Qin Zheng really wanted to cooperate with him, but after three days of rushing, she couldn’t eat enough or sleep well.

On the last day, because Prince Huaiyang’s cavalry caught up with them, they were busy running for their lives and didn’t even have time for lunch.

Now she was tired, sleepy, and hungry.

Although she was tempted by the handsome man in front of her, the hunger in her stomach was more unbearable.

Qin Zheng’s fair fingers gently scratched Chu Chengji’s shoulder.

Her wet long hair clung to her beautifully contoured neck and shoulders.

The stark contrast between black and white made one’s mouth dry, and when she raised her eyes, her long eyelashes, still damp, curled upwards, adding a touch of inexplicable pitifulness to her lazy demeanor.

“I’m hungry,” she said, feeling a bit embarrassed, her voice lowering a little.

Chu Chengji was visibly taken aback.

“My stomach is hungry,” she emphasized, fearing he might misunderstand.

Despite trying to sound firm, there was still a hint of pitifulness in her voice.

For some reason, this struck Chu Chengji as funny, and he laughed softly against her shoulder.

Leaning against him, Qin Zheng could even feel the vibration of his chest.

Annoyed, she pinched his firm arm muscle, then lowered her eyelashes and stopped talking to him.

Chu Chengji lifted her up horizontally and stepped out of the hot spring. “It’s my fault. Seeing Ah Zheng so beautiful, I forgot there’s food in the kitchen.”

Qin Zheng glared at him furiously and, in retaliation, clung to his neck and bit his collarbone.

Chu Chengji hissed softly and looked down at her.

Meeting his suddenly darkened gaze, Qin Zheng quieted down and nestled motionlessly in his arms.

Chu Chengji set her down and fetched clothes from the screen decorated with birds and flowers. When her feet suddenly bore weight, Qin Zheng gasped in pain.

Chu Chengji wrapped her in a large towel. Seeing her discomfort, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Qin Zheng dried herself off and roughly dried her hair with the towel.

She put on her nightgown and sat on the stool in the bathroom, her tender white feet dangling in the air. “I have a few blisters on my feet. One of them broke during the journey. It didn’t hurt before, but it does now when I stand.”

Chu Chengji had noticed some bruises on her elbows and arms while helping her bathe but hadn’t seen the blisters on her feet.

Hearing her complain about the pain, he squatted down and grabbed her ankle to take a look.

Sure enough, there were blisters.

The broken one had turned white from soaking in the hot spring, looking very painful.

Chu Chengji frowned and looked at Qin Zheng. “Why didn’t you mention this earlier?”

With one foot held in his hand, Qin Zheng needed to use both hands to support herself on the stool to keep her balance.

Her collarbone and slender shoulders formed a delicate line, and her damp hair had soaked the front of her robe.

Her face was still flushed from the bath. “It didn’t hurt before,” she said peevishly.

Chu Chengji said, “We’ll break the blisters and apply some medicine.”

Afraid her feet would hurt on the ground, Chu Chengji carried her from the bathroom back to the room.

While instructing the servants to bring food from the kitchen, he used a clean cotton cloth to dry Qin Zheng’s long hair.

After dinner, Chu Chengji saw Qin Zheng lazily curled up on the soft couch reading a book.

He said to her, “Don’t sleep yet, I’ll go get some ointment for you.”

Qin Zheng yawned and nodded, “Go ahead.”

When Chu Chengji returned with the ointment and pushed open the door, he saw Qin Zheng already asleep on the couch.

The book she had been reading had fallen to the floor.

She lay on her side, her head resting on her arm, hair strands sticking to her face.

The blanket was half draped over her waist, with the other half hanging to the floor.

She was sleeping soundly, a section of her snowy neck visible under her dark hair, delicate and vulnerable.

Further down, the white skin disappeared into the xiangfei-colored skirt.

Chu Chengji walked over, placed the ointment on a small table, picked up the book from the floor, and sat at the edge of the couch, quietly observing her serene sleeping face.

Afraid of waking her, he decided not to deal with the blisters on her feet at that moment.

Instead, he used a small spoon to apply ointment to the blisters on her soles.

After smoothing it out, he went to the bathroom to wash his hands.

Once the ointment dried, he carried her to the inner chamber and laid her on the bed.

