Chapter 116: Calling You Qingqing

The next morning, Pan Yueqing still brought a bowl of plain porridge to visit the night watchman who had been so frightened by the execution of lingchi that he had become somewhat mentally deranged. This person had been hanging on a tree for ten days. His bones were completely dislocated, and his slightly moving lips and occasionally rolling eyes still indicated that he was alive.

"Good morning."

Just as Pan Yueqing was about to feed the night watchman a spoonful of porridge, she suddenly heard a very familiar voice behind her. She froze her hand and suddenly remembered that Qi Si'an had moved into the courier station yesterday and happened to be living right across from her. All the sarcastic words she had intended to say to the night watchman were swallowed back. She slightly turned her head and saw Qi Si'an standing not far behind her.

Forcing a smile against her will, she said, "Good morning."

"Sir, all the restaurants are closed," Shi Guang stood at the door holding a wild rabbit he had hunted. He was a bit surprised to see Pan Yueqing standing alone, holding a bowl of plain porridge in front of the prisoner, his eyes filled with confusion. Shi Guang rubbed the back of his head and smiled at Pan Yueqing, "Good morning, Miss Yue."

Before Pan Yueqing could speak, Qi Si'an said slowly, "She presents herself as a man. You should cooperate."

Shi Guang glanced at Pan Yueqing and试探atively said, "Ah... Young Master Pan Er?"

Upon hearing Shi Guang's words, Qi Si'an frowned in dissatisfaction. "It's too distant." "..." Pan Yueqing turned her head and glanced at Qi Si'an. Since last night, she had felt as if Qi Si'an had been impersonated. She even thought it was Shen Ping'an pretending to be him. But then she thought that Qi Si'an probably wouldn't let Shen Ping'an pretend to be a prince. In the matter of escorting the relief food and supplies, any mistake would be a capital offense. Qi Si'an, who cherished his life more than anything when it came to matters of life and death, probably wouldn't take such a risk casually.

Qi Si'an smiled and looked at Pan Yueqing. "A Yue, don't you think so?"

Pan Yueqing felt goosebumps all over her body. This was as lethal as the sudden "Miss Yue" he had called her yesterday. Frowning and forcing a polite smile, she slowly refused, "Don't call me that so strangely..."

Qi Si'an tilted his head and asked in a strange tone, "Is it strange? Then how about...?" He raised his eyes and tentatively said, "Qingqing?"

Qingqing, my foot. Pan Yueqing's polite smile completely disappeared. She turned her head away, indicating that she didn't want to continue this topic. She raised her hand to look at the night watchman hanging on the tree and fed the plain porridge to him without any tenderness. She didn't bother to say anything more and turned to leave.

Qi Si'an smiled and followed behind Pan Yueqing. "Qingqing, who is that person?"

Pan Yueqing gave him a look. "A lackey of Qian Cheng's."

Qi Si'an had heard a bit about who Qian Cheng was. He looked at Pan Yueqing curiously. "If that's the case, why didn't you kill him?" "He's not afraid of death. On the contrary, he even tried to commit suicide to escape the torture of punishment before. Unfortunately... he was saved," Pan Yueqing turned her head and looked coldly at the emaciated figure of the night watchman. She sneered, "Want to die? It's not that easy."

"He betrayed Qian Cheng in order to survive. He's a disloyal person." Pan Yueqing sat on the stone bench, took a letter from Cang He's hand, and looked up at Qi Si'an, who was still smiling. Her face was as cold as frost. "I pulled out his tongue for that."

"Qingqing," Qi Si'an said somewhat helplessly, "You're so domineering. Just because he confessed, you call him disloyal."

"Can you please stop calling me that?" Pan Yueqing frowned. She felt that if she heard it a few more times, she would definitely vomit out all the millet porridge she had drunk in the morning.

Qi Si'an shook his head, refusing.

"Sir..." Shi Guang, who had completely lost his presence, raised the dead rabbit in his hand. After thinking carefully, he interrupted the delicate atmosphere between the two of them somewhat cautiously, "What about this rabbit..."

"Roast it for Qingqing."

"I don't want to eat it."

Unexpectedly, they said it in unison. Pan Yueqing raised her eyes and met Qi Si'an's gaze. Qi Si'an coughed twice and said seriously, "I heard that you always eat and live with the common people and soldiers. You'll get thin like this." "I'll eat meat when they get through this difficult time and can afford to eat it. It's not too late," Pan Yueqing could tell that Qi Si'an was concerned about her. But he didn't know that for the past ten-odd days, she had been following Li Zhe's instructions to dig up corpses all around Suoyue City.

Seeing pieces of rotten meat being dug out of the ground, she felt disgusted at the sight of any meat.

"Young Master." A soft voice came from the door. Pan Yueqing raised her head and saw Xiaoshi Tou holding the door frame, looking in but not daring to enter casually. Pan Yueqing bypassed Qi Si'an and walked towards Xiaoshi Tou, asking, "What's wrong? Did Li Zhe find anything?"

"..." Xiaoshi Tou didn't know where to start. "You should just go and see for yourself, Young Master."

Looking at Xiaoshi Tou like this, Pan Yueqing suddenly had a bad feeling in her heart. She took the scarlet cloak from Cang He's hand, leaving Qi Si'an with a determined back and left without saying a word.

"Wait!" Qi Si'an had a hunch that something bad must have happened. Seeing Pan Yueqing cross the threshold, he almost blurted out to stop her. Meeting Pan Yueqing's gaze, he swallowed the worry in his throat and blurted out the anxiety in his heart, "I'm going too."

"..." Pan Yueqing rolled her eyes on the spot. Li Zhe had been running around to check if there was a possible plague. The plague had always been a topic to be avoided like the plague itself. She definitely didn't want Qi Si'an to take the risk. In her eyes now, Qi Si'an was almost like a weak and overly curious meddler.

"No way." Shi Guang reacted even more strongly than Pan Yueqing. He stepped forward and grabbed Qi Si'an's arm. "Sir, you promised the Empress that you would never take risks!"

When the Empress wasn't mentioned, it was fine. But when the Empress was mentioned, Qi Si'an's face changed instantly, and his voice also returned to its original cold tone. "Let go."

"Even if you don't think about the Empress, you should think about your own health!" Shi Guang didn't obey. He bit his lip and said with a hint of determination, "Don't you care about your own body anymore?"

Qi Si'an suddenly became furious for no apparent reason. He raised his hand to push away Shi Guang's hand and turned around to give Shi Guang a fierce glare. He stopped Shi Guang from following. Pan Yueqing looked at Qi Si'an, who was so emotional, and didn't know what to say.

"What?" Qi Si'an met Pan Yueqing's complex eyes. He stepped forward and grabbed her slender wrist, unconsciously increasing the strength. "You also think I can't go?"

Seeing Qi Si'an like this, Pan Yueqing met his gaze and said calmly, "Forgive me for being blunt, but if you're really not in good health, you'd better not travel around."

"Shut up. It's you who's not capable," Qi Si'an realized his gaffe, let go of her hand, and glared at Pan Yueqing.