Chapter 60 - Urgent Work

Jiang Ying Yue stepped out of the 'Blessed Silk' store and stood there in front of the shop for a while to observe the bustling street of the marketplace.

She had just spent the entire morning setting up the store and arranging everything. Even though she has learned about fashion designing in her previous life, she still needed someone experienced to take care of the garment business.

Unfortunately, all the previous workers of the Blessed Silk had already moved to work in the other stores, and no one from the General manor was capable enough to take over the task.

She massaged her temples as she felt her head throbbing. The lack of sleep from the previous night was not helping her situation at all.

When she requested Qing Shan and Wang Shu to let her return to the Cold Palace, they did agree without any condition which was quite surprising to her. But by the time she returned, it was already half-past four in the morning, and she barely got to sleep for an hour or so before Silver woke her up for their physical training session.

Her attention was grabbed by the sound of a carriage approaching her and when she looked in the direction of the sound, she found it right in front of her shop.

A boy dressed in bright red clothes jumped down and approached her. He looked white young, probably seventeen or eighteen years old but she was surprised to feel a thick aura surrounding him - a sign that he was pretty powerful in martial arts.

"Miss Jiang." The boy greeted her with a bow, startling Ying Yue in the process as she hurriedly looked around to see if anyone had noticed them. Luckily, people were not paying any attention to them, at least not the ones who were closer.

She finally returned her attention to the boy as she asked in a hushed voice, "Who are you? And how do you know my identity?" 

The boy once again bowed as he answered, "Miss, sorry for causing you discomfort. My master wants to meet you. Please follow me." Saying that he immediately turned around and started walking back towards the carriage. He didn't even give her a chance to react.

Not having any other choice, she followed behind him. After all, she could not take the risk of irritating whoever was the master of the young boy. Her identity was at stake.

The boy opened the door of the carriage and moved the curtains aside a little bit, telling her to enter the carriage without even voicing out the words.

Jiang Ying Yue kept standing next to the carriage as she pondered on the current situation. More and more people were getting attracted towards the huge carriage that seemed to belong to someone from the higher-ups just by the look of it. Though she didn't want to take the risk of getting her identity revealed, she also didn't want to enter the carriage of some stranger.

Just when she was battling inside her head to come to a conclusion, a familiar voice spoke from inside the carriage. "You better hurry up if you don't want me to visit your shop even before it's opening."

She recognized that voice and also the snarkiness and certainty in his tone. The man was once again trying to play with her. Letting out a huff of annoyance, Jiang Ying Yue climbed up the steps and entered the carriage.

As she took the seat next to the window, her eyes landed on the Third Prince who was busy reading a scroll. He didn't even look at her and just continued to read the scroll. 

The carriage started moving as the two of them sat there in silence. She wanted to wait and hear what he had planned for the day and why did he approach her, but even after several minutes, the man refused to even acknowledge her presence.

"What the hell do you want from me now?" She finally could not control herself and asked the question that was drilling holes in her mind.

A small twitch appeared on the Third Prince's lips which did nothing to calm her down. "I was really looking forward to seeing your patience level and as I expected... you didn't even last for ten minutes." He spoke in a calm tone while lightly shaking his head as if he was disappointed in her.

"Is this why I'm here? You wanted to see how patient I'm and that's why you decided to force me to accompany you on this ride?" She asked the man while struggling to keep her hands from snatching away the scroll from the man.

Looked like her words did the magic because the Prince finally looked up at her with that small smile still playing on his lips. "Forced? Are you sure, Miss Jiang? You should learn to choose your words carefully because I can't seem to remember forcing you to enter my carriage." 

Jiang Ying Yue scoffed at his words. The man seriously had no limit when it came to being shameless. He was just like her. As long as being shameless meant that he was the winner, he would keep acting like one.

"Your Highness, you threatened to enter my shop if I refused to enter your carriage. If that wasn't forcing me then what it was?" She asked and stared at the man, waiting to hear what he had to say now.

To her surprise, he chuckled softly at her words as if she had just told him a joke. But the smile disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. "You are really disappointing me today. Don't tell me that you really got afraid just after hearing those words of mine. For you, I purposely chose to come out in a disguise. Even if I had entered your shop... no one would have realized that it's me." 

It was true. Other than the high-ranking officials and some of the selected ones from the younger generation, no one had seen the Third Prince face to face. Even if he had entered her shop, no one would have recognized him in his simple robes.

But Jiang Ying Yue was too panicked at that moment to pay attention to these details. A sigh escaped her lips as she relaxed in her seat. Her headache was back and she just wanted to sleep. She definitely had no plans about arguing with the Third Prince who loved to tick the bombs inside her. 

"Fine! You win. I'm not in my best state to accept your challenges. Now, can you tell me where you are planning to take me?" She asked him while closing her eyes to lessen the stinging sensation that was making her eyes burn.

The Third Prince remained silent but this time, Jiang Ying Yue decided to play by his rules and kept her eyes and mouth shut. If he wanted her to be patient then she was going to do exactly that.

Even though her eyes were closed, she could still feel his gaze on her. It was like he was observing her in silence. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes into an hour, by the time carriage came to a stop, Jiang Ying Yue had already dozed off. 

"Miss Jiang, my carriage isn't your bed-chamber. You should better wake up." The soft velvety voice woke Jiang Ying Yue from her slumber. When she opened her eyes, she found the Prince already heading out of the carriage.

While trying to get rid of the drowsiness, she lifted the curtain of the window to look outside and found huge trees blocking her view but her ears did pick up the sounds of people moving around somewhere on the other side of the carriage.

"Miss Jiang, I don't have the entire day to waste on you." She heard the voice of the Prince who was still waiting for her to climb out of the carriage.

Rolling her eyes, she finally stood up and headed towards the door before climbing down. As he came to stand next to the evil Prince, her eyes landed on the huts that were built in a closed space over a cliff.

Children were running around, hens and chickens were seen while she also noticed pigs, sheep, and cows. There was a group of women washing clothes beside a little pond that was clearly manmade. She even noticed a group of elderly people sitting outside a hut as they played some kind of game. 

"What is this place?" Jiang Ying Yue could not help herself from asking and fortunately, the Prince decided to answer her. "This is a small terrain located near the Capital City. Only around a hundred people or so live here."

Jiang Ying Yue was surprised by the answer but she still was unable to understand why he had brought her to such a place. To not give the man any more satisfaction, she decided to remain silent even though she was dying to ask more questions.

The Third Prince turned to look at her with that small smile still playing on his lips as he spoke, "Come, we have urgent work to finish."