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Two chapters combined into one
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As soon as Ren Yaoqi saw their appearance, he knew something must have happened before, so he asked, "Uncle, where are you staying? Is it close to here?"
Li You looked around and said, "It shouldn't be far, right? I can see this mountain from where I'm resting." He pointed to the distant mountain road shrouded in rain and fog in the distance.
Ren Yaoqi looked in the direction of Li You's hand and could only sigh. He wondered if he should remind him that this didn't prove the two places were close.
Fortunately, Xia Sheng said, "It's about two quarters of an hour away from here."
Ren Yaoqi looked at himself and then at the disheveled Ren Yaohua, and said to Xiangqin and Sangzhen behind him, "Go back and find clean clothes and shoes for me and my third sister."
The two maids went away. Ren Yaohua then said to Xia Sheng, "I remember seeing a donkey cart rental not far ahead. Go hire one. The road here is very muddy and difficult to travel on."
Xia Sheng looked at Li You.
Li You waved his hand and let Xia Sheng go.
Seeing that only himself, Li You, Ren Yaohua and Dongsheng were left at the scene, Ren Yaoqi looked at Ren Yaohua and Li You carefully.
Ren Yaohua's imperial concubine dress was soaked from head to toe, turning a deep crimson. Her lotus-green embroidered shoes were especially stained with mud and dried straw, their original color unrecognizable. Her entire appearance could only be described as a horrible mess.
A few strands of her hair clung to her forehead, her face was pale, but her lips were a dark red. I couldn't tell if it was from the cold or anger.
This was the first time that Ren Yaoqi saw Ren Yaohua like this in public.
But it did make her seem more vulnerable and approachable, if one ignored the chilling expression on her face that could freeze someone to death.
Dongsheng's appearance wasn't much better than Ren Yaohua's. His clothes were a dark brown, and it was hard to tell if they were wet or just dark brown to begin with. His half-new, coarse cloth shoes, like Ren Yaohua's, were stained with mud and dead grass. His expression, in particular, wasn't filled with anger like Ren Yaohua's, but rather with fear and unease.
Ren Yaoqi was a little worried.
When Ren Yaohua left, she had brought a few maids and servants with her. Now, all the servants, including Wu Jing, were gone. Only the two of them returned, both in disarray. No one knew what had happened to them.
But judging by their current appearance, this is obviously not the place to talk.
Ren Yaoqi could only give Ren Yaohua the straw raincoat and hat he had taken off earlier to cover up her embarrassment.
Soon, Xia Sheng returned with the rented donkey cart. Li You, stroking his chin, surveyed the cart for a moment, then asked Ren Yaoqi with curiosity, "Have you ever ridden in one of these things? Can it pull such a large cart? It doesn't look very powerful." He then extended his hand and patted the donkey's head, earning the driver an unpleasant glance.
Although there are more horses in Yanbei than in the south because there are horse farms, ordinary people still prefer to use donkey carts because the fodder needed to feed a donkey is much less than that needed to feed a horse.
Donkeys also have excellent endurance. They don't get sick as easily as horses, and even when they die of old age, their meat can still be eaten. Therefore, during the Zhou Dynasty, most ordinary people who had enough food would raise donkeys.
Especially in the south of the Yangtze River where horses are rare, donkeys are more common.
But the wealthy and powerful families did not use donkey carts when traveling, because donkey carts were not grand enough.
Li You asked this because he had never ridden in a donkey cart. Even when he was young in Kyoto where horses were scarce, he had only eaten donkey meat.
But overall, it is commendable that Li You could distinguish between a horse and a donkey and did not mistake him for a cow or a dragon or something else.
Ren Yaoqi told Xia Sheng to wait here for the two maids, Xiangqin and Sangzhen, and then take them back in a hired car.
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