Chapter 142: Xie Nai Rushes to Lingbei

Chapter 142: Xie Nai Hastens to Lingbei

The next day, Qin Jiao and Luo Yue went together to pick up Xie Nai.

Lingbei was a city built on water, so the city gates were all located at the water docks. Since they didn't know exactly when Xie Nai would arrive, Qin Jiao went early in the morning to wait.

Although He Zhao said aloud that the whole business of picking someone up was way too sentimental, he still showed up later in the day, using delivering snacks as an excuse.

Qin Jiao could see it clearly now—He Zhao was a classic case of being tough on the outside but soft on the inside. Though he acted all prickly and awkward with Xiao Baiyu on the surface, in reality, he always thought of his senior brother whenever he had something good.

Take the night He Zhao got drunk, for example. He said he wanted to bring his senior brother to try the new hotpot. If Qin Jiao hadn't stopped him, he would have nearly made off with the whole pot from the shop. He even wanted to bring back a live cow to raise, so that when Xiao Baiyu returned, they could watch the cow dance together.

He already had one foot in the cowshed. Qin Jiao saw things were getting out of hand, so he simply had Luo Yue knock him out with a single chop to the neck, which finally let everyone have a peaceful night.

However, when he woke up the next morning, He Zhao absolutely refused to admit he'd made such a scene. He also flat-out denied all the "words of wisdom" he'd shared with Qin Jiao, insisting he'd been drunk, didn't remember anything, had never said those things, and could never have done something so absurd.

When He Zhao was speaking, his eyes darted around shiftily. Qin Jiao could tell at a glance he was "faking amnesia," but he was kind enough not to call him out on it.

"We've been waiting for most of the day now—when are they going to get here?"

He Zhao yawned, bored. He had arrived at noon, and now the sun was nearly setting, yet there was still no sign of Xiao Baiyu and Xie Nai at the city gate.

"Probably soon." The stools at the tea stall were rock hard, and after sitting all day, Qin Jiao's back and waist were aching.

But despite his fatigue, he was buzzing with excitement. The joy of waiting for the one he loved washed away all his exhaustion.

Just as He Zhao was about to yawn for the fifth time, Luo Yue suddenly shouted excitedly:

"They're here! They're here—the Prince and Divine Doctor Xiao are here!"

The setting sun painted the distant sky a fiery red. Maybe because rain was coming, the air was thick with a sweltering heat. And Qin Jiao's mood was just like the weather at that moment—boiling, surging, and impossible to calm.

Xie Nai had already spotted Qin Jiao waiting for him. The long separation had made his longing grow infinitely, and only when he pulled Qin Jiao fully into his embrace did the hollow emptiness of their time apart gradually begin to fill.

"Did Your Highness have a smooth journey?"

Qin Jiao could feel how tightly Xie Nai's arms were wrapped around him, but he didn't struggle. He just let himself be held.

"Smooth, of course." Xie Nai pulled him closer with a soft laugh. "I also brought you a gift."

As he spoke, Luo Bei showed up carrying a jar of drunken crabs.

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

Qin Jiao looked at the weird-looking crabs in the jar, confused. "These crabs look so strange."

The crabs before him were a vivid crimson red, a good three or four times bigger than normal crabs, with especially plump and meaty claws. Just five or six of them filled the whole jar.

Xie Nai explained: "These are this year's newly tributed 'fragrant rice crabs' from Xiaoxiang Prefecture. Mingjia specifically asked me to bring them to you."

Fragrant rice crabs had a low yield—only fifty or sixty were tributed in total—and they couldn't be stored for long. That was why Xie Xuanran had Xie Nai travel a thousand li (about 500 km) to bring them to Qin Jiao.

"So they were a gift from His Majesty!" Qin Jiao naturally understood Xie Xuanran's kind intention of "honoring the uncle for the nephew's sake," and the smile on his face couldn't be hidden. "When I return to the capital, I'll definitely thank His Majesty in person for the crabs."

