After about half an hour, Second Miss Yan’s personal maid returned from the front courtyard, skipping back with a smug look on her face.
“Miss, Miss, I’ve got the scoop!” The maid burst into the courtyard, chattering like an excited magpie.
“Come inside to talk,” Yan Lan lifted the door curtain, shooting her a glare—this little chatterbox was making a fuss as if she wanted everyone to know.
The maid stuck out her tongue, lifted her skirt, and hurried to catch up with her mistress, following her into the room.
“Miss, this is a copy of some victory report from Suzhou I managed to snag from the front courtyard, it says that Zhu fellow scored a big win, killed tens of thousands of Japanese pirates, whew… Who’d have thought that honest-looking scholar was such a killing machine? Just a while back, I heard he led troops at that sea sacrifice thing and took down a few hundred pirates, but it’s only been a few days, and now he’s led soldiers to wipe out tens of thousands? He’s not some scholar from the heavens, he’s a killing star descended to earth!”
The maid pulled a crumpled copy of the Suzhou victory report from her bosom and handed it to Second Miss Yan, her little mouth jabbering nonstop.
“Uh, he won’t hold a grudge, will he? I helped Miss lure him into the courtyard to teach him a lesson, but… no way, right? He didn’t even lose out…”
The maid suddenly recalled that incident, patting her chest with a hint of belated fear.
“Pah, that scoundrel walked in and started dropping his trousers, he’s no good!” The sword-wielding maid, Mo Li, who was also in the room, spat as she remembered the scene the personal maid had brought up.
If he hadn’t stripped the moment he walked in, how could she have been so flustered she couldn’t even act?
Covering her eyes with both hands—where was she supposed to find a third one to fight with?!
Otherwise, with her skills, she could’ve beaten Zhu Ping’an to a pulp with one hand tied behind her back!
The memory still made her teeth itch with anger.
“Mo Li, are you crazy? You’re still calling him a scoundrel? He’s a killing machine now—he took out tens of thousands of pirates! Did you hear that right? Tens of thousands, not just a few, got it?”
The personal maid grew nervous, nearly reaching to cover Mo Li’s mouth, terrified her words might reach that killer’s ears.
“Tens of thousands? He’s bluffing, with that scrawny frame of his, he couldn’t even take on one pirate, let alone tens of thousands.”
Mo Li scoffed.
“You really are all brawn and no brains, didn’t you listen properly? He led troops into battle and killed tens of thousands of pirates, he’s a commander, not some brute charging into the fray, what’s that saying again? Something about commanding from inside a mosquito net and winning a thousand miles away?”
The personal maid lectured her.
“You’ve got the nerve to call out Mo Li when you’re just as bad—I’ve told you to read more, but you never listen. It’s not ‘commanding from a mosquito net,’ it’s ‘strategizing within the tent, deciding victory a thousand miles away.’ If anyone heard you, they’d laugh their heads off, and I’d be the laughingstock along with you.”
Second Miss Yan rolled her eyes, giving her personal maid a scolding.
“Ahem, Miss, I get sleepy the moment I look at a book…” The maid said with a bitter face.
Second Miss Yan shot her a look of exasperation, as if lamenting her failure to improve.
“Miss, what does the report say? Shunzi from the front courtyard said it’s got more details,” the maid asked, sticking out her tongue.
“It’s about what you said, Zhu Ping’an really did score a big merit again, in Jiangnan, four pirate leaders with over forty thousand Japanese pirates launched a night raid on Suzhou, but Zhu Ping’an’s scouts spotted them in advance, lit the beacons, and exposed their movements, forcing the pirates to switch from a sneak attack to a frontal assault, then Zhu Ping’an led two thousand Zhejiang troops in a fierce battle at Maple Bridge, wiping out over ten thousand pirates in one fight and blowing up one of the pirate leaders, after that… he set ambushes along the rivers and dense forests during their retreat, crushing the pirates, capturing another leader alive, in the end, only two leaders escaped with a few hundred battered survivors.”
Second Miss Yan gave a brief summary.
“That impressive?” Even Mo Li’s expression changed, “Who’d have thought that scoundrel was this capable?!”
“Miss, I heard from Shunzi in the front courtyard that the big shots who came over are saying this victory report is fake, they say the pirates are fierce and cunning, each one worth two or three Ming soldiers, and with Zhu Ping’an only having two thousand men, there’s no way he could’ve pulled off such a huge victory—they’re claiming he’s falsified it for rewards.”
The personal maid relayed the gossip she’d gathered from the front courtyard.
“Fake?”
Mo Li nodded as if it all made sense, “I knew it, that scoundrel didn’t look like anyone impressive.”
Second Miss Yan shook her head after hearing this, saying calmly, “If it were fake, he wouldn’t exaggerate it this much, wiping out forty thousand pirates is too eye-catching, it’s astronomical, too easy to disprove, if you’re going to fake it, you’d claim three or five hundred—low-key, harder to catch out.”
It was common sense—fake merits couldn’t withstand scrutiny, so they’re never overstated to avoid drawing attention.
Faking it with such a glaring flaw? What, are you afraid no one will investigate? Tired of your big position and long life?
Zhu Ping’an wasn’t a fool, he’d understand this logic.
From his past actions, he wasn’t one to boast recklessly, he’d always been thorough and cautious.
To report such a massive achievement, he must have solid backing—most likely, the Suzhou victory report was genuine.
“What Miss says makes sense, when I was little and sneaked some of my dad’s pocket money, I never dared take much, just one or two coppers, my brother once took half a tael of silver, and that very day my dad caught him and nearly beat him to death…”
The personal maid nodded, recalling her and her brother’s childhood antics of pilfering their father’s stash.
“So he’s actually that impressive?! Killing so many vicious pirates, my impression of him is starting to shift.”
Mo Li’s view of Zhu Ping’an softened, she even dropped the “scoundrel” label.
“Mo Li, don’t forget—he walked into the courtyard and started stripping!” The personal maid quickly reminded her.
“Oh, don’t bring it up again, it’s your fault—who told you to lure him in when he needed the latrine?! He asked where it was, you led him to the courtyard, of course he’d think that’s where it was…”
Mo Li’s face turned red as she waved her hands furiously, grumbling.
“Wait, Mo Li, your opinion of him’s changed too much—you’re even defending him now?” The personal maid froze for a couple of seconds, then shrieked in exaggerated shock as realization hit.
“Enough, no one’s allowed to mention that again! Haven’t we been embarrassed enough?!”
Second Miss Yan glared at them, issuing another gag order.
“No more, no more,” the personal maid and Mo Li nodded simultaneously, neither wanting to revisit that mortifying incident.
