Gao Yuexing curled up her legs and squeezed inside first. She just managed to lie down, leaving a space next to her barely enough for another person. Li Fuxiang stood outside for a moment, then climbed in and lay down as well.
Li Fuxiang turned his head to glance at Gao Yuexing, who was lying properly and neatly, then straightened his face and said, “This feels a bit like lying in a coffin together.”
Gao Yuexing disliked hearing such inauspicious words, so she ignored him.
Li Fuxiang, oblivious to her expression, continued talking to himself: “In a hundred years, when we die, let’s lie together like this. We’ll only need one coffin.”
Gao Yuexing thought that would be way too cramped and said, “No way. Make two coffins; we’ll each have our own house.”
Li Fuxiang retorted, “No, we have to share the same house.”
Gao Yuexing rolled over, turning her back to him. Thanks to her petite figure, it was easy for her to flip over, and she deliberately gave Li Fuxiang a hard shove in the process.
Li Fuxiang ended up pressed against the edge of the box.
Song Niang, holding up the lid of the box with one hand, found their antics rather amusing. She said, “I’m going to close the lid now.”
Li Fuxiang replied, “Go ahead.”
He wasn’t afraid of the dark. To him, night and day were no different.
Gao Yuexing, however, disliked darkness. Staying too long in places without light easily made her irritable, so she carried a luminous pearl with her.
Li Fuxiang thought the pearl looked familiar.
Gao Yuexing said, “At our wedding, a luminous pearl just like this one was tied to the top of the canopy with red silk. Do you remember?”
Li Fuxiang said, “Really?”
Gao Yuexing asked, “You don’t remember?”
The lid of the box snapped shut, plunging the interior into darkness and silence. Their voices, close to each other’s ears, sounded like the most intimate whispers, softly scratching at the heart.
Li Fuxiang rested his head on his hand and said, “That day, I was too busy looking at you. I didn’t notice anything else… Can you stop squeezing me? Move over a bit. I’m about to be flattened into a brown sugar cake.”
Gao Yuexing glanced at him, reached into her pocket, and actually pulled out a small packet of brown sugar cakes. They had long gone cold but still carried her body’s warmth.
On her journey to the western frontier to find her husband, Gao Yuexing had kept his cravings in mind. She had gone out of her way to have someone detour to Jiangluo Town to pack up some of their famous brown sugar cakes and had carried them across thousands of miles.
Li Fuxiang unwrapped the oiled paper, then held a piece up to Gao Yuexing’s mouth.
She took a small bite before saying she didn’t want any more. Li Fuxiang stuffed the rest into his own mouth.
Gao Yuexing brought up serious matters: “It’s almost dawn. We’ll leave with the Medicine Valley caravan. You’ve been here for so long; you must have a plan in mind already.”
Li Fuxiang responded with a soft “Mm.”
Gao Yuexing asked again, “Wen… Song Niang, did you arrange for her to be here?”
Li Fuxiang said, “Song Niang’s background and experiences are real. A year ago, I took a liking to the location of this inn, so I had my people assume Song Niang’s identity.”
Gao Yuexing immediately asked, “And the real Song Niang?”
Li Fuxiang replied, “She and her husband received a large sum of money and happily moved to the capital to settle down.”
Gao Yuexing nodded. “Makes sense. For ordinary folks, a warm home in the capital with red silk curtains is always more comfortable than the sandstorms at the border… So, what are your plans?”
Li Fuxiang said, “Fox Hu aligning itself with Xumo’er was something I hadn’t anticipated.”
Gao Yuexing replied, “Neither did I. The king of Fox Hu is said to be a petty man who never acts without personal gain. After pledging allegiance to our dynasty, we opened trade routes with them to facilitate exchange. Now he’s turned to Xumo’er, a bandit leader by origin. What could Xumo’er possibly offer them?”
Li Fuxiang let out a cold laugh. “They’re scheming to one day divide and conquer our dynasty’s territory, thinking their wild ambitions might come true.”
