Chapter 41: Assassin
Assistant Secretary Cheng’s face wasn’t even washed, his cheeks were flushed red, and his eyes were half-open, his double eyelids drooping.
He cupped his hands and said, “It’s enough for me to receive them. Your Highness doesn’t need to show up.”
Jinsui was very satisfied with Assistant Secretary Cheng in this regard. His attitude towards work was that if it was his responsibility, he would never shirk it, and he would even risk his life.
But he still slacked off when he could, argued with colleagues when necessary, and didn’t let others boss him around for tasks that weren’t his.
He loved drinking, but his drinking didn’t interfere with his work.
Compared to the workplace in later generations, our Assistant Secretary Cheng learned to “lie flat” a thousand years earlier.
Jinsui naturally agreed and, with Hei Hu, went to the military farm area to see the ten families chosen by Captain Liu and the newly cleared wasteland.
She had already taken a sack of potatoes and a sack of sweet potatoes from her space, letting Hei Hu carry them, and she carried a basket of tomatoes herself.
In order to save seeds, she had even gotten up in the middle of the night to enter her space, finally accumulating enough seeds to plant ten mu of land.
Captain Liu happily came to meet them, pointing to a large area of farmland and saying, “Your Highness, look, I had people plow it thoroughly three times, and the irrigation ditches are also dug.”
Hei Hu squatted down, touched the soil, and laughed, “This isn’t for planting crops, it’s for planting flowers! Look how even the soil is.”
Jinsui had him call all ten families over. They were all honest and upright farmers, and they were both excited and proud to be chosen to farm for the Prince.
She showed them the three types of crops and told them how to plant them.
For potatoes, they needed to be kept warm until they sprouted, then cut into pieces at the sprouts, rolled in some wood ash, and planted.
Sweet potatoes required seedling cultivation first, then planting the sweet potato slips. Sweet potato fields were better planted in semi-sandy soil.
Tomatoes also required seedling cultivation. The seeds needed to be picked out, and the tomato stems could also be planted. Since there weren’t many seeds, they couldn’t be wasted.
The scraped tomato pulp was taken to the kitchen, and cooking tomato soup would be enough for everyone in the camp to have a bowl.
As she spoke, she asked them if there was anything they didn’t understand. How to adjust fertilizer and water? How to dig ridges for sweet potatoes?
At first, everyone was a bit reserved. But seeing that the Prince was so knowledgeable about farming, and that the three new crops were precious, they were afraid of ruining them and thus became bold enough to ask questions.
Captain Liu, fearing that someone might forget, called over many Tuntian Soldiers, and everyone listened and took notes together.
One person among them caught Jinsui’s attention. This middle-aged man had naturally curly hair, clearly indicating a Hu People ancestry among his elders.
He also had a full beard, a round face, deep-set eyes, and yellowish irises.
That was already something, but he also spoke unclearly, as if his tongue were too short.
He spoke in a garbled voice, yet it was very loud. His questions were “translated” for Jinsui by others.
Seeing his appearance, Jinsui couldn’t help but chuckle. If this person were to wear white clothes and a small hat, he would be exactly like “Crazy Dave”!
She smiled and asked Captain Liu, “Is this gentleman one of your best farmers?”
Captain Liu exclaimed in surprise, “Your Highness noticed? Niu Da is indeed the most skilled among us. His fields always yield the most crops each season.”
Jinsui thought to herself, Crazy Dave wouldn’t be a skilled farmer if he wasn’t. He’d have his brains eaten by zombies.
She continued teaching until dusk, and only then did she solemnly hand over the three types of crops to Captain Liu.
They agreed that she would return in three days to check on the seedling cultivation, but in the meantime, if they had any problems, they could come to her at any time.
When she and Hei Hu returned to the Black Feather Camp, they saw Cheng Yu standing at a high vantage point, drinking from the gourd of wine hanging from his waist, and looking at the returning procession in the distance.
At the border, the wind was very strong at dusk, blowing his clothes wildly, giving him the air of a disheveled poet.
Seeing that his expression was somewhat solemn, with his brows furrowed.
Hei Hu whispered, “Captain Cheng is unhappy. Be careful, he might go on a drunken rampage.”
Jinsui smiled and asked, “How does he go on a drunken rampage?”
“He sings and dances, and drags others to sing with him. He once dragged Brother Han to sing all night, and Brother Han cried.”
Jinsui burst into laughter. Such a drunken rampage was acceptable.
She stepped forward and asked, “Assistant Secretary Cheng, is the task Prefect Li assigned too difficult?”
Cheng Yu put the stopper back in his gourd and lowered his voice:
“The task isn’t difficult, it’s the same as before: clearing the silt from the river. It makes me feel like he hasn’t figured out how to torment the Black Feather Camp yet.”
