Why am I, a cook, always involved in cases?

He couldn't look away, simply because she was shining brightly on the stage at the pinnacle of her career as a peerless chef.

At some point, the musketry sounded again.

Accompanied by a dull "bang" sound, Concubine Shuwan's figure suddenly stopped, and the smell of gunpowder quickly spread.

An iron bullet hit Concubine Shuwan's chest. She staggered back, her face distorted and unable to hide her pain.

“Get her!”

At Wu Muqi's command, his soldiers stepped forward one after another.

Quan Wushuang felt depressed.

Wu Muqi did nothing wrong, but Quan Wushuang felt that this was like a long-awaited delicacy that was taken away before he could even taste it.

Concubine Shuwan's distorted face suddenly showed a smile again.

Then, her figure seemed to turn into light smoke——

No, not really dissipated.

She fell backwards, and there was nothing behind her.

She actually jumped down from the top of the city wall.

This is how Quan Wushuang met Concubine Shuwan again.

At this moment, he just felt exhausted.

It seemed as if all the fatigue from the past few days came flooding back like a tide at this moment.

As soon as he left the city wall, Quan Wushuang met up with the reinforcements and had someone urgently bandage the wound on his face.

Although it was Quan Wushuang who was injured, everyone around him showed pain on their faces, which seemed quite strange.

Maybe it's because no painkillers were used when bandaging the wound.

Gao Zhongcheng only met up with everyone at this time, and he ordered Quan Wushuang to rest immediately.

Because Quan Wushuang needs to stay with the reinforcements, Gao Zhongcheng also needs to stay.

Only at this moment did Quan Wushuang realize that he had not slept for several days.

"How's the cook?"

"No problem, please go and rest."

(Am I really that tired?) Quan Wushuang thought to himself, but he had no desire to sleep.

Perhaps realizing that Quan Wushuang was unwilling to rest, Gao Zhongcheng quietly signaled to him with a carriage in the distance.

"I advise you not to get close."

Quan Wushuang ignored Gao Zhongcheng's dissuasion and stepped into the carriage, only to see a thin woman with disheveled hair and bloodstains lying inside.

She curled up on some pieces of brocade, as delicate as a kitten.

Items wrapped in plain cloth were placed around it.

"These are the relics of the deceased children of the Zi clan."

Gao Zhongcheng said.

“Why is she here?”

"She begged me so much that I could not refuse."

Lin Zhiruo is a woman with a very stubborn personality.

Maybe she has her own reasons.

“She looked very miserable.”

“You’re not much better.”

Gao Zhongcheng looked at Quan Wushuang with a sad expression.

Quan Wushuang felt a pang of pain in his heart when he recalled that he was punished by Gao Zhongcheng when he first arrived in Wumuqi.

It was already known that if Quan Wushuang was injured, his subordinates would be punished.

He knew this would happen, but he still agreed to the vixen's request.

"Don't worry about me. Speaking of which, I was right not to let the military advisor see this scene."

Hearing someone talking, the military advisor jumped off the carriage, but landed unsteadily and twisted his leg.

Now he can no longer walk on his own.

Quan Wushuang stepped into the carriage.

"You wait outside."

Gao Zhongcheng stood there and nodded slowly.

Quan Wushuang looked at Lin Zhiruo's face carefully.

There was a scab of dried blood on it, and the left ear was red and swollen, with a medicinal dressing applied.

If Quan Wushuang had not been involved with Lin Zhiruo, she might have been able to avoid this disaster.

Thinking of this, Quan Wushuang felt heartbroken.

Aside from her ears, there were no other injuries on her face.

However, there was a purple mark on the neck.

Was this also caused by a beating? Where did the blood come from?

Finally, Lin Zhiruo fainted...

When Lin Zhiruo woke up from her coma, she saw a distinguished man in front of her. He had been leaning over her without her knowing when, his hand tightly grasping her collar.

"What...what's going on..."

Lin Zhiruo stared at Quan Wushuang with cold eyes, only to see him hesitating and waving his hands in the air in panic.

In the past, Lin Zhiruo would have stared at him for a while longer, but at this moment she noticed that Quan Wushuang had a white veil wrapped around his face.

"...Manager Quan, why does your face look like this?"

Lin Zhiruo asked doubtfully while tidying up her messy clothes.

"Nothing serious, just a minor scrape."

Quan Wushuang raised his hand to cover it up, but this action made Lin Zhiruo unhappy.

"Let me see the injury."

“There’s really no need to check.”

The more he concealed it, the more Lin Zhiruo became curious.

