Chapter 329 Official departure
"What's wrong, Master?"
"nothing."
Mei Cheng'an withdrew his gaze and handed the handkerchief back to Hongshu.
"Let's find a place to wash up on the way back."
"I understand, Master."
With a hum, Mei Cheng'an looked around the entire convoy. This was the first time he had seen a complete diplomatic delegation.
From the back to the front were four baggage carts, Sean's special prisoner cart, Si Lili's carriage, and at the front were Mei Chengan and Fan Xian's respective carriages.
As an aside, the carriages of the two were prepared by the Honglu Temple. They were customized carriages exclusively for envoys. They were different from ordinary carriages. Not only were they wider and larger, but the windows were also very long, allowing for a wider field of vision. There were also many other minor differences, which I will not elaborate on here.
The members of the diplomatic mission are roughly composed of three categories: the head of the mission, accompanying officials and accompanying service personnel.
As the name suggests, the head of the mission is the person who is responsible for all matters of the mission, that is, the chief envoy and deputy envoy, or the chief and deputy team leader.
The accompanying officials consisted of ten officials from the Honglu Temple who were in charge of specific diplomatic affairs, four minor clerks who were in charge of clerical work, and four minor clerks who were in charge of walking at the front of the delegation and holding staffs.
Accompanying service personnel literally means the people who serve the entire mission, such as baggage handlers in charge of logistics, doctors in charge of the health of members, guards in charge of security, scouts in charge of exploring the roads, etc.
As for the guards, in addition to the city patrol officers appointed by the imperial court, the team leader and deputy team leader can also recruit their own guards.
People like Wang Qinian and several maids brought by Mei Cheng'an, Teng Zijing, the coachman and guard brought by Fan Xian, and Gao Da and his group who are about to be brought over all belong to this category.
Wherever Mei Cheng'an looked, all members of the delegation were ready and geared up to go, except for Fan Xian, Gaoda and his swordsmen.
After thinking for a moment, Mei Cheng'an walked towards Si Lili's carriage. Since he had nothing to do, he went to say hello to the beautiful woman.
The ten officials from the Honglu Temple were now divided into two teams, each wearing official uniforms and sitting on horses on both sides of the convoy.
There were four people on the left and right between Sean's car and the manager's car, and one person on the left and right between the manager's car and Mei Cheng'an's car.
Seeing Mei Cheng'an coming, several officials from the Honglu Temple immediately bowed to him, and Mei Cheng'an smiled and nodded in response.
"Master."
Walking to Si Lili's carriage, Bluebird and Green Ant saluted him together. Mei Cheng'an waved his hand and looked at Si Lili who lifted the carriage curtain and looked at him.
After not seeing each other for a long time, Si Lili was still as beautiful as ever, and Mei Chengan greeted her with a smile.
"It's been a long time since I last saw you, Miss Si Lili. How are you doing recently?"
Si Lili looked at him quietly, her beautiful eyes twinkling, and her slightly plain lips, without the embellishment of lip balm, slightly opened as she spoke softly.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
After a pause, she added.
"I didn't expect it was you who sent me."
Mei Cheng'an did not respond. He looked at her pretty face and saw that her expression was soft and weak with a hint of worry, so he asked curiously.
"Why, you're going home, aren't you happy?"
Si Lili blinked, paused, and then forced a smile.
"I am happy that I don't have to be a prisoner anymore."
Mei Cheng'an clicked his tongue twice and shook his head.
"You lie so unnaturally. It seems that this period of imprisonment has had a great impact on you. You even forgot the basic skills of a spy."
Upon hearing this, Si Lili's pretty face froze, a hint of embarrassment appeared on her face, and she opened her mouth to say something.
Suddenly, she shifted her gaze to the right, retracted her gaze, nodded slightly to Mei Chengan, and then slowly closed the car curtain.
Mei Cheng'an shrugged and turned to look in the direction he was looking.
It was Gundam who arrived with his swordsmen, and Fan Xian's figure was following far behind, jogging forward.
The distance was not far and the speed was not slow either. In a moment, Fan Xian caught up with Gaoda and his group. After talking with Gaoda for a few words, Fan Xian led them towards Mei Chengan.
Mei Cheng'an waved his hand, signaling Wang Qinian and the maids to take their positions, and walked towards them.
In a vacant space outside the team, they stopped and stood still. Mei Cheng'an and Gaoda were looking at each other, and Fan Xian introduced them.
"Lao Mei, his name is Gundam. Yes, that's the Gundam from Gundam. Interesting, isn't it? He and his swordsman are the guards that my father arranged for me. They will accompany us north on this trip."
After saying that, he looked at Gundam again.
"This is Mei Cheng'an, the deputy leader of the mission. He is also my good friend. In the mission, he and I are the same person. He can talk as well as I do. Do you understand what I mean?"
A hint of surprise flashed across Gundam's eyes when he heard this, and then he nodded.
"clear."
After saying that, he turned to look at Mei Chengan and saluted him respectfully.
"Golden Gundam and his swordsmen greet you, sir. If you have any errands, please follow your instructions."
Mei Chengan smiled and waved his hand.
"No need to be so polite. We are all family from now on. There are not so many rules here. Just relax."
Gundam had a carefree personality to begin with, so he didn't hesitate to hear that. He just put down his hand and grinned.
