Leaving the border town and walking on the official road to the frontier camp, Gu Zhen no longer needed to dress up. He took off his old makeup, changed into his own clothes, and sat in the sedan chair with Song Jiaren.
Traveling with them was a caravan from the Rakshasa Kingdom. The leading man had blond hair and blue eyes. The caravan was composed entirely of men, all of them tall and strong. They wore Rakshasa costumes and wore jeweled daggers around their waists, exuding a strong exotic style.
At noon, Song Jiaren was complaining of being hungry. With Gu Zhen's approval, the guards found a forest to rest. The caravan from the Rakshasa Kingdom happened to be not far away.
Song Jiaren ate with the guards. The only food they prepared was bread, while Luosha Kingdom was roasting lamb legs!
A fresh leg of lamb was placed on a simple rack supported by branches. There was a strong flame underneath. Soon, the outermost layer of meat on the leg of lamb became crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with oil sizzling out of it.
Song Jiaren was drooling greedily. She thought that she had always loved meat in modern times, but now she was drooling over the meat in other people's mouths. It was so sad.
Gu Zhen was also chewing on the bread like Song Jiaren. The cold bread was a little hard, but not so hard to swallow. He could eat it by taking a bite of the dry bread and drinking a sip of water. But when he saw Song Jiaren staring at the roasted lamb leg and the aroma of meat wafting over, he felt that the dry bread in his hand no longer had any fragrance.
"I want to eat meat." Song Jiaren said what was in her heart. She was very greedy.
Gu Zhen laughed, glanced at the Rakshasa people not far away, and said, "Wait."
Song Jiaren sat where she was, watching His Royal Highness the Crown Prince stand up, brush off his robe, and walk towards the Luosha merchant caravan that was enjoying a leg of lamb not far away, and start chatting with their leader.
Song Jiaren was dumbfounded. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince could speak foreign languages?
After a while, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was about to get up and come back. The leader of the opposite team also stood up to see him off and cut off half a leg of lamb for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to take. His Royal Highness refused twice, and seemed to be embarrassed to refuse before he reluctantly accepted it. He came back with half a roasted leg of lamb.
Song Jiaren was cheering and almost applauded her dear Royal Highness the Crown Prince. Well done!
Gu Zhen cut half of the roasted lamb leg in half with a knife, gave most of it to Changfeng, asking him to share it with the guards, and gave the remaining small half to Song Jiaren, whose eyes were shining.
"Take your eyes off me." Gu Zhen's cheeks couldn't help but heat up when he was looked at by her, as if he had done something extraordinary and was being looked at by her with admiration.
"Your Highness, do you know the language of Rakshasa? What did you say in the past?" Song Jiaren sniffed, smelling the aroma of meat, with an expression of satisfaction and happiness on her face.
Gu Zhen used a small dagger to cut the meat into small pieces for her to eat, saying, "The Luosha Kingdom caravan over there is a royal caravan, going to the capital to pay tribute to the treasures and returning to Luosha Kingdom. Their leader is Luosha Kingdom's third prince, Sol. I met him in the palace a few years ago, so I went over to chat. He said you were staring at their roasted lamb leg, and they were embarrassed to give it to you directly, so they asked me to do it for you."
Song Jiaren smiled so brightly and cheerfully, and there seemed to be stars and light in her eyes.
Gu Zhen was stunned for a moment, quietly calmed the throbbing in his heart, and turned his face away first.
After eating and drinking, the two teams set off on their journey. Gu Zhen and the third prince of Luosha Kingdom went together. The two teams moved forward silently, one in front and the other behind, and found an inn before night fell.
The inn was shabby and the tables and chairs were covered with dust, as if no one had cleaned them for a long time. The lights were dim and there were no other guests except them.
Changfeng called out, "Boss?"
A wooden door on the second floor of the quiet and eerie inn was opened with a creaking sound, and an old woman walked slowly down the dilapidated stairs, her hair disheveled, wrinkles on her face, and her eyes full of vicissitudes of life.
Changfeng was always gentle and polite to the elderly. As if he didn't want to scare her, he lowered his voice and said, "Elderly, we'll stay at the hotel."
The old woman took a moment to come back to her senses, tilted her ear and asked, "What did you say?"
Changfeng said loudly again, "Old man, we want to stay in the hotel."
The old woman's cloudy eyes slowly looked at everyone and said, "Stay in the hotel, go ahead. You can get a room for yourselves. Just don't disturb me."
Gu Zhen was responsible for translating the old woman's words to the third prince of Luosha Kingdom. Song Jiaren had already walked around the post station and got familiar with it. Changfeng and Shitou were still trying to talk to the old woman, but one of them couldn't hear clearly and the other two kept repeating themselves.
Gu Zhen took Song Jiaren upstairs and chose a cleaner room to rest. The others also gradually quieted down after walking around and found their own rooms to rest.
There was only one bed in the simple room. Song Jiaren looked left and right but couldn't find any other couches or chairs. It was impossible for her to sleep somewhere else like she had done the previous nights, so she had to ask His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to squeeze in.
Gu Zhen no longer expected Song Jiaren to help him undress. He took off his cloak and coat by himself, sat by the couch in his pajamas, and waited. He looked at Song Jiaren impatiently and said, "Hurry up. I'm tired and need to rest. Hurry and lie down."
