Selecting guards
I couldn't sleep all night during the cold winter.
Her mind was in complete turmoil, so she went to the training ground to squat on Cang Jingye.
Cang Jingye was startled to see Han Jiang leaning half-dead against a pillar next to the playground early in the morning: "Is it really that bad? You're looking for me again?"
After the cold winds subsided on New Year's Eve, she gave up looking for Cang Jingye. Now she was really out of options. She didn't want to look for Cang Jingqi, but she didn't want to stay cooped up in her room waiting to die, so she could only wait for Cang Jingye to come and wait for her.
Han Jiang had successfully convinced herself to join the rebels. Since they were all rebels, they were all in the same boat. With that thought, she was no longer afraid of Cang Jingye.
"I don't want to see Cang Jingqi," Han Jiang said truthfully.
"You two had a fight? That's interesting." Cang Jingye said, "I should have told you to come with me earlier. I'm much more reliable than men."
What can I get from you?
Cang Jingye said, "This little girl is quite knowledgeable. I thought you were a fool."
Why do you say I'm an idiot?
"Because you'll get nothing by following Cang Jingqi. At first, I thought you'd lost your mind, selflessly dedicating yourself to following Cang Jingqi. Since you have something you want, don't count on Cang Jingqi; he can't give you anything."
Hanjiang asked, "Aren't you siblings? Why is your relationship so bad?"
"Who said we're siblings? Ah Xing and I are the real sisters." The disgust in Cang Jingye's voice whenever he mentioned Cang Jingqi was genuine, and Han Jiang guessed it must be related to Cang Jingxing.
Han Jiang wanted to ask more, but Cang Jingye clicked his tongue and said, "Cang Jingqi is here, followed by a group of people."
"What, Cang Jingqi, are you finally unable to hold back and preparing to rebel?"
Cang Jingqi ignored Cang Jingye and said, "The imperial court's dispatch of troops to Anzhou will inevitably have an impact on the Demon Realm. I want to recruit more guards to strengthen the Demon Palace's defenses. By the way, cough, I'll also recruit a guard for Han Xiaoman."
Cang Jingqi paused deliberately midway to observe Han Jiang's expression.
To his surprise, Han Jiang completely ignored him, looking away and saying indifferently, "No need for Your Highness to worry, the Third Prince will protect me. If all else fails, I'll just return to the Four States Sect."
Yesterday's attitude was like that, and today they're pretending to recruit bodyguards for her—who knows what they're really up to?
She didn't want any guards. Maybe Cang Jingqi wanted to avoid her, but because Han Tian had told him to protect her, he came up with this idea.
It would be a miracle if Han Jiang got his way!
“I won’t be in the Demon Palace for a while, so there will be a guard to protect you.”
Where is he going? The rebels are attacking the imperial court? How could Han Jiang miss such an important plot point! What if it's related to later events? That would be a huge loss. But judging from Cang Jingqi's words, he's planned not to take her with him.
Han Jiang said, "Very well, I will choose this guard myself."
Pick a handsome one, good-looking. Then I'll secretly follow Cang Jingqi around and make him furious!
Han Jiang is plotting his next "revenge plan".
Cang Jingye glanced at himself and realized he seemed a bit redundant, so he wisely said, "Then you two take your time choosing, but you don't need to choose for me, I don't need to help you."
Han Jiang wouldn't choose a bodyguard; she was purely there to provoke Cang Jingqi.
After a simple physical fitness test, the remaining thirty or so people lined up, and Han Jiang looked them over one by one.
"Are you all married?" Han Jiang asked.
Cang Jingqi coughed violently: "Why are you asking this?"
"Just asking."
“None of them.” Cang Jingqi finished the background checks in one night. “However, these are all new recruits. Your guards will not be selected from among them.”
Cang Jingqi was merely using this opportunity to bring Cang Jingmo in from outside the palace. When choosing guards for Han Jiang, he would definitely choose those he was familiar with, and he planned to select from the existing people in the palace.
