“Is it a military revolt?” Jing Hengbo murmured, then started in alarm, urgently saying: “Gong Yin! Where’s Gong Yin!”

“There are troops over there!” Cui Jie shouted loudly.

Jing Hengbo saw the beautiful Jade Guard Dragon Cavalry galloping on horseback, herding all the scattered people together, while the Kang Long Army’s Eternal Fierce Battalion silently guarded the perimeter.

Jing Hengbo felt something was wrong. The black and white armies were Gong Yin’s powerful forces, and they didn’t look like they were mutinying. As long as the black and white armies remained loyal to Gong Yin, what could these mere one or two thousand guards from the six kingdoms and eight tribes do to Gong Yin?

Then why was it so chaotic?

Another scream rang out, and someone fell to the ground in a spray of blood. Jing Hengbo’s eyes widened as she recognized the killer as Meng Hu, and the victim as a tribal guard leader who had come to welcome her—seemed to be from the Golden tribe, who had been very friendly to her on the road and had even sent her medicine.

This discovery made her shiver—what was happening? Could it be…

She also saw Fei Luo’s shocked face flash by. The Xiang Kingdom Female Chancellor had kept a low profile since her last embarrassment, and this was the first time Jing Hengbo had seen Fei Luo since then. The expression on Fei Luo’s face made her heart sink too—Xiang Kingdom was the most powerful force in the welcoming convoy. If Fei Luo wasn’t behind this, then it had to be Gong Yin…

“What are you doing!” Fei Luo was screaming, pushing away a guard trying to pull her to safety. She rode alone into the chaotic crowd, spreading her arms and actually stopping the panicked masses. “Stay calm! Don’t let anyone take advantage! All come behind me! Right State Preceptor! Why have you suddenly deployed Dragon Cavalry and Eternal Fierce Battalion to surround the guard convoy and ordered the killing of us! Please give us an explanation!”

Her voice was high and her gestures decisive, forcibly suppressing the chaos on the scene. The crowd gradually calmed from their terror of being suddenly surrounded and slaughtered, beginning to retreat behind her in an orderly fashion, confronting Gong Yin’s guard squad led by Meng Hu across a zhang’s distance.

Jing Hengbo couldn’t help but secretly admire her. No matter how detestable Fei Luo was, her composure and courage in the face of great chaos, as well as her accurate judgment and response, were worth learning from.

Gong Yin’s guards parted, revealing Gong Yin in the center, his white clothes like snow, unstained by dust, his expression still indifferent as he gazed at the distant mountains, not answering Fei Luo’s questioning.

Meng Hu answered for him, saying in a deep voice: “By order of the Right State Preceptor, we arrest spies colluding with assassins! Regardless of status or tribe, kill without question!”

“Assassins? Who?” Fei Luo was stunned, then remembered the tent incident from a few days ago, her expression changing.

Yelu Qi had infiltrated the tent intending assassination, then escaped calmly afterward, reportedly nearly taking the Queen hostage. It was obvious that many among the six kingdoms and eight tribes’ guards had collaborated with him, but Gong Yin had remained silent. Everyone thought that given Yelu Qi’s power, he didn’t want to bring the conflict into the open and would let it slide. Who knew he had quietly deployed large armies and struck at this crucial chokepoint where one man could hold off ten thousand. Without even a word of warning, he had taken control of the six kingdoms and eight tribes’ guard convoy; without listening to a single explanation, he had immediately killed so many people!

Everyone felt chilled to the bone. They thought that the Right State Preceptor’s power dominated the world, and his methods were indeed sinister and ruthless. Some were slightly puzzled, feeling that Gong Yin’s actions seemed different from his usual style—he hadn’t been so tyrannical before.

Inside the carriage, Cui Jie’s face was pale, Jing Jun wished she could shrink into the carriage, while Yong Xue gradually relaxed, suddenly patting Jing Hengbo’s hand and whispering: “It’s alright…”

Jing Hengbo smiled, thinking she was comforting her, and patted her small hand back. She frowned slightly, also finding it strange. She didn’t understand politics, but she understood basic human reasoning. Even if these people were collaborating with Yelu Qi to kill Gong Yin, no matter what, Yelu Qi wasn’t a rebel—he was a State Preceptor nominally equal to Gong Yin in court, his colleague. Gong Yin didn’t have sufficient reason to execute people who had dealings with Yelu Qi. Moreover, these people weren’t his subordinates but people from the six kingdoms and eight tribes. For Gong Yin to show such ruthlessness toward the six kingdoms and eight tribes, wasn’t he afraid of their collective displeasure? Acting so decisively without leaving any room—this didn’t seem like the choice of a mature political figure.

