Arang ultimately couldn’t persuade Ayang and agreed to go back, but insisted on waiting for Ran Lei to return first; otherwise, he wouldn’t be at ease.

Ayang reluctantly consented.

That night, both of them intended to stay alert, but the exhaustion from the past few days quickly overcame them, and they soon fell asleep. When they opened their eyes again, they found it was already daylight outside.

"Where’s Jin Bao?" Ayang looked beside him, and instantly broke into a cold sweat, hurriedly rushing outside.

The tent was divided into an inner and outer section; Arang was resting in the outer section, originally meant to keep watch. But when Jin Bao went missing, he hadn’t realized it, and woke up with a shiver: "Damn it, Arang should die."

"Let’s look!" Ayang couldn’t bother to blame Arang and directly ran out, "Jin Bao!"

At that moment, Jin Bao was in Nian Qianqian’s arms, with Changyangzi standing nearby, instructing Nian Qianqian on how to properly hold the child.

"Didn’t you take care of Qingheng when he was little? What’s so great about that? Let me tell you, Xinxin is about to give birth soon, and she’s promised to let the child apprentice with me." Nian Qianqian pouted. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Jin Bao was awake, though he couldn’t understand what they were saying, but he obligingly made occasional noises and then stuck his tiny fist into his mouth, noisily gnawing.

At this moment, someone rushed over and snatched the child away.

The child had been comfortable, but suddenly frightened by the snatch, began to cry.

Both Nian Qianqian and Changyangzi were shocked.

"Are you crazy?" Nian Qianqian was displeased; she was naturally proud and whimsical, never treated like this before. Though she repeated in Daxuan speech, upon seeing Ayang, switched to Miao language.

"I..." Ayang realized he might have overreacted, and momentarily was at a loss for words.

Nian Qianqian turned and left.

Changyangzi understood Miao language too, realizing it was a misunderstanding, and explained, "I heard the child crying outside earlier, she seemed to have taken the child out to feed him." He also left afterward.

Ayang looked at Jin Bao, who was still crying, feeling extremely vexed, wanting to explain but unsure how, sweating in anxiety.

"Ayang!" Just then, someone rushed in from outside.

"Brother Alei!" Hearing this voice, Ayang smiled instantly, and forgetting to apologize to the elders, turned and ran towards the newcomer.

"Thank goodness you’re alright." Ran Lei exhaled in relief.

"It’s great that you’re fine too!" Ayang’s heart was completely at ease.

Qi Jingyun was rescued and brought back, and the news swiftly reached Beijing, with an imperial edict arriving soon after, offering both comfort to Qi Jingyun and praise for Gu Qingheng. Of course, this was several days later.

However, the news significantly boosted the morale of Daxuan soldiers and increased Gu Qingheng’s reputation, though it was a substantial blow to the Yun King as well.

Imagine, a head general wasn’t killed, but was directly taken from outside the camp! What does that represent? It’s either incompetence or recklessness.

But Gu Qingheng? He had been here just over two months and single-handedly infiltrated enemy territory to rescue him.

Military men had always revered strength.

Because of this, Qi Jingrong was extremely furious, though he could only sulk in silence, as Qi Jingyun was still not well, returning only to fall asleep deeply.