Qin Zheng hadn’t had a proper rest in a long time, so she slept until the afternoon of the next day.

Chu Chengji was no longer in the room.

Qin Zheng dressed herself and got out of bed.

Thanks to the soft rabbit fur lining in her shoes, the blisters that had hurt so badly the night before felt much better today.

Qin Zheng opened the window and saw the courtyard was wet, indicating it had rained last night.

She called for someone to come in, and the two women who had been looking after her during their journey entered.

It seemed Chu Chengji had arranged for familiar faces to help her feel at ease.

These two women, Bai Lu and Lou Yan, had been personally trained by Lin Zhao.

They were daughters of hunters, quick learners, and skilled in martial arts.

Lin Zhao often said that people from the mountains liked to name their daughters after flowers or birds, though she preferred bird names as they sounded more free.

After washing up and having a bowl of porridge, Qin Zheng learned from Bai Lu that Chu Chengji had left a message.

He had gone to discuss matters with the officials of Minzhou.

Qin Zheng could guess what they needed to discuss.

With tens of thousands of people from Feng County flooding into Minzhou City, they had to figure out how to accommodate them.

Additionally, there was the threat of Prince Huaiyang.

If he sent soldiers infected with the plague to attack the city, they needed a plan to deal with it.

In such troubled times, Qin Zheng couldn’t sit idle.

She changed into outdoor clothes and went to visit the wounded soldiers and the temporary housing for Feng County’s people.

The autumn rain continued to fall as Qin Zheng looked out from the carriage, seeing streets and distant mountains shrouded in a veil of rain.

Most shops along the street were half-open, selling mainly silks and satins.

Qin Zheng asked the coachman, “Several streets are filled with cloth shops. Aren’t the shopkeepers worried about business?”

The coachman, a local of Minzhou, replied with a smile, “Your Highness, these cloth shops don’t sell to locals. They mainly cater to out-of-town cloth merchants. Every household in Minzhou has a loom. They make their own clothes and even sell their woven cloth to these shops.”

He continued, “Plain silk is cheap everywhere, and the North is good at weaving cotton and linen. Smart merchants focus on buying silk, which they ship to Bianjing. The price there is four or five times higher. The whole of Minzhou thrives on its looms.”

Listening to this, Qin Zheng, who had been worried about accommodating the people of Feng County, began to see a solution.

She watched the pedestrians hurry by with their yellowed oil-paper umbrellas, feeling a sudden sense of peace.

She let down the carriage curtain, listening to the rain and feeling drowsy again, she leaned against the carriage wall and took a nap.

When they arrived at the military camp, Yang Yi, having received advance notice, was already waiting at the gate.

Women were generally not allowed in the camp, but Qin Zheng and her female soldiers were an exception.

Of the 20,000 soldiers she brought, almost none were lost.

Those injured were mostly from the battle with Prince Huaiyang’s cavalry or had been burned when running down the mountains during the forest fire.

Qin Zheng personally visited the wounded.

The soldiers, with their backs burned and lying prone on the beds, were too embarrassed to be undressed in her presence.

They gritted their teeth and put on their uniforms, standing properly before her.

After realizing this, Qin Zheng decided not to visit other wards to allow the soldiers to rest and heal comfortably.

She asked Yang Yi to distribute rewards and instructed the kitchen to provide better meals for the injured.

Although there were no significant rewards, Qin Zheng’s personal visit to the wounded soldiers greatly boosted their morale.

Soldiers from other camps watched Qin Zheng’s carriage leave with envy, saying, “I should have volunteered to stay behind and burn the mountain!”

“If I’d run slower and gotten a minor burn, I could be in the infirmary and have the Crown Princess visit me personally!”

“Next time we fight, I’m charging to the front!”

The refugees from Feng County who fled to Minzhou were temporarily taken in by kind locals, while others stayed in tents set up by the government, receiving porridge three times a day.

On the way to Minzhou, Qin Zheng had spoken with many people from Feng County.

Some planned to seek refuge with relatives elsewhere once they reached Minzhou, while others had no idea where to go and just followed the army.

Those with a plan didn’t worry Qin Zheng. It was the ones with nowhere to go that she needed to find a solution for.

In Qingzhou, Qin Zheng had learned from Song Heqing how to settle refugees and had developed a mature strategy.

