But besides the Crown Prince, who else could he assist?

“Among His Majesty’s sons, Prince Liang is sinister and venomous, Prince Xin is violent and cruel. Only the Crown Prince, though lacking great talent, is still relatively gentle. But the Crown Prince is also very much like His Majesty… naturally suspicious! So… if one wishes to assist the Crown Prince, the first thing is to gain the Crown Prince’s trust! Like Old Fang… the Crown Prince trusts Old Fang, so he listens to everything! The Crown Prince doesn’t completely trust Mister Qin, so whatever strategies Mister Qin offers, the Crown Prince must deliberate over them all.”

Bai Qingyan’s words hit right at Qin Shangzhi’s heart. Bringing this up made Qin Shangzhi quite depressed.

“But the Crown Prince has been using me while guarding against me from the start. To gain the Crown Prince’s trust, one must… deepen the Crown Prince’s trust through repeated misunderstandings and repeated resolutions of those misunderstandings.” Seeing Qin Shangzhi frown, Bai Qingyan smiled. “Mister Qin is a gentleman, so naturally you disdain using such methods. But Bai Qingyan is a woman, and… the Bai family is now in precarious danger. Since I want to preserve the Bai family while also completing my grandfather’s unfulfilled wishes, I can only act this way. I hope you will forgive me.”

Qin Shangzhi naturally knew the Bai family’s situation. He inwardly admired that the Bai family could be preserved in its current state under Bai Qingyan’s leadership.

Qin Shangzhi fell silent for a moment.

Undeniably, if Bai Qingyan wanted to assist the Crown Prince, she needed the Crown Prince’s trust more than he did, because she was a member of the Bai family.

He suddenly recalled this woman’s words, once inviting him to join hands and shoulders to support the Great Jin. This woman’s heart and aspirations were as great as the late Duke Zhenguo’s.

Forget it… whether schemes or methods! She was doing it all to assist the future ruler of the Great Jin. As long as it didn’t harm Jin’s interests, what was wrong with it?

Qin Shangzhi also didn’t want to see Bai Qingyan, such a great talent, repeatedly constrained by Old Fang when offering counsel and strategies to His Highness.

If Great Jin’s future king could rely heavily on Bai Qingyan, what a magnificent and grand sight Great Jin would become.

Qin Shangzhi couldn’t help imagining a future day when Bai Qingyan would command Jin’s forces for the Jin emperor while he counseled on domestic affairs for the Jin emperor. He thought that at that time… The Great Jin would surely have the strength to annex the five countries and unify the realm.

When Bai Qingyan returned, Ji Langhua was rubbing her eyes, holding a medicine box, and standing at her door, waiting to treat her wounds. Seeing Bai Qingyan return, she quickly curtsied: “Xiao Bai Commander…”

“It’s so late, you can rest first. Changing the medicine tomorrow would be the same.”

Toward this woman whom Bai Qingming had once saved, Bai Qingyan’s treatment of her was always somewhat different.

“Today’s matters should be finished today! Only after I change your medicine can I sleep peacefully.” Ji Langhua was humble and respectful. She followed Bai Qingyan into the room, closed the door, cleaned her hands, and changed the medicine.

Just after helping Bai Qingyan bind the fine white cotton cloth, they heard a soft rumble from Bai Qingyan’s stomach.

Bai Qingyan had gone to find the Crown Prince as soon as she returned and hadn’t had time to eat.

Ji Langhua cleaned her hands, took her medicine box, and bid farewell. In less than two cups of tea’s time, Ji Langhua knocked on Bai Qingyan’s door again.

She carried a black lacquered tray with two bowls of noodles, standing outside the door and bowing to Bai Qingyan: “This commoner borrowed the relay station’s kitchen to make two bowls of plain soup noodles for Xiao Bai Commander and Fourth Miss.”

Ji Langhua knew that Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinzhi were going to pay respects to the Bai family army’s deputy commander today.

Since Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinzhi were both in mourning, Ji Langhua made two bowls of plain soup noodles.

