After breakfast, Wei Li summoned his deputy and prepared to set off for Bu Xian.
Zhao Xiheng peeled the tea egg the proprietress had given her, looked at the two of them with some confusion, and whispered to Wei Li, "My lord, didn't we say we'd leave after noon?"
Wei Li looked at her with a half-smile, "Then we'll go first, you can leave after noon."
Zhao Xiheng stuffed the small egg into her mouth in three bites, then wiped her mouth and said, "I'm done, let's go."
Let her travel alone? Are you kidding me? In this freezing weather, she can't afford a horse, and she doesn't have a penny in her pocket. How is she supposed to travel? She was frozen solid after only a few steps.
Wei Li nodded, turned around, and strode out the door.
The two horses that the three men brought with them were being kept in the stable behind the post station, having just eaten their morning fodder.
The boss and his wife came to see them off and settle their bills for food and lodging over the past few days.
"One string of cash for lodging, one string of cash for food. Please settle the bill, you three." The shopkeeper stroked his beard and calculated with an abacus.
The lieutenant took out some money from his pocket, but Wei Li intercepted it and gave them a string of coins in total. Then, pointing at Zhao Xiheng, he smiled and said, "She gave you her own money; she ate the most."
Zhao Xiheng tilted her head in disbelief, looked at Wei Li, and quietly poked his lower back before whispering, "My lord, I... I have no money..."
Wei Li slapped her hand away, looking extremely disgusted, but the corners of his mouth curved even wider, with a hint of mockery, "If you don't have money, then work your fill of hard labor here. Come find me again when you've earned enough." With that, he was about to mount his horse and leave.
Zhao Xiheng grabbed his sleeve and said, "My dowry is all with you, so you can pay for it first, and I'll make up for it later with money from my dowry."
Wei Li straddled his horse, raised an eyebrow, his pupils were dark beneath his single eyelids, and he had an innate air of indifference and coldness, but his tone was very cheerful, "What do you mean by your dowry? Once it's in my hands, it's mine."
Zhao Xiheng wanted to skin him alive. How shameless! How come he gets all the good things? Not only did he give her away and her dowry, but now she has to pay for her own lodging. Wei Li is already rich enough to own an entire province, yet he's still as stingy as Zhou Bapi.
She was so angry she could hardly breathe, and almost wanted to slap him, but reason stopped her. Reason told her to have a proper talk with Wei Li.
Zhao Xiheng touched her chest and silently recited in her heart:
Don't get angry, because getting angry will only hurt yourself.
Anger breeds illness, and no one can take my place; if I die of anger, who will benefit? Wei Li is a dog, let him be.
Wei Li watched with satisfaction as her face flushed red and then turned pale with anger. He cracked his whip on the horse's back and said, "Paying back debts is a matter of course. You better do a good job."
He spoke with such conviction that even the proprietress and the proprietress gasped, their expressions showing surprise and even a hint of disdain and anger in their eyes as they looked at Wei Li. Regardless of their actual relationship, any man who seizes a young girl's dowry is hardly a good man.
After thinking about it, the proprietress suddenly realized that there was a reason why the young girl was so happy these past few days while the man was bedridden.
She hugged Zhao Xiheng and said indignantly, "Since you are unwilling to take her away, then she will be my daughter from now on. I will definitely not let her be bullied again. You bastard, get out of here! You may not love such a good daughter, but I do."
While moved, Zhao Xiheng was also somewhat worried about what the proprietress had said.
Sure enough, seeing Wei Li's face darken as he sat on his horse, she knew something was wrong and quickly grabbed Wei Li's horse. "Well, take care, I won't see you off. I still have to wash dishes to pay off my debts. Once I've paid them off, I'll come find you in Bu Xian."
Wei Li's expression turned even more unpleasant. Zhao Xiheng felt that she hadn't said anything wrong; wasn't she just agreeing with him?
"Zhao Xiheng, do you even know how to ask someone for a favor?" Wei Li suddenly bent down, turned the horsewhip in his hand around, and used the handle to hook her chin.
The leather smell on the whip was truly awful. Zhao Xiheng took two steps back, looked into Wei Li's dark eyes, and hesitated slightly before speaking, "Please...please?"
Although Re Weili still had a sour face, Zhao Xiheng was surprisingly able to sense that his mood seemed to have improved.
Perhaps she has discovered something extraordinary? Has she unlocked the secret to wealth?
Wei Li threw the remaining string of cash into the boss's arms.
While they were still in a daze, Wei Li put his arm around Zhao Xiheng's waist, led her onto the horse, and then went straight out of the backyard of the post station.
Wei Li lowered his eyes slightly, his breath brushing against Zhao Xiheng's ear, sending shivers down her spine. Such an action between an ordinary man and woman would certainly seem extremely ambiguous, but Zhao Xiheng couldn't care less about blushing or her heart pounding right now.
The cold wind was whipping her face, making her feel utterly desolate, which already saddened her greatly. Wei Li whispered behind her, "Zhao Xiheng, you've gained weight."
The disdain in his tone was almost palpable.
Zhao Xiheng's slender white fingers gripped the saddle tightly. She paused, her face drooping, but her tone was unusually soft. "These past few days, my lord has been seriously injured, and I've been crying my eyes out every day. I've also been consuming a lot of energy, so I've been eating a lot. It must have been very difficult for my lord, who is just recovering from his serious injuries, to lift this little fat boy onto the horse with one hand."
