The mistress who remarried has returned.

Kang Yin understood that the general was waiting for Consort Liang to come for a follow-up visit. It seemed the general was cautious and unwilling to repeatedly set foot in the Eastern Palace. It couldn't be that he harbored such unsavory suspicions; the general wanted to see Consort Liang, could it? "Yes, Your Majesty. I understand. Then I will obey your orders. I swear to follow Your Majesty to the death and have no intention of switching allegiances..."

Qin Huai remained silent.

Kang Yin remained by the general's side and did not leave.

Qin Huai turned and glanced at him, asking, "Is there anything else?"

"I also left some medicine for Liangdi to help her recover from her leg ailment. This medicine can also reduce inflammation and bruising from her wounds," Kang Yin said in a deep voice. "I acted first and reported later, so I have come to apologize to you."

Qin Huai glanced at Kang Yin, "Although it was a fait accompli, I'll let it go this time since it's your first offense. She's been limping around under my nose all day, and her smug look is really an eyesore. You've done just the right thing. What if she got clinging to me?"

Kang Yin breathed a sigh of relief. The general was not angry, so it seemed that he had not done anything wrong this time. Fortunately, he had left some medicine for Liangdi to relieve her pain. "It is my duty to share the general's burdens."

Kang Yin then stopped and stopped following Qin Huai.

Liu Shun glanced at Kang Yin, "You were unusually cautious in front of the general today, walking with your tail between your legs like you were on the edge of a knife. Did the general find something incriminating against you?"

Kang Yin recalled the image of the general bullying the concubine in a corner of the Eastern Palace, and quickly said, "It's nothing, be careful what you say!"

Liu Shun was incredibly curious. "There's something fishy going on! There's definitely something fishy going on!"

Kang Yin said, "I'm not telling you the details to protect you. Otherwise, you'd have to be even more careful than me!"

Liu Shun was completely baffled. What wrong had he done to fall into the general's hands? If he knew the truth, he would be much more composed than Kang Yin, and wouldn't be so obviously hiding his tail between his legs.

Qin Huai glanced at the people kneeling in the barracks courtyard and asked Liu Shun from a distance, "How many people are kneeling in the courtyard in total?"

"A total of 146 Qi soldiers are kneeling, not counting Meng Qian, the leader inside the room." Liu Shun hurriedly bid farewell to Kang Yin and followed the general to report, "Including Meng Qian, that makes 147."

"Meng Qian won't surrender?" Qin Huai asked.

"We even called General Shen over to help with the interrogation, but he still won't confess; he's very tight-lipped." Liu Shun felt helpless. He always felt powerless when the general gave him negative feedback. Whenever he thought something was impossible, the general always managed to get it done.

"Wait here for my message," Qin Huai told Liu Shun before entering the study.

In the study, Shen Shu was interrogating Meng Qian. Shen Shu had just cut off two of Meng Qian's fingers with a dagger and was wiping the blood off the dagger with a handkerchief. He was saying, "You can be stubborn, then I will gradually remove all these unnecessary things from your body until you become a human pig. Let's see if you want to be a respectable person or a human pig."

Meng Qian kept his eyes closed, not uttering a single word, as if he felt no pain. Those who are capable of being spies are often not afraid of pain; otherwise, they wouldn't be sent abroad to risk their lives in foreign lands.

Seeing Qin Huai walk in, Shen Shu put the hand towel on the table and shrugged helplessly.

Qin Huai sat down on the large chair behind the desk. He had been sleeping on and off for the past two or three nights, and had to soak in cold water several times. He hadn't rested well, and his head was dizzy. He reached down, opened the drawer, put the documents in, and pushed the drawer back. Then he pressed his hands to his temples, and his voice was hoarse. "You've turned my study into an execution ground, haven't you?"

Seeing the bloodshot eyes in Qin Huai's eyes, Shen Shu asked, "Can't you sleep well even when you're alone? What were you tossing and turning in the night?"

Ignoring Shen Shu's teasing remark, Qin Huai asked Shen Shu directly, "How many did he recruit?"

Shen Shu pointed to the two severed fingers on the tray. "As you can see, I've tried everything—surrender, money, women—I've made him experience excruciating pain, and he didn't utter a single word. This man is extremely loyal to the Great Qi. Qin Huai, if I were caught, I would definitely betray my country and sleep with a beauty. I can't wait for someone to cut off my fingers. What difference does it make who I serve?"

