On the ancient road outside the city gates, Qi Shaorong waved around a horsewhip in his hand, his face twisted.
"Just why did the Emperor have to send this hindrance over?" Qi Shaorong said with disgust.
Chen Yuan smiled at Qi Shaorong, and said a little awkwardly, "I'm very sorry, Young Master Qi, I'm afraid you're going to be stuck with me for the rest of the journey."
Qi Shaorong crossed his arms, looked at Chen Yuan, and said, "Chen Yuan, what do you mean by this! Are you threatening me?"
Chen Yuan quickly waved his hand and said, "No of course not, Young Master Qi, in fact, I'm actually not that bad. Although I can't compare to you, I can still be considered as someone who has talent." Just what is Qi Shaorong doing! Chen Yuan also used to be a famous figure in the Imperial Capital before! Although now… His reputation has hit rock-bottom.
"You're not that bad? How? Of course you can't be compared to me, how can someone like you compare yourself with me?" Qi Shaorong said disdainfully.
Chen Yuan: "…"
Zhuang Hao walked over and explained to Qi Shaorong, "The Chen Family does a lot of business and has some friendly relations with the Business Alliance. If Chen Yuan comes with us, it can make things a lot more convenient."
Qi Shaorong looked at Chen Yuan and said doubtfully, "This guy can actually be this useful? Is it true?"
Chen Yuan looked at Qi Shaorong and smiled, saying, "Of course, Fourth Young Master Qi, after we interact some more on the journey, you will know how useful I am."
Qi Shaorong smiled coldly and said, "I sure hope so, otherwise, if you turn out to be useless, I'll go find a male brothel and exchange you from some travelling fare."
Chen Yuan: "… "
Mu Tingxuan walked towards Qi Shaorong and said lightly, "Young Master, I've finished making all the preparations, we can set out on our journey now."
Qi Shaorong nodded and said, "Okay."
Chen Yuan felt conflicted as he looked at Qi Shaorong's back, and said to Zhuang Hao, "So you're not going to do anything about this! That guy's your wife! If you indulge him so much, it'll be easy for you to lose all your footing in this relationship."
Zhuang Hao looked at Chen Yuan and said, "Just try to bear with it a little, it's fine if you wrong me in any way, but you can't make him unhappy."
Chen Yuan: "…"
Inside the carriage.
Yi Fan looked at Chen Yuan, his eyes full of displeasure.
Chen Yuan looked at Yi Fan and said, "Why are you looking at me like that?" Was Chen Yuan garbage or something? Why did Yi Fan keep on glancing at him with that kind of expression on his face!
Yi Fan was dissatisfied and said, "Why do I have to ride in the same carriage with you?"
Several black lines emerged on Chen Yuan's forehead, "You think I'm willing to do this?! If you have the ability, why don't you go and argue about it with Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao!"
Chen Yuan took a deep breath. He also used to have a lot of admirers in the Imperial Capital, how could he have fallen to this point now! There's even someone here who thinks of him as an irksome presence.
A scarlet viper was crawling around on Yi Fan's body, and Chen Yuan thought to himself: He can't believe that Yi Fan, this guy, actually wonders why he's unable to successfully woo his wife. This guy's always playing around with a snake all day, what normal person would ever take a liking to such a scary person like Yi Fan!
Yi Fan ignored Chen Yuan, stepped out of the carriage, and sat beside Mu Tingxuan who was currently driving.
Chen Yuan looked at Yi Fan and Mu Tingxuan and thought: Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong were probably sleeping right now, and Yi Fan and Mu Tingxuan were driving the carriage together. These people all came out here in pairs, while he was all alone. He's already pitiful enough, and he still has to follow the orders of his family and find an opportunity to resolve his problems with Qi Shaorong. Chen Yuan looked at Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong's carriage that was in front of him, and he felt dejected in his heart. Back then, he had clearly had good intentions when he went looking for Qi Shaorong.
[T/n: Ok wait who's driving ZH and QSR's carriage then lol.]
Mu Tingxuan glanced at Yi Fan and said, "You can go back inside the carriage to rest, I'll drive the carriage."
