After being repeatedly rebuked, the medical officers dared not say anything more, lowered their heads, and remained silent...
Seeing that no one was watching him anymore, Jiang Huaifu slowly sat up from the bed, took out a short arrow from under his pillow, and shot it out the window behind the bed.
In an instant, a man in black jumped into the room.
"Your Highness, is there anything you need me to do?"
"Ahem... I need you to do something immediately!"
"Whatever Your Highness needs me to do, I will do my utmost, even at the cost of my life."
Jiang Huaifu waved his hand, signaling him to come closer.
......
Having received his orders, the man in black nodded respectfully, then leaped away and vanished from the room...
......
Xinzhou, on the border.
Chun Di searched around but couldn't find anything to eat, so she decided to go back and find Song He'er.
"He'er, I don't have anything here, just a few little snails! What about your side?"
Song He'er did not answer her question. Instead, she quickly took out lotus roots from her spatial storage and buried them in the damp ditch. She also threw a few to the side. In this kind of place, apart from taking out lotus roots to avoid arousing suspicion, other vegetables could not be taken out for the time being.
"Fifth Aunt, there are lotus roots here!"
Chun Di walked forward in surprise, examined it carefully for a while, and found that it really was a lotus root.
"That's really strange. How can lotus roots grow in a place like this? And where are the lotus leaves? But it's winter!"
Song He'er was slightly taken aback, and immediately fell into thought.
In winter, lotus leaves don't grow, but it's possible that the lotus roots will remain buried in the soil and not be disturbed...
"It's probably wild, and it's been buried until now... Let's not talk about anything else, it's good enough to have food, who cares where it came from!"
Chun Di nodded, not pressing the matter further, and rolled up her sleeves to dig lotus roots with Song He'er.
When the two of them returned to the team, they were covered in mud.
Qin Xiaoniang looked at the two of them in surprise, "What have you been doing? Why are you in such a mess?"
Chun Di put down the half-bag of lotus roots she was carrying on her shoulder and happily replied, "There was a dirty pit up ahead! There were even lotus roots growing in the mud, so we dug them all up..."
Li Qiang's wife looked at the lotus roots in the sack with a doubtful expression.
"That's really strange, how can lotus roots grow in such a harsh place..."
Qin Xiaoniang smiled and replied, "What's wrong with this kind of place? Lotus roots grow everywhere in the ponds in the countryside, don't they? They're easy to find wherever there's water."
"But it's winter."
"Then it must not have been taken by anyone, which is why it has been left until now. Maybe it's because God took pity on us and deliberately gave us a chance to have a full meal!"
Li Qiang's wife reluctantly accepted this fact, then picked up the lotus root and prepared to wash it by the lake in front of her.
Looking at the vast river, Song He'er couldn't help but sigh, "It's about to freeze over. If the river freezes, we won't be able to use the water."
"It's alright, we'll just chisel out some ice, melt it with fire, and it'll definitely work!" Chun Di replied happily.
"There are piranhas in this river, we absolutely cannot go to the surface!"
"Pshaw, piranhas? Have you ever seen one? I think those soldiers just made it up to scare us!"
Song He'er was speechless for a moment, then shook her head and stopped talking.
Qin Xiaoniang was busy helping Li Qiang's wife, while Li Qiang went to the hill to chop firewood. The rest of the group set up their tents and decided not to go any further that night, but to make do in the woods for the night.
But after waiting for a long time, Zhang Xiue and Song Xiaoyu did not return.
Li Qiang suddenly stood up and said, "I have to go and see if something has happened. The journey from here to there isn't far, so why did it take so long?"
"Forget it, people searching for each other will only end up getting separated anyway. Zhang Niangzi is a woman of her own mind; she will definitely return safely," Qin Xiaoniang replied while tending the fire.
Steam was rising from the pot, and the lotus root was quickly cooked. Since there were no other seasonings, it could only be eaten dry.
But thankfully it's also something sweet and sticky, which is much more flavorful than eating wild vegetables!
"Alas, are we really going to die in Xinzhou? If I had known exile would be this bitter, I would have rather been beheaded. Even if it meant sacrificing my life for the sake of my children's future, it would have been better than this, starving and freezing..."
As Li Qiang's wife spoke, she began to cry.
“Tian Niangzi, don’t follow Zhou Niangzi’s example! We haven’t reached the end of our rope yet, have we? Look at how many people starved to death on our way here. Compared to them, we have clothes to wear and food to eat. Be content.” Song He’er comforted Huan Ge’er while feeding him.
But no sooner had she finished speaking than Zhang Xiue and Song Xiaoyu ran over from not far away.
Seeing that they were sweating profusely from running, you could tell that they must have bought what they wanted, which was why they were so eager to come back.
"I'm back! I'm back!" Zhang Xiue said, panting heavily.
Nianjie obediently brought over a bowl of water, smiling as she looked at Zhang Xiue, "Mother and Father, please have some water. You must be tired from your journey!"
Seeing how sensible her daughter was, Zhang Xiue no longer felt tired, no matter how exhausted she was.
"We don't have much money, but I've contributed a lot of seeds."
Upon hearing the word "take," Song He'er knew there was something fishy about the matter.
These seeds must have been stolen by Zhang Xiu'e alone. If I'm not mistaken, she must have had another argument with someone...
"Third Sister-in-law, those soldiers aren't easy to fool. How did you manage to get them?" Chun Di asked.
Before Zhang Xiue could speak, Song Xiaoyu interjected, "You're one to talk! You went up and started fighting. If I weren't strong, I'd be roast suckling pig by now!"
As Song Xiaoyu spoke, she removed the sleeve that was covering her face.
In an instant, a swollen pig's head appeared before everyone.
Li Qiang's wife burst out laughing, spraying the lotus root she was eating everywhere.
"I say... Lord Song... this is too outrageous, what's going on?"
Song Xiaoyu was a civil official who didn't understand fighting and killing. Now that his wife was arguing with someone, he was naturally the one who would get beaten up.
“I was almost beaten to death! Those soldiers saw that we had little money and didn’t give us anything, just some dry, hard cakes! They said the seeds were rare and they wouldn’t sell them to us easily, and that we had to exchange them for gold! Or we could do hard labor for them to earn money! I begged them several times but to no avail, and then she… she got into an argument with someone!”
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