Chapter 1191: Arrival in Guangnan

Mid-Autumn Festival.

Xia Ruqing and Zhao Junyao were on their way to Guangnan and definitely wouldn’t be back.

Yue Er cheered and bounced around for quite a while after getting the news.

"Yay!"

"With Father Emperor and Mother Empress away, I’ll definitely learn to ride this year!"

"When the time comes, I’m going to give Father Emperor and Mother Empress a huge surprise!"

Zhao Qiheng was swaying his head as he recited poetry. Hearing this, he glanced at her coolly.

"Little sister, how is that a surprise? More like a fright!"

"Mother Empress is timid, you’d better be careful!"

Yue Er lifted her chin in a proud huff, utterly unconvinced.

"Hmph! How would I scare anyone?!"

"Even if I do, it’s better than those messy poems you write!"

Zhao Qiheng looked utterly incredulous.

"My poems are praised even by Tai Fu. Just because you can’t recite poetry doesn’t mean you can say mine are bad!"

Yue Er pouted.

"They are bad!"

As they were bickering, Zhao Qiye came in from outside.

He was dressed in red, his features gradually maturing, gathering the delicate refinement of Xia Ruqing’s looks and the heroic sharpness between Zhao Junyao’s brows.

Zhao Qiye was the best-looking of the three boys.

His features were outrageously beautiful, to the point that even Yue Er couldn’t compare.

He had loved wearing red since childhood; clever and quick, with a bit of a perverse streak in his temperament. He excelled at both studies and martial arts, yet neither truly interested him.

The only thing he loved were the hot-blooded tales in ancient books of the martial world, of heroes roaming the jianghu and acting chivalrously.

His greatest dream in this life was to become a great hero of the jianghu.

To roam the ends of the earth on horseback, singing as he rode, and with a bunch of sons and daughters of the rivers and lakes, travel to the four corners of the world and drink deeply of love, hatred, and passion.

(Though who knows if that will ever come true!)

Seeing her fourth brother come in,

Yue Er’s little body immediately plastered itself to him as she began to act spoiled.

"Fourth Brother!"

"Third Brother is laughing at me, saying I’ll never learn to ride!"

"He says my riding skills will scare Mother Empress!"

Zhao Qiye looked at his little sister with a bit of a headache. After hesitating for a moment, he said,

"Actually..."

"I also think your riding would scare Mother Empress!"

Yue Er stomped her foot in anger.

"Fourth Brother! You’re bullying me too!"

Zhao Qiye looked rather innocent.

"But I’m just telling the truth!"

Zhao Qiheng got excited and couldn’t help laughing.

"See, what did I say!"

"Little sister! If you ask me, if you really want to ride, you have to keep it from Mother Empress! You can’t be too eager to show off!"

Yue Er didn’t understand and turned to look at her fourth brother.

"You think so too?"

Zhao Qiye nodded.

"That’s right!"

"As long as you don’t tell Mother Empress, she’ll never know you’re learning to ride!"

"You just have to sneak out for a little while every day, that’s enough!"

"If you tell Mother Empress, she’ll probably... lock you up at home!"

Yue Er thought it over and felt that what Fourth Brother said made sense.

She immediately snuggled up to the two brothers with a grin, and said mischievously,

"Then... you’re not allowed to tell Mother Empress either!"

The two of them nodded in unison.

"Don’t worry! Your Third Brother is the most reliable!"

"Yue Er, you’re my only little sister; your Fourth Brother would never sell you out!"

Their promises sounded more sincere one after the other.

But their inner OS was:

’Sigh, it’s not like this wasn’t forced on us by Big Brother!’

’Exactly. Big Brother’s afraid of being punished if he teaches Yue Er to ride himself, so he came up with this scheme to force us to coax her! Why doesn’t he show his own face?!’

’Right? If you want to teach her, just teach her. Why drag us into it...’

After finishing their complaints, the two exchanged a helpless look.

’No matter how unhappy we are, we’ve got to suck it up!’

