Since Lu Zhuo had arranged for Wei Rao to assume the identity of his cousin, it was only natural that he would have a tent set up for Wei Rao beside his command tent.

Wei Rao had brought several sets of men’s clothing, but they were useless because staying in the military camp meant she had to wear armor like the other soldiers.

After Lu Zhuo finished his official duties, he brought back two sets of armor for Wei Rao. Since Wei Rao had been practicing martial arts from a young age, she had a tall and slender build. While the soldiers in the military camp were all robust, not every one of them was tall and imposing. Some matched Wei Rao’s height, and some were even shorter than her. Wei Rao’s only problem was that her skin was too fair and her features too striking – in other aspects, she could easily pass as a recruit.

Fortunately, her identity was that of Lu Zhuo’s cousin, a pampered young master from a noble family in the capital, so having fair skin was perfectly understandable. After all, Lu Zhuo himself was a “pretty boy.” The only thing about her appearance that Wei Rao needed to hide was the alluring quality of her eyes and brows.

Faced with Lu Zhuo’s doubts, Wei Rao told him to return to the main command tent first while she sat before the mirror and skillfully worked on her disguise.

After finishing her preparations, Wei Rao emerged from her tent.

The main command tent was right next door. Zhao Song was standing guard outside the tent. When he saw Wei Rao approaching, Zhao Song was so shocked that his mouth fell open. Even after Wei Rao walked past him, Zhao Song was still contemplating that familiar yet strange face.

Inside the tent, hearing footsteps, Lu Zhuo looked up.

Wei Rao wore a set of drab gray armor, her black hair simply tied into a man’s topknot at the crown of her head. Her face was still as fair as before, but her two slender eyebrows had become thick. Her phoenix eyes naturally tilted slightly upward at the corners, but now they drooped slightly downward, immediately reducing her seductive charm by more than half. Her lips were still rosy, but after the changes to her eyebrows and eyes, the lips didn’t matter much anymore. Especially when she truly began training and her lips became dry and chapped, how alluring could they possibly be?

Lu Zhuo walked to Wei Rao’s side, bringing his handsome face close to hers. He discovered that her eyebrows weren’t drawn thicker but had something attached to them, and her eye corners weren’t painted to droop down either – she had used some kind of material to stick them down.

Lu Zhuo frowned and reached out to examine them, but Wei Rao pushed him away: “Don’t touch – this is delicate work. Your clumsy hands will hurt me.”

Lu Zhuo asked curiously, “Who taught you this?”

Wei Rao smiled, “Naturally, my master.”

Her master seemed to know everything. Besides teaching Wei Rao swordsmanship, he had also taught Wei Rao a set of disguise techniques. However, Wei Rao normally had no use for them – this time, she was only using the most basic skills. As for imitating a man’s voice, Wei Rao had already practiced this in Jin City. None of the merchants who dealt with her cousin had discovered that she was a young woman.

Lu Zhuo was silent for a moment, then said, “This way, no one should suspect you. However, the intensity of military training far exceeds your usual sword practice…”

Wei Rao smiled lightly and asked him, “Sword practice is easy because I’ve already built a solid foundation. What does the Young Master think – how did I acquire this foundation? And how did I develop the skills I use when fighting others?”

Back then, she had been a sickly invalid who could only lie in bed. Martial arts training for health wasn’t a miraculous cure that would restore the body immediately upon consumption. To strengthen the body through martial arts requires constant practice. Her master had been extremely strict. Wei Rao’s tears could make her grandmother and maternal grandmother feel sorry for her, but her master would only watch her calmly, waiting for Wei Rao to finish crying before continuing to supervise her practice.

Going from a half-disabled person to a master swordsman required far more hardship than going from an ordinary person to a master swordsman.

Wei Rao acted pampered in daily life because she had the qualifications to be pampered, and she enjoyed luxury. But enjoying luxury didn’t mean she couldn’t endure hardship.

“The Young Master has gnawed on steamed buns on the battlefield, and I’ve gnawed on dry rations in the Cloudy Mist Mountains. Neither of us should look down on the other.” Wei Rao snorted.

Lu Zhuo couldn’t help but laugh.

