"Mm... After you handed me the box, when I came back, Zhou Xuan had ambushed us from both sides of the woods and surrounded us completely. With no other choice, I let that vile woman Ruan Qiushui go in exchange for peace in the cave abode. Nuannuan lacks great talent and strategy; I couldn't possibly resist her with just over a thousand troops. Minister Xia, you won't blame me, will you?" Qi Nuannuan sighed, looking at me somewhat cautiously.
"It's fine. Zhou Xuan is a decisive woman when it comes to killing. Leaving an ambush was only to be expected. If I hadn't released Ruan Qiushui, things would have ended in an unending blood feud, which was why I spared her life." Seeing how politely Madam Qi was acting, and recalling how awkward things had been in the cave abode then, I even felt as if it had all happened in another lifetime. Once everyone became friends, we grew close, and she actually wasn't that difficult to get along with.
But why did I keep getting the feeling that I was watching a madam and her family general flirt with each other?
"As long as you don't blame me, that's all that matters. I knew that with your intelligence and wisdom, you wouldn't let that vile woman get her way." Madam Qi smiled faintly.
"Uncle, Uncle, do you like Mommy too?" Zheng Qingling threw herself at me, asking to be held. The little girl seemed to enjoy playing with me, which likely had a great deal to do with her background. It was hard for her not to feel lonely and isolated in the royal residence, where even children had no other playmates.
Though Xijun and Wang Yan were also young, they were ultimately several years older than her. They