“However, something is not right.”
Jinsui quickly asked, “What’s wrong?”
He pointed to the procession: “There were forty people when they came, but only thirty-five are returning. Five people are unaccounted for.”
Jinsui glanced at the procession, which was already too far to see clearly. People were pulling donkey carts, and the procession was extremely long at first glance.
She admired Cheng Yu’s meticulousness; he had actually counted the number of people.
Cheng Yu chuckled lightly, “I don’t have any other skills, but I have a natural talent for discerning the quantity of people or things at a glance.”
“When I was younger, I was stronger. Within a thousand, I was correct nine out of ten times. Now my eyesight isn’t as good, but for people, within a hundred, I’m still never wrong.”
Jinsui was greatly surprised. This was simply a mathematical genius!
Thinking this, she blurted out, “Assistant Secretary Cheng is truly exceptionally talented! With such great talent, why did you come to a small place like the borderlands?”
Assistant Secretary Cheng glanced at her, “Your Highness also has the talent to govern a country, so why did you come to a border city?”
The two looked at each other and burst into laughter simultaneously.
Hei Hu didn’t know what they were laughing about and joined in the laughter. After laughing, he asked,
“Are the five missing people being kept to do work for us?”
Jinsui remembered the important matter. She quickly said, “Don’t make a fuss. Assistant Secretary Cheng, you are familiar with the camp. Go with Captain Han to quietly investigate.”
Assistant Secretary Cheng nodded and asked, “Does Your Highness have any idea what this person came to do?”
Jinsui scoffed, “How could I not know? They’ve been chasing me all the way from Chang’an. If they don’t take my life, they won’t rest.”
Hei Hu was startled and immediately wanted to take Jinsui back to the camp for protection.
Cheng Yu instructed him, “Hei Hu, you must not leave Your Highness’s side. No matter who calls you, you cannot leave.”
By the time Jinsui returned to her room in the camp, it was completely dark. This room was the most luxurious in the entire camp, but it was still only three tiled rooms with two side rooms and a large courtyard.
Normally, Jinsui slept in the east room, Hei Hu or Han Xing slept in the side room, and the west room was her study, serving as her office.
Tonight, the camp was eating tomato soup. Many people were eating it for the first time, and they were curious and happy, asking the Tuntian Soldiers around them when the tomatoes would be ready for planting.
Seeing that the Prince and Hei Hu hadn’t come for dinner, and Captain Han and Assistant Secretary Cheng were also nowhere to be found, Assistant Secretary Wei personally brought them their meals.
Jinsui took the food and quickly ate it with Hei Hu, not keeping Assistant Secretary Wei, and urged him to go rest.
However, Assistant Secretary Wei was unwilling to leave and insisted on discussing the matter of writing memorials to the throne.
He took out a half-written memorial and read it to her. It was sonorous and eloquent, with flowery language, treating a report of peace as if it were an essay for the Imperial Examination.
Jinsui couldn’t stand it and feared that assassins might come at any moment. She used going to the toilet as an excuse to enter her space to retrieve weapons.
The tear gas she had used before was a good item, so she took it.
She copied the large saber for Grandpa Ling again and took it.
She also took two small utility knives and hid them by her boots, and Gu Changxiao’s dagger was hidden in her sleeve.
Feeling it was still not secure, she thought of Hei Hu’s excellent archery skills and took some potent anesthetic, preparing to coat Hei Hu’s arrowheads with it.
Then Assistant Secretary Wei saw her emerge from the toilet, holding a pile of strange items.
Without giving him a chance to ask, she directly told Hei Hu, “Bring all your arrows and coat them with this medicine.”
Hei Hu’s eyes lit up, “Is this the legendary poison that causes death upon bleeding?”
Jinsui was speechless, “Yes, yes. Apply it carefully, and don’t accidentally poison yourself.”
She then began to coat her own dagger. At this moment, Han Xing arrived with over a dozen soldiers. Without saying a word, they began to find hiding spots in the courtyard.
He himself came over and said, “Please hide in the cellar, Your Highness. Those bandits are very cunning and we don’t know where they are hiding!
Assistant Secretary Cheng said they would definitely attack here, so we should wait here for them.”
Assistant Secretary Wei then realized something was wrong and broke out in a cold sweat, “Your, Your Highness, what is going on?”
Jinsui spread her hands helplessly, “I told you to leave, but you wouldn’t. Now you can’t leave. If you go out, you’ll definitely encounter the bandits. Find a place to hide!”
She then said to Han Xing, “What’s the use of me hiding? If they don’t see me, they won’t show themselves. Instead of waiting to die, it’s better to lure the enemy!”
This is a job I’m good at. My specialty is being a body double and luring the enemy.
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