Chapter 99 The Supreme Commander didn't come to find her, he came to destroy her...
Zhou Ling's gaze calmly swept over the busy military camp, scrutinizing the city of Kaluo in Xiling County, which had only belonged to the Xia Kingdom eleven years ago.
As dusk fell, the figures of wounded soldiers and medics moved through the dust. His gaze, like that of a sharp eagle, swept over the faces covered in dust and weary, finally settling on a figure walking towards him.
The man was dressed in the uniform of a sheriff; his figure appeared somewhat thin beneath the loose military attire. He walked quickly, exuding an obvious anger.
It was Heruo, the Sare Sheriff who was said to be humble, cautious, and loved the people like his own children.
Zhou Ling remained calm and walked towards the other person. The two met in the center of the training ground, where some of the supplies were piled up.
"So you're Sheriff He Ruo?" he spoke first, his voice steady yet carrying the natural authority of someone accustomed to a high position.
In that instant of close proximity, Fangru's heart nearly burst out of her chest.
Too close! Close enough to see the shadow cast by his eyelashes.
More than a decade of time seemed to have been kind to him alone, not diminishing his sharpness in the slightest, but instead tempering him into an even more profound imperial demeanor, which made her almost breathless.
Fear gripped my limbs like icy vines. Would he recognize me? No, absolutely not!
The intense fear instantly transformed into an even more intense desire to perform.
Yes, that's it. He Ruo shouldn't be like Fang Ru. He should be a rude, uncultured, impulsive, and easily angered Western Rong man!
"What the hell are you doing?" Fangru suddenly pointed her finger at Zhou Ling's nose, deliberately raising her voice and revealing a hint of hoarseness and fierceness.
She even took another step forward, almost intruding into his safe distance, and rudely raised her head, staring defiantly into his unfathomable phoenix eyes. "Sending troops into the Rehan region without reporting to your superiors?" She emphasized the word "damn it" heavily, trying to cover up any possible softness in her voice with vulgar language.
Before Zhou Ling could respond, she abruptly turned to the side, pointing at the damaged Hummer not far away, her movement so large that it stirred up dust from her robes: "You just steal our Hummer like that?!"
Zhou Ling's gaze lingered for a moment on her face, which was slightly flushed with excitement. His expression remained unchanged as he calmly said, "It was Captain Kady who led the way."
He looked at me!
Did he see something? Fangru's heart tightened, and she almost backed away, but reason told her that backing down now would mean certain death.
We must be more assertive and unreasonable, and stir up all the trouble!
"Nonsense!" she roared hoarsely, spittle almost flying out, perfectly replicating the manner of those scoundrels she usually dealt with. "Captain Caydy has been walking in this desert for over a decade, he wouldn't get lost even with his eyes closed! You must have forced him or tricked him into going astray!"
Before Zhou Ling could speak again, she continued her rapid-fire shouting, arrogantly shifting all the blame for the attack onto him: "You insisted on using 'camels' for escort near the Rehan area, making such a big fuss! You all just wanted to be sitting ducks for the Western Rong bandits! Now look what's happened, people are injured, camels are destroyed, how are you going to settle this score?!"
As she yelled, she prayed frantically in her heart: "Just think I'm an unreasonable brute, just get annoyed and walk away!"
As long as they stop staring at me, anything is fine!
Zhou Ling's gaze suddenly darkened, as if all the afterglow of the twilight had frozen in his eyes.
The stench of blood and medicine that filled the air seemed to be frozen by this invisible chill.
He had long held the highest position, and even when he traveled incognito, he was always treated with great respect wherever he went. He had never been pointed at like that and verbally abused to his face with such foul language.
A genuine anger surged beneath his calm face like an undercurrent.
He didn't lash out immediately, but his gaze was sharp enough to pierce the heart.
“You think,” he began slowly, each word carrying a heavy weight, as if pulled from an ice cellar, “that I was directing the march?”
His gaze swept over Fangru's face, slightly flushed with excitement, and landed on the still chaotic training ground in the distance. His voice suddenly rose, becoming so clear that everyone around him felt a chill run down their spines:
"Your task is to get me safely to the camp, not to have me lead the way!"
Fangru trembled at the coldness in his words and the condescending scrutiny in his eyes.
They were too close; every second his gaze swept over them felt like torture.
She could feel the cold sweat instantly seeping into her palms, and the stinging pain of her nails digging deep into her palms was what barely kept her angry expression from showing.
We have to go even further and make him hate us even more!
Zhou Ling gave him no chance to breathe, his questions flying out like cold arrows:
"A captain from a single camp actually let those 'Hamsters' run rampant and trespass into the Rehan region?" He sneered, his voice filled with undisguised doubt and accusation. "What exactly is your camp doing?"
