Chu Zhao’s days suddenly returned to normal.

At night, there were no pitch-black, hard floors, no waking up frozen in the middle of the night, and during the day, there was no endless galloping on horseback.

Even in the small town, the room she slept in was warm as spring, with thick, soft bedding like clouds. Morning and evening, there was hot water for washing, and her hair was scented with fragrance.

The tattered cotton robe was nowhere to be seen. Inside, she wore brocade dresses, and outside, she was draped in light, warm furs.

Morning light fell on the corridor. As Chu Zhao walked slowly, Xiao Xun and Tie Ying, who were standing in the courtyard, caught sight of her and were momentarily stunned.

Tie Ying could hardly believe that the beautiful girl before his eyes was the same person as before.

However, he now understood why she had dressed that way previously—being too beautiful and conspicuous would have made it impossible to blend in among the postal soldiers to evade pursuit.

“Are the carriages and horses ready?” Chu Zhao also spotted them, stopped walking, and asked.

Tie Ying momentarily had the illusion that this girl possessed an imposing aura, lofty and issuing commands from above. Then he felt displeased—this girl didn’t even use the title “Your Highness the Prince” once?

How utterly rude!

“You—” he said coldly, about to rebuke her.

Xiao Xun stopped him and said with a smile, “We can depart at any time, whenever it’s convenient for Miss Chu.”

Chu Zhao said, “I’m available anytime. Let’s depart now.”

She lowered her gaze, no longer looking at Xiao Xun and his servant.

Xiao Xun didn’t say another word and immediately ordered someone to prepare the carriage for departure. He truly hadn’t lied—with one command, without Chu Zhao having to return to her room to wait, moments later she could board the carriage.

“Thank you, Your Highness the Prince.” Only after sitting in the carriage did Chu Zhao express her thanks, then added, “There’s no need for Your Highness to personally escort me. Since you know my elder brother’s itinerary, I can just go meet them myself.”

This girl truly didn’t want to see him for even a moment. Xiao Xun smiled and said with an apologetic tone, “Actually, it’s not that I must escort Miss Chu. It’s just that Young Master Chu’s side said they would come to Prince Zhongshan’s manor, so—”

At this point, he seemed to think of a solution and pointed ahead.

“How about this—Miss Chu, you take this route, and I’ll find another road?”

Was he mocking her? Chu Zhao glanced at him. This was also the first time she had looked at the face of her husband from her previous life—familiar yet strange. However, the current Prince Xiao wasn’t much different from ten years later; he had always been graceful and elegant.

Of course, that was her previous view. Now she saw it as false.

Just one “no” would suffice—why say so many words?

That A’Jiu was still more straightforward and decisive.

Thinking of A’Jiu, Chu Zhao’s mood worsened further. That A’Jiu wasn’t a good person either. If not for him, she wouldn’t have run into Xiao Xun and would have already crossed the Xiaoku River by now.

“Your Highness truly knows how to jest,” she said, lowering the carriage curtain.

It seemed he had made the girl even angrier. Xiao Xun smiled and waved his hand. The guards acknowledged the command, and the carriage rolled forward with a rumble.

Xiao Xun indeed didn’t follow along. He stood in place, leading his horse.

“Your Highness, this Miss Chu is far too rude,” Tie Ying said indignantly.

Following the Prince, he had seen many women—gentle ones, dignified ones, lively and adorable ones, or timid, shy, and affected ones. But Miss Chu was the first to be so crude and rude. Moreover, Miss Chu was very cunning.

Cunning to an unbelievable degree.

The message sent by carrier pigeon had been simple, but the guards who arrived later explained Miss Chu’s affairs in detail. She had beaten someone and fled from the capital. Fleeing was one thing, but this Miss Chu had actually swindled people all along the way, involving a string of people—courtesans, itinerant doctors, all sorts of characters—just to conceal her tracks.

This Miss Chu wasn’t just willful anymore; her heart was completely devious.

What was even more contemptible was that she had been ambiguously entangled with a postal soldier—probably a ploy to win over the postal soldier, right?

