Si Ning removed his hat and before he could say a word Xiao Pei took a large step forward while he pulled out his sword swiftly. "Wait wait wait wait..." He quickly stopped him because he thought his guard was going to end the teenage boy's life in front of him without even giving the boy time to state his purpose.

"I noticed he had been tailing us but he doesn't seem to have any ill intention." Xiao Pei explained firmly as he pointed his sword at the boy.

The space left between the boy kneeling and the pointy end of the sword with Xiao Pei's stance made Si Ning realize that Xiao Pei only brought out his sword to threaten the boy and not to end his life and he almost sighed in relief that he doesn't have to make any big movement to stop bloodshed because if Xiao Pei was aiming to end the teenage boy's life immediately then the boy might be dead before he even makes that large move to stop his guard.

Si Ning wasn't surprised that Xiao Pei noticed they were being followed when he didn't even think of the possibility because the moment they stepped outside, with his hat he thought he was invisible and even forgot about being careful after seeing that no one was even paying attention to them when they got to the festival but looking at the boy all Si Ning could see that he noticed as odd was that the teenage boy kneeling wasn't shaking which means he was either brave or stupid and this made him hope the boy wasn't a spy and was just tailing them to ask for some coins. Si Ning went out today to look for Si Nan and not to put a stop to someone's life, that would end the festival mood he had unconsciously created and he doesn't want Xiu Junjie to also experience seeing someone dying the first time he steps outside the palace which might even get stuck in his memory for life.

"General to be safe we can ask him why he followed you, who he serves and why he was hiding." Jiang Ye said as he moved to collect the hat from Si Ning before returning to stand behind the teenage boy.

"Ahem." Si Ning cleared his throat when he realized he had been staring at the boy too long which might have been the reason Jiang Ye had to remind him what next to do yet he couldn't stop himself from staring trying to see what the boy's deal was for him to look so fearless.

"General." Jiang Ye called.

"I also noticed him." Si Ning lied because Xiu Junjie was present, he wanted to show he was alert when they were having fun when obviously he wasn't and he also pretended like he had been analyzing the boy when all he was doing was staring for no reason but he could boldly say the boy wasn't from a noble household.

"Don't you need to tie him?" Xiu Junjie asked.

"No." Si Ning replied, he doesn't see the boy as a spy also he wasn't interested in knowing about him nor does he think he was hiding a weapon to harm them because Xiao Pei told them the boy had no ill intent. "What do you want?" He asked hoping the boy would ask for some bag of coins so he would give him and send him on his way.

"At the hunting stall, I saw the great skill of your guard, the way you dressed and because of how nice you are to me I followed you hoping I will find a chance to approach you and this man here called you a General....."

"Aish!" Xiu Junjie yelled. "See how rude this commoner is, why don't you cut off his hand to show him how to address his elders." He suggested as he clicked his tongue clearly annoyed by the informal way the teenage boy was speaking. He turned to glare at Si Ning as his way of asking why he would allow such to happen.

The teenage boy quickly kowtowed. "Please forgive this man, this honest man with a pure soul but not like the purest soul of General is Junhao, this Junhao as no parent to teach him and this honest Junhao only wanted to be direct so that the General he admired for so long can understand this honest one better." He cried out as he raised his head, his hands planted firmly on the ground.

From the way he talked, Si Ning preferred how the teenage boy who called himself Junhao was talking earlier even though he understood him but being direct was better and faster. It was quite funny to him how the boy referred to himself as a man when clearly anyone could tell he was a teenager.

"Junhao? Is that all you have to your name?" Xiu Junjie snorted. "What are you waiting for cut off his hands!" He ordered.

Si Ning wondered who Xiu junjie was telling to perform the task, he childishly want to tell Xiu Junjie that why don't he do it instead of acting like their Commander.

"Please I beg you to forgive Junhao once, please do not kill this honest one, Shi Junhao lost his family name that is why Shi Junhao is known only as Junhao without a surname." Shi Junhao cried as he kowtowed making sure his head hit the ground after his short explanation.

"Shi? The Shi family....." Xiao Pei trailed off.

Si Ning couldn't detect an ounce of fear from this boy, he could see Shi Junhao seemed confident that his hands weren't going to be cut off because in this situation he was supposed to be hiding his hands yet his hands were on display. "The way he behaved which you labeled as not having respect for his elders, what is the difference between you and him?" He directed his question at Xiu Junjie as he raised a brow.

"Because I have a higher rank than you, my rank is higher than almost everyone in Xiu and this boy should have guessed my identity so you don't need to cut off his hands you just need to kill him." Xiu Junjie replied with a nonchalant attitude looking unbothered as he crossed his arms waiting to see the kneeling boy's head roll.

Si Ning could see Xiu Junjie needs a lot to learn because the Crown Prince seemed to believe the teenage boy wasn't going to leave alive. "You can't just order to kill people like that because it's the same people you are meant to protect." He pointed out as he ignored the risk of Xiu Junjie's identity getting exposed.

Si Ning might be a General who had gotten used to ancient life and couldn't escape hearing about death but that doesn't mean he should take death lightly and have the mentality of seeing the death that wasn't caused by unfortunate accident, sickness and old age as normal.

Xiu Junjie shrugged. "I was only trying to minimize the risk because you don't know what he will say if he ends up walking around later so you have to be wise."

"Please let me tell you why this honest one is here and this honest one that lost his surname will accept his judgment." Shi Junhao said briskly, his eyes pleading.

"Go on." Xiu Junjie said.

Si Ning blinked, shaking his head in resignation of the way Xiu Junjie was acting, he nodded when the teenage boy direct his gaze at him as if he was asking for permission to speak and right then Si Ning understood it was nothing but absurd for the teenage boy to start speaking just because Xiu Junjie permitted him when anyone could tell him as the General was the one in charge.