What do you know about war orphans, Liuying?"

"War orphans?" Wei Liuying tilted her head. She furrowed her brows. Even though she had heard about them from time to time, it was not an exaggeration to say that she didn't know much about them. There were no war orphans back in the capital city because the Emperor didn't allow them to come in.

She only heard more about them when she came to the north because there were a lot of children who lost their parents due to war. Many of them were taken by their relatives and the rest were taken care by the village head.

"War orphans are either taken by their relatives or staying with the village head?" Wei Liuying asked in uncertain tone. So far, the one who took care of the war orphans and other villagers were other soldiers and not her since Yang Xian and Prince Ji Sheng kept on placing her at the frontline.

She heard the arrangement for the orphans from Yang Xian and Prince Ji Sheng from time to time, but she never got involved directly. 

Yang Xian nodded. "The condition had improved here ever since years ago. But back then, the treatment is not that good."

Wei Liuying was silent. She didn't move from her position as she could feel the sour mood from Yang Xian behind her. It was clear that he didn't want to say much about the condition back then.

Slowly, she patted Yang Xian's arm on her shoulder as if telling him that if he didn't want to tell her, it was fine. She would not force him to tell him the detail if he didn't want to tell her. 

She could tell that his past was not a good one. It must have been filled with wounds that had pushed him to become who he was right now.

They were all children who were forced to grow up early due to the situation in their childhood. Facing with the brutality of the world, how could one stay innocent in this period of time?

Only those who were lucky enough to be shielded will stay innocent.

"It's fine," Yang Xian smiled faintly and lowered his gaze. "There are a lot of orphan children back then and no one who take care of them. Those without relatives will be sent to the local villages around or just abandoned to die."

Hearing that, Wei Liuying's brows furrowed in anger. To think that the children were left to die in the wilderness.

"They only pick the healthy children to the village head and let us stay there. At first, it might not sound too bad, but all the children are forced to work because the village head didn't want to spend any money to raise us," Yang Xian replied unhurriedly, his tone was as cold as ice.

For some reason, Wei Liuying began to think that there was something else that had happened based on his tone.