Song Jiaren felt that all her charming and shy thoughts just now seemed to have been thrown away. She took off her clothes in a second and climbed onto the couch in her pajamas, lying on the inside facing the wall.
Gu Zhen opened the quilt and lay down, wrapping Song Jiaren in the quilt. As soon as he touched her shoulders, the body under his hands tensed up, as if she was afraid of him.
Song Jiaren shrank back into the couch like a mole, avoiding his hot breath.
Thinking that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was lying next to her at this moment, a single man and a single woman covered with a quilt, with his cool scent everywhere, she felt as if he was everywhere.
I was so nervous.
He pulled the quilt tightly to cover himself, staring at the yellowed wall in front of him with a serious expression, as if he was studying some rare treasure.
"What are you looking at?" Gu Zhen supported his chin and turned his head to look at her, smiling. His inky black hair spread all over the pillow, and his eyes were half-closed.
Song Jiaren turned her head to look at him, bewildered by her beauty, and said blankly, "The wall."
Gu Zhen turned her body over and laid her flat, saying, "Just sleep peacefully. I'm just covering you with a blanket. It's drafty here, and you'll get cold at night without a blanket. I'm afraid you'll slow us down. What do you think I want to do?"
Song Jiaren didn't dare to say anything, she just chuckled. How could she know whether His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted it or not?
Don’t ask her, she is still young and doesn’t understand!
The faint moonlight shone in through the window, casting a faint shadow on Song Jiaren's beautiful and peaceful face. Gu Zhen turned off the light with his backhand, and only after she fell asleep did he carefully hold her in his arms, sighing with satisfaction.
In the second half of the night, a strong wind suddenly blew open a window of the inn, and the cool breeze blew into the lobby through the window. A figure was sitting alone at the counter, looking out the window silently, with a slight wet mark on her old, wrinkled face.
Changfenger's ears were very good and he slept lightly, so he woke up when the window was blown open by the wind. He couldn't sleep at all, and was afraid that His Highness would catch a cold at night, so he simply put on a cloak and went downstairs in the dark.
Seeing the old man sitting at the counter downstairs, he walked over and asked softly, "Old man, why are you still awake?"
The old woman's voice was hoarse and unclear as she spoke slowly, "I'm old and don't sleep much. Even though I did sleep just now, I dreamed of the old man who passed away. He was still so young. Time passed by so quickly. I have already entered my seventies from my prime. I don't feel happy when I dream of him, but only sad."
The old woman sighed deeply, and her vision was foggy and she couldn't see clearly. She had felt as if her vision was covered with a layer of frost for a few days, and everything she saw was white. Perhaps her time was running out, and the old man was getting anxious waiting for her.
The old woman snorted coldly. It was the old man's fault for not taking her with him when he died. She had to promise to die of old age before she could go to accompany him!
Changfeng didn't know how to comfort the old man, so he just sat there silently and looked out the window with him, feeling emotional. Maybe this was the old man's longing, without any embellishment of words, so profound and subtle.
When she woke up in the morning, Song Jiaren was puzzled. Did she fall asleep and roll into the arms of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince last night?
It must be because it's too cold.
She pushed away the arm that was still around her waist, holding her really tight.
Gu Zhen had woken up a long time ago, but was reluctant to get up. He pretended to be asleep and was woken up by Song Jiaren. He got up and dressed seriously.
"Get up quickly, I'll wait for you in the carriage." After saying that, he strode out as if he was running away.
Song Jiaren packed up and ran downstairs. A section of the stairs that had been in disrepair for a long time was broken by her step. She only had time to exclaim before closing her eyes and preparing to have an intimate contact with the ground.
The expected pain did not come, and she was caught in a cold embrace. She opened her eyes and looked into a pair of gray-blue eyes, as cold as ice, making ordinary people dare not look into them.
Song Jiaren was a little stunned. It was the first time she met a foreigner after traveling through the book. He was a handsome guy who looked like a foreign male model. He had deep features and a strangely handsome appearance. His whole body exuded a sharp edge.
"Get up." The handsome guy's voice was cold and domineering, with naked disgust in his eyes.
Song Jiaren felt that she was outstanding in appearance, and this was the first time she had received such treatment. What's so great about a handsome guy? What's so great about someone from the Rakshasa Kingdom? I really don't know if there were too few handsome guys in ancient times, so if you look a little bit decent, your eyes will grow on the top of your head, and you will be awesome.
Song Jiaren stood up holding the handrail of the stairs and said lightly, "Thank you~"
When she saw His Royal Highness the Crown Prince after getting on the carriage, she angrily complained, "This Third Prince of Luosha Kingdom is really no match for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! Although His Highness is usually cold and looks unapproachable, he will not easily look down on others. This Third Prince has his eyes in the sky. He just happened to catch me when I fell down the stairs and gave me a hand, but he acted like he had touched something dirty. How hateful!"
Gu Zhen raised an eyebrow and pondered for a moment before saying, "Haha, he really didn't mean it. There's a rumor circulating in Luosha Country that the Third Prince, Thor, was tricked by a warrior on his coming-of-age ceremony and drugged. Ever since then, he's avoided women."
"Is that warrior okay?" Song Jiaren admired the man for daring to provoke such a vicious person.
"The grass on your grave is taller than you." Although Gu Zhen also heard it, the truth was not much different.
Song Jiaren swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said belatedly, "What a ruthless person, I can't afford to offend him."
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