Ma Xiaoqi didn't expect that Jinzhi didn't even resist at all, and her hands even climbed up his neck. The meaning was self-evident.
The two of them had a huge "competition" at a corner of the post station, and the exchanges were very intense.
There was no such thing as blushing. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. The escorts were accustomed to it, and even the exiles who heard some discordant noises would simply sigh, "The world is going downhill."
"Tell me, what do you want?" After the fierce battle, Ma Xiaoqi asked tactfully.
"I want to eat my fill every day, and I also want a bowl of summer-heat soup every day." Jinzhi's tone was gentle, her eyes as charming as silk. That look was like a little hook, almost making Ma Xiaoqi's heart wander again. She was really hungry! Even the dizziness from traveling every day needed the summer-heat soup.
Ma Xiaoqi laughed after hearing this. "How difficult is that?" He hooked her chin and said something rude, "That depends on whether you can feed me enough every day."
"Hate it!" Jinzhi gently punched Ma Xiaoqi's chest with her little pink fist. "It's not that I don't want to, but I'm afraid those two old men at home will be too strict."
"The two old men from the Wan family?" The reason why Ma Xiaoqi chose Jinzhi to attack tonight was because he had been thinking about this person for a long time, and naturally knew that she was Wan Chengji's concubine.
"yes!"
Ma Xiaoqi sneered, "Don't worry. They've offended a lot of people this time, and they'll get what they deserve sooner or later."
"What should I do then?" Jinzhi looked worried.
"Just serve me well along the way, and I'll protect you. When we get to the place of exile, with your beauty, won't you have trouble finding a better husband?"
"Then you have to protect me along the way."
Wan Chengji never expected that this time, sending Jinzhi out not only failed to get the summer heat soup, but also ended up being cuckolded. It truly lived up to the saying, "You lose both the wife and the army."
What he hadn't expected was that after that, Jinzhi and Ma Xiaoqi had completely stopped being close to each other, getting together whenever they wanted. Even more infuriating was that Jinzhi not only looked for other men herself, but also encouraged Wan Chengji's other two concubines to do the same.
Seeing that she not only had a full meal with meat every day, but also had access to summer-heat soup, medicine for her sore feet, and new shoes for her worn shoes, she had become very assertive in front of Wan Chengji and Xu, completely refusing to listen to their orders. Wan Chengji's other younger concubine was also somewhat tempted.
Wan Chengji was so enraged that he wanted to beat Jinzhi to death, even threatening to have her thrown into a pig cage when they reached Northern Xinjiang. However, Ma Xiaoqi protected him, so he was the one who received the whipping. If it weren't for Wan Hesu taking the lashes for him, and Lin Yingnan having good medicine in hand, Wan Chengji would have died on the way.
It was also because of this incident that the Wan family temporarily gave up the idea of making Wan Xueying's summer-cooling soup.
From the very beginning, the exiles walked on a flat road, and there would be a post station every fifty miles or so. Although the walking was a bit tiring, those who were willing to spend money could soak their feet, take a bath, and have a good sleep in the evening.
As we got further and further away from the capital, the mountain roads became more and more numerous, and even the post stations that everyone complained about being dirty and messy were always absent.
When there were no post stations to camp at night, Captain Hao, relying on his years of experience, would arrange the team on a slightly flatter spot near a water source. At this time, Wan Xueying and her group's tents would attract even more attention, causing more envy and even the desire to snatch them away.
However, Wan Xueying cooperated with Jie Cha to sell summer-heat soup, and had a close relationship with Pei Xuanqing, so those people had the intention but not the courage to do it.
Pei Xuanqing lived up to his earlier decision and would always requisition Shen Yu's tent whenever they camped outdoors. Fortunately, he still had a bit of a conscience and left Shen Yu a straw mat and sleeping bag for him to use at night.
I originally thought Wan Xueying would at least have her men clear out a tent for Shen Yu to stay in. But ever since the two of them had a minor conflict, Wan Xueying had hardly seen Shen Yu. She would always ask Qiu Shi to go when there was something going on or when she needed to deliver food.
Along the way, they have been very good at accommodation, but Wan Xueying is not too extravagant when it comes to food.
