I am invincible, that's why I lie down. You're using your entire clan to rebel?

Qingshi City.

Tea stall.

The wind blew in from the direction of the city gate, causing the old cloth banner on the corner of the shed to flutter for a moment before falling back into place.

Qin Mu sat down at the low table and casually placed the reins on the corner of the table.

He picked up the bowl of hot tea, but didn't drink it right away. He glanced at the person opposite him first.

Lu Qingshuang sat there, the empty teacup in front of her had been sitting there for a while, the tea stains around the rim of the bowl had dried, but she didn't ask anyone to refill it.

Qin Mu put down his teacup and said casually, "You're from the Northern Border."

Lu Qingshuang neither denied nor nodded.

She stared at him for a couple of moments, then said, "You are Zhao San."

Qin Mu picked up his teacup and took another sip: "What did Xu Longxiang send you here for?"

Lu Qingshuang's gaze fell on his face. After a moment, she turned her head slightly, glanced at the horse tied outside the shed, and then looked away: "His Highness sent me to keep an eye on you."

Her tone was flat, without any hint of probing.

Qin Mu put down his teacup, his fingertips lingering on the rim for a moment: "What are you staring at?"

Lu Qingshuang looked at him: "Let's see what you've been doing in Northern Mang. Who you've met. Have you done anything you shouldn't have?"

Qin Mu leaned back in his chair: "So, how do you plan to keep watch?"

Lu Qingshuang rested her hand on the edge of the table: "Wherever you go, I'll follow. Whatever you do, I'll remember."

Qin Mu didn't reply; he picked up his teacup and took another sip.

Lu Qingshuang was silent for a moment, then asked, "How is it going in Northern Mang?"

Qin Mu looked up at her: "What do you want to know?"

Lu Qingshuang's gaze remained fixed on him: "Your Highness needs to know the current situation in Northern Mang, as well as your progress here."

Qin Mu placed the teacup back on the table: "The progress is that Huyan Lie has secured his position. The Red Wolf Tribe, the Black Mountain Camp, and the White River Army have all publicly submitted, and there will be no further turmoil within Northern Mang for the time being."

Lu Qingshuang listened quietly without interrupting him.

She said, "Then Your Highness can rest assured."

Qin Mu looked at her and said, "Go back and tell him that. Tell him that the Northern Barbarians have been pacified and that the Great Qin cannot make any moves in the north for the time being."

Lu Qingshuang nodded without asking any further questions.

A gust of wind blew in from the teahouse, blowing a stray strand of hair that was hanging by her temples to the corner of her mouth.

She didn't try to move it, but simply pulled her hand back from the edge of the table and placed it on her lap.

But she neither stood up nor went to lead the horse.

Qin Mu looked at her: "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Lu Qingshuang raised her eyes and looked at his face: "His Highness sent me to keep an eye on you, but you didn't seem surprised when I arrived."

Qin Mu held the teacup, the rim of which was pressed against his lips without drinking: "Why should I be surprised?"

Lu Qingshuang said, "It's as if you knew all along that he would send someone."

Qin Mu put down his teacup: "He'll send someone sooner or later. It'll be either you or someone else."

Lu Qingshuang said, "Then why didn't you wait for others?"

Qin Mu leaned back in his chair: "Because it just so happens to be you."

Lu Qingshuang's eyelashes twitched slightly.

She looked down at the empty teacup in front of her.

After a moment, she looked up and said, "Then I'll start following you today."

Qin Mu did not answer.

He finished the last sip of tea in his bowl, put the bowl down, took out a small piece of silver from his sleeve and placed it on the corner of the table, then stood up.

He turned sideways and took two steps toward the outside of the shed: "Follow me."

Lu Qingshuang sat there quietly for a couple of moments, then stood up as well.

She followed him out of the teahouse and mounted her horse.

A cold wind blew in, causing the hem of my robe to cling to my calves.

She didn't ask him where he was going, nor how far it was.

She simply followed him, keeping a distance of about a horse's length.

Qin Mu headed north along the dirt road outside the city gate, his horse's hooves clattering softly as it trod across the frozen mud.

The fields on both sides of the road had been flattened by the wind and snow, and in the distance there were a few old trees that had been blown askew, their bare branches pointing obliquely to the sky.

The two walked along the dry riverbed for a while.

The riverbed was covered with gravel, and occasionally a few sparks would fly when a horse stepped on it, only to be swallowed up by the afternoon sun.

Qin Mu reined in his horse and glanced back at the direction behind him.

