Su Xi-er walked straight until she found an empty room. Sitting down on a wooden stool, she laid her head down on the table before falling asleep.
The next day, Su Xi-er woke up early and freshened up. The imperial guard from Prince Hao’s Residence arrived soon after and handed a cloth bundle to her.
“Prince Hao’s verbal edict is that from this day on, you won’t be riding in his horse carriage or serving him the whole way.”
Su Xi-er took the cloth bundle and looked at the imperial guard. “So where do I go? Do I stay behind and follow the horse carriage?”
The imperial guard sighed and a trace of sympathy arose from the recesses of his eyes. “You’re too silly, how could you provoke Prince Hao? You don’t have a horse carriage to sit in, and there aren’t any horses for a woman to ride. You can only to walk the entire way to Nanzhao’s capital.”
They’re making me walk the entire way to the capital city? Aren’t they afraid that I will get lost?
“Furthermore, you must keep pace with the last horse carriage, and aren’t allowed to lag behind. If you can’t keep up, we will tie you up with a rope. You… are on your own now. Better take care; there’s no good outcome if you provoke Prince Hao.” The imperial guard faltered towards the end, feeling as if he couldn’t bear to reprimand her anymore. The woman in front of me is beautiful enough to draw everyone’s gaze without exception. Despite that, she has to suffer this kind of cruel punishment.
This can be considered cruel torture for a beauty.
To the imperial guard’s surprise, Su Xi-er only smiled faintly. “I will work hard to keep up. As long as there’s food and water, new shoes to change into when my old ones tear, there shouldn’t be a problem. ”
The imperial guard looked at her with a trace of admiration. Finally, he sighed, and swiftly left.
The horse carriage was ready to leave after breakfast, but Su Xi-er still didn’t see Pei Qianhao.
Following the guard’s instructions, she walked to the back of the last horse carriage. Soon enough, the entourage began moving. Many servants of Lotus Flower County Government Office knew that Prince Hao was punishing Su Xi-er.
Suddenly, everyone was lamenting. As expected, being Prince Hao’s personal maidservant isn’t such an easy job. It’s just that only now are we seeing the other side of the coin and how tough it also is.
Lotus Flower County was known for its beautiful and unique scenery. There were three main roads, and the entourage was travelling on the largest and busiest main road.
With so many pedestrians and shops, the horse carriages were forced to slow down, letting Su Xi-er keep up. She had changed into another dress today, and her Falling Bun replaced with a Round Bun, hairstyle commonly used by palace maids of the Palace Side Quarters.
After a period of time, the combination of excessive walking and a body still recovering from the flu resulted in her face being completely flushed and appearing moisturised.
She was emanating another type of gracefulness that drew the attention of every pedestrian. They had originally been admiring the horse carriages and the mighty soldiers, but now they were admiring the beauty instead.
The women of Lotus Flower County were mainly lotus collectors who walked among the lotus flowers in the lake, already allowing their skin to appear moisturised. Yet, there was simply no contest when compared to Su Xi-er.
Not knowing the personage leading the entourage, the pedestrians didn’t dare to comment on a potentially powerful figure. This woman however, was a different story. As a result, there was an endless flow of conversation about Su Xi-er,
“Who is this beauty? With a dress like that, she doesn’t look like she is from an average household, so why is she walking behind the troop?”
“That’s right, it seems like she is being punished. Ah, the person punishing such a beauty is really ruthless. They should be coaxing and flattering her instead.”
“I agree, she must be tired and thirsty. Should we go and give her some water?”
A grand and luxurious horse carriage gradually approached Su Xi-er from behind, but this carriage didn’t belong to Prince Hao.
The curtain of the carriage window was lifted, revealing Yun Ruofeng’s gentle and handsome face. He was holding a handkerchief in his hand.
“Take it and wipe off your sweat.” He said as he handed the handkerchief to her.