On the way back, Guan Nianshan, feeling relaxed, happened to glance sideways and noticed that Qu Ya’s expression looked somewhat unpleasant.
"You seem very unhappy. Do you think there's no hope for revenge?"
Qu Ya stopped in his tracks, stood silent for a moment, then slowly raised his head.
"He didn’t mention taking us to Ningzhou today."
Guan Nianshan blinked in surprise and blurted out, "You want to go to Ningzhou?"
Qu Ya’s rough lips pressed into a straight line.
"I don’t know. I just feel a tightness in my chest."
After a moment’s hesitation, Guan Nianshan tried to console him. "Maybe it’s because he knows we’re doing well here with County Princess Linghui, so he didn’t bring it up. After all, that’s Ningzhou."
Qu Ya’s brows remained furrowed with worry. He said softly, "Maybe so."
Seeing this, Guan Nianshan went on. "Actually, going to Ningzhou would do no good for us or for the Young Master."
"The Ningzhou troops are already exclusive. With me blind in one eye and you handicapped in your right hand, they’d probably look down on us."
"If the two of us bring our families along, we wouldn’t even have a place to settle, and we’d only make trouble for the Young Master."
Qu Ya stared at Guan Nianshan and asked a deadly question.
"What if one day the Young Master leads the Ningzhou army to attack Suining City? Whose side would you take? His, or the County Princess’s?"
The moonlight shone on Qu Ya’s face, and Guan Nianshan felt a shiver in his heart.
He turned his head away in panic. "How do you know they’ll definitely be enemies? By the time Ningzhou attacks the imperial court, Song Qiming will have already been transferred back to the capital."
Qu Ya clenched his jaw, his eyes seeming clouded with a layer of gray haze.
He dropped his gaze to the ground, his chest feeling even heavier.
"Maybe so."
Returning to the government office through the back door, Qu Ya lay on the bed, staring fixedly at the ceiling beams, sleepless all night.
Guan Nianshan, after taking off his clothes and lying down, fell asleep within half an hour.
As the morning mist dissipated and sunlight spilled into the courtyard,
Song Jinzhao stood alone holding the Cloud Spear, facing Song Qiming, Song Shixue, Gu Baozhu, and Gu Jinghong.
In the blink of an eye, Song Qiming struck first.
He lunged at Song Jinzhao with his longsword. After a failed attempt, he quickly circled behind her, and the other three moved simultaneously.
The four formed an encirclement, trapping Song Jinzhao in the middle.
"Aooo—wooo—" Xuetuan couldn’t hold back any longer and let out a long howl toward the sky, even raising its front paws.
Song Anhao quickly grabbed its neck. "Don’t yell. If you charge in, you’ll be done in by Eldest Sister with one spear strike."
Xuetuan refused to accept this and nudged him with its snout.
Spear and sword clashed, the metallic ring lasting long without stopping.
Blade scraping against spearhead produced a grating sound that hurt the eardrums.
As sparks flew, before Song Anhao could retreat, Xuetuan turned its head first and hid behind a rock.
Song Anhao rolled his eyes at it in exasperation and muttered, "Coward."
Xuetuan lay still, pretending to be dead.
"Clang—"
Gu Jinghong stared blankly at the broken half of his longsword in his hand, his numbed palm barely able to grip the hilt.
After only a dozen exchanges, it broke. Was his sword too poor, or was County Princess Linghui too strong?
Gu Baozhu got up from the ground, panting, her eyes filled with admiration for Song Jinzhao and helplessness at not being able to win.
"I give up. There’s no way to beat her."
In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, several hundred moves had been exchanged. The opponent was too fast—the four of them together couldn’t keep up.
Song Jinzhao thrust the spear into the ground, a hint of disdain in her eyes.
"You all have too little muscle on you."
Gu Baozhu looked at Song Shixue’s arm, then at her own.
It was a bit lacking—a whole size thinner.
Song Qiming walked over to Gu Jinghong.
He picked up the broken half of the blade from the ground. "This sword is a bit brittle. I’ll give you a good one in a few days."
Gu Jinghong caught it with his left hand.
The fracture was clean, without a single grain of metal shavings, which showed just how fast and forceful the strike had been.
"This was a gift from my father. I never expected it to break."
It must have been the sword’s fault. Otherwise, why hadn’t Auntie’s broken?
What he didn’t know was that when Song Jinzhao parried Gu Baozhu, she had used skillful techniques and deliberately held back some of her strength.