It's just hitting the nail on the head, who doesn't know how to do that?
Wei Li said she was fat, so she said Wei Li was thin!
If he gets angry, he cries and says that's not what he meant, and that he doesn't know why his lord misunderstood him like that!
She hasn't gained weight! Even if she has gained a few pounds, she's still slim; the palace maids all say she's too thin.
Wei Li pouted and poked her head, "Don't think I can't tell just because you're being sarcastic."
He suddenly wrapped an arm around Zhao Xiheng's waist and tightened it, "Also, this isn't called 'hugging,' it's called 'lifting.' You know what 'lifting' means, right?"
Wei Li originally wanted to speak Mandarin, but he found that Mandarin sometimes couldn't express emotions as accurately as dialects.
Zhao Xiheng understood, of course. She was silent for a moment, then turned to Wei Li with the most innocent and inquisitive eyes, "My lord, what does 'ti liu' mean?"
Wei Li said it herself yesterday. She speaks Pingzhou dialect in a broken and disjointed way, so it's normal that she didn't understand what "ti liu" meant.
“It’s called ‘lifting’.” Wei Li repeated without pausing, his eyes expressionless.
"What exactly does 'ti liu' mean? I still don't understand, my lord." If you understand, then explain it to me properly, don't try to fool me.
"Get out of here. You won't understand no matter how many times I explain, so there's no point in explaining anymore." Wei Li suddenly got angry and twisted her head back.
Zhao Xiheng chuckled inwardly; Wei Li was simply getting angry because he couldn't explain himself.
Before she could even feel happy for long, Wei Li cracked his whip, and the horse suddenly sped up, making the cold wind that was already blowing in her face even more intense.
She tried her best to pull her collar up high, stuffing most of her face inside.
Zhao Xiheng endured it for a while, but even with several layers of clothing in between, her face was still numb from the wind, her eyes were sore and painful, and tears involuntarily streamed down her face.
She couldn't bear it any longer, turned around and tugged at Wei Li's sleeve, calling out indistinctly, "My lord."
The cold wind not only made her body stiff, but even her mouth became unresponsive.
"Hmm?" Wei Li was in a good mood seeing her like this.
"Slow down, shall we?" Zhao Xiheng felt like her mouth wasn't her own anymore. She pinched her cheeks and forced her mouth shut, which she couldn't close.
Wei Li pretended not to hear, and even whipped his horse to keep running.
Zhao Xiheng's eyes stung from the cold. She knew he was deliberately tormenting her. Her inertia made her lean against Wei Li's chest. She sat up straight, supporting herself on his chest, and cursed him inwardly. Remembering the "wealth code" she had discovered, she said cautiously, "Please, please."
Wei Li raised his hand again, pressing her head down and turning it around. "Begging a thousand times won't help."
Zhao Xiheng was so cold that tears kept streaming down her face. Before they could fall, they froze into ice, and her eyelashes were covered in frost.
Wei Li said that, but Zhao Xiheng clearly noticed that the horse's speed was gradually slowing down.
Hmm, it seems to actually work.
The post station was not far from Buxian City. They set off in the morning, and by noon, Zhao Xiheng saw a mountain with a white top in the distance. It stood alone, white and untouched by dust, as if it were connecting to the road to the Heavenly Court.
"Is that Changbai Mountain?" Zhao Xiheng asked, pinching her frozen face.
Wei Li nodded, "Yes, its original name was Buxian Mountain. Later, it was renamed Changbai Mountain because of the four seasons of Changbai Mountain. The reason why Buxian City is called Buxian City is because it is located at the foot of Buxian Mountain."
"Why doesn't the city of Xiancheng change its name to Changbai City?"
"If you keep talking, I'll throw you into the woods to feed the wolves."
In winter, it always gets dark very quickly in Pingzhou. When Wei Li led her to the gate of a mansion, it was already dark, just like the last time they went to Ji'an.
There were few extra people along the way, and the whole city was quiet.
There was no plaque on the magnificent gate of the mansion. Judging from the signs of sun and wind exposure, the plaque had just been taken down not long ago.
Zhao Xiheng guessed that this might be the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion, which Wei Li had taken over for his own use and then removed the plaque.
The area in front of the gate was deserted; there was no one to greet them, and no lanterns or torches were lit. A cold wind blew, swirling up fine snow and withered leaves, making it look eerie.
Wei Li helped Zhao Xiheng off her horse, and she then discovered that the gate had been splattered with dog blood, and the words "Wei Li, you treacherous dog, will surely be punished by Heaven!" were written in blood.
Zhao Xiheng glanced at Wei Li's expression, which remained unchanged, as if he were already used to this scene. She stayed by his side in silence, afraid that Wei Li's unpredictable mood might anger him again.
Wei Li, finding it dirty, kicked open the gate with a bang, revealing an equally empty and desolate courtyard.
The snow in the yard looked like it hadn't been swept for a long time, and it was piled up to people's calves.
"Go in." Wei Li raised his chin, his expression ambiguous in the darkness.
Zhao Xiheng swallowed hard, lifted her skirt, and stepped inside, with Wei Li following closely behind.
The door slammed shut again.
Zhao Xiheng turned around and found that in this vast place, only she and Wei Li remained; the deputy general was nowhere to be seen.
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