This statement hit the nail on the head.
There was no other plausible or reasonable explanation for their actions.
Li Fuxiang continued, “Fox Hu has to pay tribute to Xumo’er twice a year—once in June and once in December.”
Gao Yuexing said, “June.”
Li Fuxiang confirmed, “Yes, in ten days. That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”
When dawn broke, the disciples of Medicine Valley prepared to set off. While transporting medicinal supplies, they quickly noticed one of the boxes had become significantly heavier.
The disciples gritted their teeth and carried on, refusing to let anyone notice anything unusual. Langdu casually wandered over, pretending not to care, and lent a hand. Two boxes were loaded onto their most stable cart.
Then, they heard Langdu give an order from outside: “Load all the melons into the boxes.”
The disciples of Medicine Valley opened the box they had just carried, expressionless, and dumped all the melons inside onto Li Fuxiang.
—
Li Fuxiang pushed the melons aside while being careful not to let them roll onto Gao Yuexing. In the end, he piled them at his feet, occupying half the space meant for him. Curling himself tightly into a ball, he could barely breathe.
As the lid of the box closed again, he looked at Gao Yuexing, pinning his hopes on the world’s most doting wife to take pity on him once more.
Gao Yuexing reluctantly sat up, pulling him closer. She said, “Come over here.”
Li Fuxiang grasped her hand, shifted over, and embraced Gao Yuexing in front of him. Pressed together, the cramped space finally felt a little more bearable.
Gao Yuexing said, “When it gets hot later, we’ll eat the melons.”
Li Fuxiang looked down but said nothing. He already felt hot now.
Two hours into the journey, it wasn’t even the hottest part of the day yet, but sweat was already dripping from both of them. Quietly, they propped the lid of the box open just a crack and looked together at the light seeping in, savoring the tiny bit of fresh air.
Li Fuxiang asked, “Is this how you traveled all the way here?”
Gao Yuexing replied, “It’s not worse than your disfigured disguise.”
Li Fuxiang said, “Medicine Valley is so beautiful, a perfect place to escape the summer heat. Why didn’t you just stay there and wait for me?”
Gao Yuexing stared at the glaring sunlight outside. After a while, she felt uncomfortable and retreated to the shaded area of the box. She said, “If one day I die, will you blame yourself for not protecting me?”
Li Fuxiang replied, “Of course.”
Gao Yuexing said, “That’s why I won’t allow such a thing to happen. I must make myself as strong as you. I promised you that we’d both live well.”
She casually picked up a melon and used a dagger to crack it open.
In the confined space, the melon split into two halves, and its fresh, sweet aroma instantly filled the air.
Gao Yuexing placed a handkerchief on her lap, scooped out a piece, and stuffed it into Li Fuxiang’s mouth. “Is it sweet?”
The melons Song Niang had carefully selected to quench their thirst on the journey couldn’t possibly be anything but sweet.
Li Fuxiang swallowed and said, “Sweet.”
Gao Yuexing watched the movement of his Adam’s apple, her gaze turning dark. She restrained herself, not daring to act recklessly in the cart, afraid of being laughed at.
Li Fuxiang, however, leaned closer, unwilling to let it go. “The melon is sweet, but suddenly, I want to kiss you.”
Without her consent, he didn’t dare act recklessly, fearing she’d be angry.
Gao Yuexing closed her eyes and said, “No.”
Li Fuxiang withdrew, pouting.
The path from the trade route toward Fox Hu was anything but smooth.
As they shared a melon, juice inevitably smeared onto their clothes. Gao Yuexing frowned as she tidied herself, while Li Fuxiang leaned back opposite her. The cart, traveling over uneven gravel, began descending from higher ground.
At the first jolt, Gao Yuexing felt something was off.
Before she could adjust her position, the cart suddenly hit a large rock, bouncing violently. Gao Yuexing dropped the melon rind in her hand and lunged toward Li Fuxiang on the opposite side.
