Half a month later.
Jingrong and Ji Yunshu had already reached the Great Lin border. In a few more days, they would be able to reach Houliao.
As the sky gradually darkened, the group set up camp on the spot near a patch of woods.
Because this area was close to the grassland region, the weather was extremely unpredictable. Once night fell, it became extremely cold. Wild winds whipped up, making the trees in the forest rustle and whistle. Occasionally, a few wolf howls could be heard—their piercing cries echoing through the woods, eerie and terrifying.
Jingrong leaned against a large tree, dozing with his eyes half-closed.
His arms crossed over his chest!
Ji Yunshu and the guards sat around the campfire.
The cold night was long, and everyone began chattering away.
Someone teased: “Now I finally understand why Miss Tang has such a wild temperament. Every day when she opens her eyes, she hears herds of cattle, sheep, and dogs howling around her. And at night, she can hear wolf howls. How could she be normal? No wonder even Young Master Mo couldn’t handle her.”
Everyone burst into laughter.
“What do you think Young Master Mo is doing now?”
“What else could he be doing? Now that he’s in Houliao, he’s probably become like a woman—washing clothes, cooking! Embroidering, warming the bedding! Nothing’s beyond him.”
Someone objected: “Listen to what you’re saying! No matter what, our Young Master Mo is still a man of iron backbone. How could he do such work? At most, he just… follows behind Miss Tang’s rear end serving her like a grandmother.”
“Haha…”
After several grown men finished their fantasizing, they were laughing so hard they nearly got cramps.
Damn, they were even laughing to tears!
This drew Ji Yunshu to join in as well.
Though she threw cold water on them.
She said: “If Young Master Mo isn’t doing well in Houliao, then when we get there, naturally we won’t have any good treatment either. So, you’d better pray he has a place for himself in Houliao. That way, we might at least get a few good meals.”
The laughter came to an abrupt halt!
Everyone began to worry.
“Right, right, right! If it’s really as we said, we probably won’t even be able to live in a felt yurt and will have to set up our own camp.”
“We might not even be able to set up camp. What if they drive us away? Then we’ll have made the trip for nothing.”
“Better hope Young Master Mo is doing well, maybe even becomes a chieftain or something.”
“Haha…”
…
The group of grown men began fantasizing again.
Ji Yunshu was truly rendered speechless by these treasures!
They hadn’t failed to amuse her to death on this journey—either this one telling jokes or that one telling jokes, or else chatting about all kinds of gossip. So having heard so much, Ji Yunshu had learned some of Jingrong’s unspeakable “secrets.”
For instance—
He and Muruo had gotten drunk together and slept together once or twice.
On the surface he was proud and aloof, but actually he sang in the bath.
The thing he feared most was mice.
He had once been pursued for a month or two by some fat young lady from a wealthy family in the capital, leading to half a year of insomnia and developing a phobia.
…
Whether true or false, who could say!
In any case, Ji Yunshu was thoroughly entertained.
Hearing everyone chatting about Muruo sentence by sentence, Jingrong opened his eyes and stretched out his leg to kick one of the guards, scolding: “A bunch of grown men, chattering away like women all day long. Do you really have so much to say?”
The atmosphere became awkward.
That guard smiled foolishly: “Your Highness, we’re just bored, so we’re just talking casually.”
“Well then, do you want to go repeat all this in front of Muruo when the time comes?”
“This subordinate wouldn’t dare.” The guard waved his hands repeatedly, scooting his rear closer to Lang Bo. Seeming a bit bolder, he said: “Your Highness, it’s not like you don’t know—Young Master Mo seems carefree, but he’s actually quite petty in his heart. I don’t dare offend him. Last time, Old Five laughed at his short legs, and he put several croton seeds in Old Five’s bowl, nearly causing him to die from diarrhea. And there’s Old Bing—he just casually said Mo’s medical skills weren’t good, and what happened? He directly crippled Old Bing’s leg with needles and only healed him after a month. This subordinate has elderly parents above and no children yet below—I can’t afford to provoke him.”
“Oh? Such things happened?”
Jingrong had an expression of “why didn’t I know about this?”
Although he knew Muruo was “vicious,” he hadn’t realized that kid was so vicious!
“Young Master Mo acts so obedient in front of you, Your Highness, but in front of us, he’s quite formidable.”
“Yes, Young Master Mo is terrified of Your Highness.”
“More than just terrified…”
Something felt strange about this!
Jingrong couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.
Those few people began rattling off Muruo’s misdeeds, getting more energized as they went.
Item by item, incident by incident—what satisfaction!
This caused a certain someone to sneeze!
Muruo sat in his felt yurt, wrinkled his nose, and sneezed again. He shook his head and cursed: “Which bastard is badmouthing me behind my back?”
The heavily pregnant Tang Si came in from outside, just in time to hear him curse “bastard.”
“A’Mo, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing!”
Ever since Tang Si became pregnant, Muruo had become a wife slave, obeying her every word.
He quickly helped Tang Si sit down, saying: “In another two or three months you’ll be giving birth. Don’t go running around anymore.”
“Oh.” She was quite obedient.
Her former willful air had diminished considerably.
She actually looked like she was becoming a mother now.
She suddenly grasped Muruo’s hand and asked: “By the way, I calculated the time—A’Ji should be arriving in the next few days.”
Very excited.
“Should be about right. Tomorrow morning at the earliest, I’ll send people along the road to meet them.”
“When that time comes, A’Ji will be able to watch our child being born, and the few of us can be together again. Once the child grows up, I’ll teach the child martial arts, you’ll teach the child medicine, A’Ji will teach the child painting, and Jingrong will…” Tang Si thought about it—this stumped her. She muttered: “What can Jingrong teach our child?”
This drew a laugh from Muruo, who said: “He can teach our child how to be thick-skinned!”
These words caused a certain someone to sneeze!
Jingrong rubbed his nose!
Which bastard is badmouthing me?
Ji Yunshu brewed him a bowl of ginger soup and handed it to him: “The weather on the grasslands is unpredictable. Drink a bowl of ginger soup to ward off the cold.”
He took it and drank it in one go.
Not a drop left!
Jingrong grasped her hand that was cold in all four seasons, ordered someone to fetch a cloak to drape over her, drew her into his embrace, and added more firewood to the campfire.
“Your constitution is weak—don’t catch the cold air from the woods.”
“I know.”
“It’s already very late. Rest well.”
He held her even tighter.
She pillowed her head on his solid chest, feeling very secure in her heart.
She fell asleep.
Not long after—
“Crack.”
The sound of a branch breaking came from the woods.
Jingrong’s ear twitched. His brow furrowed tightly, and his eyes looked vigilantly toward the dark woods. Because he didn’t want to startle the woman in his arms, he gave Lang Bo a meaningful look.
Lang Bo nodded, quietly got up, and went into the woods where the sound had come from.
After searching around, he returned.
He shook his head at Jingrong, indicating there was no one.
Could it be… he had heard wrong?
Jingrong didn’t dare relax his vigilance and ordered people to keep watch carefully.
After all, they had already left Great Lin territory and naturally needed to be cautious in all things.
At this moment in the dark depths of the woods, a pair of eyes stared fixedly at the woman in Jingrong’s arms.