Xu Hengyi ate until his mouth was greasy, "If they still don't come back later, should we go look for them?"
Lu Yuqing didn't understand, "Is that necessary?"
Xu Hengyi said, "What if Xie Jiang and the others are unlucky and get trapped by a wild boar herd like Ruan Ziji and the others? They'll just be waiting for us to descend from the heavens."
Nie Tong flicked his eyelids and glanced at Xu Hengyi.
Xu Hengyi felt Nie Tong's gaze was strange, "Why are you looking at me like that? Aren't you worried about your young master's safety at all?"
Nie Tong was not worried.
He wasn't a frog in a well like Xu Hengyi.
Lu Yuqing rolled his eyes, "Where are there so many wild boars!"
Xu Hengyi sat down on the spot, "I'm just using it as an analogy. Are wolf packs not terrifying? Are tiger packs not terrifying?"
Lu Yuqing, chewing on the fragrant roasted meat, mumbled indistinctly, "Wolf packs and tiger packs are nowhere as terrifying as Marquis Xie."
Xu Hengyi actually felt he made a lot of sense. What wolves or tigers would dare to be presumptuous in front of Xie Jiang? "It's uncertain who would be unlucky if they met."
Lu Yuqing had extreme confidence in Xie Jiang, "Who says it's uncertain who would be unlucky? Is there a second answer to this?"
The unlucky ones would definitely be the blind jackals who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth.
Xu Hengyi found it hard not to agree. Xie Jiang was the most formidable beast in the world. Tigers and wolves, in front of her, would obediently pretend to be cats.
Nie Tong again flicked his eyelids and glanced at them.
Xu Hengyi always felt Nie Tong's gaze was unfriendly.
Nie Tong wasn't unfriendly; he just felt their faces were unusually contorted when discussing his young master.
Xia Zeshi washed his hands by the river first and walked up to Nie Tong, who was busy. Smelling the aroma, he said with surprise, "Are you roasting some fruit? Can fresh fruit be roasted and eaten?"
"It's apples and bananas. My young master likes to eat roasted bananas. Does Your Highness want to try?" Nie Tong said.
As soon as Xu Hengyi heard that Xie Jiang liked it, he immediately jumped up from the ground, wanting to try.
Lu Yuqing was not to be outdone, "Do you still have any civets? Little Brother Nie, your cooking..."
Lu Yuqing gave Nie Tong a thumbs-up.
The civet meat was roasted to a golden, oily sheen. The meat was soft, springy, and chewy, with a better texture than the roasted suckling pig last time.
His recent unremitting efforts to visit the Marquis of Nanhai's mansion were not entirely due to the tasks assigned by the elders; the food at the Marquis of Nanhai's mansion made it impossible for him to refuse.
Lan Yong was too good at eating.
"There's no more ready-made. If Young Master Lu the Fourth still wants to eat, you can pick one yourself," Nie Tong said, gesturing to the side.
In the cages nearby, a group of grayish civets were confined. Lu Yuqing walked over and examined them carefully, "Which kind is the most delicious?"
"The fat ones."
"The fatter, the more delicious?"
Lu Yuqing's gaze settled on the fattest civet.
"Morbidly obese ones are not good; they should be evenly fat."
Lu Yuqing picked them up one by one to weigh them. Finally, he selected three and handed them to a servant of the Marquis of Nanhai's mansion. The servant nimbly took them aside to be butchered.
Xia Zeshi and Xu Hengyi had already started eating the roasted apples and bananas.
"Roasted bananas are actually quite delicious!" She knew that Xie Jiang had such a discerning palate; anything she liked to eat must be good.
"Were the apples marinated with something? They are unexpectedly delicious."
Xia Zeshi felt that the fragile friendship between him and Xie Jiang could continue.
"Are they that delicious? Let me try too," Lu Yuqing walked over.
Xu Hengyi said disdainfully, "You just caught a civet, can you wash your hands?"
