“What’s going on?”

“They might be sending us away, though I don’t know where to.”

The women, who rarely went outside, quickly tied up their clothes and barely managed to make themselves presentable before slowly filing out of the barracks.

Jiang Yanyi was relieved to find that only her outer robe had been torn; her inner and undergarments were still intact.

She followed the group out of the tent, covertly observing her surroundings, gauging the possibility of an escape.

It was late autumn, and the air here was bitterly cold and dry.

Their barracks stood at the edge of the military camp.

In front of them stretched countless military tents, densely packed together, almost dizzying to look at.

Soldiers patrolled the camp, and the security was extremely tight.

In the distance, on a small sandy hill, the yellowed leaves of poplar trees were falling in swirling motions with the wind.

So, it really was beyond the frontier.

Jiang Yanyi could only think of one word to describe this place: desolate.

Outside the camp, a new troop was stationed.

They were all clad in dark iron armor, like a swarm of black ants pouring through the camp entrance.

On the fluttering banners, the character “Feng” in red on a black background sent a chill through her entire body.

“Feng” was the surname of the royal family.

Could it be that the male lead had come to the frontier?

The thought sent a wave of cold sweat down her back.

Given the male lead’s obsessive and possessive nature in the original story, if he found out she was still alive in the camp, he might very well order his soldiers to drag her over and watch her be humiliated to death by the entire army.

She quickly recalled the plot of the original novel.

In it, her character, the villainess, had only recently died, and the male lead should still be busy pursuing the female lead.

Though the male lead had possessed the female lead’s body, her heart remained with the second male lead, Lu Linyuan.

Once, when the female lead fainted from the male lead’s torment, she had called out Lu Linyuan’s name.

Enraged by jealousy, the male lead banished Lu Linyuan to the frontier.

The female lead, blaming herself for Lu Linyuan’s fate, wept constantly and grew even colder toward the male lead.

The male lead, feeling wounded in his pride, spitefully told the female lead he wasn’t so infatuated with her as she might think.

He then went to the Empress for comfort, unexpectedly getting her pregnant.

When the female lead found out about the Empress’s pregnancy, she cried her heart out, finally realizing that she had already developed feelings for the male lead.

Determined to break off this ill-fated relationship, she confided in her father, Minister Jiang, who helped her fake her death and flee the palace.

She headed to the frontier to find the second male lead, planning to spend the rest of her life with him.

Naturally, the male lead was enraged and immediately set off for the frontier to reclaim her…

According to the plot, Jiang Yanyi thought it should still be some time before the male lead arrived at the frontier.

Was it possible that some unforeseen event had hastened his arrival?

Or was someone else flying the banner with the character “Feng”?

The small captain who had called them out also seemed nervous at the sight of the army.

After counting heads, he shouted, “Move along, move along!”

He led the way, with his soldiers at the back, escorting them closely.

With this setup, there was no way to escape.

Even turning her head to glance somewhere else would be noticed by the soldiers trailing behind.

The women in the group grew increasingly anxious upon seeing the army settling in at the camp.

Even Chunxiang, who had been there the longest, looked a bit pale.

Someone whispered to her, “Sister Chunxiang, where are they taking us?”

Chunxiang sneered, “With so many new soldiers, and them taking us to the camp, what do you think we’re there for?”

The faces of the women who overheard her words turned pale.

The camp’s current number of military prostitutes was fewer than a hundred.

If they were sent to entertain the army, with so many wolves and so little meat, would they even survive until tomorrow?

As the small leader led them further into the camp, it truly seemed as if Chunxiang’s grim prediction would come true—delivering them to the new soldiers for their amusement.

Some women had already begun quietly sobbing, while those who had been in the camp longer wore expressions of numb resignation.

One quick-witted girl tried to escape by claiming she needed to relieve herself, but the small leader dismissed her with a curt, “Hold it.”

It seemed the small leader was well aware of their tricks to escape.

Jiang Yanyi’s heart pounded heavily in her chest.

Outside the Western Border Camp.

The autumn sun wasn’t harsh, and standing before the army was a man on horseback.

