Chu Jiao could evidently feel that from that afternoon onwards, the soldiers of the troop treated her much better, particularly the people by Tuoba Yan’s side.
Even though there were also ministry officials sent by her Father Emperor including among this group, due to the Xianbei’s growing military accomplishments in the past few years as well as the Tuoba royal family’s ferocious reputation of war campaigns in all directions, the officials of Great Chu didn’t dare have a say in the matter and was as quiet as a quail throughout the whole journey. The marriage this time wasn’t a deal between parties with equal power, and the stronger party was certainly not Great Chu.
Yet, Chu Jiao didn’t act like she was a bargaining chip in this deal. She ate and drank to her own content, staying in the most luxurious carriage of the group, and was even attended to by two beautiful maids, living a leisurely life.
However, her motion sickness was still incurable. She didn’t have much of an appetite everyday and before they even reached midway of their destination, her smaller-than-a-palm size face had turned so thin, her chin could practically stab someone to death.
Hu Luoyan watched as Chu Jiao continued to lose weight and even though he didn’t say anything on the surface, for some reason, the more he looked at her face, the more discomfited he felt.
Tsk, her originally fair and tender face was much more pleasing to the eye.
“Hey, don’t die on the road. If you can’t make it to the marriage, m-…my brother would lose face and your Great Chu would be finished!”
Tuoba Yan said to her one time, when Chu Jiao really couldn’t hold it in, calling the carriage to a stop and puking her insides out.
Chu Jiao glanced at the man’s disdainful eyes as the nausea in her stomach eased slightly. She replied unhappily, “Don’t worry. Even if I die, I’ll still be the ghost that haunts your Tuoba family!”
She originally intended to tease him, knowing he was in disguise, however, she didn’t expect that the man would scrunch his brows and cover her mouth.
“One cannot simply joke about life or death,” The Xianbei people believed in gods, as such, they were particularly sensitive to such taboo words, “Live properly as a member of our Tuoba clan.”
Chu Jiao stuck out her tongue out upon hearing this and forgot that the man’s hand was still in her mouth so she ended up curling the tip of her tongue on the man’s rough palm.
“!”
Hu Luoyan withdrew his hand quickly as though he had been burnt by fire. He glared at this ‘licentious’ princess and though his mouth kept twitching, no words came out. He quickly got on his horse and in the blink of an eye, ran back to where his troop was gathered.
Chu Jiao was only able to catch a glance of his dark red ears but a small smile still bloomed on her face as she covered her stomach.
Later on, when the two were bickering, Chu Jiao casually mentioned about wanting to eat roasted rabbit legs and though Hu Luoyan kept harping on about how “women were troublesome”, that very same afternoon, the man had disappeared for a period of time. By the time he came back, two rabbits with an arrow pierced through their hearts, were hanging atop the pouch behind his horse.
And they were even freshly caught, their blood still warm.
Bi Luo covered her mouth, looking at the bearded man with apprehension. She whispered to Hong Xiu about how weak and adorable the little rabbit was and how cruel he was to have done something like this to it.
Chu Jiao only cracked a smile hearing this, even mischievously asked Hu Luoyan to peel off its skin, instructing him to give the clean and hairless game to her two maids once he was finished.
Then, with a rare show of appetite, she gnawed on one roasted rabbit leg.
The remainder naturally went into the stomach of a certain powerful man.
On the road, Chu Jiao felt a lot more content. Even though she often put out weird requests from time to time, such as picking some red wild berries on the roadside, or asking a blacksmith from a small town to make her several helix-shaped hardware, in the beginning, everyone thought she was only having it made just for fun, but they didn’t think that this pampered and spoiled princess would actually continue to surprise them.
Once the wild berries were dried out and grinded into powder, they sprinkled it onto the food just as the princess had instructed. As a result, the originally tasteless food turned fragrant, spicy and appetizing. The helix-shaped hardware was installed beneath the princess’s carriage and upon starting their journey again, the carriage no longer jolted, allowing its guests to feel as though they were sitting on clouds.
This kind of invention was not only applicable in daily life but also in other areas as well. Hu Luoyan was a ruler who had profound wisdom, the people by his side also had bright heads on their shoulders, yet towards the princess whose “chilli” and “spring” inventions weren’t worth mentioning, he deemed them as things of great value.
Chu Jiao’s original intentions were to only let her travelling experience become more bearable, but she never expected that her impulsive actions influenced her fiance’s subordinates to form a good impression of her.
However, even if she knew this, she didn’t put too much thought to it.
At this moment, she was more concerned about a certain man who loved pretending to act hostile and cold.
“Hey, Beardie, I don’t want to ride the carriage anymore.”
She pulled the curtains up and propped her chin on the carriage windows, looking at the man who rode his steed alongside the carriage, and told him in a bored voice.
[Completed]
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