Bai Yujun sat through the night.
The campfire still held a trace of warmth as dawn followed the morning glow. Beast roars and insect chirps had sounded all night, and at last the sky brightened.
A little weary, Bai Yujun looked at the weather. Thick clouds burned crimson. As the saying went, "Morning glow means no journey," so it would probably rain.
She missed her tiny quarters in the imperial palace terribly. How could sitting out in the wild compare to the fragrance of bedding?
The ground was cold, and the dampness was too heavy, so she untied the saddle and used it as a stool.
Sleeping directly on the ground in the wilderness was no good, especially for children, who had to be even more careful.
Bai Yujun remembered that back when she was on Shenhua Mountain, she had once gone down the mountain to treat a child who could not straighten his back. His waist was bent like a shrimp's. Only after asking closely did she learn that the child had gotten lost while playing, then, too sleepy to endure after nightfall, had lain down on the ground to sleep. The next day, he had never been able to straighten his back again.
Though it was not absolute, the odds were quite high. The incident had left a deep impression on Bai Yujun. Human cubs really are fragile. I slept in burrows every day when I was little.
In the thin morning mist among the trees, birdsong rang clear and distant as Bai Yujun yawned repeatedly.
There was less dew beneath the large tree, so her clothes would not get wet.
Her neck was sore, and her whole body felt weary.
She yawned, spread her arms, and stretched hard, then brushed her teeth and washed her face with