"We donāt deliver, understaffed," the owner quickly replied. But in the next moment, he was slapped back by his wife, "Who says we donāt deliver? Why wouldnāt we? Madam, where do you need the delivery to? Our shop is small, and we have few people, so deliveries need to be arranged early."
The proprietress thought to herself, this old man is really foolish, thereās money to be made, yet he hesitates.
When Yang Chuxia heard the proprietress even recite a catchy rhyme, she laughed, "If you can deliver now, I need six baskets of soup dumplings, five bowls of spicy soup, and some marinated eggs." After that, Yang Chuxia ordered some other snacks and gave the address.
She then said to Ye Ziāan, "We didnāt tell Lele and Yangyang that we were going out. If we donāt bring them something to eat, Yangyang will make a fuss with you later."
"That kid just needs a good tickling," Ye Ziāan said, his eyes brimming with laughter when talking about their two sons.
The proprietress, hearing that they were sons of the nobility, felt envious again. These days, the more sons one had, the more happiness it signified.
After leaving the snack shop, the carriage headed directly out of the city, and after driving for almost half an hour, it stopped.
"My dear, weāre here," Ye Ziāan lifted the carriage curtain to look outside, and he was very satisfied; it was indeed as he had imagined.
When he hopped down from the carriage, Yang Chuxia followed suit.
Ye Ziāan helplessly remarked, "My dear, youāve deprived me of a chance to show off."
"Haha, the entire day today is left for you to show off," Yang Chuxia laughed as she surveyed the surroundings. The white snow blanketed the area, with tall and upright pine trees sheathed in silver, spaced apart yet beautifully scattered.
Not far away was a lake with a small boat frozen onto it. A little further were rolling hills, where the trees should have been lush and green, but were now covered with a white blanket, some even adorned with cheeky balls of ice.
It was rare but occasionally wild animals could be seen running down from the mountains.
"What is this place?"
"The imperial hunting grounds," Ye Ziāan smiled, "I notified my cousin and the guards beforehand. We are already inside now."
"I see, no wonder there is game here," Yang Chuxia said with a smile. "You should have told me earlier. Had I known we were coming to the hunting grounds, we would have ridden horses and brought a couple of bows and arrows for hunting."
"What do you think this is?" Ye Ziāan replied with a smile, taking out a bow and arrows from the carriage. He continued, "As for the horses, the ones on the carriage will do. Iām not much of a hunter, so we can both ride together. One horse is enough."
"Are there any horses in the guardhouse?" Yang Chuxia asked. "If there are, we can borrow one from inside, send the coachman back with the carriage. Itās pointless for him to wait around here."
"Alright then, Iāll go borrow one. Just give me a moment."
Sometime later, Ye Ziāan came leading a horse. After the coachman had left, he said, "Letās head west in a bit. This morning, I didnāt check the almanac, and wouldnāt you know it, that Prince Le is also in the hunting grounds. Really, instead of spending New Yearās at home, whatās he doing here?"
Ye Ziāan grumbled a few words, and Yang Chuxia couldnāt help but laugh. She thought to herself that he was one to talk; he also came here himself.
"Come on, get up!" Ye Ziāan said as he mounted the horse, extending his hand to Yang Chuxia. With his help, she too was soon on the horse.
Together, they leisurely headed west. Whenever they encountered game, Yang Chuxia would take a shot with her arrow.
"Isnāt it somewhat silly for us to come out hunting so early in the morning?" Yang Chuxia asked along the way.
"Well, since thereās someone else being silly with us, whatās there to worry about?" He was, of course, referring to the Second Prince who had recently been appointed as Prince Le. Besides, he didnāt have much interest in horseback riding or hunting anyway. He knew his wife enjoyed it and simply wanted to spend the limited days they had left together doing the things she liked.