Chapter 8: Peeping Heart

  Xie Xian looked at Chang Qing's eyes, subconsciously pulling her sleeves back, feeling that the stiffness in her body had relaxed, and then walked to Chen Gonggong and saluted: "Chen Gonggong, your meaning is that General Jingyi has already saved the Xie family, right?"

  Mr. Chen looked at Xie Yan's eager and pleading gaze, his heart softened, and he nodded: "I think... there should be a turning point..." The two words "turning point" were spoken very lightly, but the nod was ironclad evidence, Xie Yan felt relieved of a heavy burden, smiled brightly at Mr. Chen, and bowed deeply to thank him: "Thank you, Mr. Chen."

  Eunuch Chen looked around, met with many dissatisfied eyes, and thought to himself that things were not going well. The eunuchs in charge of ceremonies and the Imperial Guards were like one family, how could they help the civil officials? It was all because he had been taken in by a little girl's words. He wanted to deny it, but felt it wouldn't be right, so he simply waved his hand and said: "Enough, enough! We're just passing on a message. There will definitely be a verdict after ten days." Having finished speaking, he bowed and took his leave.

  "Sister... are we past this?" Most of the people in the hall had not yet woken up, but Xie Ling had heard it early and saw the sudden change, hurriedly pulling up her skirt and running out, grabbing Xie Yan's sleeve, looking at Chang Qing: "Commander, now we're friends, not enemies, right?" Her voice was tinged with a hint of coquetry and a bit of playfulness, her bright eyes gazing at Chang Qing, who, illuminated by the morning sun's rays, looked even more handsome.

  Xie Yan listened to her sister's words and suddenly turned her head, looking at Xie Ling...

  Is he friend or foe?

  How is it possible?

  Jin Yiwei and Wen Chen were sworn enemies, this fierce man last night tried every means to persecute the Xie family, how could my sister say such strange words? Is it... being scared silly?

  "Ling'er... don't be afraid." Xie Xian grasped Xie Ling's hand, looked up at the men in the courtyard who had stopped eating and were staring at Xie Ling with wide eyes... The girl was originally stunningly beautiful, and now under the sunlight, she was even more breathtakingly lovely, many people's eyes revealing a greedy and regretful gaze...

  Xie Wan frowned and turned to Chang Qing, "Commander, since Chen Gonggong said that the Xie manor is innocent, can you withdraw from the outer courtyard of the Xie manor?"

  Chang Qing raised an eyebrow and said in a gloomy tone: "Innocent?"

  Xie Yun looked at Chang Qing's expression, her heart slightly sinking. Chen Gonggong was being forced by herself, and Zhihuashi was not stupid, so she quickly changed her words: "Then Commander Zhihuashi, you will be staying here for ten days, eating and living are very inconvenient, how about this? I'll arrange for the kitchen to cook well, would you like to move to the outer courtyard?"

  Chang Qing's face was gloomy and he didn't say a word.

  "Sister, since nothing's wrong, they won't harm us, will they?" Xie Ling bit her lip and glanced around, almost all the men staring at her with eyes full of surprise, greed, pursuit, and admiration. Only Chang Qing didn't even glance in her direction, and she couldn't tell what he was thinking. She had been stunningly beautiful since childhood and had never seen a man who didn't chase after her, yet the one she admired...

  Xie Yan raised her head and glanced at her younger sister, thinking to herself that Ling'er had been strange in the past, but she wasn't one to not know what was proper. What's going on now? She's only saying nonsense, could she really have been scared silly? But Xie Yan didn't have the heart to worry about these things right now, having just tested her twice, and Chang Qing hadn't agreed either time. This person is probably...

  "General... " Xie Xian bowed deeply to Chang Qing, saying: "I know that guarding is a duty, so please gather the number of people and assemble in the hall, it's convenient for the various dignitaries to take count. As for the kitchen, they are just miscellaneous servants of the Xie manor, asking them to serve the dignitaries is also good, otherwise they would have to go out on the streets to buy some unclean food..." The last sentence was said with great emphasis.

  "Older brother, this method is indeed good." A Jin Yiwei guard who couldn't bear the taste said: "It's better to starve than eat these pig foods." As he spoke, he slammed the bowl in his hand onto the ground and cursed: "What kind of thing did his grandmother make!"

  "This method is not bad." Ma Fang walked over, his eyes still greedily staring at Xie Ling. In the daytime, he looked again and this little girl was even more beautiful, so that people couldn't move their eyes away. However, before getting a beauty, eating must be solved first: "Boss, what this little girl said is right, gathering people here doesn't worry about them running away, the cook has nothing to do with it, think of something delicious to eat first."

  "Yes, boss, let's eat first." The people behind responded in unison.

  Chang Qing didn't respond, narrowing his eyes to look at the sleeve, which had already drooped down and was slightly trembling in an unusual way. He didn't know why, but suddenly he thought of the deer he had shot and killed before. In order to cover up the escape of the deer herd, it fell into his trap, but still refused to give up, desperately climbing to escape...

  He had never seen a deer so beautiful, with eyes shining golden in the sunlight, and multicolored patterns on its fur standing out against the forest foliage like a dappled spirit of the woods, but only the broken antlers kept bleeding, struggling desperately, struggling...

  It's unknown whether it was endurance or not, he finally closed his eyes, drew the bow and shot the arrow, ending everything. From then on, he often dreamed of that deer, its colorful patterns, the broken antlers for saving its companions, and the desperate struggle before death...

  "Older sister? Older sister……” Ma Fang saw Chang Qing lowering her head, staring at Xie Yan's sleeve in a daze, thinking that she was hiding something in her sleeve. He leaned in close and whispered: "Could it be a hidden arrow? Why don't we search her?" To be honest, he didn't believe that a wealthy young lady who didn't know martial arts could be so brave when facing a group of big men, unless she really had some tricks up her sleeve.

  Chang Qing was stunned for a moment, then suddenly came to his senses and shook his head, saying: "No need..." Suddenly he didn't dare look up at Xie Yan, quickly turned around and said: "I'll go to the study." As he spoke, he swayed slightly and disappeared from view, leaving everyone staring at each other in confusion.

  "Hey, Old Horse, what does Big Brother mean? Has he agreed or not?" Pang Qi shouted.

  Ma Fang scratched his head, looked at the pair of sister flowers, and frowned: "No need, which one is not needed? What's not needed?"

  "General Tieqi..." Xie Xian got closer and heard some of it, trying to use a casual tone: "Commander's intention is probably agreed."

  Ma Fang thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Alright, you go ahead and hurry up, we can't wait any longer!"

  Xie Yan was overjoyed, nodded slightly, and pulled Xie Ling to return to the hall, but saw her younger sister staring blankly at the courtyard door. She was thoughtful and familiar with her sister's temperament. Seeing this expression, she felt a shock, cold sweat dripping down her body, but shook her head again. This matter... is also too unbelievable, right?