Chapter 044 A Win-Win Situation

A hint of disappointment flashed across Li Zhaodi's face, and she felt a little aggrieved, but she hid it very well, and then she just agreed meekly.

Li Xiucai saw that Li Zhaodi was timid and afraid of him, so he lost his mood and waved his hand: "Go away, don't get in the way here. I feel annoyed when I see you."

Aunt Hu said, "I counted the fruits. Don't get into the bad habit of stealing them at such a young age! Always remember that your father is a scholar. You must never dishonor his reputation in your actions!"

These words made Li Xiucai's expression a little better.

Li Zhaodi walked out, limped to the steps at the entrance of the post station, and then sat down.

Feeling a little hungry, she stared at the fruit in her hand and swallowed.

There was a little of her blood on it, and she wiped it off with her sleeve.

She looked at the people in the camp. The campfire was still burning. Some people were lying on a mat in the wild with their clothes on, while others were cooking.

But not far away, Xu Zhenying and Lian were walking side by side.

Li Zhaodi stood up, and there was a little light in her eyes, but it quickly went out.

"Sister!" A crisp voice followed by a joyful cry. Li Zhaodi turned her head and saw her younger sister Yinzhang. Her sister was only twelve years old and a little thin. As the second daughter, she had a worse life than she did. At this moment, Li Yinzhang opened her moist eyes like a deer and smiled heartily at the sight of her. She took out half a piece of cold steamed bread from her bosom as if offering a treasure and said excitedly, "Sister, look what this is?"

"Steamed bread?" Li Zhaodi was stunned for a moment, "Where are you from?!"

Li Yinzhang laughed heartily. She was a sweet girl, with rosy lips and white teeth. She had been a beauty since childhood, like the little girl in the New Year pictures. With the exception of her parents, everyone else in Hu Nong had loved her. Now, as she smiled, her eyes narrowed into a line, making her look incredibly adorable.

Li Yinzhang leaned closer and whispered, "Sister, this steamed bread was given to me by the old lady of the Fang family. She said she liked me, so she secretly gave me half a piece of it. Sister, let's eat it together!"

Li Zhaodi subconsciously touched her empty stomach, then shook her head, "I'm not hungry, I've already eaten, let's eat."

"Sister has to take care of my brother and pick fruits today, which takes a lot of effort." Li Yinzhang shook his head and did not give Li Zhaodi a chance to refuse. He raised his hand and put the steamed bread to Li Zhaodi's mouth, then looked at her expectantly, "Sister, be good, take a bite——"

Li Zhaodi smiled helplessly, but was only willing to take a small bite.

Li Yinzhang said anxiously: "Sister, bite hard..."

Li Zhaodi took a big bite, pushed the small amount of steamed bread back, and gently scratched Li Yinzhang's nose, "Yinzhang, eat too, let's eat together!"

"Yeah! Let's eat together!"

The grievance and confusion in Li Zhaodi's heart disappeared instantly.

Zhao Bantou walked slowly back to his room in the post station. This trip to Qianzhou was very cost-effective. The people being escorted were all exiled officials, and they were all willing to spend money to treat them. Therefore, he made a lot of money on this trip, and he was willing to spend a little more money to stay in a single room.

Zhao Bantou washed his face and lay on the bed, feeling a little insomniac. His mind kept recalling the conversation between Lian and Xu Qingying that he had just heard under the tree, and then he gradually figured out what was going on.

Having been in the martial arts world for many years, Zhao Bantou was a cautious person. He was also afraid that Lian and the girl from the Xu family would team up to put on a show for him.

But it was a fact that the girl from the Xu family and the girl from the Fang family had a big quarrel at that time. He didn't want to get involved in the trivial matters between the girls, but he was entrusted by Xu Yinxi. Xu Yinxi was worried that the Lian family would do something bad to the girl from the Xu family, so she asked him to go and take a look.

From what Lian said, it seems that the Xu family was not exiled because they offended Zhu Guojiu, but were temporarily implicated because they obeyed Zhu Guojiu's orders to deal with Prime Minister Han. In this way, the revival of the Xu family is a foregone conclusion, right?

Moreover, he had heard from his brothers in the prison that someone from the Lian family had come to ask for a divorce, but for some reason, the Lian family refused to agree. This meant that the Lian family had known from the beginning that the exile was only temporary.

Zhao Bantou thought carefully about whether he had offended the Xu family in the past few days. Fortunately, apart from asking Huang Yazi to teach Xu Deyuan's sister-in-law a lesson on the first day, he had not done anything too outrageous.

