Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

After disembarking to rest, the officials rode horses to the inn, except for the emperor, who traveled in a carriage. However, as soon as Xu Yanmiao’s inner thoughts emerged, both civil and military officials swiftly dismounted their horses and instinctively lowered their heads to inspect their nether regions.

To outsiders, this scene looked extremely bizarre. Not only did everyone move in unison, but their expressions were oddly uniform—shock, fear, and confusion mixed together, with their eyes opened wide to the exact same degree.

The civil officials fared slightly better. While they were required to practice the six arts of a gentleman, they hadn’t spent as much time on horseback as the military officials during the early days of empire-building.

The military officials, however, were immediately transported back to their training days, vividly recalling the fiery pain from a certain sensitive area when first learning to ride.

Although experienced riders knew to lift their hips and align with the horse’s rhythm rather than sitting fully on the saddle, learning this technique took time. Until they mastered it, their backsides and nether regions endured countless painful impacts with the saddle.

[Back then, learning to ride was so grueling… Being a soldier is really inhuman. I couldn’t get the hang of lifting my hips and tightening my core at first. My butt stayed glued to the saddle, and every time the horse leaped, I bounced up and slammed back down… It hurt so much! Too much!]

[And when we started, the old emperor’s forces were makeshift at best. Those were chaotic times, and systematic training was out of the question. We just had to figure it out on our own. Ugh—the pain! My backside and… other parts must have slammed into that saddle at least a thousand times, if not more.]

The military officials couldn’t hold back their reactions any longer, covering their faces with their hands and grimacing in collective agony.

It really had been that painful.