Your Majesty, Please Stop!

Chapter 235: Strolling with Beauty and Meeting an Old Acquaintance

"Hehe..."

Su Miaojin couldn't help but chuckle, her beautiful eyes forming crescents as she sat down beside Xin Zhuo and waved her hand.

This was the first time Xin Zhuo had seen Su Miaojin laugh so happily, and he found it quite amusing. He put down his dagger and sat down beside her. "Have you been on the road for several days?"

Su Miaojin picked up the jade teapot and poured two cups of green tea. She pushed one cup towards Xin Zhuo. "Ten Nine Heavens!"

Xin Zhuo took a sip of the tea and found it fragrant and refreshing. He thought to himself, "Good tea." Then he said, "You must have had a hard time traveling all the way here."

"Not as hard as Prince Jiang," Su Miaojin replied. She also raised her cup and elegantly took a sip. Her cherry lips were rosy, and her posture was pleasing to the eye. "I heard that Prince Jiang has acquired many beautiful maidservants. He broke into the Forbidden Seventh Peak of the Nine Phoenixes Mountain for three days and nights and reached the Half-step Grand Great Master realm in just one night. His name has spread throughout the capital."

Xin Zhuo was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "You're well-informed. Even though we're thousands of miles apart, you know all these things. I didn't mention them in my letters."

The capital was five thousand miles away from Nanli Prefecture. It would take days for a letter to be delivered, and even with carrier pigeons, it would still take some time.

Su Miaojin blinked her eyes. "Actually, it was Nü Ying who told me."

Nü Ying? The daughter of the Princess of the Northern Sea?

Xin Zhuo asked, "Are you close with that girl?"

"The Princess of the Northern Sea and my mother, Lady Hua, are good friends. When I was serving in the auxiliary capital in the north with my parents, she would come to visit with the Northern Sea Princess every few days."

Su Miaojin chuckled. "We have never stopped exchanging letters. Lately, the little girl has been writing to me every day, complaining about how you sprinkle water everywhere at home and how you beat her in the Forbidden Nine Phoenixes Mountain. She tells me all her grievances."

Finding it amusing, her eyes were filled with laughter.

With no secrets left, Xin Zhuo could only laugh awkwardly and change the subject. "Are you here to participate in the Fengtian Tower as well?"

Su Miaojin replied seriously, "Yes! The Fengtian Tower is a grand event in the Martial Dao. Mr. Zhuge once said that if one doesn't enter the Fengtian Tower, they can only reach the Venerable realm at best. It's probably difficult to make further progress in the future. That's why the Fengtian Tower opens every ten years. All the Half-step Grandmaster realm and below, including Venerables, with at least two types of True Qi, from the Great Zhou Empire are allowed to enter."

Xin Zhuo nodded. He was also interested in the remnants of the sword formation mentioned by Su Miaojin. It was also mentioned in the map given to him by his mother. If he were to break through to the Grand Great Master realm, he would indeed need it and couldn't always rely on others.

After thinking for a moment, he asked Su Miaojin, "You still have two days left. Where are you staying?"

"I have a house in the capital that was bestowed by the imperial court. Auntie Hua has been living here," Su Miaojin replied. Then she smiled and said, "You promised to treat me to delicious food. Are you still keeping your word?"

"Of course! I'll make sure you're satisfied! Please!"

The two of them left the pavilion and were about to get on the carriage when a seemingly lifeless old soldier from Nanli suddenly spoke up coldly, blocking their way. "Princess, you have terminated your engagement with the Jiang family. It is inappropriate for you to ride in the same carriage as Prince Jiang and will invite criticism."

The two exchanged glances. This past that they didn't want to mention was brought up again, making them both feel a little uncomfortable.

Su Miaojin flicked her sleeve lightly, and the curtains on both sides of the carriage lifted on their own. She pulled Xin Zhuo onto the carriage and said coldly, "Even though my engagement with Prince Jiang has been terminated, we are still old friends. We are both people of the Martial Dao. Where does this pettiness come from? Let's go!"

There was a moment of silence outside, then the carriage started moving.

