The Farm Girl's Charismatic Fortune-Chapter 366 - 362: Yan Jiaojiao’s Imaginations

The Empress Dowager wished to leave the palace, yet the Emperor still disagreed. After all, his elderly mother was now in her seventies, not seventeen!

In Xuanyuan Country, the common folk consider sixty a ripe old age.

"Mother, the frontier is bitterly remote. You are advanced in years and can’t endure the hardships of travel by cart and boat. I truly can’t rest easy and I won’t agree to it," he said.

The Empress Dowager replied, "It’s precisely because I’m advanced in years that I want to leave the palace and see this prosperous age’s mountains and rivers. While I can still move about, I want to look around everywhere. In a hundred years, I will then be able to tell your father the Emperor what this prosperous age’s mountains and rivers were like!"

The Empress Dowager, well advanced in years at over seventy, had accompanied the late Emperor in battles across the battlefields for most of her life. She felt that if she didn’t take the opportunity to see the prosperous age’s mountains and rivers now, she might never get another chance.

As a founding Empress, when she was young she had lived through times of utter despair when "not a single patch of idle land was to be found, yet farmers still perished of hunger." She had seen the land riddled with a thousand scars, witnessed families destroyed and people killed, and experienced countless upheavals and bloody battles to achieve today’s peace and stability in this golden age.

She really wanted to see it!

To see the splendid beauty of the land, the peace and contentment of the people, their well-fed and well-clothed existence.

As long as this golden age was as she wished it to be, she would have no regrets in death.

Having heard what the Empress Dowager said, the Emperor could no longer bear to stop her.

"How about letting the Crown Prince administer state affairs while I, too, go out for a look?" he said.

The Empress Dowager rolled her eyes at him, giving the Emperor an eye roll, then told him to get lost!

After leaving the Cining Palace, the Emperor suddenly realized that he hadn’t left the palace for a year, and hadn’t left the Capital City for many years!

He also longed to see the peaceful and prosperous epoch he had ruled over.

Unfortunately, a country cannot go one day without its ruler; he couldn’t leave the palace casually, especially knowing that the four nations were poised to send troops against Xuanyuan Country.

He needed to stay in the palace all the more to arrange all affairs properly.

The Crown Prince was still young and inexperienced in handling state affairs, particularly as he had no experience with warfare. The Emperor couldn’t be at ease with the idea, so the Emperor thought about making a secret inspection tour, but the time was not yet right.

So, with the efforts of Xuanyuan Que, Ruo Xuan didn’t even need to find an excuse; the Liu family and Ruo Shui both agreed to let Ruo Xuan accompany Xuanyuan Que on his inspection tour.

Of course, Xuanyuan Que’s inspection tour was a secret, known only to a few. It was officially a study tour to the public.

A study tour group being somewhat relaxed was perfectly normal.

Moreover, the Empress Dowager had also invited Granny Lei, and upon learning this, Mr. Han also joined them.

Won’t a study tour with a scholar look more like a study tour?

Who would guess that they were on an inspection tour?

Xuanyuan Que would go to reform the military camps, and to avoid startling the grass and alarming the snake, traveling around on a study tour was the best excuse.

Anyway, there was almost a year’s time, which was sufficient.

The reason the frontier had been peaceful in recent years was that neighboring countries wanted to weaken the soldiers of Xuanyuan Country so that when they attacked, it would be much easier.

Furthermore, in the past few years, as loyal generals like Yan Heng had successively returned to the Capital, some commanders left behind at the frontier had been bought by neighboring countries. Eliminating these commanders was also one of the objectives of the trip, hence the need to avoid alarming them.

With three individuals over seventy years old in the group, the pace was slower.

But, thanks to the nurturing of Xuanyuan Que and Ruo Xuan’s Spiritual Power, the three elders didn’t feel tired even after traveling for a whole day.

On the first night, when they stopped at an inn, Yan Jiaojiao got out of the carriage and seeing the vitality of the three elders, felt they were even more spirited than her!

Knowing that Xuanyuan Que had left the Capital for an inspection tour, the Empress Dowager said, "Tomorrow we can move faster; we are going too slow, but don’t worry—we don’t feel tired at all."

Granny Lei nodded, "Indeed, we can go a bit faster."

