Traveling through an ancient military camp: Bao'er's survival song

"Reporting to Your Highness, His Highness the Eighth Prince loves flowers, and it was His Highness who gave us these names," Peony replied.

Li Bao'er noticed that Mudan used the word "change," which meant that these maids must have had their own names before. "Never mind," Li Bao'er told herself, "this is Liu Shu's business. Even if he changes his residence to 'Night Shanghai,' that's his business."

“From now on, you can call me Young Master Li. I’m just staying here temporarily to recuperate, so there’s no need to call me Master.” Li Bao’er was quite amiable to the girls. She continued, “I’m new to the capital and don’t know much about it. As the saying goes, there are many nobles under the emperor’s nose. Since you four are all from the capital, I’d like to ask you about the rules here so I won’t bump into any important people when I go out.” Actually, Li Bao’er wanted to inquire about the affairs of Grand Tutor Wu Peng’en’s household, but she didn’t know whether the servants in Liu Shu’s household were trustworthy. Liu Shu had left in a hurry and hadn’t told her, so Li Bao’er had no choice but to use the excuse of learning about the nobles in the capital to find out. After all, she had nothing better to do.

The cheerful maid, Peony, stepped forward and began to tell Li Bao'er about some of the prominent noble families in the capital. Perhaps because Li Bao'er still looked like a boy and her gender was ambiguous, the maids didn't realize that the person in front of them was actually a woman. Therefore, their introductions of these noble families focused on their official positions and power, as well as the promising offspring of each household. Moreover, Li Bao'er waited for a long time, but Peony still hadn't mentioned the Grand Tutor Wu Peng'en. Now that it was getting dark, Peony had even introduced the Pingyang Earl family, a noble family that was almost impoverished, without mentioning Wu Peng'en. However, Peony's storytelling was very interesting, interspersed with the grudges and entanglements between the various families, and Li Bao'er listened with great interest.

Although Peony still didn't mention Wu Peng'en, Li Bao'er stopped her there. She said to the other three maids who were listening and occasionally chiming in, "Let's stop here for today. You're all tired. When Liu Shu comes back, I'll have him reward you properly."

The maids thanked them with giggles and then left.

Feeling a bit lonely in the quiet, Li Bao'er realized it was because Liu Shu had been by her side the whole time, and suddenly being alone again made her feel uneasy. Just then, she remembered Zheng Xi and called for Steward Liu, asking if he could deliver a message to General Zheng Xi at the Guide General's residence. Steward Liu, without hesitation, went to run the errand for Li Bao'er without even having dinner.

However, Zheng Xi was still out investigating those bandit hideouts these past few days, so he naturally didn't receive Steward Liu's message. Instead, it was received by General Peng, whom Li Bao'er avoided like the plague. Peng Zizheng heard that Li Baobao was still at the Eighth Prince's residence and that his injuries had been properly treated. However, he guessed that Li Baobao still harbored resentment about the torture he had inflicted on him, so he only sent a message to Zheng Xi saying they would meet at Zizhu Street at noon the next day, without returning to the General's residence.

Peng Zizheng told Steward Liu that he would bring Li Baobao's message to Deputy Officer Zheng when he returned, and then sent Steward Liu away.

Zheng Xi probably won't be able to return to the General's Mansion tomorrow either. The reason Peng Zizheng lied to Steward Liu was because he wanted to meet with Li Baobao. He felt that since they were all men, if they could talk things out face-to-face, and if Li Baobao still held a grudge, he could just whip himself a few times. Peng Zizheng felt that the General had done quite well for his subordinates.