Liu Xuan has never been far away, and he doesn't know what items he needs on the way to the capital, but Qian Tong is a person who often walks outside, so most of the items on this road are purchased by him. They did not buy many things, except for their respective luggage, a carriage, a good horse, some dry food and water, and some miscellaneous books and a piano to pass the time, these things were purchased for two days, mainly because good horses were hard to find.

Yizhou is thousands of miles away from the capital, there are too many unknowable dangers along the way, originally according to Qian Tong's idea, they still need to hire some guards, when he told Liu Xuan this idea, Liu Xuan was slightly stunned at first, and then refused with a smile.

Qian Tong remembered that Liu Xuan's smile was very complicated at that time, there were pains, injuries, helplessness, and a trace of tenderness that was not easy to detect, she said: "After this time, I understood many things, and one of them is that I will never have any life-threatening accidents before arriving in the capital." ”

Qian Tong didn't understand why she was so sure, Shu Di was okay to say, because Liu Zhiqing had cleared the bandits in Shu when he came to serve as an official, but he couldn't tell if he was out of Shu, the Li Dynasty was founded only for more than ten years, and the traces left by the war are still there, although he has never been out of Shu, but he also knows that there are some bandits and bandits in various places.

He wanted to persuade again, but Liu Xuan said: "You believe me, not to mention that those guards are just hired, if they are really in danger, I am afraid that the first one will be to kill us, take the money and run away." Rather than this, it is better for you and me to keep a low profile, if the thieves are not in a situation where they are hungry, they should not choose us to start. ”

Qian Tong nodded, he proposed to hire guards not because he believed that those guards could really protect each other with their lives, but because he remembered the effect of deterrence, but Liu Xuan was right, if the guards were hired, it would be equivalent to telling those bandits that they had some money, and they could not hire a group of guards like real nobles, and they could not play a deterrent role, and when it came to life, these guards were even more terrifying.

But who has some money and silver does not hire some guards before going out far away? A large part of these people hire guards because they are afraid, and hiring some guards is just to embolden themselves.

But Liu Xuan, a woman raised in the boudoir, has the courage that ordinary people do not have, after this incident, Qian Tong has a deeper respect for Liu Xuan, although his own young lady has never been out of Yizhou and has never walked around, but what she thinks and thinks is more transparent than ordinary people, and her courage is not more than ordinary people.

Liu Xuan didn't know what Qian Tong was thinking, she said to Qian Tong very seriously and solemnly: "You and I live and die along the way, but there is one thing you must promise me, if you are really unfortunate enough to encounter something that is vital to your life, you must protect yourself first, and you must protect yourself first in any case!" ”

Qian Tong instinctively wanted to object, but Liu Xuan didn't wait for him to speak: "Now that Steward Hu is dead, my personal maid Hongyuan also died for saving me, and only you are left by my side, you don't know why I want to go to the capital, you haven't asked me and I haven't said, I can only tell you that this road is both his experience for me and my experience for you, and he will never let me die in a place where he can't see, so you must protect yourself first no matter what the circumstances." ”

Qian informed them that they entered Beijing this time to see the master in the dragon's mouth, the one who always looked at him with a cold and lofty gaze, his master must be extraordinary people, his own lady emphasized this matter so cautiously, there must be a reason for her,

So Qian Tong kept this matter in his heart, and then nodded solemnly.

Liu Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't want to see a red lotus again, it was enough for the red lotus to die for her.

The carriage creaked and walked on the official road, the carriage was very ordinary and could even be said to be a little shabby, Liu Xuan and Qian Tong were also dressed very plainly, poor and middle peasants, they incarnated as brothers and sisters are all surnamed Qin, one is named Qin Tong and the other is named Qin Xuan, and their identity is that their parents died and entered Beijing to join their relatives.

Qian Tong once reminded Liu Xuan euphemistically when he went out: "Miss's appearance is quite famous, and it is rumored that even the prince of Ning Wang is also on it." ”

Liu Xuan immediately understood what Qian Tong meant, to be honest, she didn't have any feelings about her appearance, she had never interacted with outsiders, nor had she seen other ladies in the house, the only one she had seen was She Huanxue, but she didn't like She Huanxue because of her temperament, and she never had any concerns about her appearance.

As soon as Qian Tong said this, Liu Xuan knew that her appearance was okay, the corners of her mouth pulled slightly, and she asked Qian Tong what way to cover it, Qian Tong found some wax and honey to mix and handed it to Liu Xuan: "Miss will touch this on her face, her face will be sallow, and her skin will look rough." ”

Liu Xuan tried it and sure enough, the so-called one white covers three ugliness, her sallow face covered her appearance by three points, and she wiped a few more layers on the eyelids and tails, now she is only a delicate woman, such a sallow face is also in line with her fabricated identity.

Liu Xuan sat bored in the carriage, so she came to the carriage and sat on the side of Qian Tong to look at the roadside scenery, Qian Tong drove the carriage and said to her: "Miss has never been far away, and I must not know that our Shu land is a beautiful place on the top of the mountains." ”

In fact, Liu Xuan knew, Li Che found a lot of unique books of local gazetteers, and he didn't take them with him when he left, he had almost finished reading them, although he had never been to various places, but he knew very well about the customs and landforms of various places.

She breathed in the fresh breath between the mountains and forests, smiled and nodded: "If you don't go out, you don't know the vastness of the world." ”

They stopped and stopped for a day, and soon the sun began to set westward, and there would be no more towns before they left Yizhou and reached Rongcheng, so Qian Tong and Liu Xuan had to sleep in the wilderness.

When the sun was about to set, Qian Tong found a vacant land next to the official road as a place to sleep, there were many ashes left after the bonfire burned on this clearing, obviously a place where pedestrians often slept in the open, not far from a small stream, Qian Tong went to find some firewood, Liu Xuan went to the creek to fetch some water.

The creek is clear and the water is cool, Liu Xuan took a copper basin and played a basin of water, couldn't help but take off her shoes and socks and put her jade feet into the stream to feel the coolness of this moment, she looked at her familiar and unfamiliar reflection in the stream and was stunned, she couldn't help but think, how good it would be if she didn't meet him, this thought just floated, she smiled bitterly and shook her head, whether she wanted to or not, she had already arrived here, she could only continue to walk, she had no way out.

This time the lesson was so profound that she lost everything overnight, she wouldn't make the same mistake again, she had to be stronger, strong enough to protect herself and those around her, even strong enough to stand side by side with that person.

Qian Tong called her pseudonym not far away, Liu Xuan turned around and answered, then got up to wipe off the water stains, put on shoes and socks, and walked towards the open space with a copper basin.