“My wife, Chen Bi,” Xi Linxuan said calmly, as if they had never been apart, as if this was just another ordinary lunch.
Xi Linxuan did not eat, just looking at her, making Wei Linxia feel a bit embarrassed: “Do you have any cakes or rice? Eating only meat is too greasy and can lead to weight gain.”
Xi Linxuan opened the cabinet and took out a basket covered with a white cloth. Lifting the lid revealed several round, neatly arranged cakes that looked quite delicious. Wei Linxia helped herself to one, tearing it apart and dipping it into the meat soup, enjoying its flavor—perhaps because she hadn’t eaten properly during her journey.
After her meal, although she had eaten heartily, she still had some oil at the corners of her mouth, which she wiped with a handkerchief.
“How can you eat so much yet be so thin? I wonder where all the food goes,” Xi Linxuan remarked, breaking his cake into small pieces.
Wei Linxia didn’t respond. She went to the bedside and lifted the light gray wolf skin mattress. It was a whole wolf skin, wrapped with sheepskin on all four sides, featuring an exquisite embroidered pattern on the hairless side.
“This mattress is quite exquisite. Where did you buy it?” Wei Linxia asked.
“The wolf skin is mine; the rest was prepared by others,” Xi Linxuan replied.
Lying down, she found it warm and incredibly comfortable when she pulled the soft wool blanket over herself. She decided to leave the bowls and chopsticks, planning to wash them after she woke up.
The warm blanket and quiet grassland, devoid of the dark palace, luxurious furniture, or the silent eunuchs and palace maids, combined with her travel fatigue, quickly lulled Wei Linxia to sleep.
In her dream, she sensed a floral fragrance. When she awoke, the tent was dim. Noticing that Xi Linxuan was absent, Wei Linxia stretched comfortably, appreciating the joy of sleeping until naturally awakening.
As she sat up without her shoes, she heard cheerful children’s voices outside, accompanied by Xi Linxuan’s soft laughter and two women’s voices speaking a familiar Central Plains dialect.
