Chapter 980 Stealing Fragrance (Xinyang VS Xiao Jifan)

Princess Xinyang was immediately terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

The feeling of being caught red-handed after doing something wrong is truly terrifying.

The old woman looked to be in her sixties or seventies, with gray hair and a very aged appearance. Her clothes and accessories suggested she was from the Dongyi region and were patched, indicating she was likely a villager from the area.

Marquis Xuanping kept his gaze fixed on the old woman, and said to Princess Xinyang in a low voice, "We have entered the territory of the Eastern Yi people, so we must proceed with caution."

Princess Xinyang quietly agreed, then asked, "What do you plan to do?"

Marquis Xuanping said, "Act according to the circumstances."

If it had been a soldier, Marquis Xuanping would have killed him without hesitation to silence him, but the other party was just an ordinary villager.

The soldiers of Zhao State did not kill civilians from the enemy state.

Marquis Xuanping shielded Princess Xinyang behind him, took her hand, and walked toward the old woman.

“Old man,” he said calmly, “we are soldiers passing by, tracking the whereabouts of some Zhao people. Have you seen them?”

The languages ​​of the Dongyi people and the Zhao Kingdom are largely the same, except for the accents. He spoke fluent Dongyi dialect, leaving Princess Xinyang behind him dumbfounded.

Princess Xinyang knew a little bit of the Yan and Liang languages, but that was only in written form. She could translate articles, but when it came to speaking them, her accent wasn't very standard.

Xiao Heng had an exceptional talent for languages ​​from a young age, which Princess Xinyang initially attributed to her own efforts. However, upon closer inspection, it seems that he inherited it from Xiao Ji.

The old woman's calm, blank gaze didn't change much. She slowly replied in her aged voice, "Oh, I didn't see it."

"Old man, do you live around here? Who else lives in your family?" Marquis Xuanping then asked.

"Nobody's here, it's just me." The old woman spoke so slowly that it seemed she was struggling to speak and her reactions were sluggish.

But considering her age, this is not surprising.

Princess Xinyang peeked out from behind Marquis Xuanping to sized her up.

As soon as Marquis Xuanping turned around, he saw the black hair that had sprouted and a smile appeared on his lips.

“Grandma,” he said, looking at the old woman again, “it’s getting late, can we stay at your house for the night?”

"Okay," the old woman replied slowly, then turned and walked away, leaning on her cane.

Princess Xinyang watched the old woman, her figure hunched over, gradually disappear into the distance, and asked him, "Are we really going to her house?"

Marquis Xuanping looked around and said, "There's nowhere else to stay here. If we go to her house, at least we won't freeze to death. We can also inquire about the Dongyi soldiers while we're at it."

Princess Xinyang thought that this made sense.

Who could have predicted that they would stumble upon the territory of the Dongyi people? They were unfamiliar with the terrain, and Xiao Ji was seriously injured. It would be better for them to find a place to recuperate than to wander aimlessly in the freezing cold.

Thinking of something, she asked again, "Tell me, did she see what happened just now?"

Marquis Xuanping said thoughtfully, "I'm not quite sure."

Princess Xinyang sighed, "Forget it, so what if we saw it? Are we really going to lay a hand on an old woman who can't even kill a chicken? Let's follow her and keep an eye on her to prevent her from telling on us."

The two followed the old man to a simple little thatched hut.

The old woman lived in a rather remote area; a hundred paces further east was a sparsely populated village.

Seeing Princess Xinyang's puzzled expression, Xiao Ji explained in a low voice, "In the Eastern Yi, elderly people who are widowed and childless are moved out of the village because they are regarded as the embodiment of bad luck."

Princess Xinyang suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. It seems she wasn't lying to us; she really does live alone."

The elderly person is old and has difficulty moving around. Their basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter are not well met, and their house is not very clean.

She pointed to a dusty little hut and said to the two of them, "You'll stay here tonight. Your meals will be in the kitchen."

After saying that, she went back to her room and ignored the two strangers.

Xiao Ji's injuries were severe. After entering the house, he could no longer maintain his composure in public and sat down on the dusty wooden stool with a pale face.

She had encountered a series of accidents as soon as she came out of the cave, and only now did she have the opportunity to properly look at him.

I didn't know until I saw it that his situation was really bad.

No wonder she wasn't allowed to light a tinderbox in the cave. If she had known he looked so bad, she would have left him there to rest while she went to explore the way.

But then I thought, if I had actually gone there, I would have been captured by the Dongyi soldiers at the cave entrance long ago.

How could he... always be so considerate of her needs?

Princess Xinyang was moved and forgot how she had been driven crazy by his sharp tongue in the cave. She subconsciously raised her hand and touched his forehead: "It's so hot!"

Xiao Ji took her hand down and held it tightly in his palm without saying a word.

The room fell silent.

Princess Xinyang felt the warmth from his palm. He held her hand tightly, his thumb unconsciously stroking the back of her hand.

It's like a silent comfort.

...

Princess Xinyang tidied up the room and took out cotton quilts and mattresses from the cabinet. Fortunately, both items were clean, though slightly damp.

Princess Xinyang then borrowed a brazier from the old lady, took a tinderbox, and squatted down to start a fire.

