The fine horse beneath Shen Qingzhu snorted out heavy breaths from its nostrils, then turned its head to sniff at her hand with its nose, displaying remarkable intelligence.

Shen Qingzhu smiled and looked up at Bai Jinse: “So I took a gamble, guessing that either Seventh Miss or Fifth Young Master must be among that group of refugees, and pursued them all the way…”

However, because some of these Western Liang refugees wanted to avoid the armies, some were bold enough to take the main roads, while others chose the most difficult mountain paths, and they had chosen different directions – some went west from Western Liang after leaving Yunjing, some went south, and some continued north – Shen Qingzhu had truly expended considerable effort in searching for Bai Jinse.

Bai Jinse nodded: “Thank you for your hard work, Sister Qingzhu!”

Shen Qingzhu glanced at the little boy behind Bai Jinse, who was tightly gripping her clothing and watching her with complete wariness, then said to Bai Jinse: “Why doesn’t Seventh Miss ride with me on one horse? You can rest a bit, and let the Yan Kingdom soldiers take the boy – how about that?”

“No!” The boy gripped Bai Jinse’s clothing tightly, his voice sharp, showing unprecedented resistance to Yan Kingdom.

“Sister Qingzhu, it’s fine, I’ll take him with me!” Bai Jinse looked back at the boy who had lowered his head, sensing that his entire body was trembling, not knowing what he was afraid of, but she said nothing about it.

After riding north for less than half a day, Bai Jinse saw Bai Qingjue approaching with the Bai Family Army to search for her.

The moment she saw Bai Qingjue and the Bai Family Army brothers, Bai Jinse could no longer hold back her tears. During these days of living on the edge between life and death, suffering from hunger and cold, she had endured it all, but seeing her Seventh Brother at this moment, grief suddenly overwhelmed her heart for reasons unknown, and tears poured out uncontrollably.

“Seventh Brother…” Bai Jinse’s throat moved with emotion.

Seeing his seventh sister, Bai Jinse, safe and sound, the taut string in Bai Qingjue’s heart finally loosened somewhat. The practice of Western Liang people exchanging children for food was no longer anything new, and before seeing Bai Jinse, Bai Qingjue had feared that she might meet with misfortune; his heart was filled with anxiety.

Finally, Little Seven was safe…

Bai Qingjue spurred his horse forward and carefully examined Bai Jinse, suppressing the urge to pull his little sister close for a thorough inspection, asking in a low voice: “Were you injured anywhere?”

Bai Jinse wiped her tears with her sleeve, shook her head, and showed a smile: “I’m fine, Seventh Brother! Just some minor scrapes – I’ll ask Physician Hong for some medicine to apply when we return! Seventh Brother needn’t worry!”

Seeing Bai Jinse smile, Bai Qingjue turned to his deputy general beside him: “Send someone to notify Jinhua that there’s no need to continue searching – Little Seven has been found!”

“Yes!” The deputy general clasped his hands in acknowledgment.

“Let’s return!” Bai Qingjue raised his hand to pat Bai Jinse’s head, “We’ll talk more when we get back. Third Brother and Second Sister are all waiting for you!”

Bai Jinse nodded: “Yes!”

On the very evening that Great Yan’s Ninth Prince and Second Prince Murong Ping departed to return to Yan Kingdom, Bai Qingjue, Shen Qingzhu, and the Yan army brought Bai Jinse to Yunjing.

Bai Jinhua was still on his way back from searching in the western direction.

When Bai Jinse entered through Yunjing’s north gate, it happened that the north gate was guarded by the Bai Family Army. Seeing Bai Jinse, they shouted: “Seventh Miss has returned! Seventh Young Master has brought Seventh Miss back! And Miss Shen, too, quickly go tell Third Young Master and Second Miss!”

After thanking the Yan army, Bai Qingjue brought Bai Jinse into Yunjing’s imperial palace.

The news of Bai Jinse’s return caught Bai Qingqi and Bai Jinxiu completely off guard, filling them with both surprise and joy.

The two had just come out to welcome her when they saw Bai Jinse wrapped tightly in a cloak, her face covered in grime. Bai Jinzhao came running happily to report the news, saying that Bai Qingyu had awakened: “Fifth Brother has truly awakened this time! Fourth Sister and Physician Hong are watching over him there, and they told me to hurry over and report the news!”

“Fifth Brother is awake? What happened to Fifth Brother?” Bai Jinse had fainted after falling from her horse and did not know about Bai Qingyu’s injury.

Bai Qingqi, who rarely showed his emotions, displayed a rare smile and said to Bai Jinse: “Little Seven is truly our family’s lucky star – as soon as you returned, your Fifth Brother woke up!”

“I’ll take Little Seven to wash up and change clothes first!” Bai Jinxiu embraced Bai Jinse, continuously stroking her arm gently, her eyes reddening as she smiled, “Let Little Seven get clean before going to see A’Yu!”

“Good…” Bai Qingqi nodded, unable to resist raising his hand to pat Bai Jinse’s head. He had not expected that bringing Little Seven to the battlefield for the first time would cause her such suffering, and he still did not know what she had experienced among those refugees. This was his failure as her Third Brother: “If you’re too tired, there’s no need to rush to see your Fifth Brother. Rest well! Your Fifth Brother will surely feel comforted knowing you’re safe!”

After speaking, Bai Qingqi’s gaze fell on the little boy who was following closely behind Bai Jinse, then looked at Bai Qingjue, who shook his head, indicating he did not yet know the boy’s identity.

Seeing her brothers looking behind her, Bai Jinse pulled the boy from behind her to her side, saying: “Third Brother, this boy was captured together with me by the refugees as reserve food. Along the way, we two escaped together, and if he hadn’t shared half his food with me, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have had the strength to escape, nor could I have persisted until returning.”

Bai Qingqi looked at the boy before him with bright black eyes, gazing around with complete wariness, and nodded: “Take this child to get some food and change clothes!”

“Good…” Bai Qingjue nodded.

When the news of Yunjing’s capture was sent back to the capital city, Bai Qingyan’s “carriage” heading to Western Liang had also stopped at Weng Mountain.

Later, when news came that Yan Kingdom’s Ninth Prince had brought Yan Kingdom’s Second Prince Murong Ping and the trusted followers of Western Liang’s old General Cui Shanzhong back to the Yan capital, Bai Qingyan’s “carriage” set out to return to the capital city.

At this time, the Great Zhou court already knew that Yan Kingdom’s Ninth Prince had made a guarantee that he would investigate the matter of Yan Kingdom’s betrayal of Great Zhou’s army and give Great Zhou an explanation, so their Majesty Bai Qingyan had decided to return to the capital city to await Yan Kingdom’s response.

However, Bai Qingyan had not withdrawn the Great Zhou forces stationed at Yan Kingdom’s borders, nor had she ordered the Great Zhou army, Bai Family Army, and Zhao Family Army that had destroyed Western Liang to return. The atmosphere of potential war between the two kingdoms was so thick that even the common people in the capital city could smell it.

Many common people had not forgotten that after Bai Qingyan’s enthronement, when she went to the Imperial Academy to debate with the academy students, she had said that the Great Zhou’s future goal and great ambition was to unify all under heaven. Therefore, the people were quite excited and were discussing this matter everywhere.

Most of the common people said that their Emperor’s decision to attack the Yan Kingdom at this time was correct. Yan Kingdom was an extremely resilient and admirable country – otherwise, it could not have leaped from being a small nation that once had to depend on Jin Kingdom for survival to becoming a country that now coexisted with Great Zhou in the world.