His gaze returned to Fangru, with a scrutinizing intensity akin to examining official documents:
“Of course we reported to our superiors. However…” He paused deliberately, a cold sneer curling at the corner of his lips, “It seems your superiors didn’t explain the importance of this escort mission to you.”
Finally, he leaned forward slightly, his deep, peach-blossom eyes narrowing, his disdain and warning pressing down on Fangru as if they were tangible:
"Don't act like it's your first day in the army!"
After saying that, he turned around sharply, his black robes drawing a resolute arc in the twilight.
Now!
He turned away; he was fed up!
Fangru screamed wildly in her heart, a mixture of fear and a twisted sense of relief.
But that's not enough. We must completely dispel even the slightest curiosity he might have about the identity of "He Ruo"!
"It's all because of arrogant officials like you in the capital!" She was like a firecracker that had been completely ignited. She rushed forward, her footsteps making a clatter on the sand. She grabbed Zhou Ling's arm tightly with one hand and used all her strength to turn him back.
This action was extremely bold, full of the recklessness and rudeness of frontier soldiers.
"You killed two people! Two lives!" she roared, deliberately spitting almost onto the other person's face. "Do you know what kind of family Captain Caddie's family is in? He has a seventy-year-old mother to support and a baby crying for milk! Do you know that?!"
Without waiting for a response, she pounded her chest, making a loud thud on her sheriff's uniform, and continued to drown out everything with an even louder voice:
"Because of your arrogance! The city treasury is going to allocate another huge sum of compensation! Where the hell am I going to get this money?! I'm fucking..." She cursed with extremely foul language, gesturing wildly, perfectly replicating the image of those thugs who caused trouble in front of the government office.
Zhou Ling lowered his eyes, his gaze lingering briefly on her loosened collar and dust-covered uniform from her vigorous movements, as if he were looking at an eyesore:
"Then go and do your job well."
"I will! You bastard!" The pent-up fear and the pressure of pretense all turned into uncontrollable force at this moment. Without thinking, Fangru pushed her hands out and shoved them hard into Zhou Ling's chest!
This left everyone stunned.
Li Zuo, who had been on edge the whole time, suddenly flew into a rage, rushing forward and reaching out to grab Fang Ru's collar: "Insolence!"
"Don't touch me!" Fangru reacted extremely quickly, suddenly swinging her arm to block, the movement so exaggerated it was almost exaggerated, and continued to shout fiercely but inwardly weak.
Yunqiwei Kediyan, who had been keeping a close eye on the situation, immediately stepped forward, his tall figure blocking Fangru from Li Zuo: "Guard Li, let's talk this out!" His tone was relatively restrained, but his protective intentions were obvious.
Li Zuo was already furious, and seeing someone blocking his way only fueled his anger: "Get out of the way!"
"You're the one who should step aside!" But Di Yan refused to back down.
The moment their arms met, the atmosphere exploded.
Upon seeing this, their respective soldiers immediately rushed forward, pushing and shoving each other, hurling insults, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.
"What are you doing! Are you all trying to rebel?!" The camp's highest commander, Captain Xiaoxi, roared like thunder. He strode over with his personal guards, his copper-bell-like eyes sweeping across the chaotic crowd. "What the hell are you looking at! Get out of the way!"
In the chaos, Li Zuo seized an opening and targeted Fangru again, shoving her hard to the ground.
Sand instantly covered her robes.
"He Ruo!" Ke Di Yan exclaimed, immediately bending down to pull her up.
Fangru jumped up and down like a savage man who had been thoroughly enraged. Pointing in Zhou Ling's direction, she cursed him incessantly in the dirtiest and most authentic Xirong dialect she could think of. Every sentence was filled with "Beijing official", "arrogant" and "harmful devil". Spit flew everywhere as she acted like a madman, throwing all decorum to the wind.
Da Xi rushed up to Fang Ru, using his higher rank and larger stature to press her forward, forcing her to retreat repeatedly: "Sheriff! Look where you are! This is a military camp, not under your jurisdiction! Shut up!"
After successfully suppressing Fangru, Daxi immediately turned his attention to her. Not daring to directly target the enigmatic Zhou Ling, he directed his rage at Li Zuo, who appeared to be the leader. He strode over aggressively and pointed his finger at him.
"You fucking..."
“You fucking—” a cold, calm voice interrupted him.
Da Xi was taken aback and realized that the one who spoke was the man in the black robe who was clearly the leader.
Zhou Ling slowly turned around to face him directly, his face expressionless, except for his eyes, which were unfathomable and carried a natural majesty of someone who had long held power over others and had the authority to decide life and death.
He didn't even need to raise his voice; he simply spoke softly, word by word:
"Be careful what you say to me."
He paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over the captain's insignia on Daxi's shoulder as if it were an insignificant symbol:
"Wherever I go, I am the supreme commander."
