Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 89

In the middle of the night, the member of the Personal Guard watching Xia Lang stared at the familiar face that had suddenly appeared before him, stone in hand, and did not know what to do.

Xia Heng discreetly hid the stone she had spent ages selecting behind her back and gave the young guard a placating smile.

“Hehe.”

Helpless, the young man slowly looked away and pretended not to see her.

“Thank you!” Xia Heng whispered.

Then she darted into the tent behind him.

Xia Lang and the other men were being held separately to prevent them from coordinating their stories.

She had just come from the other tent, and she now felt extremely confident about how hard she needed to strike!

Xia Lang was tied up. After making a commotion for half the night, he had finally exhausted himself and fallen asleep on his stomach. A cloak belonging to some member of the Personal Guard had been draped over him.

Before he was convicted, they could hardly allow him to freeze to death.

Xia Heng crept up to him and first used a strip of binding cloth to cover his eyes.

Then she raised the stone in her right hand and aimed at the back of his head.

*Thud!*

“Ah! Who is it? Who’s trying to kill me? Guard!”

Tsk. She had struck too lightly. His skull was quite hard.

Frowning, Xia Heng hit him again.

*Thud!*

“Ah! Guard!”

The young man outside could no longer stand listening. He lifted the tent flap and came in.

Seeing that she had already blindfolded Xia Lang, he raised the pommel of his saber and struck the back of Xia Lang’s head.

Xia Lang immediately collapsed and stopped moving.

“Miss Xia, that’s how you do it. You were hitting too lightly.”

Xia Heng imitated his motion.

“Huh? The guard at the other tent taught me just now. I thought I had learned it before I came here… I suppose my practical technique still needs work!”

She examined the back of Xia Lang’s head again.

“A big lump will definitely form later, right?”

“Miss Xia! I was the one who struck him, so you can rest easy! I guarantee the lump will be no smaller than yours or Chuqing’s!”

Only then did Xia Heng nod.

That blow to the back of Chuqing’s head could not go unanswered.

Before leaving, she insisted on stuffing a packet of dried meat into the guard’s hands.

“It’s salted. Don’t eat too much at once, or you’ll get excessive internal heat.”

After returning to her tent and removing her padded jacket, Xia Heng lay down beside Chuqing, closed her eyes, and slept soundly until morning.

* * *

Cheng Zhesong felt as though something supernatural had plagued him lately. Nothing went smoothly.

His loyal subordinates had either been eliminated by necessity or killed by others, causing him considerable losses.

The assassination plan today should have been foolproof. Even if Dongfang Wei survived, he ought to have been gravely wounded.

Yet that damned Cang Chuli had somehow arrived in time, costing Cheng Zhesong dozens more shadow guards.

He had already lost a great many shadow guards to Cang Chuli recently. That alone did not matter. Lin Feng could always replenish them.

But the Xia family!

He had given Xia Jinguang one task. Just one!

Find the wolf pack.

He had not even entrusted the Xia family with luring the wolves toward Dongfang Wei. He had merely ordered them to locate the pack!

And still they had dumped two of Cang Chuli’s maids there!

More importantly, the two maids had escaped? They had returned alive to make an accusation?

They had practically forced evidence straight into Cang Chuli’s hands. The last person foolish enough to do that had been Wang Jian!

Nor had Cheng Zhesong known that the men of the Xia family were embezzling women’s dowries and private property.

He could not help reconsidering whether choosing the Xia family as one of his pieces had been a mistake.

When, precisely, had this streak of misfortune begun?

…

Inside the Xia family’s tent, Xia Yun said, “Big Brother, this is all my fault for failing to teach that money-losing wretch properly…”

“Second Uncle, there is no need to blame yourself.

“But Heng’er was obedient before. Even if she has changed sides, I never expected her to go this far. What caused it?”

Xia Jun could not understand it no matter how hard he thought.

“Could Second Aunt’s death have provoked her?”

“Ah. If only I had known, I would have buried her somewhere harder to find…

“Sure enough, the moment Lady Hao died, that wretched girl stopped obeying. But how did she find out?” Xia Yun wondered, scratching his head.