Was it to establish authority?

No matter how she speculated, the facts were before her. Fei Luo’s expression softened slightly as she said somewhat disapprovingly: “Purging spies is necessary, but using such extreme methods and acting so violently—Right State Preceptor, you’re being far too dismissive of us six kingdoms and eight tribes!”

“Mm.” Gong Yin actually responded, then said coldly: “However, I’m only dismissive of your face. What if someone doesn’t value your lives?”

“What?” Fei Luo was stunned.

Just at this pause, suddenly there was a shout, and several figures leaped up behind Fei Luo. One figure pounced directly behind Fei Luo, landing on her horse and gripping her throat.

This happened so suddenly, and Fei Luo had been in a completely trusting, protective stance toward those behind her. Who would have thought there were traitors behind her? She didn’t even manage a single exchange before falling into enemy hands.

Everyone was shocked, then began shouting angrily.

“Release the Female Chancellor!”

“Outrageous! How dare you!”

Amid the shouts, Gong Yin remained indifferent, while Meng Hu and others were unmoved, wearing expressions that said, “See, we’re actually protecting you, but you didn’t know what’s good for you. Now you’re in trouble—serves you right!”

“Let us go!” The people who had emerged numbered more than ten, not only taking Fei Luo hostage but also seizing other tribal leaders, shouting their demands.

In the carriage, Jing Hengbo made a sound of surprise.

She felt something was off.

Counting the bodies on the ground, there were already more than ten. Counting the people who had emerged this time, there were more than ten. Adding before and after, thirty to forty spies?

Even if the six kingdoms and eight tribes were chaotic with mixed forces, thirty to forty spies?

Did Yelu Qi have such capability? Besides, weren’t more spies a worse thing?

The large group of spies, holding the leaders hostage, retreated while their leader shouted: “Prepare horses for us! Prepare carriages!”

Gong Yin seemed not at all anxious, calmly waving his hand as Meng Hu and others actually went to prepare horses and carriages.

Jing Hengbo found it increasingly bizarre.

Gong Yin’s reaction was wrong.

Having spent so much time together, she understood too well his outwardly cold but inwardly strong nature, with his scheming, stuffy, and domineering essence. Being provoked like this while holding the advantage, how could he be so passive?

Horses were brought, carriages delivered—spacious large carriages sufficient to hold all the hostage leaders, as if prepared in advance.

Jing Hengbo blinked, the strange feeling in her heart growing stronger.

Everything before her was really happening, yet seemed shrouded in a thin mist of doubt, hiding the truth in shadows. She tried to look deeper but couldn’t see the hands truly manipulating events behind the scenes.

The spies escorted the leaders toward the carriages, shouting: “Don’t follow! The Jade Guard Dragon and Fierce battalions mustn’t move!”

Gong Yin actually waved his hand, signaling both armies not to move.

The spies began boarding the carriages when someone said: “Could this carriage have been tampered with?”

People crowded together, confronting each other as they slowly moved. This remark came from the crowd, and it was impossible to tell who said it, but the spies holding the leaders naturally found it reasonable and instinctively looked around.

Jing Hengbo’s heart jumped—this was bad.

Across from her, Gong Yin’s sleeves hung slightly, cold and composed.

Sure enough, someone’s gaze swept around and pointed at the Queen’s carriage: “The Queen’s carriage must be safe! Have her give it to us!”

Before the words finished, people rushed over. The driver cried out in alarm, rolling and crawling off the carriage shaft to escape.

“Hey, you bastard!” Jing Hengbo cursed loudly, looking up to see that Gong Yin’s people were still blocked on the opposite side, the Jade Guard and Eternal Fierce battalions were at the far perimeter, and the remaining people from the six kingdoms and eight tribes were hiding in groups to avoid trouble, blocking the path for Gong Yin’s guards to come over. In front of the Queen’s carriage were all enemies!

“Quick, abandon the carriage! Escape toward the Dragon Cavalry!” Jing Hengbo quickly made her judgment. Though the Dragon Cavalry was farther away, they were mounted troops. If her group could rush a few steps quickly, they might be rescued by the cavalry before the enemies reached them.

