They were in charge of being beautiful, and she was in charge of taking the hits.

Wu Ziyan and his men did not stop, but whipped their horses and drove off.

Meanwhile, in the dimly lit room, the sound of a glass shattering could be heard. Wu Chengye gritted his teeth and exclaimed, "She's still alive!"

Sima Zongcheng calmly placed the teacup on the table: "Your Highness, you've been too hasty. She's only just entered the country, what's there to be afraid of?"

Wu Chengye glared angrily, his teeth clenched, and finally, he slowly took deep breaths to calm himself down: "Then Prime Minister, next time you'd better tell your men to be more efficient; by the way, why haven't I seen Lingyu lately?"

"The second son is learning some etiquette, so that he won't embarrass us in the future."

Of course, this was just polite talk. Now that she had leverage, she was going to keep her hanging on. How could she let her see him every day? Besides, she didn't want Lingyu to get married so soon.

"Very well, very well! It's good to learn etiquette. Well then, Prime Minister, I'll take my leave now."

As Wu Chengye left, Sima Zongcheng got up to see him to the door. A dark figure appeared behind him and reported the latest news about Wu Ziyan. She waved her hand to indicate that she already knew.

Inside the Marquis's residence, Sima Lingchuan sat in the courtyard, embroidering with a needle in her hand, but her mind had already wandered off somewhere else.

He accidentally pricked his finger again. Looking at the beads of blood that appeared on his finger, he remembered his memories with Wu Ziyan. At that time, he was also doing needlework and accidentally pricked his finger.

"Master, how could you be so careless? I'll go get you some medicine right away." Mo Baiyun looked at Sima Lingchuan, probably guessing what he was thinking.

"It's alright, Xiaoyun'er. Have Ziyan and the others replied?" He clenched his hands tightly, his face full of anticipation.

Mo Baiyun didn't know how to answer. He was also curious as to why Wu Ziyan hadn't replied for so long, which made those who stayed behind quite worried.

He shook his head, and Sima Lingchuan sighed, staring blankly at the sky.

Just then, a doorman rushed in with a message: "Good news! His Highness the Fourth Prince has won the hearts of the people during his disaster relief efforts, and the rewards from the Empress are already on their way."

Sima Lingchuan clenched his fist and smiled knowingly. As long as everyone was safe, that was all that mattered. Mo Baiyun, however, felt something was amiss. Logically, their Holy Martial Division's letter should have arrived sooner, so why hadn't the Holy Martial Division's letter arrived yet, but the official letter had?

But just as he was thinking this, a crow landed on the eaves. He knew that a letter had arrived. He made an excuse to leave Sima Lingchuan's side.

The letter was not written by Wu Ziyan, but sent by Wang Hu. It read: The princess has safely passed the first test, but someone is secretly plotting to harm her. The mastermind is currently unknown, but she is not with the princess. We need to contact people in other organizations later.

Anyway, it's safe for now, and the news from the capital seems to be true. No one is causing trouble behind the scenes. His heart, which had been pounding, eased a little. He muttered a complaint, "If you take me with you, there won't be so many problems."

Wu Ziyan kept sneezing on horseback. Han Yuxiu asked, "What's wrong with you? You're so weak. Did you catch a cold?"

Wu Ziyan didn't care what Han Yuxiu said about her. Having known each other for so long, she knew that Han Yuxiu was the kind of person who said one thing but meant another, so she replied, "No, no problem, we need to speed things up!"

Wu Ziyan squeezed the horse's belly tighter, and the horse galloped away.

After traveling for two days, they finally met up with the main disaster relief team. However, the small group that had been following them was still lurking behind them. Fortunately, they outnumbered the small group and didn't make any major moves for the time being.

After several more days, we finally arrived at Heyuan County, the hardest-hit area. It was truly a scene of devastation: broken city walls, floodwaters that had not yet receded, and collapsed trees and houses.

They could only stay on higher ground. Fortunately, the rain had lessened in the past few days, and the refugees pitched their tents on higher ground. As they watched the relief team arrive, their eyes lit up.

The starving refugees, their eyes glazed over and their lips cracked, murmured, "People from above have come. Should we be saved now?"

Wu Ziyan and the others also set up tents and settled the disaster relief supplies. They personally checked everything to avoid any mistakes.

In the afternoon, before Wu Ziyan led some people to inspect the situation in the low-lying area, she called Chu Qiu to her side and dismissed the others.

Chu Qiu didn't want to be teased by her anymore, so he kept at least a meter's distance from her. Wu Ziyan pouted and said, "Come closer, otherwise how will you hear me?"

Chu Qiu took another step closer to her, somewhat impatiently, but Wu Ziyan grabbed his wrist.

She thought she would be easily taken away by her, but Chu Qiu stood there motionless. Instead, she was pulled by the reaction and her body unconsciously leaned towards Chu Qiu.

She bumped into Chu Qiu's arms, and looked up with a slightly aggrieved expression: "Why are you so far away from me? I'm not going to eat you."

"Fourth Prince, oh no, Miss, please have some self-respect!" Chu Qiu was a rather honest person, and she still remembered the unified address that Wu Ziyan had given them.

"You blockhead, I order you to come closer!" Wu Ziyan pretended to be a little angry, clenched her fist, and punched Chu Qiu hard in the chest, but this little bit of force was nothing to Chu Qiu.

Wu Ziyan had no time for jokes at this moment. She tiptoed and leaned close to Chu Qiu's ear: "These people are not my people, so I don't trust them. When we go to inspect the river later, you follow them secretly and see if anyone tries to attack me."

Although he was giving instructions in a serious manner, the ambiguous distance made Chu Qiu's face flush red, especially when he felt the warm breath tickling his ear, and most importantly, Wu Ziyan, a woman, smelled sweet.

He seemed a little awkward, turning his head to the side, not wanting Wu Ziyan to see his unusual expression: "Okay."

Seeing that he was very cooperative, Wu Ziyan patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction, turned around and went out, leading the group of people away in a grand procession.

As she walked to the riverbank, she looked at the muddy river that resembled a ferocious beast, her heart pounding. The breach in the distant embankment was quite large; repairing it would be no small project. But she was curious: why, despite the annual floods, were the people unwilling to move away from this place?

Looking at the people following her, their eyes were serious and there was nothing suspicious. Chu Qiu secretly followed to see if there was any traitor. If they wanted to harm Wu Ziyan, this would be an excellent opportunity. But there was none. It seemed that this group of people was fine. Then it was time for the next group.

After Wu Ziyan finished his inspection, he returned to his tent, drank some simple porridge, and ate some dry bread.

Chu Qiu remained silent, but strangely enough, judging from Wu Ziyan's behavior along the way, he no longer disliked her as much as he had when they first met. Now, she seemed like a frontier soldier he knew, both brave and resourceful.

"What are you looking at? You seem lost in thought." Changsun Boyu nudged Chu Qiu with his elbow. Chu Qiu shook his head and coldly uttered a single word: "Nothing."