Chapter 711: Returning to the Capital (2/2)

Zhao Han didn’t back off after receiving Imperial Prince Xu’s sharp look. He stared back and sparks flew between them. The tension was palpable.

“Oh wow! We can travel on seafaring ships back ah! Doesn’t that mean we’ll pass by the harbor at Tanggu? I might even have some time to visit my family for a couple of days!” Yu Xiaocao inserted herself between the two men with the help of Wutong. She cradled her belly that was already a bit prominent and immediately dissolved the awkward atmosphere between the two.

Zhao Han carefully looked at Xiaocao from head to toe. When he saw that her face was rosy and bright, he knew that she had been nursed well recently. He glanced briefly at the slight swell of her belly and then pretended that he hadn’t seen anything. He smiled, “Get everything ready. We will do our best to get to the harbor at Tanggu before the ice starts to spread. When I left, I had someone send a letter over to Uncle Yu. He said that he will personally receive you at the harbor.”

“There’s not much that needs to be packed. All of the gifts and presents I bought in Jiangnan have long been sent away. As for my personal belongings, we’re pretty much done organizing them in the past few days. If all goes well, we can head out tomorrow.” If it weren’t for the fact that her husband had insisted on having her stay in Jinling longer to recuperate her body, they would have headed back half a month ago to the capital. Even if the emperor didn't send anyone over to take them back, they would have begun traveling within the next few days.

Although Zhu Junyang wasn’t pleased by the fact that Zhao Han was here, for the sake of his wife’s safety, he was willing to pinch his nose and deal with it. With his wife’s current condition, he didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks.

They took a ferry from Jinling before they reached the open waters and boarded the seafaring ships. Their journey back was not completely smooth. Fortunately, Zhao Han was very experienced in battles on the water and he easily defeated the attacks sent over by the traitors. The enemy wasn’t even able to get close to the official ships before they were eliminated by the navy.

The well equipped warships leisurely embarked away from the docks. Xiaocao stood on the deck and breathed in the familiar fishy smell of sea air. She opened her arms out wide, looking as if she was trying to hug the entire ocean as she yelled, “Great ocean, I, Hu Hansan, have come back again ah!”

“Who is Hu Hansan?” Zhu Junyang appeared behind her and helped her put on a silver fox cape. It was now the eleventh month of the year and Jiangnan was also more chilly. With the billowing ocean winds, he was afraid that the lass would catch a cold from getting chilled.

“‘Hu Hansan’ is me, and I am ‘Hu Hansan[1]’!” Yu Xiaocao didn’t want to tell him that this name had come from an old film she had watched in her previous life. It was the name of a stereotypical villain and it was a well known catchphrase of this character.

Zhu Junyang was quite curious by this obviously male name. He really didn’t understand why his wife would come up with such a common and crude name for herself. However, as long as his wife wanted it, even if she wanted to call herself ‘Ergouzi’, he would pinch his nose and endure it.

“You like the ocean this much?” He helped his wife fasten the hood on her cloak and then bent over to tie the waist tie for her. Then he glanced briefly at a certain area of the warship——’Hmph! Are you trying to sneak a peek at my wife? Let me infuriate you!’ He leaned over and planted a kiss on his wife’s forehead, ‘I’m doing this on purpose, but what can you do?’

As a third-ranked military official, Zhao Han saw the scene in front of him and his eyes dimmed. Su Ran, who was holding a bamboo fishing pole, appeared behind him. The older man looked in the direction he was looking and also saw the ‘eye-blinding’ scene as well. A wicked smile curved up on Su Ran’s lips as he said, “Let’s go and do some deep ocean fishing. I’m sure that lass Xiaocao will be very interested.”

Zhao Han naturally saw the evil smile on the other man’s face. He paused for a second before he immediately reacted. He nodded, “Good idea. Younger Sister Xiaocao is very talented at cooking seafood. I don’t know if she had taught any of her maidservants her skills.” Younger Sister Xiaocao was pregnant and naturally wouldn’t be suitable to spend a long time in the kitchen. This was mostly an excuse. After all, he just needed to find something plausible to interrupt the sickly sweet alone time between Imperial Prince Xu and his wife!

When the two of them arrived by the couple, Xiaocao was currently jabbering away, telling the prince that she had come up with a bunch of expensive ingredients on the first time she went gathering seafood with her father. During the hardest time of her family, they had relied on selling pig’s head meat and pig intestines to make a living. They had also relied on the sea then because their customer base were the dockworkers working at the docks. Only then were they able to change their family’s living conditions step by step.

In her previous life, Xiaocao didn’t have much opportunity to see the ocean. However, after transmigrating over into a fisherman’s family, she had been intimately connected with the ocean. With the help of the little divine stone, she had gathered abalone and sea cucumber from the deep waters, helped her father hunt sharks, participated in the pearl hunting contest, and became acquainted with the adorable dolphin named Xiaobu...being able to be so close to the sea again made her happy.

Zhao Han and Su Ran came over with fishing poles in their hands, “Younger Sister Xiaocao, do you like to eat lobster ah? Watch Older Brother Han today. I’ll make sure to fish up a lobster as large as a serving plate for your lunch today.”

“Be careful that you’re not promising too much. Do you really think that you’d be able to catch a lobster as large as a serving plate?” Zhu Junyang had an unpleasant expression on his face after his sweet time with his wife was interrupted by the two men. If the look in his eyes could kill, then Su Ran and Zhao Han would be dead many times over.

“Okay ah, okay ah!” Unfortunately, his wife didn’t sympathize with his plight and, instead, excitedly took a fishing pole and enthusiastically added herself to the competition.

[1] Hu Hansan - a despicable landlord from the film 'Flickering Red Stars'. He had gotten overthrown by the peasant farmers but then came back while screaming 'I, Hu Hansan, have come back again ah!'