They bickered until they reached Tonggang Town at the hour of Wei-Shen.
Along the journey, Ming Tan had been muttering about finding a clothes shop in town to buy new clothes. Her garments had been splashed with rain the previous night, and though they were now dry, they still felt uncomfortable against her skin.
Jiang Xu neither agreed nor chided her for being delicate. He simply held the reins and said softly, “We’ll see when we get to town.”
Upon arrival, Ming Tan was shocked.
They had passed through nearly twenty towns, large and small, on their journey. Ming Tan thought she had witnessed a fair slice of ordinary life, but upon reaching Tonggang, she suddenly realized how limited her experiences truly were.
If not described as a town, she would have believed it to be a slum or a village recently struck by disaster.
As they proceeded, there wasn’t a single decent road. Potholes abounded, with mud at every third step.
The houses lining the streets were dilapidated. Windows were patched with various colored strips held by paste. Faded, washed-out clothes hung from second-floor windows, row upon row, densely packed.
The sun blazed fiercely, and gusts of hot wind blew in their faces. The air was thick with an unpleasant salty stench. Ming Tan couldn’t help but cover her nose, slowing her breathing.
Truthfully, she had expected Tonggang to be poor, but not to this extent. She strongly suspected that Jiang Xu, aware of the town’s sorry state, had refrained from agreeing to buy her new clothes. Now, forget about clothes—they’d be lucky to find a place to sleep for the night.
She dismounted and walked alongside Jiang Xu, leading the horse.
After a few steps, a small beggar suddenly ran up, attempting to hug her leg.
Jiang Xu subtly blocked the child, his gaze cold and downcast.
The little beggar met Jiang Xu’s eyes and shrank back, frightened. But then, seeming to remember something, he looked at Ming Tan and, swallowing hard, softly said, “Brother, Sister…”
The child was filthy, his face gray with dirt, thin and small, seemingly nothing but skin and bones.
Ming Tan, unable to bear it, instinctively reached for her money.
Jiang Xu glanced at her.
Ming Tan hesitated, suddenly recalling how Yun Yi once bought buns for someone, only to be swarmed by a group of beggars who depleted her monthly allowance.
“Sister, I haven’t eaten in three days. Please be kind; Buddha will bless you,” the little beggar pleaded again, his voice sincere and childlike.
Ming Tan couldn’t resist. Looking around and seeing no one else, she took out a package of pastries and a small piece of silver from her bundle, giving them to him.
The child’s eyes lit up. He hugged the pastries, but the silver, and bowed in gratitude: “Sister, you’re truly kind. Thank you.”
Ming Tan’s lips curved in satisfaction. As the child scampered away, she gently tugged at Jiang Xu’s sleeve, coaxing, “It seems we won’t find any clothes to buy in this town. Let’s consider this an act of charity, alright?”
Jiang Xu remained silent, merely casting a cool glance at the one who had unwittingly invited trouble.
There was only one inn in town.
Seeing guests arrive, the innkeeper was quite surprised.
Ming Tan surveyed her surroundings. Indeed, it was as dilapidated as expected, but it should at least keep out the rain—yes, after last night, her minimum requirement for lodging had dropped to simply provide shelter from wind and rain.
However, just as she had resigned herself to the situation, Jiang Xu suddenly changed his mind.
“Let’s go,” he said, grasping Ming Tan’s wrist and turning to leave.
“G-guests, aren’t you staying? This is the only inn in town!” the innkeeper called out twice from behind them.
Ming Tan, bewildered, hurried to keep up with Jiang Xu’s pace. Once outside the inn, she managed to ask, “Husband, what’s wrong?”
“Does this look like an inn to you?”
Ming Tan was at a loss for words. Though rundown, the sign read “Inn,” so how could it not be one?
Suddenly, a thought struck her, and she nervously ventured, “Could it be… a den of thieves?”
She recalled a story she’d once read about a rich young lady eloping with a poor scholar. They unwittingly stayed at a thieves’ den where the lady’s valuables were stolen, and the innkeeper conspired with local bandits to kidnap her.
Just as the lady was about to be violated, the scholar reported to the authorities, leading officials to swiftly raid the bandits’ lair and rescue her.
Upon learning of this, the lady’s family’s opinion of the scholar improved greatly, and they consented to the marriage. The couple eventually wed and lived happily ever after.
She remembered this tale not for its content, but for how absurdly far-fetched it was.
Setting aside why the bandits would spare the scholar and how he managed to report to the authorities, the idea that a rich family would happily agree to a marriage after their daughter had been kidnapped by bandits was suffocating in its implausibility.
Jiang Xu didn’t answer, merely gesturing for her to look at the clothes hanging on the inn’s second floor.
Ming Tan followed his gaze upward.
The garments hanging outside the inn differed from those nearby. Though all looked like rags to her, this row of over ten pieces was brightly colored… A realization dawned on her, and she suddenly understood the discord she’d sensed earlier in the inn.
This wasn’t an inn at all, but a brothel masquerading as one!
No, calling it a brothel was too generous. It lacked the scale of a proper establishment—at best, it was a clandestine house of ill repute.
