Erniu turned around and said, "Oh, really, there are only Jinbao and Yuanbao. Maybe Guoguo and Baimei sneaked out of the car to play?" As she said that, Erniu was about to run to lift the car curtain, shouting, "Uncle, stop the car. Our..."
Jane Ning leaned over and covered her mouth with her hands, shouting to the coachman: "It's okay!"
"Um, mother." Erniu struggled, and Jian Ning let go of her hand. "Don't scream. Guoguo and Baimei Niang locked them up. They are disobedient. They will be locked up until night and then released."
"Wow, Mom, where did you keep them?" Sanniu said as she hugged Yuanbao and searched everywhere in the carriage. Ding Youtian leaned on the cushion and laughed. Jian Ning kicked him with her leg in anger, "Mom made them smaller and hid them in your father's ears."
"Wow, mom is so powerful. Did she turn them into tiny mosquitoes like Sun Wukong?" Erniu puffed out her belly, and slid down from the left cushion while hugging her Jinbao. She then crawled to Ding Youtian's side, and Sanniu followed. Each of them pulled one of Ding Youtian's ears and stared into his ear cavity with wide eyes.
"Alright, you're almost pulling Daddy's ears like Zhu Bajie. Don't listen to your mother's nonsense. She's got it in her ears."
The two girls didn't believe him at all. In order to see what was going on, they put down their Jinbao ingots one after another. They used both hands to attack him, not sparing his nostrils or mouth. Now it was Jane Ning's turn to giggle.
The laughter in the carriage made the coachman outside grin involuntarily. The men in this family were handsome and the women were pretty, and the two children were equally delicate. The whole family was very happy. He felt much more relaxed when he heard it, and he felt more energetic. He flicked the whip and the horse ran forward happily with all four hooves.
"Brother, if you are tired, I can help you. Let's travel a little faster while the weather is good and try to rest at the post station at night." Jian Ning lifted the heavy curtain and said to the middle-aged man driving the carriage.
Ding Youtian received thirty-five taels of silver for travel expenses, plus the silver that King Pingnan gave to Old Ding and Meng, which was intercepted by Jian Ning. It was enough for their family to eat and drink well all the way to Danyang, and there was still more than half left over.
The coachman didn't say anything, but he was secretly surprised. It was beyond his expectation that this young lady could drive a coach. He had been a coachman for more than a year and this was the first time he met an employer who cared about him. Who else would think of helping a coachman like you to drive a coach?
Although he didn't respond to Jian Ning, a smile appeared on his sallow face. He straightened his back and lashed out with a whip. As the dust flew, the fragrance of flowers mixed in the breeze was gradually crushed by the sound of horse hooves. Only the crisp laughter of children remained in his ears. The carriage gradually turned into a small black dot on the horizon on the official road.
At three quarters past midnight, the man arrived at the post station in his carriage, tied up the horses, parked the carriage, and took the dry food he brought with him to find a sheltered place to hut down for the night, but Ding Youtian stopped him.
"Brother, let's go get some food together. You can keep the dry food for now. Besides, how can you swallow the hot soup without any preparation? Come on, don't dawdle."
"Uncle, come together." Sanniu shouted, hugged Yuanbao and ran forward to pull him. Erniu also ran over with Jinbao. The two kids dragged and pulled him over.
"Thank you." He felt a little embarrassed. In fact, this family had given him too many surprises.
The food provided in the post station was rather simple, and most of the people who came to stay there were traveling officials or post messengers. However, safety was important when traveling, and the post station at least had an official label. Based on the principle of safety first, people would never stay in an inn if they could stay in a post station.
"Brother, eat, don't be polite." Ding Youtian gestured for him to pick up his chopsticks. "Look, since we hired your car, it's fate. The journey to Danyang will take nearly two months. My surname is Ding, my given name is Youtian, and I don't have a courtesy name. This is my wife, and these two are my daughters. I don't know how to address you."
"My surname is Tong, and my given name is Bajin." He spoke with a strong Mobei accent.
"Are you from the north? But you weighed eight kilograms when you were born?" Jian Ning asked. In ancient times, it was rare for a baby born in a commoner's family to weigh eight kilograms, and it was even more difficult for women to give birth.
"Yeah." Ba Jin's eyes dimmed for a moment. His father had told him that his mother had suffered an injury during his birth and passed away before he was a hundred days old. Later, his father married him to a stepmother, who was known for her erratic temper. Not only did she abuse him, but she also beat up her own children. Naturally, he was living in dire straits.
"Brother Tong, I see that you don't look very well. Do you have any congenital disease? If you're willing, you might as well let me take your pulse later." Jian Ning finished his meal and put down his chopsticks.
Tong Bajin glanced at Jian Ning. Women with medical skills were rare. He seemed to think of something, and his casual glance at Ding Youtian was slightly shocked. He hadn't expected the newly crowned top scholar and Princess An Ning to hire his carriage. He had assumed Ding Youtian was a Jinshi without any connections, banished to this extremely cold land.
Why was the son-in-law of King Pingnan sent to Danyang?
Tong Bajin's hometown is near Danyang, and it was Ding Youtian who hired his carriage. Since he was originally from the north, he planned to return to the north in the near future even if no one hired him a carriage. Therefore, the price he asked was nearly half cheaper than that of other carriage companies, so Ding Youtian hired his carriage.
"Let me take your pulse. Stretch out your arm." Jian Ning asked him to stretch out his arm in front of Ding Youtian. He subconsciously looked at Ding Youtian and met his smiling black eyes. "My wife is a good doctor. Let her take a look at you."
He held out his arm, and Jian Ning felt his pulse, discovering he had a congenital chronic cough, also known as asthma. "Have you been taking the pills you prescribed? Your medicine can only temporarily suppress the condition, but the cause of your illness is congenital. If you had started treatment when you were young, there might have been hope of recovery. Now that you've been waiting too long, even I can only cure you to a degree. I'll have my husband bring the medicine to your room later."
Just by taking Jian Ning's pulse, he knew that he had a chronic cough and that he had his own pills. Tong Bajin was impressed by Jian Ning's medical skills. No wonder he was able to cure the smallpox epidemic.
Tong Bajin felt that he had made a fortune on this job. Not only could he eat hot meals at the same table with his employer, he also didn't have to sleep in the stable at night. Ding Youtian also gave him a large bag of pills and a mouth spray, which really made him feel very grateful.
The next day, Tong Bajin got up early, fed the horses, harnessed the cart, and cleaned the carriage. Just as he finished cleaning and took out a bowl to get some boiling water to soak his dry food, Jian Ning's family came over. Sanniu, holding Yuanbao, shouted to him, "Uncle Tong, it's time for breakfast. Come quickly."
He raised the bowl in his hand and patted the dry food bag wrapped around his waist. Just as he was about to say that he would not eat it, his eyes fell on Guoguo who was happily wagging her tail at Ding Youtian's feet, and he was stunned.
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