They had originally planned to rest for another night and leave the next day, but Xia Zheng wouldn’t stop blabbering about how much his father missed Princess Anle, making such a racket that the princess couldn’t find peace. So after lunch, she began packing to leave.
Because of the haste in their departure, there wasn’t much prepared in advance. Lin Yuan had to have someone go back to Rice Flower Fragrance to gather a good amount of special pastries for Princess Anle to eat on the road. Xia Zheng, worried that his mother wouldn’t have access to the food from their place in the capital city, packed a sack of potatoes for her, and had even thought about including a couple of blocks of tofu, but Lin Yuan stopped him. Setting aside whether the tofu would stay fresh until it reached the capital city, even if it did, it would probably be jostled into nothing but crumbles by then.
Since it had already been decided that Su Qiuyu would leave with them when the time came, she couldn’t very well insist on staying, despite her reluctance. Doctor Hu’s medical skills were no joke, and after taking the medicine he prescribed, her illness had greatly improved; there was no way she could use recuperating as an excuse to stay.
"Brother Zheng." The thought of leaving and having Lin Yuan occupy Xia Zheng all to herself filled Su Qiuyu with a mixture of anger and sorrow, her eyes beginning to mist over once again.
Since she was leaving anyway, Xia Zheng was no longer as blunt as before.
Seeing that he wasn’t avoiding her as he used to, Su Qiuyu felt a hint of joy, "Brother Zheng, I’m leaving. Don’t worry, I will take good care of myself."
Um. Xia Zheng nodded.
"You should take care of yourself too, especially in a place , where the food and clothing can’t compare to those in the capital city. Don’t you be hard on yourself. If you ever feel uncomfortable, just come back. I, we all will be waiting for you."
Xia Zheng looked at the sky; this place was pretty good, much better than the capital city. In any case, wherever Yuanyuan was, that was the best place.
Su Qiuyu wanted to ramble on, but Xia Zheng clearly no longer had the patience and waved his hand, "Okay, get in the carriage already, my mother isn’t as nagging as you."
Su Qiuyu felt choked, her tears nearly spilling over.
Princess Anle had already boarded the coach and was reluctantly holding Lin Yuan’s hand. Eight out of ten sentences were instructions for Lin Yuan to make sure to visit her in the capital city, saying she would take them out to enjoy good food and fun times.
Lin Yuan nodded with a smile, promising she would visit the capital city if the opportunity arose, finally easing the princess’s mind.
Lao Fan, on the other hand, didn’t seem to feel much of anything; he was always one to not take things too seriously. He casually greeted Princess Anle and then stood aside.
Lin Yi glowered at An Ying, listening to the orders the Great commander had relayed.
"The Great commander said that if you do well on this mission, he’ll reassign you back to the barracks," An Ying sympathetically and understandingly patted his shoulder after seeing Lin Yi’s face as dark as the bottom of a pot: "You can serve as a Hidden Guard anywhere, and loyalty can be expressed in any task. You should be more open-minded."
He needed to be more open-minded indeed. Even though the reunion was brief, Lin Yi hadn’t complained about anything. An Ying could tell that the Great commander’s assignment for him was just to protect a young girl. But what danger could such a girl possibly face? Thus, Deputy Commander Yi of the Hidden Guards had now essentially become the personal coachman for the proprietress of Rice Flower Fragrance.
Lin Yi’s lips twitched, but he said nothing.
An Ying mounted his horse, signaling for everyone to get ready for departure.
The two Hidden Guards who came with An Ying talked among themselves in hushed tones, "Hey, have you noticed our Deputy Commander seems to be getting paler?"
The other Hidden Guard nodded in agreement, "It’s not just paler, he’s put on weight too. Look at that face, and that chin. Oh right, and that belly. I bet the Deputy Commander is living the good life here."