Lu Qingshuang also stopped, without asking why she stopped, but simply followed his gaze to look at the darkening horizon in the distance.

Qin Mu withdrew his gaze and continued forward.

They walked for about half an hour, and the terrain ahead began to level out.

Lu Qingshuang saw some low, gray outlines in the distance; they were tents.

The tents were lined up along the edge of a dry riverbed, with almost uniform spacing between each one.

The fence surrounding the camp was made of thick wood, with the stakes sharpened to a point and thick hemp ropes stretched between them.

Several soldiers in old leather armor stood at the entrance to the camp. They were not moving; they were just standing there quietly.

When Qin Mu approached, the soldier at the front lowered his head slightly, without saying a word or stopping him.

Lu Qingshuang followed Qin Mu through the camp entrance.

She noticed that the soldiers did not bow their heads or look at her as she passed by.

Their eyes were fixed on Qin Mu.

She could see very clearly from horseback.

Qin Mu dismounted in front of the main tent and tossed the reins to a soldier who came to greet him.

The soldier took the reins naturally.

Qin Mu turned his head and glanced at Lu Qingshuang: "Dismount."

Lu Qingshuang did not hesitate and rolled over to land.

She stood there, her gaze sweeping over the neatly arranged tents before settling on the main tent.

A dark blue flag with a wolf's head embroidered on it was tied to the pointed top of the tent.

But she didn't look at the flag much; her gaze fell on a taller wooden pole on the other side of the camp.

A jet-black flag hung on the wooden pole. The flag had no design, but it was larger than any other flag in the camp.

Qin Mu had already reached the tent flap.

He turned to the side, without lifting the curtain, and glanced at her first: "Are you sure you still want to follow?"

Lu Qingshuang's feet were rooted to the spot.

She stood there for a moment.

She spoke, her voice low: "The people of Northern Mang do not fly a black flag without a pattern."

Qin Mu looked at her: "Then who do you think hung it?"

Lu Qingshuang did not answer.

She just looked at him.

Her gaze lingered on his face for a long while.

Her lips moved slightly, and her voice lowered even further: "You are not Zhao San."

Qin Mu neither denied nor nodded.

He just looked at her.

Lu Qingshuang's breathing was shallower than before.

Her gaze shifted from the dark black flag to his face.

Her voice was hoarse when she spoke: "You are the Emperor of the Great Qin."

Qin Mu neither answered yes nor no.

He simply raised his hand, lifted the curtain, and stepped aside, making a gap just big enough for one person to walk through: "Come in and talk."

He turned and went into the tent without waiting for her reply.

Lu Qingshuang stood outside the tent curtain. The wind blew past her side, lifting a corner of her dress before letting it fall back down.

She glanced down at the short knife at her waist, then stepped over the threshold.

The light inside the tent was dimmer than outside.

In the very center was a long table, on which lay a map of the entire Northern Mang territory. Several marks circled in vermilion ink were arranged along a line running from west to east. The cornerstone was a smooth gray stone.

Several books were scattered on the low couch on the right, while a larger topographical map hung on the curtain wall on the left, with a few neat lines of small characters marked in charcoal in the corner.

A man dressed in a dark brown brocade robe was standing in front of the map, with a bowl of wine beside him.

Hearing footsteps, he turned to the side, shifting his gaze from Qin Mu to Lu Qing Shuang, without showing any surprise.

Huyan Lie placed the wine bowl back on the table: "Your Majesty, who is this...?"

Qin Mu walked to the table: "Those from the Northern Border must follow me."

Hu Yanlie glanced at Lu Qingshuang, his gaze lingering for a moment on the short knife at her waist, but he didn't ask any further questions.

He simply turned slightly to the side, picked up the bowl of wine on the table, and took a sip.

Lu Qingshuang stood inside the tent, her gaze sweeping across the room, from the vermilion markings on the map to the hand-drawn topographical map, from the neatly stacked documents on the corner of the desk to the several scrolls of books on the low couch that had been turned to the point of curling.

Then her gaze fell back on Huyan Lie.

Of course she recognized that face.

She had seen the portrait of Huyan Lie, the new Khan of Northern Mang, more than once in the northern border region.

But she had clearly heard him say that word.

She didn't move or speak.

Qin Mu sat down at the desk.

He reached for an empty teacup on the table, poured himself half a bowl of cold tea, took a sip, and then looked at her: "What you wanted to know, you know now. Tell me."

Lu Qingshuang stood there, silent for a long time.

Her gaze shifted from the map to Qin Mu's face.

