As dawn broke, the clouds on the horizon were bathed in the glow of the setting sun, shimmering with a golden-red hue.
On the asphalt-paved official road, two ordinary blue-roofed gray-paneled carriages traveled at a steady pace along a straight route...
The carriage in front was driven by a burly man with an ugly face, while the carriage behind was driven by a pale-faced, effeminate man.
With a creak, the window of the carriage in front opened.
A man dressed in a long robe and wearing a scholar's hat peeked out. He looked at the occasional people riding bicycles by the roadside, half-covered his mouth and yawned, then pulled his head back and asked a woman in blue sitting opposite him, "Yueyue, where are we?"
Xiao Yue rolled her eyes at him and said, "Your Majesty... uh, ptooey, brother-in-law! Can you please stop calling me Yueyue? It sounds disgusting!"
The man in the long robe was Qin Chuan. Seeing Xiao Yue's strong reaction, he couldn't help but tease her, "I insist on calling you Yueyue, because you're the Yueyue I like..."
"Hmph! Who wants you to like it!"
Xiao Yue turned her face away, but a distinct smile curved her lips.
The atmosphere inside the carriage suddenly became somewhat awkward.
Qin Chuan sat on the soft backrest, stretched out his legs, and his feet, clad in white socks, landed directly on Xiao Yue's thighs. He immediately felt the soft, warm sensation beneath his feet...
Xiao Yue shrank back a little, reached out and lifted his legs up, bending them until he obediently stopped putting his legs on her.
"Yueyue, I just asked you, where are we?"
"We'll arrive in Hangzhou tonight."
Upon hearing this, Qin Chuan sat up straighter and his expression became much more serious.
This time, on their journey from Beijing to Hangzhou, Li Aniu and Zhang Cheng drove the carriages, while he and Xiao Yue rode in the front carriage, and Jiang Lianyue rode in the back carriage. The group of five traveled during the day and stayed at inns at night, and had been on the road for five days.
The asphalt road is much easier to travel on than the previous bumpy road, so this journey takes almost half the time compared to before.
Qin Chuan had two main purposes for this incognito visit: first, to investigate the truth behind the Hangzhou dike breach, and second, to find out which forces were dissatisfied with the court, especially with the new policies.
Upon hearing Xiao Yue say that they wouldn't arrive in Hangzhou until tonight, Qin Chuan's eyelids drooped slightly. He hadn't slept enough at the inn last night and now wanted to go back to sleep...
Without a word, Qin Chuan moved over and rested his head on Xiao Yue's lap, closing his eyes and muttering the word "comfortable"...
"Hey! Brother-in-law! How could you do this!"
Xiao Yue slapped his face, seemingly very angry.
Qin Chuan was just pretending to be asleep.
"Hey! Brother-in-law, how could you do this... What if someone sees us..."
Xiao Yue sighed and tried to pry Qin Chuan off her lap.
Qin Chuan, like a dead pig unafraid of boiling water, insisted on resting his head on her lap, and she had no choice but to let him do so...
With soft snoring, Qin Chuan fell asleep comfortably.
Xiao Yue looked helpless and didn't dare to move her legs, lest she wake him up.
Thinking of what he had just said, "It's because you're the Yueyue I like," she couldn't help but wonder: Brother-in-law, do you really like me?
...
Meanwhile, in the carriage behind, Jiang Lianyue, wearing a veil, placed some bottles and jars on the seat and muttered to herself, "This is aphrodisiac powder, probably not needed... This is mind-altering powder, maybe it will work... Arsenic, we need to kill someone this time? We'll probably need it... Heartbreak grass, Hundred-Step Fold, Mafeisan... Thousand-Needle Prick... And... Huh, what's this?"
Holding a strange bottle, Jiang Lianyue fell into thought, her cold eyes fixed on the bottle. She saw some words written on it and read them aloud softly, one by one: "Fuyanjie (妇炎洁), wash for better health, clean... uh... virginity, wash and go to sleep..."
"Qin Chuan!!"
A sharp cry, like a lion's roar, came from inside the carriage!
Startled, Zhang Cheng, who was driving the carriage, quickly reined in the horses, got off, and asked, "Miss Jiang, what's wrong?"
Jiang Lianyue threw the bottle of feminine wash far out the window before clapping her hands and saying, "It's alright, let's keep going!"
The moment she closed the window, she found her face slightly flushed and her heart racing.
She gritted her teeth, thinking bitterly, "Qin Chuan, you bastard, you've got your eye on me! His Majesty and Jiang Ran have both slept with you, isn't that enough? Despicable! Shameless! Bullying others! Lecherous scoundrel!"
Growing angrier by the thought, she slammed her fist on the seat, leaving a small dent in the wooden base...
...
That evening, upon arriving in Hangzhou, Qin Chuan led the group to an inn.
They parked the carriage in front of the inn, and Zhang Cheng and Li Aniu led the horses to feed them.
Qin Chuan led Xiao Yue and Jiang Lianyue into the inner hall of the inn.
Qin Chuan gently nudged Xiao Yue: "Yueyue, go and ask for three superior rooms."
Xiao Yue walked to the counter as instructed and said, "Manager, I'd like two superior rooms."
After saying that, she realized what she meant and corrected herself, "I don't want two rooms, I want three."
To everyone's surprise, the innkeeper chuckled, pushed the abacus further inside, and said, "Miss, we only have two superior rooms left..."
Xiao Yue took it upon herself to say, "Then we'll have another room."
"Miss, we only have two rooms left."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yue frowned slightly, thinking that two rooms were definitely not enough. She waved her hand and said, "There are many of us, two rooms are not enough. Sorry for the inconvenience!"
Qin Chuan walked over and, seeing the situation, pulled Xiao Yue to leave. But the innkeeper said, "Sir, we've already fed your horse. Since you're not staying at the inn... please settle the bill for the horse feed."
The moment he spoke, two burly men in the inner room suddenly stood up from their seats and glared at him fiercely.
Xiao Yue walked towards the counter and asked, "How much is the horse feed?"
The shopkeeper said, "The horse feed in our shop is all transported from the capital. To tell you the truth, it's only one hundred coins per piece. Ah Bao, go and count how many pieces of horse feed this customer's horse has eaten."
One of the two burly men walked towards the corridor, giving Qin Chuan and Xiao Yue a vicious look.
Qin Chuan and Xiao Yue exchanged a glance, their understanding unspoken.
This is a rip-off!
What kind of horse feed costs 100 coins per stalk?!
This is absolutely outrageous!
This is blatant extortion!
Qin Chuan whispered in Xiao Yue's ear, "Let's keep a low profile and see how much he's asking for..."
Xiao Yue nodded, while Jiang Lianyue had already reached for the soft sword at her waist.
Meanwhile, outside the inn, a plainclothes Imperial Guard who had been lying in wait reported to a Imperial Guard commander: "The innkeeper is trying to extort the Prince of Yan and the princess. What should we do?"
The centurion said coldly, "Go tell that scoundrel called 'A-Bao' that if his shopkeeper dares to extort money, his shop will be confiscated tomorrow!"
"Yes! I'll go right away!"
...
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