Chapter 229: Chapter 229: Is Jie Chen Sick?

The Sixth Prince looked at Xiang Qianqian again, a faint surprise flashing in his eyes.

His gaze varied, his tone unpredictable: “Qianqian, I never realized before, but you are truly to my liking.”

Xiang Ying stood beside them, glaring with her phoenix eyes, watching this malicious pair.

Xiang Qianqian’s venomous nature had precisely captured the preferences of the Sixth Prince.

The two of them united against Jie Chen and Xiang Ying, truly a match in their foulness.

Unable to hold back, Xiang Ying slapped Xiang Qianqian’s face.

Before Xiang Qianqian could smile, she covered her cheek with a cry and looked bewilderedly at the Sixth Prince.

“Your Highness, why did you hit me?”

The Sixth Prince was startled: “I haven’t even moved; how could I have hit you?”

Xiang Qianqian was also puzzled.

She truly hadn’t seen the Sixth Prince raise his hand.

Just as she looked around, her right cheek was struck by another slap.

This time, she genuinely felt the pain!

“There’s someone in the tent!” Xiang Qianqian exclaimed in alarm, retreating behind the Sixth Prince.

The Sixth Prince also widened his eyes upon seeing the handprint on Xiang Qianqian’s face.

“Guards!” At his command, numerous guards flooded in.

The Sixth Prince’s voice was stern: “Search for me; see if there’s anyone hiding in the tent.”

But after turning the entire tent upside down, they did not find a single figure.

Xiang Ying saw that she had only five minutes of invisibility left.

Still infuriated, while the guards were searching around, she kicked the Sixth Prince’s buttocks.

Caught off guard, the Sixth Prince was propelled forward, his face falling straight toward the fire basin.

Xiang Qianqian let out a shriek: “Your Highness, be careful!”

In the nick of time, the Sixth Prince grabbed onto a nearby screen; however, it wasn’t fixed in place, and it collapsed under his force.

A loud crash echoed through the tent, and the fire basin was toppled over.

Chaos ensued inside the room, but Xiang Ying only lamented that the Sixth Prince’s face hadn’t been burnt by the fire basin.

With invisibility time running low, she had no choice but to leave the tent first.

Back in her own living quarters, Xiang Ying was still seething.

Fortunately, she had switched the bundles; otherwise, wouldn’t Jie Chen have fallen ill?

Xiang Ying entered her private space and opened the real bundle taken from the contaminated area.

Upon inspection, it indeed contained bloodstained clothes.

Xiang Ying frowned, donned a medical protective suit, and began handling it with gloves.

She first cut off a bloody piece of the clothing that seemed to have been coughed upon, a sizable area of the garment stained with fresh blood.

Using a special solution, Xiang Ying extracted the contaminated blood from the garment and placed it into an analyzer.

Next was the wait for it to decode the viral sequence, breakdown the cells, and finally offer a conclusion.

The remaining bloodstained clothes were of no use; Xiang Ying found a bucket, incinerated them to ashes, and directly dumped those ashes into a copper basin inside the Sixth Prince’s room using a drone.

After all this, Xiang Ying exchanged fifty milliliters of disinfectant solution from the Object Exchange System.

She began disinfecting the drone thoroughly, and only after activating the disinfection mode inside her space did she feel reassured enough to fall asleep.

As dawn approached, the snowstorm had yet to cease.

Overnight, thick layers of snow had piled up outside the doors of the rooms, reaching up to one’s ankles.

There were only twelve rooms in the Martial Arts Arena, previously used for temporary rest, so they were not particularly spacious.

Now, each room was crowded with twelve to fifteen people.

Jie Chen, along with Skinny Monkey and others, slept together in one room.

Only the Sixth Prince and Xiang Qianqian, and Xiang Ying with a few children and Tao Xue, had their own separate rooms.

Xiang Ying led the children to make snowmen, sticking Warm Babies inside their clothes and also fitting them with thick felt hats.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the Military Doctor struggle through the snowstorm, staggering towards the Sixth Prince’s room.

