“I don’t need one,” Jian Yi shook his head casually.

“Why not?” Qiao Mu glanced sideways at the man beside her.

“I just don’t need one,” Jian Yi furrowed his brow slightly.

He was the same as always — never quite serious, yet you could never feel he was joking either.

Feng Jiu’er understood Great Hero Jian Yi’s character well enough — he really was rather endearing.

And it was precisely because of that, that she worried about him all the more.

Men, after all, always needed a woman by their side to remind them of things, so they wouldn’t easily fall into stubborn, narrow thinking.

And as for the woman who would be a match for Great Hero Jian Yi — where on earth could she be?

“You need one most of all!” Feng Jiu’er swept a glance over Jian Yi and said in a low voice as a reminder.

“Why?” Jian Yi looked at Feng Jiu’er, his expression turning a touch more serious. “Didn’t you say I do well enough? If you say I’m fine, that’s enough.”

Qiao Mu looked at Feng Jiu’er, then at Jian Yi, and said with a smile, “Do you really not like Jiu’er?”

Actually, Qiao Mu meant no harm by it — she simply found Jian Yi amusing.

“I like her,” Jian Yi said without the slightest hesitation.

Qiao Mu shot a glance at this fellow who clearly had no idea what he was even talking about, and didn’t say anything more.

How could she have forgotten — this fellow had once boldly declared he liked her too, except the meaning behind that “liking” seemed worlds apart from what the rest of them meant by it.

“Qiao Mu, are you just too bored?” Feng Jiu’er said flatly. “Why don’t you and Jian Yi pair up then? You two see each other every day anyway.”

“As for feelings, those things can develop slowly…”

“No!” Two different voices cut off Feng Jiu’er’s words at the same time.

Feng Jiu’er glanced sideways at the two of them, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly, and let the matter drop.

Her gaze landed on Tuoba Keyan, who had been silent the whole time, and her voice rang out again: “Keyan, talk a bit more. Don’t be such a sealed gourd.”

Tuoba Keyan met Feng Jiu’er’s gaze, his face showing no extra expression, and gave no response.

Looking at that face with its uncertain look, Feng Jiu’er’s lovely crescent brows knit together slightly.

“Keyan, what’s wrong with you?”

Only then did Tuoba Keyan snap back to his senses. He blinked, cleared his throat, and picked up his spoon to scoop up some porridge from his bowl.

“It’s nothing.” He shook his head and looked up at Feng Jiu’er. “How is my foster mother doing?”

“She’s fine, don’t worry,” Feng Jiu’er replied softly, pressing her lips together.

“That’s good to hear.” Tuoba Keyan returned Feng Jiu’er a faint smile before looking away.

“Miss Jiu’er, something’s wrong! Miss Jiu’er, something’s wrong!” Suddenly, a brother came running over from a distance.

“What’s happened?” Feng Jiu’er abruptly stood up and asked.

At this critical time, the slightest stir of trouble made her especially anxious.

“Miss Jiu’er, the brothers of the third squad have all shown signs of poisoning, I—”

Before the brother could finish speaking, Feng Jiu’er had already vanished from sight.

Jian Yi, Qiao Mu, and Tuoba Keyan immediately stood up too and rushed quickly toward the third squad.

Outside several tents of the third squad, many brothers were vomiting, and some had even collapsed weakly to the ground.

Feng Jiu’er’s brow furrowed. She pulled out three bottles of medicine pills and turned to hand them to the brothers who had caught up.

“Have all the brothers stop eating. Distribute these antidotes to the poisoned brothers.”

“Yes.”

“Understood, Miss Jiu’er.”

Several brothers took the order and turned to carry out the task.

“Qiao Mu and Keyan, find out who’s suspicious. Focus on outsiders first, but of course we can’t rule out the possibility that there’s a spy among our own.”

“Have the brothers seal off the entire war camp. No one is to enter or leave.”

“Alright.” Qiao Mu nodded.

Tuoba Keyan said nothing and turned to leave together with Qiao Mu.

“Jian Yi, come with me to check on the brothers’ condition. If anyone is poisoned too deeply, use internal energy to force the poison out of their bodies.”

“For those not too deeply poisoned, my antidote should be enough to clear it.”

“Mm.” Jian Yi wasted no more time and immediately joined the work of treating the brothers.

Fortunately, it had been caught in time. After about two hours, the brothers’ conditions had nearly all stabilized.

Outside the main tent, the physicians and their apprentices, over a dozen people in all, stood in a row, not even daring to lift their heads.

“Miss Jiu’er, the poison truly wasn’t administered by us.” A physician took a deep breath and stepped forward.

“We are all physicians from Crow Wood City. Even those of us not born there have at least lived in Crow Wood City for many years.”

“Young Master Nanmeng sent us to help treat the wounded soldiers of Miss Jiu’er’s army — how could we possibly dare to poison anyone?”

“Miss Jiu’er, please look into this clearly!” The physician glanced at Feng Jiu’er and clasped his hands in a bow.

“And your apprentices — have they also lived in Crow Wood City for a long time?” Feng Jiu’er looked at the people before her and asked flatly.

“Reporting to Miss Jiu’er.” The first apprentice on the left looked up at Feng Jiu’er. “I’m from Crow Wood City, born and raised.”

“Reporting to Miss Jiu’er.” The second apprentice’s voice rang out. “I’m also from Crow Wood City.”

“Miss Jiu’er.” The third apprentice spoke next. “I’m not from Crow Wood City, but I’ve lived here for nearly ten years now. I didn’t poison anyone.”

The fourth, fifth, and sixth apprentices all defended themselves in turn, but the last one kept their head lowered and didn’t dare speak.

“You there.” One of the brothers pointed at the last apprentice. “You’re the outsider. You’re the one who poisoned them, aren’t you?”

“It wasn’t me.” It was a woman’s voice — though the apprentice was dressed as a man — kneeling on the ground. “It wasn’t me, truly, it wasn’t me.”

After the apprentice knelt, the physician beside her knelt down as well.

“Miss Jiu’er, I had no knowledge of this matter. This apprentice — I only took her in last month, seeing that she was clever and quick to learn.”

“I know nothing of what she’s done. This truly has nothing to do with me, Miss Jiu’er, please look into it clearly!”

Feng Jiu’er swept her gaze over the line of people, then let it settle on the female apprentice dressed as a man.

“You. Come inside with me. The rest of you, go back to your duties.”

The female apprentice trembled as she stood up and followed Feng Jiu’er, stepping forward into the tent. The others, watching the two of them leave, didn’t dare move an inch.

“Jiu’er said for everyone to go back to work. Go on.” Xiao Yingtao looked at the crowd and waved her hand.

“Miss Jiu’er has never wrongly accused a good person, and of course she won’t let anyone who’s done wrong go unpunished either.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Yes.”

With the sudden mass poisoning among the brothers, the people here, being outsiders themselves, looked especially nervous.

Before everyone had managed to leave, the sound of a sword being drawn rang out — followed by a woman’s scream.

“It wasn’t me, Miss Jiu’er, it wasn’t me, spare my life!”

“If it wasn’t you, then who else could it be?”

After Miss Jiu’er’s voice rang out, another scream from the woman followed.

Everyone glanced toward the tent before finally turning to leave, urged on by Xiao Yingtao.