Ming Tan clutched her chest, walking forward while glancing back at the brothel. Just then, she spotted a raggedly dressed man hurrying inside.
It was a brothel.
“If it’s not an inn, why did they try to keep us?” she asked.
“Where there’s money to be made, they’ll try,” Jiang Xu replied.
In such places, there were no fixed rules for conducting business.
Ming Tan muttered quietly, “How can they visit brothels when they’re so poor? Aren’t they afraid of starving to death after spending their money there?”
“Both food and sex are human desires.”
“But surely desires have priorities? If I were so poor I couldn’t afford food, I’d certainly try to earn money to build a proper house and fill my stomach before even thinking about visiting a brothel.”
“…”
He hadn’t expected his little princess consort to be so ambitious and career-oriented.
—
As dusk approached, with no other inns in town, Ming Tan grew worried. “Husband, where will we stay tonight?”
“What kind of place would you accept?”
Ming Tan considered for a moment. “Anywhere that can shelter us from wind and rain will do.”
“That’s easily arranged.”
— He led Ming Tan to an abandoned temple on the outskirts of town.
Ming Tan: “…”
It truly did just shelter them from wind and rain.
Dazed, Ming Tan entered the dilapidated temple, unsure where to stand. Jiang Xu found a clean spot, laid out his outer garment on the ground, and gestured, “Sit.”
“Oh.”
Ming Tan obediently sat down.
Their two accompanying guards suddenly appeared from somewhere, carrying armfuls of dry firewood and a chicken.
“There are chickens to catch in the mountains?” Ming Tan asked doubtfully.
“We bought it from a farm, Your Highness,” one replied.
Oh, so why didn’t they just buy a cooked one? Was cooking it themselves supposed to be more interesting? She hesitated, wanting to ask, but before she could, the two guards vanished as silently as they had appeared.
Ming Tan sat hugging her knees, watching Jiang Xu skillfully build a fire and place the cleaned chicken over it to roast. Um… she wanted to say that they still had dried rations in their bundle, and there was no need for this outdoor survival reenactment.
Roasting a chicken like this would surely result in poor taste. She had observed the palace chef roasting chickens from afar, and every step from marinating to selecting the firewood to controlling the heat and seasoning was extremely precise.
Seeing that the chicken would take a while to cook and Jiang Xu was quiet, Ming Tan rubbed her arm and initiated a conversation: “Husband, that inn we encountered today reminded me of a story.”
“What story?”
She vividly recounted the tale of the rich young lady eloping with the poor scholar, not forgetting to share her own opinions at the end.
Jiang Xu kept his eyes on the roasting chicken, his voice neither high nor low: “The story indeed has some issues, but why do you think the rich young lady couldn’t marry after being kidnapped?”
“Her reputation would be ruined, so of course she couldn’t marry. If a woman is truly kidnapped by bandits, even if rescued, she’d likely take her own life. At best, she might cut her hair and become a nun. That scholar would never marry her.”
“It wasn’t the young lady’s fault.”
“Indeed, it wasn’t her fault, but this world is harsh on women. Reputation is more important than life itself. Only in stories can such things be carelessly written.” She rested her chin on her hand and hypothesized, “If I were that rich young lady and you were the poor scholar, husband, what would you do? If I were kidnapped by bandits, would you rescue me? And after rescuing me, would you still be willing to marry me?”
“Of course, I would rescue you,” Jiang Xu said, turning the chicken over. After a moment’s contemplation, he added dispassionately, “However, this prince wouldn’t need to seek the authorities. I could make the bandits lair a sea of corpses and rivers of blood on my own. Since you care about reputation, no one alive besides me would know of the incident. Thus, there would be no one to object to our marriage.”
“…”
How thoroughly considered.
“Try it,” Jiang Xu said.
Soon after, the chicken was roasted. Jiang Xu tore off a leg and handed it to her.
“Wait,” Ming Tan said.
She took out her bamboo water container, poured some water to clean her hands, then took out a clean handkerchief. Carefully holding the chicken leg with the cloth, she took a small bite, swallowing quickly without tasting much. She praised insincerely, “It tastes great, husband. Your cooking skills are amazing.”
Jiang Xu glanced at her. “The legs and wings are all for you. Take your time eating.”
…?
Ming Tan choked slightly. “No, no need. You should eat too, husband.”
“Didn’t you say it was delicious?”
“It is delicious… but I can’t eat that much.”
Not half a moment after saying this, Ming Tan completely contradicted herself.
She could, she absolutely could! Her husband’s roasted chicken was incredibly delicious!!!
After finishing one leg and one wing with small bites, she gazed longingly at the remaining plump leg.
Jiang Xu looked at her, tore it off, and handed it to her.
She accepted it reverently, discreetly swallowing her saliva as she asked a question from the depths of her soul: “Husband, how can you roast chicken so well? I’ve watched the chef at home roast chicken before, and the process was very complicated, but the taste didn’t seem much different.”
“Because it was roasted by your husband.”
…?
After saying this, Jiang Xu suddenly looked up towards the entrance of the abandoned temple. As he wiped his hands with the handkerchief Ming Tan had used, he said, “The trouble you invited has arrived.”