Chapter 226 Meeting
At the end of July, the caravan entered Yumen Pass. The appearance of the oasis relieved the scorching heat of summer. After discussion, Sui Yu and Song Xian decided to rest here for two days.
The caravan led by You Da stopped briefly at Yumen Pass for an hour to replenish five days' worth of dry food and water, and then continued on its way out of the city to the east.
The return trip was smooth and without delay. It was not yet harvest time, and the snow was still at least two months away, enough time for them to cross the Hongchi Ridge and cross the river during the dry season. Returning to Chang'an before the New Year would be a good opportunity to make a fortune and have a prosperous New Year.
After finding a place to stay, Sui Yu asked Gan Da and Gan Er to pry open the medicine box, which she had exchanged with You Da for sheepskin. She would go to Chang'an in the middle of summer next year, and the sheepskin could not be sold at a high price, so she simply exchanged it for medicinal herbs, which could be sold in Dunhuang or Chang'an.
Song Xian also changed two boxes. She pried open the medicine box, and an unpleasant smell hit her in the face, choking and pungent. She covered her face and turned her head away, signaling the servant to pry open another box.
Sui Yu came over to take a look and said, "The types of herbs we exchanged are similar."
Song Xian picked up a small, rough, grayish-yellow stone through the cloth and frowned, saying, "What is this? Is this also a medicinal herb?"
"There is no medicine. When I was in Kucha, I saw a Kucha merchant buy two boxes from the head of the Yu family." Sui Yu said.
"I thought it was a stone." Song Xian put down the thing in her hand and picked up something that looked like a moldy tree root. She squeezed it and it was soft, as if it was made of camel dung.
"This is called asafoetida." Sui Yu introduced it again.
"It seems these are all medicinal herbs. They have strange shapes." Song Xian took a wooden box from the servant. Inside was a white powder. She handed it to Sui Yu and asked, "What is this?"
Sui Yu shook her head. She was not sure about this. It should be powder ground from some mineral sand.
Apart from these three, the others are common. Sui Yu is familiar with medicinal herbs such as cloves, cardamom, sesame, cinnamon twigs, and astragalus, which can be used as medicine and in cooking. In addition, there are two pieces of tortoise shell and two large lumps of realgar, as well as a deer antler and a deer whip at the bottom of the box.
These things made up three boxes, and the last box contained cheap medicinal materials, half of which were alfalfa seeds and the other half were large, brightly colored, plump red dates.
"We exchanged thirty sheepskins for only these four boxes of stuff. Didn't we lose out?" Xiao Chunhong asked.
"If we can sell it for 6,000 coins, it won't be a loss." Sui Yu said, "By the way, you and Gan Da should go out and buy four fat chickens from a farmer. Then use some large red dates and five slices of astragalus to make a pot of chicken soup. It will nourish everyone."
"Okay." Xiao Chunhong jumped up and ran to get the money.
When he left Dunhuang, he took two boxes of copper coins with him. He had one and a half boxes left before entering Yumen Pass. After entering Yumen Pass and paying the city entrance fee and commercial taxes, half of the money was gone.
Sui Yu was tired and sleepy. She took the wolfskin mattress into the house, spread it on the floor, and fell asleep.
There are few beds in farmers' homes and bamboo mats are also in short supply. When the caravans come to stay, they just prepare their own things and sleep on the ground. Correspondingly, the room rate is also cheap, only twenty cents per room per night.
At dusk, the chicken was stewed and Xiaoxi came into the house to call for help. Sui Yu was very sleepy and could not open her eyes. She mumbled a few words and fell asleep again.
"Let's eat first. Give her two bowls and keep them for when she's hungry at night." Song Xian arranged.
Xiao Chunhong glanced into the room and said worriedly, "Is the master ill? No matter how tired she was on the journey before, she was never as hard to wake up as she is today."
"She was so worried outside the border that she didn't dare to sleep soundly." Song Xian put a few more large red dates in the bowl and said, "It's not easy for her. The fact that so many of us were able to come back safely and transport so much goods is all thanks to her worry."
It was the same journey, but besides the physical strain, Sui Yu had to worry about finding the right direction. She kept a parchment scroll and a marked wooden board in her hands, making the decision about which valley to head to or which fork in the road to take. Beyond that, she also had to deal with the caravans she encountered, buying and selling goods, asking prices, and negotiating to travel together. Everything took a lot of energy.
Song Xian sometimes felt that the main purpose of people like them was to keep Sui Yu company and give him courage.
Sui Yu slept until dawn. When he woke up, his stomach was empty and his hands and legs were weak from hunger.
