Chun Tao carried the chicken soup that had been simmering on the stove, lifted the hanging curtains and entered to stand beside the bed, her eyes red as she said in a low voice: “First Miss, please drink some hot chicken soup and rest soon!”

Bai Qingyan’s fall and sudden premature birth had truly frightened many people half to death.

The entire Imperial Medical Academy and the midwives had all been on edge during the delivery, and now that Bai Qingyan had given birth, both Dong Shi and the Imperial Medical Academy breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Qingsheng had already returned to the Bai residence to announce the good news, so that Butler Hao and Lu Ping would all know that First Miss had given birth.

After Dong Shi fed Bai Qingyan half a bowl of chicken soup, the Bai family soldiers who had returned to deliver military reports were brought in and were now waiting outside the great hall.

Bai Qingyan gently blocked Dong Shi’s hand that was feeding her chicken soup, saying in a low voice: “Mother accompanied me all night, please go back and rest first, and help me take care of the two children.”

Hearing Bai Qingyan’s words, Dong Shi knew what Bai Qingyan intended to do. She looked up at her with a solemn expression: “A’Bao… you just gave birth and are still in confinement!”

“I cannot trust anyone else with my younger brother and sister’s lives! Mother… It’s my fault! I shouldn’t have come back. Heaven gave me a revelation, but I thought it was just a dream!” Bai Qingyan’s voice choked with emotion, unable to continue. She raised her hand to wipe away tears: “Mother, I must go save them!”

“A’Yu is my flesh and blood, and Xiao Qi I raised with my own hands – do you think I’m not more worried than you?!” Dong Shi’s voice couldn’t help but rise, “But you… You are also Mother’s precious heart! You just gave birth – how can you endure the jolting of travel?! If… if something happens to A’Yu! Mother would only have you leave! If something happens to you, too, how can Mother continue living?!”

Hearing these words, Bai Qingyan felt sourness attack her eyes, tears swirling in her eye sockets. Dong Shi’s voice immediately softened, quickly pulling out a handkerchief to wipe Bai Qingyan’s tears: “Alright, alright! You cannot cry right after giving birth! It’s bad for your eyes! Be good!”

“Mother, I know you feel sorry for me, and the two children were just born – I know all this, but I must go find A’Yu and Xiao Qi. I am their elder sister…” Bai Qingyan bit her teeth tightly, “Xiliang has very likely already captured A’Yu and Xiao Qi. Only if news spreads that I, the Great Zhou Emperor, disregard having just given birth and immediately rush to the battlefield, will Xiliang understand how much I value A’Yu and Xiao Qi, that they have utility value… then Xiliang certainly won’t take A’Yu and Xiao Qi’s lives!”

Much less let A’Yu and Xiao Qi commit suicide!

A’Yu and Xiao Qi were both children of the Bai family. The children of the Bai family… would never allow themselves to become a burden to the Bai family army in the war situation. This was what Bai Qingyan feared most!

Hearing these words, Dong Shi quickly turned her head away, not wanting her daughter to see her tears. She swallowed her tears, turned back to look at Bai Qingyan with moist eyes, and once again scooped a spoonful of chicken soup to Bai Qingyan’s lips: “Mother knows that you are the most stubborn child. Mother cannot stop you! Finish the chicken soup, come… It’s not hot anymore, Mother will feed you!”

Right now, not only Bai Qingyan, but Dong Shi herself wished she could go to the battlefield to find her son!

Her son, whom she had just regained after losing him – if she lost him again… this would be more cruel than taking her life, worse than never letting her know her son was still alive in the first place.

Looking at her daughter’s appearance as she lowered her head to drink chicken soup, Dong Shi couldn’t suppress herself, her nostrils flaring as tears streamed down.

“Your Majesty, the person has been brought.” Wei Zhong spoke to Bai Qingyan through the nanmu wood eight-treasure jade-inlaid screen.