He wasn’t doubting Wei Rao’s ability to endure hardship – he simply couldn’t bear to see her suffer through military training.

“You want to learn how to lead troops, but you don’t necessarily have to personally become a soldier,” Lu Zhuo made one last attempt to persuade her.

Wei Rao said seriously, “But only by having been a soldier can you know what the soldiers under your command are thinking. Only by knowing what they think can you better lead them.”

She looked into Lu Zhuo’s eyes, and Lu Zhuo looked back at her. After a brief moment of eye contact, Lu Zhuo suddenly leaned down and kissed her.

When she first married him for the wedding blessing ceremony, he must have been blind to treat her that way.

Whenever Wei Rao was determined to accomplish something, she would definitely see it through.

After instructing Lu Zhuo not to come looking for her unless it was urgent, Wei Rao officially became a common soldier under Adjutant General He’s command.

When Adjutant General He first brought her over, the other soldiers all laughed, joking about Wei Rao’s fair and clean face. But once Adjutant General He introduced Wei Rao’s identity – the cousin of their commanding general, Lu Zhuo – the soldiers immediately didn’t dare make a sound. When Lu Zhuo first arrived at the military camp, he had directly executed an adjutant general to establish his authority, and later won over the lead adjutant general of these hundred thousand troops. The common soldiers naturally held him in complete respect.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Wei Rao behaved very coldly, speaking little. Except when she had to speak, she didn’t talk to any of the soldiers around her. During rest periods, she sat alone, and during training, everyone was busy with their exercises, so no one came to bother her. Over a day, Wei Rao spoke fewer than ten sentences.

The soldiers in her unit interpreted her coldness as a noble young master’s disdain for associating with them.

Most soldiers wouldn’t invite trouble by offending the commanding general’s cousin, but among a group of hot-blooded men, there were always a few who weren’t afraid of causing problems.

On this day, when the soldiers were arranged to spar in pairs, a soldier named Ma Wei deliberately pushed away Wei Rao’s usual sparring partner and clenched his fists, wanting to fight with Wei Rao.

Both of them used wooden swords.

“Young Master He, shall we have a match?” Ma Wei said provocatively.

In the military camp, every hundred men formed a unit, and Ma Wei was one of the top three fighters in Wei Rao’s unit – nine feet tall, imposing, and robust.

Wei Rao smiled and raised her wooden sword.

She definitely couldn’t match Ma Wei in arm wrestling, but when it came to swordsmanship, Wei Rao had never displayed her true abilities in normal times.

The first move of the Seven Star Sword technique: Fleeting Light and Passing Shadow.

The sword technique combined with mysterious footwork – everyone only saw the slender-figured Young Master He execute a nimble sidestep and shift, and in an instant, he was behind Ma Wei, his wooden sword sweeping horizontally across Ma Wei’s side.

One strike and hit. Wei Rao withdrew her sword and looked at Ma Wei expressionlessly.

Ma Wei was stunned, his wooden sword still raised high in the air.

The surrounding soldiers were also stunned, then came to their senses and looked at Wei Rao in unison.

Wei Rao walked straight to her original sparring partner.

This partner was called A’Feng, even shorter than Wei Rao, specifically arranged by the unit leader to be Wei Rao’s sparring partner.

Usually, Wei Rao would practice with A’Feng using the most basic attack moves taught in the military camp, never revealing her sword techniques. So A’Feng was always full of enthusiasm, earnestly practicing and sparring with Wei Rao. Now, having witnessed Wei Rao’s true skills, A’Feng suddenly understood that this noble-born partner had been holding back all along.

A’Feng’s face turned red, completely red, and he felt too embarrassed to spar with Wei Rao.

Wei Rao liked A’Feng’s simple and honest nature. She smiled at him encouragingly and said, “I learned swordsmanship from my master, but that requires years of accumulated foundation. In soldier-to-soldier combat, the sword techniques taught in the military camp are simple and suitable for battlefield fighting. With diligent practice and thorough understanding, one can make a name on the battlefield.”

She rarely spoke in the unit, but suddenly said so much, and this was after defeating Ma Wei with one move. Not only did she not look down on these ordinary soldiers, but she also gave them sincere recognition and encouragement. Not just A’Feng, but all the soldiers around who heard these words, including the defeated and frustrated Ma Wei, regained their confidence.

