(Quick Transmigration) Small Cannon Fodder Has Great Power

Gu Yunyun had already walked far away, but the deputy general was still gazing longingly at her.

"Oh my, she's so beautiful, how can she be a woman? What a waste of talent..."

"Don't misuse idioms." Canjun glanced at her helplessly, "But speaking of which, when that pretty girl and Simiao stood together, ha, you know what, they actually looked quite well-matched."

"Oh, now that you mention it, it's true! It's a pity we don't know whose daughter this is, or if she's married. Otherwise, we could have the Duke send someone to propose marriage so she could marry into the family, haha..."

Zhong Simiao's expression remained unchanged. "Let's go quickly."

···

Soon, the annual hunting season arrived again. Officials and their families arrived one after another, creating a bustling and lively scene. In addition to being a traditional entertainment activity, the hunting season gradually became an unspoken matchmaking event for the children of high-ranking officials and nobles.

The Duke of Zhenguo also arrived with his wife and children. As soon as they entered, many people came forward to greet and chat with them. Zhong Simiao did not like the social niceties of this kind of occasion, so he went to find a few military officers' children he was fairly familiar with to catch up.

Civil officials generally looked down on military officials, finding them uncouth and lacking in education; while military officials disliked the sour and pretentious attitudes of civil officials. Consequently, the children of both civil and military officials were often very different, rarely getting along well.

So when the Prime Minister's second son approached Zhong Simiao for a chat, he was somewhat surprised. But he still responded politely.

"Young general, you are brave and skilled in battle. I have long admired you. Seeing you today, I can see that you are indeed extraordinary. Come, come, I must make you my friend."

The Prime Minister's son, dressed in a moon-white brocade robe and carrying an orchid-patterned folding fan, was dressed rather neatly among the many young men vying for attention. However, upon closer inspection, a layer of cloud-patterned gauze was draped over the moon-white brocade robe, and the hem of the skirt gradually turned light purple, giving his neat appearance a touch of ostentation.

"Young Master Sun, you flatter me."

"No praise, no praise," Sun Hengyuan said, moving closer and placing his hand warmly on Zhong Simiao's forearm. "What does Simiao usually like to do?"

Zhong Simiao subtly withdrew her arm as if picking up a teacup. She thought about how she was used to being with the women in the military camp and found it rather strange to be around these clingy, close-knit groups of men from Beijing—like linking arms, holding hands, and even going to the bathroom together, as she'd heard.

"I usually read books and practice martial arts, nothing special."

"Young General, you are strict and self-disciplined. I admire you..." Seeing that Zhong Simiao's teacup was not full, Sun Hengyuan eagerly picked up the teapot to pour him more tea, his fingers seemingly unintentionally brushing against Zhong Simiao's hand holding the teacup.

"...Thank you." Was the Prime Minister's son being overly enthusiastic, or is this how all the young men in the capital interact?

Suddenly, a familiar friend named Zhong Simiao appeared nearby, which gave him a convenient excuse to leave this inexplicable and awkward conversation.

"A friend is calling me, I'll go there first, please excuse me."

Sun Hengyuan looked regretful and said, "Then let's talk again next time."

After Zhong Simiao walked over, his friend pulled him aside and whispered to him, "Don't get too close to that Sun Hengyuan."

"what happened?"

"Hey, you just got back to the capital, so you don't know yet, but Prime Minister Sun's son likes men!"

Zhong Simiao's face stiffened. Recalling how his arms and hands had been touched earlier, goosebumps rose on his skin beneath his clothes.

The attendant announced that His Majesty was arriving soon, and all the officials and their relatives stopped exchanging pleasantries and took their seats to wait.

Zhong Simiao sat next to her older sisters, listening to their curious whispers.

"I've heard that the Ninth Princess is the most beautiful woman in the Yu Kingdom. I wonder how beautiful she must be."

"Perhaps someone with a dignified and imposing presence?"

"No, no, I heard that the Ninth Princess has a face like a handsome man, even more so than the fair-skinned and beautiful young men!"

"Huh? Isn't that Lang Lang's style of singing..."

The Duke of Zhenguo cleared his throat and glanced over. Several whispering female generals immediately sat up straight.

