It was late at night, but the lights were still on in the main courtyard of the officer’s residence.

Zijin couldn’t just watch and endure it any longer, so she said, “Miss, it’s already past hashi, and it’s about time for Miss to sleep.” You can’t read all night!

Yuxi shook her head and said, “I’m not sleepy. You can go to sleep first!” It was better to read a book than lie in bed and think about it. She would go to bed again once she got tired of reading.

Zijin persuaded, “Miss, I know you are sad, but no matter how sad you are, you can’t skip on your sleep! You’ve been so busy this time around, and if you stay up like this, your body will not be able to stand it.” Miss didn’t even look sad when her groom was not here on their wedding night, and no one knew what Miss was currently thinking, other than Miss herself.

Yuxi smiled as she asked, “You still don’t know what kind of person I am?” When did she ever become the person who did not take good care of her own body?

At this moment, Zisu brought over a bowl of steamed egg custard and said, “Miss, eat something first!” Yuxi had developed a habit of having a midnight snack for so long now.

STEAMED EGG CUSTARD

After Yuxi finished eating the steamed egg custard, she returned to her seat and continued reading.

Zisu coaxed, “Miss, didn’t you always say that one should cherish one’s eyes? Reading too many books at night will only hurt your eyes. Why don’t you read them tomorrow?”

Yuxi shook her head and said, “You guys go to sleep first! I don’t need anyone to keep watch of me here.”

When Zijin heard this, her nose went sore, and her tears came out as she was choked with emotion, “Miss, if you are sad, just cry out. Don’t hold everything inside your heart.” Miss loved reading books, but she never did it late at night. Miss was clearly sad, but she had suppressed her sadness in her heart and forced herself not to show it.

When Yuxi noticed Zijin’s appearance, she was startled. “What’s wrong? I can’t sleep right now because I’ve slept too much during the day. Let me read a few books first, and I’ll go to bed when I tired.”

Zijin did not believe her. “Miss, if you’re not going to sleep, I’m not going to either and will always be here to guard you.”

Zisu chimed in, “Me too.” Miss had gotten too stubborn lately.

In response, Yuxi had no other choice but to give up her reading. “Okay, okay, I will go to sleep right away!”

It was not that easy for Yuxi to fall asleep as she just lay on the bed without feeling a bit sleepy. She stared at the still-burning wedding candle and sighed gently. She had gotten married twice. And at both times, the groom had been absent on their wedding night, and she had to be alone inside the bridal chamber in her new home. This feeling of abandonment was very unbearable. Although rationally, she knew that Yun Qing couldn’t return that night in spite of himself, deep inside, she still hoped that he could come back so that it wouldn’t let her leave any regrets behind again. Unfortunately, this wish was destined to fall short.

When Yuxi was thinking about these things, she could hear a strange sound outside. She hurriedly put on her coat, stood up and inquired, “What’s going on out there?”

Zijin answered with an ugly expression on her face, “Miss, this is the sound of swords. I’m afraid some assassins have barged into the yard. These people must be coming for Miss.”

Yuxi’s heart trembled with fear, but she didn’t forget to remind, “Beware of these people using underhanded tricks.” What happened last time should not be allowed to happen one more time. She didn’t want to be a guest of the northern barbarians.

Zijin comforted her, “Miss, don’t worry, Master and Yu Zhi are guarding the courtyard.” As soon as Master Yang and Yu Zhi heard that something was amiss, they immediately went into the inner courtyard. Of course, this was per Yuxi’s instructions. Otherwise, the situation outside would have been silent.

Yuxi was just about to speak when she heard the chaotic sounds of footsteps from outside. Her face turned very unsightly. Someone had found their way to the inner courtyard. Yuxi didn’t know how many people had come, but they had reached the inner courtyard quite fast. It seemed that the General’s residence guards were incapable of doing their job!

Xu Wu led his men to the inner courtyard. Since his men were holding torches, they saw several corpses lying in the yard as soon as they arrived at their destination.

