From the fake emperor to the concubine

Wu Chen nodded, and this time he didn't say anything more.

The third item is Shen Yuan's body.

The old woman was not happy.

"Her ribs haven't fully healed yet, and you've already taken her such a long way?" The old woman stood in the courtyard, clutching a handful of herbs, her tone as hard as the frozen earth of the north. "Zheng Yi, you're good in every way, except you're too hasty."

Zheng Yi squatted down next to the water tank to wash his hands. He poured cold water on his hands, rubbed them a couple of times, and shook off the water droplets.

“Bone Granny, those who killed her can chase us all the way to Beining City, and they can also chase us into the tribe. Do you want her to stay in the inn waiting for the next group to arrive, or do you want her to come with me?”

The bone marrow woman paused for a moment.

"If she stays here with you, can you guarantee her safety?" Zheng Yi stood up and wiped his hands on the hem of his clothes. "After I leave, only He Liang and Boss Sun will be left in the inn. If two more people like those from last night come, who will stop them?"

The Bone Woman fell silent.

She stuffed the herbs into a cloth bag, tied the opening tightly, and tossed it into Zheng Yi's arms.

"Here. Use this to treat her wound on the way. Change it once a day. Mix the powder with rice wine, or warm water if you don't have rice wine. Got it?"

Zheng Yi took the cloth bag and nodded.

"And this too." The old woman took out a small porcelain bottle from her bosom, the mouth of which was sealed with wax. "This is for her to eat when the pain becomes unbearable. One pill at a time, no more than two a day. Eating too much of this is harmful to her health, so don't give it to her unless she really can't bear it anymore."

Zheng Yi carefully put away the small porcelain bottle as well.

The old woman glanced at him, opened her mouth, then closed it again. After a while, she couldn't resist.

Be nice to her on the way.

Zheng Yi looked at the Bone Woman and waited for her to finish speaking.

“That girl has a hard life. She lost her family and traveled thousands of miles alone to the north, where she met you people…” The old woman paused, then changed “you kind people” to “you fools.” “It’s a good thing she wasn’t meant to die. Don’t just take her out and abandon her halfway.”

"No," Zheng Yi said.

The old woman snorted and turned to leave. After taking two steps, she turned back.

"If she gets cold on the road, give her a coat. People from the south can't withstand the north wind."

"understood."

The Bone Woman is really gone this time.

When Chi Ya learned that he was going to Jiangnan with Zheng Yi, he stood in the courtyard as if struck by lightning, and didn't move for a long time.

"Jiangnan?" His voice was a little high-pitched. "That Jiangnan?"

He Liang, who was eating a steamed bun next to him, didn't even look up: "There's only one Jiangnan in China. Which Jiangnan are you talking about?"

Chi Ya turned to look at Zheng Yi, his eyes shining like two lamps.

"Young Master Zheng, really? Can I really go?"

"real."

Chiya's mouth opened and closed repeatedly, like a fish thrown ashore. He swallowed hard and asked a question that almost made He Liang spit out his steamed bun.

Do they have steamed buns in Jiangnan?

He Liang, with a mouthful of steamed bun in his mouth, said indistinctly, "The steamed buns from Jiangnan are better than any you've ever eaten."

Red Fang's eyes shone even brighter.

"Does that exist in Jiangnan—?"

“We have everything.” He Liang interrupted him. “Don’t ask any more questions. Go and see for yourself. Hurry up and pack your things.”

Chi Ya turned and ran, but after a couple of steps he turned back and looked at Zheng Yi.

"Young Master Zheng, what should I bring?"

"Bring warm clothes. Winters in Jiangnan are cold too."

"anything else?"

Use your brain.

Chiya paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously and ran away.

Shen Yuan watched Chi Ya running around at the inn's entrance and couldn't help but smile. It was the first time she had smiled in so many days. Her smile was small, the corners of her mouth only curving slightly, but Zheng Yi saw it.

“You’re quite an interesting person,” she said.

Zheng Yi stood beside her, his hands tucked into his sleeves, watching Chi Ya rummage through drawers and cabinets in the yard looking for something.

"He's a good kid."

"how old are you?"

"eighteen."

Shen Yuan glanced at Chi Ya's still youthful face and remained silent for a moment.

“If my younger brother were still alive, he would be sixteen this year.”

She spoke in a very flat tone, as if she were talking about something from a long time ago. But Zheng Yi noticed that her fingers clenched briefly inside her sleeve, then relaxed.

He didn't reply.

Some things don't need to be answered.

On the morning of our departure, it was still dark.

