The next day, it was just dawn.
The guards were ready, leading the horses out from the backyard and loading the luggage onto the ox cart.
Wei Lang sat in front of the bed with sleepy eyes, letting Ningshuang tie his hair and change his clothes.
He had sneaked out, without taking any of the servants with him. Although Ningshuang was the girl's personal maid, she had been independent since she was a child and did everything by herself. She actually spent more time serving Erlangjun.
After helping Wei Lang to tidy up his appearance, Ningshuang packed up some of his luggage and prepared to load it onto the carriage.
As the door was opened, a wave of heat hit me in the face. The temperature outside seemed to be even hotter than yesterday.
Wei Lang felt it carefully, and began to back out in his heart. He pouted and said, "Sister, let's go home and not go out to play." He was naturally referring to his home in Kyoto.
Wei Xiyin was having breakfast and didn't even look up when she heard this. "Then go back by yourself. I'll have the guards take you back."
Wei Lang was choked when he heard this, and his drooping little head seemed to be in a dilemma. He thought for a long time and felt that his sister seemed to be more important than the unbearable heat.
Wei Xiyin found it funny and urged, "Come over and have dinner quickly. Don't keep Chang Ying and the others waiting for too long."
"oh."
Wei Xiyin patiently accompanied him to finish breakfast, and only after Chang Ying came in to ask about the departure time did she order the team to prepare to set off.
Before they left, the postmaster saw the brother and sister off to their carriage and kindly warned them, "Things are not going well these days. Please be careful on the road, my dear."
Wei Xiyin thanked him politely, but then felt a little strange and couldn't help asking, "Why do you say that? Did something bad happen on the road where my sister and I were passing by?"
In recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently, the fields have been barren, many people have starved to death in many places, and there has been unrest everywhere.
It is something that everyone knows, so why should the postmaster bother to remind people about it?
The postmaster did not hide anything and quickly said, "Last night, an envoy arrived from Jingzhou, saying that a severe plague has appeared in the south. The infected people seem to have gone mad and bite anyone they see..."
This was overheard by an official who was also staying at the post station. He dismissed it and said, "Jingzhou is a thousand miles away. Even the worst plague wouldn't be able to reach us. There's no need to make such a fuss."
The postmaster nodded quickly in agreement.
Wei Xiyin, on the other hand, was a little concerned when she heard about the plague. Medical conditions in ancient times were backward, and even a minor illness could cost one's life. One could not be careless at all, so she quickly asked, "Is the messenger still here?"
"My lady, the messenger is carrying an urgent document from the governor of Jingzhou. He just passed by here to change horses." The postmaster replied.
The implication is that the person had left long ago.
Not long after they rested last night, the envoy from Jingzhou arrived at the post station, exhausted. The horse under him was exhausted and weak after running for days.
The envoy did not take a break. He took out the official document and asked the postmaster to prepare a fast horse. He changed the horse and then set off towards Kyoto.
The postmaster also took advantage of the opportunity to change horses to chat with the envoy, and the envoy inadvertently mentioned the plague in the south.
Seeing that she couldn't get anything out of him, Wei Xiyin gave up, lowered the curtains, and drove away.
At this time, in the stable at the backyard of the post station.
The horse that was replaced by the messenger last night was nibbling on the hay. Its big eyes like copper bells flashed with a hint of red. The saliva dripping into the trough was stuck on the hay and was eaten clean by other horses.
"Oh, is this the stable used by the Wei family yesterday? Why are there still horses in the stable?" A postman passing by asked in surprise.
The Wei siblings were accompanied by many guards and a large number of horses. The postmaster specially allocated two stables for the Wei family's horses to use.
The horseman who was feeding the horses bowed and said, "Sir, these are the horses from our post station. We didn't have enough stables, so we kept them together with the horses from the Wei family last night."
"Don't get it mixed up then."
"I know. This morning, the Wei family guards came to take the horses. I was watching them the whole time, afraid that they would accidentally take our horses away..." These days, a horse is worth more than a human life.
Upon hearing this, the post soldier said nothing more, as long as the horse was not lost.
…………
On the official road, a team of a hundred people from the Wei family was moving slowly.
Due to the high temperatures for several days, the canals on both sides of the official road dried up, and the fields cracked due to lack of water. The few crops that still survived had yellowing leaves and shriveled bran, showing signs of withering.
You can imagine how hard it is to travel under the scorching sun.
In order to prevent the guards from suffering from heatstroke, the team had to stop every two hours, find a cool place to rest before continuing on their journey.
Wei Lang was so hot that he pulled his sister's sleeve and called out pitifully, "Sister, I want some ice."
But where can I find ice now?
The weather this year is unusual, and not many people still have ice cubes at home at the end of summer. I was lucky yesterday and bought two blocks of ice at a high price from the owner of a villa.
But after only an hour, the two pieces of ice melted into a pool of water, and the effect was almost negligible.
Wei Xiyin had no choice but to comfort him patiently.
They walked like this for a whole day, and when it was almost dark, they did not reach the official post along the way as expected. The surroundings were very desolate, with no village in front and no shop behind.
Helplessly, the team had to choose to spend the night in the wild.
Chang Ying observed the terrain and chose to set up camp in a forest. The cattle and horses were tied under the trees to eat grass and drink water, and the guards began to cook.
Soon smoke rose from the camp.
The group brought a lot of luggage with them. The food alone filled three large ox carts, and they were replenished along the way.
Ningshuang took out a small pot from the cart behind her, took out a small bag of tightly wrapped fine grains, and began to prepare meals for the two masters.
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