zChapter 1092 - Joy Of Meeting, Sorrow of Parting (1/2)
Jian Er did get her reward, and Lu Ping did have her own destiny.
The horse carriage headed west, setting off early and stopping late at night. After three days, when they reached the bottom of a mountain, the driver told her: “Madam, This Humble One can only send you over this mountain and cannot proceed any further, needing to return. On the other side of the mountain, there is a small town. Another horse carriage can be hired there, This Humble One will help you to hire the carriage, you can just continue your journey like this.”
Lu Ping nodded, not saying anything else, only looking up at this tall mountain in front of her, feeling a little timid. She felt a slight uneasiness, this uneasiness did not come from the mountain, but the hidden disease behind her which had not broken off.
Her only worry was the Lu family catching up. Even though there had not been much movement after three days, this did not mean that there would be no movements afterwards. From the capital to Ji An Prefecture, it would still take half a month at the earliest. The duration was too long, she sighed inwardly. Half a month was more than enough time for many things to happen.
“Leave quickly!” She put down the carriage curtain and instructed the driver, “Mountain roads are not easy to travel on, we should prioritise safety, even if we are in a rush, there is no point rushing at this point.”
The driver answered energetically and reassured her, saying: “Do not worry, Madam, even though mountain roads are not easy to travel on, This Humble One has travelled on this path many times, nothing bad will happen. This mountain is a road which must be passed when heading west, many people have travelled on it and the road has already been trodden on by the horse carriages until it is very flat, nothing bad will happen.” After he said this, he spurred the horse to start climbing the mountain.
Lu Ping sat in the carriage, and that anxious feeling became stronger, she pulled open the carriage curtain and looked behind. There were no special movements on the meandering small path, and only eagles would take flight occasionally chasing each other. She stared for a while and was struck with fright.
She did not look anymore, returning to the inside of the carriage to rest her spirits, trying her best to calm down. The road up to mountain was on an upwards slope, and the carriage leaned back slightly, jostling a little. Lu Ping leaned against the back of the carriage, hugging that large bag of hers tightly, thinking that for her life from now on, she had to depend on the things she had packed in her bag and the silver which was not considered a lot.
Even though she was the Eldest Miss of the Lu family, she was not favoured. Moreover, she had a hidden condition all these years, so the family did not care about her. Her monthly allowance was still given, but those silver was still not enough for her to reward the servants and she was unable to save much. All these years, she only saved slightly over 300 taels, and even gave part of it to Jian Er to live on. What she could take out now was only silver notes amounting to slightly over 100 taels and a few dozen shattered silver. But she hoped that Ji An Prefecture would be able to provide her with a place to belong. She heard that the Ren family’s Young Master and Young Miss was still there. Lu Ping though, she did not go to Ji An Prefecture because Ren family’s Young Master was there, it was just that a desire to go there grew within her. If they met by coincidence, she hoped that the other party would not misunderstand.
Without realising it, Lu Ping thought of Ren Xitao, but she did not know, because of Xuan Tiange’s marriage, the two siblings Ren Xitao and Ren Xifeng were also in a horse carriage, rushing back as quickly as they could. The driver of the Ren family already spurred on the carriage to its fastest speed, and the two large horses pulling the carriage were specially raised in General Ping Nan’s manor for these two young masters to use. But even if it was like this, Ren Xifeng still felt that the speed was too slow, complaining constantly: “Based on this speed, when we reach the capital, Tiange would be close to reaching Gu Shu.”
Ren Xitao showed a troubled smile, “It’s not that bad, do you think the capital is close to Gu Shu? But counting the days, Princess Wuyang should have left the capital already, and we are late by more than one step. Let’s return to the capital first and get some information! If you really cannot let it go, we can just go south give chase. The marriage procession will not travel that quickly, if we use swift horses, we might be able to catch up.”
Ren Xifeng looked unhappy and complained to her own older brother, “It’s your fault, insisting on taking me to the mountain to hunt, if we could set off together with Furong, we will definitely make it in time for Tiange’s wedding.”
“Why are you blaming me now?” Ren Xitao felt wronged, “Wasn’t it you who insisted on going? You argued with me for two whole days, if I did not bring you along, you would have torn the roof open?”
Ren Xifeng was rendered speechless and lowered her head, quiet. The mountain road was bumpy, but once they crossed this mountain, it would only be flat road ahead and they will reach the capital in three days at most. Once she thought of this, her mood improved. She asked Ren Xitao: “Older brother, what should I give to Tiange to add to her dowry?” After saying this, she sighed lightly: “Sigh, I don’t know if we can still catch up to her marriage procession, why don’t we not return to the capital first and head to the south directly!”
Ren Xitao laughed at her: “Just now, you were still pondering on adding to her dowry. If you do not return to the capital, what are you going to give? Are you going to buy something on the way to give her? It will not match up to the collection at home.”
“That is true.” Ren Xifeng started to calculate what good things General Ping Nan Manor had, and as she calculated, she said: “I don’t even know if Father gave anything.”
“It’s impossible to not give anything! That is the marriage of the Princess, our manor has a good relationship with Wenxuan Palace, not only will Father give gifts, the value of the gifts will definitely be hefty.” As Ren Xitao replied his younger sister, he pulled open the curtain to look at the scenery outside. However, he did hear the sound of hoofbeats approaching quickly. The carriage was fast and would brush across their horse carriage in at most 30 paces.
He did not think too much about it, this was a mountain path which must be crossed when heading west from the capital, there was many people who took this path, so encountering one or two horse carriages was a normal thing. It was just as he watched, they arrived at a turn, the driver slowed down and reminded them: “Young Master, Young Miss, the road ahead is narrow, and we are driving a two-horse carriage, we cannot avoid this and have to proceed carefully.”