Chapter 21
The camp was quiet, the prisoners consciously staying away from the three of them. However, the overbearing aroma of stewed snails with basil spread, causing a commotion, and even the barbecue in the escort officer's hand no longer had any flavor.
Luo Suyi only ate the bamboo tube porridge, with some torn pieces of steamed buns in it to make it thicker.
Clam porridge is considered an allergy-inducing food, and since she was injured, Yao Chunnuan didn't dare give it to her. It was a pity that her daily use of the old house had run out, otherwise she could have gotten some chicken or duck eggs.
After letting Luo Suyi finish her meal and rest, Yao Chunnuan and Xiao Jieming finished a small pot of snails stewed with perilla, pot-sticked steamed buns and a bamboo tube of clam porridge.
After finishing his meal, Xiao Jieming washed the pots and bowls before lying down contentedly, his face savoring the meal. It had been a long time since he had eaten so heartily. Thinking about being able to eat it often in the future, he felt incredibly happy.
"Boss, Yao's cooking skills are really good." After dark, Tian Qigang's subordinates found him and said with a smile. After that, they hinted wildly, "And I'm not the only one who thinks so. All the brothers think so."
When Tian Qigang looked over, he saw his subordinates peeking out of the room, and when they met his gaze, they quickly put on ingratiating smiles.
"Boss, honestly, can you please ask Mrs. Yao to cook dinner for us? We'll give her some goodies." The aroma of the perilla stewed snails they made today was simply overwhelming; just the smell told how delicious it was. They still had a month or two to go, so they wanted to eat something good.
Tian Qigang laughed and scolded, "Get lost! I've never seen you make so many demands before."
The subordinate curled his lips and said, "There was no chance before. The prisoners' skills were not good enough."
Originally, there were relatively few female prisoners in exile. For example, among the prisoners this time, the women of the Wang and Han families came from wealthy families, so they had no cooking skills. The others, on the other hand, were mostly from the lower classes, and were happy just to have three meals a day. They had no particular taste for food, and their cooking skills were crude. Their food tasted like pig food, even worse than theirs.
"Boss, just see if it works."
Tian Qigang weighed his subordinates' suggestions. Wouldn't this give Yao too much freedom and convenience? Furthermore, since she knew a bit about herbal medicine, he was worried about accidents. What if she knocked them out with a handful of medicine?
The subordinate said disapprovingly, "The Yao family seems quite honest. Besides, with us watching over them, they can't cause any trouble."
How can you force someone to work harder without giving them any benefits? While oppression doesn't require any effort, it doesn't guarantee their full dedication. So, what's wrong with eating and living better within a limited scope? After all, the benefits offered to the Yao family don't have to come out of their own pockets, and it's a pleasant cooperation for both parties, so why not do it?
"Besides, boss, isn't it a little too late for you to worry about this? We've been drinking a lot of the cooling herbal tea she made, and we haven't seen any problems."
Tian Qigang thought about it and nodded.
When Tian Qigang came to her and told her that he wanted her to be responsible for preparing dinner for the escort officers every night, Yao Chunnuan did not hesitate and immediately agreed. She thought to herself, I have to agree to this!
Next, the prisoners saw that when the team arrived and it was time to set up camp, Yao Chunnuan led Xiao Jieming and Luo Suyi to the escort officers' territory. The escort officers would take out food and let her choose what she wanted to cook. Even the wild animals they hunted were given to her to cook.
The three of them worked hard and soon prepared a pot of staple food, two main dishes and a dish of fried minced meat with pickles.
After Tian Qigang gave some to the three of them, the escort officers began to feast on the food. The rich pheasant mushroom soup and the salty and fragrant stewed rabbit meat made them all very satisfied.
Looking at what Yao Chunnuan and the other two were eating, and then looking at what they were eating, the prisoners were stunned and felt jealous. Look at how they were doing, and then look at themselves, what a failure!
Within two days, escort officers from the second and third teams also joined in.
They couldn't stand it anymore. They were all officers escorting prisoners. Team one started eating spicy food and drinking spicy drinks every night, but they had to eat dry food every day? What was the logic behind this?
The second and third teams' officers were so disturbed by their leaders that Zhang Heimian and Gao Daxiong were also shaken. They found Tian Qigang and offered him some benefits, so that their subordinates could enjoy the same treatment as the first team.
Since Tian Qigang had spoken, Yao Chunnuan naturally had no objections. However, cooking for thirty people at once was too much for Yao Chunnuan, so she spoke directly to Tian Qigang. Tian Qigang then assigned her two assistants, and with the help of Xiao Jieming and Luo Suyi, she was able to handle the situation.
In the following days, Yao Chunnuan lived a particularly comfortable life.
First of all, no blind people came up to her and talked nonsense anymore. Maybe it was because they had seen how ruthless she was when she cut someone's head that night. In addition, she, Xiao Jieming and Luo Suyi worked together, and she had to use it in front of Tian Qigang, so she was definitely not easy to bully, so they all kept their mouths shut.
Furthermore, ever since Yao Chunnuan began providing dinner for the escort officers of the three teams, the quality of their meals had improved dramatically. Because every night when they camped, whenever possible, they would send people out to hunt in the woods. The escort officers ate meat, and at the very least, they could get some soup. Wasn't that an improvement in their diet?
Because he had been eating well during this period, Luo Suyi's injuries healed quickly.
Yao Chunnuan's belly has been more than two months old, and all the nutrients have probably been absorbed by the little one in her belly. She is still slim and slender, but fortunately, the baby in her belly did not cause her much trouble, and her early pregnancy reaction was not serious.
