Chapter 303 The Virtuous Empress Used as Cannon Fodder (Part Two) Lin You originally thought...
Lin You had thought that Ye Yunhua wouldn't be used to such simple roadside snacks, but to her surprise, she ate them quite heartily. Although she ate in a refined manner, her eating speed was not much slower than Lin You's.
Seemingly noticing Lin You's confusion, Ye Yunhua explained somewhat embarrassedly, "I haven't eaten such hearty, homely food in a long time."
In the palace, the food and tea were never served piping hot to avoid punishment by the palace servants. After the servants arranged the dishes, tasted them, and served them, the food was just warm.
As a virtuous and magnanimous empress, she couldn't afford to set up a small kitchen just for her own comfort. She ate lukewarm food every day, and her heart grew cold as she ate.
Now, suddenly eating a steaming hot radish pancake, which she held in her hand and kept turning it over and over, seemed to pull her back from boundless loneliness to the world.
"Having spent half a day together, I still don't know your name, sir. It is indeed... my rudeness." This was the first time Ye Yunhua had spoken to Lin You on her own initiative, and it was also her first step in trying to stay in this world.
"My name is Lin You. Like you, this is my first time here too. How about we take a walk around the city together?" Lin You didn't ask her where she wanted to go, she just suggested taking a walk.
It was early spring, March, and the sky was just beginning to brighten. The wind and rain in Jiangnan carried a tender and lingering charm. Ye Yunhua, who had never left the capital before, agreed without any hesitation.
The people were already busy in the early morning, and the streets of the city were bustling with pedestrians. The two walked aimlessly and soon reached the end of the street.
At the end of the river was a lively one, with fishing boats floating on it. There were customers buying fish and nearby villagers carrying vegetables to sell, with shouts and calls filling the air.
Perhaps because both men were carrying swords, passersby would instinctively give them a wide berth, and even the thugs who wanted to collect protection money would secretly take a longer route.
After all, the emotions of people in the martial arts world are too unstable. The righteous path would use them to boost their reputation, and at best they would beat them up, at worst they would break their arms and legs.
If you were to run into a member of a demonic cult, your life or death would be unpredictable. You might offend someone with just a cough and end up dying in some unexpected way.
These two江湖人 (jianghu people) are unfamiliar faces, and their personalities are still uncertain. It's not worth taking the risk for such a small amount of money.
Compared to the martial arts world he used to associate with, this world is only at a kindergarten level. No one can even fly down a mountain, let alone fly up a cliff using light-footed skills.
After all, this isn't a martial arts world. The most skilled martial artists only know a little bit of fist and footwork. Lin You considered the weakest medicinal pills he had on hand.
If she's willing to learn, conservatively speaking, it shouldn't be a problem for Ye Yunhua to become the number one martial artist within three months.
Although Ye Yunhua had no experience in this area, her background in the palace made her an expert at reading people. She quickly noticed the situation around her and realized that they were staring at the long sword in her hand.
Lin You took out two coins and bought two garlands of jasmine flowers from a little girl selling them nearby. "Don't you feel that this world is quite different from what you imagined?"
"Actually, it's not so bad. There are only so many people in the palace, and they're all fighting to the death. Where is there a place without conflict?" Ye Yunhua looked at the jasmine bracelet with some curiosity, and followed Lin You's example by wearing it on her wrist, a slight smile appearing on her lips.
As the sun rose, the morning market dispersed. Ye Yunhua carried a bamboo basket woven from willow branches, filled with colorful dough figurines, small windmills made of colored paper and bamboo strips, a bag of magnolia blossom sachets, and so on.
As the weight of the bamboo basket increased, Ye Yunhua's expression softened slightly. Compared to the numbness and lifelessness she had shown half a day ago, she had regained some vitality.
Ye Yunhua didn't have a travel permit similar to an ID card, but Lin You could arrange an identity for herself in every world. This time, she also arranged a younger sister for herself.
With Lin You's identity certificate as a basis, and after giving the clerk some service fee, Ye Yunhua also obtained her own identity.
Her name on the receipt was still "Ye Yunhua." Seemingly noticing Lin You's confusion, Ye Yunhua explained it to her after they left:
"In the family genealogy, women are only recorded as being surnamed so-and-so. When I was at home, I was called the eldest daughter. After I got married, I was called the Crown Princess. When His Majesty ascended the throne, I was called the Empress. Even my closest relatives probably don't remember what my name is."
These seemingly casual words were suffocating. Not wanting her to overthink it, Lin You began to talk about some precautions to take when traveling.
Back when she was traveling the martial arts world with Mo Kaiyang, she didn't need to worry about these things. There were times when she couldn't find an inn in the middle of the night and even slept in a tree. But in ancient times, Lin You knew quite a bit about what to be careful about when traveling far away.
Ye Yunhua listened attentively. She knew that Lin You was just a passerby, and sooner or later, she would have to walk her own path.
"Where are we going to stay tonight? An inn?" Having regained some of her composure, Ye Yunhua began to ask about the current situation.
She took off the bracelet from her wrist and handed it to Lin You. The heavy gold bracelet was the one she had taken out and put on from the bottom compartment of her dressing case when she came out of the palace.