She approached Quan Wushuang step by step, and Quan Wushuang retreated step by step until he had no room to retreat.

Lin Zhiruo slowly reached out, trying to remove the veil from Quan Wushuang's face.

"..."

Quan Wushuang's face was as beautiful as jade, but there was a long diagonal wound on his right cheek, with the skin and flesh rolled up, and it had been sutured with silk thread.

The sutures were extremely crude and clearly needed to be reworked soon.

Lin Zhiruo wanted to re-bandage him immediately, but her hands were shaking with fatigue.

"The steward is also personally taking part in the battle?"

“How can I just stand by and watch?”

"As the general manager, I can just sit back and watch."

There was a hint of displeasure in Lin Zhiruo's tone.

"I hope you won't take any risks, Steward. If you get hurt, it will bring harm to those around you."

Hearing this, Quan Wushuang scratched his head and smiled bitterly.

"Indeed, Wu Muqi has been wronged. Don't be fooled by Gao Zhongcheng's appearance, his fighting skills are truly amazing."

As he spoke, Quan Wushuang tried to clumsily wrap the white gauze again, but Lin Zhiruo snatched it from his hands.

“I didn’t want to get hurt.”

“Who wants to get hurt?”

"All in response to a strange request."

Quan Wushuang lowered his long eyelashes, his eyes were as deep and melancholy as black jade.

"...How is your relationship with Imperial Concubine Shuwan?"

Quan Wushuang suddenly asked.

"generally."

“Is he a close friend?”

“I don’t quite understand.”

Lin Zhiruo really didn't quite understand.

She thought the relationship between them was close to friendship, at least that's what she thought.

But she found it difficult to guess what the other person was thinking.

When they were with Xiao Cui and Concubine Shu Wan... no, when they were with Hu Lan'er, they were always chatting and laughing happily.

"Because her mind is really hard to guess."

“…I think so too.”

Quan Wushuang looked increasingly sad.

“Before I could understand it, it was over.”

How could Lin Zhiruo not understand the meaning of his words?

"I see."

She actually already knew it.

At that time, Hu Lan'er left the kitchen, entrusted Lin Zhiruo with a task, and then left resolutely.

All Lin Zhiruo could do was to complete her task—

"Does Mr. Quan want to take a break?"

"Yeah, I'm really sleepy."

Quan Wushuang looked unhappy, and his situation was probably even worse than that of the abducted Lin Zhiruo.

There was a blue tint under his eyes and his lips were pale.

Quan Wushuang should have gone back to his carriage to rest, but unexpectedly, he lay on the brocade where Lin Zhiruo had just taken a nap.

Lin Zhiruo's expression suddenly turned ugly.

"Please don't rest here, Chief Manager Quan."

“Why not? I’m exhausted.”

“You still ask why…”

Lin Zhiruo looked around and saw five objects wrapped in cloth in the carriage. They were all the relics of the children of the Zi clan.

“This place is ominous.”

"...I know."

"So--"

Before Lin Zhiruo could finish her words, Quan Wushuang grabbed her wrist.

His hands were icy cold.

The two of them lay side by side on the overlapping brocade.

"If you know it's bad luck, why are you still here?"

“I have compassion for these children.”

Lin Zhiruo said the excuse she had prepared long ago.

"Really? I have my doubts."

Quan Wushuang's lying position did not change, he just tilted his head slightly.

"Didn't your chef warn you to stay away from these?"

(He still remembers!)

Lin Zhiruo's face was almost wrinkled.

"I don't believe you'll stay here long."

Intuition always emerges when you least expect it.

Lin Zhiruo racked her brains, trying to avoid Quan Wushuang's gaze.

During the stalemate, Quan Wushuang reached out and lifted her collar.

“I want to ask, what’s going on?”

Quan Wushuang asked with a frown.

The collar was open, revealing a purple patch on the skin.

This is the scar left by Fei Ling hitting him with a fan.

Although she was a little embarrassed, Lin Zhiruo decided to face him frankly.

“I met a bad guy.”

“…are you being bullied?”

The voice was frighteningly cold.

“It’s a woman.”

Lin Zhiruo added.

This man just likes to meddle in other people's affairs.

Lin Zhiruo couldn't help but tremble as her fingers slid along the bruises.

“It shouldn’t leave any traces.”

"This is just a minor injury, it will heal quickly."

The feeling of skin touching made Lin Zhiruo embarrassed.

However, the more she retreated, the more Quan Wushuang's hand reached forward.

Finally, Lin Zhiruo couldn't stand it anymore and sat up to tidy her clothes.