Chapter 36 "Who is it that has captured my heart?"...

The guards of the Swift Feather Camp felt that Princess Qingping, or perhaps now she should be called the Crown Princess, had been visiting the Swift Feather Camp more frequently lately.

Sometimes they come once at noon, sometimes once in the evening, and sometimes both at noon and in the evening.

The Crown Princess is truly devoted to the Crown Prince, but why is it that just a few days after their marriage, the Crown Prince has started spending every night in the military camp? Could it be that he still hasn't given up on the idea of ​​divorce?

It seems that His Highness's resolve in matters of the heart is as unwavering as his pursuit of the Northern Barbarians. It's a pity that such a noble and beautiful princess would give her heart to the wrong person...

It's truly pitiful and lamentable.

The guard watched Feng Mian enter the military camp for the fifth time. His face remained as serious as ever, but his mind was racing with gossip. He only regretted that he was on duty and could not chat with his colleagues.

"Here we go again? Is this time bringing snacks, fruit, or tea?"

Baili Xunzhou hadn't returned to the Prince's Mansion for the past few days. Since his wedding night, he had insisted on sleeping in the same bed with Feng Mian for two days. He seemed to be asleep, but in reality, he was always half-asleep and half-awake. Listening to the soft breathing of another person beside him, his heart was always restless and he couldn't sleep soundly. He felt very awkward.

He figured the princess hadn't asked him to come back to the manor every day like she had invited him to hold her hand, so it would be more comfortable for him to stay in the camp. It would also prevent him from constantly going to the manor and causing the princess to misunderstand.

Unexpectedly, while he took the initiative to distance himself from the situation, the princess came to the military camp every day to report for duty.

"What exactly does she mean?" In his nineteen years of life, Baili Xunzhou had never been pursued by a woman to the military camp every day to "show his affection." The string in his mind that had not been moved for years was finally gently plucked at this moment.

He frowned slightly, turned to look at Yao Zhiyuan below, and asked uncertainly, "Could it be that she has really fallen for me?"

He felt a little embarrassed to say this, and shifted restlessly as if a hedgehog was sitting on him, his gaze fixed on Yao Zhiyuan, unsure whether he was hoping to hear agreement or disagreement.

Yao Zhiyuan was slowly enjoying a piece of exquisite tea cake that the princess had sent him yesterday.

The small food box that the princess sent yesterday contained only four pieces of emerald green tea cake. He had planned to eat one piece a day, but now there was only one piece left in the food box in front of him.

Plans really can't keep up with changes.

He thought to himself with a sense of regret, but gave Baili Xunzhou a nonchalant look and answered his question with a half-hearted expression: "Do you have it? If the young master has it, I have it too."

Yao Zhiyuan shook the half-eaten tea cake in his hand and said confidently, "Your Highness is overthinking it. In my opinion, the princess's actions are just like the previous shop discounts and instant soup noodles, using a little benefit to win people's hearts."

"The Crown Prince is now the Princess's husband, and the Northern Frontier is the territory of the Prince of Dingbei. The Princess can't afford to make enemies with the Crown Prince, can she?"

He tried to express the meaning of "You're mistaken, the princess doesn't like you" in a more tactful way, but the words that came out were still extremely blunt and unpleasant to hear.

Baili Xunzhou fluttered his ears and snorted inwardly: In your opinion, what can you see besides food?

You received a share of everything the princess sent; isn't that all thanks to me, the young master?

Baili Xunzhou didn't say what was on his mind. He just stared at Yao Zhiyuan expressionlessly and said in a hard voice, "If it's something to win people's hearts, then don't eat it."

Yao Zhiyuan immediately swallowed the last bite of pastry like a hamster, then took a sip of tea to catch his breath before slowly saying, "Your subordinate has been bribed."

Baili Xunzhou: ?

He then saw Yao Zhiyuan slowly rise, straighten her sleeves, turn towards the door, puff out her chest and raise her head, a warm smile on her face. As her light blue skirt, which had faded after the rain, crossed the threshold, she raised her hand to greet him, her demeanor so respectful that she seemed like a completely different person. "Greetings, Princess."

Baili Xunzhou: ...

I was so busy getting angry with Yao Zhiyuan that I completely missed the footsteps that were so close. That was a real blunder.

Today, Feng Mian wore a crimson floral cross-collar short jacket paired with a gradient sky-blue three-pleated skirt. She stood in the drab room with a gentle smile, as if even the light of day had become brighter.

She smiled and nodded to Yao Zhiyuan in greeting, "Lord Yao, I'm sorry to bother you again."

"I was just thinking of finding an opportunity to pay my respects to the Princess today." Yao Zhiyuan said, picking up several stacks of papers from the table and handing them to Wu Liu behind Feng Mian. He then reported to Feng Mian, "The documents related to the buying and selling of people from other places in Yunzhong County over the past five years are all here."

"Princess, rest assured, I found another excuse to secretly obtain the documents. No one in the Yunzhong County government knows what I obtained, so I don't think I'll alert them."

Baili Xunzhou: ? I don't know when you went to transfer these things.

When did Yao Zhiyuan ever surpass him to act as the county magistrate?

What is the princess planning to do with these documents?

What kind of grass did you cut? What snake are you afraid of startling?

His most trusted strategist and the nominal Crown Princess were actually keeping it from him.

Baili Xunzhou's gaze, filled with surprise and uncertainty, darted back and forth between the two of them. As if he could hear the sound of a heart breaking, he was momentarily speechless, his mind filled with questions, yet he couldn't utter a single word.

Perhaps Baili Xunzhou's gaze was too obvious, because Feng Mian saw the shock and confusion on his face and knew what he wanted to ask. She took the initiative to explain, "I saw that the young master has been so busy staying in the military camp lately that I didn't tell you about this."