"It is too slow." Mr. Han and Ruo Zhou had been playing chess in a carriage, and he too believed the pace was too slow.

If they were faster, they could stay at post stations instead of inns.

After all, Xuanyuan Country had quite a few post stations.

Each post station was approximately a day’s ride apart by horse-drawn carriage.

Seeing the three energetic seniors, Yan Jiaojiao whispered to Ruo Xuan, "Xuanbao, can you check and see if I have become old? After sitting in the carriage for a whole day, I feel as if all my bones have come apart, yet the older women are still so spirited."

Ruo Xuan, thinking she was feeling uncomfortable, seriously looked her over and then said, "You’re not old; you’re just overexerted. Rest early at night and cut back on procreation, and you’ll be fine."

Yan Jiaojiao: "..."

Was that a reference to... that?

Xuanbao hadn’t married yet, how could she know these things?

Yan Jiaojiao’s gaze involuntarily fell on Xuanyuan Que.

Could it be that cousin number nine had already stretched out his demonic claws toward Xuanbao?

No, that won’t do!

She had to keep a close eye on Xuanbao and couldn’t allow anyone to tarnish her reputation.

Starting tomorrow, the two of them couldn’t share a carriage anymore.

Yan Jiaojiao glared fiercely at Xuanyuan Que, "You hypocritical beast in human clothing!"

Xuanyuan Que: "..."

～

When it was time to eat, Ruo Xuan was about to sit next to Xuanyuan Que.

Yan Jiaojiao directly pulled Ruo Xuan to sit beside herself and had Zhou Ludong sit next to Xuanyuan Que instead.

Zhou Ludong, meeting Xuanyuan Que’s indifferent gaze, shivered!

How could he dare?

With a turn, he circled back and took a seat in the back.

Yan Jiaojiao thought Zhou Ludong was useless!

She plopped down beside Xuanyuan Que herself, vowing to defend Xuanbao’s reputation to the death.

Xuanyuan Que gave her an indifferent glance and said nothing.

But the meal was extremely unlucky for Yan Jiaojiao—what she picked up was either a chicken butt or a duck butt!

She clearly thought she was picking up a chicken wing at first, so why did it taste like a chicken butt when she ate it?

Has anyone ever eaten chicken or duck butts?

That off-putting taste made her rush out to vomit twice during the meal and ultimately she couldn’t eat anything.

When it was time to return to their respective rooms to sleep, Yan Jiaojiao wrapped her arm around Ruo Xuan’s, "Xuanbao, during our travel for scholarly pursuits, you should sleep with me!"

Zhou Ludong: "..."

"And what about me?"

Yan Jiaojiao: "Aren’t you a grown man who can sleep alone? I’m worried that Xuanbao, being alone in a foreign place, would be scared."

Zhou Ludong: "..."

They had just had their wedding a few days ago, and now he was supposed to sleep alone? Wasn’t the Emperor’s permission for him to travel with his wife considerate of the fact that they were newlyweds?

But Zhou Ludong couldn’t refute Yan Jiaojiao’s reasoning and had to accept it.

Ruo Xuan preferred sleeping alone; however, since her sleep also involved cultivation, sharing the bed with Yan Jiaojiao would help Yan Jiaojiao recover some energy, so she agreed.

Xuanyuan Que had no objections to this.

The next day, Yan Jiaojiao woke up refreshed and said, "Xuanbao, sleeping with you is so comfortable!"

She had never had such a good night’s sleep.

Ruo Xuan smiled, "Then let’s continue tonight."

"Okay."

～

At breakfast, Yan Jiaojiao again sat next to Xuanyuan Que, not letting Ruo Xuan have much contact with him.

There was chicken porridge for breakfast, and with Yan Jiaojiao’s first bite of chicken, she got the chicken butt again!

She lost her appetite completely!

It was the same for lunch and dinner.

If she ate meat, it was either a chicken butt or a duck butt.

Yan Jiaojiao dared not eat meat anymore, sticking to the vegetables instead.

But then she saw a worm on one of the vegetables!

Her appetite vanished instantly.

Having barely eaten anything all day, Yan Jiaojiao concluded: Not just anyone can sit beside Ninth Brother!

Whoever sits with him is jinxed!

She had heard about it since she was a child!