The three women were frightened weak at the knees. Only Cui Jie managed to help up Yong Xue, whose skirt was caught on the front rail of the carriage. Jing Hengbo rushed over and pushed her off the carriage.

When pushing Yong Xue off the carriage, by some strange impulse, even in such a tense moment, she still glanced at Gong Yin across the way.

In that fleeting glance, she saw his still cold and indifferent face. He actually wasn’t moving.

Jing Hengbo’s heart also turned cold, a bitter feeling instantly choking her throat. She shook her head hard, throwing off these unnecessary emotions, grabbing Jing Jun with one hand and Cui Jie with the other, about to jump from the carriage.

“Your Majesty, don’t be afraid! I’ll save you!” Suddenly there was a loud shout, and a young figure rushed out from the six kingdoms and eight tribes’ guards hiding to one side.

As if inspired by his courage, two or three more people rushed out behind him.

Jing Hengbo looked carefully and saw it was that round-faced little guard from the Glazed Glass tribe—the one she treated like a little brother. Among all the six kingdoms and eight tribes members who had shown concern, this youth had encountered her most often. She had a deep impression of his warm, pure smile each time.

In this moment of crisis, warmth returned, and her heart stirred, nearly bringing tears to her eyes.

But again, by some strange impulse, in this warm and moving moment, she glanced at Gong Yin again.

This time Gong Yin had an expression.

A strange expression.

He was actually… smiling.

His lips curved slightly, slowly rising. Still cold and stern, in that mountain ice and snow coldness, there was vaguely some certainty, some relief, some mockery of “as expected, it has finally come to this.” This smile slowly froze at the corner of his lips—beautiful, yet chilling to behold.

Jing Hengbo’s heart immediately plummeted into an abyss, frozen solid.

Without thinking, she threw herself against the carriage shaft and shouted: “Go back!”

Before her voice finished, a bright light suddenly rose!

Arc-shaped, snow-bright, moving with fluid agility, graceful as a dragon!

It instantly rose from behind the round-faced youth, just illuminating people’s pupils before appearing behind him. The tip flicked slightly, like a great dragon raising its proud head to look down majestically. The next instant, it had struck down like lightning.

“Slash.”

The arc wrapped around the neck, twisted, and sharp spikes protruded like solid ice. White light and blood light splashed together as a head flew into the air trailing zhang-high sprays of blood.

The serpentine weapon whistled and circled in mid-air. Only then did people see it was a chain-like weapon with a spiked hammer at the tip and countless ice-crystal-like barbs along its sides, completely snow-white, passing through the blood rain without being stained red.

Cold light flashed as it disappeared into Gong Yin’s hand.

People exclaimed, not expecting him to act personally, though such a graceful weapon was indeed perfect for him.

But Jing Hengbo’s gaze only followed that head, up, up…

The head’s eyes were wide open, facial muscles tense and knotted, still maintaining the urgent, caring expression from the moment before death.

His headless body, following inertia, actually charged forward two more steps, bloody hands reaching toward her.

Maintaining the posture of wanting to save her.

This youth who had been the first and most genuine to give her warmth during the cold, indifferent journey…

The comfort and solace he brought—only she could understand…

All of Jing Hengbo’s skin turned cold.

But her blood heated up in an instant.

Like fire, burning the doubts hidden deep in her heart.

She suddenly looked up, staring at Gong Yin.

Purging spies, purging dissidents, purging all those friendly to her who might become her power base. Right?

Eliminating all forces she might depend on, leaving her with nothing, never able to rise again, becoming his puppet alone. Right!

Rage crashed down like a mountain, bursting into countless explosive sparks. In her eyes remained only Gong Yin—cold, composed, unmoved, calmly watching all the bloody slaughter in the world. Him.

The carriage full of spies and hostages passed by her side—she didn’t know.

The six kingdoms and eight tribes’ guards were dispersed—she didn’t know.

Dragon Cavalry and Eternal Fierce Battalion rushed over—she didn’t know.

Cui Jie rushed over trying to grab her skirt—she didn’t know.

Gong Yin galloped over on his horse—she saw this.

She just saw that bastard coming over like accumulated snow and jade, damned clean, damned pure and noble, damned tyrant who killed someone she regarded as a little brother yet didn’t get a single drop of blood on himself!

