“It’s a wrongful accusation, General! I know nothing at all—”
“Xiao Mi” was still trying to feign ignorance, but the moment he glanced over and saw the real, unconscious Xiao Mi being dragged out from the corner, he instantly dropped the act. An utterly indifferent expression settled on his face.
It was as if nothing in this world concerned him.
Beside him, Xin Zhui’s eyes instantly widened into perfect circles, his mouth hanging agape.
“No way! You’re a fake too?!
Then I just told you about the thing on my butt—”
He clapped a hand over his mouth. Stunned, he had blurted out his secret in front of A-Xing. Burning with shame and embarrassment, he covered his face, turned, and ran.
Jiang Xingyan pointed at his retreating back. “What about his butt?”
“Ahem.”
Huo Ci and Yun Chunfeng choked simultaneously.
Only then did Jiang Xingyan realize what she had just asked. Her face flushed a belated, deep red.
“Xiao Mi” tried to take advantage of their distraction to escape using a smoke bomb like his junior martial sister had.
After struggling, he discovered that “Huo Ci” had a firm grip on his collarbone.
Back in the carriage, Yun Chunfeng had told Jiang Xingyan this trick.
“The bones and sinews of these extraordinary martial artists are different from ordinary people. You must secure their collarbones to prevent them from using their special abilities.”
Not daring to loosen her grip in the slightest, Jiang Xingyan pressed down hard.
The pain caused a layer of cold sweat to break out on “Xiao Mi’s” forehead.
Even so, he didn’t utter a sound.
Jiang Xingyan hurriedly tried to change the subject and ease the awkwardness. “Didn’t expect you to be such a tough one.”
“Xiao Mi” gritted his teeth. “Just get on with the questions!”
“Heh.”
Yun Chunfeng covered the corner of his mouth with his feather fan, letting out a soft laugh.
Even Huo Ci turned his head away to stifle a chuckle.
Another wave of embarrassment washed over Jiang Xingyan.
Today was just a continuous parade of humiliations!
“Ahem. You don’t wish to join the Huo Army?”
“No.”
“Then why did you come to my camp?”
“I was worried about my junior martial sister.”
“Oh~”
Jiang Xingyan immediately understood, her drawn-out tone ridiculously suggestive.
“Xiao Mi” flushed crimson in an instant.
Wasn’t Huo Ci supposed to be a righteous gentleman? How could he be so… improper?
“Unrequited love?”
“Hey!”
“Haven’t confessed your feelings yet?”
“Enough!”
“Silently watching over her, hoping she’ll one day turn around and notice you?”
“I’ll fight you!”
The previously indifferent demeanor of “Xiao Mi” vanished without a trace.
His whole person resembled a thoroughly cooked shrimp, red all over, with a mouth as hard as ever.
Jiang Xingyan’s verbal assault didn’t let up. “Your junior martial sister doesn’t have you in her heart.”
“Xiao Mi” deflated like a pufferfish, shrinking into a pitiful little ball.
“Why don’t you ask me how I know?”
He hung his head, looking utterly defeated, and no longer wanted to engage with “Huo Ci.”
What refined gentleman? What temperate, kind, courteous, and modest? All rumors!
This person was nothing but an out-and-out devil!
Specializing in poking the sorest spots in one’s heart!
Ever since Jiang Xingyan had learned enough characters, she had started reading all sorts of romance novels.
A bittersweet, deeply entangled plot like this was child’s play for her.
“This General, in my great mercy, will tell you why right now.”
“Xiao Mi” glared furiously at “him”: Did I ask you? Who needs you? You just have to show off, don’t you?
“Look, she ran off so far away and still hasn’t noticed you’re in my grasp.
Clearly, she doesn’t care about you at all.”
“Xiao Mi” was in tears: Let me go, I absolutely must have it out with you.
Today, it’s either you die or I live!
“Who… who says so!”
A clear, crisp voice suddenly rang out from atop the wall.
Everyone turned in unison to see a captivating young woman in red standing on the wall, her lovely face as radiant as flowing clouds at sunset.
One hand on her hip, the other pointing at Jiang Xingyan, she declared, “Let my senior martial brother go at once!”
Jiang Xingyan: “Oh~”
“Xiao Mi”: What is wrong with you?
The young woman in red flushed even deeper. Stamping her foot on the wall, she leapt down, landing opposite Jiang Xingyan.
“General Huo, we came to join you out of respect for you as a towering hero. How can you detain my senior martial brother?”
Jiang Xingyan stated righteously, “Since you came to the military camp for a contest of skills, this General assumed you had answered the Imperial summons.
However, your senior martial brother personally stated he does not wish to become a captain in my Huo Army’s Embroidered Uniform Battalion.
In that case, this General charging him with deceiving the Emperor, trespassing in a military camp, and contempt for royal law… is not excessive, is it?”
“Xiao Mi’s” mouth twitched: Could the charges be any more numerous or severe?
The young woman in red clasped her fists in a respectful salute. “General Huo, it is Jiao Jiao who lacks skill. My senior martial brother only followed because he feared I would get hurt.
I beg the General not to force him.”
“Junior martial sister, you…”
The young woman in red hung her head. “Xiao Mi” stood rooted to the spot, stunned.
The paper window between the two had finally been pierced.
Jiang Xingyan snorted coldly. “And if this General insists on forcing the issue?”
“I accept.”
Jiang Xingyan: “Huh?”
Changing your tune that fast?
“Xiao Mi” stared straight at the young woman in red. “But I want her as my deputy commander. Otherwise, I’d rather die than yield.”
“Senior martial brother!”
Jiang Xingyan found the cloyingly sweet atmosphere between the two so sour it made her teeth ache.
She released “Xiao Mi” and tossed each of them a waist token. “Your real names.”
“River Han.”
“Yu Jiaojiao.”
Jiang Xingyan blurted out, “‘The fair, fair girl of the River Han’? Aren’t you two a match made in heaven?”
“Ah!”
Yu Jiaojiao stamped her foot and ran off. River Han scrambled up from the ground and gave chase.
“Junior martial sister!”
Jiang Xingyan gave a full-body shiver. “Ugh, how can you stand that?”