Paperwork

This wasn't how Si Ning planned his night, he was supposed to have a long nice bath in the bath Ah Dai prepared for him and put on his sleeping robes, take a long nice sleep on the bed Ah Dai managed to spread a thick blanket on that made the bed a little decent making the body pains Si Ning do wake up to a little less but instead he had been reading reports and making the necessary arrangement for their journey back home.

Just after Xiu TianZhao left to rest in his own tent and Si Ning's bathtub was filled up with water. Chen An brought a lot of paperwork for him to go through, from the numbers of soldiers categorized into the ones who had few injuries that could ride a horse, to the ones who had heavy injuries that would have to ride in a cart. From those that had to sit to those that had to lie down in the cart adding them to the number of Xilie soldiers to the amount of the rations they had left, it was a lot of maths for Si Ning that he could almost see steam coming out of his head.

The map of the route they would take was also given to him and after spending hours discussing the best and safest route to take, they had to move on to making the list of the medics and laborers of the army, assigning a suitable carriage for them. When the list of how to manage the night watchers was given to Si Ning, It was the height of it and it took everything for Si Ning not to snap his pen and hit Chen An.

Si Ning had been trying to face his work but he kept glancing over at Chen An and Su Heng that were working with him and Ji Ran that kept coming in to drop a list or two. Unconsciously weighing between who was likely to betray him and stab him in his back, making it so obvious he was studying them. Chen An and Su Heng's eyes kept darting to him and looking shyly away that Si Ning could tell Su Heng was blushing.

"General.." Wei walked in and saluted him. "Do you need me to do anything for you?"

It was one thing Ah Dai kept making them tea and checking in if he needed anything but a scarred face man, trying to be helpful to him and asking if he needed help. Instead of suspecting his three Commanders, Si Ning directly his suspicion to Wei. If Wei still decided to follow him all around when they reach Xiu capital then he would have no choice but to find someone to investigate him, check his background, and tail him without losing their head to his blade. Si Ning knows how it goes, there would always be a rat somewhere and his poorly act as an investigator was about to fish them out.

"You can help Commander Ji Ran." Si Ning narrowed his eyes. He doesn't trust Wei at all and he would never let his guard down around him since Si Ning was one person that judges based on appearance and something kept telling him to be wary of Wei.

"Yes General." Wei saluted him before leaving.

Si Ning never imagined working as a General would involve a lot of paperwork. It was past midnight and Si Ning knew none of them would get to have a wink of sleep.

"General I made the list of all the names of the men we lost and was able to gather a few of their possessions to pass over to their family, especially their family heirloom and they are currently packing them and arranging them in a cart." Ji Ran reported handing a series of long lists over to Chen An since Si Ning made no move to accept it. He took his seat and started grinding ink.

"General." Chen An passed Si Ning the lists he collected from Ji Ran after checking it. "Should we write letters along with it?"

For Si Ning to drip his pen in ink every time he had to write a word was one thing that was frustrating him that he wanted to curse so badly and he didn't even try to hide his annoyance.

"We will select from our men to do the deliveries." Su Heng said looking at Si Ning for his approver.

Si Ning didn't say a word and only took a new sheet of paper, dipped his pen into the ink to write down the list of the essential oils he would need, especially for his hair, having long beautiful hair needs a lot of care to keep it lush and avoid breakage.

"Xiao Ning is actually working." Xiu TianZhao walked in leisurely in his sleeping robes, his eyes swollen and anyone could tell he'd been sleeping.

"Second Prince." Si Ning was a bit jealous of Xiu TianZhao, of how he could sleep without a care in the world.

Chen An, Su Heng, and Ji Ran stood up and saluted Xiu TianZhao while Si Ning only stared at him, too weak to say another word. Working in a room with a lamp and candles at a fast rate for them to be able to depart at daybreak was getting on his nerves but still not to look disrespectful Si Ning pulled out his chair for Xiu TianZhao only to see Chen An, Su Heng, and Ji Ran also did the same. They all turned to look at him weirdly but Si Ning decided to ignore them. Xiu TianZhao took the seat Si Ning offered him and Si Ning sat next to him, ignoring the list of oil he was busy writing that Xiu TianZhao was now staring at, a small smile playing on his lips.

"General." Chen An, Su Heng, and Ji Ran saluted him before leaving to give them privacy. Ji Ran taking the ink he was grinding with him.

"I guess you will be letting your servant go, even if he gets prosthetic it will never be the same." Xiu TianZhao poured himself a cup of tea.

"Ah Dai?" Si Ning had to ask since he was also a bit confused about Ah Dai.

"I can see he had been trying to please you so you won't let him go since you hate servants keeping you waiting but now you don't have a choice but to accept Xiao Pei, you know Pei is a good fighter and a great cook and you know he can watch your back than Ah Dai." Xiu TianZhao took a sip of his tea watching Si Ning's reaction. "You know you can trust Xiao Pei but you only pity Ah Dai because of his mute mother, now you can let him go without feeling guilty."

Si Ning could see why he was friends with Xiu TianZhao, they both had a bad mouth and for Si Ning to realized he only kept Ah Dai with him out of pity didn't settle well with him. He doesn't know who this Xiao Pei was but the tea Ah Dai makes for him could rival any twenty-first-century fancy tea shop tea. He had been looking at how Ah Dai interacted with Ji Ran and he could tell they were friends and Ji Ran had been trying to do most of his works at a fast rate so he could return to grid ink which Si Ning didn't allow Ah Dai to grind.

Waking up to talk to him about Ah Dai. Why do Xiu TianZhao want him to keep this Xiao Pei?

Si Ning's poor detective act switched to suspecting Xiu TianZhao. Wondering what Xiu TianZhao purpose was.