“You think too beautifully. Keeping your own little life intact would be good enough.” Her daughter’s cleverness—she had witnessed it before, but An’an was still young after all. Going alone to a foreign land, could she manage?

“I am beautiful, naturally my thoughts are beautiful too.” Feng Miaojun heard the softening in her tone and quickly added more fuel to the fire, “The Queen has left a team of people for me, they can protect me completely.”

That was true. Madam Xu didn’t know how many people Queen An Xia had left for Feng Miaojun, but she thought the Queen must also be one who doted on her daughter and wouldn’t mistreat An’an. Having these people guarding her would be ten times more useful than Madam Xu herself, a mere woman.

As she came to this understanding, Feng Miaojun immediately noticed and said a bunch of nice words, and only then did she go find Peng Bai.

Peng Bai’s opposition was no less intense than Madam Xu’s. After all, the strict order Queen An Xia had given him was to protect Princess Changle’s safety. What did it mean to stay at the Feng household and assist Madam Xu?

But Feng Miaojun silenced him with just one sentence:

“If Protector Mo Ti Zhun cannot protect me, what use would you be?”

“…”

Seeing her loyal subordinate’s face full of shame and near death from embarrassment, she knew her words were harsh and comfortingly patted his shoulder: “It doesn’t sound nice, but it’s the truth. The Queen asked you to protect me as an ordinary person, yet I’m being so restless, so the fault isn’t yours. My birth mother has also arranged for people in Jin State. In your opinion, are they reliable?”

Peng Bai immediately understood her meaning: “Their loyalty should be without doubt. But…” But the young mistress was still young after all.

Feng Miaojun smiled slightly: “You fear they’ll look down on me?”

Peng Bai stammered. Adults could dote on children but rarely trusted them.

“Not just for the Feng business. The rear needs you to hold the fort. I only trust you. This way, we can advance or retreat as needed, and maintain good correspondence.” Feng Miaojun lowered her voice again, “Chen Dachang is also clever, I will take him with me to Jin State.”

“His kung fu is not bad, and he has some cultivation too.” Peng Bai had followed her for several days and vaguely understood that her decision was difficult to change, so he could only reluctantly say, “I will write a letter for you, with secret codes inside. With the letter as proof, our forces remaining in Jin State will serve you as master and obey your commands.” After a pause, “Since I am to stay in Yao State, I’ll keep only a few people by my side to handle matters, and I’ll order the rest to infiltrate Jin State to assist you.”

Feng Miaojun looked at Madam Xu’s busy figure in the distance and said softly: “I entrust my foster mother to you, take good care of her for me.”

“Yes.”

Before departure, the tense atmosphere in Tianshui City had completely disappeared.

While they were having breakfast, they heard that the rebel appeared in another county sixty miles away last night, so the pursuers had all gone there. She glanced at Mo Ti Zhun and saw him calmly gulp down a large mouthful of soy milk as if he hadn’t heard anything. His beard was cleanly shaved, and the mole at his temple had mysteriously disappeared. She didn’t know what magic trick he had used, but now he looked like just a handsome man.

But Feng Miaojun knew that the pursuers’ change of direction must have been his doing. When the Great State Master Mo was in good health, few in the world could catch him.

After the meal, the two swift horses bought by the Feng household also arrived.

The moment of separation finally came. Madam Xu clutched Feng Miaojun’s hand, crying uncontrollably.

Mo Ti Zhun glanced at them, mounted his horse, said “Let’s go,” and rode eastward.

Chen Dachang helped Feng Miaojun onto the horse. She bent down and softly kissed Madam Xu’s forehead, whispering: “Mother, don’t worry, wait for my letter.”

In this world, she finally had some ties she was reluctant to leave behind. Feng Miaojun only felt her eyes slightly sore and quickly closed them saying: “Let’s go.”

Chen Dachang immediately turned the horse around and shouted “Ya!” in the direction Mo Ti Zhun had gone.

The horse set off, stirring the wind with a whooshing sound. Under Madam Xu’s lingering gaze of parting, Feng Miaojun did not look back again.

It happened to be sunrise, and golden brilliance came dazzling from ahead, casting the world into vibrant life.

￥￥￥￥￥

After galloping about thirty miles, Mo Ti Zhun led the two off the main road onto a small path, which became increasingly desolate. Eventually, they faced wilderness where not even cart or horse tracks remained.

No one knew how he identified the direction, but after nine turns and eighteen bends, he found an abandoned hunter’s cabin in the forest, its door blocked by a thousand-pound boulder.

He moved the huge stone as easily as brushing away straw, then pushed the door open.

Inside it was dirty, messy, and poor, without even a bench to sit on. But on the ground lay a person, covered in wounds, with blood soaking the floor, and limbs twisted at unnatural angles. Hearing the door open, he looked at Mo Ti Zhun with eyes full of hatred, as if wanting to cut him into a thousand pieces.

Feng Miaojun looked closer and found this person was very young, only seventeen or eighteen, with wheat-colored skin and regular features. Originally he would have been a handsome young man, but now his face was contorted, his eyeballs almost popping out.

Mo Ti Zhun merely laughed lightly: “You’ve recovered your spirit after just one night. Youth is truly good, won’t delay our journey.”

The person uttered a few unclear sounds, and Feng Miaojun realized that something was wrong with his jaw, as if it had been dislocated. Mo Ti Zhun unhurriedly took out a pill from his bosom, forced him to swallow it, and then turned around to find Feng Miaojun about to walk out. So he asked her: “Aren’t you curious who this person is?”

“Your captive, right?” She shook her head, “As for anything else, I’m not curious.”

She didn’t want to get involved. Mo Ti Zhun understood this but sighed: “I’ve been hesitating all night whether to kill him or not, and still can’t make up my mind.”

Feng Miaojun shrugged: “If even the great State Master can’t decide, what solution could a little girl like me have?”

Mo Ti Zhun stopped beating around the bush and said directly: “Do you want to live more comfortably in Jin capital?”

“…Yes.” She truly didn’t want to be dragged into the trouble this person represented, especially after seeing the captive hidden in the wooden cabin. Mo Ti Zhun had killed even his own direct disciple, yet took the trouble to spare this one’s life. What did that mean?

It meant this person’s status was much higher than Mo Ti Zhun’s third disciple.

The disciple of the Great Jin State Master, though one couldn’t say he could walk sideways in Jin capital, would at least be more pursued and adored than her, a fallen princess?

Mo Ti Zhun further pointed at the person and said: “He has already seen you.”

So even if she wanted to stay uninvolved, she couldn’t. Feng Miaojun gloomily said: “He’s an accomplice of your third disciple.”

“More than that!” Mo Ti Zhun laughed coldly, “He is the one who disguised himself, killed the county magistrate, and framed me.”

Feng Miaojun let out a long “Oh,” and gave the young man a pitying look. Mo Ti Zhun would certainly not be kind to someone who tried to kill him. Since he had escaped death once, then this youth’s fate would be predictably miserable.