Tang Xiaohua very much wanted to roll her eyes. This foolish young man — had she ever said she wasn’t at ease with him?

It was her own daughter she wasn’t at ease with.

After Feng Yinan finished speaking, Tang Xiaohua withdrew her gaze and looked at Yue Qinchun.

“Do you hear that? Your mother doesn’t want to see you disappointed again.”

“Go back with your father. It’s only the Yue Family Army’s camp — not back to Yue City. If you can behave, we won’t send you home for now.”

“Qinchun, you are your mother’s child. You can understand what I’m saying, can’t you?”

Yue Qinchun looked at Tang Xiaohua, then at Feng Yinan, and finally lowered her head and nodded.

“Alright, Mother. When Father is ready to leave, have him come find me. I’ll pack up myself.”

She left with those words and walked away without lifting her head.

She was certain of one thing in this world: only a mother would never truly harm her own child.

And Feng-gege had kept insisting he only saw her as a younger sister. Was she supposed to keep pretending not to understand?

Yue Qinchun truly did not want to leave this family they had formed together. She felt she had so much to do here, so much to learn.

But her mother was right. There was a battle ahead, and she could not keep staying here, relying on everyone else’s protection.

Yue Qinchun went into her room. Tang Xiaohua glanced at Feng Yinan once more, then turned and followed.

The door closed. Feng Yinan stood where he was for a long moment before finally turning and walking away.

With Qinchun’s mother here now, she would be safe.

Half an hour later, Yue Jianfei, with Yue Qinchun and the Yue Family Army soldiers who had accompanied them, left the camp.

Right up until their departure, Yue Qinchun had not managed to catch even a glimpse of Feng Yinan again. It would be untrue to say that didn’t hurt.

But she still put on a composed face and said her goodbyes to Feng Jiu’er, Xiao Yingtao, and the others one by one.

After Yue Jianfei’s departure, Long Yi also took several of his brothers and made for the Longqi Army’s camp.

Feng Jiu’er never liked to waste time. After treating several of the more seriously wounded brothers, she took her people and set out.

Those departing together, besides Feng Jiu’er herself, were Tang Xiaohua and Jian Yi, along with Yu Jingfeng, who had returned by then.

Di Wuya had left Yu Jingfeng behind to guard Feng Jiu’er, so he had not departed with the others — he had simply gone out earlier that morning to attend to some matters.

Lei Family Town was surrounded by mountains on three sides and bordered the river on one side. It was said to be a place of exceptional geomantic fortune.

Whether or not that was truly the case, Feng Jiu’er had no spare time to dwell on it. What mattered most now was how to take this place with the fewest losses possible.

They had already taken the greater part of Li City — what was one more town?

Feng Jiu’er had calculated that from the westernmost point one all the way to the easternmost point four, traveling at full gallop would take two days.

But finding a breakthrough point was not something they could do simply by riding through. They would need to stop and examine each location carefully.

The camp was currently positioned between point one and point two. Feng Jiu’er planned to head to point one first and regroup with Zhao Yusheng and the others.

Two hours later, the two groups met on a mountaintop.

“Jiu’er.” Zhao Yusheng came up behind Feng Jiu’er as she stood beside a large boulder.

“The brothers who arrived earliest have now been lying in ambush here for a full six hours. Nothing out of the ordinary has been spotted yet.”

Feng Jiu’er raised her spyglass and swept it across the village spread out below before finally lowering it.

“This is merely a village, yet look how prosperous it is.”

“Lei Family Town has more than ten villages, and none of them resemble the villages we know,” Zhao Yusheng said, his gaze also falling on the settlement below.

“Their township is wealthy, and so are their villages — without exception.”

“Lei Family Town…Lei Family Town’s center lies close to the Song River. And this spot right here is even more prosperous.”

“The common people of Li City cry of hardship, while Lei Shenbao has long been draining them dry through various means to supply this ancestral homeland of his.”

“I hadn’t expected Lei Shenbao to have prepared something like this as well.” Feng Jiu’er narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Jiu’er, you mean…” Zhao Yusheng withdrew his gaze and looked at her.

“He doesn’t live in Lei Family Town, and the people here don’t know what kind of man he truly is. Even if they’ve heard something, it’s only hearsay,” Feng Jiu’er explained.

“On top of that, Lei Shenbao has genuinely provided a comfortable life for everyone here. They must hold him in very high regard.”

“He built this place primarily as a final retreat for himself — and hasn’t that purpose now proven itself?”

Zhao Yusheng nodded. “True.”

“This place is naturally defensible and difficult to attack. If the people inside don’t cooperate, taking it becomes even harder.”

“Our previous campaigns went so smoothly in no small part because of the common people — those who despised Lei Shenbao’s rule naturally refused to do anything on his behalf.”

“So, Jiu’er, even if we manage to fight our way in, we’ll still be in a very precarious situation. Is that right?”

“Yes.” Feng Jiu’er let out a quiet sigh.

“Whether it’s our Dragon Shadows, the Yue Family Army, or even the Longqi Army soldiers — it would be very difficult for any of them to raise a hand against unarmed old men, women, and children.”

“And yet, who knows whether these seemingly helpless people might suddenly drive a knife into your back.”

“In that case, we can simply give the order that all soldiers must not overlook a single person inside,” Zhao Yusheng said, his low voice measured and steady.

“If Lei Shenbao insists on exploiting that weakness in our soldiers, then we steel ourselves and cut down every last one of the Lei name.”

Feng Jiu’er said nothing more. She raised the spyglass again and looked out into the distance.

War was no child’s play. When the moment came, extraordinary measures would be necessary.

Zhao Yusheng wasn’t wrong. She was simply worried — about the Dragon Shadows, and especially about the brothers who had followed her all this time.

She was not like Ninth Imperial Uncle. When it came to making decisions, she still wavered.

And those who followed her would inevitably be affected to varying degrees.

Sometimes, that damnable compassion was absolutely lethal.

Feng Jiu’er felt she needed to work on herself in that regard.

Seeing that Feng Jiu’er had gone quiet, Zhao Yusheng fell silent as well and raised his own spyglass.

Jian Yi stood motionless not far from Feng Jiu’er, his gaze never leaving her.

Yu Jingfeng had been accompanying Tang Xiaohua on the other side, and as she turned back, he followed her toward Feng Jiu’er.

Sensing their approach, Feng Jiu’er lowered the spyglass and turned to look at Tang Xiaohua.

“Hua-jie, anything unusual?”

“Nothing that looks out of place.” Tang Xiaohua shook her head.

“I recall that going in from here, you have to pass through five villages and cross two rivers before reaching the town center. That’s not an ideal route for a coordinated assault.”

“How so?” Feng Jiu’er had almost already guessed what Tang Xiaohua was going to say.

“Haven’t you seen it — even the villages here are prosperous?” Tang Xiaohua shook her head.

“Going in to disrupt the comfortable lives of those people — do you think that’ll be easy?”

“Mm.” The faintest arc curved at the corner of Feng Jiu’er’s lips, and she nodded.

As expected — Hua-jie’s thoughts aligned perfectly with her own.

“Easy or not, we still have to fight.” She shifted her gaze, raised the spyglass again, and looked out into the distance.

“Lei Shenbao is only the first step. If we want prosperity, how can it belong only to those with the surname Lei?”