Even now, he did not believe he had done anything wrong. He merely regretted being discovered.

“At this point, how she learned the truth is no longer important.

“Lang’er absolutely cannot be connected to the attempt on His Majesty’s life. But if the location of the wolf den implicates the Prime Minister…”

Xia Jinguang was worried. He had not known why the Prime Minister wanted the wolves’ habitat located.

Looking at matters now, the Xia family might inadvertently have ruined the Prime Minister’s great plan while leaving evidence behind for others to seize.

But they had no better choice at present. He could only instruct Xia Jun, “Find an opportunity to give Lang’er instructions… Ah. See whether you can find some way to extricate him first.”

* * *

Early the next morning, Xia Heng asked, “Do you think Zhao Siyan will kill me when we get back?”

“…I don’t know. If she kills anyone, she’ll probably kill both of us…”

Xia Heng and Chuqing stared at their padded jackets with troubled expressions.

The garments had been brand-new when they arrived.

The meat-scent powder was gone now, but the large patches they had scrubbed were darker than the rest of the fabric.

The once-fluffy cotton had clumped into stiff slabs after getting wet. Those areas looked much flatter than the rest, as though the women were wearing armor.

There were also specks of blood on Chuqing’s cuff, and somehow, one corner of her jacket had been snagged and torn.

Strange. They had clearly walked with great care.

The two women exchanged a look, sighed, and put on their jackets.

Let Xia Heng think. How were they going to argue their way out of this when they returned?

Breakfast that morning was shredded-chicken congee.

Xia Heng did not know how to cook roe-deer meat, and the wild boar always seemed to have a musky smell that cumin and pepper alone could not suppress.

She could only hope her chili peppers would hurry up and mature. Then all this meat would taste much better!

While she cooked, Mo Bai kept hovering beside her.

At first, Xia Heng assumed he was looking for Chuqing.

But before long, Chuqing went to rinse rice nearby, and Mo Bai did not follow. He continued hovering beside Xia Heng.

“If you have something to say, say it…”

She could no longer tolerate his pacing. It was making her dizzy.

“It’s nothing. It’s just, well…”

Mo Bai hemmed and hawed before leaning close and whispering, “Chuqing said you have a special method for finding your way. Can you teach me?”

Xia Heng’s heart lurched. A special method for finding her way? Her phone?

“You know we often fight in the wilderness, and I’m especially terrible at remembering routes. If there truly is such a technique, I want to learn it even if it’s disgusting.”

Mo Bai looked embarrassed too.

“You only need to give me a general explanation! I don’t mind if it’s dirty. Truly!

“Is this method easier for men to observe? Men urinate more, after all!”

“Disgusting? Dirty? Urinate more?”

Only now did Xia Heng realize he might not be talking about what she thought he was.

“Wait. Start from the beginning. What exactly happened?”

After hearing Mo Bai’s deliberately beautified explanation, Xia Heng raised her face to the sky and slowly released a long breath.

“Chuqing! Get over here!”

Another scene of utter chaos followed.

“Waaah… I said I’m sorry!”

At last, Xia Heng understood exactly how Cang Chuli felt.

Everyone had one person like this around them.

Every time she admitted fault, her attitude was excellent and her response swift—yet she never changed!

Cang Chuli stepped out of his tent, glanced at Chuqing, then at Xia Heng.

An extremely faint smile appeared on his lips. He tugged his clothes into place and strode away.

He had not said a word.

But in the slight upward curve of his lips and the look in his eyes, Xia Heng clearly saw the word *retribution*.

She turned to look at Chuqing, who was clutching her forehead with an aggrieved expression, and felt a mouthful of old blood lodge in her chest.

In just one day, she had gone from the General’s Mansion’s exceptionally gutsy maid to the General’s Mansion’s maid who played with piss!

Ha! Truly, ever since she transmigrated into this book, she had no idea whether the gears of fate had begun to turn.

But she was certainly about to lose every last scrap of dignity she possessed!