As for what Liu Jieshi did, he turned a blind eye to it, so it can't be blamed on him.

Zhao Bantou felt a little scared, but still felt it was not enough, so he wanted to think more.

Now is the best opportunity to surrender. Xu Deyuan doesn't know that he knows about this, so he will continue to pretend not to know, take good care of his Xu family in the future, and continue to do favors for the Xu family. When Xu Deyuan returns to Bianjing City, won't he have this big tree to lean on?

Maybe he can be given a small official position?

The more Zhao Bantou thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed, and the more excited he became.

no--

When Zhao Bantou thought of the things that Liu Jieshi had given him as a gift, his scalp tingled for a moment. He hated that Liu Jieshi was so hateful that he had dragged him into this trouble from the very beginning!

In two days, I must find a reason to return those things intact!

Zhao Bantou was thinking carefully, dreaming of returning to the city of Bianliang in glory one day, and fell asleep unknowingly.

The next day, at daybreak, the escort called out to everyone to get up and set off.

The further south they went, the colder they felt. Xu Zhenying had only been less than a hundred miles away from Bianjing City, but he could already clearly feel the temperature difference.

She had quietly asked a few days ago that the territory of the Zhou Dynasty was not large, and the entire territory map was a bit similar to that of the Song Dynasty. The distance from Bian Jing to Yelang was about 1,800 miles. According to their walking speed, 20-30 miles a day, it would take about three months.

Xu Zhenying saw that more and more people were binding their legs according to the method she provided in the past two days, even a few escorts had their legs bound. She must have thought that everyone could not stand such fatigue from traveling.

Xu Zhenying woke up every day with hunger and muscle aches, and then set out on the road of exile in a daze.

It was only the sixth day, and she felt a sour smell all over her body.

Taking a shower or washing your hair is simply unrealistic. Not to mention how cold the river water is in October and it is impossible to go into the river, the entire journey has been on mountain roads and you can't see the river at all.

Life was even worse for the exiled prisoners living in the post station. They only provided large bunk beds, and if those weren't available, they had to use hammocks in the backyard. One hundred people were crammed into a bunk bed that could only hold twenty or thirty people, which was a stark example of how crowded it was. The food they provided was either cold or stale rice, or thin porridge with wild vegetables, which was completely inadequate to fill their stomachs.

As for hot water, firewood, etc., there were none at all. Therefore, many people in the team had not bathed or changed clothes for several days in a row, and there was a strange smell when they walked together.

Yesterday, my grandmother saw Mr. Li and Xu Deyuan arguing over the donkey cart fare, and today she refused to ride in it no matter what, fearing that the concubine's sharp and sour words would make her so embarrassed that she couldn't even raise her head.

Xu Deyuan glared at Xu Zhenying angrily and advised Huang, "Mother, I've already signed the credit documents. Whether you come or not, I have to pay you within five days. Since you have to pay, why not come? Let's sit openly!"

Xu Zhenying also said: "Don't worry, grandma, we will pay you as agreed within five days. Don't worry about the money, just sit down and relax-"

The more Xu Deyuan listened, the angrier he became. He felt that Xu Qingying had become more and more annoying since she was exiled, but all of this was for Huang Shi. With filial piety as the top priority, he couldn't find any fault with Xu Qingying.

So he asked sarcastically, "That sounds nice, but what if I can't come up with twenty taels of silver? Won't Mr. Li come and make a scene with me? For these twenty taels of silver, you've completely disgraced me!"

Xu Zhenying smiled faintly. "How could Second Uncle say that? As the saying goes, filial piety comes first among all virtues. Second Uncle has always taught us to respect our elders. Now Second Uncle is willing to spend twenty taels of silver to rent a donkey cart for Grandmother, saving her the tiring journey. Who in the group wouldn't praise you for your filial piety? The phrase 'filial piety and brotherly love' describes our Xu family!"

Xu Deyuan was secretly holding back a ball of anger, and was choked so hard that he couldn't utter a word. Looking at Xu Qingying's serene smile, he wished he could tear her face apart.

Don't think he doesn't know, Xu Qingying was clearly doing it on purpose.

She was certain that he had to swallow this loss because of filial piety.

Looking back on the past few days, Xu Qingying first broke off the engagement without permission, then made a big splash in the team because of the leggings and backpack incident, and now she even dared to borrow money everywhere using his name. The more Xu Deyuan thought about it, the angrier he became, and he just wanted to find an opportunity to discipline Xu Qingying.

