I long for it, I yearn for it until my eyes are dry and my heart is weary.

Zhu Liji, having suffered a setback at Zhiwei's hands, turned around and ran into Jiang Tan, who was all smiles, as he left the tent.

"My lord." Jiang Qin could no longer maintain his composure.

His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, and Zhu Liji snorted coldly, "Pathetic."

"There are still people who won't accept your good intentions." Jiang Qin narrowed his eyes. "You didn't expect that, did you? You want to promote someone, but they insist on staying in the kitchen. It was the same last time in Lingnan. We waited for many days, but no one came to visit. We were really looking forward to it."

Aside from matters of the heart, Jiang Qin rarely saw Zhu Liji so attentive. His occasional miscalculations even had a unique charm, and he even found himself teasing him a bit: "Why did you choose Miss Yan?"

“It feels like it will be very useful.” Zhu Liji paused. “She is the kind of person who will not waver once she has made up her mind.” To him, although such a person is difficult to tame, the loyalty he would cultivate as a confidant would be the highest.

Jiang Qin nodded, as if he had thought it over carefully, and agreed, "Indeed, Miss Yan is very suitable to be entrusted with this task."

Especially considering the entire military camp: danger lurks everywhere, and it's hard to distinguish friend from foe. If a threat were to arise, aside from him and Li Mingjing, Zhiwei would be the best person to trust.

Loyal, resourceful, and responsible, Jiang Qin commented.

"Speaking of which, it seems that Miss Yan no longer uses her surname when she is out in public. There must be some hidden reason for this."

“No one would venture into a dangerous forest without a reason,” Zhu Liji recalled. “They probably offended someone they shouldn’t have.”

"But if she comes with me, no one will care what she calls herself."

Why should we hide our identities like this?

"It's a pity she doesn't know what's good for her." Zhu Liji saw the admiration in Jiang Qin's eyes. "Even a hopeless case can be taught a lesson."

Zhu Liji was unwilling to discuss the troubling topic any further and instead inquired about the aftermath of the poisoning incident.

Jiang Qin was in charge of the interrogation. When the conversation turned to business, he also composed himself: "The same group that had been secretly following us during the Lingnan inspection was the same group. They were all former subordinates sent by the Crown Prince. After all, the situation on the front lines is currently uncertain. If the Commander-in-Chief wins... Heh, it seems the Crown Prince is determined to take your life."

"I'm afraid I'm too hot to handle, that they won't be able to afford me." Zhu Liji's eyes were sharp.

Jiang Qin smiled and added, "There's more good news: General Wan and Ming Yu are leading 30,000 reinforcements toward Shu County."

"If we can hold out for another half month, once the reinforcements arrive and the traitors are eliminated, our situation will be completely turned around." Jiang Qin was genuinely happy; with reinforcements on the way, even his voice sounded more confident.

He turned to look at Zhu Liji, whose expression hadn't changed much since the news of reinforcements arrived, and asked, "By the way, are you really not going to tell Miss Yan that Mingyu is safe? They are both very important people to each other, aren't they?"

“What does she need to know? Doesn’t she want to stay in the kitchen for the rest of her life?” Zhu Liji said. “Just watch and see how long she can remain naive.”

People are never in control of their own destiny. Once they've entered this game, their position and the sacrifices they make are no longer up to them.

——

When the soldiers learned that Zhiwei was to personally serve Zhu Liji's meals, their gazes changed, and they stammered, unable to utter a coherent sentence for a long time.

"Manager." It was an old soldier who had served her before who stepped forward. He clasped his hands in a fist and bow to Zhiwei, and every wrinkle on his face seemed to etch the words "May you have good fortune."

"The young marshal's breakfast must be served to the commander's tent at three quarters past the hour of Chen (7:45 AM). It is usually porridge. As for the temperature of the porridge... it is just hot enough to scald your mouth but not hot enough to cause blistering. Please bear with me."

Zhiwei stared at the bag of polished rice on the stove and nodded. She was confident in her cooking skills; as for the rest, well, she was just a cook. She couldn't go to the battlefield, nor could she do anything that her confidants would do. What else could she do?

She turned out to be too naive.

On his first day in office, at the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), when it was still as dark as the bottom of a pot, his personal guards stood at the kitchen door banging a gong: "Young Marshal, summon the steward!"