Li Fuxiang reached out and caught her squarely in his arms.
Unexpectedly, a piece of melon rind smacked against Li Fuxiang’s eyes.
For someone who relied heavily on his vision in the darkness, having his sight suddenly obstructed left him fumbling and unable to control his movements properly. His hand, unfortunately, landed where it shouldn’t have.
Gao Yuexing turned her head and, without hesitation, sank her teeth fiercely into the side of his neck.
Instead of gaining the soft fragrance of jade, Li Fuxiang only got a sharp bite of pain. He felt utterly wronged.
The cart finally steadied.
Gao Yuexing broke free from his embrace.
Li Fuxiang wiped the spot where she had just bitten him. Holding up his finger, which now bore a smear of red, he said, “It’s bleeding.”
Gao Yuexing glanced at it dismissively. “Are you out of your mind? Trying to deceive a physician?”
It was clearly watermelon juice.
Although Gao Yuexing had bitten down hard enough to hurt, she had deliberately restrained her strength before clamping down. On such a sensitive spot as the side of his neck, too much force could have led to a bloody mess. She’d taken care to hold back.
Li Fuxiang sulkily retracted his finger and stuck it in his mouth, sucking on it.
Whether he was savoring the sweetness of the watermelon or the lingering softness on his hand, he kept quiet but was clearly restless inside.
Gao Yuexing ignored him for the rest of the journey.
After a whole day of travel, they finally reached Fox Hu’s royal city by nightfall.
Fox Hu was a tiny place, its entire kingdom smaller than three of their cities combined. Its most bustling royal city wasn’t even comparable to a town market on the outskirts of the capital.
Hidden inside a box, covered with a layer of melons, a layer of straw matting, and medicinal herbs on top, they successfully passed through the city gates unnoticed by the guards.
In an inconspicuous corner of Fox Hu, they rented an ordinary inn. The group carried the box inside and settled in.
This wasn’t Gao Yuexing’s first time in Fox Hu.
Standing by the window, she gazed outside.
She remembered her last visit. Back then, Fox Hu had been defeated in war, and its royal city had fallen into ruin, desolation spreading everywhere.
Now, it didn’t look too bad.
Merchants traveling this trade route often stopped in Fox Hu for a break, replenishing their food and water supplies.
Across from the inn where Gao Yuexing stayed was a jewelry shop owned by a gem merchant.
Noticing her gaze fixed in that direction, Li Fuxiang said, “Shall I send someone to buy some for you?”
Gao Yuexing shook her head. “I’m not interested. I’m just puzzled. It’s said that Fox Hu is rich in gems, their quality among the finest and highly valuable. So why are they still so poor?”
Li Fuxiang explained, “What defines value? Rarity does. Even the most precious item becomes worthless when it floods the market.”
In Fox Hu, gemstones were practically worthless.
Transporting their rare gems to the capital of the Great Xu Dynasty required significant manpower and resources, not to mention the taxes at checkpoints. The merchants buying them would only keep driving the price down. Often, a gem worth thousands of silver taels to wealthy families in the capital would only fetch a few hundred taels from the merchants. By the time the gem reached the hands of Fox Hu’s people, it was worth less than ten taels.
In recent years, the merchants of Fox Hu had grown smarter.
Since the families they brought their goods to repeatedly refused, showing no interest, they decided it was better to abandon the business altogether. Instead, they set up stalls right at their doorstep. Whoever wanted the gems would naturally find ways to come and buy them. By then, the price would be negotiable—and far from just two or three coins.
Gao Yuexing snorted, “Ever since Fox Hu submitted to our dynasty, haven’t we reduced their customs taxes by over fifty percent? Yet their greed knows no bounds, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.”
Li Fuxiang said, “There’s no such thing as fairness in this world. Their attempts to gain more through scheming are reasonable enough. But if they choose to resort to force, then losing is exactly what they deserve.”