The next morning, Gensheng's mother came to the An family with a set of cotton clothes and cotton shoes. An Dashan was loading the car, and when he saw Gensheng's mother coming, he quickly said, "My sister-in-law is here, come in quickly, Yingniang is in the main room."
Gensheng's mother agreed and went into the main hall. Gao had heard the two talking in the main hall, so she came out to greet them and asked, "Did you bring the things you prepared for Gensheng?"
Gensheng's mother nodded, handed the bundle to Gao, and said, "Thank you for your help."
Gao smiled and said, "It's not a big deal, but I have to tell you in advance that I don't know which team this person has been assigned to. We will try our best to find him for you. If we can't find him, there is nothing I can do."
Gensheng's mother nodded and said, "I know this. I would like to thank you in advance."
The two talked for a while, and then Gensheng's mother said, "I won't bother you any more. It's getting late, so you should leave early."
Gao smiled and nodded, and sent Gensheng's mother out. At this time, An Dashan had already loaded the car, and after saying goodbye to Wang and others, the four of them set off.
An Ning calculated that if everything went smoothly, it would take about 20 days to reach the border. An Dashan and Gao Dajiu sat on the shaft of the cart, while An Ning and Gao sat in the carriage.
In addition to the things for An Yong, the carriage also brought clothes for several people. In case they missed the place to stay on the road, they also brought four quilts, a small red clay stove, a pot, and some dry food and rice that could be stored.
An Dashan also asked Gao to make a money bag for Uncle Gao, and gave him two taels of silver and two hundred copper coins. Uncle Gao refused at first, but An Dashan persuaded him: "Brother, you are out there now. If something unexpected happens on the road, it would be good for you to have the silver with you."
After hearing this, Uncle Gao did not refuse and put the silver bag close to his body.
After a whole morning of traveling, they were still within the jurisdiction of Beichuan County. At noon, they did not go into the city to eat, but unloaded the mule cart in an open space beside the official road, letting the mule rest for a while and eat some grass. Then they ate some dry food and drank some water for lunch.
After lunch, they rested for a while and continued on their journey. The journey was smooth and they arrived at Beiwang County, Lin County, Beichuan County in the evening. An Dashan and his companions went straight into the city before the city gate was closed and stopped at an inn that looked pretty good.
The waiter at the door saw the group stop and quickly came forward, saying, "Would you like to stay overnight or stay in the hotel?"
An Dashan said, "We're staying at a hotel. How much is one night in your inn?"
The waiter smiled and said, "It depends on which room you want to stay in. A large bunk bed costs only 20 coins per night, a ground-level room costs 200 coins per night, and a sky-level room costs 300 coins per night."
An Ning thought for a moment and said, "Dad, let's stay in the No. 1 room. It's safer."
An Dashan nodded, agreeing with An Ning, and said, "Give us two top-grade rooms."
When the waiter heard this, he smiled and said, "Okay, sir, please follow me."
An Dashan said, "Please, little brother, put our mule cart away."
The waiter said, "No problem. I promise to serve you the best food." Then he took An Dashan and others upstairs.
The two rooms were next to each other. An Dashan said, "Brother, let's live in one room, and let Ningning and Yingniang live in another room."
Uncle Gao shook his head and said, "I'll sleep in the mule cart so I can keep an eye on the things."
The waiter quickly said, "Please rest assured, sir. We have someone in our store to watch over the carriages, so nothing will get lost."
An Dashan also said, "It's not easy to rest when sleeping on a mule cart. Let's take all the valuables up and load them up when we leave tomorrow."
Uncle Gao nodded and said, "Okay, let's go move the things."
An Dashan and Uncle Gao went downstairs to move things, while An Ning and Gao entered the room. The room was relatively clean, but the quilt had an unpleasant smell because it was probably a bit old. It happened that An Ning's family brought their quilt with them, so when An Dashan and his family brought the quilt upstairs, An Ning spread their quilt on top of the original quilt.
After doing all this, they locked the door and went downstairs to eat. An Ning and the others found a seat and sat down. A waiter came over and asked, "What would you like to eat, gentlemen?"
An Dashan asked, "What special dishes do you have in your restaurant?"
The waiter said, "Our signature dishes include braised pork elbow, braised pig face, pot-roasted carp, duck stuffed with glutinous rice, braised pork slices, braised tofu, and stir-fried bamboo shoots with meat."
After hearing this, An Dashan asked everyone, "What do you want to eat?"
Uncle Gao said, "These are too expensive. Let's just have some simple buns."
Seeing this, An Ning quickly said, "Dad, I haven't eaten duck stuffed with glutinous rice yet. How about we order one?"
An Dashan had never eaten it before, so he said, "Okay, let's order a duck stuffed with glutinous rice and a stir-fried pork with bamboo shoots!" After thinking for a while, he said, "Give us ten more buns."
After hearing this, the waiter smiled and said, "Okay, sir, please wait a moment."
Then he went to the kitchen. After the waiter left, Uncle Gao said, "Dashan, isn't this too expensive? You should save money when you are away from home."
Before An Dashan could say anything, Gao said, "Brother, just eat with peace of mind. We can still afford this little money." This shows that people's perspectives have changed. In the past, Gao would never have said this.
Seeing his sister say this, Uncle Gao also felt that it was not his business, so he shut up. Soon the two dishes were served. They tasted the duck stuffed with glutinous rice and thought it was really good, much better than the stew at home. They had been traveling all day and were really hungry, so they ate all the ten buns and two dishes. After the meal, they returned to their room to rest.
An Ning slept soundly that night. The next morning, they had breakfast, loaded the car again, packed ten buns for lunch, and set off again. Since they were on official roads, it was relatively peaceful and they didn't encounter any other problems. They traveled for more than ten days and everything went smoothly.
On the fifteenth day, they finally arrived at the northernmost capital city, Yecheng. As Yecheng was the northernmost capital city and bordered the northern barbarians, the people were quite fierce and there were many bandits who occupied the mountains. So An Ning and his companions became cautious and walked on the main road. In the evening, they went into the city early to find an inn to rest.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com