"Teacher, what do we do?" the scholar's face was petrified. He froze in place, glancing back at the broken bridge and then at Teacher Zhou Lin.
"Do not be frightened. You must remain calm at all times." Teacher Zhou Lin had a peaceful demeanor, not startled by the broken bridge.
"The soldiers are here, so I'm sure there is a camp near here," Suyin remarked, glimpsing behind her at the soldiers as she turned to Teacher Zhou Lin. He nodded his head, acknowledging Suyin's suggestion.
Suyin knew that based on her experiences during her past ventures, the soldiers often embarked and camped nearby where they would remain. At the very least, five miles would reach their camp base.
"Alright, I need some of you to go the base first, and I need another group to gather some herbs as much as you can." Teacher Zhou Lin commanded the students.
The scholars all gathered up into separate groups, quickly assembling to head out.
"There's no need to pass the gates. We will take the latter route down the hill instead. This is a long way back to the Palace, but be cautious."
Suyin was among the other group who planned on collecting some herbs, but Teacher Zhou Lin tugged her to the side.
"It is critical that you must be on your toes. You are an important status to the person*, after all." Teacher Zhou Lin uttered with an uneasy tone, his eyes looking straight at Suyin's eyes.
(* Teacher Zhou Lin knows that she's important to Qin Fuhua, so he doesn't want him to be worried about her if she gets hurt)
"Su Yi will be leading group two." Teacher Zhou Lin examined the other (random) scholar, "You will be leading group two." He uttered.
The scholar bobbed his head, apprehensive at the responsibility that was handed to him, but took it with dignity.
Yuan Fu was near Suyin after she strolled back from Teacher Zhou Lin, who glanced at her. "Will you be okay, brother?" Yuan Fu's eyebrows lowered, his eyes lowering down to the shorter Suyin who bit her lips, darting up at him.
"I will be fine" Suyin answered. "This isn't a problem."
Yuan Fu knew that he could trust Suyin on her own, but safety was what worried him.
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To ensure the camp base, Suyin's suggestion was correct. Teacher Zhou Lin had spoken to the two soldiers about their base, which was about seven miles from here. Teacher Zhou Lin was suggested by the soldiers to be led by the troopers to the camp with a small carriage.
Although Teacher Zhou Lin wanted Suyin to join him, Suyin denied his request, due to her commitment to help and lead the other scholars that would help gather herbs*. With not much to do, he headed off first to camp, while the other two groups were split up by their assignments.
(*Teacher Zhou Lin would guess that there are wounded soldiers somewhere, based on the fact that the soldiers had blocked off the entrance to Xian'er Forest. Leading to the reason why he told his students to gather up herbs based on his teachings in the past).
Suyin, along with Yuan Fu and five other scholars was away from the dirt pathway.
Along the way, she had found some of the berries and suggested the scholars use this to mark their tracking. This would help them know where they were, and it wasn't as obvious to any suspicious bandits or groups if they found out where they were located.
Carefully, the group gathered as many herbs as they could find. With some quick education from Suyin to the group of scholars, they were able to find bundles, tossing them inside their robes to take to the camp.
As Suyin and the group headed straight to the camp, some of the scholars grew inquisitive about Suyin's identity. As the group walked their way back to the dirt pathway and downhill to the camp that could be seen from the hills in the forest, one of the scholars spoke out, still holding the herbs in his chest as he held onto them tightly.
"So... are you in a special relationship with the Prince of Qin?"
Suyin diverted to the scholar, coughing her spit before she could even speak. Yuan Fu chuckled at the comment, only patting Suyin's back to help her from her cough.
Violently coughing for a couple of seconds before she could get a grasp of air, Suyin tilted her head this time, looking at the young scholar.
"I'm sorry, what?"
Wasn't she Su Yi? How would these scholars know about her identity as a girl, anyway?
"Sir, Su Yi. It was possible that the Prince of Qin may like a man. My father said that since he was at a young age, he never turned his head to another girl." Another scholar spoke out.
"Wait, but I heard something about him killing his lover.*"
(*Reference to chapter 34 ).
"No, isn't it something like, he executed her, in front of everyone."
One by one, the scholars began discussing Qin Fuhua's past. Suyin was there, listening calmly about it. After all, it was all just rumors and gossip, but why was Suyin not shaken by all of this?
She had never seen the side of Qin Fuhua that others may have seen.
Like an invisible wall listening to the scholars speak, Yuan Fu softly nudged Suyin with his elbow, making sure she was paying attention. "Hey, are you listening to this? Aren't you shaking?" He sarcastically voiced, smiling at Suyin. "Or jealous?"
"Jealous of being killed by a lover? Shouldn't you be the one gossiping with them, too?" Suyin whispered, annoyed by their comments. "I'm still trying to listen to the pin on the Prince*, do you not hear?" Suyin declared, trying to place her ears closer to the scholars who were strolling faster than them.
(*Means that Suyin is trying to hear what "stories" people were talking about Qin Fuhua since it's rare for him to have these kinds of things on him)
"No, I never liked that kind of thing. Despite me being fed with a silver spoon in my life and having a noble background, I was always one who was gossiped about." Yuan Fu's voice had quavered for a second as if his sentiments were being poured out.
"Hey, look at you now. I bet your family is proud of where you're at, brother." Suyin prodded back at him to snap him back to reality. "You won your spot at the Palace. Tell me that those gossipers are there too*" Suyin wanted to cheer him up, as he grinned at her.
(*Suyin's sarcastically saying this. She's telling him that whoever gossiped at him isn't where he's at now. He's in a good position whilst those people talking down on him aren't at his level anymore).
"I knew that I chose a good sister." He beamed.
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Suyin was able to evade the question about her relationship with Qin Fuhua by orienting them about various types of herbs that they had passed along the way to the soldier's camp. Wooden spikes, wooden catapults, and a large defensive wooden wall were greeted upon the scholars. The smell of blood burned into Suyin's and the scholar's noses.
As soon as Suyin and the others approached close to the soldiers, they were immediately stopped by their spears at their faces.
"Who are you?" The two soldiers questioned Suyin, whose eyes grew big at the sight of the spear in front of her nose.
"We are scholars. Teacher Zhou Lin should have arrived already."
It took Suyin a second for her to turn to the other scholars who stood there in fear, startled by the rush of oppression of the soldiers.
"Stop."
A voice called out. It was an older male, who entered the scene.
"T-Teacher Zhou Lin!" One of the scholars cried out his name with happiness. All of the scholars' happiness in seeing Teacher Zhou Lin suddenly turned into fear, including Suyins.
The people guarding the gates weren't Qin soldiers, they were bandits that had taken their clothes to guard the gates!
There was an older male who had an eye patch, with one hand, he was holding Teacher Zhou Lin and the other was a sword directly at the throat of Teacher Zhou Lin.
Little did the group realize that the camp that was there was already overtaken a couple of hours ago before Suyin and her group had arrived there. With fear in their eyes, they all looked at each other.