Master Yang looked at Xu Wu and asked, “Have you done solving all the people outside?” Seeing Xu Wu nod, he waved his hand and said, “Then you can clean up the mess here. This Old Man is going to sleep.” As for other things, he did not want to bother himself with them.

Xu Wu stated, “Thank you, Master Yang and Brother Yu.”

Master Yang gave a short laugh and went back to bed with Yu Zhi. On the way, Yu Zhi complained, “Master, aren’t these people so bad at guarding this residence?” The guards’ speed was too slow. If it weren’t for them both, he was afraid Miss Han’s life would have been in danger. No wonder she begged them to stay. The bodyguards in this place were truly unreliable.

Master Yang glanced at his disciple and scolded, “This is not a problem you should be worried about.” Knowing he and his apprentice were personally looking after the Han girl made Xu Wu too assured. However, this was not a good habit. Tomorrow, he would have to bring up this matter with that Han girl.

When Master Yang thought about this, he felt at a loss. Originally, he wanted to spend his old age living comfortably but didn’t expect to end up as a little girl’s bodyguard. That was why he hated these people who had a lot of things in their minds. They had constantly outwitted people like him, which had happened to him so many times.

Xu Wu didn’t pay much attention to Master Yang’s unreasonable behaviour. At that moment, he just gave out instructions to the other guards. “Drag all the dead bodies down, and then clean up the courtyard.”

When Yuxi came out of the house, she acted as if she didn’t see corpses dragged by the guards and the blood on the ground. She directly asked Xu Wu, “Have all the thieves been dealt with?”

Xu Wu did not expect that Yuxi would be so calm. She was indeed worthy of being the General’s wife. “Answering Madam’s inquiry, all of them have been taken care of.” Those in the outer courtyard had all been killed. As for those in the inner courtyard, seeing Master Yang and his disciple walk away in such a relaxing manner, Xu Wu knew there were no more thieves.

Yuxi asked another question, “So how many casualties are there on our side?” With so many people ending up dead on the enemy’s side, there was no way their side only had minor damage.

Xu Wu froze for a moment. He didn’t expect Yuxi would be asking about their losses. “Madam, this subordinate is still unclear for the time being.” There were sure to be casualties, but he hadn’t checked up on it yet. Thus, he couldn’t provide an answer to Yuxi’s question.

Yuxi did not say much but said instead, “Have someone to call for a physician immediately, and you should find a place for the wounded.” Then, she ordered Mama Bai and Mama Qu to boil water and asked Zisu to prepare white clothes.

Xu Wu also did not ask. What Madam wanted to do was not something he should inquire anyway, and without any delay, he went to work on the wounded.

Soon, the casualties were all counted. This time, the assassins’ skills were good. Four people died from the General Residence, three were seriously injured, and more than a dozen were slightly wounded.

Not too long after, the physician also arrived. The three seriously injured people were handed over to the physician for treatment. As for the dozen lightly wounded, Yuxi asked Mama Qu to clean their wounds with boiled towels and then bandage them up after applying for some medicine.

Mama Qu did not object either. She was already in her thirties, nearing her forties. There was nothing wrong with her cleaning and applying medicine to these young boys’ wounds. Furthermore, this was the northwest, not the capital, and outsiders would not nitpick over this matter. “Miss, it will be too much for Mama Xi and me to handle this alone. Please ask Old Woman Wan to bring the others to help too!” Old Woman Wan was the tough old woman servant recently bought by Yuxi.

Mama Qu had her own reason for making this suggestion. Although the northwest folk were more open-minded, this kind of thing still couldn’t be left to unmarried girls. No matter where one was, it would forever be taboo for the unmarried ones.

When Xu Wu knew what Yuxi had done, he froze once again and then at once instructed Xu Daniu, a guard beside him, “Go and tell those injured about this so that they can be prepared.”

Therefore, when the injured bodyguards looked at a few mama coming over and said they were going to take care of them, they felt a bit awkward. But in the past, they always had to wait for the physician to finish treating those who had the most severe injuries before it would be their turn. Even if they were hurting, they had to bear it. Now, some people could come to clean their wounds so soon. They would have to toughen their scalp, though, as they had been reminded and warned by Xu Wu that they would be treated by women.