Huang, persuaded by the two, straightened her back and walked to the donkey cart of Li Xiucai's family. The concubine had not wanted to be friendly to Huang since she knew that the Xu family had borrowed money to ride the carriage. But when she remembered that Li Xiucai said that the Xu family was a former official, she finally suppressed her indifference, raised her buttocks, and made room for Huang.

Xu Zhenying patted Huang's shoulder and said soothingly, "Don't worry, Grandma. I mean five days, and you just wait for good news."

"Hey..." Huang replied, her wrinkled face finally relaxed a little, "Sixth girl, I know you are capable, and I trust you."

Miao pulled Xu Qingying aside, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. Looking at her daughter who was very opinionated but becoming more and more unfamiliar, Miao no longer knew how to communicate with her.

"Um..." Miao coughed softly and lowered her voice, "Do you really have a way to help us get those things back?"

Xu Zhenying smiled, thinking about the hazy figure of Zhao Bantou when he left yesterday. One night should be enough for Zhao Bantou to make a choice.

"That's right. Team leader Zhao is a good guy. Maybe he can't bear to see us being bullied by Liu Jieshi and will stand up for us."

Miao's breath rose to her chest, and then her face was filled with disappointment. "Ying'er, you...that Zhao Bantou is the same as them. How could he possibly stand up for our family? Besides, we've already eaten it, how can he give us a refund? Are you expecting him to pay us back out of his own pocket?"

At this point, Miao's tone was a little serious. "Ying'er, you weren't like this before. How come your temper has become so strange since you were exiled? Do you know that you keep saying these empty words, disturbing the entire Xu family. Your aunt is counting on you to have some real ability to help us get our things back. Do you know that if we don't get them back, our second branch will never be able to hold our heads up in the Xu family! Those people in the first and second branches will nag us about this for the rest of our lives! We are people who value being down-to-earth in everything we do. How can you be so careless and frivolous now!"

Xu Zhenying was stunned. He didn't expect Miao to have so many emotions. Was she really so out of line in doing things?

If you think about it carefully, the original owner's parents were both honest people. Although Xu Deyuan became rich overnight and Xu Degui, as his younger brother, also benefited from it, the third branch had never done anything to bully the people.

No matter what business Xu Degui does, he always emphasizes honest operation and earns his money through hard work. Over the years, Xu Deyuan's several small shops have been quite famous in Bianjing City.

Among the five children born to Huang, the eldest, Xu Dechi, was cunning and cunning, the second, Xu Deyuan, was old-fashioned and pedantic, the third, Xu Deyuan, was the most honest, the fourth was taciturn, and the youngest, the aunt, was said to be very gentle.

Thinking of this, Xu Zhenying became more patient. He took Miao's hand and said, "Mother, I just don't want to be too absolute. We are in a critical moment now. Not to mention how to get to Qianzhou, which is over a thousand miles away, even if we do get there, we still have to face problems such as land reclamation, tax payment, and military service. The people and things we will face in the future will no longer be as easy as they were in Bianjing City. Therefore, if we continue to be honest and tolerant as before, a place like Qianzhou, with its poor mountains and bad waters, will probably eat us up and leave us nothing."

Miao was instantly hesitant and uneasy after hearing what she said. Of course, she had thought about these things, but she subconsciously felt that with so many men in the family, it was not her turn as a woman to worry about it. With the whole family around, what difficulties could she not overcome?

"So..." Xu Zhenying continued to coax him gently, "Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. Mother doesn't need to care about the process. As long as I don't hurt anyone and I can get the job done, isn't that enough?"

Miao's delicate brows knitted slightly. It was obvious that what Xu Zhenying said was completely contrary to her expectations of how to deal with people. She thought about it over and over again and felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't find the words to refute it. "Then...if we can't get the twenty taels, wouldn't that mean we've cheated Mr. Li?"

"As long as we find a way to get our belongings, that's all that matters. That way, Grandmother can get on the donkey cart early, Mr. Li gets his twenty taels, and we get our own luggage. Isn't that a win-win situation for all three?"

"But if we can't get it, won't it mean..." Miao thought seriously, "Li Xiucai will be the only one to suffer? How can that be possible--"

Miao quickly shook her head. Even if she thought that Mr. Li was not a good person, it was not an excuse for them to take advantage of him.

"So now I have to try my best to achieve a win-win-win situation." Seeing that Miao was still frowning, Xu Zhenying had no choice but to confess, "Don't worry, mother. Just wait and see. In two days, Zhao Bantou will definitely return the things that Liu Jieshi stole to us intact!"