At lunch, they were pressed for time, so they ate like other pedestrians, mostly snacking on easy-to-eat and long-lasting foods, such as dry whole-grain cakes, air-dried bacon, dried fish, and pickled vegetables. Occasionally, they would improve their lives with buns and steamed buns made the night before.
The most common food at night is noodles. Compared with other foods, noodles are convenient to make and save time and effort.
Aunt Wu was very good at making sauerkraut, and she would make a large pot every time. She would eat it all at once, and the rest would be sealed in a jar and given to Wan Xueying for safekeeping.
Wan Xueying didn't tell anyone how she preserved it. Every time she took it out to eat, it tasted no different from what Nanny Wu had just made.
In order to make the noodles taste richer, Aunt Wu would make some day lily, black fungus, soybean sprouts or mung bean sprouts as the base dish, then spread the eggs into pancakes and cut them into diamond-shaped pieces and put them on the noodles, throw in a handful of wild onions, and if you like spicy food, add some chili peppers to mix it. It is so delicious.
Daylily and wood ear mushrooms are dried goods, which are easy to carry, have a long storage life, and are also very convenient to eat. They only need to be soaked. They bought a lot before leaving. Where do the soybean sprouts and mung bean sprouts come from?
Haha, Wan Xueying had a sudden idea to use the soybeans and mung beans she bought earlier to grow some. With the cheating artifact of the Tree of Life Space, she can grow a large pot of bean sprouts in two days.
Seeing that many people were asking about soybean sprouts and mung bean sprouts, and with her previous experience of selling summer-heat soup, Wan Xueying struck while the iron was hot and started selling them at the price of four cents per catty.
This was a small business, not risky, and there was no guarantee others wouldn't follow suit, so Wan Xueying didn't cooperate with the escort. The escort didn't object, either. However, Wan Xueying would occasionally send some to the escort.
Because the price is so reasonable, several pots can be sold every day, and they are sold out in seconds.
"Xueying, you are smart. You actually brought a scale with you." When Wan Xueying sold bean sprouts for the first time, she took out a scale and Aunt Chen was a little surprised.
Wan Xueying smiled and replied: "I didn't think too much about it. I just saw it in the house we lived in before, so I put it away." Of course, it was put into the space, otherwise a scale would still take up a lot of space.
The scales of this era were quite sophisticated, using the hexadecimal system. In other words, sixteen coins equaled one liang, and sixteen liangs equaled one jin, so there were sixteen scales on the beam.
Wan Xueying sometimes found it strange. Few people in this era were educated, and even fewer women were. Even a tiny fraction of men had learned arithmetic. Yet, every woman who came to the market to buy vegetables calculated their bills quickly and accurately. They were also skilled at reading scales and estimating their weights. So, whenever she asked someone to sell her bean sprouts, she would always make sure the scale was high.
Despite the booming bean sprout business, Wan Xueying had no intention of expanding, maintaining a fixed daily supply schedule. However, as she had predicted, two other businesses soon copied her, selling bean sprouts for only three cents per pound. Their business was quickly snatched away.
"Xueying, do we need to follow those people and lower the price?" Seeing that the business was bad, Aunt Chen discussed with Wan Xueying with some concern.
"No need!" Wan Xueying was very confident. "It won't be long before those people come back and buy ours."
Those two families, and even more families after them, didn't have the space of a Life Tree, so it wasn't possible for them to grow bean sprouts that quickly. Besides, the bean sprouts she sold had absorbed even a tiny amount of life force, so the texture and flavor of the sprouts would definitely be better than ordinary bean sprouts.
She had guessed right again. The two shops couldn't grow bean sprouts fast enough to sell them, and they quickly sold out. More people came back to buy bean sprouts from Wan Xueying's shop.
"Tell them that our bean sprouts are now five cents per pound." Wan Xueying got angry and raised the price by one cent. "If you think it's too expensive, you can buy it from other places. By the way," she told Aunt Chen and the others, "our old customers who have been buying from us are still paying four cents per pound. I also told them that as long as we sell bean sprouts for one day, they will always pay four cents per pound." There's nothing she can do about it. She is such a double-standard person.
"Okay, I'll listen to you." Aunt Chen raised the corners of her mouth slightly, feeling particularly relieved.
