If Lin Mengya found out about the turmoil in Long Tianyu’s heart now, she would be laughing to her heart’s content.
However, she was defeated by Long Tianyu’s generosity.
In her memory, Long Tianyu had always been arrogant and hated to be provoked.
Recently, she had been having the feeling that this man appeared to be without emotion was actually a warm and considerate person from the way he handled matters.
Her heart was troubled as she munched mechanically on the cakes from Restaurant Ruyi.
She felt that the fragrant cakes seemed sweeter.
Let it be then. It would safer for the group of traveling businessmen if they had Long Tianyu there to protect them.
He would be their free bodyguard. It would be a waste not to make use of him!
Spring had arrived by now. Along the way, they could see that the branches of trees were starting to turn from a withered-looking brown color to light green, showing signs of an awakened life.
The procession of horse carts and carriages had been traveling for three days. Based on their progress, they would arrive at the market at the border of the two nations after five days.
This was the shortest route to the Nation of Lintian. However, there was a place along this route that was very dangerous. However, if they were to take another route in order to avoid this danger, it would take at least half a month to reach the Nation of Lintian.
Lin Mengya started to feel worried about what laid ahead of them as she looked at the road in front of them.
Although Sanjue Hall was making good progress and she could foresee its bright future, it had already attracted the attention of the sects in similar fields.
She heard Yunzhu said there were many people who came to check them out since last month.
Moreover, the group of businessmen who had the intention of taking root in the Nation of Lintian would attract the attention of all who were in the intelligence business.
All of them were brewing silently and no one was willing to be the first to make the first move.
However, the development of Sanjue Hall had surely affected the profits some of these people were making. For this reason, their trip to the Nation of Lintian would tend to upset some of them.
This was precisely the reason why she had insisted to follow the group of businessmen on this trip to the Nation of Lintian.
Along the public roads of these two nations, there would be garrison troops stationing along the way to protect the traveling businessmen and ensuring their safety.
This was the only section along the route where they would be on their own and unprotected.
If those people were really up to something, they would make use of the natural moat here to strike.
In the absence of villages and shops nearby, it would be easy to dispose of their bodies by just throwing them down the cliffs if they resorted to killing.
If it were Lin Mengya, she would choose this place to bury her enemies.
She turned to look at the businessmen who were taking a rest and thought that perhaps there were already spies from other forces who had already secretly joined them and passed off as their company.
Nevertheless, she had confidence that Master Guo would have some preventive measures in place from the start, given his capability. At least, he would never allow a surprise attack to happen.
With the additional protection from Long Tianyu, they would be further strengthened.
She had brought along with her the specially prepared poison. If their clueless foes really tried to lay their hands on them, they would suffer the taste of hell.
Lin Mengya could not help grinning with satisfaction at the thought.
Yuan San, who was sitting some distance from her, shuddered at the sight of the evil grin on her face.
His new master may be very good-looking, but his smile gave him the chills.
When they had had enough rest, they set off once again.
The Yuan brothers who had announced their reconciliation were no longer the center of attention in the group of businessmen.
Poor Qiu Yu had finally obtained Princess Yu’s permission to come out of the horse carriage to ride on the horse.
Together with Long Tianyu, they escorted the horse carriage one at each side, as if they were the two fierce-looking divinities guarding a temple.
Lin Mengya, sat in the horse carriage with Baishao, was all smiles, as she curiously observed all that was happening outside.
Honestly, this was the first time she felt the excitement of being on an outing since she was young.
“Have some of this drink made from the haw fruit. Aunt Bai had prepared this personally and it is effective in quenching thirst.”
It was as if Baishao had performed a magic trick when she took out playthings one after another from the pouch she kept in the horse carriage.
At present, she was holding a snow-white porcelain bowl in her hand containing tiny juicy fruits that smelled heavenly.
They were similar to the crabapple fruit of the modern days, but they were sourer. They were usually soaked in the specially made honey wine of Dajin and sealed up for forty days before they could be eaten.
Its sweet-sour taste was just right and it had the efficacy of quenching thirst. It was best taken during the dry spring season.
At one look, Lin Mengya knew Baiji had prepared all these for her.
Her maid was the sweetest and most considerate towards her.
The little red fruit was cold. When placed on the tip of her tongue, the sweet-sour taste made her narrow her eyes for a moment.
As she cringed her face, her wrinkled features actually made her look rather adorable.
Long Tianyu and Qiu Yu instinctively looked at her, and they were greatly entertained by her expression.
But as they realized that they both adored her cuteness, Long Tianyu’s face fell and felt uneasy.
It felt as if someone had peeked at his most cherished treasure.
Although Qiu Yu and Lin Mengya were friends, Long Tianyu would not allow anyone to have any wicked thoughts towards his wife.
“Let me give you a piece of advice. Keep to your place and don’t even think about the things that don’t belong to you.”
There was an unmistakable tone of warning in his already cold tone of voice.
Qiu Yu, however, did not shrink back.
