RVW-42.1

Regarding Ah Nan’s thousand miles journey to meet her husband, the ones who were worried about it the most are Imperial Chancellor Lu, the Empress Dowager, and the Emperor.

Imperial Chancellor Lu worries a lot. Would she be fatigued from the trip? What if she met with hardships along the way? Ah Nan has such a small and weak body, what if she couldn’t eat or sleep well? What if she fell sick then? As for the Emperor and Empress Dowager, they are worried whether she could travel safely. Do the Imperial guards they sent have enough ability to guard her? What if Su Wangfei couldn’t arrive at Tongcheng safely?

Thus, as they were all extremely worried, they selectively forgot to write a letter to Chu Baning regarding Ah Nan’s trip to Tongcheng. Ah, actually Emperor Chongde did have someone directly send a letter over there, but it was actually handed over to the accompanying Grand Imperial Guards¹. So the letter would only reach Chu Baning after they had reached Tongcheng and met with the Wang ye.

——Your highness, the Emperor, this action of yours is only delaying Su Wang’s wrath, useless ah!

However, what they don’t know is that, the Wang fei everyone was worried about whether she could eat or sleep well or have a safe trip, was currently hale and hearty as she plays the Ghost Card² game with Ru Cui in the carriage.

The carriage that Su Wang fei was riding in was specially given by Emperor Chongde, hoping that Ah Nan could comfortably ride the way until she arrived at Tongcheng. Who knows, maybe once Chu Baning saw his fair and tender little wife, he wouldn’t be so furious…… The carriage walls were dark purple with a faint ambler luster, looking vintage and elegant, appearing low-key but gorgeous. But those with knowledge could tell that this carriage’s walls were made of precious red sandalwood, unique fragrance of the wood could still be smelt near it. The sky-blue curtains, embroidered with patterns of wealth and prosperity³, was tightly closed, blocking passer-bys sight from the outside.

Moreover, the interior of the carriage is also extremely comfortable. Not to mention all kinds of food stored in the carriage’s hidden compartments. The interior of the carriage was covered with a layer of cotton and a beautiful blanket with exquisite patterns. They are very soft and warm to be sat on, one could also directly lie down inside the carriage and still find a lot of joy.

On either side of the carriage were six attending guards riding their horses. Except for a middle-aged man in the front, the others were all young and talented men. They are all dressed in uniform robes, their backs straight as they rode on the horses, looking solemn and imposing. Just looking at their get up, one could tell that this group of cavalry guards aren’t people they could provoke.

In addition to the carriage customized solely for Wang fei to ride in, there is also a smaller carriage for the maids and Momos behind, and the rest are all luggages. Everywhere they go, there would be guards following them along, guarding them extremely tightly.

The road they took is a public road, there are a lot of merchants coming and going from the south to the north. As they saw their group of people, each of them couldn’t help but give way as they secretly wondered who could be sitting inside the carriage. Just looking at the guards formation and overall situation, they could tell that the person in the carriage must be either rich or noble, not someone ordinary people could ever provoke.

In fact, Emperor Chongde had generously appointed 16 Grand imperial guards to escort her, and there were still some Imperial guards chosen from Su Wang Mansion, making such a formidable troop arrangement. Even if some mountain bandits were to come, they would for sure have to consider whether their own strength would be enough to kill this group of people.

Although the public roads of the Ancient era couldn’t be compared to modern era’s asphalt roads, it’s not so bumpy as they rode in the carriage. Some small rockings could still be felt, but Ah Nan actually enjoyed it as if she was on a rocking chair. Even Ru Cui, this maid who has never travelled far except for Ningcheng, also seemed to enjoy it.

Ah Nan and Ru Cui were like two prisoners who just got a whiff of fresh air, they kept smiling happily along the way in joy, completely oblivious to the worries of the three people in the capital for their safety.

Compared to these two who only felt happy and worry-free, with not an ounce of lethargy from their journey, the maid Ru Lan has been vomiting her guts out since day one of the journey, obviously tortured by the bump and sways of the carriage. After two days, she had already gotten thinner and lost some chubs. Ah Nan felt some pity for her and thus let her and Ru Cui ride along with her in her carriage, hoping that it could make her feel a little better.

Though, fortunately the only one getting motion sickness was only Ru Lan. The rest of the people didn’t seem to have a hard time, though they looked a bit downcast, there’s nothing more than that.

Thus, Ah Nan and Ru Cui, who looked great spirited, seemed really out of place. Even the leader of the guards, Imperial Guard Feng, secretly nodded, thinking that the legendary short-lived Su Wang fei seemed to be very healthy and might have no problem living until 70 or 80 years old——On the premise that she wouldn’t be “Ke-killed” by Su Wang’s hard fate.

Their journey thus far had been smooth sailing. And as they went farther to the north, the colder the weather became. Ah Nan had already put on a thick coat and cotton jacket and holed up in the carriage all day. The window curtains have been shut tightly, no longer interested in stealthily lift the curtains and taking a peek at the outside scenery.

In fact, there is not much scenery to see along the way. When the weather becomes colder, the forests, mountains, farmland, and so on, appear to be desolate and bleak. Sometimes, when passing by some villages and towns, one could still see some folks working in the fields, children running from one end of the road to the other, their voices cheerful and shouts loud and clear.

