Shi Zhenxiang lifted the carriage curtain, watching the Imperial Palace grow smaller in the distance, finally feeling the reality of traveling far away.
She never expected that in the modern era she couldn't even travel across the country, but here in ancient times she was enjoying it.
It was quite novel.
Her mood was wonderful, and she hummed along the way.
Sheng Jinyan saw her in such a good mood and the corners of his mouth rose along with her.
He suddenly said, "Are you this happy just to leave the imperial palace with me?"
Did she really like being with him that much?
Shi Zhenxiang thought to herself...
She could tell—this Dog Emperor was truly narcissistic.
She was mainly happy about leaving the palace; it had nothing to do with him.
But on the surface, she had to flatter him, "Yes, Your subject really enjoys coming out with you."
After hearing that, Sheng Jinyan was indeed in a great mood.
With a grand wave of his hand, he said, "Here, take all the funds for this trip; you manage them."
Shi Zhenxiang looked at the stack of silver notes, which was clearly much smaller than last time, and felt very embarrassed, "Is this all?"
Sheng Jinyan nodded, "Mm, I'm giving you all of it."
Plus those from last time, he was giving her everything.
Shi Zhenxiang thought...
No way, just this little?
She counted, and the "Dragon Palace" only had thirty thousand taels in silver notes.
That number seemed large, but their group of ten people needed food, clothing, lodging, and transport for ten people. Thirty thousand taels wouldn't last long at all.
Not to mention eating and drinking well.
And along the way, there was bound to be acclimatization sickness, or colds and fevers, and buying medicine would be another expense.
Shi Zhenxiang suddenly didn't want to take on the job of managing the money.
It simply wasn't enough.
Sheng Jinyan saw her silent and thought she was moved. He even patted her shoulder, thinking he was being considerate, "Don't be touched. I'm not a stingy person. You can spend the money however you like; I won't interfere."
Shi Zhenxiang thought...
She felt it was very necessary to make Sheng Jinyan realize how quickly daily necessities like fuel, rice, oil, and salt could be spent, otherwise he would still think thirty thousand taels was a lot.
So after the carriage traveled for four hours, the children couldn't sit still anymore. They clamored to go down for a walk, and they were all hungry.
Sheng Jinyan waved his hand grandly, "Hungry, huh? Fine, let's go down and get something to eat."
Shi Zhenxiang immediately handed him a one-hundred-tael silver note for him to spend.
Sheng Jinyan was deeply moved, thinking to himself, this woman really loves me. Even though I gave her all the money, she was still willing to let me pay. She really knew how to save his face.
In a great mood, Sheng Jinyan took the children to a wonton stall and ordered ten bowls of wontons.
In the middle of winter, a bowl of hot wonton soup warmed them up instantly.
But the children weren't full and kept clamoring for meat buns.
Sheng Jinyan also thought the stall's portions were too small, so he bought ten meat buns.
Now they were half full, but the children still wanted candied hawthorn sticks.
Sheng Jinyan doted on the children, so he bought them.
But he himself didn't eat any.
The three nannies didn't get any either.
Only the four children each got a stick.
Little Fifth was still breastfeeding, so Sheng Jinyan gave Little Fifth's stick to Shi Zhenxiang.
Shi Zhenxiang didn't stand on ceremony. She was nursing now and needed to eat more.
But she still offered it to Sheng Jinyan first, "Husband, you have some too."
Sheng Jinyan saw that she truly loved him the most and immediately took a bite of the candied hawthorn, in a great mood, "You can have the rest."
Shi Zhenxiang smiled lightly, "Thank you, Husband."
After the meal, the children wanted to buy toys.
This time Sheng Jinyan didn't agree.
He told the children, "On this trip, the only thing we can buy is food. As for toys, when you grow up and have money, you can buy them yourselves."
The princesses thought...
Fine.
Father Emperor had no money; they should understand that.
So the children obediently followed him back to the carriage.
The carriage continued on.
When it got dark, Shi Zhenxiang suggested finding an inn to rest.
