However, there were still many places on the sand table where small flags could not yet be placed. A look of regret appeared on Chu Li’s face.

“What a pity—” he said softly. As he spoke, he pressed his hand against his chest, but still could not suppress the churning inside, and let out several coughs.

“General,” a guard beside him immediately brought a teacup.

Chu Li took it and drank a few sips, suppressing his cough, then reached out his hand again. “Where is the newly surveyed military map?”

The guard looked uneasy and nervous. “General, it’s time to rest. Deputy General Zhong instructed that you shouldn’t stay up late.”

Chu Li smiled and said, “Surely a little while longer won’t matter? How long could it take to look at a military map?”

While the guard was hesitating, hurried footsteps came from outside, accompanied by an announcement: “Deputy General Zhong has returned.”

The guard welcomed him with delight. Although Chu Li remained standing by the sand table without moving, his eyes revealed joy and anticipation.

Deputy General Zhong, his face weathered from travel, stood in the hall, removing his hat and scarf, revealing his cracked lips.

“General, rest assured. The young lady has been escorted by the Prince of Zhongshan’s heir to meet with Young Master Ke,” he said.

Chu Li handed him a cup of tea. Deputy General Zhong took it and drained it in one gulp, then his scarred face almost contorted.

“Brother!” he called out with his tongue hanging out. “Why make me take medicine?”

He wasn’t afraid of blade mountains or fire seas, just of taking medicine.

“It’s not medicine, it’s medicinal tea, a type of tea. You’ve been traveling hard and are exhausted with cold stagnation in your body. The medicinal tea will flush it out,” Chu Li smiled and called for the guard to bring more tea. “This second cup is just hot tea.”

Deputy General Zhong took the second cup, carefully sniffed it, and only after confirming there was no medicinal smell did he drink it all at once. With two cups of tea in his stomach, sweat broke out on his head, and he exhaled a breath of turbid air. Indeed, his entire body felt clear. He praised, “Brother, you’re truly skilled.”

Chu Li said, “Chronic illness makes one a doctor.”

Hearing these words, Deputy General Zhong’s face fell, looking even more distorted and ugly. “Brother—”

After calling out, he took a deep breath. What use was sadness? It only added to one’s troubles. Taking action now was more important. He told Chu Li about Chu Zhao’s situation.

“She must have heard about your illness, that’s why she was making a fuss about returning. I suspect someone was deliberately testing us.”

The gentleness disappeared from Chu Li’s face, and his eyes became sharp. “They’ve noticed so quickly?” Then his eyes softened again. “How is A-Zhao? Was she frightened?”

Deputy General Zhong thought for a moment. “A-Zhao cried when she saw me; she seemed frightened, but what she did was quite impressive. She deceived many people and didn’t seem afraid at all.”

Chu Ke’s letter had already described, with embellishments, what Chu Zhao had done. Chu Li knew about it and couldn’t help but smile upon hearing this.

“I never realized she was so skilled at deceiving people,” he said, then sighed lightly. “Before, when she was by my side, she was secure, happy, and carefree. She didn’t need to deceive anyone. Now, without me by her side, facing difficulties and dangers on her own, she has to resort to such schemes. This shows she is indeed afraid.”

Deputy General Zhong took out a letter from his bosom. “A letter from A-Zhao to you.”

Chu Li reached out to take it and opened it. The letter didn’t contain many words, just a few simple lines. Scanning it with one glance, the first few lines were all deep pleas to return. Chu Li’s eyes grew moist reading them, but when he reached the last line, his expression froze, and he slammed the letter down on the table.

The sudden sound startled Deputy General Zhong.

“What’s wrong?” he asked nervously.

Naturally, he hadn’t read the letter Chu Zhao wrote to her father. He thought it would be the girl crying about how much she missed her father, or describing how she was bullied in the capital to make her father feel sorry for her.

Why did Chu Li seem so angry?

“She asked about her mother,” Chu Li said.

Deputy General Zhong’s face also tensed, but then he frowned. “This is unavoidable. Not just people in the capital, but even family members speak unkindly. Brother, we’ve been guarding against this. That’s why we told A-Zhao from a young age that her mother was of humble origin, and your union didn’t follow proper ritual. Now that she’s in the capital and hearing those criticisms, she shouldn’t be too troubled by them, right?”

