One Lifetime Is Never Enough

1.36 Vulnerable

Ji SongLi was inside his allocated room at their new place in Da Lang – Liu YangHuan's estate. He was accompanied by the two Ji guards that had traveled with him from Ming Town.

The three of them were surrounding a round table -- on it, was a map.

"As we have practically left no stone unturned and no forest unexplored around here...-," One of the Ji soldiers pointed at a spot on the map;

"...The only places the remaining Dong tribe could have spied on the Ji clan are here--," he pointed at a spot just slightly west to Ming town;

"—or here," he pointed another spot just slightly north to the previous one.

Ji SongLi's gaze shifted from one to the other. Both of those pointed places were all nature, and not the kindest. One of them was a dense forest that not even a person could squeeze their body in between the trunks to proceed deeper. The other one was – although barren – a place seemingly abandoned by the gods. It was full of deep gorges; no vegetation, no water sources, a lot of poisonous beasts.

The Ji military had of course dispatched some troops to both places, but only for monitoring -- both were hardly any place for a considerable number of people to be able to hide for a long period of time.

Therefore General Ji decided to withdraw all troops, sent his family to the capital city, and stayed put at his own house to wait for the tribe members to find him.

"This tribe is not simple," the other Ji soldier mused with bitter smile, "Although we have put a lot of resources and time to eradicate them... ."

SongLi also let out a sigh, "They are definitely smart. The leader, especially. Pity they had only been using their smarts to cause chaos and destruction, even among other tribes in the desert."

The three of them thought and agreed on the same thing: "If left to grow, it will only be a matter of time before this dangerous group of people shift their eyes on the bigger prize: the fertile lands of Zhang Empire."

A knock was heard on the door, soon followed by the familiar voice of Ji LanBai,

"Li-ge? Mothers wish to let you know dinner is ready."

SongLi nodded towards one of the guards, who in turn opened the door.

Both of the guards bowed in salute towards their Young Miss, also nodding slightly towards YuLan who was standing slightly behind her.

"Both of you should also retire for the night," SongLi waved his hand in dismissal, "For the moment, we shall just wait for some news from the General."

Towards the Ji soldiers - even though the guards and soldiers referred to Ji SongLi as the Young Master, and Ji LanBai as the Young Miss - SongLi always referred to his own father as General Ji. He considered himself as another military member of the Ji clan. When it came to military members, they must not forget their ranks. Thus the guards were already accustomed to his point of view.

Both of them saluted in acknowledgement and left the room.

LanBai walked towards him in high spirits. The girl hardly ever showed any grief, always the happy soul that she was.

"Li-ge. You are very boring. Military matters day in and out. What about if we just play some songs after dinner?"

Looking at the spoiled pouting expression on his sister, SongLi chuckled. Especially when he tried to keep his sleeve being pulled off his shoulder – with the way LanBai plastered herself against his arm and swing his arm back and forth.

SongLi glanced at YuLan, who was now focusing on the map on the table.

"So how was your little excursion to Prince GuoFu's estate?" he asked, still not shifting his eyes of the silent girl.