The east gate of Beining City had just opened. The soldiers guarding the city yawned as they pushed open the heavy wooden door, and the morning light squeezed in through the cracks, drawing a long strip of light on the ground. There were hardly any people on the streets yet, only early-rising vegetable vendors carrying their loads into the city, their carrying poles creaking and groaning.

Zheng Yi stood at the entrance of the inn and tied the last piece of luggage to the horse's back.

He only brought two horses with him this time. One was the one he had ridden from the north himself—a greyish-black gelding with long legs and great stamina, which had run through several winters in the snow and wind of the north and was as tough as iron. The other was a chestnut-colored horse he had bought from the horse market in Beining City; it was gentle and was specially chosen for Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan stood beside the chestnut horse and reached out to stroke its mane. The horse lowered its head, snorted, and the hot breath it exhaled condensed into a small cloud of white mist in the morning light.

"What's it called?" Shen Yuan asked.

"It hasn't been named yet." Zheng Yi tightened the girth belt on the saddle. "You give it a name."

Shen Yuan thought for a moment, then touched the horse's face.

"Let's call it Red Dates."

Hearing this from the side, Chi Ya couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Red Date? Then should I name my horse Peanut?"

Shen Yuan glanced at Chi Ya—he was leading a half-grown dappled horse, thin and with a grayish coat, looking menacing.

“Your horse is called Spiky,” Shen Yuan said.

Chiya looked down at his horse—the horse was tilting its head and nibbling at his sleeve, making the sleeve covered in drool.

"...That's really true."

Wu Chen stood on the steps, arms crossed, without saying a word. He watched Zheng Yi tie up the luggage, watched Shen Yuan clumsily climb onto the horse, and watched Chi Ya being led around in circles by his horse. He didn't speak until all three of them were on horseback.

"Young Master Zheng."

Zheng Yi reined in the horse and looked back at him. "Be careful on the road."

Just these four words.

Zheng Yi nodded, spurred his horse on, and the gray-black gelding steed strode off toward the east gate.

Shen Yuan rode Hongzao behind, while Chiya pulled Citou's reins at the very back. Citou was uncooperative, trying to turn after a few steps. Chiya struggled with it for a while, and finally, Zheng Yi looked back and the horse calmed down.

The three of them went out of the east gate and onto the official road.

The official road was a dirt road, with harvested fields on both sides, bare except for short stubble. In the distance, early risers were cooking breakfast, and smoke rose from the low rooftops, drifting straight into the sky. There was no wind, so the smoke floated very high and finally dissipated into the sky.

Shen Yuan rode on her horse, watching the smoke rising from the chimneys for a long time.

“The smoke from the chimneys in the north is different from that in the south,” she suddenly said.

Zheng Yi slowed down his horse and walked alongside her.

"What's different?"

“The smoke from the chimneys in the south is crooked,” Shen Yuan said. “There’s a lot of wind in the south, so the smoke is blown crooked as soon as it comes out of the chimney. The smoke from the north is straight, rising straight up, as if… as if it’s talking to the sky.”

Hearing this from behind, Chiya also looked up at the smoke rising from the chimneys.

“It really is straight,” he said. “How come I never noticed before?”

"Because you've never seen it before." Zheng Yi said without turning his head.

Chiya thought about it and realized that what he said made sense. He had lived in the North for eighteen years and had never looked up to see what the smoke from a chimney looked like.

After traveling along the official road for about an hour, groves of poplar trees began to appear along the roadside. Most of the poplar leaves had already fallen, and the remaining ones rustled on the branches with a crisp sound, like someone ringing a small bell in the distance. Under the trees, piles of golden corn stalks were stacked neatly, one next to another, like rows of small squatting houses.

Shen Yuan's attention shifted from the cooking smoke to the corn stalks.

"Is it very cold in the north during winter?"

"It's cold," Zheng Yi said. "Colder than the coldest day you can imagine."

"Then why did you still run north?"

Zheng Yi thought for a moment.

"Because the north is simple."

Shen Yuan turned her head to look at him, waiting for him to continue.

“In the south, selling something isn’t just about selling goods. You have to watch the faces of the officials, the gangs, and your competitors. A single item goes through countless intermediaries before reaching the buyer, and each intermediary takes a cut.” Zheng Yi’s voice was unhurried. “In the north, if you have goods and I want goods, and we agree on a price, the deal is done. Nobody comes to collect tolls, nobody claims to be in charge of this area and expects you to pay protection money first. There’s nobody like that in the north.”

Shen Yuan listened without saying a word.

"Of course, there are troubles in the north too." Zheng Yi glanced at the open fields on both sides of the road. "Winter is too long, the roads are too difficult to travel, and there are too few people. But as long as you get through winter, spring will come."

Isn't it the same in the south?

