Northern Expedition General Shao Mingyuan was the hot topic in the capital and surrounding areas recently. As soon as someone mentioned him, the atmosphere immediately became lively.

“Tsk tsk, General Shao is truly remarkable. He was enfeoffed as Marquis Guanjun when he was only just over twenty.”

“What’s so strange about that? General Shao is a military star descended from heaven. When he was only fourteen, he was already fighting north and south for Old General Shao. Now he’s recovered Yan City for our Great Liang and made tremendous contributions. Being enfeoffed as Marquis Guanjun is well-deserved!”

Amid a cacophony of discussions, someone suddenly sighed deeply: “General Shao truly had it hard serving the country and people. Have you heard? At that time, the northern barbarians captured General Shao’s wife and threatened General Shao to retreat!”

Physician Li, who was just passing the time, suddenly gripped his teacup tightly.

Qiao Zhao remained unmoved, took out her handkerchief to wipe the corner of her mouth, picked up her teacup, and took a shallow sip.

“Ah, did he retreat?” Those who came from the south hadn’t heard about this matter yet and couldn’t help but become nervous.

General Shao’s deeds had already been mentioned countless times, but being able to tell these people again at this moment, the speaker was very proud: “Of course he couldn’t retreat! Back then, when the Qi people seized our Yan City, that was utterly unconscionable—they massacred the entire city, not even sparing babies in swaddling clothes! Later, relying on Yan City’s geographical position, they beat our Great Liang army speechless. Over all these years, how much have the people at the northern border suffered? Finally having a chance to recover Yan City, do you think General Shao could retreat?”

“No, no, absolutely not!” The listeners all shook their heads in unison.

Great Liang had always considered itself the supreme kingdom, and all citizens took pride in being subjects of Great Liang. Losing Yan City was like a heavy slap across all the Great Liang people’s faces. Day by day, it became a wound in their hearts—whenever they thought of it, they felt both pain and annoyance, losing face completely.

“Then what could General Shao do?”

That person tilted his head back and drained his tea, his eyes filled with fanatical admiration: “Before those barbarians could finish speaking, General Shao drew his bow and shot his wife dead with an arrow, leaving them with nothing left to threaten him with. The troops’ morale was greatly boosted!”

“Hiss—” Sharp intakes of breath rose one after another.

A teacup fell to the ground, shattering into pieces, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.

Imperial Physician Li’s face was dark, his snow-white beard trembling as he asked: “General Shao killed his wife?”

“Yes, don’t you think General Shao had it hard, too? Sigh, General Shao sacrificed too much for our Great Liang—”

“Hard my ass!” Physician Li suddenly stood up and began cursing loudly.

Qiao Zhao nearly choked on her tea and covered her mouth with her handkerchief, coughing lightly.

“Hey, old man, how can you talk like that?” Hearing this old fellow dare to curse General Shao, everyone was greatly displeased.

Physician Li paid no attention to these people’s attitudes at all, saying angrily: “You all say he had it hard, but what about his wife? Who thought about how miserably she died? Hmph, I think that brat was just incompetent, which is why his wife got captured by the Qi people—”

Before he could finish, meat buns, teacups, and other objects flew toward Physician Li, among which was even a worn straw shoe!

Qiao Zhao, who had anticipated the consequences, grabbed Physician Li and ran. Several guards, afraid of drawing attention, didn’t dare do anything to these ordinary people and could only step forward to shield the old physician from this wave of attacks.

It wasn’t until their group had fled back to their carriage in embarrassment that the people in the tea shed gradually calmed their anger and continued discussing the previous topic.

Standing under a white poplar tree not far from the tea shed, Jiang Yuanchao’s gaze followed the departing carriage, his thin lips pressed tightly together, his eyes profound.

So, she was dead.

Jiang Yuanchao looked up at the clouds on the northern horizon and sighed softly.

He had thought that a young lady like her, whether she married or not, would surely live her life contentedly. He never expected such an ending.

If he had known this would happen—

Jiang Yuanchao didn’t continue that thought, but a dull ache gradually fermented in his heart. The pain wasn’t sharp, but it seemed to have weight, pressing down until even his breathing became painful.

Shallow and faint, yet no matter how he usually talked and laughed freely with deep thoughts, it still lingered persistently.

“My lord—” The young man standing beside Jiang Yuanchao couldn’t help but call out.

Was it his imagination? He felt that his lord was very sorrowful, which was simply terrifying.

Jiang Yuanchao came back to his senses, a light smile hanging at the corner of his mouth: “Let’s go.”

In the carriage, Physician Li shook off Qiao Zhao’s hand, his face full of anger: “Dead girl, why did you drag me away? I hadn’t had time to administer poison yet!”

He should have drugged that bunch of blind fools and made them have diarrhea every day!

Physician Li’s voice wasn’t quiet, and the several guards outside the carriage instinctively shrank their necks.

Following the divine physician around, life was too difficult—they had to constantly worry about being drugged by the divine physician, worry about the divine physician constantly drugging others, and worry about how to clean up the messes caused by the divine physician’s mouth.

The guards, who had been vigorous when leaving the capital but returned thin as monkeys, thought silently.

“Why should Grandfather Li bother with them?” The carriage was arranged very comfortably. Qiao Zhao leaned against an ink-colored cushion, smiling faintly, completely without the self-awareness that she was General Shao’s unfortunate wife.

“Who told them to be foul-mouthed!” Physician Li became angrier the more he thought about it. “Not only foul-mouthed, but stupid too! As the saying goes: ‘Promotion, wealth, and dead wife!’ How is that Shao brat having it hard? Just wait and see—when he returns to the capital, he might transform into a prince consort. Then who will remember—”

At this point, Physician Li could no longer continue speaking. He leaned against the carriage wall, gasping for breath, his eyes gradually becoming moist.

How could he not care? That was a child he had watched grow up from small.

He was a physician who had long grown accustomed to birth, aging, sickness, and death at his age, but that girl was different.

She was so intelligent, understanding everything at once. With such intelligence, she could still settle her heart and serve her grandfather wholeheartedly, not hesitating to delay her prime years by marrying late. And after her grandfather passed away, she could grieve without being overwhelmed, even turning around to comfort him.

Such a good girl—how could that little bastard, how could he bear to shoot her dead with an arrow?

“I wonder how good that bastard’s archery is, whether he shot accurately or not?” In his grief and anger, Physician Li unconsciously voiced his doubts.

Qiao Zhao felt both heartbroken and amused hearing this. She understood what Physician Li meant by these words. Unable to bear seeing him too sad, she answered: “Very accurate. Right through the heart, killed with one arrow. She didn’t feel much pain.”

Physician Li suddenly came to his senses: “I said that out loud?”

Qiao Zhao nodded: “Mm.”

Physician Li stared intently at Qiao Zhao: “How do you know it didn’t hurt?”

Qiao Zhao explained without changing expression: “Think about it, Grandfather—what kind of person is General Shao? He’s been on battlefields since he was fourteen with rarely any defeats. Could his archery be poor? Furthermore, that was after all his… wife. If he couldn’t even do this much and let his wife suffer more, wouldn’t that be too unkind?”

Mm, thinking of it this way, he truly was a kind husband.

Qiao Zhao nearly made herself laugh with anger at her thoughts.