Last Leg

They set off again at the first sign of daylight. Breakfast was a short affair where they mostly just finished off the jerky and rice from the night before. Meng Mei made the decision to just eat as they rode to make her life a little easier.

She was mildly surprised to find that even without the rocky terrain, Zhu Huiqing decided to continue riding beside her.

“Good morning guard Zhu.” She yawned.

“Good morning guniang.” He gave a stiff nod of acknowledgement. She decided to just let him be today, there must be a reason he’d decided to stay beside her rather than rejoin the ranks of guards that surrounded Meng Guoyao.

The morning went by fairly quickly. They only stopped once to allow their horses a quick drink of water and a mouthful of grass pellets. Eventually Meng Yong stopped letting himself be intimidated by Zhu Huiqing and he started riding closer to Meng Mei again.

“Is Meimei excited to meet her fiance today?” He asked with a teasing lilt to his voice. His eyebrows were raised in such a matter so that he looked poised to make fun of her.

Meng Mei figured that she should probably act like an embarrassed child rather than an adult who knew she wasn’t really going to marry Zhong Changming.

“Shut up!” She hissed. She thought of a few embarrassing moments from her past so heat would rise to her cheeks. Hopefully she looked like she was too embarrassed to admit anything.

“Ah it’s okay meimei, you can admit it.” Meng Yong crooned obnoxiously.

“Go away er-ge.” Meng Mei put on her best pout, her cheeks still warm.

“Y’know I’ve heard that Zhong Changming is regarded as really handsome by all the young ladies.” Meng Yong teased, wiggling his eyebrows at Meng Mei.

He wasn't completely incorrect, Zhong Changming was the male lead after all. It made sense for him to already be plenty handsome. Meng Mei already knew that the descriptions from Seasons of Sorrow weren’t to be trusted completely. Zhu Huiqing was the prime example of that.

“So what?” She affected an air of indifference. “It makes no difference if he’s handsome or not, I’ll have to marry him anyway.”

Meng Yong’s grin grew wider.

“Yeah but it’d certainly help if your husband was the most powerful, most handsome cultivator in the land, right?” He fluttered his eyelashes at her. Meng Mei let out a choked sound that was somewhere between startled indignation and a laugh.

“What about er-ge huh? What do you want your wife to look like?” Meng Mei asked, flipping the question back at him. Meng Yong’s face immediately turned red. Clearly his face was not as thick as he would like to pretend.

“That’s not important.” He dismissed, “I’m not even betrothed to anyone yet.”

“All the more reason for you to have your preferences.”

Meng Yong’s mouth formed a thin line as his face slowly got redder and redder. Since Meng Yong was a side character who never made an appearance in Seasons of Sorrow, Meng Mei had no idea what his love life was supposed to look like.

“Let’s stop talking about this.” He laughed.

“But er-ge is the one who started the conversation.” Meng Mei pointed out gleefully. Meng Yong ignored her.

“Oh? I think I hear A-yuan calling my name. I’ll go see what he needs!”

Before Meng Mei could even point out that she hadn’t heard anything, Meng Yong was already halfway to Meng Weiyuan’s position. Meng Mei laughed so hard she snorted as she watched him speed away.

“Guniang shouldn’t tease the second young master.” Zhu Huiqing scolded from beside her. When she turned to look at him though, his lips were ticked up in a barely suppressed smile. She immediately relaxed and continued chuckling.

“Hey guard Zhu, are you in the same swordsmanship classes that Yong-ge is in?” She asked, wiping the beginnings of tears from her eyes.

“I am.”

“Do you know if he has a crush on a girl in that class?” Meng Mei asked with a large grin.

“Well…” Zhu Huiqing drew out his answer. “I wouldn’t say that the girl he has a crush on is in that class.”

Meng Mei gasped and straightened up in her saddle.

“So there is someone! Who is it?” She asked, her eyes glimmering with the prospect of having something to tear Meng Yong about.

“It’s not my place to say.” Zhu Huiqing demurred.

“Guard Zhu!” Meng Mei whined. Watching Meng Yong’s reactions to being teased about a future wife was far too entertaining. It was practically a crime to keep the information about his crush a secret from Meng Mei. If Meng Yong got to tease her about a man she wasn’t even going to marry then she should be allowed to tease him about his very real crush.

“Is she pretty? Is she the same age as Yong-ge? Do I know her?” Meng Mei rapidly fired her questions at the now mute Zhu Huiqing. With every new question he just acted like she had no idea what she was talking about.

“If guniang is truly curious then I am sure that she will be able to figure it out when she arrives back home.” Was the last thing Zhu Huiqing would say on the matter.

“So she’s a Libaogong local…” Meng Mei mused aloud.

She was sure to be subject to more of Meng Yong’s teasing about her engagement with Zhong Changming so she’d have to make sure to pay him back once they got back to Libaogong. She’d be keeping a close eye on her brother from here on out.

The terrain for the rest of the day didn’t change. It stayed relatively flat and they experienced no problems with the travel.

Zhu Huiqing rode beside Meng Mei for the remainder of the trip while Meng Yong only came back after licking his wounds. He made sure to stay far away from the topic of potential marriage partners and instead just chatted about random things.

Before long, night was falling and they were drawing nearer to the camping site.