Chapter 61: My Husband Has Returned

"Either the Shen family has another daughter..."
"Or, the tenth young lady of the Shen family has another husband!"
The two hidden guards behind him voiced their respective conjectures.
Qin Lang glanced back at them and said, "No one is going to mistake you for mutes if you don't speak."
The hidden guards immediately shut their mouths and fell silent.
"So... what on earth is going on right now?"
Having just arrived in Xizhou City after being brought out of the great mountains by Qin Lang, Jiang Huai'an was completely bewildered by this situation.
Jiang Huai'an was Jiang Pingwei's only grandson, having just turned nineteen years old this year. He was exceptionally tall, strong and powerful, dressed in hunter's attire and carrying a bow and arrows.
His grandfather had passed away the previous year, leaving him all alone in the mountains. Hearing that war had broken out in Xizhou, he had carried out his grandfather's dying wish to come down from the mountain and join the military.
Just dozens of miles into his journey, he encountered Xichang soldiers burning, killing, and plundering civilians on the western border. Unable to contain his anger, he sneaked in to rescue the people. Right in the middle of the intense brawl, Qin Lang and his entourage happened to pass by and lend a helping hand, annihilating that squad of Xichang soldiers. After rescuing the innocent civilians, they introduced themselves to one another.
What a coincidence.
Qin Lang's group had actually set out specifically looking for him, Jiang Huai'an.
The rise and fall of the realm is the responsibility of every ordinary citizen.
Besides, the Xichang army had already pushed to his very doorstep. Although the grandfather and grandson of the Jiang family had lived in seclusion in the mountains for many years, how could they stand idly by when the nation was in peril?
Without a second thought, Jiang Huai'an followed them to Xizhou City.
He had initially believed the young Prince Qin when he claimed to be the husband of the tenth young lady of the Shen family and the grandson-in-law of the veteran General Shen, but now... he had his doubts.
If this man was not the husband of the tenth young lady of the Shen family, could the person waiting for him ahead be some kind of fatal trap?
Jiang Huai'an immediately reined in his horse and backed up several steps. Maintaining a certain distance from Qin Lang, he glared at him and asked warily, "The people inside said that the husband of the tenth young lady of the Shen family has already been captured by the Xichang army. Who on earth are you?"
The nearby hidden guards were startled by his sudden backward maneuver on horseback.
The captain of the hidden guards, Zhong Shu, hurriedly explained, "My master truly is the husband of the tenth young lady of the Shen family, without a doubt! There must be some misunderstanding here. If you accompany us into the estate and meet veteran General Shen and the young madam, everything will be clear."
Jiang Huai'an looked like someone who was easy to deceive, but in reality, his guard was quite high.
It would have been one thing if he hadn't suspected anything earlier, but now, the more he looked at Qin Lang, the more he felt something was wrong with this man.
Seeing the look in the other man's eyes, Qin Lang laughed wryly and said, "Even if Brother Jiang does not believe me, you should at least trust the Shen family army."
He didn't pressure Jiang Huai'an to enter the estate right at that moment, choosing instead to instruct his hidden guard, "Zhong Shu, go inside and report to my wife. Tell her I have brought Brother Jiang back."
"Yes, this subordinate will go right away."
Zhong Shu immediately dismounted and entered the estate to make the report.

