Despite Chu Lian’s attempts at probing her, the woman didn’t show any reaction to the names Chu Lian mentioned. In the end, she completely ignored Chu Lian and laid down right next to her. She turned her back to Chu Lian and shut her eyes.

Chu Lian stared at the canopy above her, wrapped up warmly in her fur cloak. It was so quiet in the tent that she could hear the non-stop coughing from the tent next door. She wanted to escape. Although her kidnappers hadn’t mistreated her so far, they definitely had other plans for her.

No matter who the real mastermind was, it wasn’t going to bode well for her if she really ended up in that person’s hands. Just her reputation alone would be ruined, no matter the outcome.

So she had to do whatever she could to escape!

Chu Lian didn’t know how much time passed as she thought. As the wind howled outside, it was so quiet that she could hear a pin drop inside the tent.

Her mind was so occupied with escaping that she didn’t feel sleepy at all. She took a deep breath and gently shifted away the cloak around her. She carefully flipped over to her other side. She did this so carefully that she barely made a sound. However, as soon as she finished turning over, she was immediately met with the woman’s cold glare.

Chu Lian’s eyes widened in fright.

She gave out a bitter laugh inside. It seemed like it would be impossible to sneak out in front of these guys.

Since she had already failed her attempt, Chu Lian didn’t bother wasting any more effort and went to sleep. She would have to find another way to escape.

Early in the morning of the next day, Chu Lian woke up abruptly. Since there wasn’t any movement from her kidnappers, she didn’t bother getting up just yet.

It was only when the sound of the barbarians talking outside filtered into the tent that her kidnappers slowly opened their eyes.

They exchanged glances. Even without speaking, it seemed like they were able to understand each other.

The two shorter men pulled on their cloaks and left. Only the tall man and thick-lipped woman were left in the tent.

The woman stood up and took out an iron kettle from the side. She dug up some snow right at the tent entrance and tossed them into the kettle before setting the kettle on top of the brazier in the tent. She was most likely going to heat up some hot water.

Chu Lian quickly put on her own cloak and walked up to the woman. She looked up with her moist, wide eyes and said, “It’s too stuffy in here. I want to go out for some fresh air.”

The woman shook her head.

Chu Lian immediately frowned. She glanced at the woman in front of the brazier and decided not to speak another word more. She simply headed straight towards the tent entrance.

However, before she had even reached the tent flap, she heard the sound of something flying through the air. In the next instant, there was already a sword stabbed into the ground at her feet. It would have cut right through her foot if it had landed one centimeter closer!

Chu Lian froze in place and blanked out for a moment. When she finally regained her wits, cold sweat ran down her back.

Her wide eyes seemed to turn into impenetrable depths for a short second before they quickly returned to normal.

Chu Lian looked down at the sword that was at least seven or eight centimeters deep in the ground as her face flushed red with anger.

“You... How dare you do that! Wait till I tell my husband He Changdi, I’ll get him to kill you all!”

She was so indignant and furious that even her neck had turned red. Hopping mad, she pointed a trembling finger at the woman.

A trace of contempt flashed across the thick-lipped woman’s originally expressionless face. She hadn’t expected that her master would actually like such a brainless woman.

“Honoured Lady, I would advise you to be more obedient. Although we were ordered to assure your safety, if an accident were to happen... it’s not something within our control.”

Chu Lian seemed to have been pushed to the edge by the woman’s words. She continued pointing at the woman, unwilling to stop. “You had better not let me meet my husband then, or all of you will be dead!”

The thick-lipped woman could no longer hold back her disdain. She snorted, “Honoured Lady, I’ll admit that He Changdi is pretty strong, but you seem to have forgotten where you are now. If you want your husband to take revenge for you, then you’ll have to wait until you actually see him again!”

This time, Chu Lian looked like she had finally been dealt a blow. She looked down at the ground and slowly walked back to her original position. There was no more mention of going out of the tent from her as she sat back down on the blanket in a cross-legged pose. She wrapped her fox fur cloak around herself and curled up as if she was a pitiful, bullied little orphan.

The woman shot another disdainful glare at her, eyes full of contempt.

However, she had to admit that this honoured lady did indeed have the looks to make a man fall deeply in love with her. Although her hair was in a mess from the rough journey through the night, the few loose strands of hair framing her face only accented how smooth and fair her skin was, like a piece of fine white jade. Her beauty invited onlookers to reach out to touch her and check if she was real. The way she looked all pitiful right now would also be able to tug at anyone’s heartstrings.

Unfortunately, there was nothing contained in that pretty little head of hers! She had probably been spoiled stupid when she was younger to be this naive!

As a female spy, she hated the vapid, fragile flowers raised in the depths of noble houses the most. All they could do was to seduce men with their looks and they were completely devoid of any practical skills or talent.

During Chu Lian’s ‘fit of temper’, the barbarian woman who had been brewing medicine the night before had passed by the tent with a wooden basin in hand.

There were three words in Chu Lian’s shout that made her freeze in place.

Chu Lian had spoken in the official language of the capital of the Great Wu Dynasty. The barbarian woman didn’t actually understand that language at all, but she could recognise the words ‘He Changdi’.