Liu Zhiqiu won several contemptuous glances from his family for puncturing the mood.
They got out of the way, and the carriage started on its journey.
As the carriage bobbed into the distance, Grandma Liu grabbed Liu Zhiqiu's ear and twisted it. "Bastard!"
"Tactless!"
"Blind!"
"You deserve it!"
The family filed into the courtyard, leaving Liu Zhiqiu alone with his reddened ears in confusion.
What did he do? He was just telling the truth, right?
"Your brother will certainly not end up well later." In the carriage, Qian Wanjin stifled a laugh.
"How do you know?"
"Of course I know. I have experienced it firsthand several times." He was the most powerful eyewitness.
The Lius were usually very reasonable and approachable.
But as long as the matter was related to Fu Nannan, did you want to be reasonable? Hahaha.
They'd widen your knowledge about what it meant to shield someone's shortcomings to no end.
Liu Yusheng leaned against the carriage and smirked. In recent years, her two brothers including Qian Wanjin did suffer platefuls from her family because of her.
Whenever she reminisced about those occasions, she felt like laughing.
The carriage turned a corner with a jolt, and Qian Wanjin lifted the curtain at the fork in the road. "Why are we taking this road? Directly go to the county, it's much closer."
Da Huang was helpless and aggrieved, and motioned to his side. "Young Master, it's not that I want to take this road. It's this lady who's pulling the reins."
The culprit coldly retorted, "I'm hungry. Let's first go to town and buy two pancakes."
"…" Qian Wanjin stroked his chin. "Aunt Hong, you're not falling for the uncle who sells pancakes, are you? Why else would you go buy pancakes every time you go back to town?"
Wei Hong was so scared that she almost fell off in front of the carriage.
"What nonsense are you babbling about? Look at how scared Aunt Hong is, she's turned white!" Liu Yusheng pulled her back, stifling a laugh. "We're not in a hurry anyway. Aunt Hong likes to eat those pancakes, so just go buy them. It won't take long."
"…" Wei Hong was speechless.
Wei Lan really took her off-handed remarks to heart and went to sell pancakes for a living – for nine years. Cangwu Town has changed every year, but only his stall never moved the nest.
It was dead squatting right across from Wanjin restaurant.
When the carriage entered the town, it went straight to Wanjin restaurant. From afar, a small stall on the opposite side of the street could. There were no customers in front of it at the moment, and the owner with a towel around his neck was sitting by the side of the road completely without restraints. He was chatting with the vendors around him, like a native of the area.
After parking the carriage in front of the restaurant, Wei Hong hopped off and headed across the street. "Four baked sesame pancakes, and brush on more sauce."
"Okay! Please wait for a moment. It'll be ready soon!" Wei Lan immediately stood up, nimbly and neatly poured batter onto the pan, sprinkled onions, and added the filling. His movements were fast and neat, quite the expert.
"We're going to Xuzhou. Estimated return – two months." Wei Hong lowered her head and said; her lips barely wiggled.
"Then should I follow you there?" Similarly, Wei Lan spoke in a whisper without moving his lips. "Should I go to Xuzhou to sell pancakes?"
After receiving the freshly baked pancakes from the man, Wei Hong had an urge to smack the man on the head with them. "You should simply change your name and call yourself Blue Shaobing (pancakes/flatbread)!"
He was obsessed with selling pancakes!
When the woman walked away wrapped in cold piercing air, Wei Lan scratched his nose. "What am I going to eat if I don't sell pancakes? It isn't easy for me to support a family!"
Cangwu Town was under the Xiangshan Mountain of Yunzhou. From their location, it would take around ten days of travel to reach Xuzhou on land.
Because the group departed early and didn't need to rush, Qian Wanjin took Liu Yusheng, Wei Hong, and Da Huang on a leisurely trip all the way to Xuzhou.
Meanwhile, inside the imperial palace in the capital.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony stood in magnificent splendor with carved beams and painted rafters.
At a desk in the corner of the palace, two figures were sitting there, one tall and one short.
The short one was a young man of about ten years old with a tender face, who was wielding a pencil to write on a spread-out sheet. From time to time, he would surreptitiously sneak a glance at the person sitting diagonally across from him out of the corner of his eye.
He was a man whose features were finely sculpted and eyebrows that were slanting. His eyes were partly closed, his thick eyelashes casting a faint shadow on the bottom of his eyelids. He has a straight nose bridge and a beautifully shaped pair of pink lips.
The man seemed to be taking a nap. With one hand supporting his jaw halfway up the back of the chair, black hair cascaded from the side of his neck down his chest, exuding some languor and softening the wintry air around the man's body.
"If these memorials aren't finished by noon, they double up tomorrow." His thin lips parted a bit and a sound evocative of a mountain stream gurgling and the gentle breeze in April sounded. Just listening to his voice made others think of spring blossoms.
The young man immediately collapsed, "Imperial Uncle … why must I approve these things when there's you?"
"It's useless to flatter me. There's no need to hide your weaknesses. I'll never take your position even if I was given it." The man slowly opened his eyes, his eyes narrow and long. His pupils were dark and deep, so deep that it looked bottomless. "If you want to fight against me, grow up."
The young man's complexion changed and the hand under his sleeve clenched into a fist.
Grow up, did he really have the chance to grow?
A report came from outside the hall.
"What is it?"
"Your Highness, it's rumored that disciples from Baicao Valley will appear in Xuzhou to attend a convention. Please instruct your Highness!"
The young man's fists squeezed tighter at this news, tension oozing out of his half-lidded eyes.
The man stayed silent for a moment before saying, "Is there no word back from Wei Cheng yet?"
"None yet. Baicao Valley had been in seclusion before. No one knows where their exact location is. Wei Cheng has been tracking them down for nearly a year and still found nothing."
"Get ready to set off for Xuzhou."
The man's instructions surprised the young man, as if he couldn't believe it.
"The poison in your body isn't from this king." The man got up and left with his hands behind his back. His back was quite tall with an imposing momentum like chiseled stone and polished jade, outstanding, handsome and elegant.
It was only him the young man saw who could wear such a deep and domineering dark purple python robe like a soothing wind and the bright moon.
He believed that the poison he was carrying wasn't from him.
At the age of thirteen, this man killed his way through the treacherous vortex of power and finally stood firm, protecting him securely on the throne. If he really wanted to kill him, he had had countless means and opportunities. He definitely wasn't the kind to use a chronic poison.
He just didn't believe that he would truly save him.
After all, he was just a pawn used by the late emperor to protect his imperial uncle, wasn't he?
The intelligence that the Nanling King went on a trip south to Xuzhou was suppressed and kept under wraps so as not to regenerate any loose ends until he found Baicao Valley.
On this trip, he only brought a few of his close confidants with him.
Sitting in the carriage, the young man couldn't quite believe that his uncle had really taken him away from the palace and the capital!
Since he was two years old, he hadn't left the palace gate by half a step. He was even as excited as a child for a moment, and his words became more frequent.
"Uncle, won't Aunt Zheng come with us?"
The man's eyes were downcast, and he answered indifferently, "Remember, she's just a maid. There are some things you can't give too much of, lest she forgets her identity."