As she spoke, she glanced at the wound on Qin Huai's lips. She had been so busy interrogating these spies these past few days that she had only just noticed the wound on her friend's lips.

His friend was usually very aloof. If it weren't for the fact that four years ago he found out that his friend was keeping a stunningly beautiful woman on the side, causing a sensation in the government and the public, he would have really thought that this person had a hidden problem in that area. It turns out that he could get an erection.

Meng Qian scoffed dismissively, "General Shen, there's no need to provoke me. Save your breath."

Qin Huai glanced at the knuckles on the tray, then at Meng Qian's bleeding severed finger. The room was filled with the smell of blood. He was already feeling dizzy, and the smell of blood made him feel even worse. He reached out and opened the window to let the cool breeze into the room and get some fresh air.

"Meng Qian, I'm late. If I had come earlier, he wouldn't have cut off your finger," Qin Huai said gently. "I apologize for the inconvenience."

A cool breeze blew through Meng Qian, who opened his eyes and saw Qin Huai. He was surprised that the fearsome General Protector of the Great Zhou was so gentle and polite. He had heard that Qin Huai was also exceptionally courteous when taking heads. He did not show any emotion on his face, but slowly closed his eyes again and said, "General Shen only has the trick of turning me into a human pig, or using sweet words to trick me into easily selling out my country for personal gain. What tricks does General Qin have at his disposal? Feel free to use them."

Qin Huai bluntly stated, "I have heavily guarded the borders of the Great Zhou. How did you, a hundred or so people, manage to enter our territory? Who in the Great Zhou opened the gates to let you in? After interrogating you for several days, all I need is information about this traitor. Nothing else is required."

Qin Huai paused for a moment, then said, "Besides mixing them in with the people of my Great Zhou to make up the numbers, I can't think of any other way to get 147 people in at once."

Meng Qian sneered, "Because you want to know, I'm telling you? I underestimated you, being lured out by your fake Great Zhou map and then set up to capture you alive. Do with me as you please."

"I don't have any tricks up my sleeve. I already know you're not afraid of pain." Qin Huai smiled and raised his hand to rub the bridge of his nose to relieve his fatigue. "I have hundreds of thousands of people under my command. You're in charge of people too. Do you ever feel like this? I don't care if I get injured, but if someone under me dies or gets maimed, I can't bear it. And then I have to face their families and relatives. The feeling is indescribable."

Meng Qian was seized upon; "Despicable!"

Qin Huai met his gaze, but remained unperturbed by the insult, his smile quite refined. "It seems you're just like me, you care a lot about those kneeling outside. Were they all trained by you?"

Meng Qian clenched his fists, but he couldn't break free of the iron chains binding him; they only rubbed his wrists raw.

At this moment, the guards at the barracks gate came into the courtyard. A guard outside the study gestured to him not to disturb them. He guessed that the general was busy with important matters in the study, so he did not disturb Master Liu Shun, who was by General Qin's side. Instead, he waved to the doorman of the study and asked him to go to the barracks gate to hear the steward of the Xue family's reply.

After the doorman came over, Steward Wang guessed that this man was someone who often saw the general, so he quickly and directly greeted him, bowing and saying, "The nephew of Miss Xue in the east corridor was beaten by an unreasonable bully. The other party is of similar rank, and the Xue family is in a difficult position to deal with. Sir, could you please help me to pass on a message to the general?"

As he spoke, he handed a silver ingot to the doorman.

The doorman, barely twenty years old, smiled and pushed the silver back after being called "Grandpa." "Where would I get such a grandson like you? Since it's the young lady from the east corridor who wants to deliver a message to the general, she should go. Take the silver back quickly. The general hates us accepting these things."

Steward Wang quickly took back the silver and respectfully watched the gatekeeper enter the barracks. He was deeply impressed; even the general's gatekeeper was of such upright character.

The only sound in the study was Meng Qian trying to break free of his chains.

Qin Huai stared at the assassins in the courtyard through the window for a long time, then turned back, lazily nestled in the large chair, and stretched his long legs. "Is your son among them? The one on the left looks a lot like you; he's clearly no ordinary person. Did you bring him out to hone his skills?"

Meng Qian's expression changed, and he said in a deep voice, "Don't touch him, he's only fifteen years old!"