"Zhu Zan."
"Zhu Zan."
After the name was called three times, the man in front finally turned his head.
His expression was heavy, appearing both serious and solemn.
"What is it?" he asked in a low voice.
Miss Jun urged her horse forward, catching up to him with a smile.
"Why aren't you talking?" she asked.
Zhu Zan's expression remained calm.
"Talking about what?" he replied.
Miss Jun burst into laughter.
"Aren't you a chatterbox? How come you haven't been talking these past few days? You look so strange," she teased.
Zhu Zan spat.
"You're the chatterbox," he said before turning his head and urging his horse forward at a gallop.
Miss Jun laughed and followed him.
"You only argued back with four words?" she said.
Zhu Zan simply stared forward, his gaze unwavering and his lips tightly shut.
"Hey, hey," Miss Jun prodded at him with her horsewhip, "Why have you stopped talking?"
Zhu Zan reached out and gripped her horsewhip.
"Don't mess around," he said, enunciating each word deliberately. "I've always been a man of few words."
Miss Jun couldn't help but giggle.
"Is it because you think you can't win against me, so you've decided to stop speaking altogether?" she teased.
Zhu Zan didn't explode in anger; his expression remained calm as he flung her horsewhip aside and continued forward.
Miss Jun laughed and caught up to him again.
"Hey," she said.
This time, before she could speak, Zhu Zan turned his head and proactively responded.
"If the words are meaningful, I'll say them. If they're useless, naturally, I won't," he said. "We've already said what needs to be said. What more could you want to say?"
Miss Jun's eyes narrowed with laughter, glinting brightly as she looked at him.
"I want some water," she said.
Zhu Zan calmly reached out, unfastened his water pouch, and handed it to her.
Miss Jun took it, drank a few gulps, and handed it back.
"I'm a little hungry now," she added.
Zhu Zan searched through his saddlebag and pulled out a few wild fruits, offering them to her.
Miss Jun didn't take them.
"Are they dirty?" she asked, craning her neck forward to inspect.
Zhu Zan rubbed the fruits vigorously on his clothes and offered them again.
Miss Jun accepted them and began munching on them noisily.
"Was it last time that you walked alone from Baozhou to the capital?" she asked between bites. "Was traveling alone difficult?"
"Not difficult; I'm used to being alone," Zhu Zan replied, his eyes fixed straight ahead, as if oblivious to her presence.
Miss Jun nodded in agreement.
"I used to be used to being alone too," she said, crunching her fruit as she swayed her head and laughed. "But now, I feel that traveling with someone as a companion is quite nice."
Saying this, she extended her hand.
"Finished," she announced.
Juice from the fruits had seeped out, leaving her open palm sticky and wet.
Zhu Zan pulled a brocade handkerchief from his waist, stretched out his arm without looking, and briskly wiped her hand clean.
Miss Jun withdrew her hand, still smiling contentedly.
"Zhu Zan," she said.
Zhu Zan's brow twitched faintly.
"What other orders does Miss Jun have?" he replied.
However, his voice seemed squeezed out from between his teeth.
Miss Jun sat on her horse, rubbed her face, and casually swung her legs with a hint of leisure.
"Let me think," she said.
"No rush, take your time," Zhu Zan replied in a low voice.
Miss Jun made a sound of acknowledgment.
"How far away is it? We've been traveling half a day; I'm exhausted," she said, her nasal tone heavy, carrying a touch of lazy coquettishness.
Finally, Zhu Zan turned his head to look at her.
"Miss Jun, it was you who pointed out this road," he said, veins bulging on the hand gripping his reins. "I, truly, do not know."
Miss Jun glanced at him and pursed her lips into a smile.
"You don't know? I do," she said, straightening up on her horse. "Just reminding you of how capable I am."
Then she flicked her horsewhip in the air, spinning it into a flourish before it snapped with a sharp, ringing sound.
The horse let out a high-pitched neigh, raised its hooves, and bolted forward, the thin veil wrapped around the young girl's head billowing in the wind, cascading behind her like a cloud.
Zhu Zan's expression was also cloud-like.
But not because he had blushed at the sight of such beauty.
He threw his head back and expelled another heavy, silent sigh. Stretching out his hand, he made exaggerated chopping motions toward the fleeting figure of the girl galloping ahead.
Why in this world is there such a terrifying woman!
And why does this terrifying woman happen to have her sights set on him! Clinging to him!
This must be what they call fate's jealousy of beauty!
