Peach Blossom.

In the end, Wang Jing sat on the small stool all night.

Because it was cold at night, he found the thickest winter coat from the box and put it on.

Although Tao Ye was lying down, he hardly slept all night.

Her eyes were swollen from crying, and when she got up at dawn, she felt dizzy.

Before leaving the farmhouse, Wang Jing borrowed some fodder to feed the horse and left a piece of silver as a reward.

The two men rode their horses on the country road again, with Wang Jing sitting in front and Tao Ye sitting in the back, both looking tired.

Yongchang is a quiet place, and their silence also maintains quietness.

This atmosphere is a bit weird.

Tao Ye yawned and broke the silence: "Where are we going today?"

"Just wander around Ailao County and get familiar with the local customs and people." Wang Jing answered without going to see Tao Ye.

"According to what Mada said last night, your father is very likely in Prince Ning's Palace. Shouldn't we go take a look?"

"Of course I have to go, but not now. I just said it last night. He might be waiting for me with his men nearby today!"

Tao Ye nodded, and she remembered what happened in that small courtyard.

Not to mention that the Chen and Wang families have an old grudge. Just based on the fact that she burned down a house last night and Wang Jing robbed a horse, they should try to avoid the Chen family's guards as much as possible recently.

Wang Jing pulled the reins and made the horse walk slowly, and they watched everything around them along the way.

There were farmlands on both sides of the path. Every time they walked a short distance, they could see people working in the fields. Most of them were farmers holding farm tools, and occasionally they would see a cow doing the work in the fields.

They passed another small river. The green willows by the river had just sprouted new buds, and there were a few inconspicuous, unknown small flowers under the trees that were about to bloom.

It is spring, and it is early morning again, and everywhere is full of vitality.

Tao Ye's mood seemed to have improved a lot: "It seems that Yongchang is not all barren land!"

Wang Jing just smiled.

They continued walking forward and saw a square flag with a yellow and red border in the distance.

There was a word "wine" written on the flag, and under the yellow flag was a small house.

When we got closer, we saw that the hut was very small and was only used as a kitchen. The tables and chairs for entertaining guests were all outside the house, placed in the open air.

It was still early, the tables and chairs were empty, and there were no customers.

Tao Ye was very happy. This was the first merchant she saw after arriving in Yongchang. She was just looking forward to having a bowl of hot food!

So the two men dismounted and sat down at a table.

Someone immediately came out of the hut to greet them: "What would you two guests like?"

Tao Ye asked hurriedly, "Is there anything hot and soft to eat? Preferably something with soup?"

The shopkeeper asked with a smile: "Are the noodles okay?"

"Okay! This is great!" Tao Ye smiled like a flower and looked at Wang Jing excitedly: "I love noodles! I haven't eaten a single meal since we left Jiankang!"

Wang Jing said nothing and glanced at the shopkeeper inside the house.

The shopkeeper had just put the raw noodles into the pot and was cooking. When he heard this, he turned around and looked at Wang Jing and Tao Ye, seeming a little surprised: "You two...are you from Jiankang?"

When Tao Ye heard the question, she subconsciously covered her mouth with her hands.

Jiankang and Yongchang are far apart, so naturally there is little contact between them. Moreover, one is the capital of the dynasty and the other is the fief of the king. If there is any intersection, it must be a sensitive matter, which she should not mention...

Wang Jing, as usual, reached out and pressed Tao Ye's hand that was covering her mouth, and answered the shopkeeper's question with a smile: "That's right, because my father-in-law didn't allow us to get married, I had no choice but to elope all the way from Jiankang to here."

At the same time, he gently said to Tao Ye: "Don't be so cowardly. This place is very far from Jiankang. Your father can't take you back!"

Tao Ye understood and nodded.

The shop owner smiled slightly and continued cooking noodles, as if he believed Wang Jing's words and didn't seem to care about these things.

Wang Jing watched the shopkeeper stirring the noodles with a spoon. It didn't look like the method of an ordinary cook, but more like the posture of holding a sword.

After a while, the shopkeeper brought out two bowls of steaming hot noodles and placed them in front of Wang Jing and Tao Ye: "Enjoy your meal, sir."

The two of them picked up the noodles and ate them slowly, but they felt very uncomfortable.

Tao Ye regretted mentioning "Jiankang". She remembered four words - too much talk leads to mistakes.

She finished the whole bowl of noodles without saying another word.

A bowl of noodles costs two cents, and two bowls cost four cents.

When paying the bill, Wang Jing searched his body again and again, and it took him a long time to find three copper coins.

He awkwardly handed it to the store owner: "I've been on a long journey and I need money for so many things along the way. I really can't take it out. I hope the boss can help me!"

Tao Ye didn't understand what Wang Jing's intention was.

She remembered that there was a layer at the bottom of Wang Jing's big wooden box, and the layer was full of silver and money.

They traveled fast, stopped less often, and didn't spend much on food and lodging, so it's impossible for him to be so embarrassed now...

However, after what happened in the past two days, she realized one thing: Wang Jing is very good at acting and deceiving people!

The shop owner was quite straightforward and accepted Wang Jing's three cents: "Okay, okay. Everyone has inconveniences when they are out and about."

Wang Jing thanked him and helped Tao Ye onto the horse, and the two continued walking forward.

Not long after walking, Wang Jing felt that someone was following him.