With just one sentence, Da Xi felt as if an invisible hand had gripped her throat, blocking out all her subsequent rebukes. Her face turned red, and under that absolute pressure, she couldn't utter a single word.
The entire training ground had fallen completely silent at some point.
All eyes were on Zhou Ling.
He looked around at the faces filled with fear, confusion, and curiosity, his voice carrying clearly throughout the training ground, with an undeniable question:
"This camp should start to look decent from the beginning."
He pointed to the two damaged Hummers:
"Just two 'Hamlet's' to escort them? Is this the treatment for officials in the capital of Great Xia?"
His gaze finally swept over Xi Yuan and the group of young soldiers who had just experienced a bloody battle and were still in shock. His harsh sarcasm struck the hearts of every veteran like a whip:
"And these ten brats? They probably wet the bed at night, don't they?"
Dead silence.
Only the crackling of the burning torches and the howling of the wind through the tent could be heard.
Zhou Ling stopped looking at the others and walked directly towards Daxi.
Where is your chapel?
Da Xi's Adam's apple bobbed, and he answered subconsciously, "...in, in the biggest gray tent on the east side."
“Now,” Zhou Ling said expressionlessly, his words as firm as metal and stone, “it is my chariot.”
Having received his answer, he turned and walked away, his steps steady and decisive. As he passed Fangru, who still stood frozen in place, her chest heaving, he didn't stop, but simply pointed at her, uttering three short sentences that boomed like thunder:
"you."
Within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.
"Come to my chapel."
Each word carried immense weight, sending shivers down Fangru's spine. Her hands, hanging limply at her sides, tightened involuntarily, her nails digging deep into her palms, the sharp pain barely suppressing the gasp in her throat.
His gesture of pointing at her was so natural and so certain, as if she were merely a subordinate he could summon at will. A trace of humiliation swept through her heart, but more than that, she felt a sense of relief at surviving a disaster. He hadn't recognized her, at least not at this moment.
As she watched the dark figure walk further and further away until it disappeared behind the gray tent, Fangru's heart, which had been taut like a fully drawn bowstring, finally began to relax slightly.
She took a deep breath of the chilling air, thick with the stench of blood and dust, forcing herself to calm down. The inevitable confrontation of fifteen years had finally arrived.
The officers and soldiers around were gathered in twos and threes, and their whispers drifted into my ears.
Even Lord Daxi treated him with utmost respect...
"Could he be an imperial envoy from the capital?"
"This demeanor is far beyond that of ordinary officials..."
When these comments reached Xi Yuan's ears, the young man unconsciously straightened his back, and an undisguised pride flashed in his eyes—the man who had shocked the entire audience was his biological father.
Fangru caught this subtle change in expression perfectly. Her heart clenched; she absolutely couldn't let Zhou Ling notice the child!
The secret that has been carefully guarded for eleven years must not be ruined today.
She walked quickly to Xi Yuan's side, and under the guise of adjusting his armor, she lowered her voice, her tone urgent but firm: "Yuan'er, go home immediately and find Aunt Wei Lei. Have her take you to Linfeng City for temporary refuge." Her fingertips trembled slightly. "Remember, avoid everyone's gaze, especially... don't let him see your face clearly."
Xi Yuan raised his head, a look of confusion flashing in his phoenix eyes, which were just like Zhou Ling's. He was already used to his mother's avoidance of the word "father," and he knew that this was not the time to press for an answer. He nodded obediently, "I understand, Mother. Take care."
Watching her son lower his hat brim and nimbly blend into the passing soldiers, quickly disappearing into the twilight, Fangru finally breathed a long sigh of relief. She looked around the military camp, the culmination of eleven years of hard work; every tent, every fence, was the foundation upon which she had built her life. And now, she had to face the person she least wanted to see alone.
The time it takes for an incense stick to burn passes in the blink of an eye. Fangru straightened her sheriff's uniform, smoothed out the wrinkles, took a deep breath, and walked towards the large gray tent.
The guards outside the tent had already received their orders and silently lifted the tent flap, revealing a calm and composed aura.
Inside the tent, Zhou Ling sat in the main seat, flipping through a scroll of documents with worn edges. The flickering candlelight cast dim shadows on his sharply defined profile, his long eyelashes drooping, obscuring the emotions in his eyes, leaving only a serene and dignified air.
Time flowed silently, with only the rustling of turning pages echoing within the tent. Fangru stood with her hands at her sides in the tent, able to clearly hear her own heart pounding too fast, each beat carrying an indescribable tension.
Finally, he put down the file, his deep voice breaking the silence, exceptionally clear: "Officer He Ruo, what is your relationship with A Luheng, the chief of the Tuyu tribe?"
These words struck Fangru like a thunderbolt! Fangru's heart skipped a beat.