..................….
On the jagged, steep mountain peak, a thick rope drenched in water coiled around the rocks, producing a heavy sound as it brushed against the stone surface.
Upon seeing the rope knot secured, Miss Jun grabbed the rope, kicked at the mountain rock, and let herself fall backward. The rope dug into her palms, instantly reddening them.
"Done," she declared, releasing the rope and standing upright. "It's very sturdy."
Zhu Zan stood nearby, arms crossed, his expression tinged with a bit of contempt, but he didn't speak.
Miss Jun turned to look at him.
"What are you staring at? Go down then," she said. "The rope I made is sturdy—you won't find it snapping like yours did."
Zhu Zan snorted but said nothing, picking up the loose rope on the ground and fastening it around his waist.
"Hey, are you sure there are herbs down this cliff?" he asked, standing at the edge and looking down the steep incline.
Though the mountain's height wasn't overwhelming, scaling its cliffs posed a significant challenge.
"Go down and check; you'll see," Miss Jun said with a wave. "Hurry up, hurry up. I'll keep an eye on the rope; you can trust me—I'll pull you back up."
Zhu Zan shot her a glare but didn't respond. With one step, he lunged forward, disappearing over the precipice. For a moment, it seemed as though he had fallen, until his hand clutching a stone protrusion appeared.
Miss Jun watched him climbing downward, then walked back to the rocks to examine the rope closely. Seemingly to prevent any accidents, she grabbed the rope and bound it to another large rock before clapping her hands satisfied.
"Now there'll surely be no issues," she said, sitting on a rock and removing the fragrant bag from her waist. She poured out a handful of roasted beans and began munching noisily.
"...I can't see anything..."
Zhu Zan's shout echoed up from the mountain's base.
"Take your time," Miss Jun replied without lifting her head. "Look carefully. What's the rush?"
Zhu Zan didn't speak again. The coiled rope on the ground shook and slid downward, signaling his continued descent.
The mountains fell silent again, save for the occasional sound of tumbling rocks.
Zhu Zan scanned the cliffside intently for the herbs, while a pair of eyes watched him just as closely from the bushes along the sloping terrain.
With Miss Jun overseeing the rope, Zhu Zan threw himself wholeheartedly into his search. Meanwhile, the girl on the rocks focused unwaveringly on her snack.
Mountain breezes swirled; the flora trembled. A long blowpipe emerged from the bushes, aimed directly at Zhu Zan clinging to the cliff below.
With a swift "buzz," a piercing arrow flashed coldly, slicing through the air.
A muffled grunt came from the brush, followed by the crackling sound of leaves. A figure rolled out from within.
Zhu Zan hunched his body, swung his legs out, and grasped the rocks as he scrambled upward. His movements quick and fluid, he reached the slope in the blink of an eye and leapt onto it.
Zhu Zan flipped the fallen man over, revealing an utterly unremarkable face.
"Dead," Zhu Zan shouted back, looking toward the cliff edge.
Miss Jun had quietly moved closer, now gripping a blowpipe in her hand.
"If he doesn't die, you will," she said. "Don't bother trying to capture him alive. Since he's been hiding this long, it's obvious he wouldn't give you the chance. Once you give him an opening, that's his opportunity to kill you."
Such individuals would never leave any trace of their identities.
Zhu Zan stood up and kicked the man's corpse off the cliff.
"Any guesses as to who he was?" Miss Jun asked.
"Someone who wishes me dead," Zhu Zan replied, chuckling coldly. "Someone who wants my father to suffer."
Miss Jun looked toward the capital.
"They say living in the capital isn't easy," she mused. "It seems getting into the capital isn't easy either."
........................…
In the capital, inside the government office by Imperial Street, several minor officials ran about with unease, soon gathering into a bustling crowd.
"It's confirmed, definitely confirmed,"
"The news is true."
"It's already been discussed at court."
They murmured urgently among themselves, their hushed voices intermittently breaking into a clamor, filling the previously tranquil office with commotion.
Inside the room, Ning Yunzhao set the document he'd been holding aside and glanced at a colleague seated across from him.
"There's certainly no smoke without fire, and this fire's only growing larger," he said with a slight smile.
**********
With back pain forcing me to bed, only one update for now.
A shout-out to Demon Little Knight, the new Alliance Leader, and thanks to Nan Nan Bamboo and Southern Ice for gifting Ling Jiu.
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(First day of being unable to write—missing it terribly...)