Chapter 182: Confrontation
Translator: Guy Gone Bad
Suddenly, Murong Xue saw a familiar figure. He had a handsome face and sharp, cold eyes. Clearly, he was Prince Jing, Ye Yichen.
Qin Yuyan was badly hurt. Why didn’t he stay in Prince Jing Mansion and take good care of her? Did he also want to go to Mountain Resort?
Murong Xue raised her eyebrows in bewilderment and slowly pulled down the carriage curtain. Before the curtain could completely hide her face, Ye Yichen sensed something and immediately turned to look back. He happened to see her good-looking side face disappear behind the curtain. His eyes narrowed angrily as he realized that she was in Ouyang Shaochen’s carriage!
With his eyes burning with anger, he strode towards that carriage.
Before he could come up to the carriage, Xun Feng reached out and stopped him, “Prince Jing, please don’t go any further.”
Ye Yichen stopped and stared at the still curtain, his eyes eyes darkening with disappointment. She knew that he was standing outside the carriage, but was indifferent to him. “Xue’er, I want to talk to you,” he said.
Murong Xue refused decidedly, “I have nothing to say to you, Prince Jing. Please go back.”
A trace of anger flashed through his eyes and soon disappeared. He raised his voice, “Unmarried men and women should stay away from each other. You have no blood relations.h.i.+p with Ouyang Shaochen. So, it’s improper for you to ride in the same carriage with him.”
Murong Xue instantly refuted, “My arm is injured, and I should protect it from secondary damage. The carriage of Lord Freedom Mansion is comfortable. It can offer me a smooth ride, and my wound won’t be cracked again.” She was a wise woman who liked enjoyed life and didn’t care about what people would think of her. She would absolutely not change the carriage because she was afraid of aggravating the injury.
Ye Yichen’s eyes darkened at her words, and he said, “The carriage of Prince Jing Mansion is also comfortable. You can go…”
Murong Xue interrupted him in a cold tone, “Prince Jing, I have no relations.h.i.+p with you. It’s improper for me to ride in the same carriage with you.”
Ye Yichen looked at the carriage curtain and said in a low voice, ” I’m not going to take the carriage…”
Murong Xue raised her eyebrows and said loudly and clearly, “In that carriage must be Old Prince Jing and Old Princess Jing. As a junior, I shouldn’t disturb them.”
“Old Prince Jing and Old Princess Jing already went to Mountain Resort yesterday,” Ouyang Shaochen suddenly said.
Murong Xue was taken by surprise for a second, and then asked, “So, who’s in the carriage of Prince Jing Mansion now?” When she opened the curtain and looked out of the window a few minutes ago, she caught glimpses of figures in the carriage of Prince Jing Mansion. At that time, Ye Yichen was not in that carriage…
“Qin Yuyan, the Princess of Mo Bei, is in your carriage, right?” asked Murong Xue. Except for Old Prince Jing, Old Princess Jing and Ye Yichen, Qin Yuyan was the only one in Prince Jing Mansion who was eligible to take that deluxe carriage.
Ye Yichen dropped his eyelids with a slight sense of guilt on his face. Qin Yuyan said that the weather was so hot and she wanted to go to Mountain Resort to recuperate. After a careful consideration, he agreed. But he didn’t expect to meet Murong Xue here. “Princess Qin…”
Murong Xue interrupted him in a cold voice, “Prince Jing, you don’t need to explain to me. Princess Qin and you love each other. Of course she can take the carriage of Prince Jing Mansion.” She gave a snort of contempt and thought, ‘You know that Qin Yuyan and I are deadly enemies. How dare you ask me to stay in the same carriage with her? Are you trying to add fuel to the fire?’
“Xue’er… ”
“Don’t say anything more, Prince Jing. Please go back,” Murong Xue interrupted him impatiently. She closed her eyes and knitted her brows, wearing a look of reluctance to listen to him anymore.
