After eating, Yunjin lay down, rested her eyes, and yawned, but she wasn’t fully at ease about something and didn’t dare to completely relax and fall asleep.
Beside her, Chu Li saw that she was tired, but from time to time she would jolt herself awake, so he said warmly, “Sleep when you are sleepy, and don’t worry about me abandoning you anywhere.”
Yunjin raised her eyebrows. After hearing these words, she still felt uneasy, and asked again, “Really?”
“Really.” Chu Li nodded.
At this moment, she finally relaxed, closed her eyes, and soon fell asleep.
Chu Li leaned on the carriage wall, listening to her even breathing, and felt a warmth in his heart. He reached out and covered her with a blanket, fiddled with the scattered hair on her forehead, and observed her sleeping form quietly all the while holding her face in his hand.
…
…
Mu Yunjin was sleeping for a long time. When she woke up, she found herself lying on a hard bed, and the surroundings were unfamiliar. When she found she was alone, she was so frightened that she immediately sat up.
When she put on her shoes and opened the door, she found herself in an inn-like place with noisy guests downstairs.
She frowned and opened a window. The strong light from the outside came in and pierced her eyes. She reached out to block the light and found that people were coming and going on the street below.
This should not be Qingzhou.
But how could she be alone?
What about Chu Li?
He wouldn’t really have left her here?
Damn, this bastard!
Mu Yunjin walked out of the door angrily, and knocked on the door next door to her.
Some woman answered the door. After seeing Mu Yunjin standing outside the door, she looked her up and down with displeased eyes, “Is there something wrong?”
“Nothing.” Yunjin said faintly, not finding the person she was looking for.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you playing with me on purpose?” The woman immediately became furious and shouted at Yunjin with a sharp tongue.
Mu Yunjin was just about to reply, when the door on the other side was opened, and a familiar figure came out of it. When he saw Yunjin standing at the door wearing only a sleeping coat, his eyes were slightly displeased.
“Come here.” An indifferent voice called out.
Suddenly, before she could even speak, Chu Li had pulled her with him into the room.
She was a little embarrassed, and glanced up at Chu Li skittishly, “I thought …”
“What?” Chu Li looked at her, “don’t you know how to get dressed when you go out?”
Yunjin looked down, only to find that she wasn’t wearing an outer robe, and could not help biting her lips. “I’ll get dressed first.”
“Wait.” Chu Li called to her.
She stopped and looked at Chu Li, “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll give you a half hour to get ready, take a moment to gather yourself, and then get ready to depart.” Chu Li said.
She nodded and immediately went out.
Back in her room, Yunjin released a sigh of relief. Fortunately Chu Li hadn’t left her here.
She simply prepared some hot water. After bathing, Yunjin changed into a very lightweight dress. The skirt was only to her knees. Then she put on cloth knee high boots. She looked in the mirror for a while, and there was an inexplicable feeling of coming back to herself.
The dress was refreshing and comfortable.
When she exited her room and walked downstairs, Ding Xian was already waiting for her at the door of the inn. When he saw Mu Yunjin coming, he whispered, “Princess, it’s time to go, the snacks have been put in the carriage.” She heard the word princess. This title, she frowned slightly, and felt she was still unaccustomed to it.
Once she stepped on the carriage, the group set off again.
…
…
“Where were we now?” After the rest, Yunjin, who was full of energy, stretched out her legs, bit a mouthful of sweet-scented osmanthus cake, and looked at Chu Li casually.
Chu Li looked at her so casual, frowned slightly and said, “Put down your legs.”
“Huh?” she didn’t respond for a moment, then lowered her eyes to glance at her own legs, and slid her feet to the floor.
“We’re just leaving Linyindu, there is still one more day until we reach Qingzhou.” Chu Li answered Yunjin’s question just now.
Yunjin heard one more day, and she suddenly lost her appetite. She put down the sweet-scented osmanthus cake, opened the curtains of the carriage, and looked at the scenery outside.
“If we can’t solve the flood in Qingzhou, if we can’t solve it for a long time, then we won’t be going back to the Imperial city?” Yunjin looked at Chu Li.
Chu Li nodded.
“The emperor did so intentionally. When Chu Ye became the Crown Prince, he assigned you to a poor region to manage the floods, and it was not a short-term thing. He was afraid that you would threaten Chu Ye’s new position. This is too much.” She raised her eyebrows, crossed her arms, and couldn’t help casually raising her legs again.
Chu Li sighed slightly, reached out and patted her stretched leg, and frowned, “Are you a woman?”
Mu Yunjin didn’t like sitting so prim, she felt uncomfortable. When she saw Chu Li correcting her twice, she answered uneasily, “Am I a woman, are you still unclear?”
How could he not know?
Chu Li was embarrassed, and he looked like he was defeated. She left her legs up and looked at him for a long while, and he gradually adjusted and thought how pleasing to the eye she looked, so he no longer corrected her.
