Jiang Xingyan organized the troops, transferring soldiers skilled in bricklaying and tiling from the logistics camp. She had them hire craftsmen to plan out the wasteland in advance.
She also arranged for soldiers from other camps to clear the weeds and level the ground, making preparations before breaking ground.
The officers and soldiers divided the work, cooperated, pooled their ideas, and continuously optimized their plans. They worked with bustling energy.
Everyone’s face was filled with joy and determination.
Huo Ci watched in astonishment.
He had originally thought that being too attached to home would make people indecisive and soft, entangled by romantic attachments.
He never expected that while family could be a vulnerability, it could also be an indestructible suit of armor.
He had realized this far, far too late.
He lowered his head and drooped his eyes, wallowing in silent sorrow for a moment, when suddenly he saw a corner of the tent bulge upward.
Huo Ci: ?
Was he seeing ghosts, or were his eyes playing tricks on him?
He gently rubbed his eyes. When he looked again, the ground was perfectly flat, nothing unusual.
His heart pounded with shock.
What he had just seen was definitely not an illusion!
He looked up at Jiang Xingyan. She was still discussing the resettlement of the soldiers’ families with the various captains. She seemed to have encountered a difficulty, frowning as she casually traced a line on the map.
At this moment, if he went over and said something unsubstantiated, it would be no different from seeking death.
He shifted his gaze to Yun Chunfeng.
He was feeding Xiaoya pastries and meat porridge.
Extremely gentle and attentive.
Huo Ci felt a surge of anger in his heart.
So what if you can feed her? So what if you’re useful?
He could also perform meritorious service for A Yan!
Once he caught the troublemaker, he would surely make A Yan realize his value.
As long as he was useful to A Yan, he could stay by her side and atone for his sins.
He tiptoed towards the spot that had bulged earlier.
“General!”
Xin Zhui’s hearty voice came from nearby, growing closer.
Huo Ci’s gaze sharpened.
In the past, he had never disliked such a lively voice.
Now, he wished he could strangle the owner.
The moment he looked up, Xin Zhui, holding something in his hand and not looking where he was going, collided heavily with him.
“Ah!”
Everyone turned their heads, only to see “Jiang Xingyan” sitting on the ground with a thud, looking dazed, not yet comprehending what had happened.
The real Jiang Xingyan covered her face: The image she had painstakingly built!
Had been utterly destroyed in this single instant.
“General Jiang, what’s the matter?”
At this moment, Huo Ci had no time to mind Jiang Xingyan’s address to him. He pointed at the empty ground in front of him, his voice hoarse: “Xin Zhui… he, he disappeared.”
Jiang Xingyan was puzzled.
How could a living person just disappear?
“What exactly happened? Speak slowly!”
After Huo Ci described the scene, everyone present was dumbfounded.
In broad daylight, could General Jiang be talking nonsense?
Seeing that no one believed him, he took a few steps towards the spot where it happened.
Just as he was about to speak, the ground began to shake and roll.
Huo Ci vanished before everyone’s eyes.
Jiang Xingyan was anxious: “Search quickly!
Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but bring him back!”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“Hey, I reckon there ain’t no need for that, is there?”
A strange voice came from beneath the earth.
Old Zhang’s heart skipped a beat: A fellow townsman?!
Jiang Xingyan signaled him to step forward and engage. He took a step forward and shouted towards the ground:
“Hey there, you fella, why ain’t you being straightforward!
Since you’ve already come to the General’s military camp, how come you’re resorting to stealing and pilfering, and even kidnapping folks?”
“You don’t need to use provocation on me.
In a little while, I’ll walk right in through the main gate, proper and dignified.
Let General Huo see my skill!
Not only can I take an item from the central army tent, I can also spirit away two people without anyone knowing!”
Old Zhang got anxious: “You, you, you, absolutely must not do anything reckless!
That young lady Jiang, she’s our General’s ex-wife!”
The person underground hurriedly protested: “What are you talking about!
We few are grave robbers, not womanizers!
… Ouch! Why’d you kick me?”
This person had let it slip, and the people in the tent suddenly understood: this was a whole crew.
Otherwise, with Vice General Xin’s fiery temper, if he’d gone down there without cursing a few times, that wouldn’t be him.
Jiang Xingyan worried about her own body, so she quickly cupped her hands in salute and called out clearly and openly:
“I, Huo Ci, have witnessed the skills of all of you extraordinary individuals. Please come in!”
Suddenly a seductive voice rang out: “General Huo~ You must come personally to the camp gate to welcome little old me, okay~”
Jiang Xingyan replied in a humble tone, “Of course, I’ll go right away.”
Everyone followed Jiang Xingyan and waited outside the gate.
They had seen quite a few burglars, thieves, and womanizers.
But only grave robbers, who come and go through the earth, active at night and hiding by day, rarely showed themselves in public.
Half an incense stick’s time passed, when they saw a woman with a willowy figure, arm-in-arm with “Jiang Xingyan”, appear at the street corner.
“Sister Jiang, your scent is so nice, little old me likes it so much~ Why is sister so restrained? Could it be that little old me scared sister?”
Huo Ci suppressed the disgust in his heart, constantly reciting silently: Can’t create enemies for A Yan. Only by doing this could he reluctantly hold himself back from giving the woman a shoulder throw and then kicking her away.
Jiang Xingyan couldn’t bear to watch.
Turning to the other side, she saw Xin Zhui being shoved along, surrounded by four men of varying heights and builds – tall, short, fat, thin – all different.
His mouth was stuffed with a walnut, his hands and feet bound tightly with beef tendon rope soaked in water. The more he struggled, the tighter it got; he couldn’t move at all.
The two groups met in front of the military camp.
The four men skillfully clustered around the woman in the middle.
