Xie Jiang washed the bloodstains from her face in the clear, bottomless pool. Her battle makeup had served its purpose and it was time to retire it.
Xu Hengyan sat down on a rock behind her. "You didn't wait for the imperial troops to arrive, but took the initiative to eliminate the Huanglan Mountain bandits yourself. You weren't just trying to trick me, were you?"
"I submitted a memorial to His Majesty, so I've already informed him. Why should I wait for the imperial troops? The Huanglan Mountain bandits are hardly a major issue."
The main reason was that she didn't want to reveal too much of her strength so soon.
If she had to fight the bandits alongside the imperial troops, they would have to conceal their strength and fight slowly, which would be so boring. There might even be many unnecessary casualties, and her subordinates were all precious.
By eliminating the Huanglan Mountain bandits herself, she had shown everyone that she was not to be trifled with, and it was even acceptable for them to be wary of her.
She simply wanted everyone to know that she was not to be provoked, not to make the Great Yu Dynasty guard against her.
It wasn't that the Great Yu Dynasty wasn't already wary of her. Currently, everyone considered her an outsider, and everything she did was for the sake of returning to her homeland.
Once she exposed too much frightening strength, the Great Yu court, which was currently harboring its own agendas, would unite to oppose her.
Therefore, she still had to be low-key.
Try to be as low-key as possible.
Xie Jiang lowered her head and looked at the bloodstains on her body. She found it disgusting and couldn't bear to look. So, with her face covered in crystal-clear water droplets, she walked towards Xu Hengyan.
Xu Hengyan felt a light shining on him. He was about to say something but found himself unable to recall a single word.
Xie Jiang took Xu Hengyan's arm, leaned her face close, and used his sleeve to wipe the water from her face.
"Do you have anything to eat? I'm so hungry."
"You were so meticulously planning and acting, didn't you prepare food in advance?"
"After I chased the Winged Tiger, I was exhausted and collapsed here. If there were a basket of food placed beside me, would that trick you, Young Master Xu?"
"Where are your subordinates? Shouldn't they be hidden nearby? Now that your plan is exposed, why aren't they bringing you food?"
"They saw you coming and left long ago. There's no one here now."
Xu Hengyan didn't know what to say. His subordinates were reliable when they needed to be, but when they were unreliable, they were truly unreliable. Leaving their master here like this…
"Your subordinates do trust me."
As he said this, his lips curved upwards. Her subordinates' trust in her depended on her attitude towards them.
Xu Hengyan had brought his men into the mountains to meet her. In his haste, he hadn't brought much food, and there was none left. He then asked Guang Bai and the others to hunt some game and roast it.
"Eating something so greasy so early in the morning, ugh…"
Xie Jiang collected the poisonous threads she had set up around the pool into her pouch. The smell of roasted game from Guang Bai and the others drifted over.
"No matter how much you gag, you still need to fill your stomach. It will take half a day to get down the mountain now."
"Couldn't you roast a sweet potato, or… oh, I forgot, sweet potatoes are still in the ground."
"The sweet potatoes we planted are growing very well. In another two months, at most two months, they will be ready for harvest." Xu Hengyan became happy when he mentioned sweet potatoes.
"Young Master Xu, if the sweet potatoes have a bumper harvest, will His Majesty grant me a title? I've brought high-yield crops to Great Yu. Not only have I resolved the Huanglan Mountain bandits, but I've also conveniently brought Yongfeng Village under the allegiance of the court."
With more time, she could even subdue more mountain folk with the cooperation of Yongfeng Village.
"You have completely resolved the Huanglan Mountain bandit problem this time, and you've also brought Yongfeng Village under your allegiance. If there's a bumper harvest of sweet potatoes in two months, and if the yield can truly reach three to four thousand catties per mu as you mentioned before, it's not impossible for you to be granted a title."
Whether His Majesty would grant a title primarily depended on what the Lan Yong Xie clan's allegiance would bring to Great Yu.
Seeing that she seemed quite interested, Xu Hengyan smiled and asked her, "What title would you like?"
Xie Jiang thought for a moment, then suddenly looked at Xu Hengyan. "I want to be a Duke. You will be the Duke of Wei in the future, and I will also be a Duke, standing on equal footing with you, flying wing to wing."
"...Can 'flying wing to wing' be used like that?"
"It doesn't matter how I use it, as long as you understand what I mean."
Xu Hengyan felt that he couldn't. Whenever he heard her talking nonsense, he…
Guang Bai, who came to bring them the roasted food, happened to hear Xie Jiang's audacious wish to become a Duke and almost doubted if she had been drinking.
But the pool was filled with water, not wine. How could she be drunk?
Xie Jiang asked for a wild chicken leg. She had just taken two bites with a frown when a guard from the Xu family came to report.
As soon as they found Xie Jiang, Guang Bai had sent a signal.
The two teams of Xu family guards who had been searching for Xie Jiang scattered in the forest and had already converged. The teams that were farther away were told to descend the mountain on their own.
"The troops from Jingping have arrived. Hearing that Young Master Xie had gone into the mountains to suppress the bandits, they headed straight for the Huanglan Mountain bandit stronghold. The troops were led by a general named Cao Mian, under the command of Second Master Ruan. Young Master Ruan is also among them."
Xu Hengyan nodded and dismissed the guard. The troops from Jingping had arrived much faster than he expected, likely due to Ruan Zijian.
"They are currently at the bandit stronghold. Do you want to go and see the men under Second Master Ruan?"
"The bandits are all dead. Why should I go there? The stronghold has probably already been looted by the people of Yongfeng Village. We'll head down the mountain directly back to Ninghe later."
Xu Hengyan said, "The imperial troops sent to assist you in suppressing the bandits, won't you even meet them?"
Xie Jiang said indifferently, "If they want to see me, they can come to Ninghe to see me. I'm not too busy to spare some time. If they don't want to see me, then they can just go back home."
~
Ignoring the troops sent by the imperial court, Xie Jiang and Xu Hengyan descended the mountain together and returned to Ninghe.
Dinner was eaten in the back office of the county magistrate. As usual, the chef from the Xie residence prepared the meal and sent it over. The Xu family's chef had been feeling a bit melancholic lately, as he had never encountered guests who provided their own meals when visiting.
Guang Bai didn't pay attention to the chef's mood. In any case, Guang Bai was in a very good mood. The dark cloud overhead had finally moved away; the Young Master and Young Master Xie had completely reconciled!
Although he had never understood what had happened between the Young Master and Young Master Xie before, or how they had reconciled today.
But none of it mattered; it was all in the past.
The two were now inseparable again. The Young Master was working at his desk, and Young Master Xie was staying by his side.
To avoid losing his job, the Xu family's chef made his specialty pastries and asked Guang Bai to help deliver them, so that Young Master Xie could try them.
Guang Bai happened to have something to report, so he took the pastries and carried them in, placing them within Xie Jiang's easy reach. "Young Master Xie, a servant from your residence just said that Young Master Ruan has come down from the mountain and is waiting at the Xie residence to see you."