The Princess of Northern Land
Chapter 739: Hot Commodity (1)_1

Chapter 739: Chapter 739: Hot Commodity (1)_1

The Tatars were quite resourceful, setting up their tents wherever they could find shelter from the wind. The so-called tents were in fact simply a structure of timber with animal hides for walls. Despite the tent’s small interior, it was spacious enough for Lin Ziyin to lie in.

In contrast, their own circumstances were harder. They had managed to erect a few tents, but were forced to crowd together in them. In addition, some of them had to take turns standing guard in the severe cold. Guard duty in such freezing conditions was a challenge to both their willpower and physical endurance.

Lin Ziyin had no intention of making things more difficult for herself and honestly crawled into one of the erected tents. She was covered with a thick animal hide blanket, and there was even a down comforter inside. A bonfire was already burning in the midst of the tents.

From these indications, Lin Ziyin deduced that they must have now moved well beyond the vicinity of Border City. Were that not the case, these Tatars would not have dared to casually light a bonfire in the mountains for warmth. For the past few days, they had been surviving solely on cold food.

Firewood was plentiful in the icy desolation, and within a short period, the Tatars had gathered quite a bit.

The collected firewood was piled around the periphery of the tents. With this setup, the wood pile could serve as a windbreak, and they could easily grab pieces to burn, thereby killing two birds with one stone.

The sheltered space was quite all right, at least the piled up snow and frosty wind couldn’t blow in.

Quickly enough, Lin Ziyin soon fell into a state of drowsiness, her eyes tightly closed.

"Get another blanket for her." Bayan, seeing her state, marveled at how composed Lin Ziyin appeared to be. He had come to respect Lin Ziyin for her resilience throughout this whole ordeal and it dawned on him why Chu Suifeng was willing to marry this common farmer girl as his queen.

"Bayan, we don’t have many blankets." Tana responded with slight displeasure.

Women of the Northern Land were as tough as men, seeing Lin Ziyin, frail and sensitive to the cold, reminded Tana of a scrawny chicken. Even though the second prince told her that the queen was different, a woman of intelligence and ability, Tana still disliked Lin Ziyin.

Such a weak woman wouldn’t last long in their Northern Land. She would have been discarded a long time ago.

To Tana, Lin Ziyin’s so-called talent was no more than that of typical women from the Daqin Empire, who only knew romantic poetry. The Northern Land’s women had always looked down on such affectation.

When they first started out, they didn’t take much with them, but half was allocated to the queen, which was quite disproportionate. Moreover, Tana didn’t see any gratitude from Lin Ziyin towards them.

An ungrateful woman! Tana naturally liked Lin Ziyin even less as a result.

But the second prince had emphasized the queen’s importance and repeatedly warned them to treat her with respect and ensure her safety. So despite Tana’s dislike, she was generally decent in her behavior towards Lin Ziyin.

"Bring it over." Said Bayan, a man of few words, but with a careful heart.

Tana, not daring to defy him, found a blanket from an adjoining tent and gently draped it over Lin Ziyin.

Exhausted, Lin Ziyin fell fast asleep as soon as her eyes closed, but Bayan and the others didn’t let her sleep for long.

"Queen, it’s time to eat." Tana called, waking her impatiently.

Lin Ziyin slowly got up and then waited for her eyes to adapt to the dim light before she drew back the fur and blanket from her body, "Thank you."

"Henceforth, call her Miss Lin." Bayan shot a glance at Tana and instructed coldly.

Tana answered quietly in affirmation.

Lin Ziyin usually didn’t care much about formalities but Bayan’s instruction made her alert. Logically, capturing her, the queen of the Northland, should be a proud achievement for the Tatars.