Lu Zhuo had prepared dried meat in his saddle pouch. With one water bag each, the two had a simple lunch in the small grove.

If they hadn’t been delayed by the assassins, they should have been approaching Jin City by now.

Wei Rao’s sweat-soaked robes had already dried from her body temperature and the summer heat. Although she had women’s clothing in her bundle, with Lu Zhuo injured and needing to stay alert for possibly more assassins, Wei Rao didn’t look for another place to change clothes. When conditions didn’t allow it, she wasn’t that delicate.

Putting on her cap and veil, Wei Rao looked toward Lu Zhuo: “Shall we set off?”

Lu Zhuo nodded, his gaze falling on Fei Mo grazing nearby.

The jujube-red horse was dead, leaving them only Fei Mo for transportation.

“Let’s ride together for a stretch. We can buy a carriage when we reach Ying County,” Lu Zhuo suggested. Ying County was the nearest county town to this place. In his current condition, he couldn’t gallop on horseback. Whether walking slowly or taking a carriage, their speed would be severely reduced. Tonight, they might have to spend the night outdoors.

Wei Rao had no other choice, but with two people riding one horse, how should they sit?

Wei Rao didn’t want to give Lu Zhuo another chance to put his arms around her waist, and his breath falling by her ear also made her uncomfortable. With a stern face, she said, “You sit in front.”

Lu Zhuo let her arrange everything as she wished. If he voiced any other thoughts at this moment, she would surely see it as having ulterior motives.

Fei Mo lay on the ground. Wei Rao helped Lu Zhuo mount, and only then did Fei Mo stand up.

Lu Zhuo’s left leg and right arm couldn’t exert force, but he was skilled at riding. Maintaining balance was no problem for him.

Wei Rao had him sit steady, then she stepped on the stirrup and swung herself onto the horse behind him.

The saddle was only so long. Wei Rao’s legs unavoidably pressed against Lu Zhuo’s. She pressed her lips tight and had Lu Zhuo pass her the reins.

After giving her the reins, Lu Zhuo braced his left hand against Fei Mo’s back, leaning his upper body slightly forward. Even so, his tall figure still blocked Wei Rao’s view.

The posture was too awkward – one leaning forward, one trying to lean back as much as possible. Both were tired.

Wei Rao dismounted again and had Lu Zhuo move to the back.

“Unless the road is difficult, don’t touch me,” Wei Rao said coldly.

Lu Zhuo smiled bitterly: “I wouldn’t dare.”

Wei Rao sat in front of him again.

The middle position of the saddle was the lowest. Wei Rao tried hard to sit forward, while Lu Zhuo, gentlemanly, moved back. Each sat at one end, and except for Lu Zhuo’s knees touching Wei Rao’s legs, there was a small gap between them in the middle.

Wei Rao was very satisfied and gently tugged the reins.

Fei Mo carried the two masters out of the grove.

Inside the forest were all the trees. To avoid these trees, Fei Mo had turned and twisted when entering, and going out required the same movements. Almost as soon as Fei Mo moved, with the horse’s swaying motion, Wei Rao and Lu Zhuo simultaneously slid back to the depression in the middle of the saddle, their bodies colliding together inseparably.

Lu Zhuo saw her earlobes turn red.

No matter how wild she was, she was still a delicate young lady.

He untied his bundle with one hand and stuffed it between them.

Wei Rao breathed a sigh of relief.

Walking out of the grove and returning to the official road, the journey was smooth, but unfortunately, Lu Zhuo was injured, so Fei Mo could only maintain a normal walking pace.

It was exactly noon, with bright sunlight shining directly down. Even the tree’s shade wasn’t enough for shelter from the sun.

Lu Zhuo saw a drop of sweat roll down Wei Rao’s fair skin and disappear beneath her veil.

“There’s no one on the road. Take off your veil for now,” Lu Zhuo gently reminded her.

He thought Wei Rao wore the veil to avoid being stared at by passersby. Taking it off now would be much cooler.

Wei Rao said indifferently: “I’m afraid of getting sunburned.”

Lu Zhuo had no choice then.

The long road stretched ahead, and Fei Mo walked slowly. With their legs pressed together, Wei Rao felt awkward all over and could only make conversation to divert her attention: “Does your Lu family have any enemies? Now that you and I are husband and wife, I should at least know which people to guard against when we go visiting in the future.”

