Chapter 302 : Difficult Journey (1)

The next day when they went on their way, there was an extra old man and a young man in the convoy. Since the man in the lead didn’t say anything, naturally, the others didn’t ask too many questions.

After travelling for half a day, Master Yang had a suggestion and told Han Ji, “When we get to the next place, go and buy another carriage! This carriage is too bumpy for my old bones.”

Yuxi had already instructed Han Ji to meet whatever Master Yang’s request was, so Han Ji just smiled and said, “No problem. I’ll buy a carriage when we get to the next place.”

It was just good that their next resting place was a county town. Han Ji explained to Chief Huang and took Master Yang and Yu Zhi to buy a carriage.

It ended up costing over a hundred taels of silver to buy a carriage, but the good thing was that Master Yang and Yu Zhi could drive the carriage on their own and did not need to add an extra coachman. In addition, Master Yang also asked Han Ji to buy more easy-to-carry meat and vegetables. After Han Ji had purchased them all, Master Yang asked him to put them in his carriage. The others didn’t have a problem with this, as the master was willing to pay for it, and it didn’t delay their journey, so they simply didn’t talk too much about it.

Sitting in the carriage, Master Yang said to Yu Zhi with a sigh of relief, “This girl is truly good at what she does!” The hand that took others’ possessions was shortened, and the mouth that ate others’ food was softened. She let them spend her money as they pleased, but then she would ask them to put forth their strength protecting her!

Yu Zhi said with a smile, “Master, I genuinely think Miss Han is quite nice. Look at how she treats Zijin. She doesn’t act like she is her master at all, but treat her more like a sister.” Zijin had spoken so nonchalantly just now, and Fourth Miss Han had not uttered a word of rebuttal.

Master Yang smiled a little. “If not, how could that Zijin girl be so devoted to her like that.” Even when Zijin had a promising future, she wouldn’t even want it. She was dead set on following the Han girl but having seen that Han girl himself today, she was undeniably not a simple one.

The first road was still good for them to move on, and there were still people around, so it was easy to find accommodation. However, after travelling for half a month, the road worsened.

The road was bumpy, but the most important thing was that they couldn’t find a place to stay and had to sleep outside at night. That night, everyone had to sleep outside.

When it was dark, Chief Huang called out in a loud voice, “Everyone stop. We will rest here tonight.”

When Yuxi got out of the carriage, she saw Chief Huang and a few other armed escorts carrying out something unknown to her from one of the carts and couldn’t help but ask Zijin, “What is that?”

Zijin shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

Master Yang stuck his head out of the carriage, took a look and said, “That is a rain tarp. With that, you can build a simple shed so that you can sleep at night without fear of the wind and rain. You truly are a young lady who has never left her home. You don’t even know what a rain tarp is.”

Yuxi wasn’t embarrassed at all. “It’s surely a learning experience.”

Some people erected overnight shelters, with others unloading some planks from carriages. Other people went to collect stones to build the cookstove, and some went to collect firewood. None of them was idle anyway.

As Yuxi watched, she turned towards Mama Qu and a few others who had gotten off their carriages and instructed, “All go over and help.” They couldn’t do the heavy work, but they could still help with the cooking.

Mama Qu went up to the armed escort building the stove and told him that he could leave the cooking to them. The man couldn’t wait to get out of this job, so he agreed.

An armed escort named Da Mao watched as Mama Qu and the others went to wash the pots and pans and asked, “Can these ladies do it? They better not let us wait, and then they end up snivelling in the end.” Cooking outside was not the same as cooking at home.

Chief Huang said, “Whether they are capable or not, we’ll know later.” Even if they weren’t capable, their attitude was still outstanding. At least they weren’t just waiting around to eat.

Those whom Yuxi chose were not the kind of people who were too dainty to suffer. They washed pots and vegetables and even rinsed rice for cooking without a single complaint.

Master Yang looked at the group of busy women and nodded his head, “This girl……” He initially thought that only Zijin was so devoted to Yuxi. He did not expect all the people around her had been so well-trained and obedient.

In addition to Mama Qu, there were two more mamas, with one surnamed Bai and the other Xi. Mama Bai was twenty-three, and Mama Xi was thirty-five years old. Mama Bai was a good cook, but she was not from the residence and was bought outside. As for Mama Xi, she was good at serving pregnant women and children, Qiu Shi’s preparation for Yuxi’s future childbirth.

Since Mama Bai knew how to cook, she was the one who did the cooking, and the others worked as her assistants. However, Mama Bai did not need to cook because everyone had dry food in their hands, so all she had to do was prepare a pot of soup and let everyone eat it with their dry food.

Seeing this situation, Zisu couldn’t help but ask, “Miss, what are we going to eat then? Do we eat dry food too?” The steamed buns and bean cakes were as hard as rocks, so it was hard to bite into them. She didn’t mind, but she was worried that her Miss wouldn’t be able to bear it.

Yuxi smiled and asked back, “If everyone can eat them, why can’t we?”

Zijin said, “Miss, isn’t there a small pot? We can just cook and stir-fry our own food.” There was no need to suffer along with them. They were all grown-ups and were used to eating dry food to satisfy their hunger, but Miss had never suffered like this. Thus, she would not be able to endure it for long.

