Qin Yining’s tense emotions could finally relax. After following the tribe members to reach the campsite, she discovered that the camp had already been cleaned up by Uncle A’erhan leading his people.

Most importantly, not far from the campsite, there was actually a winding small river!

Although the weather was cold and the river surface was covered with ice, how could people who had just emerged from the desert care about such things? Everyone didn’t mind that this place had just been a battlefield moments ago, and they cheered as they went to break the ice to get water. Some people even chiseled out large chunks of ice and put them in the small iron pots they carried with them to heat up.

Soon, tents of various sizes were erected around the campsite once again.

Qin Yining was also allocated a tent. She handed Lu Heng over to Ha’er Bala and Chagan Bala to care for, then went to break ice herself. She borrowed an iron pot that was originally in the military camp to boil water, intending to wash up.

Because she was the hero who killed A’na Ri and had played a commanding role in the desert these days, the tribe members all respected her greatly. So when they saw that she wanted to boil water, everyone came to help her despite their fatigue, and even moved the firewood and grass originally stored in the military camp for her to use.

After walking in the desert for half a month, Qin Yining finally had a thorough hot bath and completely washed her dirty clothes.

When everything was taken care of, Qin Yining’s hair was already half-dry. She carefully dried her hair a bit more with a towel, simply put it up in a bun, then put on her hat and emerged from her tent. She came to Lu Heng’s tent and inquired softly:

“Is Second Master Lu resting?”

The tent flap was quickly lifted, and a wave of warm, moist heat rushed out.

Ha’er Bala poked his head out, smiled and nodded at Qin Yining, saying in broken Zhou language: “You’ve come.”

Qin Yining smiled and nodded.

Seeing Ha’er Bala step aside to make room, Qin Yining bent down and entered the tent.

There was still a wooden basin in the tent, and the washing water hadn’t been emptied yet. The three men were already properly dressed.

Lu Heng had changed into clean clothes and was leaning against a bed made of dry grass and wooden boards with his eyes slightly lowered, his wet hair hanging over his shoulders, dripping water.

Qin Yining frowned when she saw this, and quickly went to get a towel to help him sit up: “Your body hasn’t recovered yet, how can you be so careless? Lying down with wet hair like this, aren’t you afraid of getting even more seriously ill?”

She hesitated for a moment, then still began to help him dry his hair.

Lu Heng’s heart pounded rapidly.

Actually, he had just washed himself, but in his weak and sickly state, he really had no strength left. After putting on his clothes, he didn’t even have the strength to lift his arms, so he thought to rest for a while before drying his hair.

He hadn’t expected that Qin Yining would be willing to do it for him!

“Thank you,” Lu Heng said in a hoarse voice, unable to say more, his voice also very weak.

“No need to be polite. We’ve finally managed to persevere and walk out of the desert, and things are looking up. If you don’t take care of your body and get even sicker, wouldn’t that be too worthless?”

Qin Yining changed to a dry cloth and carefully dried his hair again. When his hair was half-dry, she took off her hat and removed a tasseled silver comb from the side of her hair bun. She first used her fingers as a comb to smooth his hair, then carefully combed it strand by strand.

The comb gently slid across his scalp. Lu Heng closed his eyes, feeling her gentle touch. Even his scalp and spine felt a tingling sensation, and his eyelids began to feel heavy.

How wonderful. That she could care for him – even though he clearly knew in his heart that Qin Yining had no romantic feelings for him whatsoever, Lu Heng was still completely satisfied.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. We were able to conquer the desert twice, which shows our lives are tough,” Lu Heng said softly.

Qin Yining finished arranging his hair, took a hair tie and bound his hair into a bundle, reattached the silver comb to the side of her hair bun, and put her hat back on.

“That’s right, we’re all tough, so we’ll definitely be fine. When we have the means, I’ll get some good things to nourish your body. If only Bingtang were here – with her around, your illness would surely recover quickly.”

Thinking of the situation that day, not knowing whether Bingtang and Ji Yun were still alive, the smile on Qin Yining’s face also faded.

Lu Heng could tell what she was thinking at a glance and comforted her gently: “Don’t worry, the Prince cares for you so much. When that incident happened, he definitely wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing. He would certainly rush over immediately to rescue people. Your subordinates are all extraordinary people – they’ll all be fine.”

Thinking of Pang Xiao’s character, Qin Yining felt very warm in her heart and nodded with a smile: “You’re right. They’ll definitely be fine. We’ll all be fine.”

Helping him lie down and wrapping a cotton coat around him like a blanket, Qin Yining said: “Rest well. Tomorrow we still need to discuss what to do next. I don’t know Tatar language, and Uncle A’erhan can only understand simple Zhou language. With you there, communication will be more convenient.”

Lu Heng smiled lightly, his eyes and brows full of warmth. “Alright, I’ll get better as soon as possible. You’ve really worked hard these days.”

Qin Yining smiled and shook her head: “It’s nothing. As long as everyone can live safely, nothing else counts as a big deal.”

“Yes, no matter how big something is, it’s not bigger than life and death. Princess Consort, you are an excellent woman.”