Otherwise, her old waist was going to break.
Although Sheng Jinyan thought she was too delicate, considering she had given birth to five children, it was normal for her body to be weak, so he found an inn that looked clean.
Shi Zhenxiang knew he still had some money left, so she told him to go ask for rooms.
Sheng Jinyan also thought he still had plenty of money in hand, so he waved grandly at the waiter and said, "Give us two ordinary rooms and two tables of food."
When the waiter heard two tables of food, his eyes lit up.
He thought a wealthy man had arrived.
Then he heard Sheng Jinyan say, "For each table, just one soup and two dishes."
The waiter thought...
So shouting so loudly just for one soup and two dishes?
"Then what dishes would you like? Meat dishes or vegetable dishes?"
The waiter expected him to order one meat and one vegetable, but Sheng Jinyan said, "I'll take a minced meat tofu and a stir-fried cabbage."
The waiter was speechless.
He thought to himself, this man looks quite imposing, but he's so stingy.
The waiter contemptuously took the silver, snorted, and went to call out the order.
Sheng Jinyan was given a dirty look and exclaimed, "Hey, what's with that attitude?"
He had ordered two rooms and two tables of food. He had only ordered two tables out of respect for the Imperial Consort.
Otherwise, all these people could have squeezed around one table if they had to.
Shi Zhenxiang saw that although the meal was one soup and two dishes, the price was not cheap.
After all, they hadn't left the Capital City yet, so prices were still relatively high.
Sheng Jinyan also complained when he saw the two small dishes, "Just this plate of minced meat tofu costs two taels of silver. It's outright robbery."
He should have gone to a cheaper inn.
Shi Zhenxiang said nothing and silently put meat into the children's bowls.
After dinner, everyone was tired and lay down.
Shi Zhenxiang had only been in the carriage for a day, and her back and waist were already sore. She wanted to have the nanny come and massage her.
Sheng Jinyan saw her tossing and turning, looking uncomfortable, and asked, "What's wrong?"
Itchy?
Shi Zhenxiang felt like giving him a big slap.
Finally, she said with grievance, "Your subject has a sore waist."
Sheng Jinyan clicked his tongue, "Delicate."
Back in the day, he had ridden a horse for three consecutive months to rush back to the Capital City and never complained of a sore back. She got a sore back after just one day in the carriage.
But he still placed his big hand on her waist and massaged her.
His hands were strong. At first, Shi Zhenxiang felt pain, but whenever she hissed, Sheng Jinyan would immediately reduce the pressure.
Shi Zhenxiang felt comfortable and closed her eyes to enjoy it.
She still had to praise him with her mouth, "Your Majesty is so skilled! Even massage is this good, you're even better than the Imperial Physician."
Sheng Jinyan was very pleased.
He had rarely been praised since childhood. The elders almost always scolded him.
So whenever he heard praise, he loved it.
He immediately raised his chin with pride and massaged even more vigorously.
That night, Shi Zhenxiang slept very comfortably.
When she got up the next day, her waist was much better.
Just after dawn, Sheng Jinyan called her to get up.
"Come on, let's go."
Shi Zhenxiang yawned, looked at the sky just getting light, and wanted to lie a little longer, but Sheng Jinyan had already hoisted her up and carried her downstairs.
The princesses were also carried out by the nannies.
They were clearly still half asleep when they were placed in the carriage.
Everyone squeezed into two carriages. The nannies drove the carriages, and Shi Zhenxiang continued sleeping inside.
By noon, Sheng Jinyan called them to eat.
This time, Sheng Jinyan first took the children to buy big mantous, so the small stalls' portions wouldn't be too small.
The children coaxed him into buying mutton soup, and Sheng Jinyan took them to get some.
Each person had a bowl, paired with a big mantou, and this time they were full.
The children saw snacks and wanted to buy them again.
Sheng Jinyan really didn't want to let them buy, but as soon as the children whined, he immediately took out his money.
So the money was halved again.
✦✦✦