CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

538 On the Way

“Heeee”

The big horses pulling the chariot snorted, it was past noon and the group stopped near the river bank with a pretty good view to rest. The long river flows away from the White valley, bordering the city of Xian Yang, which means that they will soon arrive at the big city.

Bei Yau ordered his men to guard the perimeter while the others took turns resting for a while before continuing on their way.

The bodyguard standing in front of the carriage lowered his head.

“Report Your Majesty, we have arrived at the riverbank to take a rest” he waited for Luo Xiang to answer.

While inside the carriage. The Crown Prince sat in his place with Bai Ying’s head on his lap, he couldn’t move carelessly or the kid would wake up from his deep sleep. They had walked two days and two nights from their last stop, and he looked very exhausted.

“Tell the others to rest for a while, we can’t delay the time, Bei, we have to go back as soon as everyone finishes resting.”

Bei Yau nodded.

“Ready Your Majesty, I will carry out”

.....

Immediately the young guard walked away and approached the soldiers, some of whom were still on guard. They had just passed the small town of Xi Yang towards the valley that connected the small town of Du An, one small town before Xian Yang.

The Crown Prince stroked Bai Ying’s hair gently, lowering his head to whisper.

“Sweet child, do you want to go out and stretch your legs? We already stopped at the river bank” Luo Xiang whispered.

Bai Ying shifted his head, slowly opened his eyes and found the face of the Crown Prince who was very close to his, and immediately pulled his head out of surprise.

“Y-Your Majesty”

Luo Xiang smiled, he pinched Bai Ying’s nose exasperatedly.

“Brat, let’s get down and enjoy some fresh air, you must have been too bored in the carriage right?”

Bai Ying slowly got up and sat up, still rubbing his puffy eyes and yawning widely from heavy sleepiness.

“Hoaa, Your Majesty, do we still have a long way to go? Ying can’t wait to meet Grandpa Po.” He sat half limp because his eyes were still sleepy. Luo Xiang smiled, pulled Bai Ying towards him and let the boy rest his head on his shoulder.

“Em, if we continue our trip after this, maybe, um, the day after tomorrow should have arrived at General Po’s residence, that too if there are no obstacles”

Bai Ying looked at the Crown Prince for a moment, dropping his head on the young man’s shoulder.

“Your Majesty, have I been making Your Majesty difficult all this time? I don’t know why I feel like a burden to Your Majesty.”

Luo Xiang frowned, why is this kid talking like that at a time like this?

“What do you mean by burden? What burden?” he asked back.

Bai Ying pursed his lips, lifting his head to see the face of the Crown Prince who was looking at him impatiently.

“Yeah, the burden is, like, Your Majesty should be able to get on a horse and slide quickly to Xian Yang city in no time, but because of me, Your Majesty had to carry this huge carriage and couldn’t pass through the small path on the mountain due to its size”

Luo Xiang lowered his chest, he thought the kid would start talking about him losing his memory, but instead, it was such a small matter. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ (f)ire

“Well, that’s right, indeed, because taking my Ying Ying makes the trip a bit delayed for one day, how about that? With this, my Ying Ying owes this brother of yours a lot.”

Bai Ying withdrew his head to look at the Crown Prince with sharp eyes.

“Your Majesty, why is that? Come to think of it, actually, I didn’t want to come from the beginning, Your Majesty was the one who forced me to, now you’re asking Ying er to pay off the debt.”

Luo Xiang crossed his arms in front of his chest.

“Well how about it, still Ying Ying has to pay, erm, let me think first, what should you do to pay me, erm”

Bai Ying pushed the Crown Prince’s arm and moved away from him.

“No, Your Majesty is cheating!” cried the boy, rushing out of the carriage.

Luo Xiang just smiled at the boy’s adorable reaction. He runs away from him.

“Heh, brat”

Outside the carriage. Bi was already standing outside the carriage waiting for Bai Ying to get off, she immediately reached out his hand to help the young concubine down from the carriage which was quite high.

