"What spy?!" The delicate figure thrown to the ground immediately got up and loudly retorted, "You’re the spy, your whole family are spies!"
Upon hearing this voice, Yan Wanqing felt a twitch at her temple.
As expected, when the figure turned around, it confirmed her guess.
"Princess Anping, or should I call you Commander Yan now?" The figure surveyed the surroundings and confidently asked, "Where is the seventh prince? How come I haven’t seen him all along the way?"
Yan Wanqing sized up the dark-skinned Li Chengyuan, who was dressed in cumbersome armor, and raised her eyebrows in surprise, "What are you doing here?"
She had thought that at most, this person would be with the infantry trailing behind, but she didn’t expect Li Chengyuan to have the skill to follow her all the way here.
It was truly unexpected.
"Chief Constable Chang, go and count the numbers to see whose place she has taken." Yan Wanqing waved her hand, and Chief Constable Chang immediately went to recount.
Seeing this, Li Chengyuan scoffed and said, "I asked you a question, where has the seventh prince gone?"
"Since you have been following all along, don’t you know that during the journey, in pursuit of comfort, the seventh prince left the troop to arrange a carriage?" Yan Wanqing said with a mocking smile.
Li Chengyuan had no idea about these details.
After daily horseback rides, she was as tired as a dog.
She could even feel the jostling of horseback riding while sleeping, let alone having the chance to ride up to the front with thousands in the troop. Moreover, worried about being sent back by the seventh prince, she deliberately avoided him, so she really didn’t know these things.
Upon hearing the news that the seventh prince had not yet arrived, Li Chengyuan frowned tightly.
"As the commander-in-chief, you actually let the seventh prince leave alone. Aren’t you worried that something might happen to him? If something goes wrong, can you bear the responsibility?! His Majesty will not let you off by then."
Just as well, Yan Wanqing had no intention of letting him off either.
At that moment, under the gaze of all, an idea came to her.
She slowly turned to look at Li Chengyuan and suddenly said, "I have already assigned five hundred cavalry to personally protect the seventh prince, naturally he won’t encounter even the slightest issue. But now, why are you here?"
"Me?" Li Chengyuan’s rage extinguished in an instant because her act of leaving without orders was a severe crime. Just tonight, she had sneakily wanted to check where the seventh prince was, so she ventured out for a look, only to be captured and brought here.
She felt very resentful towards the person who captured her.
"Princess Yaochi, you better explain clearly, or I can only treat you as a spy." Yan Wanqing spoke with a heavy voice.
Li Chengyuan’s face turned embarrassed, and she quickly reined in her arrogance.
"This princess, I was just..."
Before she could finish, she heard the soldiers who were originally half-asleep suddenly open their eyes.
"Princess Yaochi...a woman?!"
"What, there’s a woman?! Where is she?"
These men, who had been in the military camp for months on end, had no chance of seeing any women. Hearing that there was a woman on the march, they all became excited, and in a short while, hundreds of soldiers gathered in the Mountain God Temple.
If it weren’t for the raging storm outside, the doorway would likely be crammed with people as well.
But everyone looking at the small and dark figure of Li Chengyuan was astonished.
"Isn’t Princess Yaochi known as the number one talented woman of the Capital City? They say she’s as beautiful as a heavenly fairy, so how come she looks like a little charcoal ball?"
"Don’t you understand disguises and attire? The most important thing in a woman is her figure, her grace."
"She’s too thin for me; I like them plump..."
The talk became more and more indecent, a cacophony that made Li Chengyuan’s face increasingly uncomfortable.
Yan Wanqing, hearing the noise growing louder, coughed once.
Instantly, the Mountain God Temple fell silent.
No one dared to discuss further.
"Princess Yaochi, please continue," said Yan Wanqing, courteously gesturing with her hand.
Li Chengyuan’s face grew even more displeased.
Clearly, Yan Wanqing wanted to see her make a fool of herself, otherwise why would she tolerate the soldiers scrutinizing her !
It was simply outrageous!
Just now, in that instant, being stared at by so many men, she truly felt her skin crawl.
Li Chengyuan blamed all of this on Yan Wanqing and glared at her with fiery eyes as she spoke.