The pitch-black warhorse beneath him was taller than an average steed and pawed impatiently at the ground, snorting defiantly.

In front of the horse, soldiers clad in black armor marched in neat formation, streaming into the Western Border Camp.

The man on the horse had a tall and imposing figure, clad in heavy armor forged from black iron, with a fearsome tiger head on his shoulder armor baring its teeth, exuding an aura that could make children cry in fear.

He raised his hand, encased in a black iron gauntlet, and stroked his restless horse, which immediately calmed down under his touch.

As the autumn wind picked up, a few strands of his loosely tied hair fell across his face, adding a wild touch to the visage that had once captured the hearts of countless noblewomen in the capital.

A guard rode in swiftly from a distance. Upon reaching him, the guard quickly dismounted and knelt on one knee. “Master, news from the capital—Scholar Lu’s legitimate son has been demoted to the Western Border.”

Feng Shuo let out a soft scoff, turning his head slightly.

The sunlight illuminated his handsome profile, but his eyes were filled with cold detachment. “Three days ago, they sent the Jiang family’s legitimate daughter here as a camp prostitute. Now they’ve demoted the Lu family’s legitimate son as well. What’s that young emperor plotting?”

Only Feng Shuo would dare speak of the emperor this way.

The personal guards remained silent, knowing full well that with their master newly assigned to the Western Border Camp, the brutal death of Minister Jiang’s legitimate daughter would undoubtedly provide the civil officials with ample ammunition to attack him in the future.

A flock of wild geese flew across the sky, their cries trailing mournfully behind them.

Feng Shuo picked up the large bow hanging on the side of his horse, nocked a black-feathered arrow, and drew it to full tension, his narrow, phoenix-like eyes narrowing slightly.

Whiz!

The sharp arrow flew through the air, and one goose fell from the sky, sending the others into a panicked frenzy, squawking as they scattered.

Feng Shuo tossed the bow to a guard beside him, his tone bored as he muttered, “Noisy.”

The guard spoke up, “The military doctor checked on the Jiang family’s daughter yesterday. It seems she won’t make it through.”

Her dying in the camp was indeed a nuisance.

Feng Shuo frowned slightly. “Any word from the Jiang family?”

“Word from the capital is that Minister Jiang’s legitimate daughter died suddenly and has already been buried. Madam Jiang, devastated by the loss, has gone mad, and the Jiang family’s young son broke his leg while attending his sister’s funeral.”

A trace of mockery flickered through Feng Shuo’s eyes.

It appeared Minister Jiang had completely disowned his daughter.

Still, with the mother driven mad and the son crippled, it was somewhat intriguing.

He let out a brief, disdainful laugh, and in a rare display of mercy, said, “When the Jiang family’s legitimate daughter is buried, provide her with a coffin.”

In life, her family refused to acknowledge her.

In death, without even a coffin, she’d become a wandering ghost.

For a woman from such a prestigious family, it was a pitiful fate.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yanyi, still following the group like a quail, had no idea she had just been granted the gift of a coffin.

The small captain led them through winding paths into a smoky barrack, where the open area outside was piled high with countless fruits and vegetables.

Some unarmored soldiers were busily washing the produce with deft hands and feet.

The captain stepped inside the barrack and shouted, “Old Li, I’ve brought you some help!”

Help… help in the kitchen???

Jiang Yanyi and all the other girls who had come along were stunned for a moment before bursting with joy.

They were much happier to be helping in the kitchen than being rewarded to the soldiers to suffer a fate worse than death.

Only Chunxiang looked a bit awkward; she had previously insisted they would be offered to the soldiers, and now they were here to work in the kitchen instead.

After the captain’s shout, an old soldier appeared from within the barrack, wearing a coarse cloth apron and holding a large ladle.

“Brother, you’ve really done me a huge favor. The general has brought his hundred thousand troops, and I’ve barely enough ingredients for tonight’s meal,” the old soldier said. “But I’m short on hands.”

General?

Jiang Yanyi raised an eyebrow, relieved that it wasn’t the male lead.

However, since there was no mention of this general in the original story, he must be just a minor character.