While Qin Jiao and Xie Nai were chatting cheerfully after their long separation, He Zhao suddenly let out a startled cry from the side: "Marriage? What marriage?"

Although He Zhao had a quick temper, he rarely got this worked up. Curious, Qin Jiao turned to look and saw He Zhao pointing at Xiao Baiyu, stammering out a phrase in the Lingbei dialect he'd just learned: "I think you've got rocks in your head!"

Xiao Baiyu wasn't the least bit annoyed by the rebuke. He gently took He Zhao's hand, his eyes and brows full of smiles. "But I've already confessed to Father. Father even said that if you don't agree, he'll whip me. Zhou Zhou, would you really have the heart to let that happen?"

"I—you—"

Usually it was He Zhao who played the shameless card with others, but now that Xiao Baiyu had suddenly turned it on him, he was left speechless.

Qin Jiao overheard some of this and was a bit confused, but he could guess about half of it. He turned his gaze to Xie Nai, who gave him a rough rundown of how Xiao Baiyu planned to marry He Zhao.

Qin Jiao was genuinely happy for He Zhao upon hearing this. In the time he'd spent with He Zhao, Qin Jiao could clearly feel He Zhao's feelings for Xiao Baiyu, but He Zhao was always held back by various reasons and didn't dare take that step forward. Now Xiao Baiyu had directly removed all the obstacles between them—surely the two of them would soon get their happy ending.

Over there, He Zhao, who couldn't accept it all at once, was still being stubborn while Xiao Baiyu patiently coaxed him. Over here, Qin Jiao felt himself getting hotter and hotter.

The water beneath the dock seemed to have turned to boiling liquid, with countless streams of steam rising up, clinging to people's skin, sticky and unpleasant.

The brilliant fiery red sunset in the distant sky had faded, replaced by thick, heavy banks of dark clouds. A fierce wind suddenly kicked up, whipping the banners on the dock wildly around.

Luo Yue got a face full of leaves that flew in from who-knows-where. "Cough, cough—it looks like it's about to rain. Your Highness, Young Master, let's head back!" After frantically brushing the leaves off his face, Luo Yue called out.

Early summer weather was just this fickle—sunny and calm one second, pouring rain the next.

Qin Jiao was half-supported by Xie Nai as they hurried back. Though the group tried to move as fast as possible, the rain came even faster.

The sudden downpour came crashing down in sheets, the raindrops as big as soybeans, stinging where they hit. The sky darkened almost in an instant, and faint rumbles of thunder echoed in the distance.

He Zhao led the group along a shortcut to take shelter under a covered corridor. "No hat on a rainy day—soaked right through! Let's wait here until the rain lets up a bit before we go!"

The sudden storm had driven many panicked pedestrians to take shelter under the corridor as well. Qin Jiao let Xie Nai tidy his messy, wet hair while he surveyed the scene before him.

On either side were houses and shops, and in front lay the wide Fengwu River. A wooden plank path extended out over the water, coiling and winding through the churning river like a giant serpent.

Boats were tied to both sides of the plank path, bobbing up and down like rootless duckweed, tossed up and down by the river's waves.

Suddenly! With a tremendous crack, several bolts of silver-white lightning struck the middle of the river. The flashes lit up the surroundings, shaking the land in every direction. Blinding white light exploded outward, making the dim sky look even stranger and more eerie.

"Ahh! Mama, I'm scared... Is Grandpa Thunder mad?"

A child sheltering under the corridor burst into scared tears. A young woman quickly crouched down to soothe him. "Bao'er, it's okay. It's just thunder. Bao'er, don't be scared."

The young woman soon calmed the child down. A few more peals of thunder rolled by, and the child no longer feared the lightning. Instead, he opened his eyes wide, staring curiously at the wooden plank path not far away.

Suddenly, the child's pupils shrank sharply, and he let out a piercing scream—

"Ahh! Mama, there's a dead body—there's a dead body over there! Waaah..."

The child's voice was shrill and piercing, carrying far in the air. In no time at all, everyone sheltering under the corridor heard his terrified scream.

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