…
…
After they’d been travelling for a while, she noticed that the wind outside was gradually getting louder, and even a trace of raindrops floated through the gap of the window.
Yunjin opened the carriage curtains and looked out, and found that she was in a valley surrounded by mountains. Compared with the sunny weather in the morning when they had last seen Linyindu, the wind here was blowing wildly and there was a light rain.
“Is this near the boundary of Qingzhou?” Yunjin lowered the curtain and looked at Chu Li.
Chu Li also glanced outside, “It’s coming soon.”
When she heard this, her heart sank. They were only just outside Qingzhou and had already met such weather.
But it doesn’t matter. She prefers two people to fight side by side instead of letting her eat and drink alone in the Prince’s Palace.
After two more hours, the rain on the outside increased significantly, and the speed of the carriage also slowed down. The outside wind often blew up the curtains on both sides and in drifted the rain with it.
Mu Yunjin leaned on Chu Li’s arm, and saw that she was getting wet from the raindrops. She bit her lips and decided to ignore it. She could always change when they got to Qingzhou.
Chu Li reached out and covered her with a blanket, saying in her ear, “Be careful not to get sick, this prince will not have time to take care of you.”
Mu Yunjin glanced down at the blanket covering her body. At this moment, the raindrops still sprayed in, but the blanket caught them all. Her heart was suffused with warmth, and she shrank in and cuddled up to Chu Li more.
Chu Li thought she was cold, and simply reached out to take her in his arms, chin against her head, pulling the blanket over her body yet again.
The storm continued outside, but inside the carriage it was warm.
…
…
“Bang–“
She didn’t know how long after that, but the carriage suddenly slumped and fell forward, even tilting to one side.
Yunjin, who was snuggling in Chu Li’s arms, was wide awake at this stage, and heard the voice of Ding Xian from outside speaking, “His Royal Highness, Princess, unfortunately the nearer we get to Qingzhou, the less passable the path. I’m afraid we can not bring the carriage any further… “
“We’re near Qingzhou?” Yunjin was surprised, and looked out, and found that the sky was completely dark, and the rain had stopped at this time, but you can clearly see the shiny mud puddles on the ground.
“Then let’s get out and walk?” she said, getting ready to disembark the carriage.
“You wait first.” Chu Li said to Yunjin and pulled her back to her seat. Then he got out of the carriage.
When he landed, he could obviously feel that his feet were sinking. Chu Li looked down at the ground, and then looked at the long dirt road, slightly twisting his brows.
Ding Xian held the lantern and saw Chu Li’s icy complexion, and he dared not speak.
At this time, Mu Yunjin got out of the carriage and stood on the edge of the step. When she saw the people were stalled, she smiled and looked at Chu Li.
Chu Li glanced at Yunjin, took out the moon-white jade pendant from his sleeve, and handed it to her.
“Huh?” Yunjin was puzzled.
“You help this prince to follow the path.” Yunjin heard that, frowned, and just wanted to scold Chu Li at this time, but she also reached out and accepted the jade pendant. Chu Li moved closer and turned his back to her.
”Get on.”
The short two words made Mu Yunjin feel a little embarrassed at this time, and so she didn’t react immediately. This, is this to make her angry?
“Not moving?.” Chu Li’s displeased voice said, after seeing she wasn’t responding.
Mu Yunjin immediately moved, lay on Chu Li’s back, with her legs and arms wrapped around him, and helped him follow the path below with the glowing pendant.
The light fell on the ground, and Mu Yunjin found the entire path was one continuous mud puddle. At this time, the boots under Chu Li’s feet had sunk deeply into the ground, even his clothes had mud stains.
Yunjin was being piggy-backed by Chu Li, with her arms around his neck and couldn’t help the ripples that spread out in her heart.
She thought she was really going to fall …
…
…
The mud path was hard to traverse at this time. Chu Li was carrying Mu Yunjin a long way, and it took a lot of time.
After reaching the road where he could barely stand on, Yunjin looked around and could clearly see a stone monument to the side with the word ‘Qingzhou’ inscribed on it.
“Let me down.” Yunjin was afraid that Chu Li was tired of carrying her, and was going to get down and walk.
Chu Li’s hands tightened slightly, “Don’t move.”
Yunjin stopped and continued to lie on Chu Li’s back, playing with the jade in her hand.
Ding Xian followed behind them, “Your Royal Highness, the grain and rice are okay, and there is no damage. This subordinate has ordered the purple guard Song Chun to supervise here. Let’s go to the house first.”
“Um.” Chu Li nodded.
Ding Xian took the lead in front. Yunjin held the glowing pendant and did not dare to move any more. She helped Chu Li carefully navigate the road, always watching out for the mud pits and deep puddles under his feet.
After a while, Ding Xian stopped at the gate of a house yard. Someone was waiting there at this time. After seeing Chu Li and the others arriving, he immediately walked over and bowed.
“Yang Wanshan, the small prefecture of Qingzhou, greets His Royal Highness Ning.”
Author Notes:
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