She wanted to slaughter him, beat him senseless, throw him into the stinkiest swamp, and pickle him with eighty thousand jin of coarse salt!

“Ahhhhhhh!” She howled and jumped off the carriage. The heavy ceremonial dress nearly tripped her, so she grabbed a guard’s sword and struck down—white light flashed.

A section of deep red gold-embroidered gorgeous skirt hem was cut off. She stepped on the fallen pile of fabric and charged forward.

At this moment:

Those walking forgot to walk.

Those riding forgot to ride.

Those pulling her forgot to pull.

Those rushing over nearly fell from their horses.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at Jing Hengbo. When the skirt was torn, it was a large section, even tearing her inner pants. As she ran and jumped, her snow-white thighs flashed in and out of view. In this shocking, heart-stopping outfit that would scare the people of Dahuang, she frantically ran toward Gong Yin…

Gong Yin stopped, his expression slightly shocked, his gaze flickering, though careful observation revealed hidden anticipation.

“Ahhhhh—” The crazed Da Bo ran while wildly waving both hands. Gong Yin found this motion somewhat familiar, an ominous feeling rising in his heart, and he couldn’t help but coldly shout: “Don’t you—”

“Get down!”

A crisp shout, faster than his.

“Bang.”

Everyone watched as Gong Yin, sitting upright on his horse, suddenly leaned back as if violently grabbed, crashing down from his horse into the mud.

…

“Bang.”

The frantically charging Jing Hengbo suddenly went weak in the legs, unable to stop her momentum, and crashed heavily onto Gong Yin’s stomach.

…

The entire scene was stunned.

Those fleeing nearly forgot to flee, those chasing had long forgotten to chase, those wanting to protect the sovereign didn’t know whom to protect, those wanting to break up a fight couldn’t find who was being beaten.

The scene before them was too impactful. Even the battle-hardened Eternal Fierce Battalion could only stand there stupidly, watching the noble State Preceptor, godlike and snow-pure in the hearts of Dahuang’s people, brought down into the dust. Watching the Queen, forbidden and sacred in the hearts of Dahuang’s people, with her face buried in their equally forbidden and sacred State Preceptor’s abdomen…

Oh…

Too subversive…

No wait, it wasn’t finished being subversive yet.

Throwing someone was hard work. Jing Hengbo had only used this technique twice—once on Yelu Qi and once on Gong Yin—and each time left her exhausted and weak all over. Even so, she didn’t waste the opportunity. The moment she crashed into Gong Yin, she immediately scrambled up, straddled Gong Yin, raised her fist and aimed a vicious punch at Gong Yin’s right cheek—

“Smack.”

The sound was crisp.

The onlookers, unable to bear watching this scene, heard the sound was off and dared to tremblingly open their eyes.

Jing Hengbo’s wrist was caught by Gong Yin, suspended in mid-air. Jing Hengbo struggled twice, but Gong Yin’s hand didn’t budge.

“What are you doing! Let go!” he raged. Whether from anger or embarrassment, his usually ice-and-snow face was flushed with a layer of pale red.

Red like glass, making his clear eyes look like black crystals.

On any other day, Jing Hengbo would surely drool over this rare beautiful sight. But now, with rage burning, she ignored it completely, raising her only free hand to strike down hard again.

“Stop!” Gong Yin reached out to block again, but Jing Hengbo’s hand reached halfway, suddenly pulled back, curved around, and grabbed Gong Yin’s face.

Two fingers pinched, the gap between them pressing hard—pinch, pinch, pinch pinch pinch!

“Expressionless! Iceberg! Show-off!” she yelled. “I hate you like this! Why did you kill him! Give me an explanation! Or else I’ll… or else I’ll…”

The onlookers had stopped breathing…

Gong Yin was also frozen.

Having lived to this point and held high positions, he had been harmed and had harmed others, endured plenty of harsh winds and bitter frost, but such “fierce” revenge was a first in his life.

Too shocked, he didn’t even hear Jing Hengbo’s words clearly, only seeing her blazing eyes and her chest heaving greatly from anger, surging as if about to press against him.

Her anger over another’s life and death…

His gaze grew slightly cold.

“Or else what?” Something cold seemed lodged in his heart. He also forgot their current situation, slapping away her hand with a “smack” and coldly pressing for an answer.

