General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

Zhang Mazi admitted that his mind went blank when he heard that answer.

"For whom?"

"My husband, Shen Luo, the General Who Guards the Nation of Mount Heng!"

Jiang Qiqi coughed, her earlobes turning slightly red, clearly indicating she wasn't used to addressing Shen Luo that way.

Zhang Mazi: "......"

“Miss Jiang, I admit that the Hidden Guards attempted to assassinate General Shen Luo a few years ago, but not only did they fail, they were all killed by you.”

“Over the years, we have always kept to ourselves and have never caused any trouble for the General Zhenguo.”

Originally, the Northern Ming Hidden Guard had fifty members, all of whom were top experts selected and screened over the years. However, that one operation alone wiped out nearly half of them, and they have yet to find new blood to inject into their ranks.

They're not stupid; now that the war is over, they're even less likely to come and die.

However, unexpectedly, although he did not face the General Zhenguo this time, he was caught by his wife.

If all ten of them perish in Nanyue this time...

The Hidden Guard organization is probably defunct in name only.

Zhang Mazi swallowed hard as he thought about it.

Thirty top experts were all captured by the General and his wife... If word got out, the Northern Ming, a nation that reveres martial prowess, would lose all face.

Jiang Qiqi's bad premonition grew stronger, and she asked the question:

"You didn't come to Nanyue this time to assassinate Shen Luo?"

Zhang Mazi stared blankly: "No, that's not it."

Jiang Qiqi: "......"

Misunderstood.

Zhang Mazi: "......"

Yaoshou!

Although Zhang Mazi did not explicitly state their purpose, one could answer "yes" or "no".

Then Jiang Qiqi used this bug-exploiting method to find out that their mission was to assassinate Lü Yixing, who was also known as Prime Minister Lü, who was still claiming to be in a coma.

While we're at it, let's find out which of the two princes vying for the throne in Nanyue has more power.

......

It turns out it really has nothing to do with Shen Luo.

"You killed two of Jiang Qianzhong's men who were delivering evidence, right? Where is the evidence?" Jiang Qiqi concealed her embarrassment and changed the subject to other questions.

Zhang Mazi rummaged in his sleeve and pulled out a folded document: "Miss Jiang, is this what you mean?"

After they arrived, they heard that some of their Northern Ming people had already infiltrated the capital. They excitedly went to recognize their fellow townsmen, only to find that the other party was actually a person from Nanyue in disguise.

“Of course we’re going to kill them, and we’ll also tell that idiot Jiang Qianzhong.” Zhang Mazi rolled his eyes.

Jiang Qiqi nodded in agreement: "Putting everything else aside, Jiang Qianzhong is indeed an idiot."

A consensus has inexplicably increased.

She flipped through the folded document in her hand, and sure enough, it contained some things that none of them knew.

"Have you seen this evidence?" Jiang Qiqi waved the folded document.

Zhang Mazi lowered his head: "I've seen it, but..."

"But what?" Jiang Qiqi asked.

He muttered under his breath, finding it very difficult to say, "But I don't understand it."

Jiang Qiqi: "Huh?"

Zhang Mazi's ears turned bright red with embarrassment, as if they could bleed.

The Northern Ming Dynasty's excessive emphasis on military force led to a severe lack of cultural education among the entire population.

Many people are illiterate; those who can recognize a few characters are already considered cultured.

Sixteen and Nineteen never expected that these experts were all illiterate.

Suddenly, I realized that twelve is also great.

"Even though you can't understand the document, but..."

Jiang Qiqi played with the flute in her hand and leaned back in her chair. "A life for a life, Zhang Mazi, you in Beiming should have this saying too, right?"

Zhang Mazi closed his eyes: "Yes, I will hand over those two people."

He could still figure out whether two people or ten people would die.

Jiang Qiqi was pleased with his sensibility and smiled, "Thirteen, bring the person out."

Zhang Mazi didn't dare to turn around to see their miserable state. It was only when someone behind him shouted "Commander!" that he turned around.

Then he saw all five of them standing in front of him, completely unharmed, without a trace of torture, and even the injuries they had sustained in the fight had been bandaged up.

"This, this is..." Zhang Mazi pointed at them, unable to speak, and subconsciously looked in Jiang Qiqi's direction.

Jiang Qiqi stood up with an innocent look on her face: "What? Commander Zhang wants them to be tortured? I might be willing to reluctantly do it."

"No, no." Zhang Mazi smiled sincerely, and knelt on one knee. "Thank you, Miss Jiang, for sparing my life!"

Jiang Qiqi waved her hand: "Let's go."

"It's already getting light outside. Let's go before there are too many people around."

Zhang Mazi picked up his sword, gave her a deep look, said nothing more, waved his hand, the door opened, and the six people instantly disappeared from the spot.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After Shen Luo drank four glasses of water, he stopped Twelve from pouring him a fifth.

Then the two of them rested their chins on their hands and looked out the door.

They looked so pitiful, like two abandoned puppies.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long before Jiang Qiqi and the other two returned, with Sixteen carrying two severed heads in each hand.

Twelve ignored his master and rushed out, shouting, "How was it? Did you catch them? Did you kill them all? Wasn't that great?"

Nineteen looked a little embarrassed: "No, I only killed two."

Twelve's eyes widened upon hearing this: "What?! So many people, and you only killed two?"

"Even if your martial arts are a little worse than mine, they can't be this much worse!" He paced around the two of them. "I've said it before, what's the use of being smart? Strength is what really matters!"

Haha, he's finally got his chance to shine!

Sixteen looked at him with the kind of eyes one would give a fool, then exchanged a glance with Nineteen, and the two of them tacitly bypassed him and went into the house.

Inside the room, Shen Luo was already sitting on the edge of the bed. Seeing them return, she looked delighted and was about to get up to greet them.

Jiang Qiqi gave him a casual glance.

Shen Luo sat back down, even placing her hands obediently on her lap.

"Awake?" Jiang Qiqi looked at him, her expression unreadable.

Shen Luo nodded somewhat nervously. He knew he was in the wrong, but he didn't regret it.

He would do anything to get back to his bedroom and sleep with Qiqi as soon as possible.

"You went to find the Hidden Guards? Qiqi, are you injured?" Shen Luo asked.

He didn't care about alerting the enemy; the opponents were all top-notch experts, and Qiqi's safety was the most important thing.

God knows how worried he was when he woke up and heard the news.

He promised to protect Qiqi, but now she's been dragged into this danger because of him.