My eyes welled up with tears as I looked at his lowered brows and darkened face, yet he still smiled foolishly at me.

　　"Su Niang, we won another battle again.

　　I killed five enemies, and one of them was even a squad leader.

　　When the general passed by, he specifically asked for my name," he said.

　　"Su Niang, the border is too cold, and I thought the capital is also cold.

　　So, I saved all the military pay and gave it all to you.

　　You should buy more warm winter clothes and not freeze," he continued.

　　"Su Niang, this time I killed fifteen enemies.

　　The general said that if I continue to work hard, he will promote me to the rank of a hundred-man commander.

　　The military pay will be even more, just enough to buy you a silver hairpin that's much prettier than the peach blossom hairpin I carved," he proudly told me.

　　I couldn't help but laugh and cry, saying, "You always think about me but never think about getting yourself a winter coat."

　　"How can that be? Su Niang is my wife, so naturally, I should spend the money I earned on my wife.

　　Although it's not much, I will work even harder.

　　One day, I will make you the wife of a general," he declared.

　　But he never got promoted.

　　Because the next year, he died defending that fortress.

　　In that final letter, stained with blood, were a few crookedly written words: [Su Niang, my wife, I'm sorry, but I am a soldier of Da Sheng.

　　A person of Da Sheng never surrenders.]

　　I cried until I was hoarse and vomited blood.

　　Finally, with my belongings on my back, I wanted to go and see the city he was willing to die for, but the boatman sighed, "I'm afraid we can't go there anymore.

　　It's now under another country's jurisdiction.

　　Our Emperor, driven by his infatuation for that heavenly beauty, gave it away without a second thought."

　　In the chaotic borderlands, I saw a girl who died while fleeing, and I dug a grave for her using her name.

　　With that, I entered the imperial palace.

　　To avoid being caught during the maid's inspection, I had to hand over the silver hairpin.