"Yes, I will listen to you, sir."
After they finished greeting each other, Fan Xian spoke to Gao Da.
"Go ahead and get ready. We'll be leaving soon."
"Yes."
Gundam and his men responded and walked forward.
Mei Cheng'an withdrew his gaze and looked at Fan Xian, and asked casually.
"Are you done there?"
Fan Xian nodded and pulled him toward the front of the team.
"I said goodbye to them at home, but I didn't expect them to come anyway. I won't mention my dad and Ruoruo, but that brat Versace also came with me. Guess what he came for."
Mei Chengan thought for a moment and laughed.
"Why would you guess? He's full of business ideas. He's probably here to urge you to write Red Mansions."
Fan Xian sighed.
"That's right. Not only did he urge me to write on the way, he also asked me to send him a chapter as soon as I finished it. What a joke! He thought I was on vacation. I really admire him."
Mei Chengan laughed.
"It's a bit exaggerated to say one chapter per post, but you have to hurry up and write it. It's been a long time since your last update." "..."
Fan Xian's mouth twitched and he looked at him speechlessly.
"Who are you in league with? How much did you get from Versace? Can I pay double?"
Mei Chengan smiled.
"I'm not urging you for Versace, I'm urging you for my wife, she's also eagerly waiting for your new chapter."
"..."
Fan Xian was speechless. He had forgotten about this person who was urging him to pay more. Before, this fellow villager had often used threats and bribes to urge him to pay more.
During that period, he updated more Red Mansions than he had in the previous year, and basically all of them were for her.
It’s just that there was a period of time when he had troubles one after another, so he stopped urging for updates, until now.
Come to think of it, it seems to have been a while since the last time my fellow villager asked me to update more. I didn't expect that he would come back again.
Oh leak!
Thinking about the fact that he would not only have to guard against various dangers but also have to find time to write in the coming days, Fan Xian felt a headache.
When he reached his carriage, Mei Cheng'an stopped immediately and said something to Fan Xian who also stopped.
"I have arrived."
Seeing Fan Xian looking at him with a resentful expression, Mei Cheng'an smiled.
"Look at you. Okay, I'm just kidding you. I won't force you to write this time. If you want to write, then write. If you don't want to write, forget it."
Fan Xian looked at him suspiciously.
"Is this true? Would you be so kind and considerate of your brother?"
Mei Chengan smiled freely and easily.
"Then what did you say? It's fine if I embarrass you at home, but when you're out, of course your brother's happiness is the most important thing."
Fan Xian felt warm in his heart and was deeply moved.
"We've been brothers for so long, and I finally heard some human words from you. You finally have some humanity. I'm crying."
Mei Chengan's head was filled with black lines, and he pointed with his finger.
"Go! Go to your own carriage, it's time to leave."
As he said this, he turned around and got into his carriage.
Fan Xian chuckled and pulled him back.
"Come on, come on, come with me to the front carriage."
Mei Chengan glanced at him.
"What?"
Fan Xian laughed.
"I have something to talk to you about, and..."
As he said this, he patted his waist, leaned close to Mei Chengan and winked.
"I have something good to give you. My teacher specifically asked me to bring it to you."
Mei Cheng'an didn't quite believe it. If Fei Jie wanted to give him something, couldn't he just give it to him directly? Why would he have to ask Fan Xian to pass it on?
"Is it true? Tell me, sir."
"Tsk, of course it's true! I'm lying to you little dog!"
After responding to the question without hesitation, Fan Xian pulled his arm and walked forward.
"Oh, let's go, let's go, why are you so slow?"
Mei Cheng'an was speechless. There were so many people around watching, what was the point of all the fussing?
"Okay, okay, I'm leaving, you let me go."
"No, I saw you forcefully holding my teacher's shoulders. My teacher asked you to loosen your grip, but you didn't, didn't you?"
"..."
Mei Cheng'an didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he had to let him go. He turned around and waved at Hongshu behind him, saying helplessly.
"Put away the sweet potatoes, then get back on the horse. We are about to set off."
"Yes, Master."
Hongshu took the riding stool and got on the horse.
"Hiss~ Old Wang, what are you laughing at? What's so funny?"
"Why do you care so much? People are born to laugh. It's not okay. Get in your carriage."
"..."
A moment later, the two of them got on Fan Xian's carriage one after another, under the gaze of Wang Qinian with a smirk on his face.
After entering the carriage, Mei Cheng'an discovered that the space inside the carriage was large and spacious, but there were no seats installed!
Apart from a coffee table, there wasn't even a cushion. The entire carriage was square, giving people a bare feeling.
Fortunately, there was a relatively soft carpet underneath, so Mei Chengan and Fan Xian had no choice but to sit on the floor.
After sitting cross-legged facing each other, Mei Cheng'an pulled the coffee table across the two of them, picked up the teapot and started pouring tea.
Fan Xian turned around and lifted the curtain that was almost as long as the carriage, and gave instructions to Gundam who was riding on a horse outside.
"You can go now, Gundam."
"Yes!"
Gundam received the order and drove his horse a few steps to the outside, then turned around and shouted loudly.
"set off!"
Following an order, the huge delegation began to move forward slowly under the gaze of many people and those who saw them off.
The Qing Kingdom delegation's journey northward has officially begun!
(End of this chapter)
