But I’ve already been intimate with Qin Yu like that.
“Let’s find an inn to rest.”
By noon, their group had finally arrived at the county town.
After traveling under the scorching sun, everyone was parched, their faces tight and sore from the heat.
Yesterday, they had still been stripping off their clothes to let the breeze in, but today, they were all bundled up tightly, afraid to expose even an inch of skin to the sun.
Traveling in the summer was truly an inhuman ordeal.
One time, when they dismounted to relieve themselves and climbed back onto their horses, the saddles had been baked so hot by the sun that they yelped in pain upon sitting down, nearly jumping right back off.
The saddles were scalding, as if dipped in boiling water pure torture for their backsides.
“I’m roasting alive. Can’t we get some chilled congee to cool off?” someone on horseback called out, scanning the streets below.
They had entered the main street of the county town, but due to the heat, few street vendors were out. Only established shops with proper storefronts remained open for business.
Sweat blurred their vision. The bearded man wiped his face with his sleeve, barely managing to open his eyes. “Let’s find a place to settle first.”
To the uninformed, they might have looked like a group of traveling merchants, but to those in the know, they could easily pass as a band of escorts.
With a single carriage and a small entourage, they could be mistaken for either merchants on a business trip or guards escorting their master back to the capital.
Unsure of Qin Yu’s intentions, the bearded man dismounted and approached the carriage. “Young Master, shall we stay at one of our own inns or just find a random place?”
The Qin family’s businesses spanned far and wide, covering numerous industries. Even in this obscure little county town along the road, there were branches of their various enterprises.
A voice came from inside the carriage, cool and crisp like a mountain spring in summer, refreshing and soothing. “Our own.”
The bearded man brightened. “Got it.”
He raised his voice and announced, “The Young Master says we’re staying at one of our own!”
The group cheered at the news.
Staying at their own establishment meant comfort and convenience. The shopkeepers and attendants, knowing they were from the capital, would bend over backward to serve them.
Forget chilled congee even if they wanted a full imperial banquet, all they had to do was ask.
The carriage hadn’t gone much farther before it stopped. The bearded man strode forward, chest puffed out, and declared grandly, “Fetch your manager. The young master of the Qin family is here, he should come out to greet us personally.”
The attendant inside immediately called out.
Before long, a fair-skinned, middle-aged man in his forties with a round face and stout build emerged.
He first examined the Qin family token the bearded man presented to verify their identity, then promptly folded his dark blue sleeves and bowed in greeting.
The bearded man tucked the token away and nodded at the manager in acknowledgment.
With a tilt of his chin toward the carriage, he said, “The young master is on his way back to the capital after inspecting shops in the south. He’s stopping here to rest.”
“Then I’ll arrange the finest suite at once. You’ve all been traveling under the sun and must be exhausted and thirsty. I’ll have cool drinks and warm water prepared for you to quench your thirst and freshen up.”
The manager, surnamed Zhou, was the person in charge of this small county shop. Despite its modest scale, he was meticulous and thoughtful in his arrangements.
The bearded man nodded, satisfied.
“I’ll go pay my respects to the young master first,” Manager Zhou said, lifting the hem of his robe as he hurried outside.
Anyone from the capital was a distinguished guest, let alone the young master of the Qin family, Qin Yu.
As for whether the master of the Qin family was now surnamed Qin or Li these were not matters for a mere manager in a small county town to worry about. His only duty was to do his job well.
Besides, today might just be his opportunity.
As long as he performed well in front of the young master, there would surely be benefits in the future.
“Zhou Ming, manager of the Qin Family Inn’s branch in Lihua County, greets the young master.” Manager Zhou bowed respectfully before the carriage.
The carriage curtain stirred slightly, and the first thing that caught the eye was a pair of fair, delicate hands, as tender as bamboo shoots. Those hands lifted the curtain, and from within the carriage emerged a woman of striking beauty.
Her hair was tied up in a man’s topknot, secured with a masculine jade hairpin neat and tidy, revealing a face as small as a palm.
