"This…" Qing Zhu murmured something and it swallowed its saliva. It laughed sheepishly. "Actually, I can explain…"

Nan Xian grabbed the snake's tail. It was like he was pulling a dead snake as he walked out of the room without any expression on his face.

"Master, where do you want to bring me to? I don't want to be turned into snake soup! I don't want that! Princess, help me!"

The snake's hysterical scream disappeared the moment Nan Xian left. But, the sad echo still lingered in the air and it remained there for a long time. It was heavy.

Feng Ruqing was speechless.

She could only pray for Qing Zhu for three seconds. Not even a second more.

'Who asked it to appear out of nowhere and bother our moment?'

***

The next day.

In the morning.

Feng Ruqing had just finished showering when she heard some noise outside the manor. She put on her clothes and walked out of the door. 

She soon saw Tang Zi and the Iron-Blooded Troop when she stepped outside.

All of them smiled happily when they saw Feng Ruqing.

"Master!"

Soon, all of the women from the Iron-Blooded Troop surrounded Feng Ruqing, where she stood in the middle.

"You're back?" Feng Ruqing breathed a sigh of relief subconsciously when she saw that they were back.

Tang Zi was ordered to go and look for the spirit herbs and she did not return for a long time. She was relieved now that they were back.

"Master, I'm sorry. We've been looking for the spirit herbs for many days but we could not locate all of them." Tang Zi seemed apologetic and lowered her head. "It's me… I'm useless."

Feng Ruqing smiled. "I asked you to go and look for the spirit herbs as a backup plan. It's fine even if you could not locate all of them. You're not useless. The spirit herbs are rare. You've tried your best. That's more than enough."

'Moreover, my mother is fine now. How could I blame them?'

All of the people from the Iron-Blooded Troop were silent.

They were guilty and felt uneasy. Now, their master was even consoling them. It made them feel uneasy.

"Master…" A woman from the Iron-Blooded Troop blinked. "If I were a man and I were ten years younger than I am now, I would definitely marry you."

Feng Ruqing patted her shoulder. "You're still young. Later, I'll ask the four-armed ape to give you some herbal dish that beautifies one's looks and all of you will definitely look like girls who are twenty years old."

"Really?"

No girl in the world did not dream of staying young and beautiful. But, the time would always take away one's beauty and leave some traces of time.

Although the women from the Iron-Blooded Troop fought like men on the battlefield, they still wanted to stay young and beautiful.

Furthermore, they were still single and unmarried.

They treated Liu Yun Kingdom like their home where they were willing to sacrifice their whole lives to protect it.

So, they still needed to help the soldiers from the Nalan family to guard the border even though Nalan Yan was not around for the past few years.

And that had made them still single and unmarried.

"Of course, it's true." Feng Ruqing's gaze was warm and she smiled. "You're women. Ling Yun, I see that you're losing hair recently. You might be too tired. Remember to rest well. I'll prepare some herbal dishes for you to treat your problem."

Ling Yun's eyes looked like stars and were filled with excitement.