However, Qingzhou was ideal for agriculture, with its flat and vast terrain suitable for large-scale farming, a method not applicable to Minzhou.

From her conversation with the coachman, Qin Zheng had learned that the textile industry was the backbone of Minzhou’s economy.

When visiting the refugees, she asked how many of them could weave.

Although both Feng County and Minzhou were in the south, they were hundreds of miles apart and had different economic activities.

Only a small number of women from Feng County knew how to weave, but this result still pleased Qin Zheng.

Minzhou’s textile industry was well-established, and it could accommodate these women and their families.

Before leaving, Qin Zheng left a doctor to care for the Feng County refugees, knowing that their journey had taken a toll, especially on the elderly, weak, women, and children.

As she was preparing to leave, a young woman mustered up the courage to ask, “Crown Princess, is the women’s army still recruiting?”

Qin Zheng was momentarily surprised but quickly responded, “The women’s army is always recruiting.”

The woman’s face lit up with joy. “I want to join the women’s army!”

Qin Zheng asked, “Why?”

The woman’s eyes reddened. “My husband died early, and without any children, my in-laws took my house and land and drove me out.

My family is now under the control of my brother and sister-in-law, and I have no place there either.

I’m strong and not afraid of hard work. When I heard that the Crown Princess had a women’s army, I wanted to join.”

Qin Zheng’s expression turned serious. “Joining the army is not a game. The women’s army will go to battle when needed, facing bloodshed and death. If you’re just looking for a place to stay, think it over carefully.”

The woman quickly shook her head. “I’m not afraid of death. If it weren’t for you, the Crown Princess, leading us to escape, we would have been killed or caught the plague when Prince Huaiyang’s army took Feng County. My life was saved by you, and I want to serve you in return.”

As soon as she finished speaking, more young women and women stood up from the crowd, all saying they wanted to join the women’s army.

“Crown Princess, my family used to run an escort agency. I heard there’s a female Captain named Lin who commands the women’s army, and I want to join!”

“My father and brothers died on the battlefield. I want to join the army to avenge them!”

Each of them had their reasons.

While the existence of a women’s army in Chu’s military was known, most people hadn’t paid much attention to it.

This time, witnessing Qin Zheng enduring hardships alongside them and seeing the strength of the women’s army firsthand, their perspective changed.

The women who served closely with the Crown Princess were no less capable than men.

They never lagged behind during the march. Instead, they even helped treat those who fell ill or injured during the journey.

The solid chains of tradition often break in turbulent times.

Some had nowhere to go, others bore deep grudges, and some had lofty aspirations. For them, the women’s army was the best refuge.

Qin Zheng hadn’t expected so many to want to join.

Caught off guard without pen, paper, or a concrete plan for recruitment and training, she said, “Please consider carefully for a few more days. In three days, I will send someone to set up a tent here for recruitment.”

The women were delighted to hear this.

As Qin Zheng sat in the carriage on the way back, she felt a bit dazed.

In Qingzhou, she and Lin Zhao had put in a lot of effort to recruit for the women’s army with limited success.

Later, when Lin Zhao was promoted to captain by Chu Chengji, more people began to join the army.

Now, with the growing momentum of the women’s army, more and more were willing to enlist.

This mirrored the power Chu Chengji wielded.

Initially, when they only had control over Qingzhou, few people, whether old officials or commoners, came to join.

But as they gradually conquered the Jianghuai region, their army grew larger and larger, much like a snowball gaining size as it rolls.

The beginning of anything is always the hardest, but once you get past the initial stage, it spreads like wildfire.

Upon returning home, Qin Zheng threw herself into organizing the recruitment of the women’s army.

While she had considerable experience in handling political affairs, she felt quite out of her depth when it came to managing the military.

When Chu Chengji returned from his meeting, he found her drafts scattered all over the floor.

He picked one up and saw the word “military regulations” written on it. Amused, he asked, “What are you writing?”

Qin Zheng, almost tearing her hair out in frustration, didn’t even look up. “I’m preparing to recruit the women’s army in three days. I’m drafting the regulations and figuring out the training and their duties. When Lin Zhao and I first established the women’s army, we only recorded names and divided them into combat and reconnaissance units. Most of the rules were passed down verbally by veterans. Now that we have more structure, and since you promised to officially name the women’s army, we need to formalize everything for the new recruits.”