Contrary to his usual mannerism, Qiu Yu seemed to be giving Long Tianyu tit for tat and refused to back down. Although it looked as if he was smiling, yet he was not and there was a hint of seriousness on his face.
“The relationship between her and I is not something you can describe so clearly,” said Qiu Yu with a low voice unhurriedly.
A dangerous light flashed across Long Tianyu’s eyes.
He had long known that the cowardly looking Imperial Physician Qiu Yu was not as innocent as what people thought.
Now that they were further away from the Capital City and forced to hide behind false identities, Qiu Yu seemed to be showing his true colors gradually.
“You may give it a try.”
As usual, Long Tianyu spoke with confidence. He believed that no one knew Lin Mengya better than him.
Ever since Lin Mengya married into the prince’s mansion, she had been living under the same roof as him.
If Lin Mengya was said to be leading a muddle-headed and ignorant life before getting married, then from the moment she stepped out of the bridal sedan and transformed into an intelligent and witty girl, her life thereafter could be said to belong entirely to Long Tianyu.
No one was permitted to take away any second of it!
Qiu Yu did not reply to Long Tianyu. He merely sneered and shook his head.
Perhaps Long Tianyu was one of the very rare tall and handsome men in the world. However, the more outstanding this kind of man was, the more he would neglect the apparent differences.
Even up to this point, Long Tianyu had not realized it. What about in the future?
Based on his understanding of Lin Mengya, he saw her as an extremely intelligent girl who was too sensitive.
If Long Tianyu wished to keep her by his side, he was definitely not doing enough as of this moment!
As he pondered, Long Tianyu’s eyes instinctively moved and rested on the face of the girl who was enjoying the red fruit.
If he guessed correctly, this perhaps would be Lin Mengya’s opportunity to the right to make a new choice.
Hopefully, Long Tianyu would not regret it at that time!
As the group of businessmen continued their journey throughout the day, they eventually stopped for the night at another post station.
Apart from the novelty at the beginning of the journey, Lin Mengya had gradually grown tired of the uneventful, boring routines.
She was thankful that Baishao had brought along many delicacies. Despite feeling the fatigue, Lin Mengya’s sense of taste was as sensitive as usual.
She would have died of boredom if not for the entertainment brought by the music score for the green stringed instrument.
The group of businessmen had been traveling for four days and they should be arriving at the borders the next day.
Having spent many nights in the post stations in a row, they finally arrived at the second town in the journey. It was a town called ‘Square Town’.
Compared to the last town, Square Town, which was at the border of the nations was even more wealthy and prosperous. It could be seen that the streets were filled with businessmen adorned in costumes of foreign nations.
In fact, no matter what clothes one was wearing, he would not stand out or catch anyone’s attention.
It was because this town was a hotchpotch for people from different nations. They were not merely businessmen from the Nation of Lintian or Dajin. There were people from the Nation of Dongxia and other smaller countries and tribes from the surrounding area. They had traveled to this town to trade for what they needed.
For days, Lin Mengya had been seeing the same boring scenery. Finally, she got to glimpse the ingenious buildings in a town.
While the people walking through the streets were adorned with various racial costumes, the buildings also bore the special traits of the various tribes of people.
Even the language used by the peddlers hawking manifested the special traits of different cultures and nations.
As she took in the harmonious sight from inside the horse carriage, she had a sudden brainwave.
The so-called the entire world as one perhaps looked like what was happening in this town.
Sadly, such harmony was only seen in a handful of towns and cities near the borders.
“Master Guo had told us that we should spend the night resting in one of the inns just slightly ahead. We should take a good rest today because tomorrow, we would be reaching the Nation of Lintian.”
In the last four days, it could be said that Long Tianyu had waited on Lin Mengya to the best of his ability.
Many among the group of businessmen changed their impression of him as a result.
Honestly, the little brother named Yuan Lin was way too lively and active. All the men assumed that their conflict at first was merely they trying to fool around with each other.
Now that the two brothers seemed to have made up and they being the outsiders would not want to interfere.
As a result, they were also more amiable towards Long Tianyu who disguised himself as Yuan Mei.
After their fight that day, Qiu Yu was back to his cowardly self, being ordered around by Lin Mengya looking like a teary victim.
After their fight that day, Qiu Yu was back to his cowardly self, being ordered around by Lin Mengya looking like a teary victim.
Perhaps the other people would think nothing of this, but he was very aware that a man would not dote on a girl and give in to her for no reason.
Especially when this girl was another man’s wife.
Maybe it was time to educate Qiu Yu about the idea of steering clear of suspicion and rumors.
“Let’s return to the inn, take a bath and change into a new set of clothes, then we go for a walk around the place. What do you think?”
At the mention of taking a bath and go out to walk around, Baishao’s eyes lit up with excitement.
All the rushing around in the past four days had been torturous for her and her master, although it was not a big deal for the men.
The moment the group of them arrived at the inn, the two women, holding each other’s hands, rushed upstairs.
As quickly as they could, the two ladies immersed themselves into the hot water in the tub and breathed a sigh of relief.