After Luo Suyi recovered from her injury, he was devoted to her. He did all the dirty and tiring work he could for her and tried his best to keep her away from it so that she could have more rest.
As for the injured Liu brothers, they did not survive as they did not receive good treatment, proper nutritional supplements, and had to travel without enough rest. A week later, the brothers died one after another and were buried in a random pit dug in the wild by the escorting officers.
Yao Chunnuan's cooking skills, which she acquired in later life, allowed her to feel at home in front of these escorting officers. In addition, she was very perceptive, and even if she occasionally made some requests, they would not be excessive, so the officers were happy to give her some face.
As a result, the three of them are currently being treated the best among the prisoners, which is outrageous.
None of the prisoners had expected her to pull off such a scheme, and they were practically stunned. While it was all their first time as prisoners, who knew the hardships of being exiled? It wasn't uncommon for someone to lose their life on the road after just two or three months. Unlike her, not only did she not suffer much, but even more remarkably, she managed to save quite a bit of supplies along the way. They'd learned a lot, too. The ancient saying, "A knack for many things is always a curse," was true.
Yes, not only did Yao Chunnuan eat and drink well without having to wear shackles, she also started collecting supplies!
Every time they camped outdoors, the escort officers would send out skilled hunters to search the forests, and they would always bring back some wild animals. The furs of these wild animals were the supplies she wanted to collect.
Of course, some precious and intact hides would be taken away by the escorting officers. After all, hides were valuable these days, and once they got them, they would hoard them, whether for their own use or to sell them when they returned to Yichun or the capital. No one would have too much money these days.
The less valuable or severely damaged items were given to Yao Chunnuan to deal with. She naturally didn't mind and put them all away. Yichun was said to be very cold, so how could she not collect more warming supplies? So she began to save her family's wealth bit by bit.
Xiao Jieming helped her roughly tan these leathers discarded by the officials. It's not that he didn't want to do it carefully, but doesn't it mean that he has to be on guard against others?
Even when they hunted wild ducks, she would pick out the duck down, wash it, and store it safely.
There was no shortage of quilts and coats in her old house to keep warm, and she even had two or three down quilts. However, along the way, apart from food, what else in the old house could be shown to the public?
As expected, her parents also prepared silver notes for her and sewn them into the shoe lining. She would take them out when she got to Yichun and find an opportunity to exchange them for silver with local merchants.
If it was a silver note worth one hundred taels, it would be considered good if you could exchange it for seventy or eighty taels.
After all, the money houses in Daliang were not comparable to the UnionPay banks of later generations, which allowed for inter-bank withdrawals. They would exchange money with traveling merchants, who would then exchange it locally when they moved goods, earning a profit from the difference. They would surely be willing to do so.
She could have exchanged it with Tian Qigang, but the quality of the escorting officers was uneven, and she was a little worried that her money would be taken away if she showed it. By then, she would be helpless.
When Wei Qiuyu saw Yao Chunnuan collecting wild duck down, she knew that she wanted to make down jackets.
She had been feeling very down lately. She had always thought there was no difference between her and Yao Chunnuan, and that it was only because she was good at using tactics, flattering others, and had no moral principles that she had lost the competition.
But these days, she seems to be doing so well, while she herself is incompetent, eats everything she wants, and is completely despised by the Han family. Compared to Yao Chunnuan, the gap between them is so huge that she becomes a complete loser. How can she be happy? Unfortunately, she can't do anything about Yao Chunnuan, so she can only feel aggrieved.
Who from the Wang and Han families would be happy? They could only try not to look at her and ignore someone like Yao Chunnuan. Otherwise, paying attention to her all the time would be too heartbreaking.
As they headed north, the weather gradually cooled, and Yao Chunnuan's cooling tea was no longer useful. But it didn't matter, because her cooking skills kept her status and treatment intact.
When Tian Qigang announced they would reach Yichun in just two weeks, the prisoners breathed a sigh of relief and even a touch of joy. They'd heard many exiled prisoners died on the way, and even those who survived were left with wounds. They were thankful to have survived until now, and they felt the journey wasn't as horrific as the rumors had suggested. Barring any unexpected events, they surely could reach Yichun safely.
Not only were the prisoners relieved, but the escort officers also felt a sense of relief. In another two weeks, they would be relieved of their mission. If they could maintain the current number of people arriving in Yichun, they would have exceeded their mission and would even receive a reward upon their return. Just thinking about it made them happy.
This prisoner escort was truly the easiest they had experienced in years. Some officers were even considering keeping Yao Chunnuan with them instead of sending her to Yichun. They wanted her to accompany them back and forth, cooking and boiling medicine along the way. Upon returning to Beijing, they would give her a clean cell. If that were the case, escorting prisoners wouldn't be such a chore anymore. He could make two trips a year, no problem.
As soon as this idea was raised, they slapped it on the head and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
The subordinate cried out, rubbed the back of his head, and looked at his boss accusingly, "Boss, don't you think this is a very good suggestion?"
"That's good, but don't you consider Yao's status?"
Identity? What identity? The subordinate was still confused.
"She's pregnant with the Wang family's child."
The subordinate slapped his head and thought, "Yes, I remember now. It's all because the Yao family has always ignored the Wang family, which made him forget about it for a while." Okay, let's put this idea aside.
Yao Chunming didn't know that the escorting officers had become interested in her because of the two little skills she displayed. If she knew about it, she would probably be in a dilemma.
She was unwilling to accept such a proposal. People just wanted a stable life, so what was the point of constantly traveling? Although her life in Yichun might not be as good as it is now, she believed that things would gradually get better.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