"Master, this is the chicken I left for you last night. I added some water to heat it up and made a bowl of soup noodles for you to fill up." Xiao Chunhong brought two bowls of chicken soup noodles and said, "I called you last night, but you didn't wake up. I was worried that you were sick."
"No, I'm too sleepy." Sui Yu took the bowl and smelled it. The chicken soup smelled very fragrant. She took a sip of the soup and said hesitantly, "It's so hot. Will it go bad if I leave it overnight?"
"No? I don't smell anything sour." Xiao Chunhong was unsure. She glanced at Erhei carrying firewood in and waved him over, "Erhei, come and taste the chicken to see if it's spoiled."
Erhei agreed. He put down the firewood, lowered his head and walked under the eaves.
Sui Yu glanced at him, then glanced at Xiao Chunhong, put down his chopsticks and said, "Forget it, I'm going out to eat. These two bowls of chicken noodle soup should be fed to the pigs. I remember the host family has pigs."
Sui Yu took the money and went out. Xiao Chunhong picked up the chopsticks and picked up the big chicken leg, wanting to let Erhei taste it. But she was afraid of wasting the meat, so she took a bite herself and spat it out with a "Pooh".
"It's sour and spoiled, so feed it to the pigs."
After she left, Erhei quickly ate a piece of chicken. It was a little sour, but he'd eaten stinky rice before, so a little sourness was nothing. It wouldn't kill him. He quietly took the two bowls of chicken noodle soup and poured it into his own bowl, eating it all.
When Song Xian heard Xiao Chunhong say that the chicken she had left for Sui Yu last night had gone bad, she went to the farmer's house in the morning to pick out two old hens and asked Xiao Chunhong to stew another pot with red dates and astragalus.
At noon, Sui Yu drank the fragrant chicken soup and smacked his lips and said, "The chicken soup I drank this morning still tastes different. It's not the same as the chicken soup at noon."
"It's hot now, and the food goes bad quickly," said Song Xian.
"Did you feed the pigs with the two bowls of chicken noodle soup this morning?" Sui Yu asked Xiao Chunhong, "Don't let anyone eat them by mistake."
"I asked Erhei to pour it." Xiao Chunhong stood up, looked around, and asked, "Where's Erhei? Why can't I see him?"
"He didn't run away again, did he? I didn't see him coming to eat." Gan Da continued.
"In the afternoon, I saw him carrying water for his camels," Zhang Shun said. "Now that he's in the customs, where can he run to? He's not a fool."
Sui Yu didn't pay any more attention to it. After she was full, she went out for a walk, digested the food, and came back to continue sleeping.
She stayed in Yumen Pass for two more days mainly to catch up on some sleep and stay in good spirits, so as not to go back looking haggard, which would make the three people at home feel bad if they saw her.
She slept until sunset and woke up to a sky filled with sunset glow. Sui Yu went out to fetch some water to wash her face. Seeing Xiao Chunhong and Liu Yaer busy cooking, she went over and asked, "What's for dinner?"
"Master Song wants to eat big white steamed buns. Can we steam them in the evening and cook some sauerkraut and tofu soup?" Xiao Chunhong asked.
"OK."
"Master, Erhei is sick." Qingshan strode in, not even bothering to wipe the sweat off his face. He spoke rapidly, "He ate the chicken noodle soup you didn't eat this morning, and he's been vomiting and having diarrhea for most of the day. Now he's lying on the wasteland outside and can't get up."
Sui Yu's face fell, and she felt annoyed. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Grab a handful of copper coins and take him to see a doctor."
"Let him pay for it himself. He used to save some money working in the guesthouse. After he left Kucha, I didn't let anyone touch his bag. After he came back, I didn't return his bag to him. It's still in my hands now," Qingshan said.
"OK."
After getting the answer, Qingshan went into the house, took out a bag of copper coins, and ran out quickly.
It was not until dark and everyone had dinner that Qingshan and Aniu helped Erhei back. The doctor gave him an injection and fed him garlic water. After stopping the vomiting and diarrhea, he also prescribed two packets of medicine.
Because he ate two bowls of sour chicken because of his greed, he spent all the reward money he had saved in the guesthouse in the past two years.
When Qingshan came to report the situation, Sui Yu said, "Please bear with the hard work and take good care of him. We will leave a day later and return to Dunhuang the day after tomorrow."
"You are kind-hearted." Song Xian sighed, "Aren't you like a young lady raised in an official family? Your parents are also so kind to their servants, right?"
Sui Yu hesitated twice and smiled without answering.
"If it were me, Erhei would have been sold off in Kucha, far away, so he wouldn't get in my way." There were three or four other maids sleeping in the room, but Song Xian ignored them and said whatever she wanted. "And back on Tianshan Mountain, since that girl was determined to betray her master, I would have traded her for two more horses, regardless of whether she lived or died. You, I often don't understand what you're thinking."