Aluheng, the generous Tuyu chieftain, did indeed lend a helping hand to her repeatedly during her most difficult times.
When she first arrived in Carle City, she led the people to cultivate the land but accidentally entered the territory of Tuyu and was captured. He overruled the objections of others and released her. Three years ago, she was detained by the Yilou tribe, and he rescued her by riding alone through dangerous territory.
What alarmed her even more was that Aluheng was one of the very few people who knew her secret of being a woman disguised as a man, and had even expressed his love for her.
She suppressed the turmoil in her heart and deliberately made her tone calm: "Your Excellency, although I have met Chief Aluheng a few times, it has been a long time since I last saw him. I heard that the Tuyu tribe has been repeatedly harassed by the Northern Di recently, and he may have met with misfortune."
Zhou Ling finally lifted his gaze from the documents, his phoenix eyes deep and unfathomable in the candlelight, as if they could see into people's hearts: "But he seems to value you quite a bit. I heard that three years ago, Aluheng single-handedly broke into the Yilou tribe to rescue you."
"That was three years ago." Fangru lowered her eyelids, avoiding that sharp gaze, but her fingertips secretly clenched.
“Three years ago,” Zhou Ling repeated slowly, his knuckles tapping rhythmically on the table. His voice was not loud, but it carried an invisible pressure. “At the border, it wasn’t that long ago.”
A suffocating feeling descended upon her, so Fangru simply looked up to meet his gaze, her tone carrying a hint of suppressed stubbornness: "What are your orders, sir? Please speak frankly."
Zhou Ling stood up and slowly walked to her.
He was tall and imposing, his shadow completely enveloping her, creating a suffocating sense of oppression.
The candlelight outlined his cold, hard jawline, and the dark patterns on his black robe shimmered in the light, exuding an air of nobility: "Aluheng has already surrendered to the Northern Di. The Northern Di have an extremely brave warrior named Qiyuan, who once attempted to assassinate Princess Anyang in the capital."
His voice suddenly turned cold, "I know you have a past with Aluheng. I want to find Aluheng through you, and then follow the clues to expose Qi Yuan."
Fangru's heart sank, and she immediately retorted, "Your Excellency is wise, Aluheng's whereabouts are currently a mystery, how could this humble servant possibly contact him?"
“It’s very simple.” Zhou Ling’s tone was devoid of any emotion, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her. “I will find a pretext to demote you and banish you from Carle City. With nowhere else to turn, you will naturally go to seek refuge with your old friend Aluheng. Given his affection for you, he will surely show up to meet you.”
He paused briefly, his gaze falling on her tense face, each word like an ice pick piercing her heart: "To make this plan flawless, your 'crime' will be irrefutable and undeniable. Perhaps, we should even arrange for you to be paraded through the streets in a prison cart... so that the people of Carletown can see what their former 'upright official' really looks like."
These words were like ice water mixed with ice chips in the dead of winter, poured over her head, the biting cold instantly penetrating her limbs and bones!
So that's how it is... I see.
Her earlier feigned fear, her deliberate act of rudeness, and her dread of being exposed now seemed utterly ridiculous!
He didn't recognize her at all... he didn't recognize her at all.
He traveled a long way to this remote city of Carle, stepping into the place she had guarded for eleven years, not with a trace of old feelings, nor to look for Shen Fangru, who had long since "disappeared" in the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
He came to personally destroy "Her Majesty the Sheriff".
It was for another woman, the noble Princess Anyang, that he was willing to sacrifice her, the insignificant "He Ruozhi Anguan," without hesitation for the sake of his country and its people.
Eleven years! A full eleven years!
She abandoned everything from her past, living in anonymity, and on this land where wind and sand mingled with swords, she went from a weak woman with no strength to someone who could kill a chicken, gritting her teeth and shedding blood and sweat, step by step building up her prestige, winning the respect of soldiers and the support of the people.
This official robe and the name "He Ruo" are no longer a disguise, but an identity that has been integrated into her very bones. It is the foundation she has earned with her youth, her blood and sweat, and countless struggles on the edge of life and death!
And now, this father of her child is about to take it away so casually.
Not only will he take it away, but he will also trample it into the mud, ruin its reputation, make it despise it, and turn it into a piece on his chessboard that he can use and discard at will!
A surge of anger, a mixture of despair, sorrow, and betrayal, suddenly erupted from the deepest part of her heart, almost burning away her reason.
She clenched her teeth tightly, tasting a faint metallic flavor of blood on her tongue, barely managing to suppress the questions and screams that were about to burst from her mouth.
Zhou Ling... you really are still that cold-blooded and ruthless emperor. Anyone can be sacrificed for your purposes.
Including me.
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Author's note: No update tonight, will update tomorrow night.
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