“This humble general pays respects to the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty!” The Bai family soldier’s voice was very hoarse. He hadn’t changed clothes or had time to wash, his entire body dusty from travel.

He had already heard about the military report delivery that caused Bai Qingyan to fall from the carriage and give birth prematurely.

Now with Fifth Young Master and Seventh Miss’s lives hanging in the balance, if anything happened to Young Marshal Bai here, he truly would be unable to atone even with ten thousand deaths.

Dong Shi placed the chicken soup to one side, dabbed her tears with a handkerchief, and sat dignifiedly beside the bed, gazing through the hazy silk gauze curtains at that Bai family soldier.

Bai Qingyan leaned against the hidden pillow, turning to look at the Bai family soldier kneeling and kowtowing outside the gold-embroidered silk gauze curtains, asking: “Third Young Master said in the military report that Fifth Young Master and Seventh Miss hadn’t yet reached Yan Kingdom’s ambush location when they were ambushed by General Cui Shanzhong. Do you know the specific circumstances?”

Mentioning this, the Bai family soldier was filled with grief and indignation. He raised his head to look toward Bai Qingyan inside the curtains, his voice choked with emotion, full of fury with nowhere to vent: “The location where Yan army set their ambush was still some distance from where Yan Kingdom was supposed to ambush the enemy, but didn’t Yan Kingdom have scouts to go look? Young Marshal… it must be that Yan Kingdom betrayed us, otherwise how could Cui Shanzhong so coincidentally ambush at that location!”

By the end, this Bai family soldier’s voice was nearly choked with sobs: “By the time Fifth Young Master’s messenger returned with news and our Great Zhou reinforcements arrived, Yan Kingdom’s army was already there! Fifth Young Master and Seventh Miss were both missing, and not a single Bai family soldier brother survived! If it was truly just fighting with Xiliang, how could there not be even one survivor?”

At this point, the Bai family soldier couldn’t help but cry out loud.

These details were things Bai Qingqi hadn’t told Bai Qingyan in his letter.

Bai Qingyan’s hand gripped tightly onto the bedding beneath her, biting her teeth tightly, breathing rapidly. Thinking of Xiao Rongyan, she slightly calmed her fury.

Even though Xiao Rongyan had once used A’Yu’s identity, he had also told her it was while ensuring A’Yu wouldn’t truly be harmed!

This time leading troops was not only A’Yu, but also her sister Xiao Qi, Bai Jinse. Xiao Rongyan knew what A’Yu and Xiao Qi… and all her younger brothers and sisters meant to her, so he absolutely wouldn’t truly betray Great Zhou to Xiliang.

She asked in a hoarse voice: “The Yan Kingdom troops that led the ambush… was it Yan Kingdom’s Ninth Prince?!”

“Exactly!” That Bai family soldier gritted his teeth, “Although Third Young Master doesn’t allow us to speculate wildly, afraid of damaging the alliance between our two countries, but Young Marshal… once Xiliang is destroyed and Yunjing is stabilized, our Great Zhou and their Yan Kingdom will both aim for unification of all under heaven, standing in opposition. Our Great Zhou has been open and honest, treating them as allied friends, giving Yan Kingdom priority in dividing war spoils, but there’s no guarantee Yan Kingdom won’t plan. I suspect it’s Yan Kingdom who captured the Fifth Young Master and the Seventh Miss as leverage! Young Marshal, our Great Zhou must plan early!”

These were all speculations by the Bai family army generals, but Third Young Master Bai Qingqi felt that perhaps Xiliang wanted them in Great Zhou to suspect their allies this way.

Bai Qingqi and Bai Qingyan were alike – they were both willing to believe that Great Yan’s Ninth Prince, who could abandon the opportunity to be first to storm Yunjing to save Bai Qingyan, would not betray allies.

But even if Great Yan’s Ninth Prince wouldn’t betray them, that didn’t mean others wouldn’t…

She needed to go ask Xiao Rongyan – besides him and her younger siblings, who else knew about this ambush plan?