"They're living people, two lives. They've been with me every day for two or three years. Even pigs and dogs would have feelings for them, let alone humans. People like me are all human beings..." Sui Yu was a little dazed. She murmured, "How can I have the right to decide someone's life or death?"
"What did you say?" Song Xian didn't hear clearly.
"Nothing, I'm just saying how good it is to be alive." Sui Yu came back to her senses, suppressed her restless emotions, and explained, "Everyone makes mistakes and has their moments of confusion, and I've had them too. If those people back then had insisted on beating me to death, I wouldn't be where I am today. Xiaoxi, for example, is just short-sighted. I've spent a few more words to talk to her and give her a hand. It would be great if she could figure things out. She's such a good girl, she shouldn't be sold like a commodity. As for Erhei, he'll be farming for me at home from now on. I'll only provide him with food and drink, and no longer pay him wages. It's my reward for saving him twice."
Song Xian sneered, "You're still paying them wages. You've raised their hearts."
Sui Yu couldn't refute it.
"Really? You don't look like a young lady from an aristocratic family." Song Xian sighed again, "Could it be that your parents also treat their servants so kindly? I'm really curious, what kind of parents could raise someone like you."
Sui Yu laughed a few times and said, "You can't know, nor can you imagine."
"It seems like it's a family heirloom." Song Xian sat up in surprise and asked, "Is it true?"
"It's a family tradition." Sui Yu didn't want to say more, "Let's go to sleep."
Considering that Sui Yu's parents were both dead and her family was ruined, Song Xian suppressed her curiosity and stopped asking too many questions, so as not to touch upon her heartbreak. However, thanks to Sui Yu's kindness and compassion, Song Xian was extremely confident in her. Doing business with someone like her, she never had to worry about being schemed against.
After staying in Yumen Pass for one more day, Erhei's health improved a lot.
The next day, Sui Yu led the caravan out of Yumen Pass and headed into the desert towards Dunhuang.
At the west gate of Dunhuang, Xiaozai and Dazhuang sat under a tree outside the gate and looked to the west. They carried water bags and drank when they were thirsty, and went into the city to buy buns when they were hungry.
After receiving the message from You Dadang, the boy could no longer contain his excitement. He clamored to go out of the city to meet his mother, but Zhao Xiping and Sui Liang were both busy, so they had to send him and Dazhuang outside the city gate and entrusted Huang Ancheng to look after them.
"Zhao Mingguang, go stand at the foot of the city wall. It's shady here." Huang Ancheng came out and shouted, "Are you a fool? There's no shade under the tree, and you're still sitting there in the sun."
"I'm catching ants." The little cub's face was red from the sun.
"Come here." Huang Ancheng shouted again.
The kid pulled Dazhuang over. He stood against the city wall and picked at the bricks. When he got bored, he peeked at the guards inside the city gate.
Suddenly, the faint sound of camel bells was heard, and the cub was cheered up. He stood up straight and looked west on tiptoe.
The camels ran by, raising yellow sand and billowing dust. Seeing this scene, the city guards knew that a large merchant caravan had returned.
"It must be my mother coming back." The kid shouted happily.
Dazhuang pulled him away and said, "Your father said we can't leave the city gate."
"I'm going under the tree." The kid struggled to leave, "Da Zhuang, I won't wander around, I'm going under the tree"
Da Zhuang still followed his wishes.
The caravan approached the west city gate and slowed down. The smoke and dust gradually settled, and the human figures and camels could be clearly seen.
The boy stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck to get a closer look, but everyone on the camel was wearing a turban, and even with his eyes wide open he couldn't tell if it was his mother.
Sui Yu saw him first. After not seeing him for half a year, the child had grown taller and his appearance had also changed slightly. The childishness on his face was much less, and his eyes were very bright. He looked like a smart boy.
She drove her camel closer, cleared her throat, and asked, "How did you sell the child?"
Zhao Xiaozai stared at her, his eyes full of confusion and anxiety.
Dazhuang stared at her warily, holding the kid tightly with one hand to prevent him from coming forward.
Sui Yu lifted the headscarf from her head and asked with a smile, "Kid, will you come with me?"
Sui Yu had become darker and thinner, not the same person he had seen in his dreams. He clenched his hands, looked at her uncertainly, and said hesitantly, "Mom? Say something more."
Sui Yu jumped off the camel's back. She laughed heartily and picked up the child and spun him around. "It seems your father treated you well. You're too heavy for your mother to carry."
"Little boy, it's your mother. I recognized her." Da Zhuang shouted excitedly.
The kid also recognized her. He held Sui Yu's face and looked at it again and again, smiling until tears came out, which he quickly wiped away.
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