With the wedding procession, as well as with the traditional visit to Chu Yun's parents, they had to take the main roads into Xin, but now, travelling light and with a simple carriage, they could save some time by taking advantage of backroads whenever possible.
Travel towards Xin was gruelling all the same. The official roads were in very poor condition, littered with holes that made journeys even slower, and the backroads were little better than goat paths. Now that he was no longer bickering with Chu Yun about whose country was superior, Xiao Zai could easily admit the obvious:
"Zui infrastructure has really gone to shit," he lamented while sitting on the coachman's seat with Chu Yun while Hua Nanyi rode alongside them.