She mumbled to herself that this is what a proper army should be like.

Chu Chengji approached, propping himself up on the table to look at her work. “The army already has a complete set of regulations. You can just adapt them. Why reinvent the wheel?”

Qin Zheng paused, then looked up, a bit dazed. “I forgot.”

Her head tilted slightly, with soft strands of hair framing her face.

Breathing in each other’s presence, Chu Chengji could easily lean down and kiss her, which he did.

He had always seen her as calm and cunning, so seeing her confused like this was like a cat’s paw tickling his heart, making him feel itchy all over.

With his aristocratic looks, his refined features, and his calm demeanor, Chu Chengji lowered his head slightly, cupped her chin with one hand, and wrapped the other around her waist.

His handsome lips pressed against hers, patiently exploring every inch.

Qin Zheng had no choice but to endure.

His long fingers slid inside her collar, and she shivered, her grip on the pen tightening.

The tip of the ink brush splattered a trail of ink dots across the white paper.

“Ah Zheng,” he whispered.

Pulling back a bit, he called her name, his eyes clear, and asked softly, “Are you hungry?”

Qin Zheng glared at him.

If it weren’t for his hand still inside her clothes, she would think he was being overly serious.

She tried to move away, but he held her firmly, pulling her into his embrace from behind.

“If you’re not hungry, I’ll write the military regulations for you,” Chu Chengji said in a calm, pleasant voice.

He guided her hand to write slowly on the ink-stained paper.

His gentle kisses moved from her ear to her neck.

His teeth bit her collar, slowly pulling it down, exposing her smooth shoulder to the cold air.

Qin Zheng’s body tensed even more, feeling half numb, with no strength left in her hand holding the pen.

“Who taught you to write, Ah Zheng? Your handwriting is always so soft. How about I help you practice regularly?” He wrote quickly, finishing a line while his left hand roamed freely over her body.

Qin Zheng felt all her strength draining from his touch.

Her fingers curled involuntarily as she softly but angrily called his name, “Chu Chengji…”

The candlewick popped, and the flame flared up.

Sweat beads formed on her forehead, her hair tousled, and her eyes filled with a mix of anger and allure, captivating Chu Chengji entirely.

Staring at her for a moment, he suddenly swept everything off the desk and lifted her onto it.

Her already loosened clothing slipped further down, revealing more skin.

Under the candlelight, Chu Chengji’s dark eyes were intense.

He looked at her unashamedly, as if deciding where to start. “I’ve taken the medicine,” he said.

Qin Zheng didn’t understand at first. “What?”

Gently touching her face, he explained, “I couldn’t bear to have you drink that medicine. But I took it.”

Qin Zheng’s heart tightened. “What about you?” she asked.

Chu Chengji smiled. “If you were to fall ill, people could use it against you because of my lack of heirs. But if it’s my issue, who would dare say anything?”

Qin Zheng didn’t know whether to feel more angry or sad.

She hit him lightly. “How can you curse yourself like that?”

“The doctor assured me there are no side effects. I can handle this much.”

“Why… would you seek such a medicine?”

Chu Chengji stared at her for a long moment before speaking, “I had it prepared long ago, but it was only recently perfected.”

The doctor who created the medicine was terrified when he learned who it was for, working with utmost caution to ensure it was safe before presenting it to Chu Chengji.

Qin Zheng blushed at her unnecessary question.

When Chu Chengji began kissing her again, Qin Zheng glanced at the paper on the desk with the word “regulations” written on it, remembering the last time he made her cry at the desk.

Her face grew even hotter. She grabbed his sleeve. “…Let’s go to the bedroom.”

Chu Chengji glanced at the ink-stained paper.

Leaving red marks on her pale skin, he carried her towards the bedroom.

“The women’s army will start recruiting in three days. If you’re busy, you won’t have time for the three-day bet we made in Xuzhou. How about we draft the regulations together for the next three days?”

Qin Zheng, tense and shrinking in his arms, bit her lip to stifle all sounds.

This man, all his mischief and naughtiness were reserved for moments like this.

That night, the heavy autumn rain drowned out all sounds from the main courtyard.