Your Highness, please stop chasing me.

Upon seeing Mu Xue and Ye Yi, Mu Qinghe gradually calmed down and said, "I just received news from the capital that Mu Ziyou actually went to the Regent to ask him to arrange a job for him! That shameless bastard! I don't have a brother like that!"

Mu An quickly stepped forward and whispered, "Master, let's talk in the study."

Mu Xue found it amusing; it seemed Mu Qinghe also had a fiery temper!

Yoruichi also said, "Yes, General Mu. This matter is not a big deal, there's no need to get so angry. Let's go inside and talk."

"Look at me, oh dear, I'm so angry at that family. Please come in, Doctor Gu." With that, Mu Qinghe stepped back half a step, inviting Mu Xue and Ye Yi into the study.

Mu Xue had no recollection of the people in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. All she knew were the stories told to her by Granny Kang. As for Mu Qinghe's younger brother, Mu Ziyou, all she knew was that he was the son of the current old lady, Madam An. She knew nothing else about him.

Mu Qinghe didn't want to talk about family matters in front of outsiders, but he also didn't forget the purpose of calling Mu Xue over.

He turned and sat down in the chair, saying, "I invited Physician Gu here because there is something I want to discuss with him."

Mu Xue glanced at him and said, "General Mu, please speak."

Mu Qinghe didn't keep him in suspense and said directly, "Last night, Mu Feng fell asleep shortly after taking the pill you gave him. Around midnight, someone entered his room and put something under his nose that I don't know what to do with him. The guards saw that Mu Feng was sleeping soundly and was not seriously injured, so they didn't detain the person. Judging from her figure, she was a woman."

Mu Xue picked up her teacup, took a sip, and then asked, "Can you tell how old he is?"

"Judging from his build, he's not very old, probably under thirty," Mu Qinghe replied.

Then, as if remembering something, he said, "The guard said the figure looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he had seen him before."

Mu Xue said, "Call them in."

Mu An accepted the order, turned around and went out to call for someone. Soon the person came in and stood still.

"Greetings, General." The guard bowed.

Mu Xue asked directly, "The woman you saw last night, does her figure resemble that of Miss Zhu who is by your young master's side?"

After this reminder, he suddenly realized what was going on and looked up at Mu Qinghe.

Mu Qinghe said, "Master Gu, please answer my questions truthfully."

The guard hurriedly replied, "Greetings, Doctor Gu. Now that you've reminded me, I do recall that the woman from last night looked a lot like Xiao Chun, who was serving Miss Zhu."

Mu Xue raised an eyebrow; she really hadn't expected it to be Xiao Chun. After observing her yesterday, she realized that Xiao Chun was clearly the one in control!

This is interesting. When I first heard the news, I thought it might be possible to sow discord between the two, but now it seems that they have temporarily formed an alliance.

"What? Xiaochun?" Mu An glanced at Mu Qinghe with some unease.

Although Mu Qinghe did not speak, an expression of disbelief also appeared on her face.

Seeing the change in their emotions, Mu Xue asked, "What? You two are quite familiar with this Xiao Chun?"

Mu An waved his hand, and the guard bowed respectfully before leaving.

After the guards had left and the door was closed, Mu Qinghe spoke, "Xiao Chun was brought into the mansion by Steward Wang."

Now it was Mu Xue and Ye Yi's turn to be surprised.

Mu Xue asked in surprise, "This Xiao Chun was originally from the Mu family?"

"No, that's not it. Xiaochun has been serving in the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion ever since Hong'an brought her back," Mu'an explained.

“Hong An? Is Steward Wang’s name Hong An? But I heard his name is Wang Cheng?” Mu Xue asked.

A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

“This…” Mu An glanced at Mu Qinghe, and seeing him nod, Mu An continued, “Hong An was rescued by the general and me in the southern border region.”

Mu Xue sneered and said sarcastically, "General Mu is indeed courageous, actually rescuing a Southern Border person whom everyone avoids like the plague. And a Southern Border person with a real name at that."

Yoruichi also realized the problem here.

He said with some anger, "General Mu, what do you mean by this? You actually saved the people of the Southern Frontier!"

Mu An stepped forward, wanting to explain, but was interrupted by Mu Qinghe, who said, "At the time, this was something we had no choice but to do."

Mu An hurriedly spoke up, "Lord Ye, when Hong An was rescued, the general and I both thought he wouldn't survive. At the time, we were only thinking about saving him. The general only found out later that he was from the Southern Frontier."

"But, sir, I can assure you that Hong An has never done anything to betray the Western Jade Kingdom!" Mu An said anxiously.

Mu Qinghe also spoke up, "Yes, at that time he was wearing the clothes of a commoner from Xiyu Kingdom, and there wasn't a single patch of good flesh on his body. Even I, a veteran of many battles, couldn't help but shudder at the sight. How old was he then? He fainted when he saw us. After we brought him back to life, we learned that he was a Fuming from the Southern Frontier. It was only because of his plight that we felt compassion for him."

Yoruichi snorted and said, "I didn't realize the General had such a soft heart!"

The sarcasm was quite obvious.

Mu Xue glanced at him sideways, and Ye Yi immediately straightened up and stopped talking.

What a joke! Even if the Fifth Miss is no longer in the Mu family, Mu Qinghe is still her biological father, and might even be the father-in-law of her own prince!

Thinking of this, Yoruichi hurriedly tried to salvage the situation, saying, "General, after you rescued the person, you could have simply handed them over to the local residents for care. Why did you bring them back to the Mu residence?"

Hearing Ye Yi's relaxed tone, Mu Qinghe secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He explained, "At that time, the able-bodied men and children from several surrounding villages were captured by the Southern Frontier people. I escorted the old people and women to a safe place and planned to go deep into the Southern Frontier to rescue them. It was Hong An who provided clues. Although they were not detailed, they were of some use. In addition, his injuries were indeed troublesome, so I had to let Mu An take him back to the Mu residence to recuperate first."

"Are there able-bodied men and children in the southern border region?" Mu Xue asked, puzzled.

She didn't know much about that mysterious place in southern Xinjiang, only that it was surrounded by dense forests, and that people who weren't familiar with it couldn't go in and couldn't come out.

Yoruichi replied, "I have heard of that. The Fuming people of the Southern Frontier were all slaves of the Southern Frontier King. They were originally a large family, but they were reduced to slaves because they offended the High Priest. However, there is another version of the story..." He looked at Mu Xue, finding it difficult to speak.

Mu Xue looked at Ye Yi, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "What?"

Mu An began, “The people of Southern Xinjiang who have been restored to their former glory are all sacrifices offered by the High Priest to the heavens. But before the sacrifice, they become the High Priest’s bed warmers.”

Mu Xue was taken aback by these words, and I asked, "The High Priestess of Southern Xinjiang is a woman?"

"Does the Ancient Physician not know? Legend has it that the high priests of the Southern Frontier throughout history were all goddesses incarnate," Ye Yi said.