Lu Zhuo looked toward the distance and said in a low voice: “The Lu family has held the emperor’s favor for generations, making it hard not to arouse others’ jealousy. Even foreign enemies would love nothing more than to eliminate us. With limited clues now, I cannot determine which faction it is.”

If even he had no clues, Wei Rao had even less idea. She simply stopped thinking about it and said self-mockingly: “Your Lordship must protect yourself well. Otherwise, if something happens to you, those who hate me will surely pin another label of ‘husband-killer’ on me.”

Lu Zhuo smiled: “Miss, rest assured. I absolutely won’t let you bear the infamy of being a husband-killer.”

The horse’s hooves clip-clopped. After two quarters of an hour, a donkey cart emerged from the village ahead, coming toward them.

Wei Rao’s eyes lit up. She told Lu Zhuo to sit steady, then dismounted and waited for the cart-driving old man to approach. When he did, Wei Rao stopped him and offered two pieces of gold leaf to exchange for the old man’s donkey cart – just the cart, not the donkey.

The old man was so happy he seemed about to float away. Afraid Wei Rao might change her mind, he nimbly unharnessed his little donkey and helped Wei Rao harness Fei Mo to the cart.

This was the most ordinary farm wagon – a wooden plank cart with nothing but dust on it. If you sniffed carefully, you might even smell chicken droppings and rotten vegetable leaves. Forget about Lu Zhuo and Wei Rao using it – Wei Rao even felt sorry for Fei Mo having to pull this broken cart.

However, this wooden cart could greatly increase their travel speed.

The old man rode off happily on his donkey. Wei Rao helped Lu Zhuo onto the cart, then sat on the cart shaft at the front.

Lu Zhuo laughed at her: “You know how to drive a cart too?”

Wei Rao had never driven one, but she trusted Fei Mo. This was a horse with human intelligence that even knew how to help her drag corpses – what was pulling a cart?

Wei Rao cracked the whip once, and Fei Mo immediately broke into a trot along the official road.

Wei Rao looked back to see Lu Zhuo using his bundle as a cushion behind his waist, sitting lazily against the cart rail. The jolting shouldn’t reopen his wounds.

“I’m fine,” as if knowing what she was looking at, Lu Zhuo smiled.

Wei Rao turned to look ahead.

When they were about to reach Ying County, a mule-drawn wooden cart came running toward them from the opposite direction. The driver was a dressed man, and sitting on the cart bed behind him was a young woman wrapped in a red headscarf.

As the two carts passed each other, Lu Zhuo’s gaze met that of the young woman for a moment.

The woman’s eyes widened, and she kept craning her neck to look back at Lu Zhuo.

Lu Zhuo had long since withdrawn his gaze, his eyes on Wei Rao driving ahead.

How ridiculous – he, the mighty Deputy General of the Shenwu Army, was now sitting in Wei Rao’s cart like a young wife.

Reaching Ying County, Wei Rao traded another handful of gold leaves for a spacious and comfortable horse carriage. The wheels could absorb shocks, and Fei Mo could run even faster. But because they had been delayed too long in the grove, by dusk, Wei Rao still had to stop at an inn in the small town ahead to find lodging.

“How many guest rooms do you need?” The innkeeper was a middle-aged woman. After glancing at the veiled Wei Rao, she fixed her gaze on Lu Zhuo, striking flirtatious poses.

Wei Rao couldn’t help suspecting that if Lu Zhuo had no martial arts skills, tonight this proprietress might sneak into Lu Zhuo’s room and force herself on him.

“What are your best guest rooms like?” Wei Rao asked.

The proprietress smiled: “The best are the Heaven-class rooms. There are only two, each with inner and outer chambers.”

Wei Rao said, “I’ll take both.”

The proprietress said regretfully, “Unfortunately, one has been reserved by Young Master Ye. Only one remains.”

When the proprietress mentioned Young Master Ye, she glanced meaningfully at Lu Zhuo. Though Lu Zhuo kept his eyes downcast, Wei Rao noticed but was too lazy to care at the moment. She paid for the room and asked the proprietress to send up two buckets of hot water and two buckets of cold water, then helped Lu Zhuo upstairs.

The guest room was furnished quite nicely, with a bed in the inner chamber and a couch in the outer chamber.