Qin Yining blushed at the praise and smiled: “If I were good, I wouldn’t have implicated so many people. It’s nothing, sleep quickly.”

Lu Heng looked at her pretty face, which had become much thinner after being tormented by wind and sand these days, and couldn’t help but feel extremely distressed. But this kind of distress he couldn’t show.

From her tone, it seemed she was still concerned about those dead Minuo tribe members?

When he was bathing earlier, Lu Heng had already heard Ha’er Bala and Chagan Bala say that when they encountered pursuers today, nearly two hundred tribe members had died. Moreover, in seizing this camp, several tribe members had also lost their lives, and several others were seriously injured and probably couldn’t be saved.

Lu Heng’s heart was not without waves either. But he also understood that in the situation of having just crossed the desert, being both thirsty and hungry, the fact that the Minuo tribe members could defeat the garrison troops arranged by Si Qin was already an extremely remarkable victory.

After all, these were all cavalry, and they were all professionally trained soldiers.

But these Minuo tribe people were not professional soldiers – they had just been ordinary herdsmen before, and among them were even dozens of women.

The Minuo tribe was truly an excellent and strong tribe. No wonder it could develop so magnificently in the past and become a large tribe of more than forty thousand people.

The reason A’na Ri persecuted the Minuo tribe so severely was probably because the Minuo tribe was too powerful and had already made her feel threatened.

Lu Heng really wanted to comfort Qin Yining, but at this moment he was really too tired. His eyelids were as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and even his usually agile mind had become sluggish.

His lips moved, and with great effort he managed to say: “It’s not your fault.” In the blink of an eye, he had already fallen into deep sleep.

Seeing him fall asleep, Qin Yining used her hand to test the temperature of his forehead. Seeing that he still had a slight fever, she couldn’t help but worry. She stayed with Lu Heng until midnight before returning to her own tent to rest.

The next day, Uncle A’erhan brought the captains of each team in the group to the central tent to discuss strategies together with Qin Yining, Chagan Bala, Ha’er Bala, and Lu Heng, who was dressed like a ball.

Lu Heng had eaten a bowl of soft, glutinous, thick porridge early in the morning and had also taken the last remaining medicine, so his spirits were much better.

Seeing that he had indeed come, Qin Yining smiled and said: “You really are a trustworthy friend. You promised me you wouldn’t be unconscious, and indeed you weren’t.”

Lu Heng smiled: “I slept enough yesterday.”

Uncle A’erhan smiled and patted Lu Heng’s shoulder, saying in Tatar: “Brother Lu, it seems your body is really much better. It wasn’t in vain that the Princess Consort took such good care of you along the way. If something had happened to you, I think the Princess Consort would have fallen seriously ill too.”

Uncle A’erhan was a rough man and didn’t realize there was anything wrong with his words – he was just speaking honestly.

But many of the young people present admired Qin Yining, and quite a few could see that Lu Heng was fond of Qin Yining. They couldn’t help but turn their gazes toward the two of them.

Lu Heng’s heart pounded like he had a rabbit in his chest, his face somewhat red. “Uncle A’erhan, don’t talk nonsense.”

A’erhan looked at Qin Yining, thought about her status, then looked at Lu Heng’s completely red face. He couldn’t help but sigh and patted his shoulder again, everything understood without words.

Qin Yining couldn’t understand what they had said. She had learned some Tatar these days, but could only understand simple vocabulary. When strung together, and with them speaking too fast, she still had no idea what they were talking about.

Seeing Lu Heng’s face turn red, Qin Yining asked with concern: “Are you feeling unwell?” She habitually reached out to test the temperature of his forehead.

Lu Heng smiled: “I’m fine.” His heart was both bitter and sweet, extremely contradictory.

He turned to the crowd and said in Tatar: “This time everyone was able to protect the tribe members and walk out of the desert. Everyone is a hero. I already knew that the Tatars were a strong and unyielding people. Now I see that the rumors were indeed true – very admirable. Our Minuo tribe members are the elite among the Tatars. Walking this journey with everyone, I’ve been truly moved and shocked.”

Uncle A’erhan listened with surging emotions.

The others also had expressions of joy and pride on their faces.

They were all hot-blooded men with strong, unyielding hearts. Being able to persevere through all kinds of trials and receive praise from people of other ethnicities – they didn’t know that this excited, passionate emotion they felt was actually called national pride.

Although Qin Yining didn’t know what Lu Heng had said, judging from everyone’s expressions, she knew that Lu Heng’s words had touched everyone’s hearts. She couldn’t help but admire Lu Heng’s ability in her heart.

He was truly a very capable leader, with that kind of ability to make people wholeheartedly convinced. No wonder he could leave his family’s protection at such a young age to start from scratch, and only tell everyone he was from the Lu family after developing to an unmatched height outside.

Lu Heng continued: “Although we achieved victory, I know that Si Qin’s people will definitely travel frequently between these garrison posts. We can’t stay here long – we should pack up and leave today. Because we don’t know when the last communication between the posts was. If we encounter liaison personnel and are exposed, it will bring unnecessary trouble.”