At dawn, she woke up on a bed with a quilt and she was the only one in the tent.
Where was Big Block of Ice?
She looked around and finally became clear headed and got up.
When Chu Qing-Yan got out of the tent, she saw Xi Ning holding a basin of water. She had her head lowered while waiting outside the tent.
Just as she was about to talk to Xi Ning, in an instant she felt everyone's gaze turn to herself all at once. She lifted her head in puzzlement, and saw that those people immediately turned their gazes elsewhere, pretending to be very busy.
Chu Qing-Yan felt these people were very strange, but first she had to freshen up. She turned to look toward Xi Ning and found out that today's Xi Ning was also very strange. From the moment she exited the tent, she hadn't said a single word.
"Xi Ning?" Chu Qing-Yan couldn't help but open her mouth to call her.
Seeing Xi Ning lifted up her head and her eyes whirled about beaming with smiles to look at her. "Master, do you want to wash your face and rinse your mouth?"
Chu Qing-Yan lifted a hand to stroke her chin, sizing her up with a face full of suspicion. "Speak, what's going on? How come I just got up and all around me is very strange?"
One only heard Xi Ning laugh mischievously. "Master, last night you..." She lifted a hand to point at the tent behind her master.
Chu Qing-Yan followed her finger and looked in that direction, and immediately understood. She lifted her hand and slapped her it down saying disapprovingly. "Silly little girl, so young, how could you think of those matters that can't nourish the mind?"
She deliberately raised her voice, in order to let Fire Spirit's group that was straining their ears to hear her words.
Xi Ning said in puzzlement. "Doesn't have nourishment? There isn't ah. It's Honorable Fire Spirit and them that said it early this morning. Master's courage is too small, therefore, therefore——" Therefore you ran into His Highness's tent.
Chu Qing-Yan's face turned black, she felt it was she whose thought went crooked. She turned her eyes to swipe the surroundings and saw everyone nod as if they had agreed ahead of time.
Little consort, your courage was too small!
Chu Qing-Yan was so angry there was flames shooting out of the top of her head. What's wrong with having little courage? Is a person not allowed to have a weak point?
"Master, your courage is even smaller than Xi Ning's. In the future, Xi Ning will accompany you!" Xi Ning said this very seriously.
Chu Qing-Yan felt as if her knee had been hit by an arrow, she wanted to cry but lacked the tears as she said. "Thank you Xi Ning."
Arriving at the place where the meal was being served, the tables were all joined. Chu Qing-Yan w sat down on the chair with a dejected expression. Her illustrious name ah. With great difficulty, she had established it during the period when Big Block of Ice suffered injustice. Now in one night, it had fallen and returned to original point!"
"Yan girl, I heard last night you——" Only the Retired Emperor, that guy, would mention what shouldn't be mentioned.
Chu Qing-Yan waved her hand without any strength and perfunctorily said. "I know, you also want to laugh at me for my lack of courage. Laugh ah, laugh ah——"
The Retired Emperor, amused by her, laughed heartily. "Yan girl, I am not talking about this."
"Then what do you want to say?" It was hard to come by that the Retired Emperor didn't laugh at her for lacking courage. Her spirit couldn't help but be more alert and vigorous. Looks like the Retired Emperor wasn't the kind of person to hit a person when they are down. She won't be at odds with him about the pastries from before.
One only saw the Retired Emperor with a mysterious expresion lean close to her. He leaned close to her ear and asked in a whisper. "Was my grandson's tofu(1) delicious?"
A bolt out of the blue!
Chu Qing-Yan felt she was scorched by the thunder!
Only now did she remember that there was a person who was familiar with inside information about her. How could she have forgotten!
"Grandpa Emperor, food can be eaten indiscriminately but words can not be said irresponsibly. We are very innocent!" Chu Qing-Yan made a supreme effort to dispute this!
"Calm ah, calm ah. I understand. Thinking about back then, I and Wan'er also passed the days like this. Don't think that just because we are separated by several generations, that there would be a generation gap. Grandpa Emperor is very open-minded!" The Retired Emperor, looking highly principled, patted her shoulder, almost patting out her lungs."
Grandpa Emperor, what ghost do you understand?
Chu Qing-Yan felt she could only make things worse, so she simply shut up and didn't want to say anything more.
