As the companions remained stunned, Xiang Tong saw his opportunity.
“Since Fatty is on a diet, you certainly can’t eat this much meat. The weather is so hot, and food shouldn’t be kept for long, so why don’t you share some with us?”
Having said that, Xiang Tong didn’t take much, just picked up a piece of pork and a piece of beef, waved goodbye to everyone, and prepared to go back to improve his family’s meals.
The captain watched Xiang Tong’s back as if he were one of them and didn’t say much.
Uncle Sun and Uncle Xu, however, felt sorry for them. “Long Teng, you all go back and rest. Don’t worry about patrolling for now.”
“We’re not tired.”
“Even if you’re not tired, go rest. Even if you want to patrol, come back tomorrow.”
“Alright.” The captain knew they couldn’t argue with Uncle Sun and the others, so he prepared to go back and rest obediently.
When they reached the valley, Fu Xin Ci led out several fine horses from her space. Each of the companions took one, and they even brought one for Uncle Sun and Uncle Xu before heading back to their courtyard with renewed vigor.
Fu Xin Ci also bid farewell to her companions, as she too needed to rest.
At the thousand-household office, Old Jin saw that only he and Qi Yuan Shan were left in Qi Yuan Shan’s room before daring to speak his mind.
“Yuan Shan, I’m telling you today, that girl Xin Ci must have another heaven-defying medical skill.”
“How do you say that?” Qi Yuan Shan found it hard to believe his ears, but he knew Old Jin wouldn’t lie to him.
“The person we should thank the most for surviving this trip is Xin Ci. That day we were attacked by men in black, and I and those few boys from the Meng family were all seriously injured.”
“I didn’t notice you were so badly hurt. Aren’t all of you back full of life and vigor?”
“We are full of life and vigor now, but when we were injured, I felt that if I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t open them again.”
“That serious?”
“I wouldn’t joke about something like this. At that time, our wounds were bleeding profusely. If the blood had flowed a little longer, all of us would have gone to see King Yama.”
“...?”
“Those young greenhorns might not understand that feeling, but I do. I’ve experienced it personally.”
“When I was young, I thought since I was alone, life and death made no difference to me. But it’s different now. I can’t leave them, the three of them, behind. I can’t close my eyes. So that desire to survive made me feel even more clearly the spark of life in that desperate situation.”
Qi Yuan Shan knew Old Jin wouldn’t lie to him and was immediately delighted. He lowered his voice and said to Old Jin, “If Xin Ci truly has this ability, how wonderful that would be. If there were a war, Xin Ci could save many lives.”
As Qi Yuan Shan said this, a trace of fear suddenly arose in his heart. He looked around the room again and then lowered his voice to discuss with Old Jin, “Once we leave this room, this matter dies with us. Otherwise, if they found out in the capital, Xin Ci would be taken there by those people.”
“Those wasteful wretches, they don’t care about our lives. Xin Ci would never be able to come back.”
“So this absolutely cannot be known by outsiders.”
“Mm.”
…
Fu Xin Ci returned home. The courtyard was quiet. Wasn’t Ning’er here? How could that be?
After asking, she learned that Ning’er had gone to sleep for the afternoon.
She was also a bit tired, so she went back to her room.
Ah, it felt so good to be home and be able to fall asleep immediately.
But as she slept, she felt very hot, as if she had a small stove next to her.
It was so hot that Fu Xin Ci woke up. Before she even opened her eyes, she knew who the little stove snuggled beside her was.
…
The next day, in the imperial palace, the emperor went directly to the imperial study after morning court. Shortly after sitting down, he ordered the young eunuch to summon Yan Yi, as he had something to ask Yan Yi.
Yan Yi happened to have nothing to do that day and arrived very quickly. Upon entering the imperial study, he knelt on one knee to greet the emperor.
“Your subject greets His Majesty.”
“Eunuch Yan, rise.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Eunuch Yan, have those northern border soldiers all returned?”
“Thanks to Your Majesty’s blessings, all those northern border soldiers have returned.”
The emperor wanted to say, those old foxes would let those soldiers return to the north? He didn’t believe it. So he changed his tone and asked, “Did they all return safely?”
“They were injured, but none of them lost their lives.”
When did those old foxes start becoming benevolent?
Although the emperor didn’t ask directly, Yan Yi answered truthfully.
“According to the news I received, those people sent out two groups to sneak attack the northern border soldiers.”
“What was the result?” The emperor suddenly became interested. His not-so-large eyes stared intently at Yan Yi’s face, silently urging him to speak quickly, as he could no longer wait.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, not a single one returned.”
“...” Just as he thought, the emperor was pleased in his heart, but he asked, “Even if the opponents were all top-notch fighters, those elite assassins raised by the major families wouldn’t all be annihilated by those soldiers in one go.”
“Almost all those soldiers were injured. It was impossible for them to annihilate those assassins.”
“Then what exactly happened?”
“Your subject doesn’t know what happened. It was as if those assassins suddenly vanished on the spot. No one knows where they went.”
“You mean: the assassins were nowhere to be seen, alive or dead.”
“Reporting to Your Majesty, yes.” As Yan Yi said this, his mind was still racing.
But no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t come up with the answer he wanted.
“Who could make those assassins disappear on the spot?”
“Your subject has not found out yet.”
“Send people to continue investigating. This time, those old foxes should have all retreated, right?”
“Reporting to Your Majesty, temporarily, they should have.”
“Also, after those soldiers returned to the northern border, did it not cause public outrage?”
“Reporting to Your Majesty, no. However… Meng Family Town has been renamed, now called Qing Xi Town.”
“Qing Xi Town.” The emperor heard this and smiled, nodding, praising, “This is a good name, it sounds elegant, much better than the old-fashioned Meng Family Town.”
“Your subject also feels it sounds better than Meng Family Town.”
“Yes, Qing Xi Town, what a good name. I can almost see a beautiful town nestled between mountains and by the water.”
“In your subject’s opinion, there are many such towns in Liaodong.” Yan Yi said this while staring at the floor of the imperial study.
Speaking against one’s conscience was actually quite uncomfortable.
“Eunuch Yan, are there really many?”
“There are many. Your subject has been to places like that before. As long as one is outside of Beizhili, such small towns are everywhere.”
“Oh.”
“It looks alright in the summer, but it’s too cold in the winter.”