Chapter 11 Nomura

Zhu Gaoxu and his companions traveled day and night for an unknown number of miles. They saw golden waves of wheat and had probably reached Hebei.

The carriage was gone, and five people rode four horses. Zhu Gaoxu and Du Qianrui rode together. Fortunately, they had prepared a double saddle and stirrups in advance, otherwise their buttocks would definitely not be able to bear it. A few days ago, the prince recovered from his illness and was gradually able to ride a horse, so they immediately burned the carriage... That thing was slow and cumbersome, and it was very picky about the road, so it could only travel on the post road.

"Ouch..." The prince yelled, and suddenly he shouted again, "Fuck!"

Zhu Gaoxu looked back and saw the prince fell in the wheat field, and the horse also fell on the side of the road, foaming at the mouth. The horse struggled on the ground with its limbs, shrugged twice, but finally failed to stand up.

The wheat field was in a mess.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Zhu Gaoxu pulled the reins first and stopped, and Gao Sui and others also stopped one after another.

The prince was sweating profusely. He climbed up from the wheat field using his hands and feet. He didn't care about his appearance and immediately sat down on the side of the road. He asked, "Where are we?"

Wang Gui jumped off his horse, thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, if we go forward it should be Zhuozhou, or maybe not, but it can't be too far." Then he walked up with a flattering attitude and handed over the water bag.

The prince took a gulp of water and frowned at Wang Gui, probably because Wang Gui's urine smelled bad. If eunuchs didn't take a bath or change the towel under their crotch for a few days, their urine would always smell bad because they would leak.

The prince turned his head to look at Zhu Gaoxu, "It looks like we are almost at Peking, and we have one less horse. Shall we find a place with a bed to rest for a while?"

Zhu Gaoxu also looked exhausted. He thought for a moment and said, "I heard that tightrope walkers are most likely to fall off in the last few steps. Especially at times like this, we must not let our guard down. We should walk back to Beiping as fast as we can and then rest slowly."

"What tightrope walking?" The prince was stunned.

Zhu Gaoxu was a little confused and realized that he was "talking nonsense".

The prince sighed and said with a bitter face, "My health is not as good as yours. If I continue walking, I am afraid that I will die of exhaustion on the road before the pursuit."

Zhu Gaoxu said , "Wang Gui and the third brother can ride together, leaving one horse for the eldest brother."

Gao Sui didn't say anything for a moment, but an expression uglier than crying immediately appeared on his face.

The prince shook his head and said, "The horses need to rest too. They are so tired that they are dying. Are we going to walk back to Peking?"

Zhu Gaoxu reached out to stroke the horse's head, and saw that his third brother and Wang Gui were looking at him expectantly. They didn't say anything, but their expressions were very obvious. They all wanted to take a break. The third brother looked even more reluctant and glanced at Wang Gui with disgust.

The prince collapsed on the ground, looking like he was about to die. He could not move his body, only his mouth moved. "We are returning to Beiping because of the emperor's order. Even if the emperor regrets it later, he would not send a large number of troops to chase us for two thousand miles and capture us. We are not criminals."

"Okay..." Zhu Gaoxu finally said, "We won't live in a big city, just find a small county town or a market with an inn. Wang Gui, if you see a horse, try to buy it at a high price."

With hope, the prince quickly struggled to get up. Everyone abandoned the dead horse and continued on their way.

Sure enough, after walking for less than half an hour, they saw a market. None of the people knew where it was, but it looked like a large northern village. This kind of village is usually a place where people from several nearby villages exchange goods; and since it is on the roadside, it can also do business with passing merchants.

Zhu Gaoxu stood on the side of the road and observed for a while. Seeing that there were many people in the market and it looked quite prosperous, he guessed that there was a greater chance of buying a horse, so he agreed to find a place to stay there.

The group entered the village, led the horses and walked around on several rammed earth roads, and finally found an inn. In this remote countryside, the facilities are naturally not comparable to those in a big city.

Wang Gui led the three horses to find a stable and take care of the horses. Zhu Gaoxu and others walked into the hall of the inn and asked the innkeeper about the room.

After hearing the purpose of the visit, the shopkeeper looked at the people around him and said to Zhu Gaoxu, "The Bizhan originally had two upper rooms and one lower room left. But these three guests have already reserved the two upper rooms."

The shopkeeper paused, then kindly reminded, "You can ask them if they are willing to vacate one of the upper rooms... There is a small room left in the lower house, so you can stay there for one night. There are of course inconveniences when you are away from home."

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and looked at the three people standing next to him. They were all men. One was a young man dressed in silk, and the other two looked like the young man's followers based on their clothes.

Unexpectedly, before Zhu Gaoxu could even open his mouth, the young man in silk clothes widened his eyes and said angrily, "What do you mean, old man? You want me to live in the same room with a servant?"

