Chapter 1282 - 1277: Admiration

Shen Qingzhu sat on the horse emitting heavy breaths, turning its head, it sniffed her hand, showing great intelligence.

Shen Qingzhu smiled and looked up at Bai Jinse: "So I took a gamble and guessed that either the Seventh Miss or the Fifth Young Master must be among the refugees. I chased all the way..."

But because among the Xiliang refugees some wanted to bypass the army, some boldly took the official road, and others chose the most difficult mountain paths, each choosing different directions; some went west after leaving Yunjing along the official road, others went south, and some continued northward, so Shen Qingzhu indeed took quite some effort to find Bai Jinse.

Bai Jinse nodded: "Thank you so much, Sister Qingzhu!"

Shen Qingzhu glanced at the little boy behind Bai Jinse, clutching Bai Jinse’s clothes tightly, looking at her warily, and said to Bai Jinse, "Seventh Miss, why not ride with me on a horse? You can take a nap, and let the Yan Army soldiers take care of this boy?"

"No!" The boy clutched Bai Jinse’s clothes tightly, his voice sharp, displaying unprecedented resistance to Yan.

"Sister Qingzhu, it’s okay, I’ll take care of him!" Bai Jinse turned back to look at the boy who lowered his head, noticing his whole body was trembling, not knowing what he feared, but said nothing.

After traveling north for not more than half a day, Bai Jinse saw Bai Qingjue bringing the Bai family army to seek her.

Upon seeing Bai Qingjue and the Bai family army brothers, Bai Jinse’s tears couldn’t hold up any longer. Despite surviving life-and-death situations and enduring hunger and cold in recent days, seeing her own seventh brother brought a surge of grievance to her heart, and tears flowed uncontrollably.

"Seventh brother..." Bai Jinse’s throat choked.

Seeing the Seventh Sister Bai Jinse safe and sound, Bai Qingjue’s tense heartstring finally relaxed a bit. The Xiliang people eating their children was no news anymore, and before seeing Bai Jinse, Bai Qingjue feared she might have met misfortune, feeling uneasy.

Finally, the little seven is safe and sound...

Bai Qingjue pulled the reins and approached, scrutinizing Bai Jinse carefully, restraining the impulse to pull his sister up close for inspection, he softly asked, "Did you get hurt anywhere?"

Bai Jinse wiped her tears with her sleeve, revealing a smile: "I’m fine, Seventh Brother! Just some minor scratches, I’ll find Doctor Hong for some ointment to apply, don’t worry!"

Seeing Bai Jinse’s smile, Bai Qingjue then turned to his vice-general and said: "Send word to Jinhua, there’s no need to search anymore, little seven has been found!"

"Yes!" The vice-general responded with a salute.

"Let’s go back!" Bai Qingjue raised a hand to pat Bai Jinse’s head, "We’ll talk when we return, Third Brother and Second Sister are waiting for you!"

Bai Jinse nodded: "Hmm!"

On the night that the Ninth Prince of Yan and Murong Ping, the second prince, departed for the Yan Kingdom, Bai Qingjue and Shen Qingzhu with the Yan Army brought Bai Jinse to Yunjing.

Bai Jinhua, having gone westward to search for people, was on the way back.

When Bai Jinse entered Yunjing’s North City Gate, it happened to be guarded by the Bai family army, who shouted loudly upon seeing Bai Jinse: "The Seventh Miss is back! The Seventh Young Master found the Seventh Miss! And Miss Shen, quickly inform the Third Young Master and Second Miss!"

After thanking the Yan Army, Bai Qingjue took Bai Jinse to the Imperial Palace of Yunjing.

News of Bai Jinse’s return caught Bai Qingqi and Bai Jinxiu off guard, both shocked and delighted.

They had just come out to welcome her, seeing Bai Jinse wrapped tightly in her cloak, face dirty, and Bai Jinzhao happily came to report that Bai Qingyu had awakened: "Fifth Brother is really awake this time! Fourth Sister and Doctor Hong are guarding there, they told me to quickly report!"

"Fifth Brother woke up? What happened to Fifth Brother?" Bai Jinse, having fainted after falling from a horse, was unaware of Bai Qingyu’s injury.

Bai Qingqi, usually composed and emotionless, rarely smiled and told Bai Jinse: "Little Seven is truly our lucky star, as soon as you came back, your Fifth Brother woke up!"

"I’ll take Little Seven to wash up and change clothes first!" Bai Jinxiu hugged Bai Jinse, gently stroking her arm, eyes red as she laughed, "Let Little Seven be clean to see A Yu!"

"Alright..." Bai Qingqi nodded, couldn’t help patting Bai Jinse’s head, he hadn’t expected the first time taking Little Seven to battle would cause her so much hardship, not knowing what she experienced among those refugees, feeling it was his failure as the Third Brother, "If you’re too tired, no need to rush to see Fifth Brother, rest well. Knowing you’re safe will surely comfort him!"

After speaking, Bai Qingqi’s gaze fell on the little boy closely following Bai Jinse, then looked at Bai Qingjue, who shook his head, indicating he didn’t know the boy’s identity yet.

Seeing her brother’s gaze directed behind her, Bai Jinse brought the boy up, saying: "Third Brother, this boy and I were captured by refugees as reserve food, we escaped together along the way. Without him sharing half the food with me, I fear I wouldn’t have had the strength to escape, and wouldn’t have persisted until the end."

Bai Qingqi looked at the bright-eyed boy, guarding against everything around him, nodding: "Take this child to eat something and change clothes!"

"Alright..." Bai Qingjue nodded.

·

When the news taken in Yunjing was sent back to Dadu City, Bai Qingyan’s entourage headed to Xiliang stopped at Wengshan.

Later, news of the Yan Kingdom’s Ninth Prince returning to Yandu with Murong Ping, the Second Prince, and the trusted people of General Cui Shanzhong from Xiliang, followed soon after, and Bai Qingyan’s entourage set out for Dadu City.

At this time, the Zhou Dynasty royal court all knew the Ninth Prince of Yan Kingdom made a promise to clarify the matter of Yan selling out the Zhou army and provide an explanation to Zhou, thus their Emperor Bai Qingyan decided to return to Dadu City to await Yan’s response.

However, Bai Qingyan did not withdraw the Zhou army stationed at Yan’s border, nor did he order the troops that defeated Xiliang, the Bai family army and Zhao family army, to return; the tension of possible war between the two countries was so palpable that even the citizens of Dadu City could feel it.

Many citizens still remember Bai Qingyan’s speech at Imperial College after succeeding to the throne, where he debated with the college students, mentioning Zhou’s future goal and ambition to unify the world. Therefore, the citizens were quite interested, discussing this matter everywhere.

Most citizens said that their Emperor fighting Yan Kingdom was correct, Yan was a highly resilient and admirable country; otherwise, it wouldn’t have jumped from a small nation dependent on Jin Kingdom for survival to become a country coexisting in the world alongside Zhou.