The Fortunate Lady and Her Mountain Man

Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Something Is Strange

Zhen Jili made himself right at home, strolling through the front and back yards before offering his assessment. "You’ve tidied up your little nest quite nicely."

Before Ji Huan could say a word, he started complaining with a huff, "You little ingrate. You didn’t even tell me when the house was finished, and you didn’t invite me to the housewarming party."

Ji Huan was busy unlocking the door to the main room and paid him no mind.

She hadn’t invited Zhen Jili for a couple of reasons. For one, she still couldn’t figure out the source of his effusiveness.

For another, she had already sensed the tense pre-war atmosphere at the time. Even if she had invited him, Zhen Jili likely wouldn’t have been able to make it.

"Ah, forget it. I don’t blame you. You wouldn’t have been able to get into the military camp to invite me anyway. In the first few days after the fighting broke out, I even tried to send you a message, but it never got through..."

Ji Huan was surprised. She hadn’t expected Zhen Jili to be thinking of her at a time like that.

Zhen Jili suddenly leaned in, a wide grin on his face. "Feeling touched?"

’I was, for a second, but not anymore,’ she thought. ’Who knows if he’s telling the truth.’

Zhen Jili seemed to have a lot of pent-up energy, chattering away nonstop, but he finally changed the subject.

"What’s that ’post-war psycho-something’ you were muttering about?"

He had sharp ears and had overheard Ji Huan’s quiet muttering. After they entered the main room, he pounced on the question before he’d even sat down properly.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that Ji Huan had been insulting him unless he got a clear answer.

’I knew he’d have a suspicious mind,’ Ji Huan thought.

"It’s a post-war psychological condition. It’s a type of post-traumatic stress disorder. I won’t get into the other types, but in short, people who have experienced war—especially soldiers and military personnel like you who have been on the front lines—are the most susceptible."

"So, how can you tell if someone has it?"

"The symptoms include insomnia, nightmares, irritability, hypervigilance, and being easily startled. Sufferers instinctively avoid anything that might trigger traumatic memories. In mild cases, it can cause drastic personality changes and emotional numbness. In severe cases, it can even lead to major depression and amnesia."

Zhen Jili’s jaw dropped. "I’ve definitely seen some of those symptoms in soldiers before, but..."

"But everyone just treats it as normal and doesn’t think of it as an illness?"

Zhen Jili nodded and leaned forward, his expression urgent. "Then how do you treat it? What medicine makes it better?"

"Medicine has a limited effect on this kind of illness."

’After all, it’s not like they have antidepressants or sedatives in this era.’

Zhen Jili’s face fell. "So... it’s hopeless?"

Ji Huan shook her head. "It’s mainly treated with psychological therapy. The best approach is immediate intervention."

"What kind of psychological therapy?" Zhen Jili pressed.

"You have to find the right approach. Try to talk with them often and give them a lot of support. This encourages them to vent the negative emotions they’ve bottled up inside. Fear, anger, grief, terror—don’t try to stop these feelings, and certainly don’t force them to suppress them."

"Furthermore, many of them might get trapped in self-blame and survivor’s guilt. They might feel lost about matters of life and death, or even have suicidal thoughts. It’s crucial that someone is there to offer steadfast companionship and a listening ear. That’s the only way to help them walk out from under that heavy shadow."

At this point, Ji Huan realized something was off.

"Don’t tell me you..."

"PAH! PAH! PAH!"

Zhen Jili spat in quick succession.

"What nonsense are you thinking? I’m brave, bold, and thick-skinned. I’m not that fragile."

"Then is it someone you know?"

Although Zhen Jili was a talented military doctor, his true passion wasn’t the art of medicine.

So she could rule out this sudden thirst for knowledge being the professional excitement of a doctor encountering a rare and challenging case.

He would never show such intense interest unless it was a matter of personal importance.

Zhen Jili looked like he wanted to say something, but he hesitated.

He got up and began pacing back and forth in the main room.

After a long hesitation, he beckoned for Ji Huan to lean in.

’There are only three of us and a dog in the room. Does he really need to be so secretive?’

Ji Huan grumbled internally, but she leaned in as requested, eager to hear the secret.

Zhen Jili whispered to her, "I suspect... our General... I think he’s got what you were talking about. That... post-war... ’hack-and-die’ disease."

This time, Ji Huan was truly dumbfounded. She didn’t even have the presence of mind to correct his "hack-and-die disease."

"Are you serious? I thought your General was mentally tough."

