Huang Zixia nodded, holding her breath as she watched him.

He held the teacup with three long, fair fingers – thumb, index, and middle finger – the mi-se porcelain’s color as fresh as spring onions, cool as jade.

“Actually, that half silver ingot – when Pang Xun’s side counted the privately minted silver ingots, the eight hundred ingots of twenty taels each were complete, meaning there wasn’t a twenty-tael ingot missing. The one that later went missing was used by me.”

Huang Zixia was stunned, her hand holding the teapot frozen in mid-air, unconsciously mumbling: “No way, so even Prince Kui is short on money?”

Li Shubai gave her a sideways glance, ignoring her comment and continuing with what he wanted to say: “It happened when we stormed Pang Xun’s mansion, but earlier when I saw that half-ingot, I couldn’t connect it to this matter.”

Hearing his opening, Huang Zixia knew he might speak in detail, so she poured herself tea and took some refreshments from the desk, slowly eating while listening.

Though it was three years ago, Li Shubai’s memory was excellent, and he recounted everything clearly without missing a detail.

In the ninth year of Xiantong, after Li Shubai shot and killed Pang Xun, the defending soldiers immediately crumbled, their morale collapsed, and they abandoned the city to surrender. In less than half an hour, Xuzhou fell, and the imperial army entered to search for remaining soldiers. Because Li Shubai had previously ordered that anyone who used street fighting as an excuse to burn, kill, or plunder from civilians would be executed, the soldiers in each street acted very quickly. In less than two hours, Li Shubai had entered Pang Xun’s mansion.

“Perhaps because the imperial army came too quickly, there were still some rebels hidden in the mansion attempting to resist stubbornly, but they were quickly eliminated.”

He spoke lightly of it, but Huang Zixia thought to herself: entering the enemy’s stronghold before the rebellion was fully suppressed – should this be praised as exceptional courage, or criticized as rash and careless? Or perhaps – at that time, this person simply didn’t care about his own life?

Of course, she didn’t dare voice such thoughts, only quietly listening as he continued –

While pursuing a fleeing rebel, Li Shubai alone chased into a courtyard with thick walls, where he heard a woman’s sharp screams.

From outside the wall through a window, he saw a man grabbing a delicate young woman with disheveled hair, dragging her by her scattered clothes and hair while saying: “Once we get to the carriage, I’ll take you and these boxes of gold and silver somewhere far from the emperor’s reach, to enjoy a lifetime of pleasure.”

At this point, Li Shubai glanced at Huang Zixia eating refreshments before him, and omitted many of the man’s subsequent vulgar words, only saying: “That man was extraordinarily burly, with a fierce face. The young woman only reached his chest, and even struggling with all her might couldn’t break free, only able to cry out loudly as he dragged her toward the door.”

At the time, Li Shubai saw this from outside the window but couldn’t find the door, and the wall was too high to climb. He was thinking the man must have prepared a carriage and planning to go back to order men to intercept when he saw a figure stumble out inside – a rather tall young woman. She too had disheveled hair, her face covered in dirt and dust making her features indistinguishable, holding up a furnace poker in both hands, stabbing it viciously into that man’s back.

Unfortunately, the man’s skin was thick and tough, and the tall young woman’s wrists were weak. She also didn’t know how to attack vital points, so even using all her strength, the poker didn’t penetrate very far. The man only felt pain, not even releasing the delicate young woman in his hand as he turned with a roar and sent a flying kick toward the tall young woman who had wounded him.

The tall young woman was kicked in the chest, her entire body flying sideways to crash against the wall corner, coughing up blood.

The brute wasn’t satisfied and took several steps to continue beating the tall young woman. The petite young woman beside him struggled desperately against him, but how could she restrain such a man? They watched as he strode toward the fallen tall young woman, his fist as large as a vinegar mortar swinging down toward her abdomen.

Li Shubai immediately bent his bow and nocked an arrow, secretly regretting that this moment of distraction might mean he couldn’t save the young woman in time –

Huang Zixia had long forgotten about her tea and snacks, sitting up straight and staring unblinkingly at Li Shubai, urgently asking: “Then what happened?”