“Your Majesty be careful”

Bai Ying’s eyes immediately find the beautiful long river not far in front of him, the sun shining gently reflecting light from the clear water which looks so refreshing.

“Waah, the river, come on sis, I can’t wait to dip my feet on”

Without thinking the boy jumped down from the carriage and jogged towards the riverbank, even Bi could barely catch up with him.

“Your Highness, please don’t run.”

Luo Xiang pushed aside the curtain of the carriage and lowered his head outward, shaking his head at Bai Ying who was running like a child towards the river. Bei Yau approached him.

“Your Majesty”

Luo Xiang looked at the surroundings where his soldiers gathered to rest near the river, the head of the soldiers distributed food for everyone to enjoy their early dinner.

The Crown Prince got off the carriage. Tucked two hands behind his waist.

“Heh, that brat”

Bei Yau accompanied Luo Xiang to the area that had been prepared for him to sit and enjoy the view of the river. Bei Yau poured the tea in the teapot into a transparent green jade cup.

“Your Majesty, please have some tea.”

Luo Xiang looked at his young bodyguard for a moment, then glanced at his subordinates who were busy enjoying their rest.

“Where’s my maid? Why you who served me, Bei? I can bring the maid with me to help with all my needs, right?” Luo Xiang asked.

Bei Yau pointed not far behind him where a woman was helping the squad leader feed his lined-up men.

“Report Your Highness, Your Majesty ordered your maid, miss Mu to help guard Bu with the food, while until she is finished I will replace her”

Luo Xiang lifted his teacup, enjoying his tea slowly while looking at the river where the sun seemed to slowly descend across the river, with the beautiful orange colour reflected on the clear river water.

“Heh, yeah right, I said that yeah”

Bei Yau restrained himself. He stood firmly behind the Crown Prince stealing a smile when the Crown Prince didn’t see him. Regardless of the rules, he made himself, there should be no servants on this mission, still, the Crown Prince invited one of his senior servants to come with him to help with all his necessities. Remembering it really tickled Bei Yau, before that the Crown Prince had been muttering about Concubine Hua who being so troublesome that he need to bring a maid along.

Luo Xiang watched Bai Ying who was running towards the river cheerfully.

“Come on sis, let’s dip our feet in the water, it looks refreshing” Bai Ying exclaimed, impatient to take off his shoes.

“Your Majesty, don’t be in a hurry, we don’t know what’s in the water, what if there’s a snake or something? We have to be careful, Your Majesty.”

That’s right! What Bi said, Bai Ying hold his shoes while looking around.

“How come, the river is so clean, sis, look, the water is very clear, we can even see small fish swimming in it, um, where are the fish?” Bai Ying asked looking around the river, he didn’t find any fish in the clear flowing water, this is very strange, he thought.

Bai Ying looked at the soldiers who were about to go down to the water to fill their drinking bottles, but from a distance, he seemed to see something gathering near the rock where the regular current stopped there. Something that had been hit by the current and was now floating towards it. After clarifying what he saw, Bai Ying’s eyes went wide.

“Oh no, sis, is that, as what Ying er guesses?” he asked.

Bi turned his head towards Bai Ying’s gaze, seeing something rather large heading towards them, for a moment the young maid also cleared her sights until she scream.

“Akkh, there are human corpses!” she shouted as she pulled Bai Ying’s hand from the river bank. Her screams made everyone turn their heads and see what was happening. Several soldiers who were about to go down into the water gave up their intentions and move back quickly.

“Come on Your Majesty, we have to stay out of the way,” Bi said holding Bai Ying’s wrist tightly.

Bai Ying stood up, looking at the human body that was wrapped around by a light-coloured snake that was quite long floating in front of them, the corpse was swollen with black colour and its eyes were still wide open.

“Don’t go down to the water, it might be poisonous!” Bai Ying exclaimed.

His loud voice caught the attention of the snake that was sticking its head towards him, Bai Ying’s eyes widened, and the snake seemed to be about to attack him.

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