Xie Xun needed to transport the gravely injured Fengyu, so he had the carriage modified with thick bedding. He also prepared all the necessary dicinal supplies, and the maids stashed so small snacks in the carriage as well.
Prefectural Magistrate Wang originally planned to send a team of guards to escort them back to the Capital City. However, Xie Xun firmly refused. The matter involving the Beiman was deeply complicated, and he didn’t want others to know about it. If word got out that Fengyu had been abducted by the Beiman, it would harm her reputation. Their quiet return to the Capital City was best left undisrupted. If anyone spotted the local guards from Shun City, the Forbidden Army would imdiately investigate and uncover the truth.
After exiting the city gate and heading onward, the official road near the city was smooth, avoiding much jostling. Xie Xun constantly lifted the curtain to check on Fengyu’s condition and deliberately slowed down the pace on bumpier stretches.
Though the bedding was laid thick, Fengyu still found it uncomfortable. Her injuries required her to lie flat to recover, and even the slightest jolts exacerbated her pain. However, not wanting to delay Xie Xun’s journey, she refrained from showing any discomfort. Xie Xun saw through her attempt to feign composure and intentionally slowed his pace—traveling for two hours and resting for half an hour. By the afternoon, they passed through a small town.
Both Fengyu and Xie Xun were a bit hungry. The small town was not particularly lively, rely a stopover for travelers, with limited food and drink options. There was only one stall selling beef noodles, leaving them with no other choice. Xie Xun carried her over to the stall and sat down. The stall owners, a middle-aged couple, were stunned by their striking appearances. In this little town, rarely did one encounter such an exceptionally good-looking young man and woman.
"Please, take it slow, sir... Your wife has injured her leg. Sit here—this spot will be more comfortable," said the stall owner. Fengyu had a slight fracture, which ordinarily wouldn’t require a splint, but the physician had applied one anyway to prevent her injury from worsening due to the travel.
"We’re not..." The word "married" was about to escape her lips, but Xie Xun swallowed the explanation. Holding Fengyu in his arms, he realized if they weren’t husband and wife, how else could he explain their relationship?
Fengyu was equally flustered. In the end, both of them chose to default to silence. Xie Xun sat down with her in his arms and ordered two bowls of beef noodles.
In the quiet afternoon, there were very few patrons at the stall; it was virtually deserted.
The husband boiled the noodles while the wife, noticing Fengyu’s beauty, couldn’t help but feel a sense of fondness. She sincerely praised, "I’ve been running this stall for three years, and I’ve never seen a couple as perfectly matched as you two. Truly picturesque!"
Fengyu smiled faintly and replied, "You flatter us, madam. We’re just average in looks."
Xie Xun, "?"
"Oh dear, why wasn’t I ’average’ like this?" the wife joked lightheartedly before her husband cheerfully brought over the cooked noodles. "Does the lady like her food spicy?"
Xie Xun answered, "One bowl with spice, one without."
"Got it!"
When the two bowls of beef noodles arrived, the husband and wife busied themselves elsewhere without disturbing them. Lowering her voice, Fengyu asked, "Why didn’t you explain that we’re not a married couple?"
"Strangers eting for the first ti—what’s the point of explaining?" Xie Xun replied indifferently. Then, out of nowhere, he added, "Feng Wan fell into the water and had to marry Prince Duan to preserve her honor. Think of how many tis I’ve carried you."
Fengyu felt an inexplicable sensation. Xie Xun seed to be avoiding her yet flirting with her at the sa ti. Why? It was such a contradiction. Her mood was similarly conflicted. If she didn’t take it seriously, he would continue his shaless teasing. But if she did take it seriously, the young marquis would just say, "Can’t take a joke?" Wouldn’t that make her overly sentintal?
"If every woman you’ve saved were to marry you, your mansion’s backyard wouldn’t fit them all," Fengyu retorted coolly. Even enemies couldn’t endure being left in the wilderness; Xie Xun’s protective nature was overwhelming. The number of won he had rescued was not less than a hundred, perhaps eighty at the very least.
"Just because they want to marry doesn’t an this marquis has to oblige," Xie Xun replied, neither cold nor warm.
Fengyu couldn’t quite grasp his aning and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. A young man’s heart is as elusive as a needle at the bottom of the sea. Forget it. Better to talk money with the young marquis—discussing emotions was far too costly.
