They didn't set out until it was almost dawn, and by the time they arrived in Jinling City, it was already late in the morning.
The women soldiers were physically and mentally exhausted, all curled up together and fast asleep.
Paige directly took out lots of quilts from her space and covered them.
Otherwise, sleeping like that for a night would definitely make them all catch a cold.
Paige brought them straight back to the military camp and handed them over to Commander Ye.
Commander Ye looked at the sleepy, swaying group of women in colorful thick cotton jackets, including several girls who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old, and felt his scalp go numb.
This was an army, not a shelter.
"I think they have a lot of potential. If we train them properly, they'll definitely become something great in the future.
Look at your troops—all men. They're great for fighting, but for secret missions, don't you think women can be more unexpected?
They've all seen blood and used guns. The city we took last night was conquered with their help.
Doesn't this count as earning credit to enter the camp?" Paige said.
What could Commander Ye say? Even for Paige's sake, he had to accept them.
"No problem, I trust your judgment. You say they're good, then they must be." Commander Ye smiled.
"Officer Fang, take them to clean up and get two separate dorms ready. Starting tomorrow, they'll join training," Commander Ye said to Officer Fang.
The thirty-some women were extremely grateful they came along.
Seeing the officer's expression, it was clear he hadn't really wanted to take them in.
They couldn't imagine what would've happened if they'd come on their own. They probably wouldn't even have gotten through the camp gate.
They were truly lucky to have met Paige.
Paige had no idea that a small act of kindness today had earned her more than thirty die-hard loyal followers.
In the future, they would become elite agents, wives of high-ranking officials, undercover spies, and more.
No matter what their identities or affiliations were, if Paige ever asked, they would follow her without hesitation.
Paige returned to the familiar villa and felt incredibly comforted.
"Miss is back, young master is back," Butler Zhang greeted warmly.
"Tell Master Zhang and Master Deng to make something good to eat. I haven't been eating or sleeping well lately, and all I want is a good meal," Paige instructed.
"They're already cooking. Someone's already gone upstairs to prepare the bath. Miss, young master, you must be tired—go wash up first," Butler Zhang said as he walked with them.
As soon as he heard the sound, he guessed Miss was back. After being away for so many days, she'd definitely want to clean up and eat.
He had been a butler for many years—there was no need for orders anymore.
Besides, Miss and young master had never said others couldn't enter their rooms.
During cleaning, they often went in, so there were no taboos.
Getting Miss and young master a warm bath quickly was the most important thing.
"Not bad at all. The villa's been well taken care of. Everyone will be rewarded later," Paige said as she quickly went upstairs.
She really did want a good bath. No matter how luxurious gold or silver houses were, nothing beat her own luxury villa.
Those other places were nothing compared to the comfort of her own home.
Soaking happily in the bathtub, Paige closed her eyes in bliss.
This was the life she should be living.
When she first crossed over and saw the enemy invasion, her instinct was to reclaim lost land.
But the more she fought, the more it felt wrong.
It was her professional instincts kicking in again.
In this life, there were plenty of troops, and the enemy wasn't zombies or mutated beasts—there was no need for her to do it all.
If she did everything, would she just leave the benefits for others?
So, she wisely decided to stop.
She set a small goal for herself: to eat, drink, and have fun next.
Spend money, spend it like crazy!
She looked at the fresh green vegetables in her space.
Oh right, she still had to build up her farm.
She had rushed off to fight before and didn't have time to prepare any plots of land.
Luckily, she hadn't been lazy these past days. While passing by the mountain foothills, she had gathered plenty of fertile soil and various fruit trees.
Not only that, there were a lot of wild vegetables too.
Once she fenced in the land, she could throw in the soil and wild veggies, and it'd be enough to raise chickens.
Although she did meddle a bit too much this time, the rewards were really great.
Grain, cloth, weapons, vehicles, and even some unknown machines. Those went without saying.
Just chickens alone, there were thirty to forty of them. And pigs, more than twenty.
Among them, two were pregnant sows, and it looked like they were close to giving birth.
Paige still needed to ask someone how to help a sow give birth and take care of it afterward.
She felt her scalp tingle. If that was the case, would she have to help all other animals give birth too?
Forget it, she'd deal with that when the time came.
There were also more than thirty horses, over twenty cows, and five sheep.
Unfortunately, all five sheep were males. If only some were female, she could've ended up with lots and lots of sheep.
Paige glanced at the sheep. On a cold winter day, they went well with hotpot lamb.
Anyway, when it came to breeding, she only needed one male. The rest could be eaten. No problem.
Even if she accidentally ate all of them, it'd be fine. She could just buy more rams when she got more ewes.
The more she thought about it, the hungrier she got. Paige stood up and went downstairs.
Bathing could wait. If she was hungry, she needed to eat.
When she went downstairs, she saw Winn and Uziel already sitting at the table. When the butler saw her come down, he immediately ordered the dishes to be served.
"If I haven't come down yet, you guys can start eating," Paige said to them.
"Wait, was someone stopping you from getting food?" She glanced at the butler.
"I wouldn't dare keep the young master hungry. It's just that the young masters said you'd be down soon and wanted to wait for you to eat together," the butler quickly explained.
The young miss was also a master in this house. He wouldn't dare to play tricks behind her back.
"We only just came down ourselves and thought you'd be about ready too. It's better eating with more people," Uziel said.
"Hurry and eat. You haven't had a proper meal in days. These are all your favorite dishes," Winn said as he picked up some food and placed it in Paige's bowl.
Besides the two chefs in the kitchen, everyone else quietly left.
Some went to clean the rooms, others tended the garden. No matter what they were doing, everyone was busy.
As for how the masters got along, that wasn't something they dared to talk about.
At first, there were still two people standing by to serve them as they ate, but Paige soon sent them away.
She had hands of her own. It was awkward having someone feed her.
The three of them ate together, taking turns grabbing dishes, clearing one plate after another.
They only stopped when all three were stuffed, their bellies round from eating.
That's when the two chefs were finally told to stop.
Both of them wiped their sweat. Even though it was just three people eating, they had cooked enough for ten.
Thankfully, the masters were full before the kitchen ran out of ingredients.
They still needed to hurry and restock. Otherwise, there'd be nothing to cook for lunch.
Chef Yang also made a pot of digestion soup and brought it out for the three of them.