The woman’s skin was pale, standing in the sunlight like a piece of jade meticulously carved by a master artisan translucent and dazzlingly white.
Her slender neck and flawless figure made her seem unreal, like a painting.
She wore a light cyan underrobe, overlaid with a shimmering white summer gown, cinched at the waist with a narrow cyan belt that accentuated her soft, slender waist so delicate it seemed as if it could be held in one hand.
Manager Zhou was momentarily entranced, he had never seen someone so beautiful. When he finally snapped out of it, he realized something was amiss.
Wasn’t it supposed to be the young master arriving? Why was it a woman?
Just as Manager Zhou was puzzled, the woman stepped aside, and a young man in a dark green round-collared robe descended from the carriage.
Compared to the soft, harmless-looking woman, Manager Zhou didn’t dare to look directly at the young man’s face. Just a casual glance from him carried the authority and presence of someone of high status.
Compared to his appearance, the young master’s cold, aloof demeanor was far more imposing.
Manager Zhou bowed even lower, only straightening when he heard the cool voice speak: “Let’s go inside.”
He wasn’t sure if the words were directed at him or the woman beside the young master.
The woman was incredibly delicate. After standing by the carriage for just a moment, she pouted and whined about the heat, lifting a hand to shield her forehead like a makeshift hat. “I’m about to melt.”
Her voice was light, soft, and melodious, a perfect example of the gentle Wu dialect.
Qin Yu glanced sideways at Shen Su, thinking to herself that if she was “melting,” it certainly wasn’t from the heat, it was from her own wantonness.
All water.
Shen Su smiled shyly and moved closer to Qin Yu.
Their interaction was far too intimate and obvious. Combined with the fact that they had shared a carriage, there was no mistaking their relationship.
Manager Zhou quickly deduced the woman’s status and lowered his head, not daring to look at her again. He gestured respectfully, inviting them inside to rest.
“Bring some chilled congee, and well, anything that cools the heat. It’s absolutely sweltering.”
“I can’t take it anymore, I need a bath right now. Don’t bother heating water,” someone said, pulling a waiter aside. “Do you have a well here? Well water will do.”
Manager Zhou arranged everything one by one. “This year has been unusually hot, and you’ve arrived at the height of summer, so it’s particularly unbearable.”
The streets outside were nearly empty, no one ventured out during the midday heat.
Manager Zhou added, “After you shi (5–7 PM), when the sun sets, it’ll be much more bearable.”
You shi?
That would be almost sunset.
Some of the group hesitated, glancing at Qin Yu tentatively. “Young Master, could we rest a bit before continuing?”
They weren’t in a rush to return to the capital, a slight delay on the road wouldn’t matter. But Qin Yu, perhaps eager to prove herself due to her youth, had pushed them relentlessly without a single break.
They left during the late spring, when the weather was pleasantly mild, neither too hot nor too cold. By the time they returned, it was the height of summer, unbearably stifling.
They had hoped to travel on an overcast day, riding under the scorching sun was nothing short of torture.
They were human, not beasts of burden. Even the donkeys turning the millstone in the backyard weren’t worked this mercilessly.
Qin Yu was just about to head upstairs when he paused at the sound of voices, glancing downward.
The bearded man had gone with the innkeeper to cool off by the well, while Lao Wu gulped down chilled tea. The rest were either waiting for iced congee or their meals, with hardly anyone retreating to their rooms.
The speaker was a young man in his early twenties, unassuming and earnest in appearance but quick and efficient in his work. He had an uncanny ability to memorize ledgers at a glance, instantly spotting discrepancies in the numbers.
His skin, not particularly fair to begin with, was now flushed from the sun, his lips dry and peeling.
Qin Yu nodded. “Then we’ll rest for two days and set off when it’s overcast.”
The young man, Qingmu, brightened at the words, standing up from his stool with a wide grin. “Thank you, young master!”
What a good man the young master was reasonable and approachable. His earlier aloofness must have just been due to his reserved nature.
Besides, it was they who had doubted him first, assuming his youth meant incompetence, keeping their distance from the start. No wonder the young master had seemed distant.