The Fierce Farm Girl Has A Secret Space Chapter 2364: Preparing for the New Year (Part 2)

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Previously on The Fierce Farm Girl Has A Secret Space...
Yang Ruxin and family honored Yang Baiyue at the grave and ancestral hall, lighting the Everlasting Lamp under Xu Shou and his wife's guard. Anxious after messaging Gu Qingheng without reply, she sensed via their Heart Poisonous Insect bond that he was safe yet in battle. Outside Dian City, Gu Qingheng's forces easily routed the suspiciously weakened Nanzhao army led by Chen Tianfu, but he ordered a full withdrawal, refusing to serve hidden manipulators.

Xuan Army Camp.

"You’re making progress, kid." Zhang Changyang lounged back in his chair, fanning himself with a goose feather fan obtained from some unknown source. Noticing the return of someone, his eyelids twitched lazily. "You surprisingly didn't keep battling Nanzhao."

"He's nowhere near as sharp as Xinxin, but he's no idiot." Nian Qianqian settled down next to him, softly petting the fur of the Spiritual Fox nestled in her embrace.

Gu Qingheng couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry.

"It's ready!" Dao Xuzi suddenly burst in, clutching a porcelain bottle. "Come on, you two, let's rush out and try this thing."

"For real?" Zhang Changyang perked up right away at the news. "Quick, let's hunt down a stray dog."

The three old men disappeared in a flash.

Everyone else was used to these antics by now.

Zhou Jiang's gaze flickered briefly; Gu Qingheng's reason for pulling back the troops still eluded him.

"The old Nanzhao King prefers the Ninth Prince, Chen Tianzhao, yet he lacks the experience and ties of Chen Tianfu or the Seventh Prince, Chen Tianxi. This conflict seems like a Dazzling Law plotted for the throne." Gu Qingheng held nothing back, earnestly laying it out for Zhou Jiang. "But Miaojiang and the Flame Sect hijacked this war." Still, it baffled him—despite their numerous allies, the Flame Sect had no shot at toppling the Imperial Court. Their true aim remained a mystery.

"So the old Nanzhao King aims to get Chen Tianfu and Chen Tianxi killed here?" Zhou Jiang grasped the twisted scheme in a flash.

"A tiger may be fierce, but it won't devour its own cubs. He might back his youngest son, yet that doesn't mean he craves his other two sons' deaths. The throne-seeker Chen Tianzhao, however, likely wants his brothers gone." Gu Qingheng set his teacup aside. "Why else would he strike first now, only to lose so easily?" He paused. "I suspect Chen Tianfu and Chen Tianxi got undermined, meant to perish on the field for a cleaner cover."

"Why not play along and seize or slay them outright?"

"That would just aid Chen Tianzhao, wouldn't it?" Gu Qingheng shrugged helplessly. "Do you think I, the General, am so easy to please?"

Zhou Jiang froze for a second, then burst into laughter.

"Our focus now isn't Nanzhao—it's the Flame Sect." Gu Qingheng's face turned grave in an instant. "We've got a poison to counter their herbalists, but infiltration's impossible, and their locations are unknown. So..." Deeper worry gnawed at him over Qi Jingyun's command to save King Yun—no clue yet on how.

Zhou Jiang had clearly pondered the same, his spirits sinking heavily.

After an unknown stretch of time, footsteps echoed from outside.

"Gu Qingheng, New Year's in two days." Dao Xuzi entered first, hauling a cage where a white rabbit lay motionless. "Back in the village, Xinxin would've whipped up a feast by now."

"Precisely, let's prepare—New Year's in two days, dumplings it is." Nian Qianqian followed. "Pork and cabbage stuffing."

Zhang Changyang trailed behind: "Yeah, and chives with egg for me."

"Seniors, but where do we get all that premium wheat flour?" Gu Qingheng flashed a bitter grin at once.