Feng Shuo narrowed his sharp phoenix eyes, looking at Xing Yao.

Xing Yao clasped his hands in greeting and said, “The Turks attacked Dingjia Village this afternoon.”

Chi Qing was taken aback, and Feng Shuo’s expression immediately turned grim.

How could the Turks suddenly strike in broad daylight?

He asked, “Were there any survivors from Dingjia Village?”

Xing Yao replied, “Not a single person was harmed.”

Upon hearing this, both Feng Shuo and Chi Qing were stunned.

When the Turks attacked a village, it was inevitable that there would be burning, killing, and looting—massacres were not out of the question.

How could there be no casualties unless the villagers had moved away in advance?

Chi Qing quickly urged Xing Yao, “You tight-lipped fool, don’t leave us hanging! Where are the people from Dingjia Village now?”

Only then did Xing Yao realize that he had been cryptic and hurriedly said, “More than three hundred people from Dingjia Village are outside of Xizhou City. Scholar Lu’s son was passing through Dingjia Village, noticed something unusual, and led the entire village to flee, which allowed them to escape a calamity.”

A trace of surprise flashed in Feng Shuo’s eyes as he asked, “Is it Lu Linyuan?”

Xing Yao answered, “Exactly. Young Master Lu is currently outside the Xizhou camp. Would your lord like to see him?”

“The Lu father and son are quite interesting; I’m afraid of getting involved with them, yet the young man takes the initiative to come forward.” A playful glint appeared in Feng Shuo’s eyes. “Bring him here.”

Xing Yao bowed and exited the main tent.

Chi Qing said, “Young Master Lu’s actions seem like he wants to use the lives of three hundred people from Dingjia Village as a token to enter your service.”

Upon hearing this, Feng Shuo looked at the map showing the capital’s location, his narrow phoenix eyes gleaming with a cold light.

The sunset’s afterglow filtered through the half-drawn tent curtain, casting light on his jade-like face, but showing no warmth: “Has there been any news from the Lu family in the capital?”

Chi Qing seemed to recall something amusing and said, “Scholar Lu publicly criticized the new emperor in court for indulging in women, failing to distinguish between loyalty and treachery, treating the lives of his ministers like a joke, and even crashed into a pillar in the Golden Luan Hall to offer his life as a warning.

This enraged the new emperor. Although Scholar Lu was rescued, he has completely lost the emperor’s favor and is now punished with half a year’s salary, confined to his home for reflection.”

“There are rumors in the capital that Young Master Lu was originally childhood sweethearts with a concubine’s daughter from the Jiang family.

Unfortunately, due to the difference between legitimate and illegitimate children, he was forced by his mother to become engaged to the legitimate daughter of the Jiang family.

Later, the concubine’s daughter entered the palace, and the new emperor still harbored feelings for their old relationship, so Young Master Lu was suddenly demoted to Xizhou, which likely has something to do with this.”

Feng Shuo’s gaze deepened as he muttered, “No wonder.”

Scholar Lu was a loyal minister, but he was too rigid and too straightforward.

He scolded the new emperor in the Golden Luan Hall, clearly not to defend his son, but because he couldn’t bear to see the new emperor so rashly execute his ministers for a woman.

But the new emperor was obstinate, and the result was counterproductive.

The rift between these two was even faster than Feng Shuo had anticipated.

Chi Qing said quietly, “I suspect you foresaw this day. Your petition against Fan Wei was like adding fuel to the fire; the new emperor is now in deep trouble. Fan Wei’s son forcibly abducted a common girl, provoking widespread anger. If the new emperor does not punish him, he will surely lose the people’s trust.”

Fan Wei had abused his power for many years.

After the new emperor ascended the throne, he was even more favored, and ordinary officials tried their best to avoid him.

Even if one had a conflict with the Fan family, they would have to swallow their grievances.

Fan Wei’s youngest son, Fan Shengnian, relied on his father’s power, and with his eldest sister being a consort, he bullied others mercilessly and committed all kinds of atrocities.

The most outrageous incident occurred on the eve of the marriage of the magistrate’s daughter, when she went to Ruyi Fang to buy hairpins and was encountered by Fan Shengnian, who took advantage of her and assaulted her in the shop.

After returning home, the magistrate’s daughter hanged herself with a white silk ribbon.

The magistrate cried and reported this to the emperor, but Fan Shengnian was only punished with three days of confinement.

Disappointed, the magistrate resigned and returned home, only to be pursued and killed by Fan Shengnian on the way.

The Fan family was a vicious dog raised by the new emperor, and the only one capable of confronting them was Feng Shuo, a wild wolf.

Once Feng Shuo submitted his petition for impeachment, he didn’t even need to send people to stir up public sentiment.

The court officials, who had grievances against the Fan family but dared not speak out, each found their own ways to express their anger.

Some bribed storytellers in teahouses, others had neighborhood children sing rhymes exposing the Fan family’s crimes, and some even gathered complaints from the people…

All wanted to take this opportunity to see the Fan family fall.

Listening to Chi Qing’s words, Feng Shuo’s eyes were cold: “Keeping a dog without a leash is the consequence that the little emperor has brought upon himself.”

He changed the subject, saying solemnly, “Investigate carefully the people who stayed at the camp last night.”

Chi Qing understood the implication behind his words.

Last night, a cook had informed them that Dingjia Village was not peaceful.

They had sent scouts to investigate, and they did indeed find traces of the Turks.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Turks were likely to attack the village tonight, as the dead of night was the best time for such an operation.

However, the Turks daringly attacked the village in broad daylight clearly indicated that they had learned of the village’s increased defenses and had no choice but to act early.

There must have been spies passing information to the Turks, and those spies were also at the camp last night.

