“Be careful not to make any noise!” The assassin leader glared at Gong Yin with warning and killing intent in his eyes.

Gong Yin nodded apologetically and simply retreated to one side, far from the window. Only then did the group feel at ease and continued using eye gestures to discuss what to do.

No one noticed Gong Yin flick his finger, sending a line of ice through the gap under the door to strike the dead pig.

Gong Yin flicked his finger again. This time the ice shard still passed through the door crack but didn’t hit the pig—it embedded itself in a tree outside. The ice shard had countless small holes that made subtle, sharp sounds when the wind passed through.

This sound was drowned in the lively commotion outside. Even if someone heard it, they would only think the wind was particularly shrill.

In the camp not far away, Nan Jin, who had been meditating silently, suddenly raised her head.

She carefully listened to the sound of the wind. After a moment, she left the camp and searched toward the village, her gaze passing over the noisy crowd before finally settling on that tree.

She silently floated up to the tree and pulled out the ice shard. The ice didn’t melt in her hand, and on the transparent blade were the fine characters “check water source.”

Nan Jin glanced at Jing Hengbo in the center of the crowd, then at that house. She pressed her lips together and silently descended the tree and left.

On the village dirt road, a large group of soldiers had already arrived to carry the pig. With so many people, the assassins immediately abandoned their plan to assassinate the Empress.

In the crowd, Jing Hengbo cheerfully directed everyone to work. “Let’s work right here! Someone bring a wooden basin to catch the blood first—I want to make blood sausage! Find someone good with an ax to come butcher this pig properly!”

Everyone was somewhat surprised. People of the Great Wilderness didn’t eat things like pig blood—they threw it away. How could such a disgusting thing be eaten? Were they eating raw meat and drinking blood?

However, no one dared disobey the Empress’s orders. Soldiers quickly brought a wooden basin and began catching the pig’s blood. Suddenly someone exclaimed, “Eh, this blood doesn’t seem right…”

Jing Hengbo went over to look. The pig appeared normal on the outside, but somehow its blood was overly coagulated—especially the blood from its abdomen, which actually had ice crystals in it.

She glanced over calmly and directed soldiers to finish catching the blood, using knives to chop up the congealed parts.

She crouched beside the strongly bloody basin, covering her nose, seemingly very interested in watching the soldiers chop up the blood clots.

Outside was a scene of natural busy activity while the assassins inside relaxed slightly, patiently waiting for darkness when the poison would have been introduced into the upstream water source—perfect for fishing in troubled waters.

The assassins had just prepared to rest a bit when Jing Hengbo, who was crouching by the basin, suddenly raised her hand. Somehow she now held the knife the soldiers had been using to cut the pig blood, and the blade flashed!

An assassin peeking through the door crack nearly had his nose pierced.

The atmosphere in the house froze. Before the assassins could react, a figure flashed and Jing Hengbo was already at the door, lifting her foot to kick. “Bang!”

The moment the door was kicked open, the assassins exchanged glances and each leaped up, bursting through the roof to escape.

The soldiers looked up to see several black shadows scattering in all directions and gave chase with shouts. Jing Hengbo didn’t leave but stood at the doorway, playing with the dagger in her hand as she stared at the person remaining in the house, saying with a smile, “Oh my, who’s this? Looks familiar.”

Gong Yin gazed at her calmly, seeming to smile. “Just a discarded piece. Your Majesty, have you been well?”

Jing Hengbo raised an eyebrow. This phrase seemed to have a double meaning. But he’d said it wrong, hadn’t he? Who exactly was the discarded piece?

Looking at this fellow’s spotless, composed, and calm appearance made her anger rise—he got all the benefits, did all the bad things, yet still wouldn’t give an inch verbally, speaking as if he were the victim. So infuriating!

“Meeting twice shows we have fate.” She approached and helped him up with a smile. “Come, come. Since you’re here, let me treat you to blood sausage.”

Gong Yin didn’t refuse and reached out to take her wrist. But Jing Hengbo alertly pulled her hand back and said with a fake smile, “Men and women shouldn’t touch. Guards!”