“We can’t keep letting Mr. Lin spend money. This should be enough for our expenses for two days.” Of course, Ye Yunhua didn’t just bring the bracelet. She had been fantasizing about what she would do if she could leave long ago, and she had prepared gold and silver valuables for herself in advance.
There were gold jewelry and silver notes, all of which were the rewards her father had secretly kept, and she had only collected them after confirming that they were not marked.
Those things were placed within easy reach, and Ye Yunhua took them all out when she left with Lin You.
She never imagined that the things she used to comfort herself would actually come in handy one day.
Ye Yunhua was good at social etiquette, but she lacked understanding of prices. Lin You didn't take her to continue exploring Jiangnan, but instead chose a lively place and rented a small courtyard house.
After the plain gold bracelet was cut open and a month's rent was paid, more than half of it remained. Ye Yunhua immediately understood the approximate cost of renting a house.
After mentally calculating what she had seen and heard along the way, she accepted the gold that Lin You handed back, saying, "Then consider this as our expenses for this month."
The two of them didn't hire any servants and personally tidied up the courtyard, wiped down the furniture in the house, and laid out the bedding that Lin You had brought out on the bed.
After tidying up for a while, Ye Yunhua went to eat a bowl of plain noodles on the street, and then Lin You sent her to rest. She was a girl who had grown up in luxury, and she was probably exhausted from following Lin You since last night.
It's good to be tired; you can just fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, and then you won't have so many heavy thoughts, nor will you have much time to overthink things.
Lin You breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that Ye Yunhua was really asleep. Although she could clean her up with a dust-removing talisman, Ye Yunhua clearly needed to move around more.
However, she won't have to clean it herself anymore. When she has the ability to make her and her friends live a better life, Lin You never advocates forcing herself to endure hardship.
Open your system page.
The "stand-in doll" can be monitored in real time through the system to prevent any plot events from happening to the stand-in without their knowledge. The system can then be checked to find out what happened.
The doll that replaced Ye Yunhua has already gotten up, washed, received greetings from the concubines, and exchanged a few words with the emperor, just as she had set up. So far, nothing seems out of the ordinary.
After confirming that she hadn't given anything away, Lin You stopped paying attention and began meditating and cultivating in the room next to Ye Yunhua's. She hadn't forgotten why she had chosen the easy task.
Her space is connected to herself, so she can draw out the spiritual energy of the space to cultivate without going inside. She still has many spiritual energy beads given to her by the Little Heavenly Dao during the apocalypse, which is enough for her.
Because of the close proximity, Ye Yunhua next door also received a trace of spiritual energy, and her tense posture, which was already somewhat tense even when she was asleep, finally began to relax.
She slept soundly until the next morning. When Ye Yunhua opened her eyes, she was still a little dazed. It took her a while to realize that everything she had experienced yesterday was not a dream.
Just before she was about to be freed, she encountered a celestial being who carried her out of the cage and landed her in the gentle and romantic Jiangnan region.
The soft morning sunlight streamed in through the window. Ye Yunhua leaned lazily against the headboard for a while before realizing that she had slept for quite a long time.
When she was in the palace, her sleep schedule was strictly regulated, with no deviation whatsoever. Perhaps today, after being under tension for so long, she finally relaxed and slept for so long.
She got up, quickly washed up, loosely tied her hair up, put on some casual clothes, and left the room with a somewhat lazy air. Noticing that she had gotten up, Lin You also stopped cultivating and pushed open the door.
"Good morning, Mr. Lin." Ye Yunhua greeted Lin You with a smile, saying that they hadn't cooked in their courtyard and were going out for breakfast.
Having lived in an extremely oppressive environment for over thirty years, Ye Yunhua has a strong ability to adapt. Yesterday she was a little awkward, but today she can greet the shopkeeper with a smile.
Because there is a lake in the city, aquatic products are a daily staple for the people, especially river shrimp, which, after growing all winter, are at their best with delicious meat and a firm texture.
The lakeside food stalls directly received freshly caught shrimp, peeled the shrimp meat on the spot, and mixed the whole shrimp meat with tender bamboo shoot pieces and minced pork belly. The shrimp meat was quickly wrapped into a paper-thin wrapper by an aunt wearing a headscarf.
Once the shrimp dumplings are wrapped, they can be steamed and then plated and served. Each dumpling is crystal clear, and you can clearly see the shape of the shrimp inside.
From the moment the shrimp were caught jumping around to the moment the dish was served, less than fifteen minutes had passed. Ignoring the fact that the shrimp dumplings were still steaming hot, Ye Yunhua couldn't wait to pick one up, blow on it gently twice, and immediately put it in her mouth.
The sweetness of the shrimp burst in her mouth, mixed with the crispness of the bamboo shoots and the rich aroma of the meat, making her eyes light up immediately.
"It's so delicious, Mr. Lin, what do you think?" Seeing Lin You nod, Ye Yunhua's smile widened even more. After finishing the plate of shrimp dumplings, she was still a little unsatisfied.
"The restaurant owner said they will also be making braised prawns and stuffed shrimp balls for lunch today."
Lin You nodded in agreement, "Okay, let's go for a walk in a bit, buy some things, and come back for lunch."
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Author's Note: I'm definitely going to update extra today, please! [Please!]
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