Chapter 491: They Say They’re Here to Find the Princess

Chapter 491: Chapter 491: They Say They’re Here to Find the Princess

Wang Er and the others were dumbfounded.

They only disagreed with Jiang Zhi; they didn’t want to watch him die!

Wang Er hesitated. "General, it was our fault, too. We started the fight with Jiang Zhi. Otherwise, you..."

Chen Shaobei shot him a cold, severe look.

"Say one more word, and I’ll add ten strokes of the rod."

Wang Er didn’t dare say another word and dejectedly went with the other soldiers to receive his punishment.

Jiang Zhi followed behind Chen Shaobei until they entered the study.

"Close the door," Chen Shaobei said coldly.

The soldiers standing outside the door saw Chen Shaobei bend down and take out a box. When he opened it, they saw a barbed whip.

Heavens...

Jiang Zhi was going to be flogged!

Inside, Jiang Zhi stared at the whip in the box, startled as well.

’If Chen Shaobei really whips me, should I run?’

’Reason tells me to run, but right now, I’m a soldier who has made a mistake. I’m supposed to accept my punishment and obey the General’s orders.’

Just as Jiang Zhi was hesitating, Chen Shaobei moved the whip aside, took out a small medicine bottle from inside the box, and tossed it to her.

Startled, Jiang Zhi hurriedly caught it. She had thought it was a hidden weapon, but when she took a closer look...

"This... This is medicinal ointment?"

Chen Shaobei’s attitude was cold and calm. "I saw your nose was bleeding. You must have been punched. Go back and check yourself over. Apply this wherever you’re bruised. It’s a secret court medicine. It works fast."

Jiang Zhi clutched the porcelain bottle, feeling nothing but surprise.

"General, you’re not going to punish me?"

"You did nothing wrong in this matter, so why would I punish you? It was my error in judgment to have you help Miss Su. You fought Wang Er and the others in self-defense; you didn’t start the trouble. Therefore, you are not at fault."

After speaking, Chen Shaobei sat down, took out a bamboo scroll, and began to read.

Jiang Zhi hadn’t left, still standing frozen in place.

Chen Shaobei looked up, their eyes meeting. "What, do you insist on being punished? Want me to hit you a couple of times?"

Jiang Zhi immediately shook her head. "No, no, no! I just wanted to say that the General is wise and valiant. I’ll take my leave now."

She turned to leave, but just then, Chen Shaobei stopped her.

"Wait a little longer before you leave. When you go out, if anyone asks how I punished you, don’t say anything. Just act like you’ve learned a painful lesson."

Jiang Zhi blinked, understanding at once.

’Chen Shaobei was worried that if he punished Wang Er and the others but not me, those big oafs would hold a grudge.’

For a moment, she found Chen Shaobei to be surprisingly thoughtful and considerate.

"Thank you, General." She stayed.

But she remained standing dutifully, not daring to sit.

Only when Chen Shaobei told her to sit did she obediently take a seat, her posture ramrod straight, as if she were in military training.

He chuckled to himself and simply let her be.

During this time, Chen Shaobei read his bamboo military book. Aside from drinking tea, Jiang Zhi remained silent.

She couldn’t help but study Chen Shaobei from a short distance away.

His lowered eyes were framed by high, dark brows. His well-defined hands held the bamboo scroll, and his tall frame exuded a heroic aura.

As Jiang Zhi watched him, her mind began to wander.

’My father was a bandit king, but when he was alive, he admired all sorts of heroes.’

’If he knew Chen Shaobei, he would surely praise him as a brilliant talent and be proud that his daughter was following such a general, wouldn’t he?’

When Jiang Zhi came back to her senses, she found that Chen Shaobei had already looked up and was staring at her fixedly.

For some reason, she was suddenly struck with the guilt of being caught and shot up from her chair.

"General, I wasn’t looking at you!" she confessed without being asked.

Chen Shaobei remained expressionless, only nodding faintly. "You can go now. An incense stick’s time has passed. Remember what I told you."

"Yes!" Jiang Zhi left with a stiff, awkward gait.

Watching her retreating back, Chen Shaobei shook his head and let out a quiet laugh.

Jiang Zhi returned to her tent. As dusk fell, Wang Er and the others shuffled in, clutching their lower backs and groaning with every step.

Seeing her sitting there perfectly fine, Wang Er was astonished. "The General didn’t punish you?"

