Hearing Bai Qingyan say this, Quan Yu hurriedly claimed he didn’t dare accept such kindness.

Bai Qingyan smiled faintly at Quan Yu: “Eunuch Quan Yu, let us part here…”

Quan Yu hurriedly bowed: “Princess Zhenguo must take great care of herself!”

Bai Qingyan nodded, let the curtain fall, and leaned back into the carriage.

Quan Yu heard the sound of Bai Qingyan coughing from inside the carriage, his heart aching. He stepped aside and watched Bai Qingyan’s convoy depart, the corners of his mouth also showing a smile. That Princess Zhenguo could so solemnly thank him made Quan Yu extremely happy in his heart.

Coming back to his senses, he realized Princess Zhenguo had indeed not taken the Crown Prince’s guards with her. Quan Yu planned to speak well of Princess Zhenguo’s loyalty to the Crown Prince when he returned. Princess Zhenguo considered His Highness the Crown Prince in everything, yet Old Fang constantly found fault with Princess Zhenguo and constantly tried to sow discord between Princess Zhenguo and the Crown Prince.

Quan Yu clenched his fists, standing in place watching Bai Qingyan until he could no longer see the convoy, then boarded his carriage.

As soon as Quan Yu returned to the Crown Prince mansion, he went to express Bai Qingyan’s loyalty to the Crown Prince, saying that Bai Qingyan had stated His Highness the Crown Prince’s safety was more important, and she hadn’t taken a single personal guard, asking him to bring them all back to protect His Highness the Crown Prince’s safety.

After hearing this, the Crown Prince nodded repeatedly: “Princess Zhenguo truly considers everything for this prince! This time, Princess Zhenguo was severely injured to save this prince. Quan Yu… you go open the storehouse, select some rare treasures, and also tributed tonics and delicacies – bear paws, swallow fins, ape lips – pick the valuable ones and send people to deliver them to Princess Zhenguo in Shouyang. Let the Shouyang clan know that Princess Zhenguo has this prince’s backing, so they must treat Princess Zhenguo with utmost respect!”

“Yes!” Quan Yu knew this was the Crown Prince giving face to Bai Qingyan, and he responded with a beaming smile, “Your Highness, rest assured. This servant will handle it properly!”

On October 27th, Princess Zhenguo’s convoy returning to Shouyang reached Kongtong Mountain. When they stopped at the courier station to rest and dine, Shen Qingzhu arrived.

Shen Qingzhu not only returned herself, but also brought news from Ji Tingyu.

Travel-worn Shen Qingzhu saw the raised banners of Princess Zhenguo’s mansion and the Bai family from afar, spurring her horse toward the courier station. Before her horse had fully stopped, she leaped down. Seeing Lu Ping arranging the Bai family guards at the entrance, she called out: “Uncle Ping!”

“Miss Shen!” Lu Ping’s lips curved in a smile. “This time, Eldest Miss also brought Yinshuang back. You haven’t seen Yinshuang for a long time, have you!”

Shen Qingzhu tossed the reins to a Bai family guard. Thinking of Yinshuang, her eyes showed joy, and she nodded: “I’ll go see her later. Where is Eldest Miss?”

“Dining upstairs…”

“I’ll go see Eldest Miss first!” Shen Qingzhu cupped her hands to Lu Ping and ran upstairs.

As soon as Shen Qingzhu went upstairs, she saw Chun Tao coming out of a room carrying a medicine bowl. She called out, and Chun Tao happily bowed: “Miss Shen!”

Shen Qingzhu frowned, looking at the medicine bowl on the black lacquered square tray in Chun Tao’s hands: “This is…”

Chun Tao’s eyes reddened, and she lowered her voice: “Eldest Miss was injured.”

Before Chun Tao finished speaking, Bai Jinzhi pulled open the door: “Sister Qingzhu!”

“Fourth Miss!” Shen Qingzhu cupped her hands in salute. Before she could ask in detail how Eldest Miss was injured, she heard Bai Qingyan’s voice from inside.

“Let Qingzhu come in! Chun Tao, add another set of bowls and chopsticks!”

