Chapter Thirty: A Fight Breaks Out

  The short ten-mile road, Zhao Yan and his party walked for more than an hour, until they arrived at the other courtyard, it was already late at night, around eight o'clock. The last section of the road was particularly difficult to walk, with many uphill slopes, so basically, Zhao Yan and his party had to use their shoulders to carry the carriage over. When they arrived at the other courtyard, Zhao Yan felt that his two shoulders were burning in pain, probably already bruised, and his whole body was like a scattered frame. However, in order to maintain his own dignity as a king, Zhao Yan still endured it and did not lie down.

  Lao Fu is a considerate person, he had long seen that Zhao Yan was struggling to hold on, so as soon as they arrived at the other courtyard, he immediately had someone help Zhao Yan to his room to rest and also had someone prepare hot water for him to take a bath and relax, but Zhao Yan was really too tired, as soon as he sat down in the chair, he fell asleep.

  "Ow... it hurts so much!" Zhao Yan suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder while he was sleeping, which made him open his eyes immediately. As a result, he found himself lying in the bathtub, with his body stripped naked, and Xiaodou standing beside the bathtub, using a towel to wipe his shoulder. The area was already red and swollen, and the skin was broken. When it came into contact with water, it stung painfully.

  "I'm sorry, Your Highness! I accidentally touched your wound!" Little Bean Sprout apologized hastily, her adorable face filled with concern and guilt.

  "Hehe, never mind, how long have I slept?" Zhao Yan asked with a smile.

  "The king only slept for a short while, just now I and fourth sister came in, saw the king sleeping on the chair with mud all over his body, fourth sister helped us take off the king's clothes and put them in the bathtub, now she went to prepare dinner for the king!" Xiaodouya answered while carefully wiping Zhao Yan's back.

  "What?" Zhao Yan dug into his ears with some disbelief, "Xiao Douya, are you sure it was Cao Ying who helped me take off my clothes with you?"

  Xiao Douya is Zhao Yan's personal maid, helping him undress and bathe is also normal, at first Zhao Yan was a bit embarrassed, but now he has slowly gotten used to it, only today Cao Ying actually helped him undress, this made Zhao Yan really not dare to believe.

  "Hehe, at that time the county king was sleeping very soundly, I couldn't lift him at all. Miao Xue and Nai Niang were busy moving things from the carriage to tidy up the house, so I could only ask Fourth Sister to help me. I saw Fourth Sister's face turn red!" Xiao Douya said with a mischievous smile. In ancient times, young girls matured early, even simple-minded ones like Xiao Douya already had some vague understanding of matters between men and women.

  "Hasn't she seen me completely naked? Am I not at a disadvantage?" Zhao Yan muttered to herself, also feeling very puzzled. Given Cao Ying's dislike of her and her stubborn personality, how could she help Xiaodouya undress her? Could it be that she had already been conquered by her own charm and changed her opinion of her?

  What Zhao Yan couldn't understand, he temporarily didn't think about. This was one of his greatest advantages. His tired body had a good soak in the bath under Xiaodouya's care, making him feel extremely relaxed all over. When he got dressed, Xunxue also brought over his dinner, and what surprised Zhao Yan even more was that tonight's dinner was completely different from before. Although it was still green vegetables and tofu, they were stir-fried instead of boiled like before. In addition to this, there was a plate of stir-fried bean sprouts and scrambled eggs. Although there was still no meat or fish, compared to the previous meals, it was already quite sumptuous.

  Zhao Yan was also starving, and didn't ask why today's dishes were different. He pounced on the table and had a big gulp, and after he stuffed all four dishes and two large bowls of rice into his belly, he let out a satisfied burp. This might have been the most comfortable meal he'd had since crossing over to the Song Dynasty.

  "By the way, where's Cao Ying?" Zhao Yan asked Mi Xue, who was packing up her things. In the past, whenever he ate, Cao Ying would always supervise him until he finished eating before leaving.

  "The princess's illness has not yet recovered, and today she sat in the car for so long, she is already very tired, so now she has fallen asleep!" Xunxue replied softly.

  "Where does she live? I'll go take a look!" Zhao Yan asked aloud.

  "This..." Xue was taken aback at first, but thinking that Cao Ying's illness had not fully recovered and now everything relied on Zhao Yan's treatment, as a doctor visiting the patient was also a very normal thing, so he opened his mouth to answer, "Report to the Duke, The princess is living in the room next to yours."

  Zhao Yan nodded after hearing this, and let Xiaodouya and Muxue go to eat. He then came to Cao Ying's room. The maids in the room saw Zhao Yan coming in, although they also knew that the princess didn't like the duke, but they didn't dare block him either. This made it very easy for Zhao Yan to enter Cao Ying's bedroom.