They had come specifically to check on him, expecting that Jiang Zhi would be beaten half to death when he came out of Chen Shaobei’s study.

But looking at him now, he didn’t seem injured at all.

Jiang Zhi remembered Chen Shaobei’s instructions. She looked up, her gaze instantly filling with a touch of melancholy resentment.

It made Wang Er and the others stare in a daze.

"The General punished me severely. I... I don’t even want to live anymore." She imitated Su Zhirou’s tone, looking as if she had seen through life and death and was holding back her words.

Finally, Jiang Zhi simply slumped onto the table, her shoulders shaking slightly as if she were crying silently.

Wang Er and the others were aghast.

’How bad must the beating have been to knock all the rebellious spirit right out of Jiang Zhi?’

Wang Er walked over, unable to stop himself from showing concern, and went to pat her shoulder.

The moment his large hand landed on it, Jiang Zhi let out a pained cry. "OW! That hurts!"

Startled, Wang Er quickly snatched his hand back.

Jiang Zhi clutched her shoulder. "Don’t touch it, it really hurts... Aigh, it’s a long story..."

Seeing her like this, Wang Er and the others all felt a flicker of sympathy.

’If only they hadn’t fought.’ They had thought being beaten with the rod was already a heavy punishment, but they never expected that Jiang Zhi had been beaten even more fiercely behind closed doors!

’General Chen really is a ruthless man!’

When Wang Er and the others returned to their tent, they quickly gathered what medicinal ointments they had saved up and sent them over to Jiang Zhi.

A group of big, burly young men, whose own wounds from the rod had not yet fully healed, scrambled over each other to fetch water and help wash clothes for Jiang Zhi.

It made Jiang Zhi feel a little embarrassed.

A few times, Chen Shaobei happened to pass by. Seeing them getting along, he too gave a slight, satisfied nod.

*

On the day of Shen Ningning’s banquet for the emissaries of Changliu Country, Qingmeng Garden was filled inside and out with guards.

Xiuxiu was accompanied by only two guards. One of them had eyes like a lion’s, a faint brown color.

Shen Ningning took a second look. The guard, sensing her gaze, actually shot her a sidelong glance when their eyes met.

The young lady blinked her round eyes and, seizing the opportunity, decisively rolled her eyes at him the next time he looked her way.

’We’re even!’

Nearby, Tuo Ye looked a little angry.

At the banquet, Xiuxiu toasted and drank with everyone, his face all smiles and harmony.

He was like a relative from afar, sharing interesting stories about his homeland.

Mo Lingwei sat in the main seat, his face cold, not saying a word, only occasionally tending to Shen Ningning beside him.

Xie Suzhi listened to Xiuxiu’s words with a placid expression, occasionally offering a faint smile in response.

Finally, Xiuxiu brought up the purpose of their visit.

"Actually, the Great Sun King sent this humble subject with the Heaven Suppressing Pearl to sue for peace for another reason as well. We only learned recently that the Great Sun King’s daughter, our Tenth Princess, was separated from us in Cangyun Country at birth."

"This humble subject has come this time hoping the Princess can use her power to help us find this princess lost among the common folk. Our Great Sun King would be endlessly grateful."

Mo Lingwei furrowed his brow. "Your princess, how did she end up lost in Cangyun Country?"

Xiuxiu smiled faintly. "Because the Tenth Princess’s mother was, in fact, from Cangyun Country."

Eighteen years ago, just after the Tenth Princess was born, she was so frail that a Daoist priest said she had to live far away from her birth father in order to survive.

So she was sent back to be raised by her mother’s distant family.

But unexpectedly, when a drought struck Cangyun Country and chaos engulfed the land, the family lost the Tenth Princess while fleeing.

The Great Sun King had always thought his daughter was dead.

"But recently, he received an anonymous letter. It said that our Tenth Princess is in Cangyun Country, living right here in the Capital City. That is why the Great Sun King sent us."

Xie Suzhi looked at Shen Ningning, suddenly suspicious. ’Are the Great Sun King and his people just reciting a script? Did they fabricate this story by modeling it after Shen Ningning’s own origins?’

Then, Tuo Ye spoke coldly, "The Tenth Princess should be about seventeen or eighteen this year. If we start the search using this age range as a filter, there’s a chance we can find the Princess."