The plain soup noodles had a poached egg, and Ji Langhua had cut pickled peppers and pickled vegetables into hair-thin shreds scattered on top of the soup noodles, sprinkled with some sesame oil. The sour and spicy aroma was quite appetizing.

“Thank you! Rest early!” Bai Qingyan had just taken the black lacquered tray when she saw Bai Jinzhi approaching with two packages of pastries.

The sisters finished a bowl of plain soup noodles each, warming from stomach to toes. Bai Jinzhi drank even the soup completely and praised it as delicious, then asked: “When do we depart?”

“We’ll leave before dawn.” Bai Qingyan touched the top of Bai Jinzhi’s head. Seeing that Bai Jinzhi had darkened and thinned considerably during this campaign, her heart inevitably ached.

“Tomorrow we’ll see Jiu Ge, elder sister. I’m happy!” Bai Jinzhi still held her noodle bowl in both hands, her eyes reddening but genuinely happy from the heart. “I hope Jiu Ge… is alright…”

Thinking of Bai Qingyun’s deformed and bloody legs, her eyes darkened as she said, “Sleep now!”

She hoped Physician Hong had a way to heal Xiao Jiu’s legs… Xiao Jiu was such a proud young man. If he lost his legs, she feared Xiao Jiu would never recover, which was why she wanted to risk seeing Xiao Jiu once before leaving.

The next day, before dawn, with stars still twinkling on the horizon and the bright moon not yet set.

Ji Langhua, who was carrying a small bundle on her arm and about to board the carriage, saw Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinzhi leap onto their horses. Looking at Bai Qingyan’s upright back suddenly reminded her of General Bai Qingming. Knowing they were going to Feng County to pay respects to Bai Qingming, her eyes reddened as she bowed and boarded the carriage.

Qin Shangzhi stood at the window, seeing that Bai Qingyan and Bai Jinzhi had already departed. He turned around to look at the Crown Prince, who was having breakfast: “Your Highness… Miss Bai and Fourth Miss Bai have already departed.”

The Crown Prince wiped his mouth with a napkin, his eyes cold: “Have Zhang Duirui personally lead people to follow them, and bring more people! If she’s only going to pay respects to family members, have her come see me when she returns! If she’s not going to Feng County… or doing things other than paying respects, or worse… meeting with someone, arrest her directly and say it’s on my orders. If she resists… kill! Mister Qin is meticulous – this matter was done very well. In the future, I’ll trouble Mister Qin to be more attentive to all matters!”

Qin Shangzhi’s brow twitched, recalling that at the end of last night’s conversation as he was leaving, Bai Qingyan had said… If he didn’t seek her out, she would seek him out before departing for Feng County!

Now he could only hope that Bai Qingyan was prepared and had arranged everything well.

Though Bai Qingyan hadn’t said it explicitly, by having him not conceal anything and tell the Crown Prince last night, she must have been clear that the Crown Prince would take action. Today when she left the main army to go to Feng County to pay respects to Bai Qingming, it was reasonable that the Crown Prince would have people follow her.

After worrying, Qin Shangzhi bit his teeth, not knowing what was wrong with him… he was the Crown Prince’s strategist, so why was he worrying for Bai Qingyan?

What the Crown Prince hated most in his life was being played for a fool. If those death warriors were all Bai Qingyan’s household servants, if Western Liang’s Flame King Li Zhijie was injured by Bai Qingyan’s people…

The Crown Prince’s temples throbbed constantly. But what was Bai Qingyan after?

He was too embarrassed to call Old Fang over for consultation. He had sworn confidently to Old Fang that he had already won over Bai Qingyan…

Old Fang was also confused, actually thinking that Bai Qingyan had completely submitted to his princely authority!

“If these death warriors were all Bai Qingyan’s, what do you think she was trying to achieve with such a performance? If she wanted to use war to strengthen the Bai family army, then why hand over the military tally…”

The Crown Prince’s words suddenly stopped, and he raised his eyes with a cold gaze.