Time Is Slow - Chapter 54

Qiao Zhao was caught completely off guard and stumbled right into the center of the road. She was headed straight toward the approaching procession.

Shao Mingyuan paused and quickly stepped aside to avoid a collision.

For a brief moment, their eyes met.

His deep black eyes flickered slightly.

He remembered this girl, she was the one who had thrown a cactus at him the other day.

In the crowd, Jiang Yuanchao tucked away his amused smile.

That interesting little girl… how had she ended up face-to-face with the Champion Marquis?

Qiao Zhao steadied herself and instantly became the focus of countless gazes.

In this situation, any other young girl would have been mortified, burning with embarrassment. But Qiao Zhao didn’t care in the slightest.

She even took the opportunity to get a good look at Shao Mingyuan.

His eyes were very dark and very clear, like snowmelt from the high mountains, cold and pure, piercing straight to the soul.

Qiao Zhao thought to herself.

I was wrong before. Just because someone has blood on their hands doesn’t mean they’re terrifying. Even a fierce warrior who kills without hesitation can still be as gentle as water when it comes to the people he protects.

“Won’t the corpse rot?” she blurted out.

The young general was completely stunned.

He towered over the thirteen-year-old girl, gazing down at her with clear confusion in his eyes.

Is this how girls think nowadays? He wondered.

As soon as the words left her mouth, Qiao Zhao snapped back to her senses.

She coughed lightly and added, solemnly, “I was just curious… so I came to ask.”

From the crowd, countless young women collectively rolled their eyes.

Shameless! Someone please make General Shao scold this little wench and send her packing!

Contrary to everyone’s thoughts, Shao Mingyuan chuckled softly and actually answered.

“No, it won’t. It’s being preserved with thousand-year ice.”

That was all he could do. He can only preserve her appearance, so her loved ones could see her one last time.

A dull pain flared in his side again. The injury he sustained after slipping on jagged rocks while collecting the thousand-year-old ice from a cliff. He hadn’t expected the chill from the snowy peaks to linger so long, preventing proper healing.

“Oh, that’s good then.” Relieved that her body hadn’t decayed, Qiao Zhao swiftly returned back into the crowd.

Shao Mingyuan who was left standing alone in the middle of the road: “…”

So that girl had stopped him just to ask… about whether the corpse will rot or not?

With a calm expression, he continued moving forward.

In the crowd, Jiang Yuanchao withdrew his gaze and fixed it on Qiao Zhao instead.

Compared to the boring Champion Marquis, this little girl was far more intriguing.

The goddaughter of the Divine Doctor, huh?

I wonder if that so-called Divine Doctor meant it seriously or was just speaking nonsense…

Back in the crowd, Qiao Zhao stayed on high alert after being shoved earlier. She didn’t dare let her thoughts wander again, and remained sharply vigilant.

Then, she suddenly sensed a gaze locked on her. She turned abruptly and caught Jiang Yuanchao’s eyes just before he could look away.

At that moment, Qiao Zhao’s pupils shrank.

It’s him!

What a coincidence. Another familiar face from Jiafeng.

Years ago, she had once gone out to gather herbs for her grandfather and stumbled upon this man, who was injured. She casually gave him a healing salve. After that, they had run into each other a few more times by chance.

Come to think of it, she only knew his name was Thirteen. She never learned what his real name was.

Jiang Yuanchao was startled as well.

This girl was far more perceptive than he’d expected.What intrigued him even more was the way she looked at him just now.

She remembers me!

Just now, the girl’s pupils had shrunk. That subtle reaction was the unmistakable expression of someone unexpectedly recognizing a familiar face. No matter how well she masked it afterward, that instant of natural response couldn’t lie.

This was truly strange. A mere Hanlin scholar’s daughter, whose only time outside the capital was when she was abducted and taken south—how could she possibly know him, a Jinlin Guard who had been away from the capital for years?

Unless… she had glimpsed him somewhere along his return north from Jiafeng?

For once, even the ever-composed Jiang Yuanchao found himself genuinely puzzled.

Qiao Zhao averted her gaze and immediately turned to leave.

She’d drawn enough attention today. There was no need to attract more.

Having returned randomly into the crowd earlier, Qiao Zhao had become separated from Li Jiao and the others. She didn’t bother trying to find them again and simply turned to head back.

Returning to her grandmother’s carriage sounded like the safest plan right now.

Jiang Yuanchao saw Qiao Zhao walking away and casually followed.

She was just a harmless little girl, but she had sparked his curiosity. Naturally, he wanted to probe a little.

With the procession moving slowly ahead, the roads were crowded on either side. Once Qiao Zhao pushed through the densest section of the crowd, she reached a more open area and finally let herself breathe easy.

Then suddenly, a shadow fell over her. She looked up and there he was. The tall man she had just seen.

“Little girl, have we met before?” Jiang Yuanchao asked with a smile, arms crossed over his chest.

Qiao Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly.

So he had noticed her earlier.

Though her clothes were plain, they were not shabby. A man who looked so composed asking such a blunt question could only mean one thing: he didn’t care about the implications.

Why wouldn’t he care? Because he already knew her background wasn’t worth caring about. That’s the only reason he could be so casual.

Her name wasn’t written on her face, so the only way he’d know who she was… was if he’d already investigated her.

And with someone like “Li Zhao,” a girl with such a small social circle, it was impossible that she’d crossed paths with him before… unless it was during the time she was abducted.

Could this man have also just returned north and spotted their group on the road?

If so… then did he know about Chi Can and the others?

“Why won’t you speak, little girl?”

“May I ask your honorable surname, uncle?” Qiao Zhao replied sweetly.

Jiang Yuanchao’s smile froze slightly, and he instinctively rubbed his nose.

Uncle? Was he really that old?

Or had years away from capital luxury left his face looking that weathered?

“My surname is Jiang.”

“Ah, Uncle Jiang,” Qiao Zhao said with feigned enthusiasm as her thoughts raced.

He called himself “Thirteen”… Jiang and thirteen…

Suddenly, she realized who he might be.

His surname is Jiang, and he ranks thirteenth. Judging by his curiosity and tendency to stir up trouble, he is most likely one of the Thirteen Guardians under Grand Commandant Jiang Tang.

So he was a Jinlin Guard.

Qiao Zhao couldn’t help feeling a bit smug.

All her recent pestering of her father hadn’t been in vain. Thanks to her sharp memory, she’d developed a decent grasp of the more important court officials.

According to her father, the Emperor had raised a mad dog that would bite wherever it was pointed. That mad dog then raised thirteen pups of his own, who loved nothing more than lying at people’s doors and spying.

Ahem, she hadn’t dared listen to the rest of that rant. That moment had made her realize. 

So this is why her father, a brilliant top-ranked scholar, had spent over a decade buried in the Hanlin Academy compiling history books. Letting him out was just asking for their whole family to be executed.

Who knew how much silver the Eastern Residence had paid her father’s superior to keep him stuck in that post while eating the reputation of “that guy who bullies his own subordinates”?

“Yes, my surname is Jiang.”

“Oh, I have never seen you before. Goodbye, uncle.” Qiao Zhao turned around and walked off without hesitation.