Not long after, the Military Doctor came out. Xiang Ying stepped forward, handed over a beef jerky the size of a fist, and smiled amiably to inquire.

“Military Doctor, you have been going in and out of the Sixth Prince’s room all morning, what has happened?”

The Military Doctor’s eyes lit up upon seeing the jerky, and he respectfully accepted it with both hands, his face also carrying a smile.

He said: “The Sixth Prince mentioned that medicine is currently scarce in Bai City, and we need to take good care of our own supply, so just now the Sixth Prince instructed me to hand over the key to the medicine chest to a guard by his side.”

Xiang Ying frowned: “You gave it to them?”

The Military Doctor replied sheepishly with a smile, eyebrows topped with white snow: “How could I dare to disobey His Highness.”

A heavy feeling sank in Xiang Ying’s heart.

That despicable little beast, the Sixth Prince, seems quite set on letting Jie Chen fall ill, and he also does not plan to let him take any medicine.

Fine, fine, fine, if the Sixth Prince wants to play it like this, he can’t blame her.

Xiang Ying knew that the medicine chest, in line with the provisions, was currently kept in the nearby horse stable.

Though it was under watch by someone specially assigned, this was not the slightest obstacle for Xiang Ying.

She planned to pilfer everything tonight.

At this moment, Jie Chen came by with some people.

It seemed he was planning a trip out, holding a riding whip in his hand.

The two caught sight of each other through the wind and snow; Xiang Ying snorted and turned her gaze away directly.

She pulled along the three little ones and Aren: “Let’s go, we’re heading back inside.”

Coughing sounds from Jie Chen came from behind: “Hurry and return inside, it’s freezing cold out, don’t bring the kids out again.”

Hearing his cough, Xiang Ying looked back at him with a peculiar look.

“Vice General, you’re not sick, are you?”

Jie Chen’s voice was somewhat hoarse: “No.”

Pressing down her suspicions, Xiang Ying led the children inside the room.

Just as she walked away, Skinny Monkey whispered to Acid Scholar: “What do you think? Was sister-in-law scolding the Vice General or scolding the Vice General?”

Acid Scholar slapped him on the back.

“Fool, that was clearly her showing concern for the Vice General.”

Jie Chen glanced back at them, and they instantly shut their mouths.

He turned towards the Military Doctor: “Prepare some medicine for me to fend off the cold.”

The Military Doctor bowed: “Yes, Deputy General. With the cold harsh weather, and you always running about outside, you should also take care of yourself.”

By evening.

Tao Xue set up a hot pot at the entrance of the room, and today Xiang Ying was still offering mutton-filled bread soup.

Many prisoners braved the snow to collect their meal, and Xiang Ying this time generously declared that the soldiers could also come and get some if they wanted.

While the prisoners were queuing up, they whispered idly among themselves—

“Today I saw the Marching General come by, and I heard the Sixth Prince ordered that from now on, anyone who gets sick must be burned on the spot.”

“That cruel? Fortunately, we are quite far from those who are sick. Hopefully, the heavy snow stops soon so we can start our departure.”

Xiang Ying, upon hearing this, remembered that Jie Chen had gone out today and had returned by noon.

However, up until now, he hadn’t left his room.

Initially, Skinny Monkey and Acid Scholar were sharing a room with him, but just now they were also driven out.

Xiang Ying saw Skinny Monkey and the others taking their bedding to another room.

Was Jie Chen now staying by himself?

With his character, he wouldn’t mind suffering himself, but he would absolutely not indulge in comfort while ignoring the welfare of his men beneath him.

Xiang Ying suddenly felt worried.

Could it be that Jie Chen has fallen ill?

She had originally decided she would no longer concern herself with him.

But now she couldn’t help but think, to take another look at Jie Chen, anyway, she would consider it as repaying a kindness.

After all, he had taken good care of her in the past.

Xiang Ying’s body was more honest than her brain, and in the moment she made her decision, she picked up a bowl filled with mutton soup and headed towards Jie Chen’s room.