There were already a lot of troublesome things waiting to be solved in the military camp, and Feng Mian thought he could handle them himself, so he didn't specifically ask him about it.

However, to bypass the officials of the prefecture who were all suspects, obtain documents related to the suspicious buying and selling of people in recent years, and find out exactly how many people in Yunzhong Prefecture had been trafficked, and whether it was the same group of people who did it, Feng Mian thought that he could only ask Yao Zhiyuan for help.

"Fortunately, Lord Yao doesn't seem as busy as the young master, and he agreed immediately. It only took two days to get everything." Feng Mian then praised Yao Zhiyuan, "Lord Yao is truly decisive."

Yao Zhiyuan waved his hand, "Speed ​​is of the essence in war; delay can lead to unforeseen circumstances. I have also trained myself by following the Crown Prince on military campaigns for many years."

Baili Xunzhou had nothing to say after hearing Feng Mian's explanation. After all, he was the one who had free time but didn't go home. He couldn't blame others for being too "considerate" and not taking the initiative to cause him trouble, could he?

He was furious when he heard Feng Mian talk about the abduction. He and his father were out fighting the enemy, not giving these villains a chance to harm the people of Dayong!

As a child, he had also suffered a mishap when he tried to save someone, only to be kidnapped and sold into slavery for a time, enduring considerable hardship. Therefore, he knew how ruthless and cunning these people were, and felt that there was no time to lose, so he immediately said, "The Northern Barbarians have been relatively well-behaved lately, so I can still help with this matter."

“Now that we have the suspect’s sketches, I can have my personal guards secretly watch over the city gates. Even if they’re not in Yunzhong County right now, since they’re repeat offenders, they’ll always come back to do business.”

Baili Xunzhou gritted his teeth secretly, determined to make the people suffer a fate worse than death once they were caught, and see who would dare to defy the law again!

He quickly opened the map behind him and circled a few places for Feng Mian to see. "There are several sparsely populated mountain ranges around Yunzhong County. When these kidnappers move between towns, they generally do not risk settling in towns, especially Yunzhong County."

"From what you've said, it seems that some officials are colluding with them, but after all, the Prince of Dingbei's mansion is still in Yunzhong County. They might dare to bring one or two people in to make a deal, but they wouldn't dare to stay here for long."

"So they are likely to hide at the foot of the mountain. The terrain of the northern Xinjiang mountains is very complex, and it would be very difficult for the abducted children to escape on their own once they enter the mountains."

Feng Mian agreed wholeheartedly and nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll have someone send the portrait over a little later tonight."

After saying that, she suddenly walked towards Baili Xunzhou. Baili Xunzhou was startled. She took out a small sachet the size of a palm from her sleeve. A very faint and elegant fragrance spread with her movement and wafted into Baili Xunzhou's nose.

Feng Mian held one end of the sachet in each hand and showed the embroidery pattern on the sachet to Baili Xunzhou. "I embroidered it. Isn't it pretty?"

She looked up, expectantly watching Baili Xunzhou's reaction.

The indigo sachet is embroidered with a giant warship, the stitches are fine and the colors are bright, the miniature warship looks particularly majestic and imposing.

Under her intense gaze, Baili Xunzhou couldn't utter a word of "no," especially since the embroidery on the warship was indeed beautiful. He immediately nodded in affirmation: "Beautiful."

Having said that, a smile that could melt ice and snow appeared on the face of the girl who was even more beautiful than the embroidery pattern.

"Then I'll give it to you."

While Baili Xunzhou was still stunned, he felt his leather belt being hooked, and Feng Mian reached out to tie the sachet to his belt.

“I specially chose the embroidery pattern with your name on it, and I also mixed the fragrance myself. I think it suits you quite well.”

"I hope you like it too."

She finished tying the sachet as she spoke, tilted her head back and winked at him, making Baili Xunzhou's heart skip a beat. He couldn't even refuse, his head seemed a little dizzy from smelling the fragrance, and he could only stammer, "Um, thank you."

Feng Mian smiled and took two steps back. "Then the places outside the city will be handed over to the young master. In the next few days, I will secretly check the documents that Lord Yao has transferred to see how many of them were trafficked here. I will try my best to find out everything as soon as possible and send them home as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Baili Xunzhou nodded solemnly. After watching Feng Mian and the others leave, he stepped out and passed Yao Zhiyuan, then suddenly flicked the sachet at his waist.

"I have this, do you have it?"

Yao Zhiyuan: ...

As Yao Zhiyuan watched Baili Xun's boat sail away, a hint of confusion appeared on his usually calm face: "Why are you so concerned about this? Who is it that you're actually interested in?"

*

Ever since receiving the documents from Yao Zhiyuan, Feng Mian had been holed up in his room reading them. He didn't want to sleep at night and stayed up for two extra hours. When he woke up the next day, he caught a cold and his nose was stuffy.

Startled, Wu Liu and Liu Ying quickly confiscated the pile of documents, brought over a bowl of medicine, and ordered Feng Mian to drink the medicine and rest for a day.

"If the princess acts impulsively and exhausts herself, how long will it take for her to recover? And when will these abducted children be able to be rescued by the princess?"

Feng Mian couldn't refuse and had to rest. When she woke up again, the sun was already setting, and she heard Wu Liu say that His Highness the Crown Prince had sent someone to say that he would return to the manor that night and had something important to tell her.

But she waited and waited, until the lanterns were hung in the courtyard and it was completely dark, but she still hadn't heard the sound of the prince's horse returning home.

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Author's Note: I managed to squeeze out a little something from Ah Jin, so I can send red envelopes to the readers who leave comments below! [Sunglasses] Enough for five people! [Sprinkling flowers]