Xie Xun, accustod to marching and battling, ate quickly yet without any coarseness. But he was startled to see Fengyu eating her noodles one strand at a ti with her chopsticks.
Who eats noodles one strand at a ti?
"What kind of bizarre eating thod is that?" Xie Xun mocked. "Trying to eat until the end of ti?"
Fengyu blinked mischievously, her teasing playful and ambiguous. "Young marquis, do you not want to eat with until the end of ti?"
Xie Xun’s soulful eyes rippled with a faint smile. "If it takes you longer than the ti of an incense stick, I’ll leave you here in this desolate countryside to fend for yourself."
"Oh, really?" Fengyu’s smile did not fade. "You couldn’t bear to."
Xie Xun, "..."
The two engaged in a subtle back-and-forth, evenly matched in their playful banter. Fengyu scored a small victory and was in high spirits. She gave all the beef in her bowl to Xie Xun—she wasn’t fond of at and preferred to eat sparingly.
After finishing their beef noodles, they faced a rather awkward situation: Xie Xun had no money. Fengyu stared at him in disbelief. "Didn’t you ask Prefectural Magistrate Wang for money?"
"I forgot!" Xie Xun had never carried money on him since childhood. Normally, Feiying and Nuanyang accompanied him, with Nuanyang handling the accounts. Now, traveling alone with Fengyu, he had completely neglected the issue of money.
His gaze fell on the golden hairpin in Fengyu’s hair. "That hairpin of yours is worth quite a bit."
"Are you insane? Trading my hairpin for two bowls of beef noodles?" Fengyu, having been abducted, had lost most of her jewelry. Only two golden hairpins remained. Her eyes landed on his longsword. "Why don’t you pry the gemstone off your sword?"
"Are you serious?"
"When it cos to money, I don’t joke around."
The two bowls of beef noodles only cost a few copper coins. Trading her hairpin for that was out of the question. Similarly, Xie Xun’s longsword was a gift from his father and held great sentintal value, so prying off the gemstone was equally untenable. His temperantal father might even break his leg for it.
"Could you invoke the na of Marquis Zhenbei Mansion to get a free al?" Fengyu asked sincerely.
"Don’t even think about it."
They continued their journey, and Fengyu, heartbroken, touched her hairpin, now chipped at one corner. It was a new design she had created this year, and now it was damaged.
Leisurely driving the carriage, Xie Xun glanced at her distressed, heartbroken expression and couldn’t help but laugh. "You actually broke off a piece of gold for her."
Fengyu sneered. "That gold leaf could buy her a hundred bowls of beef noodles."
"That bit of gold—can it be exchanged for silver?"
"Young marquis, if you’re eating for free, say less," Fengyu said in a sarcastic tone. "For the remainder of this journey back to the Capital City, my two hairpins will cover food and lodging."
Xie Xun, "..."
Fengyu began recounting old grievances. "There are so who used to criticize for being vulgar, tasteless, wasteful, and fond of wearing gold and silver. Now, stranded with nothing, don’t you see the perks of my habits?"
"Who criticized you? Tell , and I’ll beat him up after we get back to the Capital City," Xie Xun said, barely suppressing his laughter.
"You!"
"Third Miss, don’t play the victim. This marquis never said such things."
"You didn’t say it, but your eyes were full of it," Fengyu mumbled weakly, lying prone among the bedding due to her pain. Suddenly, Xie Xun halted the carriage.
He turned around, smiling, and looked intently at Fengyu. "If Third Miss is so perceptive, tell —what do my eyes say at this very mont?"
The sunlight was breezy and gentle, spilling its golden hue over Xie Xun’s scarlet robe. The warm light danced in circles, making the strands of his black hair glimr with spring-like charm. The tranquil scenery, full of blooming flowers, enveloped them in stillness. Fengyu was lost in those tender eyes, her heart pounding wildly.
She hadn’t anticipated that their playful bickering would evolve into such an unspoken seduction.
"You’re insane!" Fengyu’s voice was unsteady.
Xie Xun chuckled softly. "Who could’ve imagined?"
He turned back to continue driving, while Fengyu, thoroughly flustered, stopped teasing him altogether, growing as quiet as if soone had sewn her mouth shut. When they left the Capital City, she had braced herself for life-or-death struggles and expected to perish alongside the Beiman. Who could have foreseen this kind of return journey instead?
Fengyu absentmindedly touched the Soul Suppressing Pearl, a swirl of emotions rising within her.
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