Chapter 519 - : Chu Lan comes searching _1
Chapter 519: Chapter 519: Chu Lan comes searching _1
At this time, Wei Ruo had already turned her head away and was looking out through the carriage window.
Wei Jinyi stared at Wei Ruo’s profile, his heart pounding and unable to calm down for a long time.
Once they were outside the city, Wei Ruo supported Wei Jinyi while getting off the carriage.
In the past, Wei Ruo thought Wei Jinyi’s pretending to be sick was too cunning, but now she realized that it wasn’t easy for him to appear frail before others given his nature.
However, his pretending to be sick was worth it as it protected them from many unnecessary troubles and facilitated their plans.
For the act to be convincing, Wei Ruo always needed to support Wei Jinyi in public.
And Wei Jinyi cooperated by resting his hand on Wei Ruo’s.
With their palms touching, they could clearly feel each other’s warmth.
Both felt this intimacy was somewhat peculiar, yet neither expressed it.
Just as Wei Ruo was helping Wei Jinyi off the carriage, Xiumei ran over to say: “Miss, the task is completed. The village head just said that we can get as much land as we want.”
“So soon?” Wei Ruo was somewhat surprised.
Xiumei nodded vigorously: “When Prince’s convoy was about a mile from the village, someone came to alert us. After the village head found out that it was people from the King Rui Residence, he immediately agreed, saying that he would personally handle the paperwork at the county office, and promised to have it done today.”
“A good trick indeed. If we knew that earlier, we wouldn’t have bothered dragging Brother here.” Wei Ruo said cheerfully.
Wei Ruo glanced at Wei Jinyi she was supporting.
Wei Jinyi responded: “No, I also benefited from this trip.”
“Helping me establish a chicken farm is beneficial for you?”
“Yes.” Since they were alone with no outsiders around, Wei Jinyi explained to Wei Ruo, “I should let others see this unserious demeanour of ours.”
After thinking a bit, Wei Ruo laughed: “There’s some truth to what you said. You’ll have to accompany me for a while today then. As a reward, Meimei and I will make you roasted chicken with my secret sauce later.”
“Alright.” A smile appeared on Wei Jinyi’s face, his gaze gentle and misty.
For some unknown reason, Wei Ruo felt a strange sensation in her heart again and hastily averted her eyes.
There was a pond not far away, and Wei Ruo had people set up a grill next to it to fulfill her promise of roasting chicken for Wei Jinyi.
The chicken came from a local farmer, one second it was squawking and hopping around, the next it was quickly slaughtered, de-feathered, and prepared for grilling.
Soon the chicken was set on the grill, with Wei Ruo brushing on her secret sauce.
Meanwhile, Xiumei went to catch fish in the pond.
The pond originally belonged to the village, but it would soon belong to Wei Ruo.
Wei Jinyi, on the other hand, was lounging on a rattan chair, leisurely watching Wei Ruo.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, but the place was open and visible from afar.
Even if outsiders couldn’t get close or hear their conversation, if they saw the reportedly sickly Prince Rui vigorously assisting his queen from afar, it would likely cause a stir amongst the city’s aristocrats.
Soon, the smell of roasted chicken filled the air. Wei Ruo, having grilled a chicken, placed it in a dish and handed it to Xiaobei, “Xiaobei, serve your master some chicken.”
“Yes.” Xiaobei, after receiving the roast chicken, approached Wei Jinyi.
“Master, I’ll serve you.” Xiaobei was a bit embarrassed.
Although he had been serving his master since he was young, feeding him was something he had never done.
His master had never liked others supervising his meals.
If he were to feed his master, he was unsure if his master would be uncomfortable.
“You just tear off the meat and place it on the side.” As expected, Wei Jinyi didn’t want anyone feeding him.
“Alright!” Xiaobei immediately complied, relieved that he didn’t have to feed his master.
Wei Ruo couldn’t help but laugh, “Brother, your life has become so complicated, you have to be so cautious even when eating chicken outside.”
Wei Jinyi remained silent, these minor matters were trivial to him.
At present, these minor inconveniences were worthwhile as long as they allowed her to happily do what she liked.
After preparing the chicken for Wei Jinyi, Xiaobei quickly ran to the pondside to help Xiumei.
“Lady Xiumei, let me help you catch fish.”
“No need, I can do it on my own.” Xiumei said.
“Two people can catch faster.” Xiaobei volunteered, not minding Xiumei’s objections, and directly jumped into the water.
“Splash——”
The fish that Xiumei had aimed for got scared off.
Xiaobei looked embarrassed: “I’m … sorry …”
Xiumei helplessly said: “You wait for me on the shore. Once I’ve caught the fish, you can help me descale, gut, and clean them.”
“Alright then.” Xiaobei dared not disagree anymore, fearing that he would create more trouble for Xiumei.
In a short while, Xiumei had caught two big fish and along with Xiaobei, one fish each, they began to clean them.
Once the fish were clean, they washed them with wine and brought them to Wei Ruo to grill.
As Wei Ruo and others were enjoying themselves, they saw a group of people approaching from a distance.
By their attire, it was clear they were from the royal family; common families did not maintain this level of pomp.
Wei Ruo glanced at Wei Jinyi, who quietly said, “Sorry, Ruoruo. Seems like I won’t be able to accompany you properly today. Our conspicuous outing drew the attention of certain individuals who are here to chide us.”
Wei Ruo had brought Wei Jinyi to the outskirts using the identity of King Rui, so it was naturally quite obvious.
Hearing Wei Jinyi’s words, Wei Ruo roughly guessed that the arrival must be either King Jing or King Yu.
However, since the matter of supervising the creation of the mighty cannon and thunderbolt bullet had already concluded, even if the two had further intentions, they could do nothing about it.
Shortly, the procession arrived at the wasteland where Wei Ruo and others were resting.
Wei Ruo saw Chu Lan riding out from the procession.
He was dressed in black, with bright eyes and an elegant presence combined with assertiveness typical of a military general.
With a graceful move, he dismounted.
Coming up to Wei Ruo and Wei Jinyi, he cast his gaze down at them. Wei Jinyi was still lying leisurely on the rattan chair while Wei Ruo sat on a bamboo chair, fully engaged in roasting her chicken.
In a superior tone, Chu Lan said, “Ninth Brother seems to be in much better health today, able to even come outside city for leisure activities.”
“The queen takes good care of me.” Wei Jinyi replied languidly.
Hearing this, Chu Lan’s gaze fell on Wei Ruo.
Wei Ruo noticed the intensity of Chu Lan’s gaze but didn’t look up, instead continuing to focus on her roasting chicken.
She was no longer afraid of Chu Lan with her Brother around.
She only needed to do her own things; her Brother would take care of the rest.
Pulling his gaze back, Chu Lan turned to Wei Jinyi and said, “I have brought a generous gift for Ninth Brother.”
Wei Jinyi just looked at him indifferently, not saying a word.
Then Chu Lan brought forth a person, “Ninth Brother, do you recognize this person?”