This time, I will protect you

With such a loud voice, it was impossible for someone to not turn to the entrance. There, they saw a large built man accompanied by a slightly smaller one.

Bai Minghai casually entered the shop and went straight to greet Sun Chengmei. “Tangjie,” he said before he turned towards Bai Chenyi. Before entering the shop, he had already known that his brother was here. So he also saluted Bai Chenyi as a greeting.

“Minghai, what are you doing here?” Bai Chenyi asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Dage, I am on my duty leave. Can I not go wherever I want?” Bai Minghai replied.

What Bai Minghai said make sense but Bai Chenyi couldn’t help the suspicion in his heart. He knew his younger brother well. This brother of his is currently responsible for the defence of Fort Beifang to the north of the Empire.

The fort would occasionally be attacked by bandits or the invaders from the hostile nomadic tribe. So whenever Bai Minghai returns on his duty leave, he would rather stay at home and take as much rest as he can. Even if he were to be sent out on an errand by their mother, he would be reluctant.

Seeing that Bai Chenyi did not believe him, he quickly tried to explain to his brother. Before, the emperor had mentioned that he didn’t want his cover to be known by the three people who were with Bai Chenyi. So Bai Minghai wanted to try to get both his brother and cousin to play along before the emperor enters with the borrowed identity.

“Dage, Tangjie, earlier today, our distant family arrived for a short visit. They had crossed the vast ocean in order to come and look around at our city so mother had told me to bring him around,” Bai Minghai explained. “But ge, you know me. It is my few days of precious duty leave. It is hard enough to return home, and now my rest has been…” Bai Minghai didn’t get to finish as he sensed a cold gaze behind him.

Knowing that it was from the emperor, he cut his sentence short and quickly changed the subject. “Anyway! I do not know much about the city since I’ve always been at Fort Beifang! I thought of asking Tangjie to give him a tour around the city,” Bai Minghai said. “Oh, and I’ve heard that the one you’re responsible for actually came from outside the city. How about letting them tour around the city along with—”

“Xiao Ming, what makes you think I want to leave the shop to give this distant family of ours a tour?” Sun Chengmei finally spoke up when she saw that Bai Minghai had already talked about the matter as if she agreed.

“Tangjie, don’t tell me you don’t want to give Ruohan-ge some face… he came here all the way from Ruanyu in order to experience our rich culture!”

Hearing Bai Ruohan’s name, both Bai Chenyi and Sun Chengmei became more sceptical. Noticing the look that they gave him, Bai Minghai couldn’t help but turn to the entrance. “Ruohan-ge! Please come and save me, ah!”

Addressing the emperor in such a way, Bai Minghai could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He knew if his father had heard this, a punishment would be due. Fortunately for him, his father had already accompanied the previous emperor to journey the yellow spring so he would be safe.

When Qin Yijun heard Bai Minghai calling him, he finally entered the shop. His eyes scanned the area until they rest on Lin Xiao’s figure. Lin Xiao seems to have sensed his gaze as he narrowed his eyes on his figure. Such a sharp sense, Qin Yijun couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face. He slowly walked closer to the group as he pretended to look around the shop’s interior.

Lin Xiao’s eyes were still trained on the figure who was referred to as ‘Ruohan-ge’ by who appears to be the brother of Bai Chenyi. Somehow, he felt that the figure is very familiar. As if he had seen this man before. But from the conversation before, he knew it should be impossible since this man is from the country beyond the vast ocean.

“Chenyi, it has been a long time since I first saw you,” the emperor, acting as Bai Ruohan, greeted the general. Both Bai Chenyi and Bai Ruohan were of the same age, so for them to speak casually, it was normal. But, Bai Chenyi who heard the voice of this supposed distant family member, froze in place.

He wasn’t the only one who realized the real identity of the newcomer. Even Sun Chengmei could be seen being visibly uncomfortable. After knowing the identity of this ‘Bai Ruohan’, Bai Chenyi and Sun Chengmei exchanged glances and with tacit understanding, decided to play along.

“Ruohan, why didn’t you tell me that you would be arriving? If you had told me, I would’ve made ample preparation for you,” Bai Chenyi replied with a smile. But the underlying meaning of his sentence was: ‘Your Majesty, why didn’t you inform me that you are going out of the palace? Now, I am not prepared for any of this.’

“The visit was on a whim. Uncle Wuchen had me guard the shipment of salts and other spices to Qin Empire. And after I was done, there are several days to ourselves before we depart again to Ruanyu. So, here I am,” Qin Yijun replied. What he was saying is that, he was indeed supposed to work within the Imperial Study but couldn’t help himself wanting to go out and play.

“I see…” Bai Chenyi inwardly sigh. “Tangjie, this should be the first time you see Ruohan, correct? This is Bai Ruohan, the son of Bai Wuming who is the cousin of our father up to the fourth generation,” Bai Chenyi said to Sun Chengmei. “Ruohan, this is Sun Chengmei. Her mother is our aunt, Bai Yue’er.”

“Sun Chengmei is honoured to have met the renowned War God of Yilian. The story of your merit has travelled all the way to our ears. This is indeed a pleasant surprise,” Sun Chengmei said as she stood up and gave Bai Ruohan a martial salute with a slightly lowered head to show her respect to the emperor while not giving away his cover.

“En. On our way here, Minghai has told me about you and your shop. Seeing it with my own eyes, it is indeed interesting,” Qin Yijun replied. “Most of the weapons are very useful for female warriors,” he added.

“Of course! After the Emperor had amended some of our laws while introducing a new one that allows women more freedom in her choice of life, a lot of young females finally came out and voiced out their wishes to learn martial arts,” Sun Chengmei replied. “But most weapons at that time were not suitable for women, especially since they have no prior training. So I decided to open this shop to help them,” she added.

“These are all achieved, thanks to His Majesty,” Sun Chengmei indirectly thanked Qin Yijun for allowing women to choose their own future.

Faced with sincere gratitude, Qin Yijun was unable to say anything. He did not remember how much of the law he had changed or introduced. Back then, he only wanted to have more manpower to search for Li Fangming, be it man or woman, as long as they can help, Qin Yijun was willing to give it a chance.

It was only unfortunate that even after a year, there was still no news of Li Fangming’s whereabouts, nor was there a body if he truly was dead.

Qin Yijun’s eyes went to Lin Xiao’s figure once more and his eyes were filled with longings. ‘Fortunately, you are still alive. This time, I’ll protect you and will no longer let anyone hurt you.’