Ah Nan in the carriage lifted the window curtains to look outside. She could see the mountain ranges in the surroundings far far away, obstructing her line of sight.

“Imperial Guard Feng!” Ru Cui lifted the carriage’s curtain and shouted outside.

Imperial Guard Feng recognized this voice as the voice of one of the maids that served Su Wang fei. He turned the horse’s head around, drove it next to the carriage, and saw the maid’s beautiful face on the other side of the lifted curtains.

“Lady Ru Cui, is there something wrong?” Imperial Guard Feng cupped his hands in greeting as he rode on the horse.

Imperial Guard Feng is the leader of the Imperial guards. Under his arrangement, the journey itinerary was clear and orderly, so Ah Nan never missed the stops at taverns and never experienced spending the night out in the open. He is approximately a man in his 40s, with an ordinary appearance that blends in with the crowd. However, he could impress Emperor Chongde and made him be appointed as the leader of the imperial guards on this trip, his capability shouldn’t be questioned.

“Imperial Guard Feng, Wang fei wanted to ask you, when will we reach Tongcheng?” Ru Cui asked smilingly.

Compared to Ru Cui’s beautiful hale and hearty appearance, the two people in the carriage……are all wilted and haggard.

Ai ya, don’t be doubtful. Ah Nan has been sitting in the carriage for 10 consecutive days, of course she would wilt. In her previous life, the longest ride she had ever taken was one day and one night ride on a train to Beijing for sightseeing. When has she experienced something like this, where a ride took 10 days and in daytime, except for eating and going to the toilet, has all been spent holing up in the carriage. No matter how adaptable and well-adjusted she is, she would also feel uncomfortable. Not to mention Ru Lan, who had almost vomited her innards out once they got onto the carriage. So pitiful, her small face had gotten so thin she looks like bones wrapped in skin. Who knows if she got influenced by Ru Lan who she had seen vomited a lot, in the end she also vomited.

Like this afternoon, Ah Nan finally couldn’t help but call out to stop and ran out of the carriage to vomit once again.

Seeing Ah Nan rushing out of the carriage, running towards a tree on the roadside, and vomiting wildly, Ru Cui, this second-class goods⁴, exclaimed in surprised delight, “Xiao Jie, are you pregnant?”

As a result, everyone was alarmed.

Not to mention how delightfully surprised the people in Su Wang Mansion were, even the Grand Imperial Guards sent by Emperor Chongde looked amazed. They thought, could this Su Wang fei really be a miracle? Not only has she not been “Ke-killed” by Su Wang, she even got pregnant?

Ah Nan, who almost vomited her bile out, had no strength left to refute Ru Cui——She was really only carsick.

Before Ah Nan could explain, people crowded onto the carriage and asked Zhang Momo, who had some medical expertise, to feel Ah Nan’s pulse.

Under the stares of highly expectant people, Zhang Momo felt great pressure. After feeling up Ah Nan’s pulse, she tried hard to maintain a calm appearance as she spoke, “Wang fei isn’t pregnant, only carsick. When we get to the tavern, go and ask a doctor to prescribe some anti-motion sickness medicine for Wang fei.”

Therefore, the joyful atmosphere dissipated.

However, everyone had too much faith in Su Wang’s “Killing Wife and Losing Son” fate. Therefore, towards this outcome, their expressions were all basically “should be like this.” But the Momos couldn’t hide their disappointment. They were all elderly people who have long served Su Wang, it could even be said that they have watched Chu Baning grow up. Of course they would naturally be happy when their master has a little young master. Now with such a result, they became even more disappointed.

Imperial Guard Feng, hearing Ru Cui’s question, thought for a moment before saying, “Lady Ru Cui, we should arrive at Tongcheng in about five days.” Imperial Guard Feng secretly added in his thoughts: If no mishap happens, that is

Hearing they still have to wait five days, Ah Nan and Ru Lan laid limp as corpses in the carriage.

Ru Cui looked sympathetically at the two people lying down in rows. Fortunately, the carriage was big enough to accommodate both of them lying down. Seeing their pale and depressed expressions, Ru Cui continued to ask, “Imperial Guard Feng, when can we get to the relay station⁵ today? Wang fei needs to rest.”

“Don’t worry, once we cross this mountain we will soon reach Qinzhou City.”

And so, after they went for about four hours, they finally arrived at Qinzhou City.

Translator’s notes:

Ghost card game (抽鬼牌) is a card game where the players each receive cards (all cards in the deck and one Joker) and take turns drawing counter/clockwise from other players. Cards that form pairs are discarded into the pile, the first person to lose all cards is the winner. The loser is the one with the “Ghost card” aka the Joker. I used to play this game a lot with my cousins hahaha, but the difference is that we didn’t use Joker, but ace of spades as the ghost card. It’s a good game to train your poker face and nurture distrust and cracks in relationships 🙂

By the way, playing cards were invented in Chinese (some said it is from Song Dynasty, some said it’s from Tang Dynasty, anyway it’s said that cards have existed before 1000AD), as a form of woodblock printing, then it got to the Egypt and then Europe.

There are other kinds of ancient chinese cards (like the dominos), but I think the one that inspired the modern card is this one: