“General Shao?” Seeing Shao Mingyuan standing motionless at the doorway with rainwater sliding down his face, making his complexion appear even paler, Qiao Zhao was somewhat puzzled.

Her gaze moved downward to his hands. After careful examination, she was somewhat surprised. “Wild ginger?”

Wild ginger could be used medicinally to relieve cold pain in the waist and abdomen, and… it could also invigorate blood circulation and regulate menstruation.

Invigorate blood circulation and regulate menstruation!

Qiao Zhao was stunned.

So, which particular effect had prompted Shao Mingyuan to go out and gather wild ginger?

The usually composed Miss Qiao’s emotions became instantly complex and indescribable. Her apricot-like eyes fixed on the person standing at the doorway, thinking to herself: He shouldn’t understand such women’s matters, should he?

“Miss Li recognizes this?” After a brief silence, Shao Mingyuan strode inside. Glancing at the boiling rice porridge in the pot, he walked to the corner, bent down to scoop water to wash the wild ginger clean, and tossed it into the pot.

Qiao Zhao instinctively frowned. “It will taste very strange this way.”

“Mm, but it’s beneficial to consume. Please bear with it, Miss Li.” Shao Mingyuan stood beside the stove as water droplets fell onto the firewood with a sizzling sound.

Qiao Zhao moved aside. “General Shao, please dry your clothes.”

“Oh, thank you.” Thinking about his subordinate’s deed, Shao Mingyuan lost his previous ease. He sat down silently, pondering how to confess to her.

The sound of water droplets being dried by the fire continued incessantly, yet the two people by the stove fell silent.

Binglu felt the atmosphere was somewhat strange. She peered into the pot and said hesitantly, “The rice porridge should be ready, shouldn’t it?”

Shao Mingyuan snapped back to attention and nodded. “It’s ready.”

He turned to get bowls, but Binglu quickly said, “General Shao, please warm yourself by the fire. This servant will handle it.”

Binglu quickly ladled two bowls of rice porridge, handing one to Qiao Zhao and one to Shao Mingyuan. Then she served herself a bowl and, holding her porridge bowl, said, “Miss, General Shao, please warm yourselves by the fire. This servant will go watch those two villains to prevent them from escaping.”

Watching the little maid scurry away like a wisp of smoke, Qiao Zhao blinked.

Hadn’t those unfortunate hunters been knocked unconscious by Binglu? What was there to watch?

Shao Mingyuan, holding his porridge bowl, spoke up. “Did Binglu knock out those two hunters?”

Qiao Zhao was slightly startled, then nodded. “Yes.” After thinking, feeling that her personal maid’s violence seemed inappropriate, she explained to Binglu, “She was worried that if those two broke free from their ropes, I would be in danger.”

“They won’t.”

Qiao Zhao looked up at his voice and met his dark eyes, bright as if washed by water.

“I used a special technique to bind them. They won’t break free.”

Qiao Zhao smiled. “I know.”

The great Northern Campaign General, the invincible Marquis Guanjun—if even two hunters could escape from under his hands, he wouldn’t have survived to this day.

Shao Mingyuan smiled then.

He had always thought dealing with young women would be very difficult, but communicating with Miss Li seemed to pose no such problem.

Staring at the dancing flames for quite a while, Shao Mingyuan glanced at Qiao Zhao.

The young lady’s head was carelessly wrapped with cloth strips that appeared to be torn from her own clothing—hardly elegant at all—yet her expression remained calm and composed, her profile serene and beautiful.

Shao Mingyuan silently encouraged himself and tentatively asked, “Miss Li, when I mentioned that your carriage showed signs of deliberate damage—”

Qiao Zhao’s eyelashes trembled as she quietly waited for him to continue.

Being stared at by her made Shao Mingyuan somewhat embarrassed. The confession he had prepared changed at the last moment to: “Do you know who did it?”

“Me?” Qiao Zhao gently stirred the fire with the poker and shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“If you found out… what would you plan to do?”

Hearing this, Qiao Zhao waved the fire poker in her hand and chuckled. “Naturally, I’d make them pay. Otherwise, if we repay malice with virtue, how shall we repay virtue?”

Seeing no response from Shao Mingyuan, Qiao Zhao looked at him. “General Shao, don’t you agree?”

Someone who had led troops in battle for years shouldn’t be soft-hearted. Why would he need to ask such a question?

“Hehe.” The young general laughed dryly.

So if he confessed now, would Miss Li greet him with this fire poker?

Qiao Zhao, being perceptive, quickly noticed that Shao Mingyuan seemed somewhat different after his trip outside. After pondering for a moment, she asked, “General Shao, could it be that you know some clues?”

Otherwise, why would he bring this matter up again? It couldn’t be that he was helping her find the culprit to teach the mastermind a lesson for her, could it? That would be far too enthusiastic of him.

Unless—

Qiao Zhao suddenly thought of a possibility, and her expression immediately darkened.

This bastard—could it be that before her bones were even cold, he had already set his sights on another young lady?

Glancing at Shao Mingyuan’s white robe, now so stained its original color was unrecognizable, Qiao Zhao felt deeply troubled.

Although she had now become Li Zhao and they were no longer connected, seeing her former husband unable to wait even a year before pursuing young ladies still gave her the urge to hit him with the fire poker.

The chill emanating from the young lady made Shao Mingyuan quickly move further away. With a serious expression, he said, “Miss Li, I very likely saw incorrectly.”

He would rather go back and properly discipline that brat and try to look after Miss Li in the future than confess to such a frightening Miss Li!

“Hehe, General Shao needn’t comfort me.” Qiao Zhao became even more convinced that something was wrong and said coldly, “General Shao, please don’t treat me like a timid young lady. Rather than knowing nothing, I’d prefer to know who schemed against me from behind so I won’t fall for such tricks again in the future.”

Shao Mingyuan: “…” This young lady was so difficult to appease! He began hesitating again between confessing and holding out.

Qiao Zhao glanced at him and said indifferently, “Actually, regarding whoever damaged my carriage, I have some vague suspicions.”

“Eh?” Shao Mingyuan’s eyes flickered.

“The possibility that the carriage had problems when going to Dafu Temple is unlikely—otherwise it might have broken down earlier and would have been easily discovered by the coachman. I suspect the most likely scenario is that while the coachman was waiting for me outside the temple, someone took advantage of his inattention to damage the shaft. Therefore, whoever did this was most likely a worshipper who went to Dafu Temple today.” Qiao Zhao analyzed at a leisurely pace. “Princess’s carriage encountered trouble midway and took my carriage, proving they didn’t know about the carriage’s problems, which rules them out. Today wasn’t any special day, and with the bad weather, there shouldn’t have been too many worshippers going to Dafu Temple. So if I go back and inquire, I might be able to discover some clues.”

Someone instantly made his decision: He’d better confess!

“Miss Li—” Shao Mingyuan called out.

Qiao Zhao set down the fire poker and gently rubbed her wrist. “Mm?”

“Actually… your carriage was damaged by my subordinate…”

Qiao Zhao instinctively picked up the fire poker again.

What was going on? Shao Mingyuan first told her the carriage had been deliberately damaged, and now he was telling her it had been damaged by his subordinate. So, could she understand this to mean this bastard was making conversation to flirt with young ladies?