This matter really couldn't be blamed for arousing Jiang Huai'an's vigilance.
Anyone who heard such news would suspect that there was trickery afoot.
Actually, it wasn't that Qin Lang couldn't explain, but rather that wasting his breath was nowhere near as useful as having the tenth young lady of the Shen family come out to greet him and call him "husband."
Who on earth was spreading the rumor that the tenth young lady's husband was so useless that he could actually get captured by the Xichang army?
The young Prince Qin was furious on the inside, yet had to maintain an air of carefree detachment on the surface. "Brother Jiang need not be nervous. Just wait a moment."
Jiang Huai'an brought one hand behind his back to rest on his bow, his face taut as he said, "I'll wait then. Am I supposed to be afraid of you?"
Meanwhile, inside the estate.
Wei Qingshan and the others were utterly shocked: "The son-in-law has fallen into the hands of the Xichang people?"
"Then we must dispatch troops to rescue him immediately!"
"That fellow He Tuo may not be old, but his schemes are as dense as a hornet's nest. He deliberately spread the word to lure the tenth young lady to go alone, and he definitely has malicious intentions. The tenth young lady must not let her concern cloud her judgment and fall into He Tuo's trap!"
The generals chimed in one after another, and some had even begun arguing over who should lead the troops to rescue the son-in-law.
The son-in-law and the tenth young lady had only just newly wed before coming to Xizhou City, bringing both grain and medicine. The massive amounts of gold and silver sent by the young master of the Lin family must also have been arranged by the son-in-law.
Otherwise, even if the richest man in Jiangnan had endless wealth to spend, he wouldn't send it all the way to the western frontier for no reason.
Li Hongzhen anxiously said, "Such a fine son-in-law, a son-in-law so generous with his wealth, absolutely cannot be allowed to be beheaded by He Tuo!"
The crowd echoed his sentiments one after another.
Standing nearby, Qiao Xia listened in and couldn't help thinking: The husband of the tenth young lady of the Shen family, reputed to be the "finest beauty in Shengjing," had actually been captured by the Xichang people. This was somewhat all show and no substance, wasn't it?
"Impossible."
Shen Ruojin calmed down amidst the chaotic noise.
She analyzed carefully: "Qin Lang may look flippant and irresponsible, but he is actually extremely astute and would never easily fall into enemy hands."
Ever since the young Prince Qin arrived at the western frontier without looking everywhere for her, but instead disguising himself and heading straight to the Protectorate to retrieve the western frontier military tally, waiting for her to come back and initiate things—ever since then, this fellow had ceased to be the tyrannical overlord of Emperor Jing who relied on the Prince of Zhenbei's estate to run amok in Shen Ruojin's eyes.
Shen Ruojin said, "Furthermore, Senior Jiang lives in seclusion in the mountains. Qin Lang merely went into the mountains to invite him out. Even if Xichang soldiers sneaked into the territory, it couldn't be such a coincidence that they managed to capture him."
Qin Lang possessed martial arts skills and profound inner strength, and he was accompanied by a dozen hidden guards. Encountering several hundred Xichang soldiers would pose no problem at all.
And if the Xichang soldiers had sneaked in quietly, they couldn't have brought very many men.
Hearing her analyze it this way, the generals also felt somewhat more at ease.
Wei Qingshan said, "A husband is best understood by his wife. Since the tenth young lady says so, then the person captured by the Xichang army is not necessarily our son-in-law."
"Then why is this written on the letter-arrow sent by the Xichang people?" Qiao Xia looked at the slip of paper and said disdainfully, "These Xichang people are truly becoming more and more shameless. All is fair in war, but that's not how you play it."

Some generals still felt that Shen Ruojin was being too absolute.
"While it's true one should always look on the bright side of things, isn't the tenth young lady being a bit too optimistic? What if the Xichang people really did capture the son-in-law?"
Shen Ruojin didn't argue with them either. "True or false, let's send scouts to investigate first!"
"Understood!" Wei Qingshan acknowledged the order and went off to execute it.
Outside, a loud and clear announcement rang out: "Hidden guard Zhong Shu requests an audience with the young madam."
"Let him enter."
As soon as Shen Ruojin heard this, she knew that Qin Lang's people had returned.
The guards at the gate cleared the way, and Zhong Shu walked in, facing the gazes of everyone in the room.
Before he could even speak, the generals hurriedly fired off questions:
"You're a personal guard, how could you leave your master behind and return alone?"
"Where is the son-in-law?"
"Could it be that the son-in-law really was captured by the Xichang people?"
Zhong Shu quickly said, "My master has just brought back Senior Jiang's grandson, Jiang Huai'an, and they are right outside the gates at this moment. Someone shouted that the son-in-law had been captured, and when young master Jiang heard it, he felt something was amiss. He thought my master was impersonating the Shen family's son-in-law to trick him, and suspecting a trap inside the estate, he refused to come in..."
"He is back."
Hearing that Qin Lang had brought Senior Jiang's grandson back and was right outside the gates at this moment, Shen Ruojin immediately hurried over.
She practically ran, her robes fluttering in the wind, moving so fast that only a blur remained.
Seeing this, everyone in the room quickly gave chase.
Outside the estate gates at that moment, only Qin Lang and Jiang Huai'an were still sitting on horseback.
To lessen young master Jiang's hostility, the hidden guards had dismounted and stepped back.
Stepping across the threshold, Shen Ruojin caught sight of the young Prince Qin at a glance, dressed in dark robes and looking handsome despite the dust of travel.
Seeing that he was completely unharmed, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief and called out, "Qin Lang!"
"Madam, what did you just call me?"
Qin Lang dismounted in a flash, strode up to her, and whispered, "Brother Jiang refuses to believe I am the Shen family's son-in-law no matter what."
Catching his drift, Shen Ruojin immediately corrected herself and said, "Husband has returned."