“Not a problem! Use these people first. If you still need more hands, I can send over some more from the camp,” the small captain replied after exchanging pleasantries with the old soldier before leaving with his group.

The cook, Old Li, needed to get back to the stove, so he didn’t have time to assign tasks to Jiang Yanyi and the others individually.

Instead, he called over his apprentice. “Liu Cheng, divide the work among them. Two hundred thousand soldiers are waiting to be fed! If the dishes don’t get out in time, our heads will be on the line!”

“Got it!” Liu Cheng replied eagerly.

He was tall and robust, looking even sturdier than the soldiers in other camps, but his gaze was a bit unfocused, clearly someone with many ideas.

As he looked at them one by one, he assigned the easier tasks to the women who were more attractive and said sweet things.

Chunxiang clearly knew Liu Cheng, and after exchanging flirtatious glances, she was called to go inside the barrack to tend the fire.

Tending the fire was the easiest job; it simply required sitting on a low stool behind the stove, adding firewood as needed to keep the flames from dying out.

The rest of the women, who were of average appearance, were assigned to wash and cut vegetables.

While it didn’t seem too labor-intensive at first, they had to prepare dishes for two hundred thousand soldiers, which meant they would be busy until their hands and necks ached.

Jiang Yanyi stood at the back of the group. When Liu Cheng got to her, his gaze lingered on her for several moments; her figure was striking, making her stand out at a glance.

However, Jiang Yanyi kept her head lowered.

Chunxiang quickly noticed Liu Cheng’s interest in Jiang Yanyi and coughed a couple of times, casting him a meaningful look.

After glancing back at Chunxiang, Liu Cheng turned to Jiang Yanyi’s group and said, “You can peel the taro.”

Taro was dug up from the ground and covered in a lot of dirt, making this the dirtiest and most laborious job.

Chunxiang, satisfied with herself, shot a disdainful glance at Jiang Yanyi before leaving.

In response, Jiang Yanyi didn’t hold back and rolled her eyes, causing Chunxiang to flush with anger.

Jiang Yanyi couldn’t understand what Chunxiang was so smug about—they were all prisoners, after all.

She wasn’t picky about the work assigned to her.

Without a peeler, she had to clumsily peel the taro with a knife, but she saw this as an advantage.

It gave her a chance to get used to handling a blade again.

Knife skills were a basic requirement for a chef.

In her previous life, Jiang Yanyi had started practicing her knife work as soon as she could hold a cleaver.

Now, this new body she inhabited was soft and pampered, with pale, delicate hands that had never seen hard labor.

She wasn’t used to handling a knife, but after peeling ten or so taros, the muscle memory started to come back, and she grew faster and more precise.

The other women assigned to peel taros blamed Jiang Yanyi for being stuck with such a tiresome task.

Seeing how quickly she worked, they began piling more taros in front of her, pretending as if they weren’t doing anything wrong and continuing to chat idly.

“Sister Chunxiang sure is popular,” one of them remarked.

“Well, she’s pretty. If you looked like her, maybe you’d be sitting by the fire too,” another woman added.

As the conversation turned to appearances, they couldn’t help but glance over at Jiang Yanyi.

She was stunning—an oval face the size of a palm, with expressive eyes like pools of autumn water, bright lips, and pearly white teeth.

Even in her frail, sickly state, she exuded a delicate charm that made her impossible to ignore.

One of the women noticed that Jiang Yanyi’s basket of taros was nearly full, while theirs only had a thin layer at the bottom.

Afraid of being scolded when someone came to collect the peeled taros, she reached out to grab Jiang Yanyi’s basket, her tone hostile as she said, “Hurry up! These are all yours! If you hadn’t gone against Sister Chunxiang, we wouldn’t be stuck here!”

Just as her hand was about to touch the basket, Jiang Yanyi suddenly tossed her knife downward.

It landed with a thud, embedding itself in one of the taros, missing the woman’s hand by a hair’s breadth.

The woman broke out in a cold sweat.

Jiang Yanyi raised her bright, clear eyes and looked at her calmly, her voice soft but dangerous. “Go ahead, try taking one.”