A quarter of an hour later, Feng Baihu came over with fifty men. Seeing Xu Wu intact and hearing that the thieves were killed, he asked, “Was Madam frightened?” Feng Baihu was one of a group of children adopted by Huo Changqing. However, his martial arts skills were not as good as Xu Wu and the other four. Therefore, he joined the military camp and rose to his current rank in his company solely on military merit.

A smile emerged on Xu Wu’s serious face. “Madam did not suffer any shock and has also let the people around her help with putting medicine and bandaging the wounded.”

Feng Baihu’s eyes widened as he asked, “She let her maids bandage the wounded?” The people around a lady were naturally her maids.

Xu Daniu snorted coldly. “How can she let pure, innocent girls bandage the wounds on rough men like us?” No matter how lax the northwestern folk customs were, it was still impossible to allow a girl to touch a man’s body. However, if it was true, it would have been too good.

Xu Wu answered grumpily, “It’s a few mama serving around the Madam.”

Feng Baihu said with a smile, “Why didn’t you just make it clear from the beginning? But, can those mama do it?” They didn’t make the injuries even worse, did they?

Xu Wu also did not say much. He just let him go into the house to see it for himself. When Feng Baihu walked inside, he saw a row of wounded people lying on the kang. These people had various injuries on their legs, shoulders, and arms. No matter where their injuries were, all of them had been treated.

Feng Baihu carefully looked at the wound on a man. Not only it had been cleaned well, but it had also been dressed perfectly. Feng Baihu exclaimed incredulously, “Is this really done by the people around Madam?” Looking at the dressing, it was not much worse than the military physicians in the barracks!

Seeing Xu Wu nod, Feng Baihu cried out, “Our General has really picked up a treasure.”

Xu Wu nodded his head, indicating that he agreed with this statement.

Yuxi didn’t know that after this night’s incident, the people around Yun Qing had raised their opinion of her by several heights. When she heard that all the wounded had been taken care of, she had Mama Bai take a few maids to prepare breakfast. Yuxi told Mama Bai, “Let’s make mantou and mutton congee for everyone. But the wounded can’t eat mutton congee. So let’s prepare a pot of meat congee for them instead!”

Mama Bai nodded as she answered, “Yes.”

Just after dawn, the exhausted guards ate big mantou and aromatic mutton congee after a very tiring night.

While biting into the fat, white mantou, Guard Xu Daniu spoke to Guard Xu. “I just heard the maid say that the mutton porridge was personally boiled by Madam. I didn’t expect that Madam’s cooking skills were also this good. Our General will be blessed in the future.”

Xu Wu nodded and added, “Not only is it a blessing for the General, but also for us.” Madam was talented and beautiful, with remarkable courage. She had medicinal and cooking skills. She also cared about and sympathised with them, which was a great blessing to the General’s family.

Yuxi ate a piece of mantou and drank a bowl of meat porridge. Then she went back inside to rest. After exhausting herself physically for the night, she didn’t have the spirit of thinking about anything else as she fell asleep on the bed right away.

Zijin covered Yuxi with a blanket and walked out softly. Zisu whispered, “is Miss asleep?” From midnight up till now, everyone had been busy.

Zijin nodded. “She is.”

“Alas, it’s already this eventful on the wedding night. What else will we face in the future?” By this time, Zisu began to believe Monk Liao Tong’s words. If her Miss’ luck was not so bad, why else would she keep running into these unfortunate things? On her wedding night, the groom had been absent, and then she encountered assassins’ sneak attack. What could be much worse than these? There was undoubtedly none, right?

Zijin also felt uncomfortable. However, no matter how upset she was, Miss had already married over, and there was no room for turning back. As everyone knew, once one was bestowed a marriage, one couldn’t even leave. Therefore, one could only bear it. “Don’t overthink about it. It will be all right.”

Zisu was not optimistic about the future. There had not been a day of peace from the moment they left the capital until now. She did not know what else had been in store for them in the future. This uncertainty and dangerous tomorrow was the issue that turned Zisu’s mood particularly depressed.