  All that could be seen was on a quilt, the beautiful Cao Ying wearing a white nightgown, her black hair scattered on the pillow, lying there like a sleeping angel. Although Zhao Yanming knew that the other party did not like him, seeing Cao Ying's beauty, his heart also involuntarily produced a few palpitations.

  Zhao Yan didn't come to admire Sleeping Beauty, but saw that he had calmed down and walked to Cao Ying's bedside to take a look. He found that the other party was breathing normally, and his face didn't have any abnormalities. He stretched out his hand to touch Cao Ying's forehead, and as a result, he found that the other party didn't have a fever. This made Zhao Yan finally put his mind at ease. Finally, he helped Cao Ying cover himself with the quilt again before turning around and leaving the bedroom. However, just as soon as Zhao Yan had walked out of Cao Ying's room, a sly smile immediately appeared on his face: "Little girl, actually pretending to sleep with me, how interesting!"

  When Zhao Yan left her own room, Cao Ying finally slowly opened her eyes on the bed. She saw that she touched her forehead with her hand and looked at the quilt covering her body, a hint of melancholy appeared on her face.

  Cao Ying felt very confused. The current Zhao Yan was excellent in all aspects, which was a world of difference from the previous Zhao Yan. However, Cao Ying had a deep prejudice against Zhao Yan, especially after what happened on their wedding night, making it impossible for her to forgive Zhao Yan. This made Cao Ying feel even more confused when facing this new version of Zhao Yan, unsure of how to interact with him.

  Cao Ying was tossing and turning on the bed, unable to sleep. Next door, Zhao Yan, who was both tired and sleepy, slept very soundly. Until the next morning when she got up early, opened the window and took a look, finding that although it was still raining outside, the rain had already subsided a lot. This made Zhao Yan slightly relieved, then according to her habit of the past month, slowly practiced a set of Tai Chi to exercise.

  Today's breakfast was almost the same as last night's dinner, although the ingredients for cooking didn't change, but they all became stir-fries, which were more to Zhao Yan's taste. However, Cao Ying still used her illness as an excuse and didn't come out to eat breakfast. Zhao Yan didn't ask much about it either. Anyway, he would see her in the morning when he went to give her a shot.

  "His Excellency, the steward Lü has just sent someone over. He wants to know if you are free. If you are, Steward Lü would like to take you on a tour of the other courtyard. Also, the head of the Zhuang family from outside the manor would also like an audience with Your Excellency?" Xiaodouya spoke up after seeing that Zhao Yan had finished eating.

  "Haha, what a coincidence! I was just thinking of visiting this villa too. Let Old Fu come to the restaurant here, and then he can take me on a tour. As for that Zhuangtou, we can meet him later when we have time." Zhao Yan said with great enthusiasm. In his eyes, this villa was actually his own country retreat. Although the Prince's Mansion in Kaifeng City was more luxurious, Zhao Yan still thought that this kind of country villa was the most comfortable place to live.

  Xiao Douya responded with a sound, and soon brought Lao Fu over. This separate courtyard was originally bought by Lao Fu, so he was very familiar with the place. Starting from the inner house, he took Zhao Yan to visit the separate courtyard.

  The entire estate was smaller than the County Prince's mansion, but in Zhao Yan's eyes, this estate's land area was already not small. The inner house alone had nine courtyards, and he and Cao Ying only lived in one of them. The rest were allocated to several female servants, including wet nurses, for residence. There was also a very large garden with pavilions, towers, streams, ponds, and everything else, but the garden seemed deserted because no one tended to it.

  The front yard is larger than the inner house, and in addition to the front hall and the wing rooms on both sides, there are also servant's quarters, kitchen, warehouse, etc., it can be said that this place can completely serve as a residence for a large family.

  "Lao Fu, this courtyard is so big and the house is also very luxurious, how did you buy it?" Zhao Yan asked Lao Fu with some doubt after visiting the courtyard.

  "I'm reporting to the Duke, this was originally a retirement place built by an official. However, that official wasn't farsighted and offended the powerful people in the court. He was suddenly banished to Lingnan as an official and would never be able to return for his whole life. So he sold this house cheaply. The small men waved the Duke's flag, other buyers were also very understanding, and finally this house fell into our Duke's name." Old Fu said with a smile.

  "Not bad, as long as it's not obtained by deceit or robbery, I'm at ease!" Zhao Yan smiled and nodded, but his words caused Lao Fu to be stunned. He stared at Zhao Yan with an open mouth, unable to speak. The king who used to love taking things by force had suddenly changed his ways, making Lao Fu feel very uncomfortable.

  Just as Zhao Yan had just finished visiting another courtyard and was about to return to give Cao Ying an injection, a servant suddenly rushed in from outside the other courtyard, panting and reporting: "The king...the king has something big...something big is wrong, they're going to fight outside!"