Qiao Zhao was caught off guard and pushed directly into the middle of the road, about to collide with someone.

Shao Mingyuan stopped his steps and sidestepped to avoid her.

For that brief moment, their gazes met.

Shao Mingyuan’s pair of deep black eyes flickered slightly.

He had seen this young girl that day—she had thrown a cactus ball at him.

In the crowd, Jiang Yuanchao withdrew the smile from his lips.

How had that interesting little girl ended up confronting Marquis Guanjun?

Qiao Zhao steadied herself, having become the focus of countless eyes.

In such a situation, any other young lady would have been overcome with shame and indignation, but Qiao Zhao didn’t mind these things.

She even took the opportunity to carefully observe Shao Mingyuan.

That person’s eyes were very black and very clear, like melted snow water from high mountains—crisp, transparent, and reaching straight to one’s heart.

Qiao Zhao thought she had been wrong before. Those whose hands were stained with blood weren’t necessarily intimidating—even a great demon who killed without blinking could still be gentle as water when facing those he protected.

“Won’t the corpse decay?” Under their mutual gaze, Qiao Zhao asked as if possessed by a ghost.

The young general was completely stunned.

He was much taller than the thirteen-year-old girl before him, looking down at her with his head slightly lowered, his eyes full of confusion.

Do young girls nowadays all consider questions so uniquely?

After asking her question, Qiao Zhao fully came to her senses. Under his silence, she coughed once and said with complete seriousness: “I was just curious, so I came over to ask—”

Countless young ladies in the crowd collectively rolled their eyes.

How shameless! General Shao, quickly scold this little wretch away!

But Shao Mingyuan smiled gently and answered Qiao Zhao’s question: “It won’t—there’s a thousand-year ice preserving it.”

This was the only thing he could do—preserve her appearance unchanged so her family could see her one last time.

Shao Mingyuan faintly felt the area beneath his ribs beginning to ache again. This was an injury from when he had gone to gather thousand-year ice after the battle and accidentally fell, hanging on a cliff’s sharp rocks. Unexpectedly invaded by the mountain’s cold poison, it had been slow to heal.

“Oh, that’s good then.” Thinking that her corpse hadn’t decayed, Qiao Zhao ultimately felt relieved and quickly slipped into the crowd.

Looking at the now-empty road, Shao Mingyuan: “…”

So that young girl had stopped him just to ask about corpse preservation?

Shao Mingyuan maintained his expression and continued forward.

Jiang Yuanchao, in the crowd, withdrew his gaze and let it fall on Qiao Zhao.

Compared to the uninteresting Marquis Guanjun, he found this little girl much more fascinating.

The divine physician’s adopted granddaughter?

He wondered whether that divine physician had spoken casually or was serious.

Qiao Zhao slipped back into the crowd. Having experienced being secretly plotted against just now, she no longer dared to let her mind wander and maintained full alertness.

She keenly sensed a gaze constantly focused on her. Looking sharply in that direction, she collided directly with Jiang Yuanchao’s eyes, which he hadn’t withdrawn in time.

In that instant, Qiao Zhao’s pupils contracted.

Was it him?

What a coincidence—another old acquaintance from Jia Feng.

One year when she had gone out to gather medicine for her grandfather, she had inadvertently encountered this person injured and casually given him some medicinal paste. Later, they had coincidentally met a few more times.

Speaking of it, she only knew he was called Shisan and still didn’t know his real name.

Jiang Yuanchao’s heart similarly stirred.

Setting aside that this little girl was far more perceptive than he had imagined, what was more interesting was the look in her eyes just now.

She recognized him!

As an excellent Jinlin Guard, Jiang Yuanchao instantly made this judgment.

He trusted that his intuition wouldn’t be wrong.

Just now, the little girl’s pupils had contracted slightly—this was the subtle expression change of unexpectedly seeing someone familiar. No matter how she disguised it afterward, the instant natural reaction couldn’t fool anyone.

This was truly extraordinary. How could a mere Hanlin’s daughter, whose only journey outside the Capital was due to being kidnapped and sold to the south, recognize him, a Jinlin Guard who had been away from the Capital for years?

Or perhaps he had been inadvertently seen by this girl during his journey north from Jia Feng?

For a moment, even Jiang Shisan, who usually handled affairs with great ease, was somewhat confused.

Qiao Zhao withdrew her gaze and immediately turned to leave.

She had already drawn enough attention (embarrassed herself) today—she couldn’t attract more notice.

Qiao Zhao had randomly dodged into the crowd earlier and was already separated from Li Jiǎo and the others. Since she didn’t bother searching for their location now, she simply turned around and headed back.

It would be more reliable to return to the grandmother’s carriage.

Seeing Qiao Zhao turn and leave, Jiang Yuanchao lifted his feet to follow.

She was just a harmless little girl, but having aroused his curiosity, he naturally needed to probe a bit.

People were all standing on both sides of the road, moving forward with the soldiers. After Qiao Zhao pushed through that stretch of road, she reached an open area and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief in the fresh air.

A shadow suddenly loomed ahead. She looked up to see a tall man standing before her—it was the person she had unexpectedly encountered just now.

“Little girl, have we met before?” Jiang Yuanchao crossed his arms over his chest and asked with a smile.

Qiao Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly.

This person had been paying attention to her long ago!

Though her clothing was plain, it wasn’t shabby. For a seemingly steady man to ask such a direct question meant he simply didn’t care.

Why didn’t he care? Of course, because he knew her background wasn’t significant enough to warrant his concern, so he could be so casual.

Her face bore neither her name nor surname, so his knowledge of her background couldn’t possibly be due to her just stopping Marquis Guanjun—he must have understood her situation long ago.

Given young miss Li Zhao’s social circle, there should be no intersection with this person. The only possibility was after being kidnapped.

Could it be that this person had also just traveled north to the Capital and noticed their group along the way? Wouldn’t that mean he knew about Chi Can and the others’ existence?

“Why isn’t the little girl speaking?”

“May I ask this uncle’s surname?”

Jiang Yuanchao’s smile froze at the corners of his mouth, and he unconsciously raised his hand to rub his nose.

Uncle? Was he really that old?

Or had staying away from the Capital’s wealth and comfort made his face too weather-beaten?

“My surname is Jiang.”

“So Uncle’s surname is Jiang—” Qiao Zhao’s mind raced.

He called himself Shisan, Jiang Shisan…

Qiao Zhao instantly thought of this person’s identity.

Surnamed Jiang, ranked thirteenth, and looking at his nosy, overly curious behavior, he was most likely one of the Thirteen Guardians under that Grand Commander Jiang.

So he was a Jinlin Guard.

Qiao Zhao felt quite pleased with herself.

All those days of pestering Father hadn’t been wasted—with her good memory, she already had a general understanding of the more important officials in the court.

In Father’s words, the emperor kept a mad dog that bit wherever pointed, and the mad dog kept thirteen puppies that loved crouching at people’s doorsteps to spy.

Cough, cough, she hadn’t dared listen to the end, finally deeply realizing why Father, with his third-place scholar talent, had been stuck in the Hanlin Academy compiling history for over a decade. If he were released, it would constantly be a rhythm of house raids and family extermination. She wondered how much silver the East Residence Earl’s family had given Father’s superior to make that superior willing to bear the bad reputation of giving his subordinates a hard time by keeping him from being transferred.

“Yes, my surname is Jiang.”

“Oh, never seen you before. Goodbye, Uncle.” Qiao Zhao turned and left.