"Ah, aren't we going to Nanjing?" Liu Shanggong was stunned.

Seeing His Highness looking at her like an idiot, she slapped herself lightly on the mouth and said awkwardly, "Why are we going to Nanjing?"

Yes, Your Highness’s Zhao Lang is in Suzhou Prefecture. You can get there directly by going south along the Grand Canal. It is not on the way to Nanjing.

Moreover, Her Highness had no intention of letting the officials and gentry in Suzhou see her, so Princess Ning'an's journey ended when she arrived in Yangzhou.

Next, we should escape and sneak into the village quietly, without firing a gun...

~~

In the garden of Ye the salt merchant next door, Zhao Liben was stunned again.

"What? She wants to spend the winter in my house?!" The old man was completely furious and walked around the house in a rage.

"Is there still justice? Is there still law?!"

"Sir, what should we do?" Ye asked with a wry smile.

"If she doesn't leave, let's go!" Zhao Liben said angrily, "I still say that, if you can't afford to offend me, why can't you just hide away?"

"Ah, then where are we going?" Ye was dumbfounded. It was the first time she heard that guests came to the house and the host was so scared that he ran away.

"Anywhere!" Zhao Liben snorted, a little confused, "Go to Suzhou, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, if that doesn't work, go to Danzhou. I don't believe she can chase me to the ends of the earth!"

"Oh, all right. I'll pack up and we'll go out the back door."

"Let's not pack up anymore, let's go now!" Zhao Liben didn't want to stay in Yangzhou for a moment.

~~

At the urging of Mr. Zhao, Ye just asked someone to pack a few sets of clothes, then took a carriage out of the back door of Ye Garden and headed straight for the South Gate Wharf.

After waiting for a while at the dock, Wu Ji's guards received the order to come and meet up.

After a while, two Wu Ji passenger ships came from Dongguan Wharf, picked up the group of people and headed directly south.

The three-decker ship sailed downstream all the way up the Yangtze River. Zhao Liben finally calmed down when he could no longer see the distant city of Yangzhou.

"Sir, please eat first." She came out in a hurry and didn't bring any maids with her, so Ye had to bring him dinner herself.

"No hurry." Zhao Liben twisted his beard and shook his head, saying, "No, no..."

"What's wrong?" Ye asked casually as she placed a few plates of crispy side dishes on the table.

"There's something fishy about that vicious woman." The more Zhao Liben thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He said, "How could she have come all the way here just to bring bad luck to me?"

"Of course." Ye nodded with a smile, thinking to herself, why are they looking for you? They are looking for your son.

"You see, she is hiding her true colors and refusing to reveal her identity. She must have some ulterior motive." How smart is Zhao Liben? Unfortunately, as soon as he met Princess Ning'an, he immediately lost his rationality and his IQ dropped to the bottom. He only thought of such a simple question.

"Living in my house is probably just a cover!" Fortunately, once he was away from the eldest princess' aura, he regained his rationality and his IQ recovered.

"Is that so?" Ye finally asked curiously, "Then what does she want to do?"

"What do you want to do? Do you even need to ask?" Zhao Liben snorted, "She is the eldest princess of the emperor's younger sister. No matter how shameless she is, she can't go to see that evildoer openly! She must change her identity to that of an ordinary person so that it will be easier for her to do those shameless things."

"Your Excellency is saying..." Ye also understood. "She will create a false impression that she is in Yangzhou, and then conceal the truth... Oh no, cross the river and secretly go to Kunshan?"

"That must be the case!" Zhao Liben slapped his thigh and said, "Turn around quickly, we have to get ahead of her and move into the Kunshan County Government Office!"

"Okay." Ye hurried out to pass on the message, and when she came back she couldn't help but ask, "Are you really going?"

In the past six months, Zhao Liben went to Kunshan several times but never got off the boat, because he swore that as long as Zhao Shouzheng didn't break up with that woman, he would not go to his son's house.

"Really? It's realer than real gold!" Old Master Zhao gave a twisted and hideous smile.

"What does your Excellency mean?" Ye was confused. She was so scared just now, how could she have the confidence to wait for others now?

"Hehe." Zhao Liben smiled proudly and said, "Would I be afraid of that woman? It's just that due to her identity, we can't fight her fairly. When that vicious woman goes to find that evildoer as an ordinary person, it will be time for me to take revenge."

"Oh, so that's how it is." Ye understood. When both of them arrived in Kunshan, the master was the father of County Magistrate Zhao, so he naturally took the initiative.

If the princess wanted to suppress him, she had to reveal her identity. But if she did that, she would not be able to stay in Kunshan. She would indeed be in a dilemma.

"Alas. The one who will suffer even more by then will probably be Master Zhao." She couldn't help but sigh. Why bother?

"That's right, he feels bad. It takes two to tango, and he's not a good guy!" Zhao Liben was not the type to listen to advice, and snorted, "What can he and that woman have in store? A dignified top scholar is willing to degenerate like this? I'd rather let him suffer a short pain than a long one, isn't that for his own good?"

"That's right..." Ye nodded helplessly, feeling somewhat sympathetic towards the ill-fated couple.

At dusk, the two passenger ships turned around and sailed along the golden river towards Zhenjiang.

~~

In Yangzhou, the princess sent away Magistrate Lou and the salt merchant Ye and their families, and settled down comfortably in Zhao Garden.

Just take a bubble bath with the fine wine collected by Zhao Liben and relax yourself from the fatigue of the journey.

While humming a little tune while washing herself, Lady Liu rushed in and leaned over the bathtub to whisper, "Your Highness, something's wrong. The young master has taken the county lady and Miss Zhang to Nanjing, saying that he is going to be a scout for Your Highness."

"Oh?" The princess was stunned. "When did it happen?"

"The three of them didn't get off the boat. They just asked someone to sail away." Liu Shanggong felt very unwell. She was really overwhelmed and couldn't take care of everything!

"Are all the guards following?" asked the eldest princess.

"Captain Niu was worried and followed him." Liu Shanggong replied hurriedly. "Your Highness, they don't know yet that we are not going to Nanjing. Call them back quickly."

"No need, we'll meet up later." The princess stretched out her slender, white calves and said, "Give me a massage, I'm tired."

"Hey." Liu Shanggong hurried forward to give the princess a massage. After a while, she couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, aren't you worried?"

"Don't worry." The eldest princess gently shook the glass, took a sip of the fine osmanthus wine, squinted her eyes and said with enjoyment: "My girl, follow me."

Liu Shang Gong felt that the heavy burden on her shoulders was about to crush her.

~~

Late at night, the sky is full of stars, and the official ship is sailing upstream on the river.

In the luxuriously decorated cabin, there were hot water heaters lit in all four corners, making it as warm as spring.

The young county lady Li Mingyue was sleeping soundly while holding a boy-shaped rag doll.

"Brother Zhao, I'm here..." He even started talking in his sleep. The first half was gentle and kind, but the second half revealed his true nature. "Mr. Jiang, I'm here. Let's see how you can still act so arrogantly!"

Zhang Xiaojing, who was sleeping beside her, looked at her with her beautiful eyes wide open, envious of Li Mingyue for being able to sleep so well.

She's definitely going to have sleepless nights anyway.

Oh, how am I going to meet Mr. Zhao tomorrow with dark circles under my eyes...

~~

In the next room, Li Chengen was sleeping soundly and didn't even wake up after falling off the bed.

"Old senior, I'm here..." He was still grinning, "Xiwa, I missed you so much."

[End of this volume]