The aide was stunned for a moment before cupping his hands in agreement.
Fu Xiuyi looked away. Since the competition had already begun, it was only a matter of time before he must vie for the throne. The most important thing now was to recruit more talents in the shortest time possible.
…
Shen Xin left the capital early the next morning.
Shen Xin left in a low key manner. Firstly, he did not want to make things difficult for his friends. If they came to send him off, they would be going against Emperor Wen Hui. The heart of an emperor was capricious, and Shen Xin didn’t want the emperor to take his anger out on his friends. Secondly, Spring City was thousands of miles away from the capital. If they set off early, he would probably be able to arrive early.
However, even if they traveled at full speed, it would still take them more than half a year to arrive.
Shen Xin had a group of trusted aides by his side. Coupled with Shen Qiu’s subordinates, as well as Mo Qing and Ah Zhi, they were not afraid of encountering any danger. The journey was not bad. At first, Luo Xueyan and Shen Xin were worried that Shen Miao would not be able to withstand such a long journey and would probably feel uncomfortable along the way. Unexpectedly, Shen Miao did not say a word of complaint the entire journey. Even Shen Xin praised, “Jiaojiao is indeed my daughter. Which girl in the capital has such a tenacious personality?”
Luo Xueyan rolled her eyes at him. She felt more and more guilty towards Shen Miao. A girl at her age was supposed to live in the comfort of her boudoir, but because of them, she had to take this arduous journey.
Jingzhe leaned against the curtain of the carriage. Because this was the first time she was on a long trip, she was a little excited. One moment, she pointed at the birds in the sky, and the next, she pointed at the hare in the forest and screamed. Seeing Shen Miao’s calm expression, she asked curiously, “Miss, why don’t you find it interesting? We don’t get to see these things in the capital.”
Hearing that, Gu Yu also looked at Shen Miao and asked tentatively, “Miss, you don’t look like you miss the capital at all.”
Luo Xueyan, who was sitting in the carriage, was stunned.
Every girl who was about to leave a prosperous place for a remote city in the middle of nowhere would show reluctance. However, Shen Miao was very calm from the beginning to the end. Sometimes, she even looked a little happy.
What was there to be happy about leaving one’s hometown?
Sensing Luo Xueyan’s gaze, Shen Miao smiled and looked at the scenery outside the carriage. “Father, Mother, and Brother are all by my side. What’s there to miss? Even if I stay in the capital, I don’t have any family.”
As soon as she said that, Luo Xueyan’s heart ached. After coming back this time, she had seen the ugly side of the entire Shen family. For so many years, they had left Shen Miao with that family and thought that she was doing well. Now, it seemed like it was a huge joke. Shen Miao had probably never treated those people as her family either. Otherwise, she wouldn’t say that.
At the thought of this, Luo Xueyan pulled Shen Miao into her arms and said guiltily, “That’s right. Jiaojiao, you will be with us in the future. No one will dare to bully you.”
Shen Miao leaned into Luo Xueyan’s arms and lowered her eyes to hide the coldness in them.
How could this be the first time she had left her hometown and traveled alone? In her previous life, when she went to the State of Qin to be a hostage, she took the journey alone. How many of her trusted maids had died in a foreign country? At that time, the scenery was just like now. Though the memory had blurred, she still remembered the feeling at that moment clearly. From the capital to the State of Qin, from the State of Qin to the capital, she took two very bleak paths. She thought that she did it for a good cause to benefit the dynasty and the people, but little did she know that in the eyes of the people, she was nothing more than a joke.