But clearly the Retired Emperor didn't want to let her off. Half luring and half threatening, he said to her. "Yan girl, wanting me to not talk about it is also okay. When the time comes that we arrive at a bustling and populous place, remember not to be so stingy oh!"
"Under this vast sky, it's the king's land; near the border of the land, it's the king's official. Under the vast sky, it's the king's land. Why are you always thinking of my purse?" Every third sentence doesn't deviate from food. Why does Chu Qing-Yan feel as if this Retired Emperor seemed more and more like her daddy?
The Retired Emperor had an expression of 'you don't understand, I don't blame you'. "Don't you know the meaning of 'looking on this shore is more fortunate than the other shore?' Eating other people's food and using other people's things makes me happier than spending my own money!"
Chu Qing-Yan blushed with shame, really couldn't do anything about him.
At this time, it just so happened that Xiao Xu and Fire Spirit's group slowly walked over.
From a distance, they could hear their conversation.
"Master, from here we have entered Jiang Zhe region. We only need to cross over seven li of mountain and travel straight for another three days, then we'll arrive." Fire Spirit said, holding the map and pointing at a place on the map.
Xiao Xu lowered his head to swipe a glance at the map, he ordered. "Don't need to take a shortcut, after crossing over the seven li of mountain, we'll enter the first city."
Fire Spirit was somewhat puzzled. "Master, if we enter first city and township, we will need to travel on this official government road. It would add an extra day to our journey. This way doesn't seem appropriate."
"Doing things according to my orders is sufficient." Xiao Xu said faintly, rejecting his subordinate's suggestion.
Fire Spirit scratched his head and felt this time something seemed wrong with master. But he couldn't say where. Since master wanted to take a detour, then they'll detour. In any case, His Majesty didn't tell them they must rush to Fu Li mountain.
"Then master, do you have any other orders?" Fire Spirit asked.
"Who is managing the city we will enter?" Xiao Xu sat down on the chair, Huang Yi and others had already brought out the food. Having arranged the bowls and chopsticks properly, they withdrew afterwards.
Fire Spirit seriously took at glance at the map, then replied. "The governor of the province is Liu Ying. He supervises three prefectures and seven counties. Ping Ying city is the main city and also the first city we will enter."
"This king wants the information on his governance of this three prefectures and seven counties for the past several years." Xiao Xu said in his normal tone.
Fire Spirit immediately accepted the order.
Chu Qing-Yan who was on the side pushing around her food was somewhat puzzled. Clearly they could save time, so why would Big Block of Ice want to make a detour? Could it be he had some other plan?
"Liu Ying, this name seems very familiar." The Retired Emperor who was eating one large mouthful of food after another suddenly said this.
Xiao Xu turned to glance at him. His tone seemed to have the trace of a sigh. "He is grandma empress's family's eighteenth generation's side branch's child."
The Retired Emperor lightly coughed several times after hearing this. "I haven't been a member of the court for many years, can't remember things clearly."
Xiao Xu said faintly. "Last year, you passed through Ou county under Liu Ying's hand. You even stayed in his manor for half a month!"
The Retired Emperor immediately buried his head to eat. "The proverb said it well. 'Don't talk when eating or sleeping'!"
Chu Qing-Yan's head was full of black lines, the Retired Emperor was a model for the temperament of forgetting after eating.
"Once we finish eating, we'll set out!" Xiao Xu ordered.
Everyone accepted the order.
In less than two hours, information regarding the governance of Liu Ying for these several years on these regions was already arranged on Xiao Xu's desk.
Inside the horse carriage, Xiao Xu flipped page by page a pile of information that was half a person tall. Chu Qing-Yan noticed his expression became darker and darker.
She couldn't help but purse her lips, Big Block of Ice had proper matters he won't do, he first started to investigate this Liu Ying. In the end, for what matter was this about?
Once they exited the capital, she felt that Big Block of Ice became very strange.
1) eating someone's tofu- pretty sure everyone who has read a Chinese novel knows this. But just in case, tofu in this context refers to silky skin. Eating someone's tofu means skin contact of a flirtatious nature: a secret caress of someone's hand, a stolen kiss. Any intimate action that was 'stolen' by another person is eating someone's tofu.