Li Shubai still held the mi-se porcelain teacup, only now taking a slow sip before saying: “Just as I nocked the arrow, looking again into that courtyard, I heard the man’s scream of agony.”

They saw the petite young woman tightly gripping a silver ingot with blood still on its edges, trembling in a corner. At the crucial moment, she had grabbed a silver ingot from a nearby box and smashed it hard against the man’s head. The brute clutched the back of his head in fury and violently slapped her face, sending her crashing hard against the wall, but she still held the silver ingot tightly before her chest.

As the man grabbed her collar and raised his hand to slap her again, the tall young woman curled up in the corner and rushed back with the poker. The brute heard the wind behind his ear and turned his head – the poker stabbed straight into his right eye. At the same instant, Li Shubai’s arrow struck his left eye.

Amidst the brute’s screams of agony, the petite young woman holding the silver ingot seemed to go mad, frantically smashing his head. The brute kicked her to the ground, but he finally collapsed himself, limbs flailing. The tall young woman pounced on him, stabbing frantically with the poker from face to abdomen, hundreds of times, until the man’s body convulsed and finally went still.

The two blood-covered young women finally dropped their weapons, trembling as they crawled together, holding each other while looking at the corpse. Only then did they notice an arrow protruding from the man’s left eye?

They gasped in terror, scanning their surroundings before seeing Li Shubai behind the decorative window.

Li Shubai spoke to them through the window: “Don’t worry, we’re here to eliminate the rebels. Please wait inside for a moment, I’ll come in to handle this.”

The young woman holding the poker frantically pointed to Li Shubai’s right. Li Shubai walked about ten steps to the right and found a side door that was locked. He drew his sword and pried at the lock a few times before kicking the door open and entering.

Perhaps from excessive shock, they still clung tightly together, trembling.

Li Shubai looked at his clothes – only one or two spots of blood on his brocade robe, so he shouldn’t look much like a villain, but their eyes showed only fear when looking at him.

Li Shubai knew they were terrified, so he approached and crouched before them, looking them in the eyes as he asked: “Who are you? How did you end up here and get captured by such a villain?”

His expression was gentle as he condescended to crouch before these two disheveled young women, his manner as soft and smooth as a forest stream as he spoke quietly to comfort them.

After being kidnapped, they encountered only the most vicious rebel soldiers every day, constantly fearful of what abuse they might suffer. Now, seeing this brocade-clad youth before them, as warm and bright as spring sunlight covering all things, they felt for a moment as if everything around them was from another world, allowing them to slightly lower their guard.

“You… you saved us?” The petite young woman holding the silver ingot spoke hoarsely, her lips trembling like autumn leaves, her complexion pale and ashen.

Li Shubai drew an arrow from his back and compared it to the arrow in the corpse’s right eye. Because Li Shubai had used up all his personally marked arrows, he was now using ordinary soldiers’ arrows. Seeing they were the same, both young women fell to their knees, bowing in thanks to Li Shubai. Both were crying streams of tears, choking so much they could barely speak.

The tall young woman kept staring at him without speaking, while the petite young woman was actually bolder, saying in thanks: “Thank you for saving our lives, this humble girl’s surname is Cheng.” She then pointed to the tall young woman beside her and said, “She is my sworn sister, named Xiao Shi. Because both my parents passed away, we came from Liuzhou to Xuzhou to seek refuge with my aunt…”

“How did you fall into the rebels’ hands?”

The young Miss Cheng choked out: “Because of Pang Xun’s rebellion, when we arrived my aunt had already fled elsewhere. Unfortunately, we then encountered the rebels and were captured along with a group of women and imprisoned there. Days ago we heard the imperial army was approaching the city and would soon eliminate the rebels, so no one had paid attention to us for a while. Who knew today they would fight over the gold and silver, and also fight over us captured women, even saying… saying that besides that, even if they ran out of food on the road, the flesh of teenage girls would be tender enough to eat…”

Li Shubai paused here, gently setting down his teacup, looking thoughtful.