’Who told Big Brother to be the Crown Prince? We’ll be following him for life; we can’t afford to offend him, absolutely can’t!’

’Life is hard...’

After that,

Yue Er continued to ride with her eldest brother, and the time she spent riding grew longer and longer.

No matter how the Wetnurse Sisters begged and persuaded, it was no use.

Seeing that the Crown Prince was with her the whole time, and afraid of really angering the Princess, they couldn’t keep pressing the issue.

...

Xia Ruqing knew nothing about Yue Er riding horses back in the palace.

But no one knows a daughter like her own mother; even if she could only guess, she’d still guess three to five parts right.

This girl never sat still for a moment in front of her. Now that she wasn’t around, how could Yue Er possibly behave herself?

However...

Since she wasn’t there to see it, no matter how much she worried, it was useless. She couldn’t possibly lock the child up just to keep her from causing trouble.

So if Yue Er really wanted to do something, blocking her at all costs wouldn’t be much fun.

As long as it wasn’t too dangerous, she could just turn a blind eye.

(After all, what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t fret over!)

By the end of the eighth month,

Zhao Junyao and Xia Ruqing arrived in Guangnan.

This was Zhao Junyao’s third time here, and compared to a few years ago, not much had changed.

The sky was still just as blue, and the air was still just as hot and humid.

Guangnan City was still bustling and lively. Merchants of all kinds lined the streets hawking their wares, many of which were things never heard of or seen before.

The only difference was... those two familiar figures no longer came to greet him.

Inside the carriage.

Xia Ruqing was dressed in gauze robes fit for high summer, fanning herself with a round fan and looking helpless.

"It’s already past Mid-Autumn and almost the ninth month!"

"Why is it still this hot?!"

Zhao Junyao smiled faintly.

"We’ll find an inn later and get some ice; then it won’t be so hot!"

After he said it, even Zhao Junyao himself felt a pang of sadness.

His Ninth Imperial Uncle had once loved him the most.

If he were still alive and heard that he was staying in an inn, he’d surely scold him up and down, wouldn’t he?

And Zhao Junqi.

He could still remember Zhao Junqi’s disgruntled face as he questioned whether staying in an inn meant he was looking down on them.

Heh... in the end, it had all turned out to be false.

The more Zhao Junyao thought about it, the colder his heart felt.

Even as an emperor, even if he were utterly cold and merciless, he was still a living man of flesh and blood.

No one is willing to fight to the death with his own legitimate uncle and legitimate cousin.

He hadn’t wanted to. He really hadn’t!

It was just that, for the sake of the realm, for the people, and for himself, he had no choice.

Bitterness filled Zhao Junyao’s heart.

He suddenly found himself envying the brothers of ordinary families.

They were united and harmonious, close as one family; when something happened, they would quickly band together to resist any bullying from outsiders.

When they heard their brothers had been humiliated, they would rush to their side without hesitation.

How nice. That really was so nice...

...

In Guangnan City, a modestly sized villa had long been prepared. It was in a secluded location, undisturbed and unobtrusive, and the surroundings were pleasantly quiet.

By the time the group finished settling in, it was already late.

The heat had ebbed, and a damp, cool breeze slipped in through the window.

After dinner, bath, and a change of clothes, Xia Ruqing, who was drying her hair by the window, soon dozed off.

He didn’t know how much time had passed.

Zhao Junyao gently shook her awake.

"Don’t sleep here, you’ll catch a chill."

Xia Ruqing squinted, staring at his profile in the bright moonlight outside the window.

"Emperor... you’re really good-looking!"

The irritation in Zhao Junyao’s heart suddenly eased a bit, and his expression finally wasn’t so complicated.

"Oh?"

He said lightly,

"Do you like it?"

Xia Ruqing chuckled, then closed her eyes again.

"Of course I like it!"

"The moon here is so beautiful. I think it’s much bigger than the moon in the Capital City!"

Zhao Junyao was instantly torn between laughter and tears. This girl was still dreaming, wasn’t she!

"Isn’t the moon the same size everywhere? Since when is there a bigger or smaller one?!"