Northwestern Yunzhou, Sanhe Town.
The silver moon curved like a hook, spilling cold moonlight over the sparsely lit town. The inn's yellowed banner swayed silently beside a lantern.
Jingle... jingle...
Amid the soft jingling of horse bells, a horse entered the town and stopped outside the inn, carrying a man and a woman.
After the long journey, both people and bird were weary. Luo Ning leaped off the horse and went straight into the inn without a word.
Ye Jingtang dismounted, took the Black Qilin Spear from the horse's side, handed the reins to an attendant, and stood in front of the horse rubbing his lower back.
He was not rubbing it because the ride had tired him out, but because being pinched had left it rather sore.
Yunzhou and Zezhou were both vast plains. Beyond the Capital City stretched endless fields. There was scenery, certainly, but it all looked the same and offered little to see.
Ye Jingtang watched the road as he rode and did not feel sleepy, but Heroine Luo had nothing to do behind him. After a while, she began to doze and leaned against his back, still wrapping her arms around his waist to keep from falling.
Ye Jingtang thought that here was the "slope" he needed. Bored and idle, he casually felt up his passenger. That woke Heroine Luo, who viciously twisted the flesh at his waist and refused to speak to him for the rest of the journey.
Ye Jingtang entered the inn carrying his spear and saw that Heroine Luo had already gone upstairs.
Sanhe Town lay on the main routes from Liangzhou to the Capital City and north through Yunzhou. Ye Jingtang had passed through in April on his way to the capital and had stayed at this same old inn.