Having made up her mind, Xiang Rui naturally had nothing more to say and simply waited for their departure.
As the departure date drew nearer, the capital seemed to have quieted down.
The struggle between Prince Ning, Mu Hansu, and the Crown Prince, though it had moved from "underground" to "aboveground," saw the Crown Prince not being suppressed by Mu Hansu as he was in the previous life.
Instead, with the help of Mu Changxi and Song Chaoyu, the Crown Prince's authority in court could still rival Mu Hansu's, and he could even be said to have surpassed Mu Hansu in prominence.
Hearing that Song Chaoyu was to accompany Mu Hansu to Haizhou, it wasn't just others, even Hu Xiaoye was very reluctant to part with Song Chaoyu.
She and Madam Hu brought many things for Song Chaoyu.
Although Song Chaoyu was not lacking in these things, they were, after all, their kind intentions, and she naturally had to accept them.
Learning from Hu Xiaoye, the Hu family was now extremely wary of that Jinshi Jie. He had not given up on Hu Xiaoye, but the Hu family was utterly fed up with him.
Hu Xiaoye sighed and asked Song Chaoyu, "Ayu, Father still wants to choose one from the candidates of this year's imperial examination for me. Besides this Jinshi, who else do you think is reliable?"
In truth, a woman could not make such decisions, and could only follow her family's arrangements.
Therefore, Song Chaoyu did not overthink it and merely said to Hu Xiaoye, "I think that Zhuangyuan Feng Xing is a good one."
"Ah?"
Hu Xiaoye pouted, "But don't others say that he lacks real talent? And he doesn't often appear in the residences of dukes and lords, so he doesn't seem like someone with prospects!"
Song Chaoyu smiled and patted Hu Xiaoye, "Didn't everyone think that Jinshi Jie was a gentleman before? As the saying goes, 'A long road tests a horse's strength, and time reveals a person's heart.' Perhaps Feng Xing is a good one! However, such matters are ultimately decided by your father and mother. Now that you know Jinshi Jie is not a good person, you can stay away from him in the future. You are still young, and there's no need to rush."
Hu Xiaoye nodded, then leaned on Song Chaoyu's shoulder, "Ayu, if you leave, no one will play with me! Sigh, you must come back soon!"
Song Chaoyu truly liked Hu Xiaoye's disposition; her attitude towards her had not changed at all despite her current status as Princess Chang.
In fact, regarding Prince Chang's departure from the capital this time, not many people in the entire capital came to Prince Chang's mansion.
Besides Hu Xiaoye and the Song family, only Princess Anyang sent some items.
Until the morning of Song Chaoyu and Mu Changxi's departure from the capital, the entrance to Prince Chang's mansion remained deserted, with no one to see them off.
Song Chaoyu, however, felt that this was for the best. Without the fanfare of a grand send-off, they could be more clear-headed.
***
As the carriage traveled towards Haizhou, Song Chaoyu's mood, surprisingly, grew better and better!
After all, this was her first time leaving the capital, both in this life and the previous one.
The farthest she had ever been was just outside the estate.
But that was still within the capital's jurisdiction, so everything now felt novel and exciting to Song Chaoyu.
Originally, there were many matters to attend to for their trip to Haizhou, and Mu Changxi was preoccupied with worry.
Now, seeing Song Chaoyu's curiosity and enthusiasm for everything, his mood also brightened.
From the capital to Haizhou, their entourage, along with the disaster relief supplies, traveled slowly, taking about twenty days.
It was fine right after leaving the capital, as there were many towns along the way.
Moreover, they were traveling under the guise of disaster relief, so they were naturally received by officials from various prefectures.
They were quite respectful to Prince Chang's mansion, at least not showing any obvious disdain.
However, after passing Liangzhou, everything seemed to change.
They were only halfway through their journey, and most of the territory south of Liangzhou was under Mu Hansu's control.
In fact, when "Prince Chang returned to the capital," he had traveled along these same roads.
However, Song Chaoyu knew in her heart that Mu Changxi had probably not traveled this way.
The first prefectural city south of Liangzhou was Pingzhou City.
This was the hometown of Mu Hansu's birth mother, so Mu Hansu's forces were entrenched everywhere.
Moreover, these forces were almost imperceptible a few years ago. In the past two years, as Mu Hansu's influence in court grew, they had revealed themselves, becoming deeply rooted and making the situation in Pingzhou City extremely complicated.
When Prince Chang's carriage arrived at Pingzhou City, it was already close to midnight.
Everyone was exhausted, but when the carriage stopped at the city gate of Pingzhou City, they discovered that the gate of Pingzhou City was tightly shut!
In fact, in the previous dynasty, there were curfew orders for various prefectural cities.
However, from the reign of the late emperor to the current emperor, the court had enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity. Therefore, starting from the capital, the curfew orders for the prefectural cities below were abolished.
At this moment, with the gate of Pingzhou City shut, was this not a blatant defiance of imperial decree?
Mu Hansu signaled Xiao Ruiz to help him off the carriage, and then asked Ping Jiang, a guard beside him, to inquire at the city gate.
Unexpectedly, before Ping Jiang could even reach the city gate, guards on the city wall had already nocked their longbows and aimed at them, "Who goes there? Why do you attempt to force entry into Pingzhou City at night?!"
With an arrow nocked on the longbow, Mu Changxi instinctively shielded Song Chaoyu.
For some reason, Song Chaoyu did not feel afraid of the long arrow.
Instead, she smiled at Xiang Rui, who was equally surprised beside her, "Xiang Rui, look, this is the hospitality of Pingzhou City!"
She knew that Xiang Rui would report what she saw and heard to the Emperor.
Xiang Rui's gaze deepened, and feeling a bit scared, he unconsciously stepped back.
Ping Jiang drew the sword at his side and also stood in front of Mu Changxi, shouting to the guards above, "We are not forcing entry, are we not still outside the city gate? Summon your Pingzhou City Prefect to answer! We are from the capital, and the person before you is His Highness Prince Chang!"
After he finished speaking, those people still kept their bows nocked.
Song Chaoyu asked Ping Jiang, "Before we came, the news should have been sent to Pingzhou City. Did you not send it?"
Ping Jiang let out a cold snort, "Of course it was sent long ago! I'm afraid these dogs who rely on the power of others haven't looked at it? Or are they deliberately trying to make things difficult for Prince Chang's mansion?"
"Below!"
A voice, sounding like a guard captain, came from the city wall, "No matter who you are, Pingzhou City has been uneasy these past two days, and the city gates have been closed. You should come back tomorrow!"
To make the people of Prince Chang's mansion spend the night outside the city, these people in Pingzhou City truly had great audacity!
Song Chaoyu looked at Mu Changxi, who also frowned.
Xiao Ruiz stepped forward and asked them, "Does Your Highness want me to produce the imperial decree? These people will surely let us enter the city."