Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 38

News of demon activity in the north of Jingkou and a request from the Beibu Sima to return to Jingkou quickly reached Taicheng.

In the cabinet, Wang Maohong proposed rejecting the request and keeping the Sima in the southern city, arguing that the war situation was still unclear and not suitable for personnel changes at this time.

In essence, he hoped to keep a certain Iron Man to help combat the Liyang army.

However, Zhongshu Yu had a different opinion: the newly established Northern Army in Jingkou would be powerless against demon attacks without the Beibu Sima.

Additionally, Jingkou had long been a refuge for northern refugees, and if they were all turned into demons, it could jeopardize the stability of the Xiaoqi Army’s rear.

Wang Maohong understood Zhongshu Yu’s underlying intention; all the reasoning was just a pretext.

The main concern was to prevent Cheng Jinyang from achieving too much merit in the war, which would necessitate further promotion. The Taicheng cabinet had always been divided on how to deal with Cheng Jinyang.

First and foremost, leveraging his abilities to fight the Liyang army was a consensus among all the ministers. However, to get someone to risk their life, you must offer them something in return—this is a fundamental political rule.

The aristocratic faction, led by Wang Maohong, wanted to elevate Cheng Jinyang’s political status, as seen in their previous push to have him guard Jingkou and recruit soldiers.

On the other hand, Zhongshu Yu’s faction was more conservative, preferring to use the marriage with the princess as leverage rather than promoting him further in his career.

After all, the Shendu Cheng family had historical ties with the Sima family and still had connections with the royal family—traits that overlapped with the current power of the Yu family.

The Yu family, holding power with the support of Empress Dowager Yu, feared that once the young emperor came of age, he might support the Cheng family to counterbalance the Yu family, a possibility that couldn’t be ignored.

Conversely, if Cheng Jinyang became the princess’s consort, the two families would become in-laws, turning a potential future political rival into “one of our own.” This was Yu Yuan’gui’s basic strategy, though somewhat hasty in execution.

Wang Maohong sighed, refraining from opposition; disagreeing would only make the other side suspicious of ulterior motives, so he chose silence.

Thus, the cabinet left Cheng Jinyang’s request unaddressed, tacitly agreeing without official acknowledgment.

After sending the official letter, Cheng Jinyang prepared to return to Jingkou with the girls. His reason was the same as what he told the court: the enemy had changed sides, and he needed to return to Jingkou to save the situation.

Wang Wanrou said nothing, but Xing Yuanzhi found something amiss and asked, “Demons appearing north of Jingkou? If it’s a small-scale issue, can’t Tianluo handle it? If it’s a large-scale invasion, wouldn’t it be better for the Xiaoqi Army to deal with it?”

“You don’t understand,” Cheng Jinyang replied. “Jingkou has only been stable for a few months. Even a small-scale demon invasion could cause panic. Besides, we just reorganized the refugee gangs and improved Jingkou’s business environment last month. If this issue isn’t resolved quickly, it will affect market confidence and make it hard to boost GDP later.”

“Really?” Ah Zhi didn’t doubt him, knowing he was treating Jingkou as his base. “But what is this ‘orange fart’?”

“Not orange fart, but ‘property aggregation index,'” Cheng Jinyang quickly explained. “It’s an economic indicator. The more prosperous the commercial activities, the higher the property prices gather.”

He fooled Ah Zhi with his nonsense and, seeing no reaction from Miss Wang, felt relieved. To return to Jingkou, they first needed to travel overland to Jiankang and then sail east.

Back in Jiankang, Cheng Jinyang urgently summoned his cousins and secretly said, “Plan Fire Seed One must be activated ahead of schedule!”

“What?” Cheng Yuexian and Cheng Huaiyan were momentarily stunned but quickly understood.

Before the war began, they anticipated that demons might follow the Liyang army south, prompting Plan Fire Seed One: secretly transferring promising clan members and assets to Lin’an in batches.

The war in Liyang was still ongoing, and with Cheng Jinyang saying the plan must be moved up, it was tantamount to saying the demons were advancing south sooner than expected. The three of them quickly decided to pack up all remaining clan members and assets, convert them into “Tianluo” and sell them as “military supplies,” preparing to send everything to Jingkou in one go. As for the external residents, servants, brokers, and so on, they were individually spoken to and either sent back or dismissed.

These actions were so hurried that those in the know believed the Shendu Cheng family was relocating the entire clan to Jingkou, transitioning from “Jiankang aristocrats” to “military clan.” Those not in the know thought the Cheng family was being expelled from the aristocracy due to lacking a fifth-grade supernatural and was thus closing down.

Lu Qingyun, being the envoy of the Fanyang Lu family, was naturally prioritized for notification and return.

Upon hearing of the Cheng family’s relocation, she was momentarily stunned but quickly realized: isn’t this perfect? I can finally return to my family!

To be fair, she had no ill feelings toward the Cheng family. The recent conflicts were instigated by her brother, and after an explanation with Cheng Yuexian, both sides had laughed it off.

However, Zheng Qiupei, who came with her, inexplicably started cozying up to the Clan Leader Cheng Jinyang one day, bringing various pastries to his office daily.

This instinctively irritated Lu Qingyun. After all, she was sent by her family to probe, not to ingratiate herself with anyone.

She knew Xiao Pei’s personality very well—too polite, never treating outsiders as outsiders.

But Cheng Jinyang should have some self-awareness; how could he so casually accept the attentions of a woman from the Five Great Families?

This further lowered her opinion of him.

Additionally, when chatting with others in the clan, she heard rumors about Cheng Jinyang having ambiguous relationships with several young ladies from aristocratic families, making her even more determined to keep her distance from him.

After politely speaking with Cheng Yuexian, Lu Qingyun went out to call her family and explained the situation: It’s not that I don’t want to stay; they are the ones moving!

The next moment, her family’s instructions came: Don’t come back yet, stay there! If necessary, go with them to Jingkou!

Lu Qingyun: ?

Wait a minute, am I being sold out by my family? Are they offering me to the Shendu Cheng family? What do you mean, go with them to Jingkou? They’ve kindly explained that they’re sending me away, and now you want me to shamelessly stay and follow them?

As a woman of the Five Great Families, don’t I, Lu Qingyun, have any dignity to uphold?