The Barbarians had a vast territory but compared to the fertile land and good climate of the kingdom Xia, the land of the Barbarians was still a little worse. Most of the area was sand, a small part was mountains and snowfields, only a very small part was fertile and plain grassland. And the land where Yudu sat was the best, there was a large grassland to the east of Yudu where animals could graze, as well as another area was restricted by the royal family for only nobles to enjoy.
There weren't many people in the Barbarian country who regularly rode horse-drawn carriages. Their horse-drawn carriages weren't as luxurious or convenient as those in the kingdom of Xia. Almost all, both men and women, could ride horses, even young children could ride on horseback from the age of five or six, there were only a handful of people who couldn't ride horses.
Xia Xi didn't know how to ride a horse.
In fact, he had never really seen a horse before until after he left the Palace. There was only one place in the Imperial city where one could see a horse and it was a horse ranch. Xia Xi was a hidden existence so he naturally couldn't go there. His previous knowledge of 'horses' was only gleaned from books, and it was only during the journey from the border to Yudu did he finally touch a horse's mane for the first time.
He had never learned- or done- anything remotely related to riding a horse.
Chu Lan chose the most beautiful and docile mare for him, even showing it in front of him personally, he looked at Xia Xi with expectant eyes, "Do you like it?"
Xia Xi nodded, "I like it." He reached out and touched the horse's beautiful hair and said with embarrassment: "But I don't know how to ride..." The boy wrinkled his nose when he heard his words, "Don't know? Are Xia all like this? You don't even know how to ride horses, it's no wonder that in the past few years of warfare you're only getting worse and worse." He reared his foot into the stirrups and jumped onto the horse neatly, sitting on the saddle with back ramrod straight. He said: "That's it, you know how to do it now?"
He got off the horse and motioned for Xia Xi to climb up. Xia XI gritted his teeth and raised his foot to fit in the stirrups, it took him several times to climb on the stirrups, climbing onto the horse's back with the same frustrating speed. It was probably because he had been fumbling for too long, even though the mare was very docile, she was starting to get impatient. She lifted her hooves and walked a few steps forward. Xia Xi's face turned pale in fright, his grip on the reins loosened and he actually fell off the horse. Chu Lan was shocked and quickly reached out to help him, his grip made for an uncomfortable angle but at least Xia Xi didn't fall to the ground.
Xia Xi felt even more frightened, he consciously forced himself to stand still and tried his best to not kneel in front of Chu Lan. He whispered in shame: "I'm sorry, I 'm useless."
The impact of Xia XI's fall was too strong, Chu Lan was still young and his arms were faintly aching. He snorted and said, "You really are." He stood in front of Xia Xi again and scrutinized him, "You have to study hard in the future, you have to learn, don't you see? Here, it's shameful not to know how to ride a horse. You're the Queen, you will always have to be more."
Xia Xi bowed his head, "I have erred."
The Barbarians weren't accustomed to an idle life of eating and sleeping and their language was even more robust than them. During the time since the two had been married, unless Chu Lan specifically asked him, Xia Xi never left his room. The Barbarian's diet was monotonous, except for a range of barbecue, roasted meat, or baked potatoes, the only other staple food was naan. Xia Xi still wasn't used to eating it, but he didn't dare to ask to be served something else and instead just tried his best to fill his stomach. He had just found that there was a yard behind his bedroom. Some maids seemed to have raised flowers there, obviously newly planted. The flower seeds weren't suitable for surviving in Yudu and it showed as they reluctantly grew. The maids would come to take care of it at first but they seemed to have gradually forgotten about it and didn't come back for it anymore. Xia Xi had a hobby of planting vegetables back in the Palace, he couldn't help but take a small hoe and began to dig the land again.
While he was loosening the ground, Cai Huan squatted and pulled out some weeds, saying: "His Royal Highness, those people didn't come to help you even after seeing you work so hard. They really don't know how to properly serve other people. If we were in the Imperial City, they would've been sent packing ages ago."
Xia Xi showed a slight smile to the little maidservant, he said warmly: "It's nothing, they're also very busy. With so few people, everyone needs to do a lot of tasks every day, besides, I just had nothing to do, I won't dedicate myself to this too seriously."
Cai Huan pouted, "The people here are too little. Compared to my former mistress's palace, fifty or sixty people were running around every day. Our mistress wasn't favoured and took around half a year to be graced by His Majesty the Emperor. People say that more than a hundred people were serving the palace of the Concubine Yuan Gui. I even heard that three court ladies were serving the dog that Yuan Gui Fei liked the most."
Xia Xi said: "Cai Huan, don't mention the Palace Xia too much. It wouldn't be good if you are heard."
Cai Huan stuck out her tongue and said wittily: "They won't understand anyway, even the Chinese of their King sounds strange, it's really difficult for Your Highness to understand what he's saying. But their language is even more difficult to understand, I've been here for two months and I can only understand a few words at most. It's so hard to learn, it should also be hard for them to also learn our language. But their Prime Minister speaks very well, he almost sounds the same as us, except that he looks different, but you really wouldn't know." She was familiar with Xia Xi and knew that he had a good temper, so she spoke less carelessly in front of him.
As soon as she finished speaking, Xia Xi didn't even have the time to answer before a voice cut through their conversation, "Who speaks strangely?"