Two soldiers entered at her call. Jing Hengbo said, “Please escort this gentleman outside and get him a small stool so he can watch us stuff blood sausage together.”

Gong Yin’s expression seemed somewhat unpleasant, but he was very cooperative, obediently sitting on the small stool the soldiers brought over. Jing Hengbo picked up a small bench and sat beside him. Without looking at him, she stared at the pig with great interest, looking completely guileless.

A large wooden basin was full of pig blood, still warm, with a strong bloody smell that drilled into people’s noses.

Gong Yin’s expression didn’t change—warriors weren’t so particular about blood.

Jing Hengbo glanced at him and directed people to drag over another basin. Inside was a complete set of intestines that had been prepared and initially cleaned but still needed to be washed again with flour. The things were fatty white shot through with blood vessels, draped with yellow fat, greasy lumps floating in the basin like soft-bodied creatures, surrounded by light red bloody water…

Gong Yin’s face paled.

Large intestines!

In the past, this type of dish—objects of this shape—would never appear on his dining table. The noble and clean Longying family killed people with condensed ice without seeing blood. This kind of bloody gutting was too base!

If he couldn’t accept finished large intestines, now seeing the actual intestines themselves… plus that soul-stirring nose-assaulting greasy bloody smell… Jing Hengbo judged from the corner of her eye that based on how increasingly pale Gong Yin’s face was becoming, his insides must be churning like overturning seas…

She decided to add fuel to the fire.

“This stuff looks disgusting now, but it’s actually very fragrant when eaten,” she picked up a string of intestines and considerately held it before him. “You just can’t think about what it originally contained…”

Gong Yin quickly turned his head away.

Jing Hengbo quickly moved her small bench aside.

Gong Yin retched up clear water all over the ground.

Jing Hengbo crossed her arms and listened with a smile, thinking this sound was so pleasant, so very pleasant.

…

After removing the meat, the bones were used to make rich soup. Steam rose from the large pot with an enticing meaty aroma.

They bought salt and sugar from villagers, plus a small amount of chili peppers. This era didn’t have many seasoning options, but fortunately they already had chili peppers.

Various seasonings were added to the cooked meat broth, stirred evenly, and left to cool. After straining, the meat broth was poured into the pig blood basin. Some soldiers gathered a plant called wild fragrant grass, saying meat dishes were especially aromatic when this grass was added. Jing Hengbo felt this fragrance was somewhat like cilantro, and after confirming it wasn’t poisonous, she had the cooks chop it up along with soaked glutinous rice and mix it evenly with the pig blood.

Then the pig blood was stuffed into the cleaned large intestines, tied off in sections with string, put in the pot to boil, and removed after half an hour to cool.

Under Jing Hengbo’s guidance, the blood sausage was basically finished. This was the method for Northeastern blood sausage from the modern world. Jing Hengbo had seen Little Cake prepare it, and naturally the Great Wilderness had no such cooking method. The soldiers gathered around the pot exclaiming in amazement, unable to understand how such a basin of foul-smelling stuff combined with stinky intestines could, when cooked together, produce such an enticing aroma.

But Jing Hengbo felt something was wrong. The cook who had gone to buy glutinous rice told her the villages had no grain stores—this bit of glutinous rice had been gathered from several nearby villages. The cook had also planned to buy some dry rations since the army was running low, but the nearby villages had none either and would need to go to Lin Prefecture city to buy.

The people sent to invite guests hadn’t returned and there was no news. Scouts reported that Yu Guangting’s army had stopped fifteen li away without advancing further.

This approach was somewhat strange. The area was mountainous, and near where the Horizontal Halberd Army was camped were several mountain passes. If Yu Guangting wanted to catch them like turtles in a jar, advancing just a few more li to block those passes would create a true siege against Jing Hengbo. Now surrounding them so loosely, Jing Hengbo’s army could completely scatter into the mountains first—what would be the point of such an encirclement?

Jing Hengbo had originally made backup plans too. If Yu Guangting monopolized information and blocked news that the hostages were still alive, bringing troops to force their way in, she naturally had plans to lure the enemy deep and defeat them piecemeal. But now with this neither attacking nor properly surrounding approach, she found herself somewhat passive.