She spent ages giving birth but it didn't go smoothly, and she ended up with a face covered in graffiti.

Xiao Ji sat on the stool, his face pale, looking at her with a half-smile: "Qin Fengwan, is this your first time doing this?"

"So what if it is?" Princess Xinyang muttered. "I saw that Jiaojiao started the fire very quickly, and that's how she did it."

Xiao Ji laughed, but it hurt so much that his wound was about to burst open from laughing.

He composed himself, his smile fading, but the joy in his eyes was almost palpable.

He said, "I'll do it."

"You sit down!" Princess Xinyang coldly ordered.

Xiao Jifu sat back down dejectedly.

Princess Xinyang continued to tend the fire, and finally managed to get it going, at the cost of burning a small tuft of her bangs.

She started to dry the damp mattress.

Then they burned the mattress...

The old woman initially didn't want to pay attention to the two, but she was probably worried that if things continued like this, the woman would burn her house down.

With a dark expression, she came over and helped the two of them dry their quilts. She then brought over a new mattress, which she also dried before daring to hand it to Princess Xinyang.

Princess Xinyang made the bed, helped Xiao Ji take off his armor, and then helped him lie down on the warm mattress.

"I'll go get something to eat." She pulled the blanket over Xiao Ji and turned to go to the kitchen.

The old man lived in very difficult conditions; there was nothing in his kitchen except for pickles and pancakes.

The pancakes were rock hard and impossible to bite.

Princess Xinyang looked at the water in the vat and had an idea in her mind.

The old woman was twisting hemp rope in her house. She was too old to farm or hunt, so she made a living by doing simple handicrafts.

She figured the two of them should be eating by now. One of them looked delicate and picky, so he probably wouldn't eat cold food directly.

She was just one step too late, and sure enough, by the time she went to heat up the food for the two of them, the kitchen was already on fire.

The young Bao Gong, with his face covered in soot, stood awkwardly in the courtyard.

The old woman looked at her speechlessly.

Princess Xinyang feigned composure and said in a deep voice, "I've cooked at home before; it's your stove that's not working properly!"

The old woman: "..."

Princess Xinyang took off the gold bracelet from her wrist and gave it to the old woman as compensation.

The old woman went to the cellar and took out a piece of cured meat to stew with the two of them and bring it over.

Princess Xinyang looked at the meat soup on the table and said to the old woman with a hint of resentment, "So you hid the good stuff."

The old woman left without expression.

Xiao Ji laughed uncontrollably, but the pain from his wound made him twitch.

The weather in the east this year is very strange. Even though the first month of the lunar calendar is almost over, it snowed again.

Snowflakes, as fine as goose feathers, fluttered down. Unlike the snow scene in Beijing, the snow in the mountains gave people a sense of tranquility and serenity.

Princess Xinyang helped the old woman bring in the clothes and straw ropes that were drying outside.

"Grandma, where have all your family members gone?" she asked.

She asked casually, expecting the old woman to not answer, but after a moment of silence, the old woman spoke in a faint, aged voice: "Dead. They were captured and sent to war. They all died."

Princess Xinyang gazed at the old woman's lonely, hunched back and said nothing more.

“She saw it.”

That night, as the two lay in bed, Princess Xinyang spoke to Xiao Ji.

"Huh?" Xiao Ji didn't understand why this topic suddenly came up.

Princess Xinyang stared blankly at the dark roof beams and said, "She saw us kill the Dongyi soldiers, but she didn't report us because she also hated the Dongyi soldiers. Her family members were captured and forced into military service and died in battle."

The cruelty of war is something that ordinary people cannot bear.

Xiao Ji didn't like fighting either, but it was his duty. If he didn't fight, it would destroy the homeland behind him.

The same applies to the soldiers of the Eastern Barbarians.

Everyone is serving their own master.

However, he had always opposed the practice of conscripting men into the army. He believed that the King of Dongyi should be killed and that the royal power of Dongyi should be overthrown.

He held her hand, offering her silent comfort and strength in the darkness.

Princess Xinyang's emotions gradually calmed down.

"Xiao Ji, are you asleep?"

She asked softly.

She was met with a steady stream of breathing.

That makes sense. With such severe injuries and a high fever, he must have been exhausted long ago.

Princess Xinyang, however, could not sleep. She propped herself up on her arms and, by the light of the snow filtering through the cracks in the window, stared intently at his sleeping face.

For twenty years, she has remained as radiant as ever.

"Xiao Ji".

She called out again.

Xiao Ji was sleeping soundly.

She stared at him intently, a bold idea suddenly flashing through her mind.

Her cheeks flushed, and she buried her head in her hands.

Is she possessed by an evil spirit?

How could she do this?

But--

She propped her head up again, shyly stealing glances at him, her heart pounding wildly.

Anyway... he was asleep and didn't know.

The well-educated, dignified, and noble Princess Xinyang finally mustered her courage, blushed, and slowly approached him, her watery gaze falling on his diamond-shaped thin lips.

She took a deep breath and did the boldest thing she had ever done: she leaned down and gently touched his cheek with her lips.

A low chuckle echoed in the night: "Qin Fengwan, you've been bracing yourself for so long, and this is it?"

Princess Xinyang's hair stood on end!

(End of this chapter)