The Princess and Her Rough-Rider Khan-Chapter 673 - 671 Is this detesting me? (First update)

Yelu Yan disagreed.

"It’s too cold, which is bad for the health."

Women mustn’t catch cold, something Yelu Yan had learned from the Imperial Physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau.

Yelu Yan was very indulgent towards Li Xianyun, indulging her to the point where she kept disobeying more and more.

Facing his objections, Li Xianyun turned a blind eye and bent down to take off her shoes.

"Now that it’s spring and the peak of noon, the sand isn’t cold."

Seeing that he couldn’t stop her, Yelu Yan sighed lightly, crouched in front of Li Xianyun, looked up at her, and said, "But you can’t take off your foot cloth, understand?"

"Understood." Li Xianyun smiled as she steadied herself on Yelu Yan’s broad shoulders, not forgetting to flatter him, "My husband is the best to me."

Yelu Yan hummed through his nose, "Disobedient."

He took off Li Xianyun’s shoes, knocked out the sand from inside them, hooked his fingers around the heels, stood up, and saw Li Xianyun either cheerfully walking around in the sand or playfully flicking the sand with her toes before kicking it away.

The fine sand was tossed in the air before falling back down, disappearing tracelessly as if it had melded into the waves.

As it was at the boundary between the desert and the Gobi, the yellow sand was scattered with a few pebbles and the stiff branches and thorns of a thistle.

Yelu Yan followed behind her, giving reminders now and then.

"Don’t kick the stones; it’ll hurt."

"Stay away from the roots; they will puncture your foot."

"Don’t play there; it’s full of stones and roots."

...

Sometimes, mere reminders from Yelu Yan weren’t enough; he had to pull Li Xianyun closer to him.

"Be careful with the stones; they will pierce your foot."

"Slow down, don’t trip."

After a few instances, Li Xianyun became impatient, "Husband, why don’t you go back to the carriage for a while and let Youlan come over?"

"Are you tired of me?"

Li Xianyun looked at him with an infatuated smile, "Yes."

"If that is so, I won’t hold back next time." freewebnøvel.com

Li Xianyun gave him a sidelong glance; this man was very frivolous, somehow always able to add an indelicate comment out of the blue.

Li Xianyun crouched down to look at a clump of thistle.

Its branches and leaves were hard and stiff, and the red flowerheads it produced were tough and prickly as well.

Only such plants could survive in the harsh, arid expanse of the neighboring desert.

Yelu Yan bent over to accompany Li Xianyun in examining the thistle.

In the past, he would never spend time on these mundane matters.

He was diligent and devoted, busy with affairs of state and military matters.

Either handling official duties or leading the troops on campaigns to the south and north.

He was always so busy every day, his life often fraught with peril.

He had hardly any idle days like this one.

The former him would have thought such peaceful days were an utter waste of time.

But in the days he had spent with Li Xianyun, Yelu Yan suddenly realized that taking it slow like this was quite nice.

Even during his busy times, he would slowly ruminate on these moments to glean brief intervals of tranquility and peace.

"Don’t underestimate it by its small size; its roots are quite long. If you want to move it, you have to cut it, as it can’t be uprooted."

During their military campaigns, Yelu Yan and his soldiers had traversed all sorts of terrain, and when there was no path, they had to clear one themselves. Thistles like these were the most troublesome.

As they marched, hacking away branches and thorns, not only was their progress slow, but by the time they emerged, their clothes and limbs were covered with bloody wounds that hurt for days.

Li Xianyun listened obediently.

Yelu Yan spotted a gecko not far away and pointed it out to Li Xianyun, "Xianxian, there is a gecko over there."

Li Xianyun looked in the direction Yelu Yan was pointing and saw a gecko indeed crawling there.

It wriggled its fat tail as it moved, then suddenly stopped, turned its head alertly to scan its surroundings, paused for a moment, and then continued crawling.

It wasn’t until the gecko had disappeared from view that Li Xianyun took her eyes off of it.

The two of them walked and stopped, stopped and walked, chatting and laughing.

Li Xianyun grew tired of walking and wanted to sit on a mound of sand, but before she could sit down, Yelu Yan steadied her arm.

"Tired?"

Li Xianyun smiled and hummed an affirmative response.

"It’s too cold, lay some clothes down before you sit."

As he spoke, Yelu Yan set Li Xianyun’s shoes on the ground, turned around to take off his outer shirt, folded it, and laid it on the yellow sand, then helped Li Xianyun to sit down.

After Li Xianyun was seated, Yelu Yan sat down beside her, very close.

Li Xianyun naturally wrapped her arms around Yelu Yan’s arm and leaned her head against his shoulder, pressing even closer to him.

Yelu Yan turned his head and kissed Li Xianyun’s forehead, "It’s getting cooler, let’s sit for a bit and then head back."

"Okay."

The sky was vast, and one’s heart and mind could feel open, as though all matters seemed so trivial in the grandeur of the world.

Time returned to the present.

In the same expansive setting, Li Xianyun could no longer find that leisurely, content state of mind.

Because Yelu Yan was not by her side.

Murong Ce stood with Li Xianyun on top of a dune.

As Li Xianyun gazed into the distance, Murong Ce watched her fondly.

He watched her eyes fill with longing, saw her finely arched brows furrow slightly, saw the troubles weighing on her heart.

She lacked any thoughts of him, from beginning to end.

Yet he did not care, as long as Li Xianyun was by his side, it was enough.

Besides, how many days could he gaze upon her?

His health was deteriorating rapidly, reaching the end of its tether.

After standing for a long time, Murong Ce said to Li Xianyun, "Shall we go back?"

His voice was profoundly weak and colorless.

Li Xianyun did not oppose him and turned to walk down the slope.

Indeed, during the few days of their interaction, Li Xianyun had never once opposed him.

Murong Ce watched Li Xianyun’s slender silhouette.

She was someone who knew the ways of the world.

Murong Ce, assisted by Wen Yao, started to follow her down, moving slower and slower.

After Li Xianyun had gone a significant distance, Murong Ce, unable to endure any longer, bent over and coughed up a mouthful of thick blood.

Wen Yao cried out in alarm, but Murong Ce grasped his arm tightly, silencing him with a sharp look in his eyes.

Murong Ce did not want Li Xianyun to see him in a weakened state.

There were only a dozen or so houses on the oasis, which covered a small area.

Li Xianyun returned to the house, into the inner room.

Murong Ce rested in the outer room.

In these past few days, he had always maintained the utmost propriety with Li Xianyun.

His condition was worsening by the day, but strangely, ever since Li Xianyun’s arrival, his headaches had lessened.

Days without headaches were truly good.

...

During the quiet of the night, the commander’s room of the Flame Army was still brightly lit, with Yelu Yan discussing maps with his officers.

Ever since Li Xianyun’s disappearance, Yelu Yan hadn’t closed his eyes for several days and nights.

His eyes red and bloodshot, his beard had grown out quite a bit, "Are you saying there is an oasis in this stretch of desert?"

"Yes, that place is hidden deep in the desert, and it’s said to be inhabited by some death-row convicts. People who are not familiar with the path can easily get lost in the desert, which is why very few can find it. I myself once got lost in the desert, and accidentally stumbled upon it."

For the past few days, Yelu Yan had scoured every place he could find around Shangjing.

Murong Ce had set up a few decoys, which had delayed the search somewhat.

By the time Yelu Yan turned his attention to the wastes over two hundred miles from Shangjing, several days had already passed.

He had people search far and wide for a guide, finally finding this man.