Xiao Fang hesitantly said, "I"m from the Han Kingdom." In truth, there was no enmity between the Han Kingdom and the Shu Kingdom at this point in time. However, the relations.h.i.+p between the country also couldn"t be considered as good with the sudden marriage alliance between the Shu Kingdom and the Qin Kingdom.

When Xiao Fang saw that Yao Ling didn"t at her in disgust, she sighed in relief. "Are you not going to hate me?" She asked curiously.

"What for?" Yao Ling asked in confusion.

"The marriage alliance," Xiao Fang said softly. "I know that the situation between the countries is quite tense because of it."

Yao Ling laughed at that. "It"s only a political matter. I don"t really care about it." What Yao Ling said was actually a half-truth. She indeed didn"t care about the marriage alliance, because it would bring no difference to her. She only cared about Han Xiang. That"s all.

Yao Ling asked curiously once again, "Why do you look like this? I mean... it"s different from the description of the valiant Han Kingdom woman in the book?"

Xiao Fang laughed and explained, "It"s just an exaggeration. I"m a mix-blood because my mother is Shu woman. Just like my maidservants -- they basically a mix-blood between Qin and Han, so they don"t exactly look like Han people. The big burly one only the pure blood."

Yao Ling nodded in understanding. "No wonder..."

"The mix-blood people usually live on the borders," Xiao Fang once again explained.

"So, you live on the border too?" Yao Ling asked curiously.

"No... I moved to the Capital when I was younger. But yes... I used to live there," Xiao Fang said with a smile.

"What are you doing here? I mean, this is quite far from the Han Kingdom," Yao Ling asked. She was trying to probe a little bit, after all, the only place they pa.s.sed by usually Lin Zhou. What are they doing deep in this forest?

"I originally planned to go to Lin Zhou directly, but along the way... we were chased by the a.s.sa.s.sins. We were separated from our family, so we need to reach Lin Zhou by ourselves," Xiao Fang explained. "We ended up here and took a rest before trying to find our ways. Luckily, we meet you guys."

Yao Ling nodded, but she still felt that something was weird. Even though she was accidentally separated from the main entourage, but judging from her guards, they weren"t ordinary people. What had happened that made them accidentally separated?

After they finished resting, they started to move once again. Yao Ling looked at Xiao Fang who rode her horse easily by jumping up steadily and sat leisurely on the horseback majestically. "Xiao Fang, you are so cool when riding your horse!" Yao Ling admired her skill, after all, she needed to threaten Bao Bao in order to successfully ride him.

Xiao Fang answered while laughing, "Every Han woman has to learn riding horse from four years old. My skill is just so-so if you compare it to the others." She humbly said.

The more she talked with Xiao Fang, the more she liked her. The woman is easygoing and probably because of the way they were raised full of freedom, she had a different perspective on life. They were more carefree. She might look aloof when they first met, but once Yao Ling got to know her closer, she showed Yao Ling her warm and easygoing side.

Yao Ying didn"t bother Yao Ling when she was trying to bond with Xiao Fang. This was the first time she acted like this --- carefree and cheerful, probably because of Xiao Fang"s influence. He sighed in happiness when he saw the smile on her face and the way she animatedly chatted with Xiao Fang, even with Ning-jie she never behaved that way.

Yao Ling was indeed taking things seriously back at home and each time Yao Ling talked to Ning-jie, their conversation revolving around business and the kids. They were more like comrades than friends.

Yao Ying was indeed sometimes overbearing and got jealous easily, but to him, her happiness was the most important things. He might look like that he was a beast and loved to be intimate with her, but what man didn"t? He just opened his eyes to the act of intimacy, so he was a bit reckless in that part and couldn"t stop himself from tasting Yao Ling.

Fortunately, Yao Ling was quite understanding and admitted that she was enjoying it too.

Yao Ying was content to see this other side of Yao Ling and he only looked at her while smiling once in a while. Lin Jian noticed this and asked, "Why are you smiling so much while looking at them?"

"You won"t understand," Yao Ying answered with a secretive smile. What a single dog would know about his affection toward his wife?

"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows in distaste. "Are you eyeing Xiao Fang too?"

Yao Ying looked at Lin Jian like he saw a lunatic. "What are you talking about? Are you crazy?" He felt like kicking his stupid friend. Didn"t he know that his words would make him land into trouble?! What if Yao Ling heard his baseless accusation?!

"Then... why did you smile creepily?" Lin Jian mocked him.

"I"m looking at my wife!!" Yao Ying almost shouted out of anger. Why did Lin Jian seem to be able to tick him off? Did he do this on purpose?!

They bantered animatedly, making the women look back at them. They shook her head in disbelief when they saw the men"s childishness and ended up laughing together. They didn"t hear what the men were talking about but their banter was quite fun to see. The atmosphere of the trip was quite harmonious and joyful.

They spent the night in an open s.p.a.ce because they almost arrived at Lin Zhou and they had already pa.s.sed through the dense forest. What"s left was an open field and because of that, they needed to stay vigilance --- it was easier to be attacked on open s.p.a.ce and their position was more vulnerable than the attacker.

Because of that, both parties worked together and they alternately guarded the perimeter. The women were sitting in the middle and they were warming themselves in front of the bonfire. The chilly winds really made them feel cold and they had no protection whatsoever from it, unlike back in the cave. Fortunately, the women already prepared themselves thick coats.

Yao Ling tried to fish some news about Han Xiang from Xiao Fang. "Xiao Fang... have you heard anything about the Princess?" Yao Ling asked. "I"m so curious about her."

"Why?" Xiao Fang furrowed her eyebrows. "There"s nothing special about her."

"Really?" Yao Ling asked then she looked to her surroundings dramatically and whispered, "I heard a lot of gossips about the princess back at WenFeng. Come... come... I will tell you..."

Yao Ling saw from the surprise in Xiao Fang"s eyes that she was taken aback by Yao Ling"s question. It seemed like she knew something but she didn"t want to tell Yao Ling about it. Yao Ling cleverly changed her stance from curiosity and became a gossiper, just to let Xiao Fang lower her guard down.

There was a difference between asking directly and in a roundabout way, Yao Ling was smart enough to notice that. She saw the way Xiao Fang looked a bit defensive when she asked directly about the Han Princess --- she wondered why, but she dismissed it because she might be hesitant because it was about Xiao Fang"s kingdom.After all, they stood on the different kingdoms and it would always become the barriers between them.

Yao Ling whispered to Xiao Fang what she had heard before and Xiao Fang"s eyes widened in surprise. "Really? How could common people also know about those facts?!" Xiao Fang asked in astonishment.

Yao Ling raised one of her eyebrows and asked, "Facts?"

Xiao Fang could feel her back sweat. Did she just fall into her trap?! She sighed but knew that she couldn"t refute what she had just said. She tried to think so hard about what she should do.

"Errr? Probably she should pretend that Yao Ling had misheard?" She thought to herself.

"Did I say fact?" She tried to look dumb.