The Emperor, with more men than women, made me his mistress.

“My family does live in Kyoto, but it’s precisely because I live in Kyoto that I don’t want to stay in the capital forever. After living in the capital for so many years, I wanted to go and see other places,” Jin Chenyuan explained.

Yue Li thought that if she stayed in one place for more than ten years, it would indeed be a bit annoying.

"That's true. Staying in one place for too long can get a bit boring."

Just like when she took the college entrance exam in modern times, she applied to the city farthest from her hometown.

Thinking of this, Yue Li looked at Jin Chenyuan with some excitement and said, "Then it's settled. Whenever I don't want to play in the capital anymore, we'll go to other places to play together."

"Okay, we've got it settled. But don't forget to call me when the time comes," Jin Chenyuan teased, looking at Yue Li's excited expression.

"How could that be? I'd never forget to bring you, even if I forgot to bring someone else!"

You should know that this was the head of her guards that she had chosen for herself.

Seeing the cunning glint in Yue Li's eyes, Jin Chenyuan didn't try to figure out what Yue Li was thinking.

Regardless of what Yue Li was thinking, he gained quite a bit during the time he spent with her.

At least now that the two of them have agreed to travel together, he no longer needs to worry that Yue Li will leave without a word after arriving in Kyoto.

Looking up at the rays of sunlight filtering through the dense foliage, and remembering that they still had a long way to go in the afternoon, Jin Chenyuan said to Yue Li beside him, "Yue Li, why don't you rest for a while? We still have a long way to go to reach the post station this afternoon."

In fact, Yue Li was already quite sleepy. She had gotten up rather early this morning, and the weather was hot, so it was easy for her to feel tired.

She had only perked up because of the novel things Jin Chenyuan had told her.

Hearing Jin Chenyuan say that, she immediately felt sleepy and nodded repeatedly, saying, "Okay, I'm a little sleepy anyway."

As she spoke, Yue Li got up, intending to climb up the branch of the big tree next to her and take a nap.

However, Jin Chenyuan was unaware of Yue Li's plans. When he saw Yue Li get up, he also got up.

He patted the grass clippings off his clothes and called Haoyun, who was not far away, over.

Upon hearing his master call him, Haoyun immediately stood up from the ground, quickly walked to Jin Chenyuan's side, and respectfully asked, "Master, is there anything you need to instruct me to do?"

"Go and get the blanket you brought, and spread it out for Yue Li so she can rest for a while," Jin Chenyuan instructed.

"Yes." Haoyun immediately responded upon hearing the order.

Before turning around and leaving, he made a point of glancing at Yue Li.

She became even more certain that Yue Li was their future matriarch.

He was also thinking that he should be more respectful to Yue Li in the future.

Thus, an accident occurred before Yue Li could stop it.

Yue Li, who had originally planned to rest for a while in the tree: ...

"Brother Chenyuan, I've used your blanket. What will you use to rest?"

Seeing that Yue Li was concerned about where he was resting, Jin Chenyuan was very pleased and explained, "Don't worry, Haoyun and the others will definitely not only bring one blanket."

When he goes out, Haoyun and the others always bring a spare.

No matter what it is, I always prepare two copies, just in case.

Because this mission was urgent and everyone needed to ride horses, we carried relatively little equipment and only brought what we needed.

In the past, when he went out, he mostly rode in a horse-drawn carriage, and there were so many things to prepare back then.

Upon hearing Jin Chenyuan's words, Yue Li could only give a dry "Oh".

Looking at the thick blanket Haoyun brought over, and then thinking of the flat little bundle on my own horse that only contained two changes of clothes, I realized that Haoyun had brought over.

She then thought of the horses Jin Chenyuan and Shao Qi's men were riding that morning, all of which were laden with packages of various sizes.

This morning when she left home, she was curious about what was in their packages.

Looking back now, those packages, big and small, were probably all prepared for the two of them along the way.

For a moment, Yue Li felt that she was living a rougher life.

Although her space contained everything, she never thought of taking it out to use, not even on the journey from Pingchuan County to Qingyuan Prefecture.

At this moment, Yue Li felt a little stupid for not using such good conditions.

Look at the person next to me; even if there aren't any conditions, they'll create them to make themselves more comfortable.

......................................................

Seeing Haoyun spread the thick blanket he had brought on a clean patch of grass and carefully sprinkle insect repellent powder around the blanket, Jin Chenyuan then tapped Yue Li's shoulder, who was somewhat lost in thought, with his folding fan.

Seeing that Yue Li had come to her senses and looked at him, he gestured for her to look at the blanket that had already been laid out and said, "Go and rest for a while. I'll call you when it's time to leave."

"Alright, you should find a place to rest too!" Yue Li was indeed feeling sleepy, so she didn't refuse Jin Chenyuan's arrangement and went straight to the blanket to lie down.

Time passed by day by day as they traveled. These days they would rest in the woods at noon and try to reach the inn to rest at night.

Ever since Jin Chenyuan subtly hinted at his feelings for Yue Li to Shao Qi that day, during their journey, whenever they rested and ate, Shao Qi would consciously leave to give the two of them some space alone.

However, he would still travel with the two of them or eat together.

Therefore, Yue Li did not realize what the two were thinking. She really thought that Shao Qi was tired from traveling and wanted to rest.

However, because they spent more time alone together, they had more to talk about, which naturally led to a tacit understanding between them.

But I don't know why?

Seeing the two chatting happily, Shao Qi, a usually cheerful young man, felt very uncomfortable.

Moreover, he harbored a hidden desire to break the current way the two of them interacted.

Seeing Jin Chenyuan sitting next to Yue Li, a smiling tiger, Shao Qi dismissed his dangerous thoughts.

He kept reminding himself that this was Prince Chen, who had firmly held onto power for seven years after the late emperor's death and had then raised a new emperor. He was the most respected uncle of the current emperor, Emperor Qianyuan, and not someone you could afford to offend.

In Kyoto, not to mention Shao Qi's generation, even his grandfather's generation treated Prince Chen with great respect.

So, helplessly, Shao Qi could only watch as Yue Li and Jin Chenyuan grew closer and closer along the way, and Yue Li increasingly enjoyed chatting with Jin Chenyuan and asking him questions she didn't quite understand.

That day, they rested in a grove of trees near the main road until 1-3 PM, and then began their journey under the blazing sun.

Jin Chenyuan said that it would only take an hour and a half to get from here to the city gate of the capital on horseback.