Wei Shao held Xiao Qiao in front of him, but she refused to cooperate and pounded his body with a loud thud with her fists. That was fine, but she refused to move forward, so he became agitated and placed her in his arms, not caring how she struggled and strides toward the door. When he arrived at the carriage, he threw her inside and closed the door with a bang under the gaze of Jia Yixing’s round eyes.

Xiao Qiao rolled over but didn’t feel any pain because a thick fur cushion covered the carriage. When she sat up to catch her breath, she realized she had lost one of her shoes somewhere.

Suddenly the door opened again. Wei Shao showed his face, throwing a shoe in with a “whoop” and closing the door again with a “bang.”

Xiao Qiao heard him whisper to Mr. Jia, and the carriage moved on, heading forward. After traveling at the usual speed, Xiao Qiao hears a sound from outside. It seemed they reached the west city gate. She looked through the window and saw two city guards opening the gate by torchlight.

After the carriage left the city gate, the speed became faster, leaving behind the dark wilderness on both sides of the road and Yuyang City.

After traveling all night, they stayed on the road the next day, only stopping at a post house for a short rest, then continuing and arriving at Zhuo County late at night, finally stopping. He said he would spend the night here.Xiao Qiao’s heart was furious. She was like a toy he picked up in the middle of the night and threw into the carriage. She hated that she had no right to speak in front of him. But she was already in the carriage and traveling so far, what else could she do? Making a fuss again was only making a fool of herself. In a depressed mood coupled with a long ride with almost no rest in the middle, she felt dizzy once she got down the carriage. It was late at night, surrounded by darkness, and she followed Wei Shao into the post house without a word.

Zhuo County was a large county, and the post house was in excellent condition, with a bathing room attached to the main room. The postmaster learned that the Marquis had returned from his trip and brought a lady to stay with him this night.

For two consecutive days and nights, Xiao Qiao spent almost all of them in the carriage. The weather was dry and cold in early spring in the north, and the roads were dusty. Though the carriage’s door was closed, the inner compartment was inevitably dusty. Xiao Qiao felt dirty and saw a big bucket of hot water to wash, which was the only comfort on the road these two days. So she took off her clothes and entered the bath.

In a few moments, a figure entered the bathroom. Wei Shao removed his clothes, stepped into the tub, and sat opposite her. As soon as his body was in the water, the bucket overflowed and crowded. Xiao Qiao felt a hairy leg underwater touch her calf and shrank back, flexed against her chest and belly, and lowered her head to intensify cleaning her body, wanting to hurry out and give him the place. Not sure whether he was unintentional, but the hairy leg underwater reached up again. This time it was on her thighs.

Xiao Qiao lifted her head and looked across at Wei Shao. He moved his shoulders, leaned towards her, raised a wet hand, and slowly held her chin, whispering, “Be good and obedient. I will naturally treat you well.”

These are the first words he had said to her in the past two days since he threw her into the carriage in the middle of the night.They stared at each other for a moment. The corners of Xiao Qiao’s lips slowly curved. She said, “I understand. Do you have any other orders?”

Wei Shao’s gaze gradually went down from her mist-filled eyes, past her lips, jade neck, fragrant shoulders, and finally to the half of her breasts, which were becoming fuller by the water, and his throat rolled up and down, but he did not speak.

Xiao Qiao waited for a moment, then turned her head, released his hand, grabbed the tub’s edge, and climbed out of the water, quickly covering herself with clothes and leaving the bathing room. She finished tidying up and lay down in bed. After some time, Wei Shao came out and looked slightly upset. That night they slept in the same bed. He didn’t touch her as he did at home when they were in a cold war.

The next day, a new maid came in with a set of brocade clothes, serving Xiao Qiao to wash and dress. After two days of wearing incomplete clothes, Xiao Qiao was finally able to get dressed today, thanks to Wei Shao’s kindness. After she finished freshening up, the servants brought food.

Wei Shao entered the room. He didn’t say anything, and she didn’t say anything either. They sat and looked at each other while eating their breakfast. After the servant cleaned the food case, Wei Shao finally spoke: “I will leave for Jinyang today. You can stay in the post house and depart when Chun Niang arrives. There is no need to rush. Go slowly. I’ll let Mr. Jia lead 500 soldiers to escort you.”

Xiao Qiao said, “Thank you, husband, for your thoughtful arrangement.”

Wei Shao saw that she did not even raise her eyes to look at him. The thought that last night she did not bathe with him came up, and he stood up, lifted his feet but held back, turned his head, and said: “It’s not that I don’t want to accompany you. But something urgent happened in Jinyang, waiting for me to go over there. I did not want you to travel too hard, so I left Mr. Jia with 500 soldiers to escort you. Don’t worry. The journey will be safe.”

Xiao Qiao said, ” Your official business is important. Husband can go first.”

Wei Shao held back the anger in his chest, turned his head, and went away.

……