Han Jiang said, "I want to choose from here! Anyway, you've already chosen once, so what problem could there be?" Han Jiang was going to oppose Cang Jingqi's words. If he chose a guard from the palace, there was no guarantee that the guard wouldn't complain to Cang Jingqi. The guards from outside the palace hadn't been trained yet, which was riskier, since their backgrounds were unknown.
If you remove the short ones, the unattractive ones, and the ones with bad figures, there won't be many left.
Cang Jingqi saw through Han Jiang's intentions and forced a smile through gritted teeth, saying, "Han Xiaoman, are you choosing a bodyguard or a male servant?"
"I said I'll choose for myself, it's none of your business," Han Jiang said. "These are all good, why don't we keep them all?"
Cang Jingqi grabbed Han Jiang's hand and whispered, "Han Xiaoman, what do you want to do?"
Han Jiang shook off his hand and said loudly, "What's wrong with me choosing a few more guards? Didn't you say you would choose them for me? What, is the Demon Prince going back on his word?"
Seeing that Han Jiang was about to select Cang Jingmo, Cang Jingqi quickly said, "Then let's decide on these few first, and I'll finalize the selection for you after the assessment."
"What's the point of assessment?" Han Jiang pretended not to understand the hidden meaning in his words. "Just let him take office directly."
"Han Xiaoman..." Cang Jingqi was very angry, but he couldn't show it in front of everyone, so he could only smile with his eyes narrowed.
Anyone with eyes could see the ambiguous relationship between the two. One of the bolder ones said, "Your Highness, if a girl gets angry after a fight, you have to coax her..."
"Hey, don't talk nonsense, we didn't quarrel. Wait, aren't you unmarried? How do you know about these things?" Han Jiang said.
The man scratched his head: "After my sister and brother-in-law have a fight, my brother-in-law will drag me along to coax my sister..."
"What a pity, your Crown Prince and I aren't in that kind of relationship," Han Jiang said sarcastically. "Your Crown Prince doesn't like me at all. You're good at sweet-talking, aren't you? Well, add you to the list."
The guard Han Jiang, who was originally eliminated, was selected again with just one sentence, and now there is one more person in the team.
Han Jiang became interested and completely ignored Cang Jingqi, chatting with several people one by one.
Cang Jingqi couldn't get a word in edgewise, so he followed behind Han Jiang, his gaze forcing the others to shut up.
The two people behind didn't dare to say a word, glancing past Han Jiang at Cang Jingqi's expression.
"I like them all, let's keep them all."
Cang Jingqi realized that Han Jiang was angry, so he changed tactics and said with a half-smile, "Whatever you like."
After selecting guards for the day, Cang Jingqi actually arranged for six or seven people to be by Han Jiang's side.
That evening, one of the guards spilled Hanjiang's dinner.
Eating dinner alone was already annoying enough. Han Jiang couldn't bring herself to eat with Cang Jingqi, so she had the kitchen prepare the food and have it delivered to her room by the guards.
The guard showed no intention of apologizing; it seemed as if he was doing it on purpose.
"You're so good at spilling things. Come with me, let's spill Cang Jingqi's food too." Han Jiang led the group into Cang Jingqi's study.
He never goes back to his room; he just spends all his time in the study.
Han Jiang inquired and found out that this was the Demon Lord's study, where Cang Jingmo usually stayed.
Cang Jingqi sat at a table on the side of the room, seemingly having anticipated that Han Jiang would bring people over.
"What's wrong? Did he do something wrong?" His tone couldn't hide his joy.
Han Jiang turned to the guards behind him and said, "Go."
Cang Jingmo had no intention of getting involved in their confrontation. He had been chosen as Han Jiang's bodyguard, and Cang Jingqi hadn't stopped him at all—this wouldn't do. He needed to investigate the mole and then go to Anzhou with Cang Jingqi. Being stuck by Han Jiang's side meant he couldn't do anything.
After the daytime selection ended, he found Cang Jingqi, and the two conspired to make a mistake so that Han Jiang could remove him from the selection.