Both of them were taken aback. Looking behind them, they saw the young King standing at the gate of the yard watching them, obviously very upset. Cai Huan's face turned frightened and her knees went soft, she looked at Xia Xi for help. Xia Xi was also taken aback, he put away the hoe and pulled down his rolled-up sleeves, walked towards Chu Lan, and asked softly: "What had brought His Majesty here?"
Chu Lan looked at him with displeasure, "Am I talking weird?"
His pronunciation of the sentence was indeed very strange, but Xia Xi didn't show the slightest hint of ridicule on his face. He said: "Cai Huan is young and naturally fond of jest. Your Chinese isn't bad, she had also praised you..." He was nervous, afraid that his young husband would get angry. He had seen the Emperor getting angry too often, a court lady who had only said the wrong sentence could be dishonoured, beheaded, or sent to exile
He thought of that scene and felt even more horrified, his eyes producing a hint of begging.
Chu Lan glared at him, "She didn't praise me, she praised Sang Sangmu!"
Xia Xi opened his mouth but didn't know how to answer. Cai Huan seemed to have recovered from the shock, she knelt on the ground with a 'puff' and said with a trembling voice: "The great King, please forgive me..."
Chu Lan was puzzled, "Why ask me to spare her?"
Xia Xi whispered: "She's afraid that you'll punish her because of that."
Chu Lan was surprised: "She said ill of me and is now afraid that I'll kill her? How can there be such a heavy punishment in this world? Is it possible that you Xia people treat your maids like this? If your Emperor is that callous, then your Xia kingdom will really perish sooner or later." He said to Cai Huan: "I don't want to kill you; get out."
Cai Huan walked away tremblingly. Xia Xi let off a sigh of relief and said with a small smile on his face, "The King is truly kind."
Chu Lan seemed happy about being praised. He adjusted his posture to look taller and looked at the scene behind Xia Xi, he asked, "What were you doing?"
Xia Xi said, "I saw a piece of land here and wanted to try growing some vegetables from the seeds I brought." Although it seemed too far into the season, Xia Xi still wanted to try.
Chu Lan nodded very seriously, "Do it if you want," He stared at Xia Xi again, "Don't tire yourself."
Facing the concern of his little husband, Xia Xi felt a bit weird, Chu Lan said: "You said that my Chinese isn't well, so you should teach me tonight."
Xia Xi was startled, "Didn't you have a teacher for the subject?" Chu Lan had a Sinology teacher, he was a scholar and was very educated. He not only taught Chu Lan Chinese but also Chinese characters, geography, etc. Xia Xi was once dragged to study together, and after experiencing two sessions, he thought that the classes were pretty good
Chu Lan grabbed his hand and said persistently, "You teach."
Xia Xi nodded gently, "Alright."
He had never taught anyone and didn't know where to start. Besides, although Chu Lan's Chinese wasn't pretty accurate, it was pretty good. The most basic courses were no longer suitable, so Xia Xi was a little confused and didn't know where to start. Two people sat under the glow of the lamp on the table. Xia Xi picked up a book he usually read, turned a page, and presented it in front of Chu Lan, saying: "The King should read this first. Let me know which characters you haven't yet learned."
Chu La said with dissatisfaction: "Xi'er, call my name."
Despite being corrected so many times, Xia XI still wasn't used to calling his name directly. He nodded gently and said as calmly as possible: "Alright, Chu Lan."
Chu Lan seemed to be happy, he lowered his head and started reading. After reading they found that he had known everything except for one character, Xia Xi was a little surprised, this time he genuinely praised: "You're so amazing, you know so much."
Chu Lan's cheeks were ruddy and the lights in his eyes looked brighter, shining under the candlelight. He said, "Of course, my father, when I was seven years old, invited a Chinese master to teach me. It was to let me recognize Chinese characters and learn about the language. He said that if we knew ourselves, and knew our enemy, we could win all battles. In the future, if we Barbarians want to conquer your Xia kingdom, we must first understand everything about Xia."
Xia Xi wasn't surprised at what he said. The dispute between the two countries had been around for a long time; the Xia people wanted to annihilate the threat of the Barbarians, it was the best-case scenario to drive them behind the snowy mountain ranges, the Barbarians wanted to annex the Xia Kingdom and enjoy the prosperity of the capital, so the sentiment wasn't very surprising. Chu Lan said: "Your Emperor looks down on us. He thinks that the Barbarian's 'men' are ignorant, but that doesn't matter, I'll let them despise all they want but only for a few years. When I grow up, I'll first clean up a group of thieves before storming the Xia's Imperial capital and letting them pay the price!"
Xia Xi pursed his lips, saying nothing. Chu Lan stared at him and asked, "You are my wife, but will you betray me?"
Xia Xi looked at the hard light in the young boy's eyes. His heart trembled and shrank in terror but he tried not to show it in his face. He said, "No." He would not. He dared not, he didn't have the ability to even dream of it. With such a secret on his body, he wasn't sure if he could live long enough to see the young man in front of him grow up. Maybe he would die after the discovery of his physique.
Chu Lan heard his answer and as if he was relieved, grinned. He stretched out his hand and shook his, saying solemnly: "Well, don't betray me! The punishment we Barbarians give our traitors isn't something you'll be able to bear."