Bai Luochu immediately asked Qin Feng to enter. She sat at the table and said to Qin Feng, “You have to tell me everything you remember. This matter is important and there must not be any mistake.”
Qin Feng nodded as he understood the importance of this matter, “That day, after I returned, I went through the faces of the guests in my mind over and over again. I finally recalled that they were discussing a location. I am here to report to Mistress before I forget about it again.”
After speaking, Qin Feng raised his head hesitantly to look at Bai Luochu. After all, he was at fault for not remembering the subject of their discussion. If Bai Luochu wanted to blame him, he couldn"t defend himself. Luckily for him, Bai Luochu simply dismissed the matter. “Just speak. It doesn"t matter if it is useful or not, I will not blame you.”
After obtaining the order, Qin Feng heaved a sigh of relief and reported what he had heard, “Mistress, this subordinate managed to overhear some information and Mistress will need to verify their authenticity.”
After seeing no in Bai Luochu"s expression, Qin Feng mustered his courage and spoke, “This happened during my first day as an innkeeper. I wasn"t paying attention to anything else other than the Field Pearl Flower but those people were clearly on guard against me. When I approached them, they would fall silent and wait for me to leave before resuming their discussion. After trying my best, this subordinate only managed to hear the word "ruins" coming from them. Due to the lack of intelligence, this subordinate didn"t investigate further. They said something about heading ten miles to the east before leaving the inn.”
Bai Luochu finished listening to Qin Feng"s explanation and walked quickly to her writing desk and instructed Qin Feng, “Qin Feng, come over for a moment.”
Qin Feng saw that Bai Luochu was acting mysteriously and he quickly walked over before waiting for further instructions.
“Point out our exact location right now.” Bai Luochu opened up the rolled-up map and asked Qin Feng.
Qin Feng took a careful look and pointed to a location before explaining, “We should be here. However, this is only the general area where the inn is located. After all, This map is rather small and it is impossible for me to map out the exact location of a little inn.”
From the location in the map, Bai Luochu moved her gaze towards the east until she reached a location where the ruins might be located. When her gaze landed on the location, she took a step back. If Qin Feng was right, the location of the ruins was the location of the campaign!
What was the old emperor"s motive?! The more she thought about it, the more confused she became. If the emperor wanted to use this opportunity to kill her, it would be somewhat believable. After all, she was a stumbling block that obstructed the Phoenix King Valley"s marriage alliance. If she were to die during the campaign, he would be able to use her father as an example to find a reason to explain her death. In the end, everyone in her family died a hero and the emperor would simply gloss over the entire episode.
The only question Bai Luochu had was that Pei Rumo was sent on the campaign with her. Could it be that the old emperor sent his eldest son because he used to be a military commander? There were plenty of generals in the imperial court and no matter what, Pei Rumo shouldn"t be sent to throw his life away. The more she thought about it, the more confused Bai Luochu became.
Is there internal conflict in the imperial clan?! Bai Luochu didn"t dare to continue her train of thoughts and she quickly closed the map. Rather than entertaining random thoughts, she felt that she should simply ask Pei Rumo for an answer.
Qin Feng noticed that his mistress" mood changed and his heartbeat started to accelerate. Looking at her solemn expression, Qin Feng thought to himself. Is there something wrong with my report?!
“Mistress, did this subordinate report this matter too late?” Qin Feng hurriedly placed the blame on himself. He felt that if he reported his findings earlier, Bai Luochu wouldn"t be stuck at the same place for such a long time. Neither would she have ran all over the place like a headless fly.
Bai Luochu quickly consoled him, “You"re not the one at fault here. You were originally sent to help with the investigation of the Field Pearl Flower. Even though you didn"t manage to get any leads on it, you managed to obtain crucial information for the campaign instead. You shall be rewarded after we return.”
Qin Feng knew that Bai Luochu was trying to make him feel better but the more she tried, the more guilty he felt.
Seeing that it was getting late, Bai Luochu dismissed Qin Feng.
After Qin Feng was dismissed, Bai Luochu stood at the writing desk for a long time before letting out a long sigh. She turned around and decided to head to bed.
The next morning, after Bai Luochu and Pei Rumo finished breakfast, they prepared to leave. However, Bai Luochu raised a request and it was to swap the direction of investigation. She wanted to explore more to the eastern part of the inn in order to verify Qin Feng"s intelligence report.
“After not gaining any results for the past few days, a swap won"t hurt.”
Even though Pei Rumo didn"t understand the reason behind Bai Luochu"s insistence to change their direction of investigation, he agreed. Before they departed, Bai Luochu suddenly dropped a bomb on Pei Rumo.
“Your First Highness, are there any misunderstandings between you and your Emperor Father?”
Bai Luochu knew that it was rather abrupt and strange for her to ask such a question. However, curiosity was killing her and she felt that if she didn"t get to the bottom of the matter, she wouldn"t be satisfied.
Pei Rumo"s eyes widened and his mind started to spin. What in the world got into her?! He felt that Bai Luochu had been acting a little strange since the morning but he brushed it off. He replied truthfully, “No, why would you ask?”
Hearing his reply, Bai Luochu shook her head and walked away.
Pei Rumo watched as Bai Luochu left and mumbled softly, “What?!?!?” Unable to understand her train of thought, Pei Rumo turned to leave.
None of them knew that they were about to run face-first into a lot of trouble...