“Or else I’ll…” Jing Hengbo felt that saying she’d slaughter or castrate him sounded like empty threats. What was the point of saying things she couldn’t do? She had to choose something she could actually do to provoke him.

She saw his collar, bound tightly with a golden thread strung through a large pale golden pearl.

She immediately remembered the collar once fastened with stem-and-leaf clasps, and her small universe ignited with blazing fury again.

Show-off! Acting proper! Moral hypocrite! Abstinence fanatic!

The best way to strike at an abstinence fanatic was to make him streak naked!

She smoothly pulled out the golden thread and yanked off the pearl with a practiced motion, casually tossing them aside. Then she grabbed his collar with both hands and tore it apart violently.

“Or else I’ll strip you naked in broad daylight!”

“…”

The sound of sharp intakes of breath was quite loud.

Most people seemed to want to rush forward yet also seemed to be backing away, their feet neither here nor there, their postures neither advancing nor retreating. They didn’t know whether they should rescue him or avoid looking.

Their facial expressions were also hard to arrange properly. Should they laugh or should they express anger? Logically it should be the latter, but emotionally they infinitely favored the former. Sigh, trying to organize one’s expression at this moment was truly difficult.

…

Jing Hengbo clearly saw Gong Yin’s mouth twitching.

Such an expression appearing on his face was truly bizarre.

And… her gaze couldn’t help but fall downward… even though she had other concerns and was full of anger at this moment, she still had to admit the scenery here was really quite nice…

A line of collarbone like jade, half a stretch of skin like snow…

“Let! Go! Of! Me!” Someone’s voice was full of cold air, making listeners feel as if white mist was forming before their eyes.

Jing Hengbo was stunned.

“My god!” she said loudly. “I can’t even hit you, and you think I can pin you down? If you don’t want to get up, that’s your business, not mine!”

“…”

In an instant, the State Preceptor’s face turned blue.

And showed a tendency toward purple.

Everyone finally made a decision—to preserve the dignity of their superior, they should turn around and pretend they hadn’t seen anything!

“Whoosh.” With a sound, the State Preceptor, who had been mercilessly reminded of his situation, finally sent Her Majesty the Queen, who had taken enough advantage of him in public, flying away.

Jing Hengbo soared high but didn’t fall hard. When she landed, her body bounced and she landed right on the pile of skirt fabric she had cut off.

A large snow-colored cloak was thrown over, covering her legs.

Gong Yin’s voice sounded even colder.

“Please return to your carriage, Your Majesty! You are forbidden to leave even one step!”

…

“Forbidden to leave! Hmph, forbidden to leave!” Jing Hengbo rolled around angrily in the carriage. “I’ll go wherever I want and stay wherever I want. Stop putting on airs with me!”

The three women all kept silent—when dealing with Jing Hengbo, who didn’t play by the rules, keeping quiet was best.

But Jing Hengbo wouldn’t let them off, lying spread-eagle in the carriage, staring at the ceiling, suddenly saying mysteriously: “Tell me, why did he kill that child from the Glazed Glass tribe?”

Earlier, when rage had rushed to her head, she had instinctively judged that Gong Yin wanted to eliminate all those who might become her supporters. Now that she had calmed down somewhat, she began thinking about whether there were other possibilities. After all, Gong Yin had never been one to act recklessly, and she had never seen him kill people randomly.

Jing Hengbo’s greatest virtue was not getting stuck in dead ends. Of course, this was actually because she didn’t like to use her brain or torment herself. However, she hadn’t noticed that whenever she encountered matters related to Gong Yin, her mind worked more diligently.

A look of horror appeared on Jing Jun’s face as she shook her head and sighed: “I don’t know… that child… so pitiful…” Her eyes were already red as she spoke.

Jing Hengbo’s heart was in chaos and she didn’t want to talk to her, so she held her head.

“Why worry about so much?” Cui Jie spoke bluntly. “Men have men’s thoughts, and important people have even more complex thoughts. As for you, Da Bo, shouldn’t you restrain that temperament of yours? Though I think your personality is fine, Dahuang is different from Fenglai Qi after all.”

Jing Hengbo didn’t like hearing this, so she rolled her eyes and turned over.