After hesitating for a moment, Chi Qing asked, “Should we reward that cook…?”

Looking back now, the kitchen maid was certainly not an undercover agent; otherwise, she wouldn’t have revealed such important information to them.

Feng Shuo casually uttered one word: “Reward.”

---

Tonight was the last time the camp prostitutes would assist in the kitchen at the fire camp.

Once the household registration documents were issued tomorrow, these women, originally from good families, could leave the military camp, and it was said that each would receive a travel allowance of five taels of silver.

The camp prostitutes were all grateful to this general, and Jiang Yanyi felt more and more that the general was simply compassionate.

She learned that those with a criminal record could also be sold, and she had already secretly resolved to buy Qiu Kui.

However, Qiu Kui’s criminal record could not be erased unless she could achieve a significant feat and receive a grace.

But unlike the soldiers in the military, where could they gain such merit?

Jiang Yanyi felt regretful but was helpless.

She also changed into a thick autumn outfit before heading to the fire camp.

Seeing the cloak she had wrapped in cloth and placed in the corner of her bed, Jiang Yanyi sighed, “I should return this to the person, but they don’t want it. It’s just taking up space here.”

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that this cloak belonged to the military strategist, who probably disliked it and didn’t want it anymore.

Qiu Kui had been staring at the embroidery on her skirt, but upon hearing Jiang Yanyi’s words, she tilted her head and said, “Maybe they saw you wearing thin clothes before and were worried you’d be cold, so they deliberately left it for you.”

Jiang Yanyi was slightly taken aback.

Could that quirky military strategist really be so kind?

She quickly shook her head like a rattle drum.

No way, no way.

If it were the benevolent and kind-hearted general, she might believe it.

After getting ready, Jiang Yanyi took two cakes of tea and headed to the fire camp with Qiu Kui.

When Chef Li accepted the tea, he remarked, “It’s good for you to leave here. I heard from Old Zhao that you want to open a restaurant yourself?”

Jiang Yanyi nodded with a smile.

Chef Li smiled back, “Opening a restaurant is good; you need a goal in life.”

He pushed a teacup toward Jiang Yanyi, saying, “Your father is quite fortunate to have a daughter like you. His skills have surely been passed down. At my age, it’s hard to find a solid and insightful apprentice. I know your cooking skills are good, but having been in the kitchen for decades, I still have a thing or two to teach you. If you’re willing, could you pour me a cup of tea?”

This was his way of asking if Jiang Yanyi wanted to pay her respects and become his apprentice.

Even in the military, there are days off.

When Jiang Yanyi opens a restaurant in Xizhou City, on his days off, he could teach her a few dishes.

Jiang Yanyi had a solid foundation, and she wouldn’t need to be guided like a complete novice.

Having spent his whole life in the kitchen and having no sons or daughters, the apprentice he once took was ungrateful.

After everything that had happened, he feared that if he closed his eyes one day, all his skills would be buried with him, with no legacy to pass on.

Jiang Yanyi naturally understood that Chef Li was being modest.

Being the head chef in the fire camp for decades, he certainly had his exceptional qualities and knew many dishes.

In the culinary field, even in her original world, most skills have been passed down through the master-apprentice relationship for thousands of years.

When she was in the fire camp, Chef Li had supported her a lot and taught her many cooking techniques.

Jiang Yanyi poured a cup of tea and respectfully offered it to Chef Li, saying, “Master.”

Chef Li responded with a “hey,” and for a moment, his eyes felt a bit misty.

He took the tea Jiang Yanyi offered and, after taking a sip, put down the teacup and said, “Let’s go, to the stove. Today, Master will show you a trick.”

Earlier, a flag officer had come to deliver the message that the general would be entertaining guests tonight, so the dishes for the guests couldn’t be mediocre.

Chef Li was going to personally make “Braised Fish Maw with Hibiscus.”

This dish was delicate and could only be seen at banquets in noble households.

The main ingredient was fish maw, and Jiang Yanyi didn’t know much about cooking high-end ingredients like “abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw, and belly,” because in her previous life, she didn’t have the money to waste on such luxury items.

Jiang Yanyi studied earnestly, and Chef Li explained meticulously, pointing at the rehydrated fish maw, saying, “Not all fish maw can be called ‘fish maw.’ Only those that are rehydrated whole like this can be called fish maw. If it’s broken apart like those rice noodles, it’s called shredded maw, which is a lower quality. You need to be sharp-eyed when buying maw.”

Jiang Yanyi nodded like a little chick pecking at rice.

In “Braised Fish Maw,” the “hibiscus” refers to chicken.

Following Chef Li’s instructions, Jiang Yanyi cleaned the chicken, chopped it finely, crushed the ginger and garlic into juice, and mixed it into the chicken paste.

She added fresh milk, cracked an egg to use only the egg white, added salt, and a bit of water starch, finally stirring it in one direction with chopsticks.

Seeing that she didn’t make a single mistake in every step, Chef Li nodded in satisfaction, saying, “If you want to make good chicken paste, all the effort is in this step.”

Jiang Yanyi nodded and continued stirring until her hands nearly cramped.

Finally, the chicken paste was ready, and she couldn’t help but reminisce about modern egg beaters.

She would need to find a way to make one herself soon.

Once the raw materials were nearly processed, Chef Li placed the rehydrated fish maw into a steaming basket that had already started to produce steam, then heated up another pot and added oil. “The chicken paste must be stir-fried over low heat. The oil temperature when added must not be high, or it will taste dry and won’t be right.”

Jiang Yanyi nodded like a little chick pecking at rice.

Since Chef Li was teaching Jiang Yanyi his signature dish, everyone else had stepped aside.