With two dark circles under her eyes, Zhiwei rushed into the commander's tent. Zhu Liji, wearing an outer robe, looked at the sand table. The candlelight gilded his profile, but his words were sharp as ice: "The ginseng soup from last night was cooked three breaths too late."

Zhiwei: "Three breaths?" Is it that precise? A human-shaped thermometer?

But she didn't cook this ginseng soup, so why call her?

Zhu Liji didn't even lift his eyelids, and said to himself, "It's too strong, the medicine is too dry, taking it will aggravate my restlessness."

"Then...should I instruct the kitchen to cook another batch?" Zhiwei asked tentatively, trying to guess the emperor's intentions.

Zhu Liji responded and put down the soup bowl in his hand: "I need to cook a little something extra to nourish myself."

From then on, Zhiwei had an additional job—to be Zhu Liji's personal cook. During the day, she was in charge of the meals for a hundred or so people, managing all the trivial matters, and at night she had to set up a special stove to cook for Zhu Liji alone.

It's annoying, really. This sharp-tongued person's tongue must be kept in gold, it's so expensive: when cooking porridge, you have to turn it clockwise first and then counterclockwise; each grain of rice must be plump but not broken; and the color of the rice paste must be just like white jade.

"The color is wrong." Zhu Liji frowned, placing the silver chopsticks on the edge of the white jade plate with a crisp sound, like a slap to Zhiwei's face.

Zhiwei clutched the greasy edge of her apron and forced a ferocious smile: "Sir, this is dyed from an iron pot. It's normal for the color to fade after prolonged use."

"There won't be a next time." Zhu Liji ignored her, lifting his eyelids to glance at Zhiwei's flushed face. "Redo it immediately."

"Ah, this..."

"Um--?"

"Yes, sir."

As Jiang Qin walked out of the command tent, he waved his fan and patted Zhiwei's shoulder reassuringly: "Steward Yan, you've worked hard. The young marshal is... showing you special favor."

Zhiwei gave a bitter smile that was more like a grimace. Appreciate him, my foot! He's clearly retaliating for the humiliation she caused him in Lingnan!

——

The days slipped by in the "porridge spoon war" between Zhiwei and Zhu Liji.

The military reports from the front lines were becoming increasingly frequent. The rebels were gathering and establishing their own power base. Reinforcements were slow to arrive, and the cooperation with the militia had resulted in further losses. There was an invisible tension in the air.

That day, Zhiwei had just scooped out a pot of stewed pork hock when Zhu Liji's personal guards arrived again. This time, they didn't put on airs and directly lifted the curtain: "Steward, the young marshal summons you to the drill ground!"

Dust filled the air on the drill ground.

Zhu Liji, clad in black armor, rode a jet-black warhorse like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath. He dismounted and saw Zhi Xiao trotting behind, panting heavily. For once, a smile appeared on his lips.

“Come up,” Zhu Liji said.

Zhiwei stared at the beast puffing out white steam, her calves cramping uncontrollably: "Young Marshal... how about I walk on the ground to serve you?"

“The enemy won’t wait for you to walk over.” Zhu Liji’s voice was not loud. “The battlefield is unpredictable. If you want to survive, learn to ride a horse.”

But I don't go to the battlefield. Zhiwei thought to herself, and the image of a night more than a month ago flashed through her mind, in which someone fought a fierce battle against the enemy to protect her, who couldn't ride a horse.

Zhiwei's heart skipped a beat.

"Alright, but could you please switch to a shorter one..." Before he could finish speaking, a few low sneers came from the cavalrymen lined up next to him.

"What are you laughing at? Keep laughing!"

"Are you crazy?" Zhiwei blurted out without thinking.

One soldier proudly replied, "They are the valiant Mirror Soldiers!"

This is not funny at all!

Zhiwei remained silent, his blood rushing to his head, and his fear was briefly forgotten.

She grabbed the saddle and leaped up—then slid down like a tattered sack, her bottom landing hard on the ground, kicking up a cloud of yellow dust.

The laughter grew even louder.

Zhu Liji also covered his mouth with his arm and rode up to her. The shadow he cast completely enveloped Zhiwei, and his outstretched hand conveniently shielded her from the sneer of the crowd.

"Hold the reins tight." Zhu Liji helped Zhiwei onto the horse. His voice was still cold, but his hands were surprisingly steady as he pulled her onto the horse and placed her in front of him.