The shopkeeper bowed and smiled, "I don't mean anything bad, old man. We are all away from home, and I mean well."

When the third brother heard this, he looked down on the young man in silk clothes and was about to jump out, but Zhu Gaoxu held him back. Zhu Gaoxu thought: Are you afraid that you can't attract attention by making such a fuss?

Zhu Gaoxu gave his third brother a look, stepped forward, and said in a restrained tone, "Young man, calm down and allow me to say a few words, okay? Our group of five has been walking all day, and after a tour here, we saw this inn. The innkeeper said that there are only three rooms left, two large and one small. Young man asked for two large rooms, and the five of us may not be able to stay in the small ones. We go out to seek wealth, not to seek anger, and we don't want to offend you."

He then took out a few Ming Dynasty banknotes and said, "This money is my compensation. Please give me a large room and a small room. You three don't have to live together. What do you think?"

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the young man sneered twice and said, "You are from another place, right?"

Zhu Gaoxu took a breath and said, "Yes."

The young man laughed loudly, "Ignorance is bliss. You don't know who I am? Do you think I'm short of money? Haha! Ridiculous, ridiculous!"

Zhu Gaoxu said seriously, "I am not very knowledgeable and I really don't know who you are, so why don't you tell me your name?"

The young man shook his head and said disapprovingly, "Forget it!"

Even the prince was stunned, as if he had been frightened by the young man's impressive status. However, the prince was a very calm person, while the third brother's expression was much worse.

As the young man spoke, he occasionally glanced at Du Qianrui behind him. At this moment, he finally couldn't help but express his true thoughts , "How about you listen to my ideas?"

Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand and gestured, "Please speak."

"The concubine at the back is pretty. Brother, let her sleep in my room tonight. I don't want the compensation you just mentioned. I'll give you one of the upper rooms as well."

Zhu Gaoxu's face flushed instantly! If he hadn't clenched his teeth tightly, his anger would have burst out of his head immediately!

The young man looked at Zhu Gaoxu with interest, with an innocent look on his face, "Showing up in public, isn't that a concubine?"

Zhu Gaoxu clenched his fists, took two deep breaths, turned around and said, "Let's live in that small room. At least we can avoid the wind and frost."

As a result, the two groups parted unhappily and each went to settle down in another place.

They walked into the lower room, which was indeed very small, with only one bed. The five of them went in together, and it seemed that they filled the entire room. The three brothers discussed for a while and quickly decided that the eldest brother would sleep on the bed...which was huge, so he would take up the entire bed directly; the others would sleep on the floor and ask the shopkeeper for straw mats and bedding later.

There was no place to take a shower. Everyone was so tired after having a hot meal that they went back to their rooms early to get ready for bed.

The conditions were really bad and it was crowded! Zhu Gaoxu was a loser in his previous life, but he had never lived in such a bad place. Hotels worth twenty or thirty yuan were better than this. At least there were no need for five men and women to squeeze in together...

"Pa!" Zhu Gaoxu reached out and slapped his neck, then scratched it several times. Although mosquitoes were buzzing around, snoring could be heard in the narrow room. The two aristocratic brothers, even though they were tired, still did not choose any place.

Zhu Gaoxu brought his palms to his eyes. The blood on his palms slightly compensated for his anger and irritability. He opened his eyes and inadvertently saw Du Qianrui's bright eyes leaning against the wall, looking at him. .

For a moment, there seemed to be a fresh breeze caressing Zhu Gaoxu's face. He felt a lot better, and sleeping in this cramped and filthy place didn't seem so difficult.

The space was limited, and their faces were very close, facing each other silently. Du Qianrui sometimes closed her eyes, and sometimes her eyes flickered, but she always looked at Zhu Gaoxu quietly when she was not paying attention. That invisible gaze and attention was like a piece of silk, silently entwined, light and omnipresent, without speaking, but it was better than having more subtle exchanges.

Zhu Gaoxu seemed to be able to smell the breath she exhaled.

The snoring around me was getting louder and louder. After listening carefully for a while, I could tell that it was coming from three different people. Adding to the sound of mosquitoes, the room was not quiet, but there was another kind of tranquility, perhaps because I would not be disturbed...

The fair face in front of him was very beautiful, with bright young skin, red, white and black, pure and clean, without any mixture. He couldn't help but have the urge to peek, the part covered by the quilt was as beautiful as this face. So he wanted to quietly put his hand into Du Qianrui's quilt several times.

The throbbing feeling and the subtle desire were quietly rising, but he was hesitant. Zhu Gaoxu realized that he was already a prince, and if he was rejected, wouldn't it be very embarrassing and lose his status?

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly thought of his uncle Xu Huizu's words...testing. He couldn't confirm other people's ideas, so he did a little bit, watched a little bit, and kept speculating and verifying in order to decide whether to continue.

At this moment, an inexplicable smile appeared on Zhu Gaoxu's face.