Yi Fan said unconcernedly, "It's okay, I'll keep you company."
Mu Tingxuan looked at Yi Fan and said, "Alright then."
"It's getting late, we seem to be in the middle of nowhere right now. I'm afraid we'll have to spend the night in the wilderness." Yi Fan said.
Mu Tingxuan said indifferently, "That's no big deal."
Yi Fan looked at Mu Tingxuan and said, "In a while, I'll go out to hunt some prey, is there anything you'd like to eat? I'll catch it for you."
Mu Tingxuan glanced at Yi Fan and said, "We're currently away from home, I don't need anything fancy, it doesn't really matter as long as there's enough to fill our stomachs."
Yi Fan nodded and said, "Okay."
Qi Shaorong was currently leaning on Zhuang Hao, sleeping soundly.
Qi Shaorong had originally fallen asleep while leaning against the walls of the carriage, but as he slept he ended up slumping over into Zhuang Hao's arms.
Zhuang Hao looked at the person in his arms, his expression gentle, and stayed still.
The carriage stopped in the mountains [1].
Mu Tingxuan pulled the curtains on the carriage and said, "Young Master Zhuang, we'll have to camp out in the wild tonight."
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "I know, I'll go hunting now."
Mu Tingxuan looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "A-Fan has already headed out to do that."
"I'll go help." Zhuang Hao thought to himself: There was a line in the pre-marriage agreement stating that when they leave home, he has to be responsible for doing the cooking, laundry, and finding a place to stay.
Zhuang Hao's figure disappeared into the forest at once.
Qi Shaorong stepped out of the carriage and started a fire in a pile of wood.
Mu Tingxuan set up two tents by the side, and Chen Yuan was also pulled over by Mu Tingxuan to help out.
After a while, Yi Fan returned with an antelope and a few pheasants.
Qi Shaorong looked at Yi Fan and said, "A-Fan, you're really fast!"
Yi Fan smiled, "It's only so-so."
Not long after Yi Fan returned, they heard the sound of a group of monster beasts galloping over. Qi Shaorong looked towards the distance, and saw Zhuang Hao walking over with a dozen monster beasts, some were running on the land, and some were also flying.
"Shaorong, what do you want to eat?" Zhuang Hao asked.
Qi Shaorong: "…"
Zhuang Hao was dressed in white, and was surrounded by dozens of monster beasts. Qi Shaorong felt that Zhuang Hao was like one of those ostentatious, second generation rich young masters doomed to be cannon fodder in the novels from his past life.
Qi Shaorong looked at the red-coloured bird flying above Zhuang Hao's head and said, "Just this blood sparrow, I guess."
Zhuang Hao snapped his fingers, and excluding the blood sparrow, all the other monster beasts fled.
Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao and couldn't help thinking: Beast tamers sure were flashy! Although Zhuang Hao really looked like he's deserving of a good beating!
"Young Master Zhuang, can you help with handling the food?" Yi Fan asked.
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "Of course."
Zhuang Hao waved his hand and summoned a wind blade. Zhuang Hao's control over his magic was really good, he quickly cut open and disemboweled the monster beasts, and cleanly removed the fur.
Qi Shaorong watched Zhuang Hao's movements and said with astonishment, "Since when was Zhuang Hao able to do this, I always thought he's someone who only knew how to sponge off of others [2]."
Chen Yuan looked at Qi Shaorong and thought to himself: Young Master Qi, you're the one sponging off of someone else here, and you still have the nerve to criticize Zhuang Hao like that.
"Young Master Zhuang, you're very skilled at this! I can do the rest." Yi Fan said appreciatively.
Zhuang Hao felt like he'd just escaped a punishment and said [3], "Okay!"
Zhuang Hao secretly had a guilty conscience. In the pre-marriage agreement, because it said that he's responsible for doing the cooking whenever they go out to travel, Zhuang Hao had specially practiced cooking at home. However, while he did manage to learn the skills of preparing the food and ingredients, he didn't have enough time to actually learn how to cook food. He had tried cooking a couple of times at home, but not even the pigs were willing to eat what he made.
