The carriage traveled north, its wheels rolling over the bluestone pavement and the dirt road.
The gentle beauty of Jiangnan, like an ink painting left behind by the wheels of a car, has gradually faded. The poetic charm of small bridges and flowing water, the misty moisture of apricot blossoms and spring rain, have been replaced by the increasingly rugged spirit of the North.
The scenery outside the car window became expansive and vast.
The rolling loess plateau has replaced the exquisite pavilions and towers, the tall poplars have replaced the graceful weeping willows, and the moist air has turned into a dry and biting north wind.
Sitting in the car, Xiao Che experienced this completely different local customs and culture, and a sense of wonder, as if he had entered a different world, arose in his heart.
However, this sense of novelty came to an abrupt end when darkness fell completely and the carriage stopped in front of a lonely post station.
This is a typical northern post station, more like a huge adobe fortress than an inn. The walls are made of rammed earth, thick and rugged, and two lanterns hang at the entrance, swaying precariously in the wind, casting a dim yellow light in the night.
The signboard is emblazoned with three large characters in a flamboyant style: "Wild Wolf Howl".
Xiao Che: "..."
He strongly suspected that the shop owner might have some unknown peculiar fetish.
Lin Wanwan, however, was unfazed and jumped off the carriage first. After a long day of travel, all she wanted was to find a place to rest and have a hot meal.
Xiao Che took a deep breath and got out of the car. As soon as he stood still, a complex smell, a mixture of horse manure, sweat, and strong alcohol, hit him right in the head.
His handsome eyebrows instantly furrowed into a deep frown.
In Jiangnan, even the most ordinary inn will light an incense burner at the entrance as a sign of respect for its guests. But here… the air here is practically a blatant provocation to his royal nasal cavity!
The two walked side by side into the lobby of the inn, where an even more intense and wilder wave of energy rushed towards them.
The lobby was brightly lit and bustling with people.
Around a dozen rough wooden tables sat burly, weathered men from the north. Most of them wore fur coats, their coats open to reveal their muscular chests, and they were eating meat and drinking wine heartily.
The air was devoid of the poetic recitations and couplets of the Jiangnan literary gatherings; instead, there were deafening sounds of finger-guessing games and boisterous laughter and curses.
"Five champions! Six six six! Good buddies!"
"Come on! Drink this bowl! Anyone who doesn't is a coward!"
A drunken man even jumped onto the table, waving a leg of lamb and belting out a song. The tune… well, it had a bit of a wolf howl about it, which actually suited the restaurant's name perfectly.
This lively scene contrasts sharply with the refined elegance of the literati on the painted boats of Jiangnan, like heaven and earth, fire and water.
Xiao Che felt his temples throbbing.
A burly proprietress, tall and strong with a waist roughly the size of two Lin Wanwans, was carrying a huge wine jar in each hand as she passed by them. She glanced at Xiao Che and Lin Wanwan briefly before shouting at the top of her lungs:
"Stay at a hotel or eat?"
His voice was so loud that it brought the entire hall's clamor to a halt.
Xiao Che subconsciously took a half step back, maintaining his dignity as "Master Xiao," and said in a deep voice, "I need a room. A superior room, something quiet."
He specifically emphasized the word "quiet," hoping that the seemingly unapproachable proprietress would understand his request.
However, the proprietress seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world when she heard this.
She slammed the two jars of wine onto the table with a loud bang, making the dishes rattle. Then she turned around, put her hands on her hips, and looked Xiao Che up and down with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot.
"A superior room? Quiet?" She scoffed, waving her large, fan-like hand towards a curtain at the far end of the hall. "See that? All that's left today is the dormitory-style room! Take it or leave it! Don't interfere with my business!"
After saying that, she twisted her muscular body and went to serve wine to other tables, leaving Xiao Che alone, standing there bewildered in the wind.
Get...get out?
Since he ascended the throne, no one has ever dared to speak such vulgar words to him!
Lin Wanwan suppressed a laugh, tugged at his sleeve, and whispered, "Never mind, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Let's go take a look."
Xiao Che's face was ashen, but when he thought of the "umbrella of ten thousand people" that was heavier than the imperial seal last night, and his original intention of "understanding the people's sentiments," he ultimately swallowed back the word "bold."
He took a deep breath and told himself: I am a mature emperor, and I do not concern myself with the petty squabbles of ordinary people.
The two lifted the curtain, and an even more indescribable, pungent odor, a mixture of sweat, foot odor, and cheap hookah smell, wafted towards them.
