Though speaking of matters of life and death, Xiao Jinglin’s tone remained calm: “My first warhorse was one I raised from when it was young. It was named Snow Eagle, and it too was eaten. Even warhorses that are considered comrades face such a fate, let alone camels. A single camel can keep a well-equipped team of twenty-odd men in fighting condition for four to five days. Four to five days is enough to hold out until reinforcements arrive.”

Listening to Xiao Jinglin’s words, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but become curious about her experiences over these years. Xiao Jinglin was only two or three years older than her current age, yet when she spoke of these matters, she appeared composed and weathered, which seemed quite incongruous with her youthful, beautiful face.

Xiao Jinglin noticed that Ren Yaoqi was studying her intently, and her words paused involuntarily: “My apologies, you might not enjoy hearing me speak of such things.”

Ren Yaoqi smiled and said, “How could that be? No one has ever told me about battlefield matters before. I find it quite fascinating.”

However, Xiao Jinglin shook her head seriously: “Since ancient times, few return from the battlefield. The affairs of war have always been nothing but cruel.”

Seeing that Xiao Jinglin’s exquisite smiling face had taken on a somewhat heavy expression, Ren Yaoqi smiled and changed the subject: “Has the Princess learned martial arts? Last time at White Dragon Temple, you threw the blessing coins quite accurately. When I was young, every time I went to temples to burn incense, Mother would also have me throw a few coins, but I never hit the target.”

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jinglin nodded: “Yes, I began learning horsemanship, archery, and close combat skills from Uncle Weichi when I was three years old.”

“Three years old?” Ren Yaoqi was slightly startled. That was barely the age when one learns to run and jump, wasn’t it?

“It must have been hard?”

“Hard?” There was some surprise in Xiao Jinglin’s eyes, as if she had never considered this question before. She unconsciously extended her right hand and looked down at her palm.

Ren Yaoqi also looked down at her palm, only to discover that her right hand, which should have been slender and soft, had joints that were more pronounced than those of ordinary women, with thick calluses on her palm and between her fingers. Xiao Jinglin’s hands were much rougher than those of a typical woman.

Xiao Jinglin slowly clenched her palm, then raised her head again. Her gaze was calm, yet she shook her head: “Not hard.”

Ren Yaoqi suddenly didn’t know how to respond to this statement.

The carriage fell silent again for a moment, until Xiao Jinglin took the initiative to speak: “What about you? How did you spend your childhood?”

Ren Yaoqi was silent for a while before saying, “Every day I would practice calligraphy, paint, and read books.”

Her silence wasn’t because the question was difficult to answer, but because she could barely remember her childhood. However, it probably didn’t amount to much more than these activities.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jinglin appeared thoughtful: “How similar to Xiao Jingxi? No wonder you two get along well.”

Ren Yaoqi: “Hmm, there was also needlework and quarreling with my sister.” Ren Yaoqi added with a smile.

Xiao Jinglin was taken aback and frowned in thought: “He certainly wouldn’t do needlework, and as for quarreling…” Xiao Jinglin shook her head.

“You don’t get along with your sister?” Xiao Jinglin asked.

This question made Ren Yaoqi think for a moment: “It might be that I was jealous of how much more favored she was by Mother than I was.”

Xiao Jinglin nodded matter-of-factly: “I see. Xiao Jingxi is more beloved by our elders than I am, but I wouldn’t beat him up for that reason.”

Ren Yaoqi: “…”

At this moment, Dongsheng, who was driving the carriage outside, called out, and the carriage came to a steady stop. Xiao Jinglin lifted the carriage curtain to look outside, and Ren Yaoqi’s gaze also turned toward the outside of the carriage.

They were still outside the city. The carriage was traveling on a mountain road with gently rolling hills on both sides. However, this seemed to be a place where there was no village ahead and no inn behind.

Ren Yaoqi was thinking that she seemed to have never asked where they were going, and was about to speak up when Xiao Jinglin said calmly: “The carriage behind us didn’t follow?”

Dongsheng’s voice came through the curtain: “Reporting to the Princess, we’ve shaken them off.”

Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but be startled: “Someone was following us?”

Xiao Jinglin didn’t speak. Ren Yaoqi suddenly seemed to think of something: “Was it people from the Ren family?”

When they had left earlier, they encountered Old Master Ren, who should have deliberately hurried back upon hearing that the Princess had come. Although Xiao Jinglin had declined his suggestion to have Ren family members serve as guides, had Old Master Ren still sent people to follow them?

Xiao Jinglin nodded: “Yes, they’ve been following us since we left the mansion, but they weren’t following secretly. They probably don’t feel at ease about your safety, so they had people follow at a distance.”

Ren Yaoqi was inwardly dismissive. Everyone in the Ren family was undoubtedly thinking about how to continue clinging to Xiao Jinglin to curry favor with the Prince of Yanbei’s mansion. Where would they find the time to worry about her safety? However, she naturally wouldn’t voice such thoughts to Xiao Jinglin.

Instead, Xiao Jinglin explained with slight apology: “I don’t like being followed, so I instructed the servant early on that if anyone followed us, he should find a way to shake them off.”

Ren Yaoqi nodded and smiled: “I forgot to ask – where are we going?”

Xiao Jinglin looked even more puzzled than Ren Yaoqi: “Didn’t I say? We’re going to stroll around the streets.”