Huang Zixia, caught up in the tense moment, quickly asked: “Then what happened? What about the other captured women?”

“Hearing of such horrific circumstances, I was also deeply shocked. I immediately stood up and headed out, preparing to take men to pursue those abducted women.”

Following Miss Cheng’s pointing direction, Li Shubai ran outside and saw the carriage parked there. He untied a horse and leaped onto it, looking back to see Miss Cheng’s tears streaming down, revealing snow-white, crystalline skin beneath where they flowed.

Though her eyes were swollen red like bruised peaches and full of terror, their outline suggested they were an extremely beautiful pair of phoenix eyes. And Xiao Shi, who clung tightly beside her, also had beautiful features. Li Shubai thought to himself that these two young women must have originally been beauties, which was why they were kidnapped here. Such a pair of young women in the chaos of Xuzhou would surely encounter no end of trouble.

Though he wanted to help them, he was also concerned about the other abducted women. As he hesitated, soldiers had already pursued inside, bowing to Li Shubai and calling him “General.”

Huang Zixia asked: “Oh? Why did they call you General?”

“Because at that time I had been appointed by the court as General of the Southern Pacification, not serving in the court itself, so naturally the soldiers used military titles, and in the field, one is of course called General,” Li Shubai explained casually.

Li Shubai had the soldiers unload the gold and silver from the carriage for counting. He also ordered a cavalry unit to pursue the fleeing rebels. After the cavalry galloped away, Li Shubai asked the two young women: “What are your plans?”

“We plan to go to Yangzhou, my aunt left word saying she went there,” said Miss Cheng.

Li Shubai asked if they needed soldiers to escort them back. They showed fear on their faces and shook their heads desperately, saying they didn’t want to travel with soldiers.

Li Shubai thought that since they had been captured by rebel troops, they must be terrified of armies and soldiers, so he didn’t force the issue. He only gestured for them to pick up the silver ingot and poker from the ground, saying: “These are murder weapons, remember to clean up the scene. The silver ingot can be exchanged for travel money, take it.”

The silver ingot was covered in blood and brain matter, red and white everywhere. Hearing Li Shubai’s words, Xiao Shi hesitated to reach for it, first falling to the ground and retching. It was Miss Cheng who tore off a piece of the dead man’s clothing, using it to pick up the bloodied silver ingot, wrapping it up to carry, her fingers never daring to grip it directly.

Li Shubai pulled the reins, and the carriage set off. They clung tightly to the shafts without moving on the bumpy ride.

Finally reaching outside Xuzhou city, on an official road across the endless wild grassland, there were quite a few travelers. These were people who had fled to mountain villages during Pang Xun’s rebellion to avoid being conscripted, now joyfully returning after hearing of Pang Xun’s death.

The two young women were exhausted from the bumpy journey, their legs too weak to even dismount. Li Shubai reached out to help them down, instructing them to stay on the official road and never leave the main path to avoid trouble.

“However, since you managed to come from Liuzhou to Xuzhou, going to Yangzhou together now shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

They only looked at him, silently nodding.

Li Shubai didn’t concern himself with them further, turning his horse to leave.

Just as he turned the carriage, someone suddenly ran up behind, grabbing Li Shubai’s horse’s reins and looking up at him.

It was Miss Cheng. She raised her face to look at Li Shubai, that small face covered in dirt and dust, but her eyes clear to their depths, seeming somewhat shy.

Li Shubai leaned down to look at her, asking: “Is there something else?”

She bit her lower lip, reaching into her clothes for a long while before taking out a silver hairpin, desperately standing on tiptoe to raise it to Li Shubai.

“Benefactor, this was the love token my father gave my mother when they were betrothed. After I was captured, I lost everything except this hairpin – it’s my only important possession. Benefactor, you can use it to find me in Yangzhou in the future. My aunt’s name is Lan Dai.”