Flowers Bloom from Battlefield

Xiao Meng rested on her bed with a confused expression. By her side, Tang Xuan poured a tea with calm expression. "Princess, please have some drink."

"How can you stay calm when he's clearly disrespecting his people? He should just accept their sincere welcome," Xiao Meng took the cup and inquired.

"He did that because he knows that they need rest," Tang Xuan answered. Besides, he know that the other citizen have already returned to their own work since they were still tired. Just with Soujin already appeared and accepted the welcome would be enough.

"But still…"

"Princess, Long Kingdom didn't have the tradition to welcome people for a long time when their people returned. They would only stay for a short time on the street before returning back. At most, there will be a party for the nobles if it's winning a war," Tang Xuan explained.

Xiao Meng put the cup back on the table. She knew that this place has a different culture with hers, but it was hard to adapt fully. Her mind would continuously return back to how it was in her own kingdom. She didn't want to think more about it as she slumped on her bed. Her eyes focused on the ceiling for a few minutes.

"Tang Xuan, is he still watching us?"

Tang Xuan's movement stifled for a moment. He regained his composure and smiled mildly. "Princess, what are you talking about?"

Seeing the attitude of Tang Xuan, Xiao Meng sighed to herself. Even here, they would never let her have any freedom. For her brother, she was nothing but a mere tool used to secure the trade and forced to bring Nanglong Soujin across the river.

"If I have choice, I will never want to come here for this mission," Xiao Meng whispered softly.

Tang Xuan sat down on the chair. "Princess, please refrain from trying to leak out any information regarding your real mission in coming here. If he becomes suspicious and refuses to follow after us, your life will be in danger."

Seeing that Tang Xuan was pointing to the door secretly, Xiao Meng nodded her head. She already knew that her movement was completely restricted. Even if they were placed far away from the palace, she couldn't act as she wanted to because of her position.

"Have some rest, Princess. It will be a long journey."

"I understand."

…

Ming Hui's Residence

"Do you already have enough sleep by now?" Nanglong Soujin looked towards the other party.

Ming Hui nodded his head, "It has been a long time since I took a nap in the afternoon. Have you had your dinner?"

"I have. I want to ask about the rebel." 𝘧𝑟𝘦𝒆w𝚎𝙗nov𝘦𝗹.𝐜o𝓶

"Well…." Ming Hui straightened his position, "It was as you said before. The second waves of the rebels are all come because of order. It's not like they are dissatisfied with the condition, but rather they receive money for attacking us."

Soujin nodded his head. He had already suspected it the moment he heard another wave of rebel came out to the surface. Given Ming Hui's capability, he should be able to handle the rebel quite easily, but the addition of the second wave delayed him quite some time.

"You still need to rest. After you have recovered and this place had returned their peace, return to Ming City. Yan would surely need your help."

"He still hadn't got used to become an emperor?" Ming Hui put a wry expression. It was already around one year since they made Long Kingdom, but the other party still stayed the same way. When will he learn?

Soujin didn't have to answer that question since it was only Ming Hui expressing his thought. Without further ado, he stood up and bid his farewell. He only wanted to know about the rebel's intention and now it was time for him to rest.

Ming Hui watched as the other party left. Now that he didn't have too many works here, it was time to rest more. Oh right, he has just remembered that almost one year had passed since Fan Lanying went to subdue the rest of the cities. He wondered when she would finish the task.

He already missed that woman very badly.

The next day, Fan Ying had prepared a ship for them to go. The ship was also loaded with some goods they have prepared before.

"It's time to go, Prince Soujin," Tang Xuan reminded.

Nanglong Soujin nodded his head and walked into the ship. He found the shaking ground to be rather annoying since he rarely rode a ship in the past. The degree of the shaking was much higher compared with a carriage. It would surely take him longer time to adapt to this new condition.

"Prince Soujin, do you need anything?" Lin Hong asked.

Soujin shook his head, "You should adjust yourself to this new condition. Don't bother with me."

Seeing Nanglong Soujin didn't seem to be in good mood, Lin Hong immediately complied and returned to his room. In any case, he didn't want to incur the wrath of the other party upon him without knowing the reason.

"You're quite a short-tempered fellow," Tang Xuan commented.

Nanglong Soujin gave him a sidelong glance, "Don't you have to accompany your princess? I'm sure she doesn't like to stay with Steward Du alone."

Tang Xuan took out his sword, "There is no need for you to meddle into my business, Prince Soujin. Let's have a spar since you're boring."

Nanglong Soujin was at an utter disadvantage since he was not used with this kind of ground while Tang Xuan was the opposite. Still, Nanglong Soujin's face was rather calm as he pulled out his sword and readied his stance.

Tang Xuan originally thought that Nanglong Soujin would not agree. Seeing the other party's stance, he decided to attack first and use his familiarity with the ground to attack the other party. At first, Soujin just defended against Tang Xuan as he tried to stabilize himself on the moving ground. However, it didn't take long for Tang Xuan to be at the losing end.

"You adapted very quickly." That kind of ability to quickly adapt to the new situation was rather scary. Even Tang Xuan didn't have the confidence that he would be able to fight at his full power at new kind of ground in a matter of minutes.

Nanglong Soujin sheathed back his sword, "You're a noble and not general, so you would not know."

"…" are you flaunting your position? Tang Xuan didn't want to bother with the other party again as he sheathed his sword back too.

"The journey would take around three hours since the current has grown rather strong. You might want to have a rest first."

Nanglong Soujin could see the other end of the river since the distances were only around 500 meters. However, he soon found that the distance occasionally changes since the river was not straight.

"How long is the width of this river?" Nanglong Soujin asked.

"The shortest one is around 300 meters," Tang Xuan answered, "But some of them can be as long as several kilometers."

That was quite long and even if they wanted to stay going straight, the current was too fast. He moved his gaze towards the back with an indifferent expression.

"It would be insane if you think you could swim at this current," if they didn't careful, the current may become too strong and they would get dragged in the open sea and have the possibility of losing their lives.

"I won't swim," he was not crazy enough to swim at this kind of current.

Tang Xuan didn't understand just what was in this man mind. He decided to return back to his place and have some rest since the journey would take a few hours at the very least.