Even stranger was that there wasn’t a single able-bodied man in this village—only elderly, weak, women, and children remained. Supposedly all the young men had been conscripted into the city this afternoon. Though this sounded reasonable, the timing was too coincidental and had an eerie quality.

Jing Hengbo was preparing to send someone to invite Pei Shu over to eat the whole pig feast while discussing the current situation when she saw Pei Shu striding over, sniffing continuously as he walked. “Smells so good, so good!”

His robes and boots were bloodstained, but his expression was nonchalant. Without waiting for Jing Hengbo to inquire, he sat down at the table already set up with door planks, saying, “Those assassins just now were chased straight into camp. They were indeed after the hostages. I deliberately had patrols leak information for them to hear, luring them into the tent where hostages were kept. These people were truly ruthless—they started killing as soon as they charged in. I waited until they’d injured one person before acting. Killed one on the spot, captured two alive, and the rest ran too fast. But it doesn’t matter—capturing live prisoners and letting those young masters hear the assassins’ intentions is enough.”

“Those young masters are truly unlucky. Doing well as hostages, first nearly killed by their own Yelu family people, then by their own people sent by Yu Guangting. Yu Kingdom people have no other skills, but they’re crisp at killing their own. Later when we deliver these fellows to their fathers, let’s see if those Lin Prefecture nobles will still follow Yu Guangting in killing and arson.” Jing Hengbo smiled as she cut blood sausage. Beside her, Pei Shu watched eagerly, constantly signaling with his eyes, “Feed me a piece, feed me a piece!” Jing Hengbo originally hadn’t planned to pay attention, but suddenly glimpsed Gong Yin sitting on his small stool with his back to them. She immediately smiled and picked up a slice of blood sausage, stuffing it into Pei Shu’s mouth. “Fragrant?”

“Fragrant!” The young marshal answered extraordinarily loudly before even eating, his eyes fixed on Jing Hengbo’s fingers—unclear whether he was praising the blood sausage’s fragrance or her fingers’ fragrance.

Jing Hengbo glanced over there. The figure on the small stool was so very composed.

“If you ask me, Yu Guangting is probably planning to block information and use underhanded methods. These hostages won’t be easy to use as leverage…” As Pei Shu spoke, he casually chewed a couple times, his eyes suddenly brightening. “What is this thing? Never eaten it before. It’s fragrant and glutinous with a slight spicy taste inside, soft and chewy outside, with a special aroma… What’s it made from?”

Jing Hengbo smiled without answering. “Since we haven’t invited our guest yet, we might have business tonight. In any case, an emperor doesn’t let his soldiers go hungry. If the guest won’t eat, we’ll feast ourselves first. Today there are fresh things for you to eat.” She clapped her hands to signal serving the dishes.

Explosive kidney, cold pig ears, large stewed meat chunks, stomach and lung soup, cucumber mixed with pig heart, sauce-fried pig tail, white-cut pork belly, braised pig knuckles, bone soup, braised pig head, twice-cooked pork, sweet and sour ribs… a genuine whole pig feast. Though the army’s cooking methods were crude and ingredients simple, this local pork was fragrant and rich, with thick juices. Freshly killed and stir-fried, hot from the pot, everyone had been away from Di Ge for a long time, mostly eating dry rations and dried meat on the road. Where had they eaten such a sumptuous banquet? One by one they surrendered to that penetrating aroma, the sound of swallowing saliva echoing like mountains.

Jing Hengbo ordered large chunks of pork belly stewed for the soldiers and summoned military officers high and low to eat together. Pei Shu unceremoniously sat to Jing Hengbo’s left, but no one dared sit to her right. Officers carefully sat on half their buttocks on stools, carefully smiling awkwardly—having offended the Empress before, they were now all worried the whole pig feast was poisoned.

The banquet was set up in an open space at the village entrance, near a small stream—the village’s main water source flowing down from the mountains above.

Nan Jin carried two bowls past everyone—clear water in her left hand, white rice in her right—deliberately choosing an upwind position to avoid having the greasy smell from the meat dishes blown over to contaminate her water and rice.