Not far away, the curious Ling Junyao and her family quietly hid behind a willow tree that could be hugged by three people. As the carriage passed by, they caught a glimpse of the beautiful and graceful woman inside the carriage, and they were all stunned.

Ling Junyao blinked her eyes and said, "What a beautiful girl! Even the renowned Ascending Peace Princess, who is known as the most beautiful woman in the capital, is not inferior to her!"

"Don't look," a woman next to her whispered, "It's Princess Nanli!"

Ling Junyao was surprised and said, "Huh? Didn't they cancel the engagement?"

...

Changle Lane, one of the thirty-seven neighborhoods in the capital, on Weiyang Street, was famous for its street food and was known as the place where all the delicious food in the world gathered.

There were not only well-established shops that made people salivate at the sight of their "Baozi," the Xiu family's fresh meat soup dumplings that had been passed down for hundreds of years, the Ruyi Scepter vegetarian sweet porridge that was fragrant and delicious, the thirty-eight types of cakes made for the palace concubines by the Wu family, and Liu Ji's thin slices of raw fish that were as thin as cicada wings...

There were also a variety of street snacks and pastries made with care, such as braised food, crispy mountain, Hu bing, roasted lamb, sugar figurines, and snow mountain cakes.

"Little bandit, I want to eat that, that sugar snow pastry!"

Su Miaojin held up her sleeves and held a string of sugar calabashes and a box of crispy mountains. Her cherry lips were already oily, but she still pointed to a stall.

"Alright, Princess!"

Xin Zhuo, holding many gifts in his arms, sighed imperceptibly. It was tiring to accompany a girl shopping, and what was even more tiring was that he didn't have the habit of spending money. He had tens of thousands of taels of silver notes in his hand and couldn't find small change at the street stalls. Su Miaojin paid for everything herself.

This... was a bit embarrassing.

The boss of the "Sugar Snow Pastry" stall was experienced and knew that the two elegantly dressed young men and ladies in front of him were important customers. He smiled brightly and said, "Take a look! I'll make it fresh for you!"

Then he began his amazing skills, his hands moving skillfully, with glutinous rice, powdered sugar, and snow-like icing flying around. A series of actions were pleasing to the eye.

"The boss's skills are really good!"

Su Miaojin's eyes sparkled. Seeing Xin Zhuo's curious face, she couldn't help but smile and say, "Little bandit, don't you often go shopping?"

Xin Zhuo laughed awkwardly, "How can I? I come here every three days. I'm very familiar with it, right, boss?"

The boss looked up and winked knowingly, "Right! Isn't this Young Master Yang? A regular customer!"

Xin Zhuo's face darkened a bit. Were young people who brought girls shopping always so secretive and talkative?

Su Miaojin couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Alright! Take it, fifteen copper coins!" The boss handed over the "Sugar Snow Pastry" with a smile.

Xin Zhuo handed over tens of thousands of taels of silver notes as usual, and the stall owner's face also darkened. He even felt that Xin Zhuo was deliberately intimidating him.

As a result, Su Miaojin paid the money again, and the two of them continued to eat snacks and stroll forward.

Not far behind them, seven old soldiers from Nanli silently followed in the crowd, and further away, a group of Jiang family experts followed in a hidden manner.

Just as the two of them turned a corner, Su Miaojin was attracted by a monkey-playing stall. As a princess and a former governor's daughter, she had never casually strolled through the streets like this before and found everything curious.

Xin Zhuo could only silently accompany her and watch boredly.

At this moment, a familiar voice came from not far away, "This is the important place of the capital, a place where dirt and filth are hidden, and the ground is full of scars. Few people come here, and my fate is in my own hands! Time waits for no one, a fox in tiger's clothing!"

There seemed to be very few people in the world who could say such unreliable idioms without any connection to their tone and expression.

"Young Master Shao, please stop saying that. You're already in the main hall now, and every word and action represents the Pavilion of Celestial Secrets!" a little maid timidly reminded.

Xin Zhuo followed the voice.

He happened to meet the gaze of Shangguan Fanqing, and both of them were stunned.

(End of this chapter)