"If the county princess claims she was merely out for pleasure, passing by coincidentally, would Marshal Yan believe her?"
Yan Wanqing let out a cold laugh, "The county princess seems to be intent on creating trouble without reason."
"Anyway, the county princess is here to find Prince Seven, and since His Highness is not here at the moment, then the county princess can only trouble you for a few more days, by staying here to wait for Prince Seven," Li Chengyuan said, defiantly, like a pig unafraid of scalding water.
She had already cast aside her beautiful dream of hiding among the military to seize an opportunity to astonish everyone.
Now, she only wished to take advantage of the privileges of her status, shamelessly sticking around here.
Yan Wanqing was both angered and amused by her brazen shamelessness.
"It is quite inconvenient for a woman to be in the military camp, Princess Yaochi shouldn’t make things difficult for me," said Yan Wanqing.
"What are you saying, Marshal Yan? Aren’t you a woman yourself? If you can, why can’t the county princess?! What sort of reasoning is that!" protested Li Chengyuan defiantly.
Chang, the thousand-household officer who was standing by, could no longer bear listening, "Marshal Yan is the Great Marshal personally appointed by the Emperor, which is different from the county princess."
"Oh? So Marshal Yan isn’t a woman?" Li Chengyuan turned to the man who spoke, who wasn’t bad-looking, and her tone softened slightly, although she showed no intention of backing down, especially since this man was speaking up for Yan Wanqing.
Chang’s face turned beet red; he had heard that Princess Yaochi was eloquently articulate and understood reason, but what he saw today was a woman completely shameless.
The rumors misled him!
Chang decided that tonight he would find a deserted place to burn the portrait of Princess Yaochi, which he had purchased from a peddler for a piece of silver.
"This is utterly ridiculous!" Chang, filled with righteous indignation, said, "I will have someone escort Princess Yaochi back right now."
"How audacious! The county princess will not leave!" As soon as Li Chengyuan heard that they planned to send her back, her face turned cold, and she sternly said to Yan Wanqing, "If you dare to send the county princess back, she will certainly complain to the Emperor about you once she returns!"
Yan Wanqing remained silent, her face stern, while Chang, who stood beside her, was taken aback by the sheer brazenness of the woman before him.
"The county princess joining the army on her own initiative is a matter that will already bring blame upon Marshal Yan by the Emperor, and yet for your personal gain, you now intend to lodge a complaint against Marshal Yan before the Emperor, which is utterly unheard of."
"The county princess is speaking to your master; is it your place to bark here like a dog?" Li Chengyuan couldn’t stand criticism from anyone.
Upon hearing her words, a flicker of murderous intent passed through Yan Wanqing’s eyes.
Nothing else mattered, but Yan Wanqing was somewhat protective of her own.
No matter who Chang was, he was her person, her soldier.
It wasn’t up to Li Chengyuan to point fingers here.
Li Chengyuan thought she had seen cowardice in Yan Wanqing and snorted with a sense of triumph, "Anyway, the county princess won’t leave. I am here to wait for Prince Seven, and if you forcibly send the county princess away now, with this long journey and the violent wind outside, a storm could roll in at any moment, and if the county princess encounters any mishap, then it will truly be Marshal Yan’s fault."
This implied that if Yan Wanqing tried to send her away, she would cause as much trouble as she could on the road.
Naturally, Yan Wanqing understood this.
At this moment, Chang rolled up his sleeves, ready to step forward, but then he heard Yan Wanqing say, "Send a few people to communicate with the villagers and arrange a place for Princess Yaochi to stay tonight."
Chang pursed his lips, gave Li Chengyuan a fierce look, and then went out with several men.
Seeing this, Li Chengyuan became even more smug; she waved her fist triumphantly at Chang’s retreating back.
"He’s nothing but a dog; he must do whatever his master orders, no need for all that nonsense."
Yan Wanqing listened to her words, her gaze falling onto that slender neck.
Li Chengyuan felt a chill on her neck and shrank it in; she turned her head to look at Yan Wanqing.
"You’d better assign more people to me tonight. If the county princess encounters any accidents, it’s you who will be unable to walk away unscathed."
She hadn’t had a proper rest for over a month.
No matter what, she would have a good night’s sleep tonight.