In such a sparsely populated area, being followed is definitely not a difficult thing to detect.

Tao Ye also noticed something was wrong and couldn't help but look back, but all he could see behind him was an empty road.

Wang Jing has always been very perceptive. He sat in front and did not move, but he knew Tao Ye had turned her head back: "Don't look back easily, be more natural."

Tao Ye's heart was pounding. She guessed that the person following them was most likely the shop owner.

But she didn't understand why the man followed them. Was it just because she mentioned the word "Jiankang"?

She hugged Wang Jing's waist tighter with both hands: "But I... I'm so scared... What should we do?"

They passed a half-high mountain with a waterfall cascading down from it.

Wang Jing reined in his horse and stopped, pretending to look up at the waterfall, using the sound of the water to cover his voice: "My father once told me that the Prince of Yongchang is suspicious by nature, so he has many spies, and they may be everywhere in the streets and alleys. This person must be it. He has no ill intentions, but he suspects that we have some background. You don't have to worry too much. Let's pretend to be a pair of eloped lovers and continue to act out the drama I just made up. After following for a long time, he won't be able to see the flaws, so he will naturally stop following."

Tao Ye understood, but she still felt nervous.

They walked and stopped like a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, looking at the mountains and rivers, the flowers and plants, pointing and chatting, and walked until noon. The man was still following not far behind them.

Tao Ye's back and waist ached from sitting so much that she had cursed the person who was following her a hundred times in her heart and could no longer play.

She said to Wang Jing helplessly, "I'm hungry again. Shall we go find a place to eat?"

"We...we have no money left, how can we eat?" Wang Jing smiled faintly, trembling his eyebrows.

"Ah?" Tao Ye then remembered that when Wang Jing was having breakfast, he told the shop owner that he only had three copper coins left, so he really shouldn't have money for lunch now!

Wang Jing pondered for a moment, his eyes fell on the horse: "We are so poor, how can we still own a horse? Go sell the horse, and we will have money to eat."

"Sell... sell the horse?" Tao Ye stared at the horse blankly. They were walking slowly now and couldn't fly. Wang Jing's feet were not good. If they sold the horse, how would they go on?

Wang Jing really wanted to sell the horse, so he asked everyone he met along the way where the market was, and he found the place in the city center.

The county seat of Ailao County is a city without city walls. It is easy to travel between the countryside and the city, and it is also easy to steal. In the market in the city center, there are so many things being sold that are of illegal origin!

For example - Wang Jing's horse.

Tao Ye endured the pain in her buttocks and reluctantly rode with Wang Jing to this rare market.

However, there were only a few people doing business, and each stall was small and lined up in a disorderly manner on both sides of the road.

Then, they saw that the shop owner who had been following them also appeared at the market, as if to do some shopping, looking at the pheasants with their legs tied and the radishes that had just been dug out of the ground.

There was a wonton stall not far away, where several customers were eating with relish.

Tao Ye looked at the fragrant meat-filled wontons, chewing on the hardened snack that Wang Jing had wrapped last night, and enduring the scorching sun. She was speechless!

"I just don't understand, why do you have to pretend to be poor? Why can't you even have a good lunch?"

Wang Jing smiled and said, "From the moment you said the word 'Jiankang', I knew someone would follow me. It's troublesome enough to avoid Chen Ji's servants, and it's even more troublesome to be followed by the eyes of Prince Yongchang. If I have to wait until I get rid of all these people before going to Prince Ning's Palace to find my father, how long will it take? When I was eating noodles, I was thinking, is there any way to "reasonably" enter Prince Ning's Palace in public? It's a refugee shelter. Aren't those who can enter smoothly refugees? You see, I'm a cripple and you're a weak woman. If you don't have money, won't you be a refugee?"

"Oh my God! You are really saving the country in a roundabout way! Sooner or later I will starve to death by you!" Tao Ye couldn't help but sigh to the sky, but didn't dare to speak too loudly.

Although there were not many people coming and going in the market, the nearby stalls were able to sell some items from time to time. Only Wang Jing's horse remained unsold.

However, people coming and going would look over here with surprise.

Tao Ye looked around carefully and it seemed that everyone else was selling small items, such as pheasants, vegetables, and cooked food... Only Wang Jing was selling big items - a tall horse!

She thought, in ancient times, a horse should be equivalent to a modern car, right? The price shouldn't be too low, right?

So, in the impoverished Yongchang, horses can be considered a luxury. How many people can afford them?

After coming to Yongchang, she had only seen horses twice: once was the carriage that Wang Jing had been tracking last time, and the other time was this horse...

From the looks of people coming and going in the market, you can see how rare horses are!

Thinking of this, Tao Ye felt even more hopeless. This horse would definitely not be sold!

Not to mention lunch, I don't even have any hope for dinner...

The lazy afternoon sunshine made her feel a little sleepy, and she fell asleep leaning against the wall without realizing it.

Wang Jing saw this and borrowed a straw hat from the owner of a nearby stall and covered Tao Ye’s head with it to block out the sunlight.

Tao Ye was sleeping soundly when she suddenly heard someone shouting, "It's you? Lecher!"

The shouting was so sharp that it was like thunder to Tao Ye who was sleeping!

Tao Ye was so frightened that she trembled all over and woke up from her sleep. The straw hat on her head fell to the ground. She looked up and saw two young girls standing in front of Wang Jing.