Probably because it had rained, the air was mixed with the smell of earth and grass, fresh and refreshing.
Li Zhuangzhuang was driving the carriage, humming an unknown tune briskly, and beating the beat on his thigh with one hand.
Behind the carriage, Qi Ao followed steadily on a tall horse. The horse's hooves stepped heavily on the dirt road, splashing a few bits of mud. Seeing a puddle in front of him, Qi Ao pulled the reins and prepared to go around it. At the same time, he reminded: "Pay attention to the puddle in front."
Li Zhuangzhuang also saw it, but he didn't take it very seriously. In addition, the puddle was in the middle of the road, so it was impossible to avoid it due to the size of the carriage.
So when passing the puddle, of course one of the wheels ran over it.
Then the wheel got stuck.
Zhu Yuanyu tilted his body and almost kowtowed.
"What happened?" Zhu Yuanyu sat up again, patted Mao Tou's head, and asked towards the car door.
"Master, our wheels are stuck!"
Li Zhuangzhuang flicked the reins with some annoyance, and the horse pulling the cart neighed and raised its front hooves high.
"Harder! Go-"
The carriage was motionless.
Qi Ao spurred his horse forward and frowned: "How is it? Can you leave?"
"I'll try again!" Li Zhuangzhuang urged again, and the horse pulling the carriage tried again, but the carriage still didn't move.
Qi Ao jumped off the horse, walked to the back of the carriage, and placed his palms on the carriage, "Try again! I'll push you from behind. Come on! One, two, three! One, two, three!!"
Zhu Yuanyu felt the carriage shake a little, but it was still leaning, and said to Cui'er, "Let's get off the carriage too."
After getting off the carriage, Zhu Yuanyu also walked behind the carriage.
Seeing that he seemed to be helping push the cart, Qi Ao quickly stopped him and said, "You can't, Master! Just one of my subordinates can do it! Besides, there is water here, which will stain your clothes, shoes and socks."
Zhu Yuanyu looked down and found that Qi Ao was standing in the puddle, with more than half of his calf submerged in it.
"It's okay, I don't mind. One more person will give you more strength." After saying that, he walked over and stood on Qi Ao's right side.
The puddle got deeper as it got closer to the middle, so Zhu Yuanyu, who was standing almost at the edge, was only flooded up to his ankles. He followed Qi Ao's example and put his hands on the carriage, leaning slightly.
"Master, the maid is here too!"
Zhu Yuanyu glanced sideways and said, "As long as Qi Ao and I are here, it's just a carriage and there's no need for three people to push it. You just stay and go."
Cui'er looked at her young master distressedly, but she didn't dare not listen.
Seeing that Mao Tou also wanted to come over and cause trouble, Zhu Yuanyu had no choice but to stop him and said: "Mao Tou, you stay here too!"
The fur head froze, its head drooped, and its tail stopped wagging.
"Zhuangzhuang, step forward and hold the reins." Zhu Yuanyu took a breath and shouted: "Listen to my command! One, two, three! Harder! One, two, three! Harder!"
Zhu Yuanyu felt the wet soles of his feet slip, and the carriage finally pushed out of the puddle. His body tilted and he was about to fall into the puddle.
Cui'er opened her mouth wide and exclaimed: "Master, be careful!" The man rushed forward.
Qi Ao had been secretly paying attention to Zhu Yuanyu, and immediately reached out to grab his arm, trying to pull him back. Who knew that Qi Ao's foot also slipped, and he immediately lost his balance. He secretly screamed that it was bad, but he had already subconsciously protected Zhu Yuanyu. He reached his chest and let his back fall downwards.
Cui'er, who caught up, only touched the corner of Zhu Yuanyu's clothes. Because she rushed too hard, she couldn't control herself and fell towards the puddle. She closed her eyes tightly and looked like she was willing to die bravely.
Thinking that his face would be as wet and greasy as the soles of shoes, Zhu Yuanyu felt like vomiting.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he mobilized all his spiritual power and started working quickly.
Qi Ao and Cui'er felt as if they had fallen on something soft, their whole bodies were wrapped, and they stopped only half an inch away from the water.
Then he stared blankly and felt his body slowly rising into the air, and then he landed on the ground again.
"Master! Are you okay? I heard Cui'er's cry!"
Li Zhuangzhuang's loud voice suddenly rang in his ears.
Cui'er's body shook, with an "I'm dreaming" expression on her face, "F-what happened? I seem to...fly, fly?"
Zhu Yuanyu lifted Qi Ao's arm, and the latter let go obediently.
The boy's muscles are quite strong - Zhu Yuanyu glanced at Qi Ao's arm and thought silently.
As he walked, water stains appeared on his shoes. Zhu Yuanyu took off his shoes and socks impatiently, revealing his delicate white feet.
Qi Ao, who slowly came back to his senses, lowered his eyes. The touch of whitening in front of him attracted all his attention. His breathing suddenly became suffocated and his heartbeat accelerated slightly.
The person in front of him suddenly stopped and raised his feet.
Qi Ao frowned and walked over quickly, "Master, this subordinate is offended!"
Just as Zhu Yuanyu was about to turn around, he found that he was being hugged, the kind of princess hug.
"...Qi Ao, what are you doing? Put me down quickly!" Zhu Yuanyu stared at Qi Ao with an expression of disbelief, seemingly not understanding the situation at all.