Zheng Yi shook his head.

Winters in the south are not cold, but spring may not come.

Shen Yuan remained silent for a long time, until Chi Ya whispered from behind, "Is she asleep?" before she finally spoke.

"What you said is the same as what my father said."

"Your father also does business in the north?"

“No. But he thinks the same way you do.” Shen Yuan’s voice lowered. “He said business in the south is bad, not because the goods are hard to sell, but because there are too many sellers and too many rules. He said he wanted to go to the north to take a look, but he hasn’t been able to go yet.”

The horses' hooves pounded the dirt road with a dull, rhythmic sound. The three horses walked slowly, as if by prior arrangement. On either side of the road stretched vast fields of crops; the corn harvest was over, leaving the fields empty, the black soil exposed, cracked and parched by the sun, forming patterns resembling tortoise shells.

Red Fang rode Spiky at the very back. Spiky was unusually docile today; it was unclear whether he had resigned himself to his fate or had been subdued by Red Fang. Red Fang kept looking at the ground to his left and the trees to his right, finding everything new and wanting to examine everything more closely.

"Young Master Zheng, what kind of tree is that?" he asked, pointing to a crooked willow tree in the distance.

"willow."

"This is what a willow tree looks like? Willow trees in the north are much taller than this."

"That's a drought-resistant willow. This is a weeping willow. There are plenty of them in the south."

Chiya said "Oh," and glanced at the weeping willow again, thinking it looked like a disheveled woman, which was quite creepy.

After traveling for nearly two hours, Zheng Yi stopped at a fork in the road and dismounted.

"Let's rest for a while. Let the horse have some water."

Shen Yuan dismounted slowly. Holding the saddle with one hand and bracing herself against the horse's back with the other, she first pulled her left foot out of the stirrup, then slowly slid down. Her ribs weren't fully healed yet, and this movement made her frown slightly, but she remained silent.

Zheng Yi saw it, walked over, and stretched out a hand.

Shen Yuan hesitated for a moment, then placed her hand on the back of his hand, using it for a little support, and stood steadily on the ground.

"Thank you."

Zheng Yi released his grip and turned to take the horse's reins.

There was a narrow ditch by the roadside, filled with water that was shallow and crystal clear. Three horses lined up, heads bowed, drinking. Red Date drank the most politely, sipping slowly; Gray Mule drank the most heartily, burying its entire mouth in the water and making a splashing sound; Spiky didn't drink, standing to the side dozing off, its head bobbing up and down like a student dozing in class.

Chiya squatted by the ditch, scooped up some water and washed his face. The cold water splashed on his face, making him shiver.

"This water is really cold."

“They came down from the mountain,” Zheng Yi said, pointing to the faintly visible mountain silhouette in the distance.

Shen Yuan didn't wash her face. She found a flat rock to sit on, took out the cloth bag given to her by the Bone Granny from her small cloth bag, and opened it to look at the herbs inside. The herbs had been crushed, and the grayish-green powder was mixed together, smelling cool and slightly bitter.

“The old woman said to change it once a day.” She tied the cloth bag back up. “I need to find a place with hot water to change the dressing.”

"We should have inns in town tonight," Zheng Yi said.

Chi Ya leaned closer and curiously looked at the cloth bag in Shen Yuan's hand.

"What kind of medicine is this? It smells really nice."

"It was made by the Bone Granny herself. It's for treating external injuries." Shen Yuan put the cloth bag away and glanced at Chi Ya. "Are you injured?"

"No." Chi Ya patted his chest. "I'm tough, I never get hurt."

Shen Yuan smiled but didn't say anything.

After resting for about half an hour, the three of them remounted their horses and continued on their way.

After midday, the scenery along the road began to change. The farmland gradually thinned out, and scattered villages appeared. The houses in the villages were all made of adobe walls and thatched roofs, low and huddled on both sides of the road, like mushrooms growing out of the ground. Some people were sunbathing in their doorways. When they saw three people on horseback passing by, they looked up twice, then lowered their heads and continued sunbathing.

Shen Yuan looked at the people sunbathing and suddenly said something.

"I used to enjoy sunbathing too."

Zheng Yi glanced at her.

“In the south, when the sun is out in winter, my mother would put a rattan chair in the yard, spread a quilt on it, and let me sit on it to sunbathe. She would bring over a bowl of longan and red date soup and put it on a small stool next to me. I would drink it while sunbathing, and I would feel so soft and limp that I didn’t want to do anything.”

She paused.

“My mother says that sunbathing is the best tonic. It’s better than ginseng or deer antler.”

Listening from behind, Chi Ya couldn't help but ask, "Then what about your mother now—" (End of Chapter)