Shen Qingzhu entered together with Bai Jinzhi, seeing that Bai Qingyan had just put down her teacup and dabbed the corners of her lips with a handkerchief. Her already fair complexion appeared even more haggard, and she had lost a full circle of weight, making her features appear even more distinct.

Seeing the usually taciturn Shen Qingzhu frowning, Bai Qingyan gestured for Shen Qingzhu to sit: “You haven’t eaten yet, have you! Eat something together. After a brief rest, we need to set out.”

Shen Qingzhu nodded and sat down at the round table with Bai Jinzhi, her gaze inevitably falling on Bai Qingyan again.

“This time it’s nothing. I deliberately arranged to be injured to reduce the Emperor and Crown Prince’s suspicions, so I could safely return to Shouyang!” Bai Qingyan looked at Shen Qingzhu, who had gotten a bit darker, and smiled: “It’s rare to see you somewhat tanned.”

Seeing that Bai Qingyan’s mental state was good, Shen Qingzhu didn’t pursue the matter further. She said to Bai Qingyan, “Now the recruits training at Niujiao Mountain have gradually become more organized. Following the method Eldest Miss once used to train the guard corps, we take the soldiers’ strengths to compensate for weaknesses and form small unit operations! Ji Tingyu led people to intercept recruits, which was also effective. To avoid drawing too much attention, he only brought back one group. Currently, the number of hidden troops at Niujiao Mountain is still expanding. But this subordinate’s opinion is… the soldiers brought into Niujiao Mountain later can just be trained ordinarily. Not everyone needs such training – it’s too time-consuming and labor-intensive!”

Bai Qingyan asked: “What does Ji Tingyu say?”

Since the troops were entrusted to Ji Tingyu, Bai Qingyan naturally prioritized Ji Tingyu’s thoughts.

“Ji Tingyu has the same opinion, but ultimately still needs to request instructions from Eldest Miss.” Shen Qingzhu said.

Chun Tao added a set of bowls and chopsticks for Shen Qingzhu, then went out to guard the door, not letting others approach.

Bai Qingyan just nodded, saying: “The troops entrusted to him – let him make the decisions!”

“Do you know where Ji Tingyu is now?” Bai Qingyan picked up her chopsticks and placed a slice of honey-steamed cloud ham on Shen Qingzhu’s plate.

“When Ji Tingyu left, he took a cage of pigeons raised at Niujiao Mountain and sent messages back. I sent people back to find Steward Liu… Steward Liu has already quickly arranged for people to transport grain in these three directions.” Shen Qingzhu took out the bamboo tubes that Ji Tingyu had sent back via messenger pigeons from her chest and handed them to Bai Qingyan. “Here they are!”

Bai Qingyan looked at these crudely made but extremely small bamboo tubes, opened them, and poured out the tiny messages inside. There were only two characters: Mao Mountain.

Another tube had a completely different coloration from the previous message tube, with “Longping Mountain” written inside.

The last tube contained “Huwei Ridge.”

These three places were where Ji Tingyu was hiding troops. They weren’t too close to each other, but weren’t too far either – Ji Tingyu could still manage them all.

“Ji Tingyu also specially sent someone back with a verbal message, saying that food would be tight in the first year and needs Eldest Miss to find ways to send supplies. But… as long as they get through next year, he can be self-sufficient!”

Bai Jinzhi picked up some food with her chopsticks, her brow furrowing: “Aren’t there messenger pigeons! Why especially send someone back with verbal messages? How troublesome!”

Bai Qingyan looked at Bai Jinzhi, blinking her clear eyes, and pursed her lips in a smile.

Shen Qingzhu smiled at Bai Jinzhi: “Fourth Miss may not know – although we can rely on pigeons’ homing instincts to carry simple messages, pigeons are ultimately animals. Animals naturally avoid harm by instinct and may not deliver messages faster than humans. Besides this, pigeons are easily captured by hawks, messages can be easily lost or intercepted, or even switched by others! When Eldest Miss was young, she also wanted to train messenger pigeons to carry military reports. After repeated testing, they proved unreliable, so she abandoned their use.”

Bai Jinzhi thought about it and felt Shen Qingzhu was right. She looked at her eldest sister: “No wonder I remember as a child, eldest sister raised pigeons for a while, then stopped raising them later.”