Chu Chu blinked her eyes. "Why can't I? I've washed you many times before, and it was you who asked me to wash you!"
The two guards silently lowered their heads to stare at the ground. Having served in the Imperial Forest Army for so long, they knew better than to make eye contact in such situations. After all, the forest was vast with all kinds of masters, and they only had one life to live...
Xiao Jin Yu was going mad. In a moment of heated frustration, he blurted out, "I am your husband! Who is he?!"
Chu Chu was taken aback for a moment. She glanced at Du Li, who was leaning on her shoulder, and replied with utmost seriousness, "He calls me mother... so he must be my son."
Xiao Jin Yu desperately wanted to grab her, press her to the ground, and give her backside a good spanking. But just as this thought crossed his mind, it was abruptly interrupted by a burst of laughter.
It was a completely unrestrained laugh, clearly someone who had tried to hold it in but failed miserably.
Xiao Jin Yu was certain that even if the courage of three generations of their families were combined, these two guards wouldn't dare laugh like this at such a moment.
Turning to look, he saw Ashina Suwu leaning against the tent wall near the entrance, laughing so hard he was nearly convulsing.
No one in the tent had noticed when this person had entered.
The two guards were startled, instantly drawing their swords with a swift motion. In the blink of an eye, one positioned himself in front of Chu Chu, while the other shielded Xiao Jin Yu.
Ashina Suwu laughed until he was breathless. "Don't be nervous, don't be nervous... I'm exhausted, completely exhausted..."
Xiao Jin Yu's face alternated between pale and livid. "What are you doing here?"
Ashina Suwu, truly worn out from laughing, simply plopped down on the ground. "No battles to fight, just wandering around with nothing better to do... How come I never heard before that Prince An was such a jealous man?"
Xiao Jin Yu's face turned cold enough to frost over. "Then tell me, why is Du Li here?"
"How should I know... I went out for a stroll, and he followed me. After a while, he disappeared. I just followed his footprints here..." He glanced at the grease stain on Du Li's chest. "I saw his footprints stop near a roasted lamb campfire outside your camp. Probably lured by the smell of meat, and once he got there, he lost his bearings."
"Then how did he manage to enter the military camp?"
Ashina Suwu rubbed his aching stomach from laughing. "How should I know what this foolish boy stole to eat from you? Suddenly he became so clever, picking a path that bypassed all the sentry posts. If I hadn't followed his footprints, I wouldn't have arrived so quickly or heard the whole story..."
No matter how furious Xiao Jin Yu was, he could still piece this together.
If Ashina Suwu wasn't spinning tales, then the roasted lamb that had lured Du Li must have been the leftovers from Jing Yi and Leng Yue. Du Li had followed the scent, grabbed a roasted lamb leg, and then lost his way. He simply followed the footprints Leng Yue had left when she bypassed the sentry posts to carry Jing Yi back to camp, thus ending up in the camp.
If that were the case, he had probably just been looking for a comfortable spot to gnaw on the lamb leg when, by sheer coincidence, he witnessed that person performing the abdominal incision. Terrified out of his wits, he hid under the table.
All of this made sense, except for one thing.
"Why did he call this prince's consort 'mother'?"Ashina Suwu laughed heartily for quite a while before shaking his head and pointing to his own forehead. "I didn’t mention it last time, but there’s something wrong with him up here. He’s a fool… Anyone who gives him food, he calls 'Mother.' In my camp, there’s a rule—only the maid sent by his sister to look after him is allowed to give him food." Ashina Suwu glanced at Chu Chu, who was holding Du Li with a face full of pity, his grin stretching almost to the back of his head. "But if it’s Princess An who wants to give him food, of course I have to grant her that face…"
Xiao Jin Yu’s expression had twisted into an indescribable shade of complexity. "Since you’re here, take him away quickly… If the army discovers you here, you won’t be able to leave even if you want to."
Ashina Suwu paused slightly, toning down his smile a bit. "Prince An, aren’t you afraid that everything I just said was complete nonsense?"
Xiao Jin Yu shot him a cold look. "You must have heard what happens to those who spout nonsense in front of me."
"You should think carefully. If you arrest me now, this war might just come to an end."
"Arresting you is General Leng’s business. I only arrest criminals." Xiao Jin Yu glanced at the two guards, who remained utterly bewildered. "Besides, with your skills, those two couldn’t capture you anyway. No need to waste their energy in the middle of the night."
Ashina Suwu froze, staring at Xiao Jin Yu, who had returned to his calm and composed demeanor. "Prince An, you’ve already mostly solved the case, haven’t you?"
Xiao Jin Yu didn’t answer. "Are you leaving or not?"
"Leaving, leaving, leaving…"
As soon as Chu Chu heard this, she immediately wore a reluctant expression, as if facing a mother-and-child separation.
Ashina Suwu patted his rear and stood up, looking at Chu Chu with a smile in his eyes. "Does the Imperial Concubine like him?"
"Mmm… He’s the first one to call me 'Mother.'"
Ashina Suwu turned a serious gaze toward Xiao Jin Yu. "Prince An, that’s your fault… How come there isn’t anyone calling the Imperial Concubine 'Mother' yet?"
Xiao Jin Yu glared at him. "Do you want to walk out on your feet, or be carried out?"
"Prince An, calm down, calm down… Didn’t we agree? A five-day truce—it’s not time yet. You can’t rough me up…" Ashina Suwu smiled and turned to Chu Chu. "Imperial Concubine, if you like him, you can keep him and raise him for a few days."
Chu Chu pursed her lips. "It’s better to let him go home. Someone died here again, and he’s terrified…"
Ashina Suwu froze. "Someone died again?"
"A person cut open his own stomach to look for something."
Ashina Suwu was someone who had killed countless people and witnessed every kind of gruesome scene, but hearing this delicate, petite girl speak of such things as casually as drinking cold water sent a chill down his spine, making his hairs stand on end.
"Him… himself? Cut open? And… and looked for something?"
"Yes, I searched through everything in his stomach but couldn’t find it… I thought I wasn’t careful enough, but Wang Ye said there was no such thing to begin with."
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