"stop!"

Bian Jingsheng reined in his horse. The guard who had been scouting the route ahead had returned and was whispering in Bian Jingsheng's ear.

They had been traveling for three days, and compared to Zhu Qing'an, a noble lady who had never traveled through mountains or rivers, everyone seemed to be in high spirits.

Only Zhu Qing'an looked haggard and had visibly lost some weight. Even so, Zhu Qing'an never complained or felt tired along the way, nor did he ask everyone to slow down because of him.

At first, although the guards respected Zhu Qing'an because of his identity, but later, after seeing Zhu Qing'an's tenacious character, each time they saluted him, they became more sincere.

They saw with their own eyes that Zhu Qing'an was staring at the scorching sun as he hurried along, and even though he was sweating profusely, he did not show any reluctance.

The accommodation at night was simple and the food was plain, but the noble lady Zhu Qing'an was not unhappy at all.

"Let's set up camp here tonight!" Bian Jingsheng ordered loudly.

Following Bian Jingsheng's order, the guards dismounted in unison, took out things from their bags and began to set up tents. Some guards went to find water, while others had already started a fire.

At this time, Bian Jingsheng jumped off the horse and stretched out his arms, just like every time before.

But Zhu Qing'an jumped off the horse from the other side and bowed slightly.

The place where his arm should be was empty. Bian Jingsheng retracted his arm and glanced at Zhu Qingan who was looking down. He knew very well that Zhu Qingan was deliberately avoiding him.

He didn't know what went wrong. Everything was fine before, but Zhu Qing'an suddenly became distant. She didn't talk to him during the journey and even kept avoiding him.

"The road ahead is all mountainous and there are no inns. Thank you, Princess, for your hard work today and you will have to stay here for one night!" Bian Jingsheng explained.

No matter how Zhu Qing'an treats him, Bian Jingsheng's attitude towards Zhu Qing'an remains the same as before.

"Okay!" Zhu Qing'an agreed, turned around and went to prepare to set up the tent with Fu Guang. There was a hint of fleeing in his back.

She also knew that it was a bit too much for her to be so distant because of a few guesses, but she really didn't know how to face Bian Jingsheng and could only choose to escape.

She prayed that she was overthinking it.

Fu Guang set up the tent in no time. Zhu Qing'an wanted to help, but unfortunately she didn't know how to do anything, so she could only stand aside and watch without making any trouble.

"If I had known that the journey would be so difficult, I should have brought more things for the princess. What will happen if we have to sleep in the wild tonight?" Fu Guang said with some concern.

Even though she knew that Zhu Qing'an was not pretentious, there was only a thin blanket in the tent, and it would be cold to sleep in it.

"When traveling, there's no need to be so particular! It's good enough to have a place to sleep!" Zhu Qing'an smiled indifferently, took the kettle and prepared to go to the river to fetch water.

Although I'm outside and probably won't be able to take a shower tonight, I still have to wash myself.

As soon as Zhu Qing'an arrived at the river, he saw several guards drawing water. When they saw Zhu Qing'an, the young and strong guards immediately blushed and dared not look at him any longer.

"Princess, do you want to fetch water? Let us do it!" the guards said in a hurry.

These guards had no other intentions, they just thought that Zhu Qingan, a girl, wanted to help.

Before Zhu Qingan could refuse, a cold voice came from behind him, "Are you free?"

As soon as these words were spoken, several guards stood up straight and ran away with their kettles, fearing that if they were a step slower they would be called by the prince to fight.

Zhu Qing'an squatted down, but a big honey-colored hand took the kettle from her hand.

Bian Jingsheng squatted beside Zhu Qingan, filled the kettle with water and picked it up. Perhaps he saw that Zhu Qingan was going to refuse, so Bian Jingsheng explained.

"This is at the foot of the mountain. The river may seem clear, but it's actually full of poisonous snakes. It's not safe for you to go out alone!"

When Zhu Qing'an heard this, he originally felt that the river water was sparkling, but now he felt that it was full of danger, and he even stood up quickly.

The two walked towards the tent. Bian Jingsheng looked at Zhu Qing'an who was silent, with helplessness on his face.

"But what have I done wrong recently that has upset the princess?" Bian Jingsheng asked. He felt that some things should be made clear so that Zhu Qing'an would not always avoid him.

Zhu Qingan hurriedly said, "How could that be? Your Highness has acted prudently and has never offended me. On the contrary, I am very grateful for Your Highness's care along the way!"

"In that case, why does it seem like the princess is avoiding me! If I do anything wrong, the princess can tell me directly. I am a rough man, and sometimes my actions are inevitably a bit rough! This time when I went to Chongzhou, the Queen Mother and the Marquis both asked me to take good care of the princess. If the princess is wronged, it will be my fault!" Bian Jingsheng said seriously.

Bian Jingsheng's explanation was so sincere that Zhu Qing'an felt that he was judging others by his own standards.

Perhaps, Bian Jingsheng took such good care of himself because of his father and aunt.

"No, I was a little tired from walking, so my attitude was a little inappropriate. I'm sorry to make you laugh!" Zhu Qing'an looked up at Bian Jingsheng and bowed slightly. "I'm here to apologize to your Highness!"

"The princess is in a serious condition!" Bian Jingsheng quickly helped Zhu Qing'an up and said with a smile, "I misunderstood!"

Of course, Bian Jingsheng knew that Zhu Qingan was deceiving him, but as long as Zhu Qingan no longer avoided him, he would be satisfied.

Zhu Qing'an also felt that his actions were inappropriate. He had clearly planned to please the future overlord a long time ago, so how could he act so capriciously just because of his own random thoughts?

Zhu Qingan's tent was set up in the middle, with the guards' tents at a considerable distance around it, which not only protected Zhu Qingan's safety but also gave him privacy.

When they returned to the tent, everyone had already collected a lot of firewood and started to boil water. Fu Guang brought the boiled water into the tent and asked Zhu Qing'an to wash it first.

Since we were not staying in an inn, we had to use local ingredients for dinner.

Everyone brought some dry food in case of emergency, but the dry food was dry and difficult to swallow, but the guards were already used to it.

When they were on the battlefield with King Zhongyi, they were secretly happy when they had dry food. Many times, they even ate leaves and green grass.

"Chuan Gu, take a few people to the mountains to hunt some, and we'll barbecue in the evening!" Bian Jingsheng ordered.

As soon as these words were spoken, the guards rushed to the back mountain, each of them with excitement on their faces, and Bian Jingsheng also followed them into the back mountain.

Zhu Qing'an washed up, changed into clean clothes, and when he walked out of the tent, he found that it was getting a little dark.

The guards all sat down around the fire, some chatting, some playing around, and some even started to gnaw on their dry food.

"The prince is back!" Someone shouted, and then several figures came towards us from the foot of the dark mountain, led by the tall Bian Jingsheng.

At this moment, he was walking back in the night, with the darkness behind him stretching endlessly.

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