Yi Fan started grilling the food, and flames danced dexterously in Yi Fan's hands.
Zhuang Hao sat down next to Qi Shaorong, and Qi Shaorong said, "A-Fan really looks like a chef right now."
Zhuang Hao casually asked, "Yi Fan is like a chef, then what about me?"
"You? You're like the chef's assistant." Qi Shaorong said.
Zhuang Hao: "…"
Yi Fan finished roasting the meat and distributed it to Mu Tingxuan and the others. Although Yi Fan didn't like Zhuang Hao very much, he still gave Zhuang Hao a portion.
"Gongzi [4], so this is where you're staying!" A young man dressed in a white fox fur cloak and an extravagantly-dressed girl walked over, along with several guards, and looked at Zhuang Hao with a gaze full of admiration.
Qi Shaorong looked at the two of them and thought to himself: Who's this young master and young lady? Running out here to play, are they not afraid of getting eaten by monster beasts?
Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "They're here for you, where did you meet these two?"
Zhuang Hao said lightly, "I encountered them when I was out hunting and looking for food, there was a white-headed tiger attacking them at the time. I saw that the tiger looked pretty good and thought that you might be interested in it, so I led it away from them."
Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "So it's like that. Tiger meat is tough and dry, I don't like eating it."
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "I know, I won't go looking for a tiger next time."
Zhuang Hao looked at the two people and said, "You two, what I did wasn't really that big of a deal, you didn't have to come over here, and there's no need to thank me or anything."
"We can't do that, your Excellency might not think it's a big deal, but for me and my sister, you saved our lives!" The young man said.
Zhuang Hao frowned, and Qi Shaorong said, "It's also fine if you want to return this favour, how about giving us a few hundred thousand gold coins."
The young man frowned and said, "Who are you!"
Qi Shaorong pointed at Zhuang Hao and said, "I'm his husband, I'm in charge of managing all his money. Every month I'll give him an allowance of one gold coin, to let him buy some snacks to eat."
Zhuang Hao: "…"
Qi Shaorong looked at Zhuang Hao and thought: Zhuang Hao, this guy, sure is good at attracting people! He went out looking for food, and returned with two more admirers.
Hearing Qi Shaorong's words, the brother and sister pair looked at each other with complicated expressions on their faces.
Yi Fan handed over the roast meat in his hand to Mu Tingxuan, "Tingxuan, try the chicken wings that I roasted."
Mu Tingxuan glanced at Yi Fan and reached out to take the roast meat from Yi Fan.
The man, who looked like a young master, looked at Qi Shaorong with some embarrassment and said, "This… I don't have a lot of money on me right now, but if you go back with me, my family will definitely repay you."
Qi Shaorong widened his eyes and said, "You didn't take any money with you when you came out here?!"
The white-clothed youth couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, "We did bring some money, but we lost it."
Qi Shaorong looked at the youth and thought to himself: This kid actually managed to lose all his money? Such a scatterbrained guy, he probably isn't a very accomplished person.
Qi Shaorong waved his hand and said, "Nevermind, we don't want the gold anymore, you can leave now."
The girl standing behind the youth couldn't help asking, "Can we follow you guys?"
"Why do you want to go with us?" Qi Shaorong said impatiently.
The girl pitifully recounted their travels and all the unfortunate situations they encountered on the way.
It turned out that the young man and the girl were from a big family, and they went out to train. The two had originally brought dozens of guards out with them, but after entering the forest, they got separated, leaving only a few guards by their side, and most of those guards were also injured. It was very tragic.
Footnotes:
Mountains: It's more like a wooded mountain area, or one of those mountain/hilly regions with lots of forests.
Sponge off of others: To lead an idle life; to live as a parasite; doing nothing to earn one's keep; or to be a loafer/sponger.
Escaped a punishment: "As if he'd just been pardoned/amnestied", but I swear there's a better way to word this than "escaped a punishment", but I can't, for the life of me, recall what it is…
Gongzi: What you'd call the son of an official/nobility.