Time flashed by, and the twelfth lunar month arrived. The flavor of the New Year grew stronger in the countryside, while the old farmers were gone from the fields. Travelers returning home could be seen everywhere along the highways and rivers.
Creak, creak...
North of Jiangzhou, beneath the towering mountains dividing two provinces, a carriage traveled along a yellow-earth road, gradually approaching the peaks of Jade Void Mountain.
Ye Jingtang sat on the carriage, looking up at the snowy summits. Niao Niao crouched beside him, gazing eagerly at the passing mules and horses and cooing softly, probably asking-why weren't there any camels here...?
Ye Jingtang knew Niao Niao was remembering their old escort journeys, when they passed through the Great Snow Mountains on the way to Shazhou. Back then, once they crossed the snowy mountain pass, they entered Shazhou. After their long journey, the escorts would usually stop for a meal of Shazhou's specialty, roasted camel hump. One could say Niao Niao spent the whole year looking forward to that bite.
Jade Void Mountain was a place of quiet Daoist cultivation and had no camels, so that meal was certainly out of the question. Ye Jingtang rubbed Niao Niao reassuringly, then turned to look into the carriage.
Since leaving Jiangzhou City, they had naturally traveled slowly, being on a leisurely sightseeing trip. They generally found somewhere to rest as soon as darkness fell and occasionally visited Jiangzhou's famous sights, stretching a journey of several hundred li over several days.
Although he had seen his fill of scenery along the way, as the saying went, three girls together meant no milk to drink. There wasn't much to recount in detail-he could look but couldn't taste.
Inside the carriage, the Empress Dowager had grown bored of sitting and was already asleep with