Wei Rao had done a lot of sweaty work today and just wanted to bathe quickly.

After resting briefly, two servants brought up four buckets of water – two placed inside, two outside.

“Please, Your Lordship, guard outside for me,” Wei Rao said politely to Lu Zhuo.

Lu Zhuo nodded.

Wei Rao moved a chair to the door. After Lu Zhuo sat down, Wei Rao closed and latched the door, then went to the inner chamber.

The windows were tightly shut. Wei Rao eagerly undressed, dampened a cloth, and carefully wiped herself down twice, washed her hair, then washed the men’s clothing she had changed out of and hung it up. Working up another sweat, Wei Rao wiped herself down once more and finally felt refreshed.

Only two sets of women’s clothing remained in her bundle. Wei Rao changed into one set and came out to open the door.

When the door opened, Lu Zhuo looked up to see Wei Rao in a white upper garment and azure skirt, pure and beautiful like a fresh lotus bud just emerging from a pond.

Her face was white with a hint of pink, her skin radiant, no longer bearing any trace of travel dust.

Wei Rao first helped him inside, closed the door, and asked: “Does Your Lordship wish to bathe? If so, I’ll call for the servants.”

Hearing the first half of her sentence, Lu Zhuo’s heart skipped a beat. When Wei Rao finished speaking, he calmed down and smiled: “I can manage myself. You go rest in the inner chamber first.”

Wei Rao lowered her eyes: “I’ll go guard outside.”

Lu Zhuo reached out to stop her: “The inn has all sorts of people. I just saw a young master go to the adjacent room. You’d better not go out.”

That young master was a lecher. Lu Zhuo didn’t want him to see Wei Rao.

Wei Rao understood.

Lu Zhuo sat in the chair. Wei Rao carried the two buckets of water to his feet, then withdrew to the inner chamber.

Lu Zhuo’s wounds didn’t hurt as much anymore. Moving slowly, he managed to wipe himself down and slowly changed into clean robes.

Just as he finished changing, servants came up to empty the water.

Lu Zhuo had Wei Rao hide in the washroom before opening the door for the servants. Two servants entered, carried away the four buckets from both chambers. Strangely, though there had been two people in the room earlier, they only saw one now.

As they left, Lu Zhuo instructed them to bring food up immediately.

When the food arrived and the servants withdrew, Lu Zhuo called Wei Rao out to eat.

The two sat facing each other at the small table in the outer chamber, each eating in silence.

Footsteps sounded in the corridor, going to the adjacent room.

Soon, male and female laughter came from next door, along with some crude language.

Wei Rao immediately put down her chopsticks and returned to the inner chamber.

Lu Zhuo also lost his appetite. In this world, some people stayed at inns yet acted so shamelessly without knowing any sense of decency.

When servants came to collect the dishes, Lu Zhuo asked: “Can we change rooms?”

The servant understood his meaning and whispered, “Changing won’t help. That’s Young Master Ye from our town. He has a strange fetish – he likes people to listen to his… activities. This is a small inn, and no matter where you move, you’ll hear everything.”

These young servants welcomed Young Master Ye. If they couldn’t touch beauties themselves, at least they could listen to the sounds.

Lu Zhuo frowned deeply. Taking advantage of the lull next door, Lu Zhuo walked to the inner chamber door and consulted with Wei Rao: “How about we continue traveling?”

Wei Rao couldn’t have wished for anything better, but he worried about him: “Can your body handle it?”

Lu Zhuo: “No problem. Let’s leave early.”

Wei Rao quickly packed her bundle. When she came out, the activities next door had just begun. The inn’s walls seemed made of paper – a woman’s cries, indistinguishable between pleasure and pain, came through clearly.

Wei Rao gritted her teeth and helped Lu Zhuo downstairs.

The proprietress was about to close up. Seeing them come down, and seeing Wei Rao in women’s clothing – though veiled, her stunning beauty was still apparent – she smiled: “Are you not staying? If it’s because next door is too noisy, I can change your room.”

“Prepare the carriage,” Lu Zhuo said coldly.

Though usually gentle, when he grew angry, the proprietress felt chills run down her spine. She quickly had servants bring out their horse carriage.

Wei Rao glanced at Lu Zhuo, thinking this man had finally acted like a true gentleman for once.