The most beautiful woman? Zhong Simiao couldn't help but think of the girl he saw at the night market that day. Could anyone be more beautiful than her?

"The Emperor has arrived——"

As the attendant's loud voice rang out, everyone in the room rose and bowed.

"Rise," the Empress said with a smile.

The dignified male empress stood beside the empress, behind whom were some of the favored concubines of higher rank, and further behind were the princesses and princes.

Many young men secretly glanced at the princesses, hoping to catch a glimpse of the most beautiful woman. Upon seeing Gu Yunyun's stunningly beautiful face, they blushed and excitedly whispered to their best friends.

Zhong Simiao also looked over curiously. Gu Yunyun was dressed in a red and black riding outfit. Unlike her usual otherworldly appearance, she looked quite heroic. Coupled with her beautiful and unparalleled face, she was very pleasing to the eye and made people unable to look away.

Zhong Simiao stared straight at her, surprised that the woman in the night market was actually the Ninth Princess.

With the system's prompt, Gu Yunyun noticed Zhong Simiao's gaze, spotted him in the crowd at a glance, and smiled and nodded at him.

When Zhong Simiao saw Gu Yunyun looking at him, he couldn't quite describe the feeling, but he felt a slight itch in his heart. He nodded slowly in response.

The lieutenant's joke from that day flashed through his mind—"It's a pity we don't know whose daughter this is, or if she's married. Otherwise, we could have the Duke send someone to propose marriage so she could marry into the family, hahaha..."

He vaguely realized that now he knew which family she belonged to, but it seemed he couldn't marry into her family.

After the emperor finished speaking, he announced the start of the hunt.

The eldest princess, laughing heartily, jokingly suggested to the crown princess that they compete to see who could hunt more prey. The crown princess readily agreed. Those around them were already used to the subtle rivalry between the two sisters.

“But we can’t use game hunted by the guards to make up the numbers.” The eldest princess mounted her horse.

"nature."

The eldest princess rode off in one direction first, while the crown princess naturally chose the opposite direction.

Zhong Simiao led his horse into the hunting grounds. Seeing that the prime minister's son, who had a penchant for men, was still coming over, he quickly mounted his horse, spurred it on, and rode off. Behind him, the clear, tinkling sound of the silver bells on Sun Hengyuan's horse seemed to be trying to catch up. Without turning his head, Zhong Simiao hurriedly flicked the reins and headed into the depths of the dense forest.

Gu Yunyun carried a quiver of arrows, mounted her longbow, and followed Zhong Simiao at a distance.

"In the original story, the Crown Princess was in danger, and Zhong Simiao was seriously injured while saving her. Are you going to help the Crown Princess avoid danger?" The system nervously pushed up its glasses.

"Your glasses look very fashionable today." On the robot's flat, round head, there was a pair of dark pink inverted triangular sunglasses with a small bow on the side.

"Let's talk about business."

"No need. This is a perfect opportunity for me to win over Zhong Simiao. What could be a better way to quickly build a relationship than by going through thick and thin together?"

"Then you better be careful."

"Do not worry."

Just like in the original story, the Crown Princess was attracted by a white fox that suddenly darted out. Because the hunting grounds were surrounded by iron netting to prevent large wild animals from entering, and were heavily guarded, outsiders rarely came in, so there was generally no danger. Therefore, the Crown Princess shook off her accompanying guards and didn't pay much attention.

The Crown Princess chased deeper and deeper, but the white fox disappeared from sight. Suddenly, her horse became restless, and a ferocious tiger leaped out. The tiger was extremely large, and the bulging muscles on its back were faintly visible as it walked. Its huge claws pounded the ground silently, yet every step sent chills down one's spine.

In order to avoid Sun Hengyuan, Zhong Simiao happened to come to this secluded spot in the hunting forest. He saw the Crown Princess being approached step by step by a tiger, rushed over, and stood in front of the Crown Princess the moment the tiger pounced on her, blocking the tiger's mouth with his longbow.

"Your Highness, let's go quickly!"

The Crown Princess snapped out of her daze and exclaimed, "I'll call someone!"