After thinking for a moment, Ye Yichen was about to say, “I will send Qin Yuyan back to Prince Jing Mansion, and you can take my carriage alone.” However, Xun Feng cut in, “Prince Jing, the procession sets out.”
Ye Yichen twisted her head sideways and looked down the procession. The Emperor and Empress’s carriages started moving forward, closely followed by officials. The civil officials took carriages and the military officials rode horses.
Ye Yichen knew that he couldn’t stay here anymore. He looked at the still curtain with a hint of helplessness in his eyes, and said, “Xue’er, I’ll explain to you when we arrive at Mountain Resort.”
The sound of his footsteps faded away. Murong Xue snorted with disdain. ‘You and Qin Yuyan are deeply attracted and attached to each other. Certainly you can take her to Mountain Resort. You don’t need to explain to me at all,’ she thought.
The sun rose higher and higher, blazing down on everyone. The heat was unbearable. Guards were riding horses under trees, however, still sweating all over.
Murong Xue sat in the horse-drawn carriage and kept fanning herself. But drops of sweat were constantly oozing from her forehead.
She frowned at Ouyang Shaochen and asked, “Why didn’t you put some ice in your carriage?” The n.o.ble families and great clans liked to store ice so that they could put ice in their rooms and carriages to relieve summer heat.
Ouyang Shaochen glanced at her and replied, “You are still threatened with the Ice Poison. No ice should be used in the carriage!”
Ice would release the algidity and provoke the toxicity of the Ice Poison in her blood. If there was ice in the carriage, she would be attacked by the Ice Poison in a quarter of an hour. That was why ice was forbidden to be put in Falling Snow Pavilion, even in the dog days…
Murong Xue furrowed her brow and said, “Just put a little ice. It doesn’t matter.”
“No way!” Ouyang Shaochen refused her request emphatically.
Murong Xue’s face clouded with disappointment. “Aren’t you feeling hot without ice?” She was almost stifled by the heat.
“The heat is tolerable for me,” Ouyang Shaochen answered. As a martial artist, the cold weather and the hot weather affected him little.
Murong Xue raised her voice, “I feel very hot. I want to open the window to ventilate the carriage.” The carriage was running fast. If the window was open, the wind from the carriage’s motion would blow in and take some heat away.
Ouyang Shaochen cast a glance at her sweaty forehead and said, “Suit yourself.”
“Thank you!” Murong Xue gave him a smile and quickly drew back the curtains on both sides of the carriage. A breeze came through the window and took some heat away, but she still felt hot.
Murong Xue untied the silk ribbon of her outer skirt and took off the long skirt. The breeze caressed her naked neck and shoulders and relieved her discomfort…
Murong Xue curved her lips into a faint smile. She felt refreshed in the gentle breeze.
“Murong Xue, what are you doing?” An angry voice rang in her ears. Murong Xue looked up to see Ouyang Shaochen standing in front of her. He picked up the long skirt on the blanket and put it round her. With eyes flas.h.i.+ng angrily, he scolded, “There are so many people around. How can you dress like this?”
Murong Xue curled up her lips with disapproval. The tube top dress she wore was wrapped tightly around her slender body like an evening dress in modern times, only revealing her shoulders. It was normal to dress like this.
However, Ouyang Shaochen was a n.o.bleman of Qingyan Kingdom. He was old fas.h.i.+oned and strait-laced. Even if she explained to him, he wouldn’t understand her.
“It’s too hot. And there’s no ice in the carriage. So I have to take off my outer dress to cool myself…” Murong Xue made a perfunctory excuse. ‘The carriage is running so fast and the carriage windows are so small. How can outsiders see me dress like that? I don’t know why he makes such a fuss about a small thing?’ she thought disapprovingly.
Through a layer of clothing, Ouyang Shaochen could feel her temperature. He frowned slightly because her body temperature was a little high. Apparently she was tormented by the heat…