Abandoned Woman Busy Farming

Chapter 1363: Chapter 1365: The Suspected Spy_1

This time, before Lian Jia could speak, someone blurted out excitedly, ”They wouldn’t do that! You should not slander them so!”

Everyone looked over, and to their surprise, the speaker was none other than Duo Lun, who had previously had a minor conflict with Bai Ruozhu.

Duo Lun’s face was flushed red. With so many eyes on him, he felt extremely uncomfortable. Still, he gritted his teeth and said, ”Yes, they are foreigners, but they are also our friends. I was just like you, suspicious and mistrustful, and I said disrespectful things about them. But when I accidentally fell off the cliff, it was Young Master Bai who risked his life to save me, and Madam Bai who, despite past grievances, gave me medicine. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to stand here and speak to everyone right now.”

He cleared his throat, and with his face still red, he continued, ”Now I feel only guilt and ashamed of my previous behavior. Seeing someone attacking them like this makes me deeply embarrassed. Are we people from the Western Regions ungrateful? They came to help us, and we doubt them at every turn and say nasty things to defame them. Is this how we treat our friends and benefactors?”

For a moment, everyone fell silent. Soon, those who had witnessed Duo Lun’s near-fatal fall began to speak up, saying that Mr. and Mrs. Bai were upright people and that we should not doubt them.

Lian Jia gave an unhappy glance at the rude guard and said, ”Who says only members of the Barbarian Tribe can have beast pets? The beasts of the Barbarian Tribe choose their own masters. That the black panther recognized Madame Bai as its master shows she must have extraordinary qualities. I can understand your hatred of the Barbarian Tribe, but you shouldn’t extend it to our allies. For your insolence just now, go back and receive twenty strokes.”

”Team Leader...” The guard bit back, his face unwilling. Twenty strokes wouldn’t kill a guard, but it could lay him up for six or seven days.

Bai Ruozhu had been silent, watching all this with cold eyes, but Duo Lun’s actions were beyond her expectation and even made her feel the warmth from the simple-hearted people of the Western Regions.

”Keep an eye on that man; something’s not right,” Bai Ruozhu whispered to Jianqi by her side.

A murderous look flashed in Jianqi’s eyes, ”Yes.”

Bai Ruozhu noticed Jianqi’s expression and reminded him, ”Keep him alive for interrogation. Don’t give others a reason to smear us again.”

”Yes.” Jianqi’s killing intent subsided, and his face showed slight embarrassment as he realized he hadn’t been as thorough as his master.

Bai Ruozhu glanced at the guard, whose eyes were filled with resentment, and a playful smile appeared on her lips.

If the Patriarch of the Qi Family, Qi Qingfeng, could be bought by the Holy Hall, then it was possible for the emperor’s personal guards to be bought as well. There definitely were traitors close to the emperor. Otherwise, Master Hao Feng’s whereabouts wouldn’t have been exposed. And what would the traitor most want to do now?

Of course, they would want to destroy the alliance between the two parties. So it was not surprising to see tactics of inciting dissension. There might be even more schemes like framing and entrapment waiting for them down the line.

This trouble-making guard was different from Duo Lun. Duo Lun had been concerned for Lian Jia’s safety and indeed had suspicions about Bai Ruozhu. Still, his reasons were somewhat valid since Jiang Yichun was indeed the first to wake up. Although Duo Lun was angry, he looked at them without much hatred, unlike the guard whose eyes seemed as if Bai Ruozhu had slaughtered his entire family.

Of course, it could also be that the Barbarian Tribe had killed his family, and he was projecting that hate onto Bai Ruozhu, who had a black panther. But his words were very harsh, filled with provocative tones, raising suspicions.

After Lian Jia gave the order, everyone headed back to Gaochang City, and soon enough, Sangta, accompanied by his giant white tiger, followed them.

Lian Jia stopped and said to the back of the group, ”Prince Sangta, our paths are different, and we cannot plan together. Is it really appropriate for you to follow us like this?”

”You are being ungrateful. I just helped rescue you, and now you pretend not to recognize me? Besides, I am a distinguished guest invited by your monarch to discuss an alliance with the Western Regions. Is this the way you treat a guest?” Sangta said languidly.

Choked by his response, Lian Jia was at a loss for words. Bai Ruozhu stopped in his tracks, walked over, and said, ”You did help us indeed, but I haven’t yet asked, how did you happen to be there? Were you following us all along?”

A sheepish look appeared on Sangta’s face, ”How could that be? I couldn’t find you over the past two days and thought you wouldn’t return to Danliang so soon. So I had Xuanfeng track your scent, and only after seeing your signal flare did I rush over. If I had been following you from the start, I wouldn’t have intervened so late, nor would I have come alone without any subordinates, let alone get myself scarred.”

The mention of being scarred made Bai Ruozhu wince inwardly as he looked at the hideous scars on his face, unable to utter the words he had prepared to say.

”Thank you for your rescue, I will prepare a scar removal medicine for you,” she repeated, a sentiment she had already expressed once, but this time she could not help but say it again before turning her head back to Jiang Yichun’s stretcher.

Lian Jia also felt it was not right to blame Sangta any further. Plus, Sangta was indeed alone and injured, so she no longer dared to ask him to leave. It was fortunate that he was sensible and kept his distance with his white tiger; otherwise, the guards would have been scared stiff by the beast.

Finally having a moment to herself, Bai Ruozhu communicated with Furball telepathically, questioning why it didn’t react at first. Did it really intend to just watch her die?

Using that illusion should have resulted in three days of sleep, but hadn’t those three days already passed?

Furball crawled out of the Space and onto Bai Ruozhu’s neck, rubbing against her in a coquettish manner, as if apologizing.

Soon, Bai Ruozhu was almost dumbfounded. Furball said it was something she threw into the Space that had put it to sleep, which was why it took a while to wake up...

At that moment, Bai Ruozhu wanted to knock on her own head. It was truly self-inflicted suffering. How could she forget that Furball could also be affected by Master Hao Feng’s poison?

Outside, Furball likely would not have been affected by the poison, but in the Space, it seemed that the stone’s poisonous aura became more volatile.

After two days’ journey, the group finally returned to Capital City. To avoid causing panic, Bai Ruozhu still arranged for Xiaohei to heal outside the City walls, and assigned two of her trusted aides to take care of Xiaohei.

On the road to the royal palace, where the procession was to enter, they happened to encounter the Holy Maiden Honglian conducting a procession, praying for the well-being of the citizens.

The carriage of Honglian was extraordinarily striking, festooned with many different types of bright red flowers, making it appear from afar like a blazing flame.

The Holy Hall revered the color red, believing it to be the most sacred color.

Lian Jia had already led the team to avoid the main street, yet unexpectedly, they ran into Honglian here. Around Honglian’s carriage, there were many servants, including those playing celestial music, those scattering flowers, and numerous Holy Guards providing protection.