Because of the lack of oxygen, Lu Wenshu"s junior brother"s face was flushed red. Blue veins were bulging on his forehead and he begged for forgiveness with his eyes.
Seeing as his junior disciple was begging for forgiveness, Lu Wenshu knew that he couldn"t take things too far. He slowly lowered his junior disciple and sternly warned him, “Listen up. There are some things you cannot say. Keep that in mind. Don"t think that I"m not allowed to do anything excessive because I"m your senior brother. Taking into account all the help you provided me, I shall spare your life. If you speak out of turn again, your life might just be forfeit.”
“This disciple understands. I won"t do it again. I shall head out immediately to deliver the message, and I will remember to keep my mouth shut.” As soon as he spoke, he disappeared from Lu Wenshu"s sight.
Seeing that his junior brother was gone, Lu Wenshu slumped back into his chair and a complicated expression formed on his face. No one knew what he was thinking of.
Early the next day, the hundred-men captain who was ready to take over the morning s.h.i.+ft entered the tent. He seemed to have knocked something over in his hurry and a note fell onto the ground. Picking up the note, he wondered if he should open it. It didn"t matter if he kept the report away and pretended as though nothing happened. He had to open it and after he read, it was as though he was struck by a bolt of lightning. His soul nearly flew away.
Das.h.i.+ng out of the commander tent, the hundred-men captain rushed towards the tents of the other captains. He dragged each and every one of them into the commander tent in a matter of minutes.
“Pa.s.s this note around. If this is real, I"m afraid things will get really troublesome.”
There were only a few sentences written on the note. “Divine Physician Bai met with an accident while exploring the ruins. She is now blind. In order to take care of her, His Second Highness sneaked into the battlefield from the capital city.”
“I can"t prove the authenticity of the note, but I know that His First Highness definitely didn"t send it. I"m not going to confirm the rumor in the note, but I wish to ask everyone present a question. What are we going to do now? If we don"t clarify things with His First Highness, we won"t feel at ease.”
“Didn"t His First Highness tell us to not believe any reports other than those sent by him? There are definitely people out there trying to disrupt the army"s morale by sending fake reports…”
A solemn atmosphere filled the commander tent the moment the words left his mouth. He was right. Pei Rumo did send a report telling them to be careful of fake reports sent by the enemy. If they were to confront Pei Rumo with the note and find out that he was actually hiding things from the commanders, their master"s lies would be exposed. If the note was actually a fake, they would definitely be lectured by Pei Rumo for not listening to his instructions. Both outcomes would lead to sorry outcomes for the individual bringing the note to Pei Rumo. As such, the tent fell into silence and the atmosphere became tense.
After a long time, someone stood out and said, “Let me go and ask His First Highness about the note…”
Seeing as someone was willing to bite the bullet, everyone raised their heads in shock. They stared wide-eyed at the commander who stood out.
He was precisely one of the commanders who fell sick during their journey to the Desolate Region. He fell ill in the dense fog and Bai Luochu saved his life. Now that everyone was looking at him, he felt a little embarra.s.sed and he said, “Divine Physician Bai saved my life… If His First Highness questions me, I can use the excuse of caring for my benefactor to avoid punishment. I can also use the chance to ask His First Highness about the authenticity of the note. I will have a reason to head over there and I will bear all the responsibility myself. Don"t worry, I will not rat you guys out.”
They felt that what he said was a little unreasonable, especially when he talked about how he would be able to avoid punishment by showing his care of his benefactor. However, his insistence made them rethink their decision to send him over. Seeing that he was adamant about going, all of them nodded their heads. This was the best method they could think of and even if they refused to allow him to head over, they wouldn"t be able to think of a better idea to verify the news.
In the dead of night, a lone soldier brought along enough supplies to last him the journey to the central region and he rushed towards the Pleasant Arrival Inn.
There were currently three people in the inn but none of them felt any premonition for the storm that was coming.
“Luoluo, do you feel like eating anything special today? I"ll get the innkeeper to prepare it.” Pei Qingfeng took the initiative to speak to Bai Luochu.
Raising her head to stare in the general direction of Pei Qingfeng, Bai Luochu complained, “I want to eat something with strong flavor. All we have here are bland tasting foods. They seem so unappetizing…” Bai Luochu didn"t know what came over her. After all, she was fine with all sorts of food before Pei Qingfeng"s arrival. When he finally appeared in front of her again, everything she placed in her mouth seemed to lose their flavor.”
Pei Qingfeng felt a headache coming. Bai Luochu"s request was a little too bold. However, he couldn"t back down now. He could only grind his teeth and promise her, “Alright, I will let the innkeeper know. Hopefully he tries his best and whips up something you like.” After he spoke, he quickly went to look for the disguised Qin Feng.
Bai Luochu was left in her room but she didn"t idle around. Her mind was working on overdrive and according to her calculations, Lu Wenshu would be aware of all their movements in the past few days. He should be taking action any time now. However, he remained eerily quiet. “Strange… Lu Wenshu is becoming more and more unfathomable.”
Pei Rumo was also feeling pretty uncomfortable. He even managed to zone out when speaking to his troops.
“Your Highness! Is something wrong?” His soldiers were extremely shocked as Pei Rumo had never once lost his focus when speaking to them. They became extremely concerned about him.
After being pulled back to reality by his troops, Pei Rumo revealed an apologetic expression as he explained himself, “Sorry. I thought of something and zoned out for a second. Where were we?”
Seeing that there was something off with Pei Rumo, they immediately said, “Your Highness it"s getting late. You should take a rest. We can discuss again tomorrow.”