The scene before him caused Xiao Che's pupils to dilate in shock.
The so-called "large communal sleeping area" was not a room at all, but a huge space. Inside, there were no beds, only a huge earthen platform that stretched from one end to the other.
On the earthen bed, twenty or thirty people were already sprawled out, all fast asleep and snoring loudly. Some hadn't even taken off their shoes, and the smell... was practically a biological weapon attack.
Xiao Che's obsessive-compulsive disorder erupted at this moment with unprecedented intensity.
His face instantly turned from ashen to deathly pale.
He felt his skin screaming silently. His clean cotton clothes seemed to have been tainted by the polluted air. He could even imagine countless unseen bacteria joyfully charging towards him, the emperor.
"No." He squeezed out the word through clenched teeth, his voice trembling, "I don't live here."
After saying that, he turned to leave.
Lin Wanwan grabbed him.
"where did you go?"
"Sleep in the carriage!" Xiao Che said resolutely. "I'd rather freeze to death in the carriage than share a bed with so many people!"
Lin Wanwan looked at his expression, which seemed like he was about to bravely face his execution, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
She pointed to the howling north wind outside and said, "It will drop to freezing outside tonight. The carriage is drafty. Do you want me to collect your body tomorrow?"
Xiao Che's expression froze.
Lin Wanwan sighed, lowered her voice, and used reverse psychology: "Your Majesty, didn't you say you wanted to understand the people's plight? This is the most authentic picture of the people's plight. The people of Jiangnan are your subjects, but aren't these merchants from the North also your subjects? You don't even have the courage to sleep with them for one night, how can you expect to work for their well-being in the future?"
These words struck Xiao Che's weak spot precisely.
Yes, he was just moved by winning the hearts of the people and vowed to be a good emperor. Could such ambition really be defeated by a mere communal bed?
Xiao Che was engaged in a fierce internal struggle.
On one hand, there is the deeply ingrained royal fastidiousness and pampered lifestyle.
On the other hand, there is the budding sense of monarchical responsibility and the male dignity of not losing face in front of Lin Wanwan.
Seeing his conflicted expression, Lin Wanwan habitually looked up at the top of his head.
Sure enough, there, a pixelated figure was rolling around on an incredibly luxurious dragon bed, with a line of text floating around it: [Where is my dragon bed? Where is my golden toilet? .jpg]
Lin Wanwan almost burst out laughing.
She cleared her throat, looked at Xiao Che with a "if you don't go, I will" look, and said indifferently, "If you really can't stand it, then go sleep in the carriage. I'm a weak woman and I'm not afraid, so I don't believe there could be any danger here."
After saying that, she made a move to find an empty spot to lie down.
"Wait!" Xiao Che exclaimed anxiously.
He was going to leave Lin Wanwan to sleep here alone with a bunch of strange, burly men? How could he possibly feel at ease?
He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and his face showed a tragic expression as if he were going to his execution.
"...Okay, I'll stay!"
Ultimately, reason (and the desire to protect his wife) prevailed over his obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The two of them got two quilts that didn't look very clean from the landlady, and found two relatively clean empty spaces in the corner of the kang (a heated brick bed).
Xiao Che almost held his breath, and with a look of resignation, slowly lay down. He didn't even dare to let his skin touch the bedding directly, but instead wrapped himself up tightly in his clothes.
However, the torment had only just begun.
In the middle of the night, Xiao Che was awakened by a deafening noise.
The sound was powerful, high-pitched, and rhythmic, sometimes like a thunderclap from a clear sky, sometimes like a muffled drum rolling, and sometimes interspersed with a few melodious whistles.
He suddenly opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the sound.
Not far from him, a burly man with a thick beard was sleeping soundly on his back, and the earth-shattering symphony was coming from his nose.
The snoring was so loud that it made the entire earthen bed vibrate slightly.
Xiao Che: "..."
His patience finally reached its limit.
He stared blankly at the dark roof, felt the hard earthen bed beneath him, smelled the complex smells in the air, and listened to the symphony of snoring around him.
At this moment, he missed the soft and comfortable dragon bed in the palace and the calming incense in the Kunning Palace.
Lin Wanwan seemed to have woken up as well, and gently touched him in the darkness.
Can't sleep?
Xiao Che did not answer.
Lin Wanwan secretly glanced at the top of his head.
In the darkness, a pixelated figure was seen gritting its teeth and holding up a gleaming knife, the tip of which flashed coldly.
Beside it, a line of large, blood-red characters was flashing wildly—
[Want to kill someone.gif]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com