Once Li Qingxiao pulled Xiao Xian into the carriage, she finally let go of his hand and slumped listlessly onto the seat. Her little face still showed hints of discomfort as she mumbled something under her breath. Xiao Xian, who had been dragged along the entire way, had palms slick with sweat. He could only ask:
“What else do you and I have to do after this?”
“My mother said we just have to ride back with the carriage.”
Li Qingxiao answered with a furrowed brow. The carriage rattled and jolted, and the journey had made her thoroughly miserable. She simply lay on the seat, pursing her lips and enduring it in silence.
Xiao Xian had no choice but to sit down beside the girl and lean against the carriage wall. Having been up and about since the crack of dawn for hours on end, his stomach was growling with hunger. He felt for the pastries tucked into his shirt, but they had long since been crushed to powder in the earlier jostling and spilled all over the floor. The boy sighed, leaned back against the carriage, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.
When he woke, dusk had fallen over the world. Xiao Xian noticed the girl was in much better spirits, leaning against the edge of the curtain and peering outside. Seeing him stir, she tugged at him with her little hand and said in a childish voice:
“My name is Li Qingxiao.”
“I’m Xiao Xian of Yushan.”
Xiao Xian answered. The girl nodded and lay back down on the bench. The boy’s face twisted in agony; his stomach was terribly empty. Flushing red, he could only ask:
“Young Mistress... do you have anything to eat?”
Li Qingxiao blinked, then nodded repeatedly. She retrieved a wooden box from beneath the carriage seat and shoved it into Xiao Xian’s hands. Xiao Xian accepted it gladly. Undoing the wooden clasp, he lifted the lid to reveal neatly arranged pastries garnished with vermilion flower petals, looking appetizing enough to make one’s mouth water.
Starving as he was, Xiao Xian stuffed three pieces into his mouth one after another. Savoring their fragrant, sweet, and chewy texture, he mumbled in admiration:
“Tastes so good.”
Xiao Xian ate another three pieces, but with a sharp clatter, the wooden box was snapped shut. Li Qingxiao’s little brows knit together, and she pressed her tender, fair hand down onto the lid, saying in her childish voice:
“The closer we get to Lijing, the bumpier the mountain path becomes! If you eat too much now, you’ll just throw it all up later. We still have several hours to go—ration it!”
Since the food belonged to someone else, Xiao Xian could do nothing but nod repeatedly. Li Qingxiao, however, giggled and asked in a low voice:
“I heard our two families are bound by marriage ties. Brother Xian, tell me, does your Xiao family have any good older brothers? Tell me for fun!”
Xiao Xian looked at the girl’s expression, a strange wave of emotion stirring in his chest. He could only reply:
“Brother Guitu is the eldest brother of our generation. He’s top-notch in everything... He broke through to the Xuanjing Wheel at eight years old.”
Li Qingxiao’s expression dimmed a little. She replied:
“My cultivation is so slow. I haven’t even broken through to the Xuan Scenery yet.”
Xiao Xian’s talent was not high either, and he had always been timid and deferential among the Xiao clan’s youths. Hearing her words, he felt as if he had found a kindred spirit, and sighed:
“I’m the same. The elders only have eyes for those born geniuses... Everyone wants to be a genius, but those few were just lucky!”
“Life is inherently unfair from the moment people are born... I’m just a clumsy dolt. Things my elder brothers understand after hearing once take me twice, sometimes three times, just to barely grasp a bit.”
Li Qingxiao waited until he finished before letting out a huff and replying:
“You and I were born into prominent clans. How many people do we already stand above? What right do we have to complain about unfairness? From the day I was born, I was destined to marry into your Xiao family, and I don’t complain.”
Xiao Xian froze for a moment, then chuckled and scratched his head in embarrassment. With that opening, the two began chatting back and forth, moving from sword immortals to the Purple Palace, and from the Purple Palace to Wu and Yue. As Xiao Xian grew comfortable with her, he called her ‘Sister’ at every turn, making Li Qingxiao laugh out loud.
