"Brother He, please write an IOU, saying that Miss Xie Yuyan of the Xie family owes one hundred taels of silver, and then you can sign it."
He Yingyuan nodded in agreement, "What's so difficult about that? Just wait a moment!"
He found some paper and pen somewhere, probably bought in the city. With a flourish on the hemp paper, in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, an IOU was freshly printed.
The strong and powerful handwriting leaps off the paper. "What beautiful handwriting! It's such a waste to use this handwriting to write an IOU!" Qin San Niang praised generously.
Xie Yuyan had no interest in appreciating the handwriting, and besides, she had no knowledge of calligraphy. Seeing the contents of the IOU, she nearly jumped up in anger. It stated that the Xie family's young lady had abused her power, causing an eight-year-old child to injure his leg and become unable to walk. It also stated that she had instructed her servants to attempt to kill someone, resulting in a failed attempt to pay six hundred taels of silver in compensation, of which one hundred taels were currently owed. This was all to prove it!
If she pressed her fingerprint on it, everything said on it would be true! In the end, Xie Yuyan angrily tore up the IOU, painfully pulled out a silver note and threw it to Qin Sanniang, then fled as if her life depended on it!
Fei Peng cupped his hands in greeting to Qin San Niang, "Until we meet again!"
Then, with a gloomy expression, he followed them back!
Having received six hundred taels of silver, Qin Sanniang was in a fairly good mood. This amount of silver was enough for her to settle down and buy property in Jiangnan. After resting for a while, they ate the breakfast prepared by Liu and the others, drank hot porridge, and waited until they were warm before setting off again.
The snow had stopped, but the weather was still cold. The mountain roads were not icy, so their journey down the mountain was not difficult.
Perhaps the people from the escort agency left in a hurry, and Qin San Niang and the others deliberately avoided them, so they did not encounter Xie Yuyan and her party until they reached the outskirts of Dingyuan Pass.
Ever since Qin San Niang discovered the effects of the water in her space, she has secretly changed everyone's daily drinking water.
Everyone felt stronger, and no one would have guessed it was from a sip of water. Xiao Er's wound, however, healed very quickly; it was almost completely scabbed over in less than a week. If Liu hadn't been restraining him, he would be jumping around like a baby right now!
Dingyuan Pass was a fortified pass, not a city in the true sense. However, due to its long history and the large number of people stationed there, it spontaneously developed into a bustling city. As a city at the junction of north and south, it naturally became a gathering place for merchants from both regions, with various restaurants and eateries lining the streets, creating a prosperous scene that hinted at a peaceful and stable world!
However, this place is still not suitable for them to settle down.
Liu said that the city was surrounded by high mountains, with no fertile land suitable for cultivation. They had been farmers for generations, and land was their foundation. Even though the eldest daughter was capable, having experienced drought and war, those who had gone hungry longed for land most of all!
You need land to grow food, and food to avoid starvation. As for telling her that you can buy food with more money, what good will that do? You can't have peace of mind if you don't have food in your hands!
Wu Chunhua shared the same view. Regardless of the circumstances, with some money in hand, her first thought was to acquire land. Having land was like duckweed having roots.
As for He Xiucai and Gu Qingshan, whether they had land or not didn't matter to them. They agreed to continue their journey because Dingyuan was an unstable place, located at the junction of the north and south. If the Hu people moved south, Dingyuan would easily become the main battlefield.
No matter what, borders are never a good place to live and work in peace!
So, with almost no objections, everyone unanimously decided to head south through Dingyuan. They had already traveled ninety-nine steps, so one more wouldn't make a difference. Besides, they were now well-fed and clothed and no longer worried about bandit attacks. Once past Dingyuan, they would be safe!
On the way, they encountered another group, also a security escort agency. Initially, they struck up a conversation with Gu Qingshan while hunting in the mountains. The head of the escort agency was a gourmet, and seeing that Qin Sanniang had excellent roasting skills, he shamelessly came over to ask for her recipe.
The deliciousness of barbecue mainly comes from ready-made barbecue seasoning in supermarkets.
Qin San Niang summarized the ingredients on the ingredient list and had He Yingyuan write them down. When the man heard that she was really so generous, and that this was a secret recipe, he was a little uneasy. He had only wanted to ask for some seasonings.
When I saw the densely packed list of seasoning ingredients on the paper, I was overwhelmed and exclaimed, "No wonder this barbecue is so delicious, it needs so many seasonings!" There were even several expensive herbs, including cumin, chili peppers, black pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, sesame seeds, salt, sugar, minced ginger, and so on. Suddenly, the barbecue in my mouth felt expensive, and the seasoning packet in my hand felt like it was burning hot!
Even He Yingyuan, who was writing the recipe, was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that medicinal herbs could be incorporated into the five flavors! No wonder some of the imperial chefs in his previous life had such uniquely flavored dishes—could they have used medicinal herbs?! But just who was this Lady Qin? How could she be so proficient in culinary arts? It was truly strange! It was such a pity to give away such a precious recipe like this…
Qin San Niang would never do a losing business; the benefits are obvious!
The镖头 (镖头, a term referring to a镖师, or镖师) felt obligated to help them, so he took Qin San Niang and her companions into his group, refusing to accept any payment, which he considered a form of protection. Furthermore, along the way, she gained a detailed understanding of the local customs, traditions, and social dynamics of each place.
Knowing they were refugees migrating south, the镖头 (bodyguard/escort) showed no change in expression. In those days, too many people were migrating south, but most of them couldn't get past Dingyuan Pass. Those who could get past Dingyuan were all people with some skill and luck, and naturally they could all make a living in the south.
"Madam Qin, Aunt Liu, although our southern region may not have the same historical and cultural heritage as the north, it's a prosperous place. We'll never experience drought; there are paddy fields everywhere. Moreover, the land is vast and sparsely populated. If you're lucky, or if you manage to establish a connection with the officials who allocate land, you could even buy a mountain. As long as you work hard, you definitely won't go hungry," the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort) said smugly. He himself owned twenty acres of land, all of which he had earned bit by bit, and he lived a fairly good life in the village.
Hearing this, Liu and Wu Chunhua were overjoyed. Their hometown had frequently suffered from droughts in the past. While the initial cause of this migration was natural disaster and man-made calamities—the drastically reduced harvests and the heavy tax burden—the people simply couldn't survive and chose to move south. Otherwise, who would willingly trek thousands of miles? Leaving the land where one has lived for generations requires immense courage!
"That's great! We're all hardworking, so as long as we have food to eat, it's not like we came for nothing. I can finally feel at ease!" Liu said, unusually happy, and Wu Chunhua nodded in agreement.
"Well then, Brother Escort, you've traveled all over the country and have a wealth of knowledge. Moreover, you're a native of the South. So, I'll be so bold as to ask you for some advice. We're completely clueless and don't know where would be a good place to settle down. Ideally, we'd like a stable place that doesn't discriminate against refugees."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com