With the addition of Gu Ming and his mother, Wei, Gu Ming, in particular, would take Wan Xueying's guards with him to dig for wild vegetables whenever he had a break. If they came across water, they would use fish baskets and nets to catch fish. If they had enough time, they would even venture deep into the mountains to hunt rabbits and pheasants.
In this way, their meals improved a lot, but it was still within a reasonable range and not too noticeable.
That night, because Gu Ming and his friends brought back a lot of small fish, Nanny Wu was able to show off her skills again.
She made steamed millet rice with small fish sauce for everyone, a northern delicacy. Just as everyone was enjoying the meal, Shen Yu, who had not been seen for a long time, unexpectedly came over on his own initiative.
Everyone who was still talking and laughing immediately shut up and turned their eyes to Wan Xueying.
"Why are you all staring at me?" Wan Xueying felt uncomfortable being stared at by everyone. "Hurry up and eat! If you don't, it will be gone."
This time, no one dared to look up at her, but no one spoke either. They lowered their heads and just ate the rice in their bowls.
Wan Xueying shook her head helplessly, "Didn't Qiu Shi bring you food?" She asked Shen Yu this question, but she didn't even give him a glance.
"I gave it to you." Although Wan Xueying didn't look at him, Shen Yu breathed a sigh of relief and showed the bamboo food box in his hand. "But it's boring to eat alone, so I came here specially to eat with you."
Wan Xueying didn't retort. He had always eaten alone before, so why was he coming over to say all this now? After thinking for a moment, she said, "Did you pay to come here?"
"Uh...no." This question was asked a bit suddenly!
“…” Isn’t the price clearly marked as fifty cents per person?
"Can I sit down?" Shen Yuchun was one of the ones who took advantage of the situation.
"Please sit down." Wan Xueying did not embarrass him.
Shen Yu smiled and thanked him, then began to eat contentedly. Seeing this, Aunt Chen hurriedly invited everyone to eat together to avoid further awkwardness. Even so, the meal wasn't as harmonious as before.
Wan Xueying didn't have a big appetite to begin with, so to avoid disturbing the others, she put down her bowl and chopsticks when she was only about 70% full, stood up, and said she was going to walk away. She used to use this method to digest food after meals.
When Shen Yu saw her leave, he quickly put down his bowl and chopsticks and followed her. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after the two of them left and continued to eat happily.
"Tell me, why do you want to see me this time?" Wan Xueying stopped when she reached a slightly secluded place.
"It's not a good idea to always avoid me. I came here specially to apologize to you." Shen Yu's tone was very sincere.
"Apologize?" Wan Xueying raised her eyebrows, pretending to be ignorant.
"I shouldn't have let you down by giving away the gift you gave me without telling you." This time, he didn't
"I told you when I gave you the powder and ointment that you can do whatever you want with them. You don't need to apologize to me for that."
"But I still feel that what I did was wrong." Shen Yu felt very uncomfortable after being left aside by Wan Xueying for such a long time.
"Well, that's over. Do you have anything else to say?"
Shen Yu nodded slightly, "Yes!" His face was serious, "You must be extra careful during this period. The prince's men may attack at any time. You must protect yourself."
"What about you?" Wan Xueying looked up at him. "What mission did the emperor give you? Is it dangerous?"
"There will definitely be danger." Shen Yu didn't intend to deceive Wan Xueying, but he couldn't explain the specific mission. He added solemnly, "Don't worry, I'll definitely come back alive to see you." He clenched his fist, his words more like a promise to himself.
If this person didn't exist in the world, if he hadn't understood his own heart after all this time, he might have faced the task and all the consequences more calmly. But now he was greedy for the beauty of the world, desperate to live, and want to be with this person until old age.
"It's so dangerous, can you not go?" Although she knew that her question was a bit naive, and that they had no right to interfere with the emperor's orders, she still asked foolishly because she was worried about Shen Yu.
Shen Yu smiled bitterly, "The lives of over two hundred people in the Duke of Ping's mansion are in my hands. I have no choice but to go."
