Chapter 12: Easing of relations
"Miss San, could you please go see our leader?"
The officers who were escorting the exiled general ran to Qin Xiangnuan and bowed to her hurriedly, "I don't know what happened to him. He fell to the ground after eating. He looks very uncomfortable now and has no consciousness." Beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads, and they looked back at the distance from time to time.
Qin Xiangnuan rolled her eyes twice, thought of a possibility, turned back to look at Qin Feng and asked, "Cousin, what did the fish they took away look like?"
The officials ate the same food as them when they woke up in the morning.
From their description, it seemed that the adult had food poisoning, and there must be something wrong with the fish.
When the officers heard Qin Xiangnuan say this, they all looked embarrassed, looked at each other, and remained silent.
Qin Feng scratched his head and recalled, "I don't remember much. I just know it was tiny when I fished it out, but it swelled up when they took it away. I thought they got a great deal. The fish must have been really fat..."
Swelling? Qin Xiangnuan recalled that she was almost certain that what they ate was pufferfish.
I didn't expect pufferfish to migrate here. I guess the source of the river is connected to the sea.
Qin Xiangnuan frowned and followed the officer to their leader.
"Everyone, make way. Bring me some water and give it to him." Qin Xiangnuan pointed at the approaching official. "You, reach into his mouth and dig as much as you can into it. Make him spit out everything he just ate. Only then will he be completely healed."
The officers looked hesitant. Seeing their hesitation, Qin Xiangnuan said impatiently, "If you want him to die here, just delay."
"I'll do it!"
A brave officer mustered up his courage, rolled up his sleeves and ran over. Taking advantage of the gap in his efforts, Qin Xiangnuan pulled out the silver needles hidden in her sleeves and inserted a few needles into several key acupoints. The officer's expression quickly eased, he opened his eyes, and fell to the ground, vomiting.
Qin Feng felt a little nauseous, turned his head, covered his face and pinched his nose.
Seeing that his condition had improved, Qin Xiangnuan also stood up and returned to the general's mansion where he was staying.
After about two or three incense sticks had passed, the leader of the officials came over with a few white flour buns in his hand. He bowed respectfully to Qin Xiangnuan and said, "Thank you, Miss Third, for saving my life."
"It is rude of us to have taken Young Master Qin's things today."
When the officer handed over the steamed buns, the people in the general's mansion's eyes lit up, but they didn't move.
Everyone looked at the chief officer suspiciously, fearing he might be plotting something. Seeing this, the chief officer said with a smile, "These are my gifts of thanks. Miss Third was able to save me. I guarantee you that no matter what the nobles in the capital say, I will do my best to keep the General's Mansion safe along the way."
"These are the rations that should be given to the General's Mansion. You should accept them."
Along the way, the chief official also discovered that the people of the General's Mansion were kindhearted and would never try to escape or cause trouble like other exiled families. Although a noble had instructed them to treat the people of the General's Mansion harshly before leaving, Qin Xiangnuan was kind after all, and with this incident in the middle, the chief official was a man who knew how to repay his gratitude, and his attitude was a little more gentle than before.
"Let's all stay here today and continue our journey tomorrow."
The chief officer said to Qin Xiangnuan, pointing to the place nearby, "Miss Third, may I have a moment to talk?"
Qin Xiangnuan narrowed her eyes, sizing him up, and then tried to follow him. Seeing this, Liu gently tugged at her sleeve, shaking her head, worry in her eyes. Qin Xiangnuan patted the back of her hand soothingly, reassuring her, and took a step forward.
At the foot of the hill by the river, the officer looked across the river and said, "Miss Third, I'm afraid the road ahead will be difficult."
"Across the river is a disaster area. They recently experienced a drought, and the local people are starving. The situation is difficult. My brothers once passed by here while escorting exiles. Not only were most of their food rations stolen by the ferocious victims, but the women were also injured."
The officer originally didn't want to pay any attention and just continued to move forward according to the order and map, but now he changed his mind and told everything.
"Will we have time to reroute?"
Qin Xiangnuan asked calmly, her eyes glancing at a rock on the hill, squinting her eyes and staring at it suspiciously.
The officer shook his head. "We've already lost too much time on our journey. If we take another detour, I'm afraid we won't be able to arrive on time."
"Then let's continue." Qin Xiangnuan said calmly, "His Majesty requires the General's Mansion to arrive at the border within six months. If the deadline comes and no one shows up, I'm afraid my father will be implicated and punished. Less trouble is worse than more. They are just some refugees. If we make some preparations in advance and are vigilant and careful, we won't be in such a mess. Thank you for the information..."
Qin Xiangnuan bowed slightly, and the officer nodded and left gratefully.
After the two of them finished talking, Qin Xiangnuan did not leave. Instead, she tilted her head and stared at one place, and did not turn around until a long time later.
"Will the Third Miss discover us?"
On the mountain, behind the rock, several black-clad guards prostrated themselves on the ground, barely daring to breathe as they whispered, "We've been hiding so carefully that even the palace's experts would have difficulty discovering us. This must just be a coincidence!"
"But do you think the Third Miss is a little different from what's rumored?"
"If an ordinary woman encountered the problems we encountered along the way, she would probably cry out in despair, but the Third Young Lady remained calm and composed. Even I admire her!" A naive guard scratched his head and praised, "She's much more capable than those clumsy assassins we dealt with along the way."
They turned around at the same time and looked at the several bodies lying on the ground in the distance.
There was a tiny blood mark on the neck of each corpse. They were all killed with one blow. The assassin probably didn't even know it before he died. His mission was to assassinate the women and men of the general's mansion, so how could he have provoked the master assassin of Xiaoyao Hou's mansion.
"Let's report the situation here to the prince by carrier pigeon."
Shadow stared at Qin Xiangnuan and said after pondering for a moment.
At the foot of the mountain, Beibei ran to Qin Xiangnuan's side, burping and trying to climb onto her lap. She waved her chubby little hands in front of her face, "Big sister, what are you looking at? Is there anything fun on the mountain?"
Qin Xiangnuan bent down and picked her up. She looked away, curled her lips and smiled softly, saying, "Maybe some mountain spirits are following us."
"Mountain spirits? Are they the monsters mentioned in storybooks?"
Beibei hid in Qin Xiangnuan's arms in fear and asked, "Are they good or bad? Will they eat people?"
Qin Xiangnuan narrowed her eyes, rolled her eyes, and sighed softly: "It should be okay..."
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