Her solitary figure in white robes fluttering on high ground created a strong sense of discord with this steaming, fatty whole pig feast. Jing Hengbo glanced at her retreating figure and decided not to call her over.

Nan Jin was quite satisfied with this. She smelled the clear water, then smelled herself. There was a bit of a bloody smell.

She had gone up the mountain once and found that thin fellow sneaking around the water source. At the time, he was burying an iron fish containing medicine and boiled with poison in the upstream riverbed. The water flow would naturally carry away the toxins continuously.

So-called water source poisoning wasn’t as easy as imagined, especially with this kind of natural mountain stream with large volume and high flow rate. Sprinkling some poison powder would be washed away instantly. Even so, poisoning all several thousand people would be impossible. What Yu Guangting wanted was just for a large portion to lose combat effectiveness so he could strike again.

This thin fellow was smugly celebrating his success when Nan Jin arrived, confiscated the iron fish, and killed him.

Several cooks were washing large pots, planning to carry the meat in pots directly to distribute among the camps.

Nan Jin walked past them and tilted her bowl, pouring the clear water directly into the stream.

The cooks were about to get angry, but looking up to see it was that strange woman, they wisely shut their mouths.

Nan Jin walked past expressionlessly.

Over there, Jing Hengbo and others were used to her antisocial behavior. Seeing everyone seated, Jing Hengbo held chopsticks in her mouth, rolled her eyes, and called to the small stool with a smile, “Hey! Want to come eat together?”

Pei Shu turned around sharply, only now clearly seeing Gong Yin surrounded by soldiers, and his expression immediately changed.

A hand was viciously pinching his thigh while smiling Jing Hengbo warned with killing intent in his ear, “Remember, I have amnesia! I can’t remember him clearly! I have a vaguely familiar feeling toward him so I’m a bit interested but also somewhat hostile, because that’s what my subconscious feels about him. It looks most authentic. You just act like you recognize him but won’t acknowledge him because of dissatisfaction. Act naturally and be sure to cooperate, or we’re through!”

Pei Shu pried off her hand and snorted heavily through his nose—did he need to act? This was exactly how he felt anyway! He was originally too lazy to know such people anyway! This person had been missing for over a year—couldn’t he just stay missing forever!

Jing Hengbo propped her chin as she looked at Gong Yin. This rough banquet surely wouldn’t meet the standards of the fastidious State Preceptor who was particular about fine food and delicate preparation. Would he eat or eat or eat?

But today’s Gong Yin seemed to have particularly good tolerance. He actually nodded and moved to her side, sitting down beside her without ceremony.

The officers immediately moved to draw their swords, but Jing Hengbo waved them off. Why be so nervous? A basin of blood sausage was enough to bring him down.

She immediately attentively dragged the blood sausage over, deliberately placing it in front of Gong Yin. “You’re a guest after all. Please, please eat.”

As expected, Gong Yin’s face paled again. Jing Hengbo gleefully thought he must be very unhappily recalling that pile of stuff in the basin earlier.

Just as she prepared to fan the flames further, a hand suddenly reached over and grabbed away the blood sausage dish, placing it in front of himself, saying rudely, “Why give such face to a prisoner? I like this dish.”

Jing Hengbo turned around. Marshal Pei was monopolizing a dish of sausage, wielding chopsticks left and right, wolfing it down to show his tremendous enthusiasm for this dish.

Jing Hengbo rolled her eyes at him, took the dish back, and placed it in front of Gong Yin with a fake smile. “Sir, it’s really very fragrant. Specially fragrant.” She emphasized the word “specially.”

Gong Yin’s expression didn’t change, but Pei Shu’s face turned green.

Under Her Majesty the Empress’s earnest gaze, Gong Yin actually picked up chopsticks, lifted a piece of blood sausage, and put it in his mouth.

Jing Hengbo turned away, prepared to dodge at any moment to avoid getting vomit on her clothes.

There was no expected sound of retching.

She turned back in astonishment to see Gong Yin had already put down his chopsticks and was even slightly curving his lips at her, saying, “Indeed quite good. Thank you for Your Majesty’s hospitality.”