It was only when the mountain path grew increasingly rough that Li Qingxiao clamped her mouth shut in misery, and Xiao Xian ran out of words as well. The two forced themselves to endure it on their seats before falling into a deep sleep once more. Xiao Xian drowsily held Li Qingxiao as the carriage tossed them this way and that. He could not help muttering a complaint:
“You people of the Li family really don’t know how to enjoy life. Forget about heat-insulating cloth—there isn’t even a shock-dampening formation on the carriage! Dignified cultivators having to be thrown around like mortals!”
Li Qingxiao coughed and gritted her teeth:
“Our family doesn’t hold with such indulgences! Craving pleasure is considered a crime—you’d be dragged to the Clan Rectory and flogged!”
Xiao Xian stared in astonishment. He could only reply:
“It’s truly a misfortune to be born into your family.”
“Pah!”
Li Qingxiao grumbled, and both fell silent. A full hour passed. In a daze, Xiao Xian felt a warmth against his palm as Li Qingxiao rested her head on his hand. Before Xiao Xian could react, his palm felt wet. It turned out the little girl had vomited.
“Damn it,” Xiao Xian cursed groggily. Opening his eyes, he saw Li Qingxiao’s face flushed pink as she strained to sit up and wipe away the mess. Xiao Xian looked at it and teasingly remarked:
“How old are you, still drinking milk?”
“None of your business,” Li Qingxiao muttered, her voice no louder than the buzz of a mosquito.
* * *
The carriages ambled along at an unhurried pace. Li Yuanjiao had no idea the two children, Li Qingxiao and Xiao Xian, were suffering in their carriage. He rode his horse alongside Xiao Guiluan’s bridal sedan, looking at the woman inside, and asked in a low voice:
“Now that my lady is coming into our home, do you know much about my family’s circumstances?”
“A little.”
It was the first time Xiao Guiluan had spoken with the husband she had never met before. She answered earnestly, then spoke:
“Guiluan only has one question for my husband.”
Li Yuanjiao caught a glimpse of a pair of shrewd phoenix eyes, and his heart stirred slightly. He replied:
“Speak.”
“Do you intend to seek the position of clan head?”
Li Yuanjiao narrowed his eyes. With his left hand, he tugged restlessly at the reins, answering:
“I have no such intention.”
Xiao Guiluan did not ask any further. Pausing for a breath, she replied:
“Luan’er understands.”
Li Yuanjiao replayed all the rituals from earlier at the Xiao clan in his mind, astutely picking up on many details. He asked gently:
“Why didn’t I see your father?”
This naturally referred to how, on the day Xiao Guiluan married, her father had not even come to see her off. Li Yuanjiao’s question made Xiao Guiluan pause, and she had no choice but to answer:
“There is no affection between my father and me. He resents that I refused to marry beneath our station by taking in a matrilocal husband, and instead married outward to another prominent clan and departed westward. He was furious to the extreme and refused to see me to the very end.”
Hearing this, Li Yuanjiao was actually pleasantly surprised. He nodded, then chuckled probingly:
“A fool.”
Xiao Guiluan let out a soft laugh and replied without hesitation:
“Indeed, a fool.”
Then, softening her tone, she said gently:
“In our household, only a few older brothers cared for me. From now on, Guiluan will have little connection left with her maternal clan. If anything happens in the future, I fear it will be difficult for me to seek aid from my family.”
Li Yuanjiao understood clearly. So long as Xiao Yuansi was alive, with the bond through his fourth uncle Li Chijing, when would it ever come down to Xiao Guiluan needing to seek aid from the Xiao family? What Xiao Guiluan really meant was that she had no patriarchal ties holding her back and would not bring meddling Xiao family maternal relatives into their affairs. And by mentioning that several elder brothers cared for her, she was guarding against him looking down on her as a solitary, defenseless bride and mistreating her after marriage. He chuckled wryly to himself, musing:
*What a clever woman!*
With a tug of the reins, he comforted her in a gentle voice:
“It matters not. As long as I am here, no one will be able to bully you.”
“Mm.”
The woman inside responded softly. The young woman sat within the carriage while the young man rode on horseback. In the dim twilight, the moonlight was gentle, and Li Yuanjiao could not help but let out a low chuckle.
Chapter 267