Pet Addiction: The Prince’s Desire to Spoil His Pet - Chapter 166 - Deceiving Uncle Sheng (65)

Chapter 166: Deceiving Uncle Sheng (65)

Shu Nuan and Wen Zhigu rested at the relay station for the night. There was a little snowfall. They planned to go to the city tomorrow to find a doctor, since one couldn’t be found at the station.

T/L relay station for post-horses -, is a place where fresh animals could replace an exhausted horse or horses. A long journey was much faster, with no delay to rest horses.

The two young girls squatted on the stone steps and watched snowflakes drift toward the ground.

Shu Nuan looked up at the white expanse in the sky and thought of her friend A’Che. During a snowy night in the past, A’che had ignored its own injuries and brought her out of a full-sized ambush.

Wen Zhigu held out her hand. Snowflakes would land on her palm every few moments, sending tiny jolts along her nerves. She whispered, “Shu Nuan, have you thought about your future?”

Shu Nuan sniffed her nose and said, “I have thought about it before.”

Ah’Che had taught her all kinds of skills, and he’d told her that, with these skills, she could survive in the face of adversity, that she could survive the future. When the Qing Kingdom had fallen, she’d become a slave during the subjugation. However, once she’d met Sheng Qianmo, she’d survived and lived cautiously without thinking about her future.

Wen Zhigu said, “When I was but a child, I would look at the maps of various countries. My father said that I would be a military advisor in the future. It’s a high status and you can direct people to do what you want. But then, I did nothing. I took my younger brother and lived happily. When he was exiled to Hancheng, I never dared to think about the dreams I had when I was a child.”

Wen Zhigu had spoken in a light tone, as if she’d been explaining something mundane.

But it was so cold that she could not hide her sadness.

Shu Nuan was silent. She stretched out a finger and scratched on the snow, before muttering, “Will the future be all right?”

Wen Zhigu did not speak; she watched Nuan draw the lovely outline of a kitten in the snow.

Shu Nuan suddenly turned to ask her, “Have you ever thought about… leaving him?”

Shu Nuan glanced at Wen Zhigu, thinking she could help Wen Zhigu leave the capital and the demon Ji Xubai’s side with the chance in Yu Shuicheng…

Wen Zhigu nodded, but then hung down her head.

“No use, I’ve seen it. Two of the guards with us are his men.”

As long as he had the information about her that he was blackmailing her with, she couldn’t leave him, Wen Zhigu thought.

The sun was but a young blur in the mist when they entered the city the next day. The Yulin Academy had informed them of where they’d be staying: a wide courtyard covered in snow. When they arrived, they asked a guard to help find a doctor.

The diagnosis was simple. There were no problems with Wen Zhigu except for a lack of rest. So Shu Nuan let her stay put while she went out to shop for necessities.

The cloak she’d put on flapped in the strong wind and a layer of snow quickly made home on top of her head. She tightened the cloak around her thin body and put on the attached hood.

Yu Shuicheng was much more beautiful than she’d imagined. Streams cut through the streets, their surfaces shedded in ice. Pebbles smoothed by years of running waters lined them, the horizon between the frost and the haze created by reflected sunlight. Most houses, all jagged structures, were located by these streams, meaning they were lined going up the town. The huge water wheel in the distance was stationary, dragged to a halt by the stubborn frost and snow that clung to it.

After crossing the bridge over the main river, Nuan walked beside a winding waterway, a serpent of ice this winter. Neat rock steps were placed at small intervals. After walking across the gravel road, she found a street with bustle and the chime of prosperity.