She would certainly be sad. After all, she was just a young girl, being pointed at and whispered about in such a splendid and wealthy place.

Chu Li’s expression grew complex. He was about to say something while pressing down on the letter when another guard hurried in from outside: “General, we’ve capt— um, there’s a person.”

Both Chu Li and Deputy General Zhong looked at the guard. What was it exactly? Captured or just a person?

“We caught a soldier who came from the commandery city, but we immediately identified that the identity token wasn’t his—” the guard said.

Before he could finish, Deputy General Zhong’s scarred face filled with coldness. “Then just cut him down directly. What does it matter which blind fool came looking for death?”

There had been more and more people spying recently, and they were getting bolder. What did they think Luo City was?

The guard looked at Deputy General Zhong. “He says he knows you, sir, and has come to find you.”

Deputy General Zhong’s scar twitched. “Many people know me. Just cut him—”

The guard finished his sentence: “He says his name is A-Jiu.”

“—Ah, A-Jiu?” Deputy General Zhong’s tongue slipped, and he almost bit it. His face also stiffened.

It was this kid! What was he doing here? Could it be—

His gaze unconsciously turned toward Chu Li.

Chu Li had been listening on the side. Seeing Deputy General Zhong’s reaction, he knew it was probably a misunderstanding—indeed someone Deputy General Zhong knew. But suddenly Deputy General Zhong’s gaze turned to him, and it was very strange.

“Since you know him, go meet him,” Chu Li said, thinking Deputy General Zhong was asking for his permission.

Deputy General Zhong waved for the guard to leave first, seeming like he wanted to say something but hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Chu Li smiled. “Don’t tell me it’s someone important to you?”

Deputy General Zhong said, “This A-Jiu knows the young lady.”

Chu Li was slightly taken aback, but his quick mind immediately realized: “He’s a postal soldier, right?” He smiled slightly. Having learned that Chu Zhao was his daughter, it wasn’t strange for the soldier to come asking for some reward. “Since he’s taken the initiative to visit, we don’t need to make a special trip to the commandery city to thank him.”

Deputy General Zhong considered his words carefully. “The young lady and this A-Jiu, um, have a very good relationship.”

Chu Li understood, and his smile became faint. “Is that so? How good exactly?”

How good? Deputy General Zhong couldn’t quite express it. What he had seen with his own eyes was that the young lady, who had been crying and demanding to return to the border, called for A-Jiu, and after speaking with him for a few words, became quiet and stopped making a fuss.

That was still fine, but what was most troubling was what he had heard.

Although the postal soldiers and the Prince of Zhongshan’s heir were very reserved, the heir’s guard, the one called Tie Ying, had very directly told him that at the riverside, Miss Chu had a quarrel with A-Jiu, and they both jumped into the river. After their young master rescued them, Miss Chu even blamed him for interfering.

“Interfering with what? You should ask Miss Chu,” Tie Ying had added with a sinister tone.

Deputy General Zhong was a man with a wife and children; how could he not understand the implication? He was so angry that he almost wanted to grab that A-Jiu on the spot, but reason told him to hold back.

However, on the way, this A-Jiu had not approached him. The postal soldier surnamed Zhang had subtly told him that A-Jiu and Miss Chu didn’t get along well. A-Jiu had disagreed with taking her, and the two often argued, though everyone meant well. If they had been negligent toward Miss Chu, it was truly because they didn’t know her identity and because of their duties as postal soldiers.

Thinking again about how Chu Zhao had deceived a group of people to get these postal soldiers to take her along, Deputy General Zhong calmed down. He felt that the young lady’s attitude toward A-Jiu was only meant to get the postal soldiers to take her to the border.

If that A-Jiu was a sensible person, he would understand the young lady’s intentions and wouldn’t get any wild ideas. The matter would be over.

Unexpectedly, this young man had come to see General Chu in the middle of the night. What did he want? Had he not figured it out?

Deputy General Zhong’s hands clenched with a cracking sound. Well, he would make him see sense.

Chu Li smiled and gestured for Deputy General Zhong to calm down.

“In that case, I’ll see him. Whatever needs to be said, we can clarify directly.”