’He’s been on campaigns all over the country for years and never had a problem, and now it suddenly appears... Could he have been berated into depression?’

Zhen Jili ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Who the hell knows? It’s probably because of all the chaotic nonsense that’s been happening recently..."

Speaking of which, that was something Ji Huan wanted to ask him about.

"Do you know the inside story on these peace talks? Uh, if it’s confidential, just forget I asked."

Zhen Jili waved his hand dismissively.

"What’s the point of keeping it a secret? Is there anyone who *doesn’t* know by now?"

"So what really happened?"

"It’s all because of that good-for-nothing General Nie, who lost every battle he fought! He was scared out of his wits by Beiliang. When he returned to the Capital City, he frantically tried to convince the Emperor of how powerful Beiliang’s forces were and how Great Zhou was constrained by timing and terrain. In short, he tried every trick in the book to prove that his defeat wasn’t due to his own incompetence, but because the enemy was just too formidable."

"So... the Emperor believed him?"

Zhen Jili let out a series of cold laughs, his meaning obvious.

"Things haven’t been peaceful within Beiliang recently, either. King Beiliang fell suddenly and gravely ill, and it looks like he won’t last much longer. His sons, the Princes, are all busy fighting amongst themselves, both openly and in the shadows. The one leading their army is the Heir of a Vassal King. The Princes all suspect this Heir is backing one of their rivals and fear he’ll become an even greater threat if he accumulates more military merit. So they all agreed to end the war and secretly sent an envoy to Great Zhou."

Ji Huan was at a loss for words.

"Beiliang is in the middle of internal strife. This is the perfect time to fuel the flames! A coordinated attack from within and without—a two-pronged approach—would leave Beiliang completely overwhelmed... Don’t they understand that simple logic?"

"When the Beiliang envoy arrived in the Capital City, the court was still in the dark about the situation over there. The only reason I know all this is because it was our General who sent men into Beiliang to sow discord among the Princes and tie up their Commander."

’So Beiliang was exploiting the information delay,’ she realized.

’By proposing peace talks before news of their internal chaos got out and while the outcome on the front lines was still uncertain, they seized the moral high ground. They could achieve their goal while also extorting as many benefits as possible.’

"Do you think our methods weren’t exactly honorable? We were forced into a corner. Thanks to the hand cream, our soldiers’ combat effectiveness didn’t suffer much, but we were short on all kinds of supplies. We couldn’t last long just on the meager provisions the court sent and support from a few northern cities. We had to win quickly."

Ji Huan didn’t think it was dishonorable at all.

"’All warfare is based on deception.’ It doesn’t matter if a tactic is orthodox or unconventional. As long as it leads to victory, it’s a good tactic."

’Of course,’ she added to herself, ’that doesn’t include methods that cross the line of basic humanity, like slaughtering city populations or burying prisoners alive.’

"That’s more or less what our General thinks, too... but it was all useless."

"Prime Minister Zhang advocated for war, not peace. He asked the Emperor, ’In a few decades, or perhaps only a few years, when Beiliang has spent all the money and invades our borders again, what shall we do then?’"

"But the Emperor said, ’Decades from now, there will naturally be soldiers to defend our lands. We won’t need to negotiate then.’"

"He’d rather wait for some soldier decades in the future than let our General achieve victory now..." Zhen Jili sneered.

"You probably don’t know this, but Beiliang’s initial peace terms were much harsher than the final ones. For instance, the reparations—they originally demanded one million taels. If Prime Minister Zhang hadn’t fought to cut it in half, and if Mr. Cai, the negotiator, hadn’t discovered we’d won a major victory after he reached the Northern Pass and then revised the treaty overnight... believe me, the Emperor would have handed over that one million taels to Beiliang without batting an eye. What’s more, if certain people hadn’t intervened, the Emperor might have even offered them the General’s head..."

By the end of it, Ji Huan was completely stunned.

’When a capable official serves a weak ruler, what can they do but watch their country decline, step by step?’

’Even a hundred men like Kou Changqing would be no match for a single Emperor Wandai, who clings to life and seeks peace at any price.’

’If this continues, Great Zhou’s future is all but sealed.’

Even just as a listener, Ji Huan could feel the profound indignation and despair of being willing to fight the enemy but powerless to turn the tide.

"So, then... your General now..."

Zhen Jili wiped his face, finally remembering the point of this conversation.

This time, his expression was even more grave than before.

"I think our General... has been acting strangely lately."

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