15 Chapter 15
◎Look at dogs and they are affectionate◎
Cen Jue turned around suddenly and saw a young man in ordinary land-reclaimer's clothes standing on tiptoe on the branches of sea buckthorn trees, as if he had no weight. His face was blurred by the backlight, and when he squinted carefully, he could only see an ordinary face. Only his shining eyes hid the cunning of a fox, making it impossible to see through his true identity.
The young man met his gaze, then dropped to the ground like a light leaf, and said with a smile, "Mr. Runsheng, I feel a little embarrassed when you look at me like that."
"Excuse me, sir, what is your last name?" Cen Jue took a half step back warily, feeling a little uneasy.
"I'm not worthy of your name." The young man didn't answer, but instead changed the subject, "Mr. Runsheng has devoted himself to His Highness Shunyang and they have a close relationship. Isn't he curious how His Highness Shunyang, who was once an ordinary and unknown person in Nan Sheng's harem, now has such great power?"
"...What His Highness is thinking and worrying about is not something you and I can criticize behind his back." Cen Jue's eyelids twitched, and he pulled away to leave.
The young man didn't chase him, but instead spoke slowly from behind him, "And why is Captain Cen, the one who's stationed outside Yunzhou City, so obedient to His Highness Shunyang's orders?"
"I heard that the Sixth Prince, who presided over the fraud case that implicated you, also had a close relationship with Captain Cen."
"Sir, you were born in Nansheng. I believe you know more about these court affairs than us common folk, right?"
He looked up, but Cen Jue had already left with great strides. The young man's face was full of amusement, and his figure decisively disappeared into the gradually thickening night.
*
The next day, Li Hengqing woke up early as usual to process paperwork, but heard Lang Yue mutter, "Today, it wasn't Mr. Cen who delivered the paperwork himself. The guards said Mr. Cen had been sorting through the files all night and was catching up on some sleep. Hey, Princess, what did you say..."
Li Hengqing narrowed her eyes slightly and pulled out a small piece of paper from the file. It was covered with densely written small calligraphy. She scanned it at a glance, then flipped the small piece of paper over and pulled out several files with specially marked paper strips.
They were all men of medium build, coming from different places, and other than that, there was nothing special about them.
"Langyue, go find Tana Gege for me," Li Hengqing said. "Have her check each person on this list who is from the Black Hawk tribe."
Lang Yue took it and asked, "As soon as possible?"
Li Hengqing shook his head: "No rush."
She closed her eyes, called up the system panel in her mind, and asked, "Who exactly is Captain Cen? How did my mother leave this old group behind?"
The system's reply was quite cold: [2000 points are required to unlock.]
Li Hengqing looked at his current pitiful five points, decisively turned off the panel, and rubbed his solar plexus to think.
The recruitment order provides her with sufficient manpower, and it also makes it much easier for various parties with ulterior motives to infiltrate, so this matter must be guarded against.
She was just thinking about how to plan the layout when Naren's clear voice came from outside the tent: "Khatun, come and see, the beans... are forming pods!"
Upon hearing this, Li Hengqing immediately stood up and walked out of the tent. He saw Naren holding a bean sprout like a treasure. Between the emerald green leaves hung clusters of plump, tender green bean pods, their furry texture delightful to the touch.
She casually opened a bean pod and placed the still-green bean in her mouth, chewing it slowly and tasting the unique herbaceous fragrance of unripe crops. It wasn't particularly delicious in the secular sense, but it could barely be called unique.
Intentionally or unintentionally, everyone's gaze fell on her, taking in the entire scene.
*
The next day, as usual, Lang Yue led several guards to conduct the weekly inventory and verification of the supplies in the camp warehouse, especially the various seeds that served as strategic resources.
"Khatun! The accounts... the accounts don't match!" Lang Yue rushed into Li Hengqing's account book. After this period of experience, she had become a qualified accountant. She was usually much calmer, but now she was as flustered as a frightened rabbit, even her pitiful eyes were red.
"What's going on? Tell me slowly." Li Hengqing put down the drawings in his hand.
"It's... it's the original Renshu seeds you asked me to take special care of!" Lang Yue's voice was tinged with tears. "This afternoon, I took my men to do the weekly inventory, and when we weighed the leather bag containing the seeds... it was missing four ounces!"
"Four taels missing?" Li Hengqing frowned slightly.