Ma Wei still wasn’t convinced and proposed another match with Wei Rao, demanding that Wei Rao only use the military camp’s sword techniques.

Wei Rao said, “You’re stronger than I am, so naturally I can’t match you in that.”

Ma Wei became somewhat smug, looking toward his comrades like a big bear.

The others just spat at him: “Have some shame! Since when does someone make a challenge and then propose various conditions favorable to themselves?”

Ma Wei lunged over and started wrestling with the person who had mocked him.

Seeing this, Wei Rao smiled.

These hot-blooded men in the military camp didn’t have anyone particularly bad among them. At most, they might feel competitive with someone and provoke them to a match.

When training ended, Wei Rao returned alone to her tent.

Zhao Song had been assigned to her by Lu Zhuo. Knowing the Princess’s habits, he had prepared water inside early, then stood guard in front of the tent.

To prevent the lamplight from casting her silhouette onto the tent, Wei Rao never lit lamps when bathing. She also didn’t have Zhao Song prepare a bathtub – just had him bring in two buckets of water, one cold and one hot, which she mixed in a basin.

While she was washing, Zhao Song’s voice came from outside: “General, please wait a moment. Young Master is bathing.”

This was what Wei Rao had instructed Zhao Song – when she was bathing, even Lu Zhuo couldn’t enter.

Lu Zhuo did want to enter, but entering at this time would be equivalent to telling Zhao Song that he wanted to do something improper. How could the Duke Ying’s heir, who had always presented himself as a refined gentleman, undermine his reputation?

Glancing at the tent, Lu Zhuo nodded and returned to his side as if nothing had happened.

After two quarters of an hour, Zhao Song came to invite him over.

Lu Zhuo came to Wei Rao’s tent and instructed Zhao Song, “Bring all the food here. I’ll dine with my cousin.”

Zhao Song: “Yes.”

Lu Zhuo lifted the tent flap and saw that Wei Rao had already changed into a comfortable set of casual men’s clothing, still wearing her hair in a man’s topknot, reading a military strategy book.

“So my cousin is so fond of reading,” Lu Zhuo sat beside her at the low table, his clear eyes lingering on Wei Rao’s face, which was fair with a rosy glow from having just bathed. After each bath, she wouldn’t go out again, so she had removed the disguise from her face, revealing her naturally charming beauty.

Wei Rao was reading an exciting passage and didn’t pay attention to him.

She had said she wanted to learn military leadership, spending days as a soldier and evenings studying military texts, learning the methods of commanding troops as a general.

Lu Zhuo glanced at the lit lamps in the tent, then at the shadows of the two people cast on the tent wall, and could only sit in his original position, silently watching her.

Zhao Song brought in the food.

Wei Rao finally put down her book.

Lu Zhuo asked her, “I heard someone provoked you today?”

Wei Rao laughed, “Since you’ve already heard about it, why are you asking me?”

Lu Zhuo: “Naturally, because I’m concerned about you.”

Wei Rao smiled, “I have the General as my backing – who would dare bully your cousin?”

Lu Zhuo didn’t like “cousin” at all. He wanted his Princess, wanted to press her down on that bed covered with animal fur, to hear her either softly panting or scolding sweetly in his ear.

When Wei Rao was far away in Ganzhou City, Lu Zhuo wouldn’t think about it. But now that Wei Rao had come to the military camp and was right under his nose, Lu Zhuo couldn’t maintain his detachment.

He couldn’t openly misbehave in the military camp, so it wouldn’t be appropriate to spend the night at her place. Even if they extinguished the lamps before doing anything, what would two cousins be doing in the dark? It would be a case of trying to cover up, making it more obvious.

This day at noon, when training ended, Wei Rao was about to go get food with A’Feng when Lu Zhuo sent someone to summon her.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Wei Rao had no reason not to obey her commanding general cousin’s order.

Half an hour later, Wei Rao returned with a slight flush on her cheeks and eyes full of murderous intent.

A’Feng, Ma Wei, and other comrades exchanged glances, all understanding immediately that these two cousins must have argued, and Young Master He was the one who suffered – just look how angry he was!