Chapter 50 She is very clingy

Longwu Camp

Ling Zhao wore a dark, narrow-sleeved robe patterned with subtle gold threads, cinched at the waist with a leather belt. His shoulders were broad and his back wide, yet his waist was slender and strong. He was walking slowly down the high steps of the reviewing platform, looking at the man below, and said with an indifferent tone, "What are you doing here?"

"Here to show my support for you," Yan Jing said, snapping his folding fan shut. His peach-blossom eyes curved in a playful smile. "The imperial court is conscripting soldiers today, and since I am on leave, I came to join the lively scene."

"You—" Ling Zhao drew out the syllable, walking right up to him. With a meaningful look, he said, "As it happens, I have a vacancy here that suits you rather well."

"You heartless little scoundrel, why didn't you say so earlier? I am already quite tired of serving as the Top Scholar." Yan Jing looked intrigued. "As long as it's not camp cook, anything is fine."

Ling Zhao cast a sidelong glance at him and said coldly, "Male courtesan."

Yan Jing was just about to counter when he noticed a medium-height, handsome young military officer approaching from afar. He quickly adjusted his robes, resuming an air of refined and dashing elegance.

Deputy General Zhao cupped his fists and reported, "General, Lord Yan, the person has arrived."

Ling Zhao nodded. "Send a padded sedan chair to escort her."

Deputy General Zhao's expression shifted, looking somewhat troubled. "Ge—General..."

Ling Zhao knitted his brows. "What is it?"

"Reporting to the General, young officer Suifeng said... said she requests that you go and escort her in person."

Yan Jing couldn't help but look at Ling Zhao with undisguised contempt. "I know you've been busy with the conscription lately and have to sleep at the barracks, but it's nearly nightfall. Why did you bring her here? Aren't you afraid something might happen?"

He had never seen Ling Zhao act so attached to a woman before; the man was always cold and aloof to everyone. At one point, Yan Jing had even suspected Ling Zhao of harboring a preference for men, causing him to break out in a cold sweat for the strapping young lads in the barracks.

Yet ever since Xiao Ming arrived at the Ling residence, Ling Zhao seemed like a completely different person, prizing her life above his own. Keeping her safe at the estate wasn't enough; now he even carried her around with him wherever he went?

As if a full-grown person could simply vanish into thin air!

Ling Zhao, however, replied calmly, "She insisted on coming to take a look herself. What else could I do?"

Yan Jing paused, unable to resist a sarcastic jibe. "Really? I don't believe it."

On the night of that burning fever, when he pried Xiao Ming's hand away from Ling Zhao's grip, she had bolted like a gust of wind, vanishing in a flash—anyone would have thought she was being chased by a ghost.

Ling Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone leisurely. "My back wound has not yet healed, and she is terrified that I might die at any moment. She has been beside herself with worry, unable to sleep properly for days, and insists on changing my medicine for me herself."

Yan Jing froze, momentarily at a loss for words.

Ling Zhao turned his head to look at Deputy General Zhao, the corners of his lips curling into a faint smile, his voice so tender it practically dripped with affection. "She is terribly clingy, and I truly have no way with her."

Seeing this gentle expression on Ling Zhao's face out of the blue, Deputy General Zhao felt a chill run down his spine. He swallowed hard and said, "Con—Congratulations, General. This subordinate will take his leave."

Walking three zhang away, he still turned back to look at Ling Zhao, frowning slightly as he silently wondered: Is the General's woman really that... creature at the camp gates?

Yan Jing walked with Ling Zhao to the entrance of the military camp. Though he couldn't put his finger on it, his intuition honed from years of handling cases told him something felt deeply amiss.

Sure enough.

Even the Top Scholar—the only one produced by the entire realm in three years, who had read mountains of books and reviewed countless case files—had never anticipated that in his entire lifetime, he would witness the scene before his eyes.

Deep in the quiet of night, amid the flickering lanterns, a gigantic red zongzi, acting as if it had turned into a spirit, shouted, "Oh, impartial magistrate of bright heaven!" as it knelt on the ground and kowtowed—*thump, thump*—toward Ling Zhao and himself.

And the accompanying maidservants, coachman, and pageboys were all kneeling right beside it, kowtowing along.

Breath caught instantly in his throat. With trembling eyes, Yan Jing looked at the Ling Zhao standing beside him, and for the first time, he read a distinct expression of—dread—on the other man's face.

