Bai Mengmeng had said everything she needed to say, explained everything she needed to explain, and made clear everything she needed to make clear!
Now she was watching Jun Beiyue nervously, waiting for his decision!
She adored him, admired him. In truth, what she wanted wasn’t much—just, while Han Ziqing was away, to carve out a small place for herself in front of this man, in this man’s heart, a place that belonged to her alone!
That would be enough!
Staying in his tent, especially now that Han Ziqing wasn’t in the army, and seizing this chance—that was the first step toward realizing her dream!
She had always believed that men were creatures easily made into habits. Habituated to being served by someone, habituated to talking with someone, habituated to favoring someone!
Given enough time, even the most unimaginable habit could be formed.
She knew that this time Han Ziqing would be gone for a long while. This was her best, best chance!
She wasn’t foolish enough to clash with Han Ziqing head-on. She loved nothing more than the times Han Ziqing was away from the army!
Watching the silent Jun Beiyue, Bai Mengmeng’s heart was full of adoration, but even more, nervousness!
Her proposal had been the result of careful, deliberate thought. It was the only way to resolve things swiftly, the fastest way to catch the Empress of Dong Qin in one net!
And she knew perfectly well—this was exactly what Jun Beiyue had always wanted!
However, to go along with her plan and play along to deceive the Empress of Dong Qin, Jun Beiyue would inevitably have to keep her under house arrest for a time, to guarantee everything went one hundred percent smoothly.
After all, given Jun Beiyue’s temperament, how could he possibly trust her alone completely on something this important?
Suddenly, Jun Beiyue looked over, and Bai Mengmeng grew even more nervous. She was ninety-nine percent certain he would agree.
But it was that one percent that was enough to make her tense, every pore on her body opening wide as she waited for him to announce the result!
“Very well. We’ll play along with the plan just as you said!” Jun Beiyue too had thought it over carefully.
The moment those words left his mouth, Bai Mengmeng nearly couldn’t hold back a smile. He had agreed—she could stay in his tent, she would have the chance to be near him day and night!
But just as she was reveling in her joy, Jun Beiyue, without so much as a discussion, immediately gave the order. “Someone come. Miss Bai is gravely injured and needs to rest quietly. Send her back to her own tent! From now on, without my permission, no one is to visit her—except General Baihu!”
The moment those words left his mouth, Bai Mengmeng was stunned!
He!
He actually—!
He hadn’t even bothered to refuse outright, let alone discuss it—he simply wanted her gone!
Bai Mengmeng was dumbstruck, and before she could recover her wits, she was already being dragged out the door!
Not long after Bai Mengmeng left, a familiar figure entered the tent. It was none other than Hongyi, Ziqing’s personal maid, who had been left behind in the capital for so long!
“This servant greets Your Highness!” Hongyi bowed respectfully. As a maid who had come from the Prince Yao’s household, and as someone close to Ziqing, she observed every proper courtesy.
Perhaps he missed her too deeply—unable to see that woman, even seeing someone close to her stirred a feeling of warmth.
“Rise. Tonight, go and serve in Bai Mengmeng’s tent,” Jun Beiyue said flatly.
Hongyi was a clever girl. How could Prince Yao possibly send his princess consort’s own maid to serve another woman? This was clearly a sign of trust—he was sending her to keep watch over Bai Mengmeng!
Hongyi had remained in the capital for a long time. When she learned her mistress had gone to the western frontier, she had wanted to slip away there in secret, but before she could leave, she received Prince Yao’s order to come serve here instead!
She had come intending to serve the prince, never expecting to run into such an important task!
“Yes! This servant guarantees the task will be completed!” Hongyi answered loudly, full of confidence!
Watching her earnest expression, Jun Beiyue, in a rare moment, couldn’t help but laugh.
Seeing this, Hongyi grew even more serious. “Your Highness, rest assured—this servant guarantees she will help watch over Miss Bai properly for the princess consort!”
Jun Beiyue coughed lightly a few times, looking rather embarrassed instead, and waved his hand for her to leave!
Only then did Hongyi feel pleased. She had known it—with the princess consort away, Prince Yao would never casually do anything untoward with another woman!
If he really had done something, given the princess consort’s decisive, no-nonsense temperament, there would have been an uproar! No—perhaps the princess consort wouldn’t even have made a scene. She would simply have turned and walked away without a word.
Satisfied, Hongyi turned to leave. At the doorway, she paused and turned back. “Your Highness, don’t worry. The princess consort will surely be fine. No news is the best news!”
Jun Beiyue kept his head lowered, his expression hidden. He merely waved his hand impatiently, telling Hongyi, “You may go.”
Once Hongyi left, the vast tent fell empty and silent at once.
Jun Beiyue carefully put away the letter he had read over and over again, and lost no time.
Rather than pining for her, better to resolve things swiftly and go find her!
“Someone come—summon the three generals!” he ordered at once, rising and personally sweeping his hand across the desk, unrolling the massive map upon it…
Meanwhile, at this very moment, before dawn on a winter’s day, the entire world was still asleep, especially the mountain forests of the north, silent everywhere!
In the pitch-black forest, a faint glow of firelight flickered.
Ziqing sat huddled by the fire, warming herself. She had barely rested this whole journey—searching, asking around at every turn—but so far she still had no trace of Yelu Qianqian and that group!
If she herself, searching in person, couldn’t find them, how could the guards she had sent possibly succeed?
At this moment, she wasn’t resting either—she had just received a battle report from the Xi Jing front line. Situ Haonan had indeed not disappointed her; he had won his very first battle. Though General Gudu had assisted him, for someone who had never fought a war before, this was an excellent omen indeed!
After reading the letter, Ziqing rose and set off at once. She was completely certain that group could only have gone in this one direction—she had asked all along the way and found no news of them, which meant they must have taken an uninhabited path, and there was only one such path.
Past the barren mountains ahead lay the Mobei region. Coming down the mountain, there were two roads: one led to Mobei Town, and the other bypassed Mobei Town directly and led into the Mobei mountain forests.
Mobei sat at the border of Xi Jing, Xiliang, and the Xiongnu—a no-man’s-land under no one’s rule!
If they hadn’t gone to Mobei Town, and had instead bypassed the town straight into the Mobei forest region, then continuing north from there would take them into Xiliang territory!
Ziqing still couldn’t be certain exactly which way the group that had kidnapped Yelu Qianqian had gone, but she thought—even if they had gone to Xiliang, even if they had made contact with Wanyan Lie of Xiliang, she would go alone if she had to, and she would absolutely bring Yelu Qianqian back!
Because what she would be bringing back wasn’t just Yelu Qianqian’s lifelong happiness—it was also the alliance between Xi Jing and Da Zhou, and it was also Jun Beiyue’s peace of mind, free of worry.
All these days, she hadn’t written a single letter. It wasn’t that she didn’t miss him—it was only that… only that she missed him so deeply, so deeply, that she was afraid the moment she picked up a pen she wouldn’t be able to control herself, that she would let herself go find him.
Reason told her that she couldn’t, not now—no matter how close she might be, she still couldn’t.
She had no idea how he was doing now, no idea whether he had settled on his strategy for taking the city.
Once all of this was over, they could climb Yao Shun Island together, they could enter Mingsha Mountain. He still wanted to take her to Mobei Town to live quietly under false names for a few days. He still wanted to have a child with her.