Wen Boyuan sent down orders to rest and regroup at Lu Family Village for the night, then set out again early the next morning.
Their schedule had been tight these past few days, and they had mostly slept out in the wilderness. Taking the sky as a canopy and the earth as a bed might sound romantic, but in the bitter winter, it was an ordeal. Tonight, they finally had a village where they could shelter from the wind and cold. To the soldiers who had endured days of freezing winds, that alone was an enormous blessing.
Wen Boyuan first sent two squads of twenty men each into Lu Family Village to investigate. Only after they confirmed it was safe would the main party enter.
While everyone waited at the village entrance for the squads to return, Princess Anping opened her carriage door and stepped down. Hu Xiaotian dismounted and followed her. Seeing this, Zijuan tactfully stopped in her tracks.
Princess Anping walked slowly toward the setting sun, with Hu Xiaotian following deferentially behind her. In everyone else's eyes, they were merely mistress and servant, and Hu Xiaotian never missed a chance to flatter her. Who could have known that their hearts were already bound together?
Princess Anping stopped in the open country, her beautiful eyes gazing at the sunset. It felt wonderful to be away from the crowd, as though she and Hu Xiaotian were the only two people left between heaven and earth. She sighed softly. "The sunset is so beautiful."
Hu Xiaotian lowered his head and eyes, shamelessly plagiarizing a familiar line of verse. "The setting sun is infinitely lovely, yet dusk is drawing near."
Princess Anping's heart trembled, touched by Hu Xiaotian's astonishing talent. She felt that the verse he had recited perfectly captured her feelings