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She quickly tried to move away but Ji Feng Li’s voice rang out, "Don’t move."

Hua Zhu Yu abruptly froze. It suddenly dawned on her that she was lying directly atop his wound and beneath her fingertips was his pulsating heart.

For a split second her face flushed. Luckily, the two of them were covered beneath the drapes which were thick enough to conceal her expression.

Just as she was about to carefully get up, she heard loud footsteps quickly approaching.

"Lord Chancellor...what’s wrong?" the person came over and quickly pulled the drapes off of them. After which he promptly let out a shriek of horror, startling Hua Zhu Yu.

She turned around and saw that it was Tong Shou. The dumbstruck expression on his face was quite amusing, like he was trying his best to comprehend the scene in front of him.

She was aware that her position alongside Ji Feng Li was quite ambiguous.

Having just had his wound bandaged, his outer robes were not secured tightly. When he fell his robes came undone, revealing his st.u.r.dy chest with her hands resting on top.

Hua Zhu Yu moved away from Ji Feng Li and ended up pulling out a few strands of hair while trying to quickly untangle herself from the drapes.

Though her bun was a mess, fortunately it was still set in place.

"Lord Chancellor, this subordinate shall withdraw," she quickly bowed, her lashes lowered, concealing the fl.u.s.tered look in her eyes.

Ji Feng Li was still lying on the rug. He looked at her with his phoenix eyes, a secret fire burning in them.

Though startled by his gaze she didn’t wait for him to speak before quickly leaving. As she pa.s.sed by Tong Shou she noted his dark complexion. She could hear him muttering, "Broken... broken... broken..." Was he just too stunned to complete his sentence or was it because Ji Feng Li was present?

"Broken-sleeve?" Hua Zhu Yu couldn’t keep her anger in check and coldly remarked, " If I was, you wouldn’t be able to escape! Just take a look at yourself, so tall and strong, such a fine male specimen." The color drained from Tong Shou’s face and he quickly backed away.

Goodness gracious!

He was rendered speechless. He still had a wife and child waiting at home for him! In the following days, Tong Shou meticulously avoided Hua Zhu Yu, even going so far as to avoid looking her in the eyes like she was some kind of hungry beast.

***

In the stillness of night, Lan Bing was standing outside her tent. When she stepped out, the gaze he leveled at her was the same one he gave her that night when he tricked her into entering Ji Feng Li’s room. Perhaps he thought something happened between the two of them that night. However she was too lazy to explain herself and just kept walking.

"Where are you running off to? Lord Chancellor has instructed that you are to be taking care of him from now on!" Lan Bing coldy said. He didn’t actually want her taking care of Ji Feng Li but at the same time he couldn’t go against orders.

Hua Zhu Yu halted midstep not understanding. Ji Feng Li refused to let her care for him when he fell ill at Xuan Zhou. Why the sudden change of mind now?

"Why do I have to wait to him?" Hua Zhu Yu asked with narrowed eyes.

"There are no females in the army, and you....don’t you have experience with serving people? Besides, this should be an easier task for you." Lan Bing said.

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"I have already joined the army and am a soldier, not a servant," said Hua Zhu Yu.

"Since this is the army, this is a military order. Do you want to go against a military order?" Lan Bing asked.

A military order was something she didn’t dare disobey, so she followed behind Lan Bing.

Inside the tent, the seated Ji Feng Li sat with narrowed eyes exuding a cold and imposing air.

"Tong Shou, how about I hand this tent over to you? How does that sound? " said Ji Feng Li, his light voice seemingly indifferent.

Tong Shou’s complexion paled. He scratched his head and in a lowered voice said, ""Lord Chancellor, in the future when entering, I shall announce myself first. But.... I have something on my mind that I’m not sure how to say."

"Speak," Ji Feng Li said.

"Lord Chancellor, Yuan Bao is a man, you can’t ..." Tong Shou didn’t know how to broach the topic.

Ji Feng Li’s expression turned frosty as he yelled, "Get out!" before laying back down on the rug and closing his eyes.

"Tong Shou daren truly knows how to jest. I was not careful earlier and fell on top of Lord Chancellor. Please don’t misunderstand." Hua Zhu Yu spoke as she entered the tent.

Ji Feng Li’s eyes flashed open, his piercing gaze fixed on Hua Zhu Yu as though he was trying to see through her. When he finally averted his gaze, he said, "Tong Shou, what did you have to report?"

Tong Shou was too slow and unable to follow the change in topic. Fortunately Lan Bing stepped in.

"Lord Chancellor, Yangguan city has a strong defense and abundant supplies. It’s unlikely we’ll recover it even if we were to lay siege for a year and a half. Dragging this on will only be detrimental to us, especially as winter approaches. We’re at a disadvantage because our troops are unaccustomed to the cold. We’ll surely lose more cities if Xiao Yin uses this opportunity to invade farther south."

Ji Feng Li’s smile was cold as he spoke, his voice faint. "Yangguan definitely has to be recovered, but this Chancellor is currently injured. If they won’t attack then neither will we for the time being. As for their provisions, that’s not problem, we can just shorten their supply."

"But Lord Chancellor, if we cannot recover Yangguan, how are we to mess with their food supply?" Tong Shou asked in confusion.

"Interrupting their food supply isn’t our only option. There are other things we can interfere with." Ji Feng Li slowly said as he lowered his eyes.

Hua Zhu Yu thought about his comment.

Although she was very familiar with Western Jiang’s terrain, she only knew of the northern lands from the information recorded in books. She recalled that a mountain bordered one side of Yangguan and that the city itself was built on top of dry arid land. At one point Southern Kingdom dug through that mountain in order to redirect the flow of a nearby river to the city. Cutting off Xiao Yin’s water supply was more serious than cutting of his food supply, after all soldiers could withstand hunger for three days but the same couldn’t be said of thirst.

"You have a plan?" Hua Zhu Yu was still lost in thought when Ji Feng Li spoke.

She looked at him only to find he was gazing at her attentively.

Hua Zhu Yu calmly commented, "I heard Yangguan has a river running through it and it’s the only one to supply it with water." Using the river would be the best plan if they wanted to recover the city without putting up a fight.

Lan Bing clapped his hands and said," "How could I forget about that?! What a clever scheme! Xiao Yin understands the strategic importance of water so it should make it even easier for us."

Ji Feng Li silently stared at Hua Zhu Yu as something flickered in the depths of his eyes.