And so this happened.
Under Cang Jingqi's gaze, Cang Jingmo reached straight for the bowl in Cang Jingqi's hand and knocked it to the ground.
Cang Jingqi's smile couldn't be kept up.
Han Jiang smiled.
As expected, the smile doesn't disappear, it just moves on.
Han Jiang suppressed a laugh and said seriously, "You spilled His Highness's food, and you still don't know your crime?"
"Didn't you tell me to do this?" Cang Jingmo said.
Han Jiang said, "If you do whatever I tell you to do, it means you have no respect for His Highness. I was just testing you."
Cang Jingqi couldn't stand it anymore: "It's alright. Since he's not doing a good job, he shouldn't stay by your side."
Alright, so that's exactly what they were planning. The guards Han Jiang saw during the day were indeed from outside the palace, a few dozen young men, speaking with the simplicity of the demon people and the shyness of entering the palace for the first time. Only this one was quiet and his behavior was completely out of place. He was either a spy or Cang Jingqi's agent.
Han Jiang watched as this person went to see Cang Jingqi in the afternoon, and when he returned, he overturned her dinner.
The other guards were all surprised and busy tidying up, but he just stood there, as if waiting for his fate.
Something's fishy.
"So, what does Your Highness intend to do?" Han Jiang wanted to see what Cang Jingqi could come up with.
Cang Jingqi knew he couldn't be expelled from the palace, and since he had only managed to bring him in with great difficulty, he said, "It's just spilling a bowl of rice, it's not a big deal. Let him be punished by cleaning the Demon Palace."
Cleaning the Demon Palace makes it easier to move around and find the traitor.
Han Jiang said, "How can this be? If you ask me, they should be dragged out and beaten to death!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Cang Jingmo glared at Han Jiang, regretting his words as soon as they left his mouth. He had thought Han Jiang was a simpleton, but it turned out he was trying to trick him. He looked away, lowered his head, and waited for Cang Jingmo to speak.
Han Jiang spoke before Cang Jingqi could, stepping forward to ask Cang Jingmo, "Who are you?"
This person must be extraordinary. Everyone in the palace knows that Cang Jingqi and Han Jiang have a close relationship. This person from outside the palace not only makes no attempt to hide it, but also speaks rudely to him. He probably already knows Cang Jingqi.
"He is A-M—" Cang Jingqi realized he couldn't hide it any longer. Besides, he hadn't intended to hide it from Han Jiang in the first place. If Han Jiang hadn't confessed on the Lantern Festival, he was prepared to tell Han Jiang that the person he met alone was Cang Jingmo.
"Amai." Cang Jingmo stopped Cang Jingqi from saying the name.
"Amai?"
Cang Jingqi understood his younger brother's desire to cover things up, so he had no choice but to go along with it and say, "He is my secret guard outside the palace. There is a traitor in the Demon Palace, so I can't bring him directly into the palace. I can only find an excuse to bring him in under Cang Jingye's nose."
Han Jiang was skeptical: "Why didn't you tell me?"
"This matter is complicated."
"So you mean I'm so stupid that I can't understand such complicated things?" Han Jiang said. "Then I don't need any of the guards. You can rearrange them."
The traitor within the Demon Palace had mentioned it long ago.
Before the cold descended, I met someone who said he followed a master in the Demon Palace. That master must be Cang Jingye, and the mole is someone close to Cang Jingye. But then again, isn't Cang Jingqi in league with Cang Jingye?
So the mole isn't Cang Jingye, but someone else?
Could this Amai in front of me be a rebel?
Han Jiang needed to go back and sort things out. But she couldn't just leave in silence; she needed Cang Jingqi to give her more information. She took off the jade bracelet from her wrist: "Here you go. Since the Demon Palace is so dangerous, I'm going back to the Four Continents Sect. I won't be coming back again."
The jade bracelet fell to the ground with a crisp sound, but it didn't break.
But something in Cang Jingqi's heart seemed to have shattered.
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