“Please punish us, General!”
The captains of the Assault Battalion, Vanguard Battalion, and Supply Battalion knelt in unison, fists clasped, their faces filled with shame.
Behind them knelt many platoon leaders, also looking thoroughly chastened and downcast.
Jiang Xingyan remembered them; they were the ones who had drunk with her that night.
Not a single one could hold their liquor.
The most conspicuous among them was Xin Zhui.
He was bare-chested, revealing his sturdy upper body.
Unlike Huo Ci’s naturally fair skin that never seemed to darken no matter how much wind or sun he endured, Xin Zhui’s skin was a mature wheat color, radiating robustness.
His back was bound with several thorny branches, each as thick as an arm. He knelt there with his head bowed, not even daring to speak.
The sharp thorns had already pierced his skin, causing blood to seep out and spread in various places.
Offering a humble apology?
Jiang Xingyan pretended not to understand. “What is the meaning of this?”
Old Zhangtou, as Xin Zhui’s closest friend, stepped forward first to reply: “General, Vice-General Xin has been acting recklessly lately, causing you displeasure.”
“We, as your comrades, failed to advise him against it. Instead, we added fuel to the fire and offered misguided strategies. We are also at fault.”
“Please punish us, General!”
“Please punish us, General!”
Their synchronized movements, coupled with their thunderous response, gave Jiang Xingyan a significant impact.
Over these past days, under the pretext of training troops, she had been busy with her own affairs and hadn’t truly experienced the feeling of being a general.
Now, she felt a faint surge of excitement.
If it weren’t for the critical situation at hand, leaving no room for her own whims, she would have loved to personally experience the feeling of ‘the wild geese fly high in the moonless night, the enemy chieftain flees under cover of darkness’.
Jiang Xingyan looked at the group of meek and apologetic men before her and suddenly laughed. “In your eyes, am I such a petty person?”
Her words turned their worry into joy.
“The General is broad-minded and magnanimous!”
Jiang Xingyan waved a hand, cutting short their flattery.
“All officers!”
“Here!”
She sobered her expression, her tone grave. “The Assault Battalion will select five hundred elite troops. Travel light. We depart for Qingzhou tonight.”
“Specific details will be explained on the road.”
“Everything is to be conducted in secret. Do not spread word of this.”
“Violators will be dealt with according to military law!”
“Aye!”
The hearts of the several captains jolted; they didn’t know what had happened.
But seeing the General’s expression, it must be something serious.
They instantly switched into combat readiness mode and led their respective platoon leaders away to prepare.
Only Xin Zhui remained kneeling there, motionless.
He didn’t know how to face the General’s wife; it seemed as if all the mistakes Huo Ci had made in the past were somehow connected to him too.
Jiang Xingyan shot him a disdainful glance. “Alright, quickly take those things off. All bloody and gruesome, what kind of appearance is that?”
No sooner had she spoken than Xia Feng poked her head out of the tent.
She asked in a hushed voice, “Young Mistress, can we go now?”
Since Xin Zhui already knew the truth, there was no need to avoid him anymore.
Xia Feng had already strapped the bamboo tube to her back early on, waiting specifically for the Young Mistress to fetch her after court.
“Let’s go!”
Seeing Jiang Xingyan about to leave, and not having yet spoken his words of repentance and reform, Xin Zhui anxiously called out, “General!”
Jiang Xingyan said irritably, “I’ve already told you, I’m not your General.”
“However, your General will be back soon. Just wait!”
Xin Zhui’s heart skipped a beat.
Was the General about to swap back?
But he hadn’t forgiven his General yet!
Jiang Xingyan walked a few steps, then suddenly turned back. She meaningfully looked Xin Zhui up and down a few times.
Xin Zhui grew uneasy under her gaze and lowered his head.
Catching sight of his own bare chest, a thunderclap seemed to go off in his mind.
Wait, something seemed wrong.
The person inside the General now was the General’s wife. The General’s wife was a woman.
Therefore, he had just been… in front of a woman—
Ah!
It was all Old Zhangtou’s fault!
What kind of rotten idea was that?!
In that instant, Xin Zhui felt like he wanted to die.
He was still an untouched, unmarried man!
In all his grown years, not only had he never taken a wife, he hadn’t even held a woman’s hand.
And now he had been seen completely exposed by the General’s wife?!
He wanted to cover something, but it was too late.
Watching Xin Zhui’s entire upper body turn red, Jiang Xingyan was baffled. She reached out and touched his forehead.
“You don’t have a fever.”
She didn’t know that Xin Zhui was burning up from the inside out.
“You want to apologize, right? I’ll give you a chance.”
“Come back to the General’s manor with me. No matter what I say, you must nod and agree.”
“Otherwise, don’t ever think about me forgiving you!”
——-
Xin Zhui climbed into the carriage in a daze. The wounds on his back soaked through his clothes with blood, but he didn’t even notice.
Yun Chunfeng watched him with amusement.
The formerly unrestrained and flamboyant Vice-General Xin was now like a defeated quail or a beaten rooster, thoroughly shamed and downcast, not even daring to speak much.
Sensing someone looking at him, Xin Zhui looked up blankly and met the gazes of Yun Chunfeng, who was studying him, and Xiao Ya, who was looking at him with disdain.
His sense of guilt grew even heavier.
Especially now that he knew Yun Chunfeng’s identity.
He couldn’t shake the awkward feeling that he and the General, relying on their size and their ‘complete’ families, had bullied an orphaned girl and a little child, and now their family member had come to confront them.
Xin Zhui buried his head even deeper, silently repenting to atone for his sins.
Xia Feng shot him a pitying glance.
This man truly had no idea what was about to happen.