CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

“Young master Xu?” exclaimed BaiYing who had already parted the curtain of his carriage seeing the young man standing in the middle of the Crown Prince’s fully alert troops

“Young master Hua”

Before long.

The group finally decided to rest for a while on the side of the road among the grove of trees, just to stretch their legs or enjoy their lunch.

Crown Prince’s eyes still glanced sharply at XuYi, the young man who was now sitting right beside BaiYing, with them enjoying their short lunch.

“Why did young master Xu leave the house at this time? The state exam still has several stages, so even if you can’t take it this time, there’s still another chance right?” Bai Ying said.

XuYi who was sitting on a sloping tree trunk under a big tree nodded.

“Yeah, there’s always the next stage of the exam, it just, I think this is also the right time to leave the house, heh, the atmosphere at home is not as comfortable as before, sister Yan and LiMei are no longer around, so, there’s no meaning for me to linger -long time there, em, oh well, Young master Hua, young master hasn’t told you how in the first place the young master became a young official in the palace? That’s really unbelievable, young master is still very young.”

.....

BaiYing who had bitten the peanut cake into his mouth almost choked with XuYi’s question, Yan approached quickly thrusting his water bottle.

“Your Majesty, eat slowly.”

The young man took a large gulp of water.

He patted his chest to push the food in.

“This kid, can you eat in a proper way? Why have to choke like that?.” Crown Prince glanced sharply, instead of being annoyed for being scolded, the young man smiled widely with his eyes disappeared.

“Hehehe forgive me, Your Majesty”

“Silly kid”

Seeing that XuYi covered his mouth to hold back a laugh, the young man’s face was indeed very attractive, his smile was brighter than the sun shining brightly above them.

“Hehehe young master please eat carefully”

BaiYing turned his head back to XuYi.

“Hehehe it’s because the food is too good so unconsciously eating too fast, hehehe, um, I’m not an official, and, He Ying is also not smart like young master Xu, how can I pass the state exam, everyone who takes the exam is a youth with the number one intelligence in this country, he, Ying definitely won’t even pass the first stage, hehehe”

Crown Prince’s hand thrust an apple slice in front of BaiYing.

“Here, eat this first, you’ve been eating cakes all the time, what if your teeth hurt later”

“It won’t Your Majesty, em this is delicious, so fresh”

XuYi scratched his head, looks like he won’t get an answer to his question just now because The young master Lu in front of him had already pulled the young man into talking to him, heh, this is going to be very difficult, he thought.

.....

The sky was already getting dark when the Crown Prince’s entourage arrived at the outer border area of ??the Golden Buffalo mountain, the valley of the Wind. As the name implies, the valley as far as the eye can see is a plain of barren land overgrown with plants such as cacti and dry grass, with rocks not so high that it is difficult for anyone who wants to pass through it to take shelter. And the group’s destination was, of course, the large inn house located at the centre of the valley which was said to be halfway between entering and leaving the deserted area. According to XuYi, the inn was quite large, two floors wide with lots of rooms, the owner was an old widow and her son who had once found the abandoned house and turned it into an inn, which was quite famous until now.

The Thousand Winds Inn, they named it that to being easy to remember, because this area is windy and there are frequent storms, so everyone will take shelter there and pay to stay even if it’s just sleeping in the warehouse or even the living room of the big building.

According to XuYi, who inquired about the origin of the building, it used to be the headquarters of regional officials who were assigned to survey the surrounding hills and valleys, because previously there wasn’t a lot of crime going on there, not even passersby, by the time the post became less useful, most of the officials are reluctant to be assigned there because there is nothing in the valley, not even animals, because it is too barren and there are frequent windstorms who else wants to visit there other than to seeking for death?

But since the Thousand Winds Inn opened tens of years ago, many newcomers have passed by, the inn has helped many people to get through the Wind Valley safely.

The sound of snorting horses was getting tired, plus the wind that was blowing hard made visibility short. Even though the group including the Crown Prince were wearing robes complete with veils to cover their head and faces below their eyes, the wind that blew with grains of sand and dust made it difficult for them to see the road.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty better get into the carriage, the winds are getting stronger,” BeiYau said with a bit of a shout.

Crown Prince raised his hand to cover his eyes from the strong gust of wind.

“No need Bei, even though this wind is getting stronger.”

XuYi approached.

“Report Young Master, this wind has the potential to cause a sandstorm, it’s already late at night and usually there are storms once or twice every night”

“Then where is the inn, Young Master Xu?” BeiYau exclaimed.

XuYi tried to look ahead, squinting his eyes to see more clearly, if I’m not mistaken he saw a slight light in front of their path, it was a beacon light of the Thousand Winds Inn for anyone trying to find its location at night and between windstorms like this.

XuYi pointed forward.

“Look Young Master, there’s a light from the gallows of the Thousand Winds Inn, Madame Gu purposely hung a lamp so high for helps anyone who’s looking for the location of the inn.”

BeiYau looked far ahead, there was indeed a yellowish lamp in a slightly elevated position like it was at the end of the pole, and it was keep swaying in the wind.

“Come on, Bei, let’s go to the light,” cried the Crown Prince, pulling the reins of his horse, speeding up their path.

BeiYau raised his hand high signalling his men who were also having trouble seeing the road.

“Come on, we have to hurry!” he shouted.

While at the back, Elder Yi and ShinYa were also seen trying hard to get the horses to walk in the blind as they could barely see their way.

“Heh this is so troublesome, why must there be a storm when we pass?” Elder Yi grumbled.

While raising his hand to dispel the wind in his eyes, ShinYa smiled.

“Hehe, Elder Yi, can you use your inner strength to calm the storm? Great Master BaoYi was used to be known as the wind controller, wasn’t it?”

Elder Yi gave ShinYa a sharp glance, the words of the overly clever young shaman seemed to be mocking him.

“Young man, controlling the winds is different from controlling storms, this is a natural event, only the Lord of Nature the one who can control this change of weather, and, isn’t that rotten child a Lord of Nature? Why is he just sitting so leisurely in the carriage like that?”

ShinYa stifled a laugh, what Elder YI meant was of course BaiYing.

“Hehe, Elder Yi, please forgive me, but the Viceroy is still inexperienced, he doesn’t even know what he really has, controlling the weather takes a higher stage than just controlling the elements around us, as you said, this is a big natural event”

Elder Yi pursed his lips, of course, that’s why the kid really needed him, Elder Yi thought to himself.

They accelerated their horses running, although it was not clear whether the situation on the road was rocky or not because the visibility was very short, they just kept following the person in front of them, considered it was safe enough, and the group did not stop running even though the wind was getting stronger.

While on the carriage.

BaiYing had to hold firmly on the objects around him because of the carriage swaying due to the uneven road and strong winds, luckily before hitting the road brother YoTang had warned them about a windstorm so everyone prepared robes even to the point of blindfolds for their horses, the injured horses will slow down their path, and BaiYing was more concerns about them than the who person riding on it.

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