Lu Yuqing looked at his hands, turned around, and headed for the river.
The servant from the Marquis of Nanhai's mansion brought the cooled boiled water to the injured guards who were resting.
Seeing Xia Zeshi looking at the guards with a thoughtful expression, Xu Hengyi asked curiously, "Are their injuries serious?"
Xia Zeshi shook his head. They weren't serious. The most severely injured would recover normally with a couple more months of rest.
"The matter of Ruan Ziji and the others being surrounded by a wild boar herd, don't you find it strange?"
"Didn't they just have bad luck and stumble into a wild boar's den?"
"But that area isn't a wild boar's den." Although Xia Zeshi hadn't gone down, he could see clearly from above.
"Then it must be that Marquis Xie, in her madness, secretly drove the wild boar herd to watch Ruan Ziji and the others get trampled and shat upon by the wild boars!"
Lu Yuqing washed his hands, grabbed a roasted apple, and sat beside them.
If the encirclement and attack of Ruan Ziji and the others by the wild boar herd were man-made, the first culprit that came to Lu Yuqing's mind was Xie Jiang.
Xia Zeshi analyzed calmly and did not think so, "Although Xie Jiang is sometimes outrageously wicked, she has a sense of proportion when she acts. She has plenty of ways to tease Ruan Ziji and the others without pushing them to their deaths."
"Aren't Ruan Ziji and the others fine?" Xu Hengyi said, "Perhaps Xie Jiang also felt that a herd of wild boars was nothing, not enough to kill them. Are the guards of the Marquis of Anyuan made of straw?"
"How terrifying thirty-odd wild boars can be when they go berserk, we all witnessed it just now. No matter how experienced the guards are, they might not be able to guarantee their escape."
Lu Yuqing said, "Your Highness thinks it wasn't Xie Jiang? Then who could it be?"
"I don't know either." Xia Zeshi had a vague guess in his heart but couldn't be sure.
Every time Ruan Ziji and Su Yang met, their eyes conveyed a desire to eliminate each other. Anyone with eyes could see it.
But it was not good to speculate wildly without evidence.
After eating their fill, the three of them went into the tents to rest for a while. If Xie Jiang and the others still didn't return, they would search along the way.
After an unknown amount of time, Xu Hengyi felt a bit sleepy. In his daze, he heard movement outside. He got up and lifted the tent flap, and his eyes fell on Xie Jiang.
She was riding a horse, walking towards him against the light.
Xu Hengyi clutched his chest, feeling his heart rate inexplicably quicken!
But he couldn't deny that as hateful as Xie Jiang was, her face was truly...
The bruises on his body from being poked by bamboo poles still hurt.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he could recall the feeling of mud rushing into his nostrils!
Several times he felt like he was about to die!
But staring at Xie Jiang's detestable face, he actually couldn't hate her!
Forget it.
He wouldn't bother with her!
He, he, he was just that magnanimous!
Unable to control his feet, he walked towards her, "You're finally back. Where did you guys go, Xie Jiang?"
Xie Jiang glanced at him, "Aren't you sick?"
The moment this scoundrel opened his mouth, Xu Hengyi wanted to bite her to death!
"You're the one..."
Seeing the killing intent emanating from Xie Jiang's eyes, Xu Hengyi swallowed the last two words.
Some people were not to be trifled with.
But he absolutely refused to admit he was sick, "We're in good health. We'll be fine after a day or two of rest!"
"Brother Yue Lin, why don't I see Brother Xu? Weren't you together?"
Lu Yuqing yawned and came out of the tent. His gaze passed over Xie Jiang, and he only saw Yue Lin, Han Zhao, and Yin Bo Xuan, but not Xu Shuo.
Yue Lin glanced around the camp, "Has Brother Xu not returned yet?"
They had split up and were not together.
Seeing the prey loaded on the horses behind Luo Tie and the others, Xu Hengyi's mouth fell open. He immediately understood why Xie Jiang had returned so late.
"All sables and black foxes!"