Fields of Gold

However, Han Xiaomu ate the fragrant, tender, and fatty barbecued meat as she asked, "The spice blends you used must have been made by Younger Sister Xiaocao. This type of taste and flavor can only be created by an expert like her."

Zhu Junxi growled, "Younger Sister Xiaocao, Younger Sister Xiaocao! Every day you only talk about her. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that she would be the one living with you for the rest of your life ah!"

Han Xiaomu chuckled, "If I were a man, I would definitely snatch Younger Sister Xiaocao over!"

The thick scent of jealousy congealed around Zhu Junxi as he sourly remarked, "If you were a man, then what would I do? Also, are you sure you can defeat my younger brother? When he loses control of himself, you will end up losing your life!"

"Don't I have you to protect me ah?" Han Xiaomu sliced off another plate of roasted mutton leg and began to eat it with great relish!

"So now you think of me? If you were a man, I wouldn't care if you died!" Zhu Junxi lamented angrily.

Han Xiaomu continued to simple mindedly eat her barbecued meat as she casually remarked, "What are you angry for ah? Are all men this petty and narrow-minded? Or is it just the people in your Zhu Family who are this way? Your younger brother is the same. I only spoke a few extra words to Younger Sister Xiaocao yet he glared at me so fiercely! His eyes are more beautiful than most women's so who would be afraid of him?"

"My little ancestor, please don't say anymore ah!" What was she blabbering on about, saying that his Zhu Family were all petty and narrow-minded? One couldn't forget that the most noble person in the empire was also surnamed Zhu! Furthermore, saying out loud that his younger brother was more beautiful than a woman was something that was forbidden and taboo for his younger brother. If that fellow overheard her, then no one would be able to save this woman who liked to cause trouble!

"General Zhu, General Mu, there's a youth named Zhu Junyang who wants to see you both…" One of the soldiers assigned at guarding the barracks came over to bring a message. The young soldier was currently wondering, 'Zhu Junyang, Zhu Junxi, the names only differ by one character. Could this guy possibly be General Zhu's brother? However, the two of them don't look alike at all. If it weren't for the fact that the young man had a tall and sturdy figure, I would have thought that it was General Zhu's younger sister dressing up in man's clothing to find her older brother!'

'Psh, speak of the devil and he appears! Why did he run over to where the southwest army is stationed? Did the emperor give him a secret mission or something?' Zhu Junxi grumbled in his heart as he sternly told his future wife, "In a bit, when we see Imperial Prince Xu, you absolutely cannot mention his good looks. I'm telling you, the two of us combined cannot win against him!"

"He's really that powerful?" Han Xiaomu's excited manner made Zhu Junxi's head hurt——it was too tiring to have a future wife who was so warlike!

However, when his future wife saw Yu Xiaocao by his younger brother's side, she immediately forgot her desire to spar with Zhu Junyang. She instead pulled on Xiaocao's hand as she chirped happily, "Younger Sister Xiaocao, you also came along? Don't you have official matters to attend to ah? How do you have the time to leave the capital and play? It's really too good that you were able to come. The minced meat sauce, jerky and canned fruits that you gave me before I left have all been eaten. Make some more for me please! I'm telling you, ah, there are a vast variety of fruits here. If you can make dried or canned fruits out of them, I'm sure they'll be very delicious!"

Zhu Junxi was dumbfounded by this and made an apologetic gesture to his younger brother, who had a displeased expression on his face. He pulled Han Xiaomu over and said, "Calm down a bit. You asked a bunch of questions at once, so don't you need to give Princess Consort Xu some time to reply ah? Furthermore, they just got here and you need to give her some time to rest first…"

"That's right ah! Younger Sister Xiaocao, are you tired? The house only has my father and me and I live in a large courtyard. How about you move in with me, drink some water, eat some fruits and rest a bit? You came just at the right time! Right now, the mangosteens, papayas, mangos, and bananas are all ripe. You can eat as much as you want…" Han Xiaomu chattered on without stopping and her lips flapped on and on. No one else was able to get a single word in.

Yu Xiaocao hid her smile and had Wutong take out a food box when there was a pause in the talking. The box held a bunch of meat floss inside. At this time of year, the south was hot and humid so it was hard to keep other foodstuffs from spoiling too quickly. Only meat jerky and meat floss items were able to stay fresh for a longer period of time.

"So delicious!" Han Xiaomu pinched off a piece of meat floss and let it dissolve gently in her mouth. A burst of savory, fragrant, and sweet flavor...all of them were harmoniously blended together and made a person feel intense bliss from eating it.

"This is called meat floss and it was made with pork. There's also fish meat floss, chicken meat floss, and beef meat floss. Other than eating it directly, you can sandwich it between two crackers to eat, use it as a topping for rice porridge, use it as a filling inside rice balls...if I have the time, I'll make some meat floss bread for you to try." Yu Xiaocao couldn't help but soften a bit when she saw the other girl hug the box full of food in a hoarding manner.

Han Xiaomu nodded her head repeatedly and had an excited and touched look on her face, "Okay ah, okay! Younger Sister Xiaocao, you are truly the best! If I were a man, I would definitely want to marry you and bring you back home!"

"Ahem ahem!!" The expression on Zhu Junyang's face darkened even more. As soon as they arrived at the army camp, his wife's attention had been taken by someone else. Now another person had come out of the cracks and was trying to steal his wife away from him. This was absolutely not okay, even if this person was female!! The only reason why he had never hit a woman before was because no woman had ever crossed his line too far. His wife was absolutely a taboo target for other people!

Han Xiaomu wasn't the least bit frightened by him, "What are you coughing for? If your throat is itchy, go eat some licorice drops!! I was only joking around. It's not like I would truly try to steal your wife away from you! Why do you need to be so petty ah?"

