Transmigrated as the Princess Consort of a Fallen Nation

Chapter 127.2

When she freed her hand to close the window, a gust of cold wind blew out the candle, plunging the room into darkness.

Qin Zheng felt a sudden chill, as if a pair of eyes were watching her from the shadows, causing goosebumps to rise on her skin.

With a click, she steadied herself and closed the window, then turned back to the room, summoning her courage to say, “Chu Chengji, I know it’s you.”

There was no response.

Qin Zheng stood still for a moment, straining her ears but hearing nothing, and her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, making out the shapes of the furniture.

She exhaled softly, thinking she might have been mistaken.

Just as she took a step forward, a cold hand wrapped around her waist from behind, and a chin rested lightly on her shoulder without a word.

Startled, Qin Zheng’s voice was low and seething, “Chu Chengji!”

“Weren’t you asleep?” he replied calmly, though his voice carried an undertone of restraint.

Qin Zheng’s hair stood on end.

She pushed him away and stepped back, her voice firm, “Don’t even think about it. Three days is impossible!”

“I came back to apply medicine,” he said, picking her up effortlessly in the pitch-black room.

He carried her back to the bed and only then lit the lamp.

Qin Zheng sat at the edge of the bed, trying to maintain a composed face, but her guarded expression made her look like a cat with its fur bristled in anger.

Chu Chengji took out a beautifully patterned, glazed oval box from his pocket.

Qin Zheng had a bad feeling, and warily asked, “What... what medicine?”

“For the swelling.”

“...”

“Medicine will help it heal faster.”

“...”

Qin Zheng, not wanting to show weakness, tried to keep her composure. “I’ll do it myself.”

Chu Chengji originally intended to help, but considering that his help might not be very helpful, he let her go to the bathroom by herself.

When Qin Zheng returned from the bathroom, she saw him reading the travel notes she had been looking at earlier and asked, “Aren’t you leaving yet?”

Chu Chengji looked at her for a moment, put down the book, and pulled the bristling cat back into his arms.

Resting his chin on the top of her head, he said softly, “I was too much last night.”

Qin Zheng’s anger subsided a bit.

Chu Chengji looked at her, his dark eyes deep and thoughtful, and softly responded, “Hmm,” while gently rubbing her back.

Qin Zheng felt she had explained enough and decided not to dwell on the issue.

Over the next fortnight, she busied herself with the recruitment of the women’s army and took on the task of resettling the refugees from Feng County.

Those who could weave were settled in Minzhou, with the government assisting in building houses and providing looms and land, allowing them to weave and farm for a living.

Those who couldn’t weave but wished to farm were also given houses and land by the government, although the number of such settlers was limited.

The remaining population needed to be relocated to other prefectures, where they were also provided with houses and land.

Skilled artisans were registered as craftsmen, given the option to work in shops for landowners or to create and sell handmade goods at markets.

Recompiling the household registers for the Feng County refugees took Qin Zheng and the officials nearly half a month.

During this period, Prince Huaiyang’s forces came to harass them several times.

However, the plague had been discovered too late in his army.

Despite quarantining the troops who had interacted with the refugees from Qingxi County, many soldiers still fell ill, including Prince Huaiyang’s heir.

Seeing his power wane, Prince Huaiyang was desperate.

He falsely claimed that doctors in Jianghuai had developed a cure for the plague, and that if they conquered Jianghuai, all the soldiers would be saved.

This lie reignited the morale of Prince Huaiyang’s army, which had been on the brink of despair, and their attacks on the city became fiercer than ever.

If not for Chu Chengji personally overseeing Minzhou, the city might have fallen.

Chu Chengji’s strategists were at their wits’ end, unable to find a solution to break the stalemate.

They resorted to reinforcing the city walls as a defensive measure.

Qin Zheng had reinforced the walls of Qingzhou before, so she was naturally put in charge of this project as well.

Looking at the construction plans for Minzhou’s walls, Qin Zheng felt a headache coming on.

“The city wall isn’t as flexible as building a house; just like constructing a house requires a solid foundation, the higher the city wall, the stronger the foundation needs to be.”

Qingzhou’s city wall could be reinforced and raised by half a zhang (about 1.5 meters) because the trenches at the bottom of the Qingzhou city wall were dug deep enough, providing sufficient support for the reinforced upper wall.

Although Minzhou’s city wall was built of solid stone, the trenches at the bottom to stabilize the wall were not deep enough.

Qin Zheng went to find Chu Chengji with the construction plans and explained the situation to him. “The city wall in Minzhou can be reinforced from the outside, but it cannot be raised any higher.”

After pondering for a moment, Chu Chengji replied, “Reinforce the outer wall first. I’ll have someone continue to come up with ideas.”

Reinforcing the city wall was just a conservative measure.

Qin Zheng nodded, picked up the construction plans, and left.