“The State Preceptor isn’t one to kill indiscriminately,” unexpectedly, the usually quiet little girl Yong Xue spoke up, her voice thin: “Instead of asking us, Sister Da Bo, you might as well go ask the State Preceptor directly.”

This seemed to hit the mark, yet also seemed somewhat hard to accept. Jing Hengbo snorted, sat up, and looked outside. Dusk was falling, the convoy had returned to normal, and they were looking for a suitable place to camp, planning to enter the city tomorrow—the Queen couldn’t enter Dige at midnight.

Half of the black and white armies were patrolling and guarding in the distance, while the other half had reportedly gone to pursue those spies who had taken hostages. The remaining guards from the six kingdoms and eight tribes were gathered together, ostensibly protected but actually half-monitored by Gong Yin’s guards.

Everything seemed normal, but Jing Hengbo’s earlier strange feeling returned.

Where had the hostages gone?

How had the spies escaped pursuit by the large army?

When the hostages were taken away, it was precisely when she had angrily charged toward Gong Yin after seeing the Glazed Glass youth killed. Because of her rage, she hadn’t paid attention to the situation with the spies and hostages. How could someone like Gong Yin be negligent because of this?

Jing Hengbo got up and banged on the carriage door: “Hurry up and bring dinner! I’m hungry! I want to eat!”

Dinner was quickly brought. The guard delivering the food looked at the Queen with surprise and displeasure—the State Preceptor over there had just said he wouldn’t eat dinner, but this one had quite an appetite.

Jing Hengbo quickly finished eating, making a mess of her dress and spilling on the carpet during the meal. This gave Cui Jie, Jing Jun, and Yong Xue work to do—one went to wash dishes, one took the carpet out to dry, and one went to wash clothes.

Once the three of them left, Jing Hengbo called to Feifei, and with a flash, she disappeared.

After one flash, she was outside the camp, looking at the footprints and hoof marks on the ground.

After another flash, she saw the snow-white horse rumps of the Dragon Cavalry ahead.

Strangely, these should be the Dragon Cavalry pursuing the spies to rescue the hostages, bearing such an important mission, yet these people showed no signs of tension or urgency. They pointed at scenery with their whips, strolled leisurely, chatting and laughing all the way, as if going on a spring outing.

This undoubtedly added more evidence to Jing Hengbo’s suspicions.

These cavalrymen hadn’t sent out scouts to search everywhere. They seemed to have a clear target, heading straight along one road. Jing Hengbo saw there was only one road, so she simply made several teleports and moved directly to the front of their formation.

When she reached the destination and looked around, hey, sure enough there was a valley not far ahead with several dilapidated houses, seemingly an abandoned small mountain village. There were moving figures in the village, apparently quite a few people.

She looked and saw the distance was a bit far, with a large stretch of open ground ahead without cover. If she teleported short distances, she’d end up standing in the middle of the open area where people in the village would spot her immediately. Better to wait until it got completely dark.

Once it was completely dark, she would sneak into the village to see what game Gong Yin was playing!

There was a tree nearby—not very tall with a thin trunk, and soft grass beneath it. She lay down in the grass under the tree, preparing to have a comfortable nap first.

Just as she closed her eyes, something drifted onto her face, tickling. She opened her eyes and reached out to catch it—it was a green, broad leaf.

She stared at it blankly for a while, then casually threw it away, closed her eyes for three seconds, then suddenly sat up and carefully examined the tree.

She picked up the fallen leaf again and carefully examined the serrated edges.

“Ahahaha, found it!” Jing Hengbo’s eyes suddenly lit up as she laughed quietly, hugging the leaf and rolling around on the ground. “I thought the soil here wouldn’t have this kind of tree. Ahahaha, turns out there is one after all. Haha, now there are no problems whatsoever!”

Feifei squatted to one side, watching this suddenly crazy woman with bewilderment.

After celebrating for a while, Jing Hengbo carefully wrapped the leaf in cloth and tucked it into her bosom, then looked back.

The pursuing Dragon Cavalry had already found this place but hadn’t approached. Jing Hengbo could see their snow-white horse bodies appearing and disappearing in the distance. They didn’t look like they were here to pursue spies and rescue hostages, but rather like they were here for secret protection.

Jing Hengbo’s suspicions were increasingly confirmed.

Gong Yin had staged a play.

She just couldn’t guess what his fundamental purpose was for going to such trouble. But as long as Gong Yin was acting, it meant all of today’s events were in his early planning, so the possibility that the little guard was wrongfully killed was extremely small.