"This prince just has a petty personality! As long as it has something to do with the princess consort, this prince cannot be generous! Even jokes are not okay!!" Zhu Junyang snorted coldly.

"Hmph! So tyrannical! Younger Sister Xiaocao, your man has such a bad temper and tyrannical manner, are you sure you can handle it? Are you sure you're not getting bullied by him every day ah? That's not okay! You can't be too gentle and sweet——he doesn't hit women, right? Heavens! What could be done?" Han Xiaomu pinched off another puff of meat floss and stuffed it in her mouth in a worried manner. She couldn't beat Imperial Prince Xu and had no way of saving Younger Sister Xiaocao from the depths of despair. What to do?

Yu Xiaocao suppressed her desire to laugh and used her eyes to placate her husband, who was about to explode in fury as she gently said, "Older Sister Mu, he doesn't hit women and definitely wouldn't hit his wife. He treats me very well ah! All of the men from Imperial Prince Jing's Estate love their wives very much. Once Older Sister Mu marries, you'll know that for the truth."

Zhu Junxi gave a grateful look towards her. Ever since the two of them had gotten engaged in the third month, the lass had always dodged his question on when they were going to get married. Furthermore, General Han obligingly went with his daughter and said that everything was up to her. For himself, he thought the two of them weren't young anymore and it was the right time to get married now. Otherwise, as the older brother in the family, his son might end up having to call his younger brother's children 'older brother' and 'older sister'. Wouldn't that be so annoying ah?

Could it be that lass had gotten the thing called 'wedding jitters' that the emperor had talked about before? Argh, what was to be done then? His future wife believed his younger sister-in-law a lot. Perhaps with this younger sister-in-law around it was the best opportunity for him to convince her to set a date on their wedding.

When Han Xiaomu heard this, she glanced at her stunningly handsome fiance and remembered what her father had talked to her before. In actuality, Han Xiaomu had a decent understanding of herself and saw herself quite clearly. She calculated a bit and decided she didn't have many pros but had a whole lot of cons. She had a bad temper, wasn't gentle, wasn't considerate, was too carefree, and didn't have a whiff of a gentle lady. It was hard for a man, especially such a good specimen of a man, to be blind to those weaknesses of her and love her for herself. What else did she need at this point?

That being said, even a man like Imperial Prince Xu, who looked like a cold devil on the outside, knew how to pamper and spoil his wife after marriage. Thus, someone like her fiance, who had always been good, would definitely be better. Younger Sister Xiaocao had said that the Zhu Family knew how to pamper their wives, so it must be true! Mhm...the next time he brought up the topic of marriage, she should go along with it right?

Zhu Junxi glanced at his younger brother, who was taller than him by half a head and was stunningly talented. Even when he was just standing there casually, he resembled a leisurely king of the jungle and had an air about him that he couldn't compete with. The stories from the northwest stated that his brother was an undefeated god and was a cold death god to their enemies. He was so frightening that the foreign invaders turned tail and ran when they saw him. At such a young age, he had also been titled an imperial prince as thanks for his military achievements...when he thought of how jealous he was of his younger brother in the past, it seemed like a farce now!

"?" Zhu Junyang sensed that his second older brother had been staring at him and glanced over questioningly at him.

Zhu Junxi pointed at the nearby thicket and suggested, "Come walk with me over there ah."

Zhu Junyang lightly nodded his head but first headed over to Xiaocao's side. He lowered his head to her ear and spoke a few words. XIaocao looked over and then slightly smiled before gently nodding her head.

Once again, Zhu Junxi was struck by just how much this younger brother of his treasured his new wife. Prior to heading out, he always went over to tell her. It was as if he was afraid that she might be worried if she didn't see him around. Who would have thought that the family's most cold and aloof person was the one who had the most emotions in the end? Perhaps, the reason why he hadn't been able to persuade General Mu to set a date for him was right there…

"Did you know? When I was young I had always been envious and jealous of you. The reason why I ran into the army was to be far away from you as I was afraid that if I stayed around you for too long, I wouldn't be able to control my jealous feelings and become a loathsome person that even I would hate." The two brothers slowly walked around in the quiet forest for a long while before Zhu Junxi finally stated the purpose of this walk after lightly sighing first.

Zhu Junyang was flabbergasted by his confession, "You envied me and were jealous? At that time, I was like a dumb beast, being forced onto death row. I was violent, ill tempered, and often lost control of myself. I even hurt myself from time to time. Someone actually envied me at that time?"

"That's right ah! It was because of your problems that our lady mother poured all of her care and attention on you. Lord Father also did everything he could and begged our imperial grandfather to send his most trusted steward over to you as a guard. As for me, I was only older than you by a few years and was still a child then. I wished for someone to care about me but I was always ignored by everyone."

Zhu Junxi smiled bitterly for a moment before he continued, "Out of us four siblings, Eldest Brother is the heir and held the hopes as the successor of Imperial Prince Jing's Estate. Older Sister was the only girl and had been pampered and spoiled all her life. You, we don't even need to mention as the entire estate revolved their attention around you as they were all afraid you might explode at any time. It was only me…"

Zhu Junyang lightly shook his head and his eyes were as calm as a quiet spring. He stated in an emotionless voice, "Second Brother! The person who should have been envious of others was me! Do you understand what it's like to have a devil living in your heart, one that would devour all of reasoning at any moment and make you harm all of your loved ones within a moment's notice? Do you know how a little child would feel if he was afraid to get closer to people and couldn't rely on his most beloved lady mother? Can you imagine what it is like to slowly lose more and more control of yourself and realize that one day you may transform into a mindless monster and never come back? Do you realize how scary that is ah? Now that you know, are you still envious and jealous of me ah?"