She knew that from the moment she stepped across that threshold, the line could never be pulled back.

Lu Qingshuang stood inside the tent, her fingers still resting on the hilt of the short knife, but she forgot to let go.

Her gaze fell on Huyan Lie, then shifted to Qin Mu.

Her lips were slightly parted, as if she had something to say, but the words stuck in her throat and she swallowed them back.

Two words kept echoing in her mind—Your Majesty.

Huyan Lie addressed him as His Majesty.

The new Khan of Northern Mang, who commanded tens of thousands of cavalry and had just secured his throne, addressed the young man in front of him, dressed in an old gray robe and drinking tea at a long table, as "Your Majesty" with such respect.

She recalled the secret reports she had read in the North.

News of the Qin Emperor's presence in the capital was being sent to Zhenyue Hall one after another.

Those secret reports said that he spent all his time in the palace, that he was obsessed with women, that he neglected state affairs, and that he had no interest in the northern border or in getting involved with the Northern Barbarians.

She had read those words more than once.

But the person standing in front of her at this moment was wearing the most inconspicuous gray cloth robe, sitting in the tent of the Northern Mang Khan, and had just made Huyan Lie nod with a single sentence.

She felt her back press against the tent wall, and she didn't know when she had taken a step back.

Her gaze fell on his face, trying to find a flaw in it.

But she couldn't find it.

His posture was so natural, as if he had always been sitting in that spot.

The unfolded map and the vermilion markings seemed to have been prepared specifically for him.

It seems that this wasn't the first time Huyan Lie had uttered the title "Your Majesty."

She began to rearrange the fragments in her mind.

Zhao San, the one who volunteered his name in the tea stall.

Zhao San, who showed no surprise after she revealed that he was there to keep an eye on her.

Zhao San, who led her all the way into the camp without anyone stopping her.

The jet-black flag hung on the tallest wooden pole in the camp, higher than the wolf flag of the Northern Barbarians.

Huyan Lie allowed it to hang there, and the soldiers didn't even glance at it.

Lu Qingshuang's gaze returned to Qin Mu.

She herself found the question absurd when she asked it.

But Huyan Lie did not refute; he simply held the bowl of wine and lowered his gaze.

Qin Mu neither answered yes nor no.

He simply put down his teacup: "You come from the North, you should have seen my portrait."

Lu Qingshuang had indeed seen it.

In the secret room of Zhenyue Hall, Xu Longxiang once pointed to that portrait and said, "Remember this face."

The portrait didn't look like him at all, but the person in front of him looked more like himself than the portrait.

She felt her fingers gripping the knife handle trembling slightly.

She looked down at the short knife at her waist.

The short knife that Xu Longxiang personally handed to her.

She remembered the way Xu Longxiang handed her the knife.

He said he would go to Beimang, find Zhao San, keep an eye on him, and then bring back what he saw.

He spoke in a calm voice, as if he had already calculated everything that could be calculated.

The only thing he didn't foresee was that Zhao San wasn't Zhao San.

Lu Qingshuang felt that her breathing was much shallower than before.

Lu Qingshuang's gaze fell on the map spread out on the table.

The markings drawn with vermilion, the routes marked with charcoal, the corners that had been repeatedly turned over—everything told her the same thing: this preparation was not done in a day.

This person has been here for a long time.

This tent was not set up temporarily.

Lu Qingshuang stood there, her fingers sliding off the hilt of the knife and hanging at her sides.

She realized she no longer had the standing to question it.

She has already seen the truth, but she can no longer send that truth back.

She lowered her head, her voice even softer than before: "So, what do you plan to do with me?"

Qin Mu leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on her face: "You stay here."

Lu Qingshuang said, "What's the point of staying here?"

Qin Mu said, "It depends on what you're willing to do."

Lu Qingshuang was silent for a moment: "I could not possibly betray Your Highness."

Qin Mu said, "I did not ask you to betray him."

Lu Qingshuang looked up at him.

Qin Mu continued, "You stay here and do one thing for me. From today onward, don't bring back anything you saw in the Northern Border. You don't need to do anything else."

Lu Qingshuang stood there.

Her hands slowly clenched and then relaxed at her sides.

She said, "What about His Highness?"

Qin Mu said, "I will send someone back with a message. Tell them that Zhao San is still in Northern Mang and is proceeding according to plan. You stay in Northern Mang and continue to keep an eye on him."

Lu Qingshuang remained silent for a long time: "Will he believe me?"

Qin Mu picked up his teacup, his voice neither loud nor soft: "He will believe it."