"Yes." Lang Yue was almost crying with anxiety. "I checked carefully. There are traces of re-stitching at the sealing of the bag. It must have been stolen! Khan, it's all my fault. I didn't keep a close eye on it. Please punish me..."
"This isn't entirely your fault. We'll discuss rewards and punishments later." Li Hengqing interrupted her self-blame. "To be able to sneak into the warehouse without anyone noticing, this is no ordinary thief."
"Don't make this public," she ordered calmly. "Tell everyone it was rats and ants stealing food. Also, send for Chief Steward Tana to bring her here. I have something important to discuss with her."
However, the dispatched personnel quickly reported back with a rather strange explanation: "Reporting to Khatun, the Tana Commander said...she is busy organizing the camp affairs for the new arrivals and...can't spare time for the time being."
Li Hengqing's heart skipped a beat, and he knew something was wrong, frowning with worry.
This was unusual. Tana always prioritized her orders and would never use such excuses to shirk responsibility. Even the results of the file verification I requested from Tana a few days ago had yet to be delivered to her.
Is she hiding from me? Or... is she also involved?
At this moment, a burst of hurried horse hooves sounds suddenly came from outside the tent.
The guards were surprised and announced, "Khatun, the Khan has sent another group of men."
Li Hengqing hurriedly walked out of the tent and saw a group of personal guards already lined up in front of the camp.
And who else could that dusty man in the lead be but Helian Xiao?
He actually came in person. Besides that, Helian Xiao was accompanied by a man dressed as a leader, his expression a bit mixed. It was none other than Altan. He followed closely behind him, took the initiative to step forward, and performed a solemn chest-touching salute to Li Hengqing.
"Khatun," Altan said in a humble tone, even with a hint of flattery, "I heard that Silver Moon Valley is short of manpower for construction, so I have specially selected fifty of the most capable herders from my tribe to serve at your command."
"Chief Altan is thoughtful." Li Hengqing nodded to him, feeling a little strange, but did not ask too many questions.
The gaze from the side seemed to have substance, so she had to turn her head away, but her tone unconsciously relaxed, her tense shoulders slightly slumped, and she asked, "Why are you here?"
"There's nothing wrong with the tribe headquarters," Helian Xiao dismounted, his eyes swept across her slightly tired face, his voice as low as ever, "I heard you were short of manpower, so I brought some capable guards here to help you handle paperwork and manage the team."
For Li Hengqing, these personal guards were truly a timely relief. Like a long drought finally ending in a downpour, her mood instantly brightened, a genuine smile flickering across her face. "Thank you, Khan. I'll be grateful to you."
Helian Xiao looked at her smile and his mood brightened, but then he seemed to remember something and asked casually, "Is Mr. Cen, the one you invited, doing well? The people I brought with me can all read and write, and are no worse than the scholars in the south."
The wolf king's deep green eyes narrowed slightly, taking in the smiles and frowns of the people around him.
Li Hengqing didn't detect the bitterness in his words, but simply praised him sincerely, "Mr. Cen is a rare talent. Thanks to him, all the paperwork is in perfect order."
Then he coaxed Helian Xiao, "Now that the Khan has sent more people, I think they can share a lot of tedious work, which will definitely be of great benefit to Silver Moon Valley. Otherwise, I might not be able to sleep tonight."
In the gap between these words, Helian Xiao's mind turned several times. Seeing the extremely light dark blue under her eyes, he felt an indescribable pain in his heart and said in a hoarse voice, "Princess, I'm sorry for the trouble."
Li Hengqing, however, didn't feel particularly aggrieved. He looked down at the Silver Moon Valley, which was already taking shape beneath his feet, and said, "It's not exactly hard work, but there's just too much to do, and the summer is a bit harsh. We'll have to build roads, canals, and city walls in the future... It would be great if we could have a complete talent system like the Nansheng court, with a Ministry of Works, a Ministry of Revenue, a Ministry of Personnel... How wonderful it would be."
After she had finished speaking, she realized that she had spoken inappropriately by praising the enemy's system in front of a grassland Khan, and was about to make amends.
When she looked up, she was suddenly met with a pair of extremely deep and affectionate eyes. The handsome and sharp eyebrows were softened a little by the misty night, as if it was a rare opportunity to meet such a good person, and she had thousands of words to say to her tonight.
Li Hengqing was distracted for a moment, then pulled himself back to his senses with fear, thinking: As expected, if someone is good-looking, they will be affectionate even towards dogs...
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