Where on earth had this filthy specter come from?

Ling Zhao also felt Yan Jing's gaze. It took him a long moment to snap out of his stupor. He gave an awkward cough and forced a smile. "She... she just likes to give me occasional sur—surprises."

Turning around, he glared fiercely at Jingsheng and Suifeng.

Jingsheng broke out in a cold sweat, hurriedly lowering his head. It was Suifeng who forced himself to remain calm. "Eldest Young Master, this subordinate deserves death. Miss Ming is right inside. We must trouble you to unpack... unwrap Miss Ming yourself. It's just that, well..."

Ling Zhao's face darkened. He squatted down beside the zongzi spirit and began stiffly untying the brocade ribbons. Yan Jing stood off to the side, treating the spectacle as a good show. Squinting, leaning lazily against the wall, and tossing his jade-bone fan from hand to hand, he mused to himself: *It's only been a few days, but this lazy girl Xiao Ming must be eating remarkably well; even wrapped in a quilt, she has grown quite plump.*

To everyone's surprise, once unwrapped, the quilt revealed two lazily flushed little faces. Their hair was slightly disheveled, making them look fluffy and soft like baby birds begging to be fed. Both girls squinted tightly against the sudden influx of light, their bright eyes nearly closed.

The rich, intoxicating scent of alcohol drifted out on the summer night breeze.

With a loud *clatter*, the jade-bone fan dropped to the ground.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ling Zhao furrowed his brow, his temples throbbing.

Suifeng wore a solemn expression as he cupped his fists in report. "Reporting to the Eldest Young Master, the two young ladies shared a spot of wine this afternoon and are merely slightly intoxicated."

The stunned Yan Jing covered the distance in two or three strides and squatted down beside them. He gently wiped the sweat from Huaixi's forehead and asked, "Why did you bind both young ladies up together?"

"Reporting to Lord Yan, the two young ladies declared themselves to be twin lotus flowers, the absolute best friends in the entire world, and therefore insisted on traveling together," Suifeng replied without changing his expression.

Several soldiers standing guard at the gates of Longwu Camp silently lowered their heads to stifle their laughter.

"Get them all back to the barracks quarters!"

"Yes!"

Ling Zhao dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Picking up Xiao Ming in his arms and with Huaixi resting against Yan Jing, the two men walked one after the other toward the back guest quarters of the camp.

Huaixi was behaving relatively well, resting her head in the hollow of Yan Jing's collarbone. Yet when she lowered her gaze to peer at that peach-blossom-like little face, her clear eyes stared fixedly at him without blinking, making his heart flutter with unease.

"Brother A-Jing, you are so handsome," Huaixi's small voice drifted into his ear. The hot breath brushed against his temple, carrying a sweet, intoxicating fragrance that left a tingling, numbing sensation in its wake.

Yan Jing smiled.

He lowered his gaze to look into her eyes and asked gently, "Do you like it?"

"I don't like it."

She finally blinked and nuzzled twice into the hollow of his collarbone. "My mother said men who look handsome are all short-lived. My father was."

A smile still lingered on Yan Jing's face, his expression exceptionally tender as he said earnestly, "Then Xixi is only allowed to like Brother A-Jing, understand?"

"I understand. Brother A-Jing said so before, and Xixi has kept it in mind."

"Good girl. Go to sleep properly once we reach the quarters."

"I don't want to sleep with you." Huaixi suddenly raised her head, looking petulant. "Every time, it takes you forever!"

Yan Jing's face instantly paled. Before his smile could fully fade, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers, cutting off whatever else she was about to say. Huaixi struggled with muffled noises of protest: "You're a bad person!"

Hearing the commotion, Ling Zhao turned his head to glance back. Catching sight of this scene, his face darkened by another shade.

*Why won't Ming'er let me hold her like that? If she did, I could kiss her too.*

Over on this side, Xiao Ming refused to let Ling Zhao carry her properly. Instead, she clung to his shoulders, hopping and pushing him forward as she raised her face with a cheeky smile and asked him, "Hey, are you a ghost?"

"Are you blind?"

"I'm not a shrimp," Xiao Ming said, turning his face straight with her hands, her round apricot eyes wide as she informed him earnestly, "I am a single stalk of twin lotus flowers."

Ling Zhao's expression grew even gloomier. Catching her hands, he hoisted her up more securely in his arms and demanded, "Why did you drink so much wine? Could it be that someone forced you?"