Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1300: Chapter 426: The Grand Martial Arts Competition in Three Towns, Marriage Alliances and Integration (Part 2)

“Wow, brother-in-law Xiao, you really came!”

Jiang Yining had the most exaggerated expression, and she clearly didn’t expect Xiao Hen to suddenly appear. After her surprise, she immediately realized something and looked mischievously at Xiahou Qingqing: “Oh! Looks like sister Qingqing and brother-in-law Xiao have been in contact for a while now. Come on, confess honestly, when did you two start?”

Jiang Yining’s sharpness for gossip evidently surpassed Xiahou Qingqing’s expectations. Upon hearing this question, Qingqing immediately showed a guilty expression.

The others, seeing Xiahou Qingqing’s expression, understood immediately, their faces full of smiles, and couldn’t help but start gossiping.

“Right, right, I was just saying, how did you suddenly get engaged last month? So you two have been exchanging letters for a while now, huh?”

“Spill it, is it true that after brother-in-law Xiao saved the beauty last year, you two made contact?”

“Qingqing, you’re too sneaky, confess, confess!”

………

Surrounded and attacked by her siblings, Xiahou Qingqing couldn’t withstand it, and she quickly looked at Xiao Hen with pleading eyes, only to find that Xiao Hen was looking elsewhere with a mischievous grin.

Xiahou Qingqing gave him a fierce look, as if to say, “Just you wait,” but at this moment, threats were useless. She was already tangled up with Jiang Yining and the others to answer questions.

Xiao Hen watched his fiancée sweating as she resisted everyone’s interrogation, with an ever-present mischievous smile on his face.

He and Xiahou Qingqing met last September at the southern slope of Moao Mountain.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to call it a rescue of a damsel in distress. After all, if he hadn’t been the first to discover the Jiangxia folks were in trouble and decided to lend aid, there wouldn’t have been a later rescue of Xiahou Qingqing.

In October, Jiang Yuandong, Deputy Army Chief of Jiangxia, personally took Jiang Shouping, Xiahou Qingqing, and all the people rescued that day to He Yin to express their thanks.

It was during this visit that Xiao Hen formally got in touch with Xiahou Qingqing. Since their basic strength was close—one with over 90,000 catties and the other with 110,000—they really could find common ground and, before they knew it, began exchanging letters.

Unlike within the Great Xia Territory, where each station had letter couriers making communication easy, cross-town letter communication was more complicated. Xiao Hen had to send letters to Jiangxia through Hongmen first, then Hongmen’s merchants would deliver them to Jiangxia Town.

The merchant teams weren’t available every day, so initially, their letter exchange frequency was very low.

Interestingly, the lower the frequency, the stronger their desire to communicate.

Soon, they were no longer content with exchanging only two or three letters a month. In December, Xiahou Qingqing decided to take the initiative and formally joined Jiang Shouping’s Hunting Team to be closer to He Yin Village.

Once closer, communication became much easier. Initially, the two arranged a fixed contact point on the outskirts of Moao Mountain, where one would leave a letter and the other would collect it daily. Eventually, both of their hunting teams noticed them, so they simply stopped pretending and allowed the hunting teams to unite. In the end, the two even partnered for individual hunts…

The process of their relationship heating up was truly magical!

In April, Xiao Hen mustered the courage to bring up the matter with his father.

To his surprise, not only was Xiao Kangcheng already aware, but he also had a thorough grasp of Xiahou Qingqing’s details.

This cross-town romance thus naturally formed.

After all, Xiahou Qingqing was the direct great-granddaughter of Xiahou Zhang, the lord of Jiangxia. Xiao Kangcheng probably felt he wasn’t influential enough, so he pleaded with his superior Xu Ning to go with him to Xia City to plead.

Xu Ning readily agreed. Xiao Hen initially felt a bit anxious as he was somewhat climbing up the social ladder.

However, somehow, this matter reached his brother-in-law Xia Chuan’s ears.

When they set out to propose in Jiangxia in April, seeing his brother-in-law Xia Chuan leading the proposal team, Xiao Hen immediately knew it was secured.

As expected, Xiahou Zhang agreed to the marriage.

Their wedding was finally set for October of this year.

………

Returning to his thoughts, Xiao Hen saw the questions from Jiang Yining and the others becoming more and more cunning, and his fiancée flushed and stammering, couldn’t speak properly, so he couldn’t resist stepping forward to help her out.

“Ah Ning, everyone, you must be tired from the journey. I’ve already reserved a private room at the South City Tavern. Let’s sit and have a bite while we chat, how about that?”

“Already feeling sorry for her, tsk tsk tsk…”

Everyone could see that Xiao Hen was helping relieve Xiahou Qingqing, but hearing Jiang Yining’s playful tease, they couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Xiao Hen also couldn’t help but laugh. Last month, he had gone to Jiangxia Town and dealt with Jiang Yining. He had a strong impression of this youngest, talented little girl of the Jiang Family.

“Ah Ning, I’ll introduce you to some friends later, since the Martial Arts Competition is starting in over twenty days. Don’t you want to know about your opponents?”

Upon hearing this, the young people from Jiangxia, including the quirky Jiang Yining, immediately turned serious and nodded heavily.

“Follow me!”

Seeing everyone’s attention finally shift away from herself, Xiahou Qingqing immediately breathed a sigh of relief. When she saw Xiao Hen leading the way with a smug look on his face, she quickly walked to his side and discreetly twisted the soft flesh on his waist with her right hand.