Jing Hengbo stared at him, looked and looked at Gong Yin’s face, confirmed he truly had no desire to vomit, then asked incredulously, “You think it tastes good?”

Gong Yin nodded, his gaze clear.

This thing was indeed edible, as long as one didn’t dwell on associations.

Most importantly, this was something she had thoughtfully arranged, personally picked up for him, something she liked.

Jing Hengbo stared for a while longer, suddenly remembering back in Yuzhao Palace when this fellow wouldn’t eat anything, refused to eat anything. She often sent him food that could still be seen untouched the next day. To find out what he actually liked to eat, she had racked her brains, always pitying that he couldn’t know all the true flavors of the world, always pitying his life was too pallid and bland, losing quality because of this.

Could it be that he really liked blood sausage…

She suddenly turned to a cook beside her. “How many more pigs does this village have? Buy all we can and slaughter them all. Make the meat into jerky, and the intestines… make them all into blood sausage.”

After speaking, without looking at Gong Yin, she said to herself, “I like it.”

Gong Yin’s lips curved slightly again. He picked up a piece of blood sausage to eat himself, then picked up another piece for Jing Hengbo.

Before Jing Hengbo could react, Pei Shu’s hand reached over again. The marshal’s face was iron-green as he used chopsticks to eat Jing Hengbo’s piece of blood sausage first, then grabbed the whole dish of blood sausage, pouring it all into his own bowl and wolfing it down until nothing remained.

Jing Hengbo stared at him dumbfounded, unable to say anything. After thinking, she maliciously dragged over the stomach and lung soup with a fake smile at Gong Yin. “Try this soup too—it’s excellent for clearing intestines and moistening lungs, using shape to nourish shape…”

Pei Shu’s claw shot over again, intercepting that bowl of soup in midair and dumping it into his own bowl.

Jing Hengbo glanced at him and reached for the pig heart. Before her hand even neared the dish edge, that plate of pig heart also went splashing into Pei Shu’s bowl.

Everyone at the table stopped eating and stared at the marshal eating with his head down.

Jing Hengbo smiled enigmatically and patted his shoulder. “Hey, you really like eating this much?”

“Mm.”

Jing Hengbo took that dish of pig ears. “Since you like it, I’ll naturally give it to you. Do you like this?”

The marshal finally looked up, glanced at the pig ears, his expression much improved. As he reached to take them, he said, “Pig ears are fine, but don’t give me any of those disgusting inferior things like pig intestines, pig hearts, pig stomachs. I want to vomit just looking at those…”

Everyone at the table was stunned. Jing Hengbo’s hand paused. After thinking, she said kindly, “Of course not. Everything on this table is meat, all meat.”

The marshal had eaten all that—had he really not looked carefully at anything from start to finish?

Come to think of it, with his way of eating, could he even see what was in the dishes?

Everyone kindly remained silent. Pei Shu cheerfully reached for the pig ears, deliberately glancing at Gong Yin provocatively.

Gong Yin sat steadily without looking at him, suddenly smiling lightly. “Yes, all meat. I only learned today that pig intestines, pig hearts, and pig stomachs prepared this way are even better than regular meat. This brother, you ate so much just now—did you find it good?”

Pei Shu’s hand reaching for the dish suddenly froze.

Then he looked down at his own bowl.

The snow-white stomach and lung soup had red oil floating on top with several dark red objects floating in it. That shape, that shape…

“Clatter.” The marshal threw down his chopsticks and stumbled away from the table, rushing to the stream and pushing aside the cooks washing pots…

Jing Hengbo sighed and put down her dish. “Too unkind, too unkind…”

Unclear whom she was talking about.

The marshal’s vomiting sounds continued by the stream. The marshal lay by the water like a dead dog, his breath faint. The mirror-like water surface reflected his deathly pale face.

And those eyes brimming with fury and slight killing intent.

Behind him came the sounds of Jing Hengbo and Gong Yin chatting and laughing—the two seemed to be getting along very well.

Gong Yin suddenly looked up and glanced at Pei Shu’s retching figure.