3516 Leisure Time
“Hiss!”

Xuanyuan Mo Ze inhaled deeply, and the skin behind his ears turned red. His long beard concealed his facial expression. “Are you trying to murder your husband?” he asked softly, looking down at Feng Jiu in his arms, who had an innocent, astonished expression.

Feng Jiu reacted, and her face turned red as well. She moved away from his embrace instinctively but forgot they were on horseback, almost falling off the horse in her distraction.

“Little ancestor, behave yourself,” Xuanyuan Mo Ze remarked, his hoarse voice a mixture of helplessness and sigh. He reached out to steady her, drawing her in close. “Just sit still and stop fidgeting.”

“I didn’t fidget. I was clearly just being distracted,” she mumbled softly, her cheeks burning at the memory of what she’d just done.

She looked around, relieved to discover that no one was looking at them and that their cloaks kept them hidden. Thankfully, no one saw them, or it would have been extremely embarrassing.

“Are you not going to go back to sleep?” Xuanyuan Mo Ze asked, finding it funny that her eyes were flickering and her cheeks were red.

“No, not anymore.” Feng Jiu answered. She then said, “I’ll go ask how much longer it will be until we reach the city.” She pushed off the horse’s back with one hand and jumped down with the other, then walked ahead.

Xuanyuan Mo Ze didn’t say anything when he saw this. He just took a deep breath to suppress the tension that had risen within him.

After Feng Jiu asked the question, she didn’t return right away. She sat by the carriage and chatted with Yu Chengde for a while before going back to Xuanyuan Mo Ze.

“He said that we could enter the city before dark and invited us to stay at their manor. What do you think?” Feng Jiu asked, taking Xuanyuan Mo Ze’s outstretched hand to climb back onto the horse.

“That’s fine.” Xuanyuan Mo Ze replied.

“Mm, then it’s set. We’ll stay at their manor so I can treat their old patriarch. Meanwhile, We can ask about the Skylink Monarch once we’ve settled in,” she said.

“Alright.”

The two chatted here and there until the evening when they finally reached the city walls.

“Master Ling, Madam Ling, we’re almost there,” shouted Yu Chengde, finally relieved to be getting close to home.

They drove along the city street towards the Yu family’s manor. Before they could settle in, Xuanyuan Mo Ze and Feng Jiu announced that they wanted to go exploring. Without waiting for a response, they turned and left.

“This city seems similar to Hundred Rivers City,” Feng Jiu remarked as they walked. A food stall caught her eye, and she dragged Xuanyuan Mo Ze in that direction.

After they sat down, Feng Jiu shouted, “Aunt, give us one of each snack.”

“Alright, alright. Please have a seat and have some tea,” the elderly woman replied. She served them tea before returning to prepare the snacks.

“Is that lotus seed soup? Bring us each a bowl.” Feng Jiu said as she looked at the big pot of lotus seed soup on the stove.
The elderly woman gave them two bowls and some other snacks. “Just let me know if you want more. Everything is homemade. You can start eating, the rest will come out shortly.”

Feng Jiu smiled, “Alright, we know.”

As the two sat there enjoying their snacks, more dishes kept coming. However, their calm was disturbed when a few intimidating people strolled up, shooed the customers away, and knocked over the tables. Only then did Feng Jiu frown and turn her attention to the troublemakers.