This made her feel somewhat disappointed but also somewhat relieved, and she let out a long sigh.

With nothing to do and her mood improved, she took out nail polish and began painting her nails. She arranged seven or eight small bottles in her lap, first selecting colors.

Feifei saw those colorful little bottles flashing with fluorescent light and his eyes lit up. He swooped down, grabbed a golden bottle, and ran.

“Hey hey, you little rascal, give it back!” Jing Hengbo tried to get it back. Feifei did a somersault and was already three zhang away, his big tail swishing as he disappeared.

“Little fool, it’s not even a gemstone.” Jing Hengbo muttered and let it go, turning her attention to the supremely important matter of color selection.

“Hmm, what color would be good? I’m wearing apricot yellow today. Should I match it with brown nail polish? Oh, that seems a bit old-fashioned. Or since I’m particularly pale today, how about purple? Contrasting colors, bright and vibrant…” Jing Hengbo gathered the pile of small bottles in her skirt, constantly comparing them.

“I think this gold-red would match better. Bright and warm, especially suitable for your temperament and red lips.” A voice suddenly suggested elegantly in her ear, as a slender, clean hand reached over, casually handing her a bottle of gold-red nail polish.

“You make a good point, this color looks nice…” Jing Hengbo took the nail polish, nodding with satisfaction, very naturally handing over another bottle of green nail polish. “But I think this one is also good. Yellow with green has a special bright, fresh feeling, like tender rapeseed flowers in spring fields.”

“What kind of flower is rapeseed? I haven’t seen it before, but it must be very beautiful.” The voice was gentle and refined, seeming never to contradict others, only offering gentle suggestions. “However, I think only Dahuang’s most brilliant golden hibiscus could compare to your beauty.”

“Ah, you’re such a smooth talker, and of course every word you say is correct.” Jing Hengbo beamed with joy. “Hey, how about this one? White! With a bit of gold sparkle! It would match my dress—so soft and noble.”

“This one is also good.” The other person examined it seriously, and under his smooth forehead one could see a high nose tip. “I can imagine it would be very round and natural once applied, perfectly integrated.”

He praised the beautiful color of the nail polish and also admiringly looked at Jing Hengbo’s equally beautiful nails. Though enthusiastic, his gaze contained no impropriety, only making one feel it was genuine appreciation.

“Yes, yes.” In this place overflowing with male chauvinism, encountering such an oddball who was very interested in discussing makeup with women, Jing Hengbo seemed very happy, smiling until her eyes became slits. “Or there’s another idea—paint every color, colorful like a rainbow. How pretty that would be!”

“Ah…” The newcomer also squinted his eyes, full of admiration for Jing Hengbo’s wonderful creativity. “Miss is truly too clever! This is really an excellent idea.”

“Right?” Jing Hengbo flashed a flirtatious look, smiling as she gathered up all the nail polish and put it aside, standing up casually. “Ah, sitting so long, my legs are sore…”

“Then let me help you.” That clean hand immediately and considerately reached over, supporting her arm.

Jing Hengbo’s body stiffened slightly, then she smiled radiantly again: “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” The other person was so gentle he seemed ready to drip water. “Doing what I can for the young lady is my blessing.”

“I didn’t expect Dahuang to have such a gentleman as you…” Jing Hengbo sighed in great praise. Standing steady, she gracefully extended her snow-white hands all the way to his face, blinking: “Then, would you help me apply nail polish?”

“Happy to oblige.” The gentleman answered in an extremely gentlemanly manner.

Jing Hengbo pointed her mouth toward the nail polish on the ground. “But my legs are sore and I can’t bend down. What should I do…”

Her red lips pouted, her eyes sparkling, part teasing and part small act of coquetry. A woman’s charm swayed as if about to overflow and drown the courteous man before her.

No man could resist this.

The gentleman indeed smiled: “Then I’ll pick them up for you.”

He bent down.

Jing Hengbo lifted her leg to run!

Just as her body swayed, her ankle suddenly tightened. She slowly looked down and saw the bending man holding small bottles of nail polish in one hand, but had one little finger touching her ankle.

With just this gentle touch, her teleportation failed.

“I’m kindly helping you pick things up, so please don’t teleport,” the man said gently.