“General Huo, little old me is late~ I heard that the Embroidery Uniform Camp already has a official Commander and Vice Commander?”
Jiang Xingyan nodded: “Correct, Huo has already assigned secret missions for them to carry out.”
In the blink of an eye, the woman had actually flashed in front of Jiang Xingyan.
Such fast movement!
“Little old me won’t have it, General Huo~ I rushed as fast as I could, also hoping to get captain position in the Huo Family Army. Which blind fool stole my thunder?”
The woman leaned most of her body against Jiang Xingyan, her eyes seductive and captivating, as if an infinite light was flickering past, captivating the soul.
Jiang Xingyan curled her lips and smiled: “Mei Shisan Niang truly lives up to your reputation. Not only are you an outstanding figure in the grave robbing trade, but you also wield a superb soul-stealing technique. Truly remarkable.”
As they were walking out of the tent, Old Zhang suddenly remembered what his mother had said: “General, my mother said that back in our hometown, there were five grave robbers. Four men and one woman, extremely skilled, quite talented. They specialized in robbing the ancestral graves of the heartless rich, and used the proceeds to help the poor. They were never caught by the government. This should probably be them.”
Mei Shisan Niang curled her lip disdainfully and straightened up from Huo Ci:
“Pfft, you saw through me. Boring.”
Turning her head, she spotted Yun Chunfeng in one glance, and the admiration in her eyes was undisguised.
“Wow, this young master here, truly is of celestial quality~”
Just as she was about to pounce upwards, a bolt of lightning struck right at her feet, startling her so much that she shifted her form and leaped back several feet.
“Cross the line and you die.”
Mei Shisan Niang’s face turned cold. She snorted: “An unappreciative stinky Taoist. How come I run into another one. I spit, what rotten luck!”
She dusted the dirt off her clothes, waved her hand impatiently: “Alright, alright, General Huo, let’s get down to business. Since you know my name, Mei Shisan Niang, about that captain position…”
“Military orders are like mountains. How can they be changed in the morning and reversed at night? What I said initially stands: the first one to arrive is the Commander of the Embroidery Uniform Camp. That won’t change.”
“Fine, fine. Then I can only hope the current Commander dies soon, to free up the spot for me.”
He Han, who was keeping watch nearby, nearly sneezed loudly: Who’s cursing me?!
Jiang Xingyan had no choice but to invite her into the military camp.
Skilled talents were good, but they were hard to discipline. It was a headache.
“Oh right, these four, the tall fat one is Short Tofu, the thin tall one is Fat Tofu. The short fat one is Thin Tofu, the thin short one is Tall Tofu~”
The corners of everyone’s mouths twitched: You sure know how to give nicknames.
The four men cupped their hands together: “We await General Huo’s instruction!”
Jiang Xingyan returned the salute: “From now on, we are brothers who live and die together!”
Mei Shisan Niang lounged sideways in a Grand Master’s Chair, asking lazily: “General Huo, your servant girl has already dug a secret passage in the northwest corner of your tent. The thin layer of soil on top was just a bluff. In a critical moment, it can be used as an escape route.”
Jiang Xingyan cupped her hands: “For this, many thanks.”
Mei Shisan Niang twisted her body, resting her chin on Jiang Xingyan’s shoulder, draping most of her body limply over her.
“General Huo~ Got any urgent military intelligence or secret missions to arrange for your servant girl?”
Jiang Xingyan didn’t find it strange, but Huo Ci was so anxious he kept staring, all ignored.
“Of course there are. Now, Beiluo is full of wild ambitions. The Iron Pagodas are just the tip of the iceberg for them. Our Western Zhou urgently needs intelligence on them. Big or small, report all abnormalities to me, this General.”
Mei Shisan Niang waved her hand: “Easy, easy deal. A few years back, I dug up a rich merchant’s grave. It’s not far from Beiluo. I’ll just head over from there.”
Jiang Xingyan said seriously: “This mission is perilous. I urge you to be extremely careful.”
Mei Shisan Niang leaned her whole body in: “Oh my, oh my~ Is the General feeling sorry for your servant girl?”
Before Jiang Xingyan could say anything, Huo Ci’s face darkened.
Just as he was about to speak, Jiang Xingyan silenced him with a sharp glance.
He felt stifled, unable to express his frustration, extremely uncomfortable.
“Thirteen Niang, rest a while in the camp. Tomorrow, Huo will host a welcome feast for you five.”
Mei Shisan Niang had already twisted around and jumped down the secret passage.
“Alright, I appreciate the General’s sentiment. Wait until your servant girl returns victorious, then washing up won’t be too late~”
The four Tofus bowed to Huo Ci.
Accompanied by a series of crackling and creaking sounds.
Their figures shrank, becoming thin and small, then they drilled into the secret passage and disappeared from sight.
Everyone in the tent was stunned speechless, unable to utter a word for a long time.
Xin Zhui murmured: “Bone contraction skill?”
Whoosh!
Before anyone could answer, they heard the sound of something tearing through the air from outside the tent.
Jiang Xingyan shouted: “Get down!”
The moment she finished speaking, a swallow dart flew in from outside the tent, heading straight for Jiang Xingyan’s face.
Huo Ci’s body instinctively dodged sideways, reaching out to grab the red tassel on the dart.
Xin Zhui immediately gave chase, but the person was already gone.
“Damn it! Do they think our Huo Family Army camp is some kind of public market?!
Daring to come assassinate the General in broad daylight, tired of living, are they? All troops!”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“Stay sharp, reinforce the guard!”
“Sir, yes sir!”
Jiang Xingyan looked down at the dart in her hand. A letter was pinned to it.
She unfolded it and looked at the line of text. Her pupils abruptly constricted, and her heartbeat accelerated:
“I know you are not Huo Ci. You are Jiang Xingyan.”