Let's go find him.

After a half-hour break, suppressing the discomfort, unease, pain, and bitterness in my heart, I instructed Xiao Qing to pack her things and head to Beishan.

As the eldest sister, with Father gone, I must handle his funeral arrangements properly. As for whether it will implicate Ji Ruchen, I no longer care.

After three months of training day and night, I'm now considered a qualified spy. Perhaps I won't alert anyone. I secretly went to Beishan, secretly collected his ashes, and took him home.

Xiao Qing told me to go and rest first, as there was a curfew tonight and I couldn't leave the city. We would set off early tomorrow morning.

I thought about it and realized it was true. I was too impatient. Even if I didn't rest, Xiao Qing should have rested.

These days she has to collect intelligence from all sides to report to Ji Ruchen, and she also has to take care of me. It's been too hard for her.

I said, "Go to sleep, I'll go cook for you."

"real?"

She was somewhat surprised, then overjoyed, grabbing my hair and ruffling it wildly, making the previously heavy room suddenly feel much lighter.

Then she ran off like the wind, as if she was afraid I was going to beat her up.

I sighed, tidied my hair, composed myself, and went to the kitchen to cook for Xiaoqing.

After I started the fire and boiled the water, I realized that Xiao Qing usually cooks for me, but I've never cooked for her before, and I don't even know what she likes to eat.

Thinking that she was tired and it wouldn't be appropriate to disturb her sleep, I didn't go to ask her anything.

Suddenly I remembered that yesterday, the mother from Chenghualou gave me a lot of dumplings because she was worried I would go hungry. Perfect, let's have dumplings for dinner tonight.

It took me a full half hour to finish cooking the meal.

I went to the west wing to call Xiao Qing to eat, but to my surprise, she wasn't asleep. She was staring blankly at a jade hairpin, lost in thought.

Seeing me come in, they quickly put it away.

"Is the food ready? Let's go to the kitchen to eat. Let me see what kind of food our skillful young lady can make."

Before I could say anything, she pulled me outside, looking very happy, and even dared to tease me.

She knows best what my cooking looks like.

That's all I can do; it's enough to fill my stomach. I'm helpless when it comes to anything else. I'm just not a natural cook, but Ji Ruchen's cooking is top-notch. I haven't eaten here in a while, and I'm really craving it.

In the blink of an eye, we arrived at the kitchen.

Xiao Qing must have been really hungry. She ate three whole bowls of dumplings before she could finally put her chopsticks down. Satisfied, she wiped her mouth and quickly started clearing away the dishes.

Not only that, she even started humming a little tune and walked around the kitchen happily, which made me feel much better too.

……………………

The next morning, right when the curfew was lifted, Xiaoqing and I arrived at the North Gate and set off for Beishan.

It took us half a month to reach Guimenpo. The place was desolate. About seven miles from the center of the battlefield, we decided to rest for a while and wait until nightfall to take advantage of the darkness before continuing our mission.

Unexpectedly, Ji Ruchen arrived before evening.

He apologized to me and let me hit and scold him.

He said that as soon as he received the news, he led his men to provide support. Of the 5,000 soldiers, not a single one survived. When they were buried, Luo Qingyun's body was the only one they could not find.

Does that mean he's still alive, that he hasn't died? So I asked Ji Ruchen:

"Do you think he's still alive?"

I wanted to get a more definitive answer from him.