Since hunting only required bows and arrows, Zhong Simiao didn't bring his usual sword or longsword, only a soft sword wrapped around his waist. But in the emergency, he could only use the bow to hold off the tiger, and at that moment he couldn't free his hands to draw the soft sword.

Zhong Simiao struggled on, but just as he was about to give up, the tiger suddenly roared and released him, turning its head away.

Gu Yunyun was hesitant to strike for fear of accidentally injuring Zhong Simiao, who was fighting the tiger, so she didn't aim her arrow at the tiger's head, but only hit its body.

An arrow was stuck in the tiger's back. Enraged by the pain and Gu Yunyun's provocation, the tiger kicked off with its powerful hind legs and charged at Gu Yunyun.

Gu Yunyun didn't expect to kill the thick-skinned tiger with one shot. After the first arrow, she immediately drew another arrow, retreated while calmly and quickly nocking the arrow, drawing the bow and shooting the second arrow.

The tiger charged toward Gu Yunyun, and in its haste, the second arrow struck it diagonally in the chest.

After she fired the arrow, she immediately lunged and rolled to the side, where the tiger had just pounced. Gu Yunyun didn't dare to delay; without looking back, she leaped up, using the nearby tree trunk for leverage to jump onto a branch.

But tigers are agile felines after all. Gu Yunyun was already quite nimble, but she was still a little slow. Although she jumped onto the tree branch, the tiger still scratched her leg. The fabric on one of her calves was torn open and gradually stained with blood.

The tiger grew increasingly agitated and clung to the tree trunk, attempting to climb upwards. Gu Yunyun stood firmly on a sturdy branch, showing no sign of fear, and continued to deftly nock her bow with a cool expression, aiming at the tiger as it climbed upwards and drawing the bowstring taut.

The tree wasn't very tall; with one more leap, the tiger could grab Gu Yunyun and drag her down.

Zhong Simiao had already drawn his soft sword to provide support. With a flick of his wrist, the soft sword lashed out like a long whip across the tiger's back, leaving a long, bloody gash.

The tiger roared, released the tree trunk, and landed on the ground, turning to face the person who had scratched it.

Zhong Simiao brandished his soft sword like a seasoned beast tamer, preventing the tiger from pouncing. The tiger could only bar its sharp teeth and growl menacingly, forced to retreat slowly. More and more wounds appeared on its brown fur, yet it was unwilling to give up and tried to find an opportunity to pounce and tear this human apart.

Thanks to the system, Gu Yunyun knew the plot in advance and made preparations, secretly applying a high concentration of sleeping potion to the arrows. Although tigers have thick hides and might not die even if riddled with small arrows, under the influence of the sleeping potion, coupled with Zhong Simiao's continuous bleeding, the tiger gradually succumbed.

Zhong Simiao confronted the tiger with his soft sword. Gu Yunyun occasionally fired arrows to distract the tiger. Finally, taking advantage of the tiger's increasingly unsteady stance and distracted attention, Zhong Simiao slashed its throat with his sword.

The tiger's massive body crashed to the ground.

Zhong Simiao had injured his arm while fighting the tiger with a bow to protect the Crown Princess, and maintaining a high level of concentration during the confrontation with the tiger had been extremely physically and mentally taxing. As soon as he relaxed, he staggered a few steps to the side and leaned against a tree trunk, completely exhausted.

Gu Yunyun quickly jumped down from the tree to check on him. The impact of landing aggravated the wound on her leg, causing her to pale and gasp softly.

She limped over quickly, asking, "How are you? Are you badly injured?"

"I'm fine, nothing serious, just a little weak." Zhong Simiao looked down at her blood-stained trouser leg. "And you?"

"I'm fine, just some minor cuts and bruises."

Everyone in the capital said that the Ninth Princess was effeminate and lacked femininity, but Gu Yunyun's bravery, decisiveness, and superb skills in this matter made Zhong Simiao realize that she was actually very responsible and courageous. He couldn't help but look at her with some admiration, "Actually, you're quite feminine."

Gu Yunyun's lips twitched, and then she heard the system start laughing again.

She took a few deep breaths: He was expressing praise, which was a compliment in a matriarchal world...

"...I thank you."