Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Peng Mingzhu complained in a soft voice, "You're embarrassing me."
"Haha," Wei Kangnuan chuckled lightly. "Do you feel better now?"
With a shy blush on her face, Peng Mingzhu moved herself away from his hold and said, "Yes, thank you. It's been a long while since I've cried."
"I'm glad that you're willing to cry in my presence," Wei Kangnuan told her with a happy smile.
The blush on her face became even redder and she averted her eyes to ask, "Why?"
"Because it proves that I'm important to you," Wei Kangnuan answered and moved his body to look into her eyes that were still a bit red from crying.
Peng Mingzhu coughed to hide her embarrassment and asked Wei Kangnuan, "Um… Is there anything else you want to learn about our military?"
"Quite a lot," Wei Kangnuan immediately answered.
"Such as?" Peng Mingzhu questioned with a tilt of her head and looking at him.
"Such as… When did you join the military?" Wei Kangnuan told Peng Mingzhu.
"Hm… I officially joined the military at 18 years old. However, I began to seriously train for the military at the age of 15," Peng Mingzhu said with a hand on her chin. "That is around the same age for you guys, is it not? Some even begin younger."
"Yes, mainly the sons of generals and commanders," Wei Kangnuan replied.
As Peng Mingzhu began to walk again, she asked, "You like being in the military?"
"Yes, why do you ask?" Wei Kangnuan asked back with curious eyes.
"Normally, in history books, it is the crown prince that focuses on the military in order to gain the upper hand when he assumes the throne," Peng Mingzhu explained while looking around at the market that they were passing through at the moment. "I noticed that Wei Li doesn't like to be around violence as much as you even though he tries to show a cold and cautious front."
"So, even you noticed?" Wei Kangnuan inquired with smiling eyes.
"Well, he made it quite obvious. It's hard not to notice," Peng Mingzhu immediately stated.
"Brother has always been like that. He tries to be mature and cold, but in fact, out of us three kids, he is the most soft-hearted," Wei Kangnuan told Peng Mingzhu with a sigh. "Even our dearest little sister can make much more harsher decisions than him and handle truths better than him."
"Being the crown prince, shouldn't he be harsher than anyone else?" Peng Mingzhu questioned with curious eyes. "As the crown prince, his life will always be threatened and the only way to lessen the threat to put force against force. Of course, tactically and strategically. Charging head on is always a dumb choice."
"If you were to throw Brother on a battlefield, I am afraid he would accidentally die from a wild boar," Wei Kangnuan joked with a light chuckle.
"The emperor does not force him to better himself?" Peng Mingzhu asked with interest in her eyes.
"Well, if it had been 10 years ago, maybe. However, at this time, father has already given up," Wei Kangnuan told Peng Mingzhu, not caring at all that he was embarrassing his own brother at this moment.
"Oh, so that's why it's your camp instead of his," Peng Mingzhu muttered absentmindedly.
"I still have more questions for you," Wei Kangnuan suddenly said, making Peng Mingzhu flip her head to face him. "Aside from being a sniper in the military, you were also a physician?"
"No," Peng Mingzhu shook her head and then with a shrug as she sighed, she said, "Qiang-gege forced me to learn. In fact, even the military has no idea about the fact that I can also be a military surgeon aside from being a sniper. But, it's not like I'm going to tell them."
"Why did he force you to learn?" Wei Kangnuan asked, wanting to learn more about this "Qiang-gege" person.
"The person that he loved a lot got hurt and he didn't have anyone to trust in since he needed to keep her identity a secret, so he begged me to learn," Peng Mingzhu sighed. "I've never had to cram so much information in my brain before until then. In fact, aside from her, those people from the case were the only people I've ever used my skills on since learning."
"He is already married?" Wei Kangnuan probed hesitantly.
"Yes. In fact, he's even managed to knock up the poor lady despite them being newlyweds," Peng Mingzhu facepalmed with a sigh. "Can you believe it? He looks so appropriate and calm on the outside, but he's actually a beast on the inside."
Hearing her say that, Wei Kangnuan suddenly said in a low whisper, "Ah Nai, do you know? The most restrained person is the most unrestrained person."
Feeling the warm breath from his speaking voice near her ear, Peng Mingzhu instantaneously felt her cheeks go red once again.
In a complaining voice, she said, "Why did you speak in such a low voice so near my ear?"
Wei Kangnuan who heard her complaint instantly chuckled loudly, attracting the attention of even a few passerbys.
"You… Shut up for a while, would you?" Peng Mingzhu promptly yelled at him, losing her demure voice for a moment from the embarrassment. "Ah, I'm not talking to you anymore."
Swiftly, Peng Mingzhu began to walk at a fast pace towards the fresh market. In just a few steps, she reached the market. However, she needed to walk a bit more before reaching the city board.
"Alright, I apologize. I will not tease you anymore," Wei Kangnuan said while still holding his laughter in.
With a contempt in her voice, she said, "Hmph! Do it again and I'll turn you into a disabled man."
"Haha… Alright, I'll never tease you again," Wei Kangnuan said in resignation, but the laughter that he was trying to hold in immediately released and he bursted out again, causing Peng Mingzhu to continue looking at him with scornful eyes.
Annoyed at him, Peng Mingzhu no longer spoke to him but walked fast towards the city board that was now in her view. In fact, she had a hard time looking at the city board.
She did not know that the city board was so famous that there would be an entire hoard of people gathered there to read what was posted up on the board. Even with her tall height, she was too far to see what was written on the board.
Thankfully, she could utilize her eyes and zoom in like a sniper scope. Of course, there was a limit which was 8 times the normal that humans could see.
At the same time, every time that she used her eyes to look at the things in front of her, they would glow up a bright yellow, almost changing the color of her real eyes. In order to hide this, she used her hands and pretended to shield herself from the strong sunlight. This enabled her to use the eyes and if anyone called her out, she could immediately turn the eyes off changing the color back into her natural eye color - black.
Once turned on, she read what was up on the board.
First, there was a notice about the annual upcoming auction that the imperial family was hosting that would be coming up in about a month.
Second, there was a section for employers to post up notices that stated that they needed more workers and what price they were willing to pay per day, week, or month.
Finally, there were the papers that she wanted to see. There were 8 papers pinned onto the wooden cork board and in each were the faces of the people who were killed during the incident with their names written down below: Qiao Yazhu, Zeng Xuegang, Geng Ah, Dong Shui, Han Chin, Lin Yimu, Ye Ru, Zhu Hong.
Seeing their names, Peng Mingzhu turned to Wei Kangnuan and repeated their names to him, asking, "Out of the eight, which ones are from noble families, merchant families, and commoners?"
"You do not have to worry about any of them," Wei Kangnuan assured her, knowing why she was asking.
Tilting her head with a confused look, she asked, "Why?"
"Because they will not do anything to your subordinate," Wei Kangnuan answered her question while appreciating her cute look - her tilting her head and asking him in a confused voice was making him just want to cuddle her forever.
"But, why?" Peng Mingzhu asked once again, still very confused. "Even if you are protecting me, there would still be some who would attack my person in the dark."
"They will not," Wei Kangnuan stated with a very assuring and affirmative voice. "They will not do anything because they are all morally just people."
"What of their kins?" Peng Mingzhu questioned. "You do know that not every person can be controlled."
"You do not have to worry. Even their kins are gentle-mannered. Not only that, many of the ones that died were deserving to die," Wei Kangnuan explained to her patiently.
"They deserved to die?" Peng Mingzhu once again tilted her head, becoming even more confused. "Why?"