**
"Who's scared of who?" The man utters, picking up the basket of kittens. He reveals the cover, exposing the presence of five kittens.
Calico, they are. I smile. "Very well! Has anyone in the audience ever herd kittens? I would like for him or her to identify the gender of the kittens," I ask, but no one seems to reply with a yes.
What are the chances? Even the heavens won't help the villainess.
Someone suddenly raises his hand, "I have owned kittens several years ago. The memory is unclear, but I can try." Lucky! The audience member volunteer to saunter to the basket of kittens, gently lifting one of them and then the others.
After examining all of them, he nods, "Male kittens will have a much greater distance between the genitals and anus than females.. I don't see such quality in any of them. The young Miss is correct, they are all female."
I glance back to my table, noticing that Scholar Li is clapping his hands, "I knew it!" General Li's face expressed how impressed she is. Xu Kai's face is still as ambiguous as ever.
The middle aged man wearing a straw hat spits out his food, "You— Liar! You are all liars, trying to steal my kittens. Take this!" He throws his bowl at me, aiming for my face. After doing so, he attempts to make a run with the kittens.
I try to dodge by backing up but it seems I am not hasty enough!
With a momentary movement, the bowl is split in half in the air, and I fall in the arms of Sir Xu again. "Good grief. You are always causing trouble, aren't you?"
I reestablish my balance again, laughing nervously.
Sir Xu aims a large wooden stick at the middle aged man's left leg, preventing him from running any further. When the man falls, the basket of kittens fly up in the air; I catch the basket of kittens just in time.
Safe!
The middle aged man picks himself up furiously and disappears. The audience cheers and claps their hands, saying "Justice is served!"
The owner of the stand and her grandson approaches Xu Kai and me, thanking us. I return the basket of kittens to the boy, "Requisite good with good. Requisite bad with justice."
The child bows exuberantly and thanks us again; the old lady tells him, "Child, go fetch this pair of lovers' table additional bowls of tofu pudding."
I shake my head, motioning that Xu Kai and I are not—
"No, we—"
"Thank you, kind madam," Co-Commander says as he wraps his arms around my back. "We would greatly appreciate it."
I stare at him with my eyes googling out, "Excuse me?" My mouth is wide open.
This dude— Has he eaten a bear's heart and leopard gall, finally plucking up the courage to go against this Miss?!
He raises his brows at me, "What? Free food." Before he heads back to the table, he mutters, "Close your mouth before flies fly in."
"You!"
General Li and I did not speak to each other in the carriage on the way to the territories. A feeling of guilt swarm me; I feel as though I shouldn't interact as much with Xu Kai from here. I need to keep my distance, as they are engaged after all.
When we reach the military territory, I finally have a gist of what wartime is like. There were tents set up everywhere, all of the soldiers are stern-looking and are dressed in armor. Weapon stands, there is an abundance of. The smell of fire powder, earth, and sweat dance around the area.
The commander of this territory, General Yu Hao, greets us, "Welcome to the base. Everyone, please, this way." He has a lax appearance, seemingly negligent in the performance of his duties.
We visit the place that was supposed to be the storage room; it is quite remote. All that are left are ashes and dust; a great amount of Millet bags have been burned down from the looks of the storage room.
According to General Yu Hao, a fire was started yesterday night by an anonymous invader. By the time the troops had cleared the fire, many of the staple foods have been burned down.
When we enjoyed our tofu pudding, I remember Sir Xu had said that political corruption is innately common in the government system. Should anyone tell any story, one should be skeptical of what he or she says.
Now I know what Xu Kai means, as General Yu Hao's story has been sketchy to begin with. Firstly, unless the field security is fairly basic, it is difficult for an invader to sneak into the territory. Secondly, the ratio of total bags to the ratio of burned bags and survivor bags does not match. In fact, there is actually a surplus when we counted the bags again.
We stay in the guests' tent, conversing about our next steps while the soldiers celebrate another battlefield success. "There is definitely a hole in his story; however, because General Yu Hao has a trusting relationship with the Minister of Finance, it is difficult to deem him guilty without having firm evidence."
Li Shi Zhen concurs, "Should we venomously slander him, we would probably lose more than we gain."
Looking out the tent, General Li says, "They must have intricately concealed the details and evidence. To lower their guards, we need to make it seem as if we have found nothing suspicious here."
Xu Kai, "By midnight, we should sneak into the storage room to find some clues." Co-Commander looks at Li Shi Zhen, who intensely shakes his head.
General Li disagrees, "I think Miss Yuan and I should attend the storage room. Should the soldiers find us, we have more loopholes and excuses."
I choke on my tea and point to myself, "Me?!"