349 Crossing River
After waiting for another three days, in which Jun Hua continued to be held by Soujin in their room, they finally departed. Seeing the complexion on Jun Hua's face when they departed, Ming Hui could guess what had happened during this time.
"Soujin, you better hold yourself a bit. It's unhealthy to do too much," Ming Hui casually reminded.
Soujin arched his eyebrows. "I'm sure that the one who says that also does the same thing."
Ming Hui coughed as he averted his eyes from his best friend. Well, Fan Lanying's condition was not far off from Jun Hua right now because of his action. He couldn't deny that, so he chose to ignore his friends.
On the side, Yan was feeling rather down. Among the three of them, only he still didn't have any bride despite him being the same age with Soujin.
The ministers already told him to get married, but he didn't want to listen to their word. Many of them were yelling at his father previously to not let their daughter marry him. Now that he became the emperor, they instead pushed their daughter forward.
On this several days journey, several important people come along. Many officials were protesting about the court, but Yan just dumped everything on Nanglong Souka's head. He believed that the old man would not do anything unnecessary, though he had complained profusely to him.
In the entire history, he would probably be labeled as the most 'playful' emperor.
The important people were certainly Soujin, Yan, Ming Hui, Jun Hua, and Jun Zhenxian. They decided to go towards Pan City, to be exact the palace in Pan City. Because of Pan Kingdom has fallen, the palace was mostly empty with only several attendants that Yan had selected previously left.
"The carriages are quite eye catching," Fan Lanying said as she peered outside.
"It's quite normal because of that person status," Ming Hui said with a grin. Although he was being titled as the prince, his carriage was slightly ordinary because they didn't know that he was previously the princess. The most extravagant one would be Yan's since he was the emperor.
Fan Lanying nodded her head, "Do you think the people would accept us?"
"You mean the people in Pan City?" Fan Lanying nodded her head. Ming Hui smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, they have long accepted Yan because of his speech."
"I don't remember the emperor has powerful speech."
"Soujin prepared it for him."
Fan Lanying giggled at the thought of Yan only reading the prepared manuscript. However, she had to admit that Yan was quite an excellent actor. She shifted her gaze outside when her eyes caught a small river they would pass through.
"I never knew there is a river in this area," she commented.
"Do you want to stop for a while?" Ming Hui signaled the driver to stop and leaped out from the carriage. He walked towards the other carriages and told the others to have a slight rest in this place first.
"You're telling us to stop just because you want to play with your wife?" Yan stared at his brother with helplessness.
Ming Hui nodded his head, "It's not like we are in a hurry too. The journey would still take several days even without delay, so a slight fun won't hinder it too much."
"I understand."
Yan ordered the guards to stop and made a small camp here. He knew that Ming Hui would surely use this chance as much as possible, so he better prepared a cozy place to wait.
Jun Zhenxian wanted to spend the time with Jun Hua, but the girl was standing with her husband. He didn't want to bother with the princess, so he chose to bother the emperor.
"Do you have some time, Your Majesty?" Jun Zhenxian asked.
Yan looked towards the old general with arched eyebrows, "What is it, General Jun Zhenxian?"
"I want to ask you to play chess with me."
"Sure," Yan had been on losing streak when playing chess because his opponents were all either Soujin, Ming Hui, or Jun Hua. He had long wished to break the streak and probably he would be able to beat this old general.
Before long, the two of them already immersed in the play and it took them a long time to finish. Upon finishing, Yan has a dark face for he understood that his skill couldn't match an old general like Jun Zhenxian.
"One more time," Yan said.
"Are you sure that you want to play again? Should I remind you that I was a great general in my youth?" Jun Zhenxian laughed. He was known as one of the greatest generals in his era and he had made his own strategy. Although he had grown old and cannot be compared with the youngster, Yan was still far lacking compared with him.
"I don't believe that I can't beat an old veteran like you," Yan said with vigor.
Jun Zhenxian laughed, "Shall we begin?"
On the side, Shu secretly closed his eyes to avoid looking at the chess Yan's play. He knew that his master skill was not up to par with Jun Zhenxian, and the new emperor would surely get into conflict with the general. Although he knew that he had to stop them, he didn't bother for he knew that Yan wouldn't listen.
While these people are playing by themselves, Jun Hua and Soujin were looking towards the river with interest. The servants were busy pulling the carriage over the river because the bridge was somewhat unsafe for the wheel. Even if Ming Hui hadn't proposed for them to get out, they still needed to.
"The bridge in this area is not as good as the one near the cities," Jun Hua watched the bridge with frown. That kind of bridge would be unusable if they wanted to travel in a hurry. One person in horse might be fine, but not a big group.
"There is a different one far from here," Soujin reminded her. The other bridges' condition was far better compared with this one and that was the one Soujin used to move his soldier previously.
"Then why we come using this way?" Jun Hua glared towards the man beside her.
Soujin pointed towards the small city across the bridge, "We need to go there before going to the Pan City. There is one of Ye Jiu's servants living there."
Jun Hua's eyes flashed with interest. Because they have been chasing after Ye Jiu for so long, any news regarding him would be seen as something of a top priority. With Soujin found a trail of him in that small city, they would need to pay a visit there first.
"One of his close servants or…"
"Just an ordinary one, but he will be enough to provide us with important information. I have placed my people to guard him until we arrive there. Do you want to interrogate him by yourself?"
"No thanks, I'm not someone who liked the idea of torturing people," Jun Hua refused the offer flatly. She was about to add a different sentence when they heard the sound of water splashing and people laughing near them.
Fan Lanying had playfully pulled Ming Hui into the water the moment they reached near the river. With her antics, the poor man fell to the river with his clothes completely soaked in water. He looked towards the woman before him with a helpless expression.
"You're really playful."
"I never got the chance to do that before," she grinned and offered her hand to help Ming Hui.
Ming Hui got the urge to pull the lady to the river too, but in the end he didn't do it and only pestered her to help him get dressed, which troubled Fan Lanying badly.
"Do you want to play too?" Soujin asked with a wicked smile.
"No thank you, I don't want to get wet," Jun Hua shook her head. "Let's continue the journey, the carriage has passed the bridge."
"Before that, we need to separate the two of them," Soujin pointed towards Yan and Jun Zhenxian who were arguing with each other. Somehow, the simple game of chess turned into a quarrel material for the two of them.
Jun Hua wanted to smack her grandfather badly. She smiled deviously, "If they like to quarrel that much, let them do in the carriage."
Soujin nodded and asked the servant to arrange Jun Zhenxian and Yan in the same carriage. That way, the two of them continued their challenge all the way until they reached the small city.
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