Yuxi thought for a moment, tomorrow morning, they had to travel early. Hence, she had to consume dry foods in the morning and afternoon. If she had to continue devouring that kind of food, she honestly couldn’t stand it. “Then, we will cook a pot of rice to eat.” There was no need to stir-fry dishes or anything since they were not in the suitable condition to do so. It was already very delicious to have a bowl of fragrant rice with two pieces of bacon.

When the rice was ready, Yuxi had someone send two bowls of it to Master Yang and Yu Zhi. These two were her guests, and she could not afford to neglect them.

The others did not object to Yuxi’s move. Well, these women, for sure, could not compete with them, the experienced older men. Besides, Mama Bai’s soup was tastier than their own, which was an unexpected pleasure.

When she finished eating, Zisu whispered, “Miss, don’t you need to clean yourself?”

Yuxi was not used to it either. She had to bathe every day before she went to bed, but there was no place to clean herself now that she had to stay outside. “Since we’re staying outside tonight, let’s hold on for now. We’ll wash when we get to an inn!” As they were in the middle of nowhere, there was no need to pay particular attention to it.

When it reached xushi, everyone went to bed.

Yuxi didn’t sleep in the small shed that had especially been built for her but slept directly on the carriage. Although the shed provided shelter from the wind and rain, it was very basic and not as good as inside the carriage! At night, the three of them slept squeezed inside, which was a bit cramped but warmer, particularly in the cold of the night.

In the middle of the night, Yuxi was awakened by wild animal crying, and just then, a weeping sound came from the carriage behind her. Hearing the sound of someone crying in the middle of the night was rather horrifying.

Zijin pressed on Yuxi’s arm and said, “Miss, I’ll go out and take a look.” After saying that, she put on her outer coat, pushed open the carriage door and walked out. T

/C

The cold wind poured in, and even as she huddled under the blanket, Yuxi still shivered. Zijin came back after a short while, and by this time, the crying was gone.

Yuxi asked softly, “Did someone cry from fear?” Apart from Tian Ju, the other maids who had followed her out had never suffered before. Even though all of them hadn’t cried out of pain and tiredness on this journey, it hadn’t been easy for them to make it this far.

Zijin answered, “They did. But I’ve told them that they should not affect others even if they are scared. We all have to travel early in the morning! Don’t worry, Miss. This is a process they have to get through. They will have to get used to it.” Just think of this as an experience. It was good to let the maids experience more.

The next day, before dawn, Mama Qu got up to cook breakfast. The breakfast was just a pot of congee with some dried vegetables and minced meat.

On Yuxi’s side, a small stove was opened as usual. It didn’t matter if the grown-ups ate poorly, but the few maids who came with her had eaten and drank well every day at the residence, so if they ate these poor things every day, they wouldn’t be able to endure it. Therefore, Yuxi put red dates and dried longan to the congee.

Yuxi looked at her maids, who looked a bit haggard and urged, “You must eat even if you have no appetite. There will be no cooked food to eat at noon, so if you don’t eat now, you will have to wait until evening.”

These maids, except for Tian Ju, were all eating and shedding tears at the same time. Zisu was angry when she looked at their actions. “Why are you crying? Why are you crying when Miss does not even cry? Or do you think you are more delicate than Miss?” Miss hadn’t said a word of complaint from yesterday until today, but these people were crying all the time until it was uncomfortable to hear. These days, Zisu also suffered a lot. When she left home, she had a small day, which was very uncomfortable, and lying in the carriage was unbearable. But the only thing that she was glad for was that she had a place to sleep at night for a few days at least, unlike last night when they had to sleep out in the open in the middle of nowhere.

Yuxi did not reprimand her but said instead, “Hurry up and eat. You still have to wash the pots and pans afterwards! If you didn’t sleep well yesterday, you can catch up on your sleep in the carriage today.” The journey was just a little harder now, but if they had encountered bandits, there was no telling what would have happened!

Thinking of this, Yuxi couldn’t help whisper to Zijin, “Do you think there’s something wrong with me?” Everyone else was scared like hell, but she was not scared at all.

Zijin asked, “What’s wrong? Could it be that Miss is not feeling well?” Zijin had known that Yuxi was courageous. Therefore, she didn’t think there was anything unusual about her.

When Yuxi heard the same answer from Zisu, she was relieved.

The next afternoon, the group passed by a village. Yuxi saw that Chief Huang did not let everyone stop, and after thinking for a while, she spoke with Luo Shuigui, “Uncle Luo, you should ask someone to go to the village to buy some fresh vegetables, some chicken, duck and oil. It is also good to fry some dishes to eat in the evening.” She couldn’t bear to eat and drink dried meat congee all the time.

Luo Shuigui had no objection and immediately called for someone to go to the village to buy food. After hearing this, Chief Huang called for Da Mao. “You follow them to the village to buy food.” Chief Huang thought that Yuxi would ask to stay in the village tonight! Unexpectedly, the other party just asked the men to go shopping and did not make any further requests.

For this action of hers, Chief Huang was still satisfied. It was not that he was unkind, but it was just past noon, and if they had to stay there overnight, their journey would be delayed for another afternoon. These days were sunny, and the roads were good, so naturally, they could walk a bit more, but they wouldn’t be so lucky when it started to rain.