At this moment, the carriage began moving again, and Ren Yaoqi noticed that the carriage was starting to turn around.

So they had traveled this far outside the city just to shake off the blatant surveillance by people sent by the Ren family? Wouldn’t it have been faster to have someone go down and tell those people not to follow? Ren Yaoqi felt she still couldn’t quite keep up with Xiao Jinglin’s way of thinking.

So the carriage began returning to the city. Ren Yaoqi made sure to observe the scenery outside the carriage and discovered that this wasn’t the same route they had taken when leaving the city. Dongsheng was also very familiar with the terrain around White Crane Town.

By now, it was nearly noon, and quite a few merchants traveling the official road and passing through White Crane Town began flooding into the town. Although White Crane Town was called a town, it was considerably larger than ordinary small towns, and the main thoroughfare within the town was lined with shops and quite prosperous. Of course, the most numerous establishments were still various taverns and inns.

Xiao Jinglin’s carriage was passing by the “Phoenix Immortal Tower” that Old Master Ren had mentioned earlier. Xiao Jinglin glanced at it once before withdrawing her gaze, clearly uninterested in the place.

“It’s getting late. Let’s find somewhere to eat,” Xiao Jinglin said to Ren Yaoqi.

Ren Yaoqi nodded. In her previous life, after leaving the Ren family, she had also had contact with common folk, but during her time with the Ren family, aside from eating vegetarian meals at temples when going to burn incense, she had never dined outside.

White Crane Town had many taverns and restaurants, but they generally catered to traveling merchants, and very few were of high quality. “Phoenix Immortal Tower” was considered one of the better establishments in White Crane Town.

The carriage slowly entered an alley, leaving the town’s main street. Ren Yaoqi found the surrounding scenery familiar, as she had been here several times before. This was a small lane near the Guan Gong Temple.

Xiao Jinglin said to Ren Yaoqi, “The road ahead is narrow. Bring one or two maids with you, and have the rest wait in that teahouse with the others.”

The teahouse Xiao Jinglin mentioned was on the right side of the carriage and looked quite respectable.

Ren Yaoqi didn’t object. She had Dongsheng go to the back to call Pingguo over, and had the other servants wait in the teahouse with Sangshen.

Soon, Pingguo was brought to the carriage, and the carriage continued forward.

After traveling for not too long, the carriage finally stopped. Xiao Jinglin was the first to get out.

Pingguo got out of the carriage before Ren Yaoqi and turned to help her down. Ren Yaoqi discovered they had entered a rather narrow alley. The alley was very deep, but could barely accommodate one carriage. It was only thanks to Dongsheng’s superior skills that they had been able to enter smoothly and steadily.

As soon as Ren Yaoqi got out of the carriage, she smelled a rich aroma of braised meat.

It turned out that directly in front of the carriage was a shop selling braised donkey meat. This shop didn’t look large, and didn’t even have a proper signboard. Instead, a piece of cloth was supported by a bamboo pole, on which was written in neat, unremarkable characters: “Braised Donkey Meat.”

After getting out of the carriage, Xiao Jinglin walked straight into the shop. Only after entering did she remember that Ren Yaoqi was still behind, so she turned back out and beckoned to Ren Yaoqi: “Come in, this is the place.”

Since it wasn’t yet mealtime and this shop was rather inconspicuous, there weren’t many people around. Seeing Ren Yaoqi approaching, Xiao Jinglin turned back to continue on her way, just walking more slowly.

After entering, Ren Yaoqi discovered that although this small shop wasn’t large, it was very neat and clean inside. The front area had only four wooden tables, and the tables were decorated with clay pots containing wild flowers and grasses she couldn’t name, which added some charm to the place.

The curtain to the inner room was lifted, and a woman in her forties came out. Seeing Xiao Jinglin and Ren Yaoqi enter, she hurried forward with a smile to greet them.

Xiao Jinglin said to her, “Set up the table in the back courtyard.”

The woman quickly agreed and called out to the inner room.

A woman in her twenties with her hair done up in a married woman’s style came out with a boy of seven or eight years old.

The woman instructed the younger woman to go set up a table in the back courtyard.

The boy’s eyes lit up when he saw Xiao Jinglin, and he immediately ran over: “General, you’ve come! This morning, when my sister-in-law and I went to pick flowers, we also found fresh mushrooms. Later, my mother will make you mushroom soup.”

Ren Yaoqi looked at Xiao Jinglin in surprise. She knew these people?

The woman walked over and gently patted his head, softly scolding: “Why don’t you hurry and help your sister-in-law set the table? Don’t frighten the guests.”

Only then did the boy notice Ren Yaoqi behind Xiao Jinglin. He wasn’t shy with strangers and even grinned at Ren Yaoqi.

Xiao Jinglin said to him, “Didn’t I tell you? I’m not a general.”

But the boy stubbornly replied: “You will be! When you become a great general, I’ll follow you to battle just like my father did!”

The woman’s face darkened, and she grabbed the boy’s ear and pulled him aside: “Mo Xiaoliang, have you finished practicing your characters today? Don’t tell me you want to be like your father and not know how to read a single word?”

Mo Xiaoliang grimaced, wanting to cry out in pain, but seeing Xiao Jinglin nearby, he held it in and only muttered quietly: “What’s the use of knowing how to read? Didn’t we ask the fortune teller at the alley entrance to write our shop sign? Why do I need to learn to read? Our shop doesn’t need eight or ten signs.”