Although Tie Ying wasn’t yet married with children, he thought that if he had a daughter like this, he would truly die of anger.

General Chu Ling had actually raised such a daughter. Did General Chu Ling know what kind of person his daughter was?

“Don’t speak so boldly,” Xiao Xun said with a laugh. “In the eyes of parents, their own children are always the best. Wait until you have a daughter someday and see if you can bear to scold her even once. As for what kind of person Miss Chu is, we shouldn’t gossip behind her back. It has nothing to do with us, so let’s not speak ill of others.”

That was true—how Chu Ling’s daughter turned out truly had nothing to do with them. But—Tie Ying said, “She was far too rude to Your Highness.”

“That’s not strange,” Xiao Xun said. “Miss Chu went to such great lengths to get to the border prefecture, only to be stopped by me. She must hate me to death. How could she show me a pleasant face?”

He laughed heartily as he spoke.

“If it were me, thinking about it this way, I’d also be furious.”

Tie Ying felt somewhat helpless. “Your Highness, you truly have a good temperament.”

This had nothing to do with good or bad temperament. Xiao Xun swung his riding whip and smiled slightly. Whether others were happy or unhappy because of him—that was their own business. He didn’t care.

Whether he himself was happy or unhappy, how could he be controlled by others?

“Let’s go,” he said. “We’ll take the water route and avoid meeting Miss Chu altogether.”

……

……

A’Le lifted the carriage curtain several times to look back. After confirming beyond doubt, she said to Chu Zhao, “That Prince didn’t follow us.”

Whether he followed or not was of little importance. Chu Zhao remained wooden-faced. What she and Xiao Xun cared about went far beyond this small matter of traveling separately.

“How can one kill someone without leaving a trace?” she asked in a low voice.

A’Le was startled. Stealing without leaving a trace she understood, and deceiving without leaving a trace the Miss should also be proficient at, but killing?!

She and the Miss had grown up in the border military camps, had seen casualties, and had even witnessed scenes of small-scale raids and skirmishes with Western Liang soldiers. But personally killing someone—they truly had never done that, nor had they ever thought about it.

When the Miss kicked Miss Liang into the water, she could be certain the Miss hadn’t intended to kill Miss Liang.

Ever since being stopped, especially after Uncle Zhong forbade the Miss from going back to see the General, the Miss had been frighteningly silent.

The Miss must be very angry. Yes, this was all that A’Jiu’s fault.

“Miss,” she asked in a hushed voice, “who do you want to kill? Is it A’Jiu?”

Chu Zhao couldn’t help but laugh. Her wooden expression dispersed.

“No,” she said. “Why would I kill him? He has nothing to do with me.”

Nothing to do with him? Along this journey, many things had been related to A’Jiu. Besides A’Jiu, A’Le couldn’t think of anyone who deserved death.

After laughing, Chu Zhao’s emotions also recovered. She couldn’t kill Xiao Xun. First, she didn’t have that capability. Second, if she killed him, Prince Zhongshan could take her and Father’s lives right now, without waiting until later.

What she could do now was to never become entangled with Xiao Xun again. She would think of other solutions for everything else.

After arriving at the prefecture city where Prince Zhongshan’s manor was located, Chu Zhao stated she would not go to the manor.

“I’ll stay at the postal station. When my elder brother arrives, he’ll come here to meet up,” she told Xiao Xun’s guards, then added, “Please understand—my father is a court official and also a military general. His position makes it inappropriate to associate with princes; we must maintain distance.”

Having said this, the guards had no grounds to object. They could only settle her at the postal station and gallop off to report to Xiao Xun.

Xiao Xun was completely unsurprised and smiled. “The guest decides. Miss Chu will make her own decisions about Miss Chu’s affairs.”

He went straight off the boat and returned home.

However, when Chu Ke learned of this, he was furious. He had been looking forward to spending a few comfortable days at Prince Zhongshan’s manor after arriving, never expecting they would still have to stay at a postal station.

“Chu Zhao!” As soon as he entered the postal station’s gate, he shouted angrily, “You truly are audacious beyond belief!”