A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

"She wrote me a letter!"

"She hasn't forgotten me!"

"That's great! She told me to take care of myself!"

"She still cares whether I live or die, right? That must be it! Hahahaha..."

Meng Chengping held up the letter, reading it with rapt attention as he spun around like a large, fluttering moth.

Amidst his maniacal laughter, Mu Nanzhao silently stared at the object in his hand, his lips twitching slightly.

Usage, dosage...

A mountain breeze blew by, and another note slipped out of the envelope.

Mu Nanzhao reached out and caught it, then picked it up to look at it, his brows gradually furrowing.

"A pair of pine door panels, dimensions... estimated price... deducting depreciation... compensation?"

Meng Chengping moved behind Mu Nanzhao at some point and craned his neck to read them out one by one.

He grinned foolishly and asked, "What is this?"

Mu Nanzhao suddenly crumpled the paper into a ball and clenched it tightly.

With a cold face, he slapped the letter covered in writing onto Meng Chengping. "Take this to the army doctor!"

The letter fluttered down in the wind, and Meng Chengping quickly caught it. "What's this now?"

He glanced down at it. "Wasn't it a letter from Boss Gu?"

Meng Chengping looked up at Mu Nanzhao's departing figure and sighed sympathetically.

He turned and walked towards the military medical station, watching He Jinglan write her own letter, and couldn't help but smile.

"She also said I was an old friend, hehe..."

"Being friends for now is fine, it's much better than being Brother Mu, isn't it?"

“He was practically a son-in-law when he first entered the Gu family, but now he’s not even as good as me. Gu has sent gifts and messages to the military camp several times, but he’s completely ignored him.”

"Sigh, it's quite tragic to think about. I'll have to tell the General later and find a chance to comfort Brother Mu."

Mu Nanzhao returned to his tent.

He picked up the cup to drink water, frowned, and then slammed it down.

It was lukewarm, and tasted awful!

He picked up another book, only to find it wasn't the one he was currently reading. Frustrated, he put it down and reached for the ink cartridge. For some reason, a lot of ink splattered out.

The half-written military strategy on the table was stained with ink and had to be rewritten.

Mu Nanzhao stared at the table with a murderous look in his eyes.

The orderly had come in to change the water bottle, but upon seeing this scene, he was so frightened that he immediately tried to retreat the way he came.

Mu Nanzhao suddenly stood up, his expression gloomy, and strode forward.

The orderly, carrying his water bottle, trembled and dared not look directly at him.

"Sir, I was just... just squeaking... drinking water, oh no, changing the kettle, no, changing the water bottle."

However, Mu Nanzhao simply walked past the orderly and left the tent on his own.

Inside the central command tent, Huo Jiang had just finished discussing matters with several generals.

Mu Nanzhao walked in, looked at Huo Jiang, and said, "I want to go back to Huachidu Village."

"What did you say?" Huo Jiang felt his head hurt even more, and even his ears were ringing.

Mu Nanzhao said, "It would take the army at least three days to cross the mountains from here to the capital."

"Then we went through Jincheng, Fengcheng and Zhenxian. It would be easy to take Jincheng. The siege plus the time to enter the city, incorporate and rest would take at most five or six days."

"But Fengcheng is protected by a century-old city wall, so taking it down is not so easy."

"Even if we could win, the cost and time involved would not be what we want."

Huo Jiang was puzzled. They were just saying they were leaving, how did they get back to business?

He nodded. "Yes, so you're not leaving."

"Didn't we agree before that you have some connections with the Governor of Fengcheng, so you could try to persuade them to surrender? That might be twice as effective."

Mu Nanzhao said, "So it doesn't matter whether I was there or not in the first few days."

"I will ride swiftly to Fengcheng, and I will return as soon as your army arrives."

"No, no, no!" Huo Jiang said with a bitter face, waving his hands repeatedly.

How do I know you'll definitely come back? Can you guarantee it yourself?

Mu Nanzhao said, "Didn't I already make that promise?"

Huo Jiang suffocated.

After a moment, he adjusted his posture, maintaining his authoritative demeanor, and said, "What's the reason? You have to give me a proper reason, don't you?"

Mu Nanzhao thought to himself, it seems that Meng Chengping's loudspeaker hasn't come yet.

He stared blankly at Huo Jiang. "Being repeatedly ignored and even having my own house forcibly demolished, if I don't go back soon, I'm afraid I'll have nowhere to stand. Is that reason enough?"

Huo Jiang was already bursting with laughter inside, but he didn't show it on his face. "Oh, it's a family problem."

“This is indeed a big problem. If there is no peace behind you, you can't do anything on the front.”

“No,” Mu Nanzhao said calmly, “on the contrary, I feel particularly peaceful behind me.”

“Anning…” he gritted his teeth slightly, “has almost erased my existence.”

Huo Jiang finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

But he quickly composed himself again and said, "There's nothing wrong with this. It seems more serious than other people's squabbles."

Mu Nanzhao remained silent.

Huo Jiang cleared his throat. "Then go ahead and pick the fastest horse."

"But you better remember this: our heads are tied together now. If you dare to mess things up and don't come back on time, I'll dig up your Mu family's ancestral graves before I die!!"

Mu Nanzhao gave a light scoff, which he took as an answer, and turned to leave.

Huachidu Village.

It started raining early this morning, and after several days of heat, it finally got a bit cooler.

Gu Xixi loved this kind of weather, standing under the eaves watching the rain.

He Jinglan was carrying a bowl of freshly steamed vegetable dumplings when she heard Gu Xixi sneeze as she stepped out of the kitchen.

She asked with concern, "Did you catch a chill from taking a shower last night? Come inside quickly, or you'll catch a dampness again."

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "It's nothing, my nose is just a little itchy."

"And I just saw my master, and he didn't say I was sick."

He Jinglan looked her over and, seeing that she didn't seem unwell, felt relieved for the time being. "That's good."

Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she whispered, "My eyelids twitched a couple of times when I woke up this morning, and I was thinking, what if something's going to happen?"

"Could it be that something happened to the Northwest Army, or to the capital?"

Gu Xixi comforted her, saying, "Things happen all the time, big and small, good and bad. Don't always scare yourself."

He Jinglan smiled and nodded, "That's true."

Just as she was about to enter the house, someone outside the door called out loudly:

Is my sister Zhang home?

He Jinglan quickly opened the screen door and whispered, "I just said something bad was going to happen, and now something really has happened!"

A woman stood outside the door, about the same age as Aunt Zhang. Her husband's surname was Wu, and she lived at the east end of the village. She was known as Aunt Wu.

Gu Xixi recognized this person, but they hadn't had much interaction before.

She looked at He Jinglan with a puzzled expression, wondering why she was saying something bad was going to happen.

When Aunt Wu saw someone in the courtyard, she stepped inside without waiting for the host's invitation.

"Oh my, what a coincidence, Xixi is home."

"Well, it's the same as me telling you this good thing directly."

He Jinglan leaned close to Gu Xixi's face and pursed her lips, "I advise you not to listen to her."

Just as Gu Xixi was about to reply, Aunt Zhang suddenly walked out of the kitchen.

She slammed the door shut, a forced smile on her face as she looked at Aunt Wu, "Didn't we make everything clear? Why did you come all the way to my house?"