Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 641 - 639

Chapter 641: 639

The next morning, Xiao’er and her group set off. Shangguan Xuanyi saw her out of the city, carefully instructing her all the way by the carriage side. Xiao’er felt that he was even more nagging than Mrs. Liu.

Under Xiao’er’s teasing gaze, Shangguan Xuanyi closed his mouth in irritation.

"Take care of yourself!" At the fork in the road, Shangguan Xuanyi spoke again, then reluctantly looked at Xiao’er in the carriage, stopped his horse, and let their carriage go first. It wasn’t until Xiao’er’s carriage was completely out of sight that he went a separate way with his men.

After the horse had run a short distance, Shangguan Xuanyi still felt uneasy and turned to Feng Yang, "Feng Yang, follow Rui’an and go to Shengping County to celebrate her birthday."

Feng Yang: Like a bolt from the blue! He also wanted to go to battle, not to be a guard!

The Rui’an Countess was just going back to celebrate her birthday, what could possibly happen with so many hidden guards following them!

Shangguan Xuanyi seemed to know Feng Yang’s thoughts, he glanced at Feng Yang, "To me, she is more important than anything."

Feng Yang was stunned by these words, he bowed his head in shame, "I will protect the Countess of Rui’an without a single hair missing."

To him, the master’s business was the most important thing.

Shangguan Xuanyi nodded, "Go!"

Feng Yang saluted and left.

Feng Yang directly went to the side of Xiao’er’s carriage to protect her closely.

Xiao’er heard the sound of horse hooves. She lifted the curtain and saw it was Feng Yang. She was speechless at Shangguan Xuanyi’s move.

Feng Yang bowed to Xiao’er and said, "The master told me to protect you, Countess."

Xiao’er nodded, "Thank you."

She didn’t tell him to go back. Anyway, whether there was one more or one less person to "watch" her, there was no difference. Let it be, she didn’t care anymore.

Seeing this, Mrs. Liu laughed, "Xiao’er, The Sixth Prince really cares about you."

With this, she was relieved. Xiao’er would live well after marrying him.

That was undeniable, Xiao’er nodded, "He’s just a bit naggy."

Both Mrs. Liu and Yun’er laughed when they heard this.

...

For this trip home, Xiao’er and her group had kept things simple. Mrs. Liu was holding Xiao Jingzhe and taking her two daughters in one carriage, Jingrui and Jinghao in another carriage, and another carriage carrying some luggage and birthday gifts, as well as several guards. Of course, Yang Mei and Yang Liu also came along.

They took the official road. Over the past few years, many main roads between counties have been built. And unless it was really difficult to overcome, the main roads were built in the shortest straight-line distance between two points, so many official roads were built by cutting through mountains.

This greatly reduced the travel time between the south and north regions, bringing convenience to many merchants.

However, someone had calculated that the road and bridge fees from the extreme south to the extreme north would cost at least three taels of silver. Even ten taels of silver might not be enough to cover all the county’s official roads nationwide.

The total income from road and bridge fees in the past two years also surprised the Emperor, who exclaimed that indeed wealth comes from opening roads.

Pushing hard and keeping steady, their group spent more than half a month and finally entered the territory of Shengping County.

Before descending the official road, they encountered another toll booth.

Zhao Yong took out 50 coins and queued to pass the toll. On the opposite lane, a merchant team was passing the toll, with a total of ten carriages.

Xiao’er lifted the curtain and looked over, just in time to see the leader of the merchants handing a tael of silver to the toll collector.

"Sir, please be kind, we are in a rush."

The toll collector took the silver tael, removed the guardrail and said, "Go!"

Xiao’er’s eyes widened: according to the overloaded carriage calculation, a carriage needed to pay 15 coins, their ten carriage would only need 150 coins at most!

The man had given a tael of silver! Was he just too rich?

Merchants are usually penny pinchers. If it’s really a merchant team, how much time can they waste at a toll booth? There was really no need to give that much tip in silver!

Unless he wanted to avoid the inspection by the toll collectors!

Xiao’er was right. That toll collector didn’t even ask what was in their carriages after receiving the silver, then let them go.

Xiao’er watched the slowly-moving merchant team and saw a few grains of rice falling from one of the carriages.

Grains? There’s a lot of grain in ten carriages! But this only makes the man’s one tael of road and bridge fee seem even more unreasonable.

In recent years, grain prices have been falling. Many people can support themselves and even have surplus food, which makes grain not easy to sell! The profit is almost minimal!

A grain merchant who is willing to give out so much as road fee is unreasonable.

Besides, grain is not something that needs to avoid inspection. Grain merchants have grain permits, they don’t need to dodge and hide!

The excuse of being in a hurry can only fool these toll collectors who are trying to earn extra money.

Something’s fishy when things seem abnormal!

Xiao’er temporarily suppressed the doubts in her heart. After their carriage passed the toll booth, she said to Feng Yang, "Feng Yang, go back and follow that merchant team."

"The master said, for him, the Countess of Rui’an is the most important." In other words, he will not take care of anything else besides protecting her.

Feng Yang was not unaware of the abnormality of that merchant team, but he promised the master that he would protect the Countess of Rui’an, he naturally wouldn’t bother with other things.

Xiao’er was stunned! Did he know to prioritize things? But seeing Feng Yang’s determined face, Xiao’er decided not to waste her breath and said, "Alright then, Feng Yang, you drive the carriage. Zhao Yong, you go investigate that merchant team."

Zhao Yong: "Miss, the master told me to drive the carriage well during the journey, protect you when not driving, and not to worry about anything besides you."

Xiao’er looked up at the sky speechlessly after hearing this. Those hidden guards wouldn’t go and investigate, for sure. Shangguan Xuanyi, why didn’t you assign more people to me! As for the guards from her own house, Xiao’er shook her head, after all, they were not as skilled as others!

When people are really needed, they are insufficient!

Yang Liu saw Xiao’er’s aggrieved expression and couldn’t help laughing, "Miss, the Sixth Prince is most concerned about you. His arrangements must be thorough. Just give your orders."

Xiao’er had an epiphany after hearing this! Since Shangguan Xuanyi had arranged people to protect her, those people should obey her commands. If not, she could just send them away!

So Xiao’er cleared her throat and domineeringly said, "Zhao Yong, the matter of figuring out what’s wrong with that merchant team is up to you!"

Zhao Yong felt the urge to kill Yang Liu! Didn’t she understand what’s meant by ’more is less’?

This trip back to Shengping County to celebrate her birthday, the most important thing was to arrive safely and return safely!

Based on his many years of being a coachman, he concluded that Xiao’er was the kind of person who could invite trouble even without doing anything. Now that she’s going to actively seek trouble!

There really wasn’t a moment to rest!

Zhao Yong resignedly ran the errand.

Seeing Zhao Yong’s resigned-to-death expression, Xiao’er laughed, "Yang Liu, I bet Zhao Yong wants to kill you."

Yang Liu: "Don’t worry, Miss, he wouldn’t dare."