DIDKNWGEWAFEM

Chapter 23: Shyness

“Officer Zhongli, did that ‘little sister’ write to you again? What color is it this time?”

Seeing how Zhongli Luo is beaming with happiness as she holds the letter, everyone laughs.

Zhongli Luo nods, voice carrying a brazen cadence. “She’s my fiancée.”

“Ooooo~ Fiancéeeeee~” They all tease.

After Zhongli Luo had come back from the capital, she decided to try and have a good relationship with everyone. Due to her being young and of slighter stature with a delicate appearance, her natural lofty bearing had taken some hits. Now that she’s treating people a lot friendlier and further unlike a senior official, everyone is getting progressively more unrestrained in front of her, occasionally poking fun at this thin-faced young Officer.

They also knew from before that this very young Officer Zhongli had a girlfriend from long ago in the capital. That little lady sent a letter every month full of extremely gentle feelings and honeyed ideas; who could’ve guessed that following last month’s return trip, that girlfriend would have changed into a formal fiancée?

Upon seeing Zhongli Luo tear open the letter, most of the people there – despite their illiteracy – can’t help but gather around.

Ooo, look at that exquisite letter paper. Truly worthy of being from a Young Mistress in the capital, huh?

At that time, someone asked, “Officer Zhongli, is your fiancée pretty?

Everyone immediately parroted that. “Yeah, yeah, is she pretty?”

Zongli Luo quirked her lips and nodded. “She is.”

“More than that Miss Biling you brought with to send home?”

That person had just barely finished speaking when he viciously suffered a slap on the forehead from someone else. “What crap are you saying, why are you comparing Officer Zhongli’s fiancée with a singing concubine?!”

That one knew he’d made a faux-pas and rushed to apologize. “That was just a little slip of the tongue, Officer, you don’t need to mind it.”

Yet Zhongli Luo isn’t mad, contrarily saying some purposeless words with a face that wasn’t red and a heart that wasn’t hammering. “She’s prettier than her.”

P… Prettier than Cen Biling? Cen Biling was already the most beautiful girl they’d ever seen in these few years in the rotten Northwest, and when they saw their own incomprehensible Officer had actually just sent her home, their jaws nearly fell off in alarm. Everyone had wrung their hands and breathed funny as they couldn’t help but wonder if this young Officer Zhongli was sick or something. Turns out he wasn’t sick, but just had someone even better at home? To be prettier than Cen Biling… what kind of immortal lady must she be?

“Officer Zhongli is really lucky.” Everyone said in succession, half-drinking vinegar.

Zhongli Luo held the letter that could now be freely responded to and thought: how could it not be luck, to have her, with her character and abilities, be treated so well like this by Jiahui? All she can do is continue to work hard, and through hard work become worthy enough of Jiahui, the best in all the world.

The Northwest is desolate and sparsely populated, still having the Xirong frequently rushing in to burn and kill and loot, no crime too evil for them to commit. Proper officials and soldiers yet fear them, and it’s even worse for the unarmed citizens; for that reason, all living here suffer hardships that cannot be described in words.

The number of times the Xirong have pillaged hasn’t been counted during Zhongli Luo’s years here, but it surely isn’t few. Their tribes are of all sizes, and when it comes time to eliminate these Xirong – and when the Xirong cockily rush in and make a grand thievery of the citizens – the might of these cow or sheepskin-clad people who sit high atop big horses and never brush their hair is truly fearsome. Even dealing with the small tribes takes great effort; if they all band together in the future and make a large march down South… it’s unthinkable. Zhongli Luo somewhat fears that.