The coquettishly smiling, charming Jing Hengbo instantly became fierce and menacing.

Damn it!

Where did this weirdo come from?

When he first appeared, she was scared half to death—one second before, she had looked around and there was no one!

Having barely calmed her pounding heart and pretended to chat with him casually for so long, it was because she couldn’t teleport while sitting and had to stand up first. After finding an excuse to stand up and about to run, he came to help her. Then when she tricked him into bending down to pick things up so she could run, he actually immobilized her.

Needless to say, he came prepared with ill intentions.

“Damn it!” Tearing off the sweet and charming mask, her willow eyebrows stood up: “Who are you? Who sent you? Is it Yelu Qi? What do you want to do?”

The man maintained his half-crouching position, good-naturedly picking up the nail polish that had rolled aside while smiling up at her.

Only now did Jing Hengbo clearly see his face.

A fairly handsome face, different from Yelu Qi’s charm and Gong Yin’s coldness. This face had soft lines without sharp angles, soft, slightly upturned lip lines that carried three parts gentleness and cheer even without smiling, and particularly large, round eyes, somewhat like a 3D manga male protagonist’s eyes, but without that sharp chin. His jaw was smooth and rounded, his skin warm with a faint red glow.

Strictly speaking, this person was nowhere near as stunning as the two great State Preceptors—he could only be considered relatively handsome among ordinary people. But he excelled in being approachable and pleasant, making one feel good about him at first sight. If the two great State Preceptors were really competing with him, ordinary women would more easily fall into his embrace. The reason was simple—the two State Preceptors were too beautiful, otherworldly, clearly hard to secure, so it was better to promote a backup option.

Of course, Jing Hengbo currently had no good feelings whatsoever—her ankle was still being held!

“No one sent me.” He also blinked. “I just wanted to meet our future Queen in advance.”

“You’ve met me now, so you can go.” Jing Hengbo didn’t want some random person causing complications. But considering his face was fairly easy on the eyes, her tone softened a bit.

“Oh, alright.” He actually agreed, somewhat reluctantly fiddling with the nail polish. “Could you give me one bottle of this stuff?”

To get rid of this pest, Jing Hengbo looked through the pile of nail polish with a pained heart, finally saying reluctantly: “That grass-green one, I’ll give it to you.”

That bottle was her least favorite, usually called “duck shit green.”

“Thank you so much.” The down-to-earth fellow wasn’t picky, happily tucking the bottle into his bosom.

“Go on, go on.” Jing Hengbo shooed him away again. She still needed to investigate the village.

“I have one small request.” The fellow smiled affably, so affably it was almost shy, holding up one little finger to show the request was really very small.

“Say it, say it.” Jing Hengbo just wanted him to get lost quickly.

“Would you come with me?” The fellow’s face suddenly flushed as he said somewhat bashfully: “Would you be my wife?”

“…”

Two seconds later, Jing Hengbo’s shriek pierced eardrums: “You’re tricking me again!”

“I’m not tricking you.” The man said somewhat aggrievedly. “I originally came to see you, to see if my master was right. I didn’t expect you to be even more fun than I imagined. If I don’t marry you, who will I marry?”

Jing Hengbo stopped roaring and propped her chin, looking at this fellow—was he sick? A fangirl? He looked pretty good though. Did he go around grabbing people to propose? Should she ask him to do a sexy dance to check out his figure?

“Look,” seeing she had stopped talking, the fellow became even more earnest, “how well we get along? In all of Dahuang, could you find another man with more common interests than me? Who else could discuss makeup and clothes with you in the future? I’m very good at all these things. Think about it—after we marry, man tills woman weaves, husband and wife in harmony. You do makeup and I paint eyebrows, you powder your face and I oil my hair. What a wonderful scene that would be!”

“Who’s going to till and weave with you? I’m a Queen—do I need to live like such a loser?” Jing Hengbo disdained. “When I stretch out my hand, plenty of people are waiting to apply nail polish for me!”

She sniffed, suddenly wondering whether Gong Yin was among those plenty of people. Was he? Wasn’t he? Was he? Wasn’t he…

“So this stuff is called nail polish.” The fellow said happily. After thinking, he gritted his teeth and, like a warrior cutting off his own arm, took the bottle of nail polish from his bosom and handed it over. “Since I’m proposing, I should show sincerity. Then this—consider it my betrothal gift!”