It was already the dead of winter, and then suddenly the cold iron armor pressed against his back, making Zhiwei shiver.

"Squeeze your flanks tighter and lower your waist." Zhu Liji's arm, holding the reins, wrapped around her side like an iron hoop. "Do you want to be trampled into a meat pie?"

Zhiwei quickly shook her head.

The horse moved.

It was a wild run without any warning.

Zhiwei instantly became like a tattered leaf in a storm, clinging desperately to Zhu Liji's arm across her waist and screaming, "Are you trying to kill me?! The vegetables I pickled yesterday weren't sealed yet! My lord, I'll never dare to say anything more! Put me down! I'm willing to be your slave, even unto death..."

A muffled vibration came from behind my chest; the venomous snake was actually laughing.

——

After several days of practice, Zhiwei was finally able to sit steadily on horseback, albeit at the cost of feeling as if all the bones in her body had been broken. Zhu Liji showed no mercy, ordering her to practice more whenever she was rubbing her thighs and grimacing.

Late that night, as the main force of soldiers in the camp was changing shifts as planned, a bugle call suddenly ripped through the silence.

Jiang Qin went to a small town in Shu County to lie low a few days ago. At present, all that is known is that Wei is in the commander's tent with Zhu Liji, and is holding a freshly simmered chicken soup.

A personal guard burst into the commander's tent: "Enemy attack! Young Marshal, evacuate immediately! General Li will cover the rear!"

The flames instantly turned half the sky red. The camp erupted in chaos, with figures moving about, the sounds of clashing weapons and shouts of battle filling the air.

In the chaos, a burning hot hand gripped Zhiwei's wrist. It was Zhu Liji.

"Mount up!" Zhu Liji's voice was hoarse, his black armor splattered with dark red.

Zhiwei was half-lifted and half-carried onto the horse's back, and the warhorse named "Black Lightning" neighed and charged into the darkness.

The cold wind lashed my face like a knife, and behind me came a tidal wave of pursuers and the sound of wind cutting through the air.

Zhiwei clung tightly to the horse's neck, the jolting so violently that it felt like her internal organs were about to shift.

"Dowdress!" Zhu Liji shouted sharply. An arrow grazed Zhiwei's scalp and instantly embedded itself in the tree trunk in front of him, its fletching trembling wildly.

"How...how did they know our location? Isn't all of this supposed to be strictly kept secret?" Zhiwei asked, panting, as the wind rushed into her throat.

Previously, to guard against enemy invasion, the army had to change locations every few days, keeping a low profile and even minimizing the frequency of buying and selling grain. Despite these measures, they were still attacked by the enemy.

The probability is probably only one or two.

"What else could it be?" With pursuers behind him and a dense forest stretching as far as the eye could see in front of him, Zhu Liji gripped the reins and accelerated as fast as he could.

“Someone leaked the information,” Zhu Liji said.

In the end, I was outmaneuvered.

With the jungle in front, Zhu Liji lowered his body as far as he could, his breath brushing against the back of Zhiwei's neck.

The sound of galloping hooves from behind, along with the rustling of leaves, invaded my ears.

As the scenery on both sides of her eyes changed rapidly, Zhiwei suddenly felt a blackout.

Everything happened so suddenly that when "Black Lightning" lost its footing and jumped off the cliff, Zhiwei didn't react much to the feeling of weightlessness.

The whistling sound from his ears continued, and the huge impact of landing made the horse stagger. Zhu Liji let out a muffled groan and tightened his grip on Zhiwei's arm.

The pursuers' torches flickered and they shouted curses on the cliff top, gradually getting smaller and darker. In the end, they didn't dare to jump off the cliff.

Zhiwei and Zhu Liji ran wildly through the dark mountain valley. They ran for an unknown amount of time until "Black Lightning" suddenly gave way, and the two of them, along with the horse, collapsed to the ground. Zhiwei was thrown out and rolled into a patch of waist-high dry grass, her mouth full of mud and grime.

Zhu Liji also landed, letting out a suppressed groan of pain.

Zhiwei scrambled over to him.

The pale moonlight illuminated the broken arrow lodged below Zhu Liji's left shoulder bone.

The armor tore open, and dark blood seeped out from beneath the black robes.

"My lord!" Zhiwei cried out in the midst of the crisis.