They left early the next morning, despite Chu Yun's best efforts to stall them until after lunch. Chu Ming was impatient.
"The journey is long, and we really don't have time for this," he said, as Chu Yun hugged his mother goodbye. "You can always write to them."
Chu Yun made no comment, but in his mind he envisioned all the ways in which he was going to get back at his cousin.
Xiao Zai was incredibly patient the entire time, which took great fortitude on his part because Chu Ming did his best to be unbearable.
Along with his large retinue of servants, they were also travelling with the mercenaries -- some of them on their own horse, others riding along on open and closed carriages -- which naturally slowed them down. On top of that, Chu Ming had unbearably high standards for every roadside inn they stopped at.
The bed had to be just so, as well as the linens, to say nothing of the food, and the temperature of his bath water.
