After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

"Hmph! Fake Taoist nun, stupid Taoist nun, shameless and stinking Taoist nun..."

The sun in the sky emitted a faint golden light. Miss Zhu Qingmian held the reins in one hand and held her melon-shaped hat with red trim in the other.

Riding on horseback, she rolled her eyes and uttered a string of "Taoist nun" in a clear, crisp voice.

Master Ning rubbed his forehead, saying helplessly, "Miss Zhu, Master Xu is my friend, and you've been cursing him for so long..."

He was both anxious and annoyed, and his head started to ache.

For a moment, they didn't even realize that they had called him "Miss Zhu" instead of "Young Master Zhu".

Xu Xiyin, who looked to be only in her early twenties, trembled slightly at the temple.

Taking advantage of the fact that the cult leader had interrupted the wicked princess, who paused briefly to allow herself a moment to breathe, she said in a sarcastic tone:

"At least I've never been jilted at marriage."

The seventeenth princess, who had been publicly rejected by the Southern Dynasty, suddenly roared like a lion with its mane bristling:

"Was I jilted?! I was...!"

"A corpse!"

In a moment of quick thinking, Master Ning raised his hand and pointed to the bushes on the left.

The seventeenth princess to his left, her face flushed with anger, was startled. She turned her gaze and subconsciously looked to the left.

The next moment, three rotting corpses, whose genders were indistinguishable and whose clothes had been stripped off, came into her view from the withered grass!

"vomit!"

Her flushed face turned deathly pale in an instant. It would have been better if this person hadn't said anything, because he pointed it out to her.

Suddenly, she felt a strong stench hitting her face and straight to her head!

I felt nauseous both in my stomach and in my heart, and my head was spinning.

"master!"

Behind the noble Northern Dynasty princess, two identical women in black riding jackets revealed their feminine voices, cried out in surprise, and rode forward.

One person blocked the gruesome scene of corpses lying around.

The other person quickly handed Zhu Qingmian water.

Ning Nan stretched out his left hand, and seeing that Miss Zhu, who had been startled and quieted down, was not in danger of falling off the horse, he withdrew his left hand.

Annoyed, she turned her head and said to Xu Xiyin, whose face was beaming with smugness:

"You should also keep quiet!"

Xu Xiyin glanced at the other person and said indifferently:

"Is the young master issuing orders to me in his own name, or is he offering advice as a friend? If it's the latter,"

The female Taoist priest, leisurely riding her horse, flicked the whisk in her right hand.

"I have never listened to any advice from friends in my life."

Ning Nan waved his hand impatiently:

"Young Master's identity!"

"Xu Xiyin obeys Young Master's command!" The female Taoist priest bowed on horseback, her eyes lighting up, her voice tinged with excitement.

"Follow your head..." Master Ning snorted twice.

The cavalry continued forward without stopping.

They left behind the three corpses hidden in the bushes.

A corpse lay strewn across the wilderness.

Judging from their emaciated figures, these three corpses must be ordinary civilians... If they were soldiers, the bodies would have been taken back by the army.

If it is within the territory of Daliang or the territory of the Northern Dynasty, the local government will handle it.

But this place was a battlefield where the North and South fought.

Naturally, no one will come to bury them.

"With their heads shaved, they must be civilians who fled from the Northern Dynasty, or laborers conscripted by the Northern Dynasty's soldiers. One of them is a woman, perhaps abducted. The arrow fletching is eagle feathers, broad in shape, and with a relatively small curve. Hmm, killed by people from the Northern Dynasty."

Xu Xiyin glanced at him, then looked away and analyzed the situation to Ning Nan.

Since the princess was with ten guards, she still used the term "Northern Dynasty people" instead of "Tartars".

Ning Nan pursed his lips. As Xu Xiyin spoke, he had already turned his gaze back and silently looked ahead.

The large white horse beneath him reared up on the official road.

The road was relatively easy to walk on, so the horses walked more happily.

Before the two northern cities were recaptured, the Northern Dynasty conscripted a large number of laborers to repair the north-south official road for troop transport.

This is a rare road surface made of a mixture of lime, sand, and loess. I wonder how much lime, sand, and loess was used to make it look like this.

Even in winter, there are not many muddy parts on this road.

However, many traces of war remain, with charred areas and bloodstains everywhere.

The mission's next destination was Chuzhou City.

They certainly wouldn't make it tonight. After walking another thirty or forty miles, they would set up camp somewhere at nightfall, cook a meal, and barely get a night's rest.

We should arrive in Chuzhou around 3 PM tomorrow.

In the past, there were several post stations between Jiangpu and Chuzhou, but over the years, they have all been destroyed.

The Northern Dynasty princess, who had been startled by the corpse, finally found the road a little quieter.

However, he would occasionally purse his lips and glance at Ning Nan, but Old Master Ning would keep his eyes straight ahead and pretend not to see him.

She hummed a tune and called out listlessly, "Tuan Tuan Yuan Yuan, sing a song~"

The two round-faced maids, who looked exactly alike, blushed, but since the princess had spoken, they could only sing a northern folk song from time to time to relieve each other's boredom.

Whether Gege found relief from her boredom is unknown, but Ning Nan felt that she and the others certainly did.

When one of the maids with a better voice sang a particularly beautiful passage, San Zhuang shouted "Bravo!" The other servants also cheered loudly.

Although the Imperial Guards and men in black jackets were all somber, the sound of their horses' hooves seemed a bit lighter.

The cheers from San Zhuang and several young servants earned them eye-rolls from Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan.

But without realizing it, their singing voices became even more melodious and delicate.

The sun is setting in the west.

Torches were lit without anyone noticing, and the official road looked like a fiery dragon lying across it.

Judging from the sky, the delegation, which should have been able to travel another seven or eight miles, finally stopped.

A soldier at the front reported that the Northern Dynasty delegation at the very front said they were tired today and would rest here tonight.

On a vacant lot overgrown with withered yellow weeds, a few bare old locust trees remain.

The Southern Dynasty's delegation of nearly one hundred cavalrymen were divided into three teams and guarded the triangle.

Fifty soldiers were stationed in the center.

The laborers began setting up camp, digging stoves, placing pots, boiling water, and cooking.

Master Ning's squad was located at the rear of the camp.

Qian Sijin was directing people to set up camp and directing laborers to bring over some mule carts and horses to form a circle.

They also divided up the night watch tasks.

Master Ning sat by a fire, his hands covered in mud, rummaging through the embers with firewood.

"Is it ready to eat?" Miss Zhu asked, sitting on a low stool prepared by Tuan Tuan Yuan Hua, staring at the fire.

Master Ning shook his head: "Not yet."

"snort."

"Wait a little longer."

"I can't wait any longer!"

"It'll be here soon."

The two stared at the fire, repeating the same boring conversation over and over again.

Just then, tumble, tumble, tumble, one of the members of the reunion group came running over with cheerful steps.

"Master!" The round-faced maid breathed rapidly, her face filled with surprise and delight as she looked at the seventeenth princess, who was waiting for the beggar's chicken to be dug out of the ground.

"Uncle Nianyao is here! Young Master has arrived in Chuzhou!"

With a whoosh, the woman wearing the melon-shaped hat stood up, her eyes flashing with delight, and she said in a cheerful voice:

"My cousin is here?"