Abandoned Princesses
The Xu Family (1)

Qiao Rong opened the room door wide. In front of the door, there was already Chu Yue waiting for him from this morning. Today, Qiao Rong completed his closed cultivation for two weeks. Now, he felt very refreshed and all the pain was gone from his body. He had already reached the Intermediate Moon level.

Qiao Rong ate very voraciously that morning. According to Qiao Rong, Chu Yue's cooking was indeed more delicious than that of the palace cook. Despite living in the village and not having a bare bed in the palace, or a beautiful garden in the courtyard of Yun Pavilion, these things were not felt by Qiao Rong because his busyness disturbed Shen Haofeng.

During Qiao Rong's cultivation, and out of his closed cultivation, Shen Haofeng disappeared. However, even though he was curious whether Shen Haofeng had returned or not, he constantly resisted the urge to visit the young man's house. It was because of the words of Li Junyan that kept ringing in his head.

"seen? You'll miss him soon." Qiao Rong shuddered when he remembered it.

He hurriedly ate all his food. Chu Yue was astonished. Just this time Qiao Rong ate in such a hurry. Usually they will eat while talking a little and eat slowly.

"Your Majesty, is there something wrong with the taste of today's food?" Chu Yue asked out of worry.

"A-Ah. no. Very good as always." Qiao Rong said quietly. Chu Yue who read Qiao Rong's expression was naturally even more worried. Qiao Rong's current mood seemed to be very bad.

"Your Majesty, I heard yesterday that there was a villager back—" Chu Yue had yet to finish her words as Qiao Rong slammed her plate and left in a hurry to get out.

Chu Yue could only be dumbfounded in her chair.

*****

Qiao Rong ran towards Shen Haofeng's house across from his house. But the results are nil, there are still no signs of life in the house. Even the house looked even more abandoned than two weeks ago.

Qiao Rong sighed. "Of course, what do I expect..." He muttered with gibberish. Finally, Qiao Rong decided to return home and get ready to go to Mount Shan while walking limply.

Arriving at home, Chu Yue did not dare to say any more words, she only walked into her room after bowing to Qiao Rong. He also did not know about Qiao Rong's intention to go to Mount Shan. If he knew, he could have now blocked Qiao Rong desperately.

Qiao Rong simply took out a wicker basket and a small dagger given to him by Gao Ping to protect himself. Then he prepared to leave.

Qiao Rong had just walked slightly towards the path that led to Mount Shan as he passed by a young man who seemed to be several years older than him. The young man was stunned to see Qiao Rong's beauty. He had not expected to meet a diamond in a place like Nanshan Village. The young man instantly held Qiao Rong's hand abruptly.

Qiao Rong was surprised, he immediately brushed off the young man's hand. Precisely, now Qiao Rong was confused because of the young man's expression that seemed so shocked that he brushed his hand away.

"Xu Pingluo!" A middle-aged woman suddenly came and hugged the young man. "Bad boy! Already a learned man now forget mother?"

Qiao Rong wanted to quickly forget about the incident earlier. He immediately rushed away from where the two men were standing. However, just as he had not gone too far, the young man pointed at him. "Mother! I want her to be my concubine!" Qiao Rong held back his laughter, and continued walking.

Unexpectedly, the middle-aged woman would instead say, "Alright. Soon you'll be a state official, who's gonna turn you down?" Hearing that Qiao Rong choked and coughed.

Clever, but crazy. Too bad. Inner Qiao Rong.

Qiao Rong pretended not to hear anything, and continued walking towards his destination. Because of the middle-aged woman's words earlier, he shuddered in horror and almost forgot his longing for Shen Haofeng.

Arriving at Qiao Rong at the foot of the mountain, he instantly searched for the herbs he needed for the Body Forging Potion. The stock he was carrying was already very thin because it had been almost two months. Fortunately, Fu leaves and the roots of the Elais plant are very easy to find at the foot of the mountain.

Fu leaves are small, single-leaved plants like grass and have very small roots, so they are easily uprooted by strong winds. Qiao Rong only needed to look for it from the grass.

After the basket was filled with these two herbs, then Qiao Rong dared to go further into Mount Shan. He had already sensed that something was wrong with the mountain since coming to Nanshan Village. But he had absolutely no idea what that hunch was.

It was only when he approached further towards a large tree that seemed to be very old that he learned what made him feel that the mountain was not right.

There was a giant snake sleeping around the tree branch. At least a thousand years old. Qiao Rong was very surprised by his discovery. Qiao Rong of course, with his cultivation level now, he could not fight against the snake. In the end, he walked slowly back and immediately left the place.

Qiao Rong continued to look for other herbs in a place far from the snake. He wanted to see, what herbs he would find on the mountain. It turned out that there were quite a number of rare herbs that he could dry, siapatahu would be useful one day.

*****

The sun was about to set when he almost got in front of his house. However, from a distance he was instead surprised to see Duan Yi, Hu Fei, and Gao Ping, as well as Chu Yue who was yelling at the people in front of them who were delivering countless red boxes.

Qiao Rong hastened his pace.

"What's this?" Ask Chu Yue. Chu Yue looked extremely annoyed.

"Our Xu family is a learned family! My sister who is about to pass the provincial examination has already taken a heart on you, miss. It's an honor, isn't it?" The man in front of him suddenly spoke.

Qiao Rong did not need to ask anything more. Even guessing is enough. Of course this is the work of the young man and his mother who he had met on the road.

"It's no honor! This is clearly an insult!" Hu Fei suddenly opened his voice. He looks very angry. How could the Emperor's daughter marry a scholar who had not even passed the provincial examination?

Unexpectedly, Hu Fei's speech made the man angry. "Basic doesn't know at profit! If it wasn't for my sister wanting your sister, I wouldn't even have come!"

Suddenly, Chu Yue pulled Qiao Rong's arm back, and whispered. "Your Majesty, do we need to just take out your tokens? That way your identity will be revealed." Whisper Chu Yue slowly.

Qiao Rong simply smiled. "No need."

Then Qiao Rong turned to face the man and said, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I already have a fiancee." Qiao Rong said slowly.

The man was surprised. "No way! I can't believe it! Who's fiancee?" The man snapped at Qiao Rong loudly.

If not being seen by the other villagers in a crowded way, he swore he would definitely hit the man right now.

"The young man whose house is over there." Qiao Rong pointed at Shen Haofeng's house with a smile. Duan Yi, Hu Fei, and Gao Ping as well as Chu Yue were stunned. They thought the fiancee Qiao Rong discussed was Su Xiao. Of course the villagers did not believe it either. They just moved in here less than two months ago, and the engagement has never been heard of. However looking at Duan Yi, Hu Fei, and Gao Ping, they did not dare to say anything in front of Qiao Rong. Only dare to whisper quietly with each other.

The man looked very angry, then left their home. The red boxes were still left in front of their houses.

"Mr Yi, Hu Fei, return these boxes to whoever it was. Unexpectedly, it seems that in this village there are also wild snakes." Qiao Rong smiled mockingly.

Chu Yue smiled with satisfaction. At the very least, the man would not come back again and make a fuss in front of their house. Just now Chu Yue wanted to say something...

"Chu Yue, don't be happy just yet. They'll be back." Qiao Rong.