"Then wear this medicinal fragrance bead around your neck." Wan Xueying said this as she pulled out a recently crafted life-saving medicinal fragrance bead from her space and handed it to Shen Yu. A string was already threaded through it. She then explained, "If you're in real danger, as long as you're still breathing, pull out this medicinal fragrance bead and swallow it. It will save you for a day." She couldn't guarantee any more.
Don’t think that one day is not enough. If someone comes to treat you, maybe you will have a chance to survive.
This is her unique craftsmanship. In addition to incorporating dozens of precious medicinal herbs such as agarwood, sandalwood, and white atractylodes, she also adds the sap of several life-tree leaves. The aroma is mellow, full-bodied, and long-lasting. Most importantly, it can save lives.
Because the medicinal ingredients were so precious and the preparation required extremely high skills, she only managed to make three pills. This was also why she hadn't considered the two hundred taels Wan Chengji had given her too little. At the time, she was so poor that even if she wanted to make a fortune with this craft, she still had to have money to buy the medicinal ingredients!
Two hundred taels was not a lot of money for the Earl's family at that time. For an ordinary farming family, such as her adoptive parents, it might be a number that they could not save in their entire life.
"Isn't this incredibly precious?" Although he came from a Duke's mansion and frequently visited the palace, having seen many precious medicines from the Third Prince, this was the first time he had heard of the Medicinal Fragrance Beads. Although he didn't know much about them, the words "life-saving" and Wan Xueying's extremely affirmative tone were enough to tell him how precious these Medicinal Fragrance Beads were.
"If you don't want it, or if you want to give it to someone else, then give it back to me." If she wasn't afraid that something bad would happen to Shen Yu during this mission, she would never have given it to him.
"Yes, yes, yes, of course!" Shen Yu didn't dare to be stupid again. He pleaded pitifully to Wan Xueying: "I can't put it on by myself, please help me."
"Are you a child? You can't even wear this bead." She said these words with disgust, but when Shen Yu handed the medicinal fragrance bead to her, she took it back.
"Squat down, you're too tall." Wan Xueying was only about 1.6 meters tall in this life, neither tall nor short. Shen Yu must have been over 1.8 meters tall. Without the added bonus of high heels, Wan Xueying had a hard time putting the medicinal fragrance beads on Shen Yu.
"Is this okay?" Shen Yu grinned widely and cooperated very obediently.
Wan Xueying curled her lips and said, "It's okay." Then she carefully put the medicinal fragrance beads on Shen Yu's neck.
The silly Shen Yu was so happy that he didn't notice Wan Xueying's solemn expression as she put the scented beads on him. A line of words flashed through her mind: Shen Yu, the second son of the Duke of Yuanping, will die in Fengyang Ridge. That's the big fork in the road.
If that was the case, then what about the hint on their wedding day that Shen Yu would become the future Prime Minister? Could it be that she had changed fate, creating a butterfly effect?
"Xueying, have you put it on for me?" Shen Yu asked quietly when he saw Wan Xueying hadn't turned around for a long time. Even if he had been squatting since he was a child, squatting for a long time would be tiring.
"Okay, you can stand up now." Wan Xueying put aside her doubts and turned to Shen Yu, admonishing him more seriously, "No matter what mission you accept, you must be extremely careful when you reach Fengyang Ridge!"
"I will." Thinking of how Pei Xuanqing had been visiting Wan Xueying quite often recently, Shen Yu immediately warned him, "Pei Xuanqing's status is special, and his marriage isn't his to decide on his own. He's also not an ordinary person, so don't get too close to him."
And because he was worried that Wan Xueying would be in danger along the way and he would not be able to take care of her, he had to compromise and said, "Just like you are not too far away from him now, it's great."
"Just take care of yourself." Wan Xueying rolled her eyes at Shen Yu for worrying about useless things.
"Okay." Shen Yu agreed good-temperedly.
Originally, their reconciliation was something worth celebrating, but because both of them had their own worries, they couldn't sleep until most of the night.
Suddenly, an eagle's cry, so loud that it startled the sky and clouds, came from the silent night sky. Shen Yu secretly said, "Here it comes," and quickly stood up and ran towards a place.
The author has something to say:
Reference network for making sauerkraut noodles, knowledge of ancient scales, and the composition of medicinal fragrance beads
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