Qi Ao seemed a little angry and said dullly: "Master, why did you take off your shoes? My subordinates saw it and your feet were bleeding..."
Zhu Yuanyu's mouth twitched, "What does this have to do with you hugging me?"
"Your foot is injured. You can't walk anymore. It will aggravate the injury!"
"..." Then you won't help me! A big old man is hugging another big old man. The one being held is so embarrassed! Can't you think about the one you're holding? Um?
Zhu Yuanyu couldn't complain anymore. Anyway, the carriage had arrived and the people were carried into the carriage. Anything he said would be pretentious.
He sat in the carriage with his legs hanging down.
Tweety found the water bag, "The water is here!"
Tweetie pretended to do this when it was raining. She remembered that Zhu Yuanyu said that drinking water should be boiled, so Tweetie specially boiled the rainwater. But she hasn't had a chance to drink it yet...
Qi Ao took it, pulled out the stopper, poured water on Zhu Yuanyu's feet, and carefully removed the dirt from him, looking very cautious and without ever loosening his brows.
"Does it hurt, Master?" Qi Ao raised his head and asked softly. The anger just now had long since dissipated, and there was a feeling of pity in his eyes.
"..." Zhu Yuanyu shook his head, "It doesn't hurt." What's wrong with that distressed expression on your face, Saonian?
Cui'er found some medicinal powder and a clean white cloth strip, but without exception, Qi Ao, who had quick eyesight and quick hands, snatched them away.
"Just apply some medicinal powder and it'll be fine. It's just a little wound, no need to bandage it."
Seeing that Qi Ao was about to bandage his feet, Zhu Yuanyu quickly stopped him.
He was telling the truth. The wound was indeed not big, not even half an inch. It was such a thin strip, and the bleeding stopped after applying the powder.
Without saying a word, Qi Ao quickly bandaged Zhu Yuanyu's feet, and finally tied a knot... It was a bow tie. This was when Zhu Yuanyu was teasing Mao Tou, he used a strip of cloth to tie a bow tie as a joke. , Qi Ao saw it and learned it, and now he uses it on Zhu Yuanyu.
Zhu Yuanyu: "..."
"Your shoes are dirty too, please change them."
After Zhu Yuanyu finished speaking, he got into the car with one foot.
Qi Ao silently took out a pair of shoes from his luggage and put them on.
Li Zhuangzhuang jumped onto the carriage and started off again in the carriage.
Zhu Yuanyu sat in the car and looked down at the bow on his foot.
"Master? What's wrong with you? Does the wound hurt?" Cui'er wrapped Zhu Yuanyu's dirty shoes and socks and turned around to see him looking at his feet intently.
Zhu Yuanyu shook his head and said slowly: "It's nothing."
He originally wanted to remove the somewhat awkward bow on his foot. It's not that Qi Ao's bow doesn't look good. On the contrary, it's quite cute. But he is a man. How can such a feminine thing like a bow appear on him? On my body! But later, for some reason, Qi Ao's focused expression when bandaging him suddenly appeared in his mind, and coupled with Cui Er's interruption, he finally gave up.
That's it, it's not a big deal, no one will see it anyway - Zhu Yuanyu touched his chin and thought with an expressionless face.
The road that followed was quite smooth, and there were no large puddles. Zhu Yuanyu and the others arrived at "Youxi City" smoothly.
"Master, there is an inn ahead."
After entering the city, Li Zhuangzhuang slowed down the speed of the carriage and walked slowly along the roadside.
Zhu Yuanyu looked out of the car window and found that the streets were quite lively, but for some reason the men in the city looked a little thin, with yellow faces and exhausted faces.
After passing through the small town, Zhu Yuanyu did not dare to take it lightly, so he "opened his eyes" and took a look, but found that there was nothing strange. The men in the city just had a weak aura. There are many reasons for this, and It doesn't necessarily mean that there are demons and ghosts at work.
Since he couldn't find the reason, Zhu Yuanyu gave up for the time being and asked Li Zhuangzhuang to stop the carriage in front of the inn.
When Qi Ao saw the carriage stopped, he immediately jumped off the horse and walked to the edge of the carriage.
As soon as Zhu Yuanyu lifted the car curtain, he saw Qi Ao stretching out his hand, as if to help him get out of the carriage.
He immediately remembered the bow tie on his foot, and whispered back: "Tweety, bring my shoes." After that, he got back into the car.
Qi Ao pursed his lips, retracted his hand, and continued to wait.
Regardless of Cui Er's objection, Zhu Yuanyu put the shoes on his feet. When his injured foot was also put into the shoes, he realized that the bow tie was a bit uncomfortable.
I wanted to take off my shoes and untie the bow, but suddenly I found it too troublesome, so I ended up just wearing it like this.
Zhu Yuanyu lifted the car curtain again and saw Qi Ao standing motionless. His mouth twitched and he lowered his voice and said: "You are not allowed to hug me! You can only help me! Do you hear me? Otherwise I won't get off the carriage!"
Qi Ao lowered his eyes, covered the slightly raised corners of his mouth, and gave a soft "hmm", which was regarded as agreement.
Zhu Yuanyu then smiled and stretched out his hand generously, like a proud little emperor.
