Chapter 17

Miss Shen then told them about Beidi County, but she didn’t share too much.

It wasn’t that she wanted to hide information, but it was already late when she started speaking. By the time she finished discussing her family troubles and some “court secrets” that outsiders didn’t know, it was dark outside.

They decided to stop the meeting for today. After all, Miss Shen had been locked up for a long time, and it was time for her to rest.

Worried that Miss Shen might mind staying in a man’s room, Ying Yue gave her the room she had used the previous night in the mountain stronghold. Ying Yue then went to the room where Zhao Kuo had stayed.

Since Bai Qi and Zhao Kuo wanted to protect Ying Yue, they would stay next to her room. This meant one of them would be close to Miss Shen. To ease her fears about staying next to a strange man, Ying Yue explained the arrangement.

However, Miss Shen was more open-minded. She smiled at Ying Yue and playfully said, “With you here, what am I afraid of?”

Traveling with a beauty like Ying Yue and having her loyalty spoke volumes about Shen’s character. What could she worry about?

Hearing this, Ying Yue, who took her words literally, smiled back and took Shen to her room.

_

Ying Yue walked ahead with Shen while Bai Qi, Zhao Kuo, and Jia Xu followed silently, keeping their distance.

Suddenly, Zhao Kuo remembered something. He turned to Jia Xu and said, “I wanted to ask you something.” He called his name as a familiar brother would.

Looking at the book in Jia Xu’s hand, he asked, “Where did you get that book, Wen He?” 

Zhao Kuo wondered how there could be books in this bandit hideout that supposedly practiced cannibalism. It sounded ridiculous to him.

Jia Xu calmly replied, “My lord gave it to me.”

“Oh!” Zhao Kuo quickly understood, then said the name that would make Ying Yue want to hide: “Postpartum Care for Sows!” 

The way he said it caught Bai Qi’s attention, making Jia Xu go quiet for a moment.

Jia Xu suddenly felt that Zhao Kuo knew too much.

He acknowledged that the content of that oddly named book was practical and could be promoted later, but he also thought about his desire to secretly get rid of Zhao Kuo.

Jia Xu, with his frail figure and handsome appearance, had these thoughts.

_

Ying Yue, who had average hearing, didn’t catch what Zhao Kuo said and was unaware of the little incident between the three on their way back to the room.

Once they returned, just as Ying Yue was making the bed to lie down, she suddenly remembered something. She sat up, called up the system panel, and opened her second main task.

Seeing the task progress change from 4300 to 5300, she wondered about it and asked the system.

“By the way… System, does the progress of the second main mission require them to want to go home?”

Ying Yue recalled that when the task panel first showed 4300, the man had just left. He likely hadn’t come down the mountain yet, so she was unsure how the system judged the task at that point.

So he called up the task panel to check if the progress bar standard for Task 2 was enough to just keep people in the village or if they needed to feel eager to return home.

After opening the panel and seeing the number 5300, she remembered how, after the man left, Jia Xu joined the village. Now, there was also Miss Shen and Ying Yue, who were rescued from the secret room. Thinking about what Zhao Kuo had said to her—that when in doubt, just ask the system—she decided to ask the system again.

Fortunately, Ying Yue is relatively lucky. From the first time she asked the system a question, she never encountered the second part of Zhao Kuo’s advice—that some questions the system cannot answer, and she has to figure it out on her own.

As always, the system responded to its host’s questions instantly. Since only the girl was around when Ying Yue asked this time, there was no need for the electronic voice to play for her “subordinates,” so the system answered directly in her mind.

[Need to feel at home. Let the people truly identify with the host and have a sense of belonging to the territory under the host’s rule.]

After hearing the system’s answer, Ying Yue noticed that a line of task notes appeared under the task introduction on her task panel.

She looked at the new text and then back at the number 5300 on the panel. After thinking for a moment, she asked the system again:

“Any ‘subordinates’ I draw from the cards will be counted as my territories no matter what, right?”

【yes.】

Then, along with the mechanical sound of the system in her mind, a certain part of the task panel changed again. At this point, the whole line of notes looked like this:

[Mission Note: The mission is considered complete only when the people are loyal to Bianchun Village. Simply bringing people here and keeping them in the Bianchun Mountain area or even in Bianchun Village does not count.

Of course, your subjects will be included no matter what. I hope the host will continue to work hard^_^]

Seeing this newly added note, Ying Yue realized that tasks the system initially did not give notes for did not necessarily have none but needed to be triggered by herself.

It was just like how she triggered the new task due to her real-life conditions.

But if that’s the case, then the 5300 progress on the task panel now refers to her, Bai Qi, Zhao Kuo, Jia Xu, and the man before. Miss Shen and the children currently in the village don’t count.

Then the girl sighed silently, not because of the small number of people or the long time needed to complete the second task, but—

The little girl couldn’t help but think how complicated the system’s hidden rules were. She didn’t know how many she could remember and for how long.

…Ah, it’s all her fault for being so foolish.

After scolding herself, the little girl decided to lie down peacefully for a while. It was getting dark, and if she didn’t sleep, she wouldn’t be able to get up tomorrow, which would hinder her progress.

_

The next day, perhaps because she was still thinking about what happened in Beidi County, Ying Yue woke up unusually early.

However, when she woke up, Bai Qi and Zhao Kuo, who were both martial artists^[1]refer to individuals trained in combat disciplines, emphasizing skill and practice. and used to getting up early, had already been up for some time.

Today, the two of them cooked some hot food.

Seeing Ying Yue come out, Zhao Kuo immediately ran out like a whirlwind. Before the little girl could react and wonder why he ran away when he saw her, he came back with a small bowl in his hand. He opened the lid and said to her, “Look, sister! It’s fish porridge. You don’t have to eat dry food today!”

“Wow!” the girl exclaimed in delight. Looking at the delicious fish porridge, she asked him, “Did you make this, Zhao Kuo?”

The young man raised his head proudly, and just when Ying Yue was ready to praise him, she heard Zhao Kuo say, “I chopped the wood, and I also lit the fire!”

“…Eh?” The girl blinked in confusion. Jia Xu and Miss Shen had not woken up yet, so the girl’s beautiful eyes gradually shifted to Bai Qi, who was sharpening a knife nearby.

She called his name in disbelief, “Bai Qi?”

After all, for a general as powerful as him, who defeated the enemy on the battlefield, it was hard for people to believe he could actually cook.

It is true that Bai Qi had grilled meat in the wild on the way to Yongzhou, but that wasn’t the same as cooking in a kitchen.

“Ah.” Hearing the little girl call him, the brave young man replied, “People in the military know a little about cooking.”

While the two were talking, Zhao Kuo had already put the small bowl on the table and handed Ying Yue a small spoon. She sat down, raised her hand to scoop a spoonful, and tasted it. After just one sip, she was amazed by the flavor of this fish porridge, saying, “It’s delicious!”