Chapter: 093 out of 513 – Setting out on a journey (2)
After being busy for two days in Marquis Moyu’s residence, Ji Man finally finished sorting everything out. Ji Man was taking Gancao and Dengxin along with her on the trip. She said to Muxu, “You have a more important task. I wouldn’t feel at ease if I assign it to someone else.”
Muxu has originally been feeling somewhat dissatisfied, but those feelings were dispelled after hearing these words. Nie Sangyu told her to monitor everything that was happening in the residence and write a letter to her every so often. Muxu also felt that this was a very important task. And so, she agreed with a solemn expression.
—
At the pier, everyone had arrived one by one. The crown prince had brought along the crown princess. Third prince was supporting Noble Consort Nie. There was also Nie Qingyun, Ning Mingjie, and Ning Errong. Everyone was standing to the side and waiting for the emperor to arrive, then the boats would depart.
Seeing the two boats parked at the canal’s riverbank, Ji Man finally realized that the luxuriousness of people in ancient times was sometimes unbelievable.
Those two ships were each three levels high with galvanized iron sheeting for the deck and had fierce dragon flags. The court ladies and eunuchs were respectfully standing on the decks in two rows. Various treasures had been carried onto the boats for the emperor to bestow on the people during the trip.
Ji Man couldn’t help worrying about this group’s safety during the journey. They had said they would be wearing simple clothing in order to go about incognito, but those dragon flags were madly unfurled and fluttering. What happened to keeping a low profile? Moreover, could there possibly be a third boat that was as extravagant as these two boats in the world? Really, these two boats couldn’t even be described as “a simple boat”, she could only describe it as “a mountain-like object shaped like a boat”.
When the emperor slowly arrived, everyone kneeled to salute. The emperor said a long string of useless words about not needing to pay attention to etiquette during this trip. Ji Man silently ridiculed him; “Take off your imperial dragon robes first if you actually mean those words!”
Following the established standards, the emperor, Noble Consort Nie, third prince, crown prince and his wife would all be in the first boat together since they were directly part of the imperial family. Marquis Moyu managed the second boat. He led Ning Mingjie, Nie Qingyun, Ning Errong, and the other members of the imperial family onto the boat and into their respective rooms.
Ning Yuxuan allowed Ji Man to choose her own room, so she selected a room on the second level. It was high enough that she could have a good view of the scenery.
Ning Qingyun and Ning Mingjie were staying at the back of the ship together. Ning Errong was staying at the head of the ship. Her room wasn’t far from Ji Man. As for the rest of the imperial family, there was no need to mention them.
As the boats left the harbor, the people on both shores shouted if their emperor was leaving to conquer the world instead of taking a leisurely vacation.
Ji Man leaned against the railing on the second level to look at the common people on both sides of the shore. She couldn’t resist thinking; fortunately, there wouldn’t be glaciers in the canal. Otherwise with these boats’ level of luxuriousness, it might have the same ending as the Titanic. At that time, on a piece of the deck, Ning Yuxuan would push her and shout, “Rose” and she would turn around with a feeling of deep love and call out, “Jack!”
Enough is enough. If the boat really sank, she would definably shove Ning Yuxuan off the boat first.
She shook her head and stopped indulging in flights of fancy. Ji Man decided that she would go back to her room and continue to work on the wedding dress. She had even brought the embroidery frame with her, just in case she was bored on this trip.
—
Ning Errong was very excited as soon as she boarded the boat. Once the boat had started to move, she cheerfully went to Nie Qingyun’s room to look for him.
Nie Qingyun and Ning Mingjie were currently talking about governmental affairs and seemed as if they had regret not meeting each other earlier. Seeing Ning Errong coming here, Nie Qingyun didn’t know what expression he should use to greet her. And so, he stiffly called out, “Junzhu.”
Ning Errong’s smiling face crumpled. Unhappy, she said, “We’re going to be married soon, why aren’t you calling me Errong?”
Nie Qingyun awkwardly glanced at Ning Mingjie. Unexpectedly, the latter person smiled as lightly as drifting clouds. “Brother Nie, you don’t have to avoid calling her Errong just because I’m here.”
His words made it sound as if he wasn’t calling her name because Ning Mingjie was here. Nie Qingyun sighed and asked, “Errong, why did you come here?”
“I just came here to see the two of you.” Ning Errong’s unhappy expression swiftly cleared up. She sat down near them and said with a smile, “You don’t have tea here. How about I go and bring a pot of tea?
“This is quite rare.” Ning Mingjie laughed and said, “I’ll have to thank Brother Nie for this good fortune.”
Nie Qingyun awkwardly laughed. Looking at Ning Errong’s jubilant appearance, he inwardly sighed. In the end, he followed along and curved the corners of his lips.
—
After Ji Man got tired of embroidering, she went out and rest against the railing for a bit. Ning Errong hadn’t come to look for her, and she didn’t know where Errong had run off. Ning Yuxuan had boarded the other boat when the boats had set off. He said he had something he wanted to discuss with the emperor, so she hadn’t asked any further questions. Now, she was just hanging out by herself like fish that had just been scooped up from the canal.
“Don’t fall over,” a voice said behind her.
Startled, Ji Man turned around and saw that it was Ning Mingjie. She hurriedly patted her chest. “You don’t seem to make any sounds when you’re walking.”
Ning Mingjie leaned against the railing. There was a distance of three steps between them. “You were the one that didn’t hear me, ah. No matter how quiet my footsteps are, there’s still sound.”
“Why are you here?” Ji Man looked around. “Where’s everyone else?”
Ning Mingjie smiled and said, “Your older brother and my younger sister are on the other side, so I said I was going to go out and look at scenery to give them time alone.”
