Chapter 6
Gu Ran stopped asking questions, but subconsciously kept the cause of the prisoner's death in mind.
As for the reason why Aunt Mai and her daughter were exiled, it was the same as hers, because they were implicated in a crime.
They were farmers from Maijia Village, a small county in Zhengzhou, which was adjacent to Lianjia Village. The two sides had been at odds with each other due to a family feud.
During the summer harvest this year, it was discovered that half an acre of farmland of a household in Maijia Village was occupied by people from Lianjia Village. The land was located at the junction of the two villages and had not been noticed before. However, Lianjia Village believed that the half acre of land was within the boundary of their own village and was unwilling to return it, which led to a dispute.
The conflict escalated and people from the two villages had an armed fight. Maijia Village was fine, but four people from Lianjia Village died - Mai Xiang's father accidentally killed someone from Lianjia Village, and the people from Lianjia Village turned around to seek revenge. Aunt Mai was beaten when she tried to stop them, and Mai Xiang's father, in his eagerness to protect his wife, killed another person.
After reporting the case to the county town, Mai Xiangdie was arrested for killing two people from Lianjia Village at once. After the case was closed and sent to the government office in Zhengzhou, the prefect thought that Mai Xiangdie was guilty of a heinous crime and originally wanted to sentence him to death. However, after the people from Maijia Village spread the word, and the imperial court encouraged the exile of prisoners from all over the country to the southern border and northern defense to develop the territory and garrison the border, the prefect changed the sentence to exile, but the whole family was guilty of the same crime.
Maixiang and his sister - Maidong also has a sixteen-year-old brother named Maidong, so he followed his father and mother on the road of exile.
"My man didn't mean to kill anyone. It's just that his brain is so fragile, like a melon. One hoe will kill it."
When talking about the crime for which she was sentenced, Aunt Mai was still indignant. "This was the Lian family's fault from the beginning. They dared to occupy that half acre of land. Isn't it because Aunt Mai Er's family has no male offspring, an orphan and a widow, so they are easy to bully? Aunt Mai Er's family has no men, but we in Maijia Village do. We stood up for her family and killed them. Now let's see if they dare to bully the people of Maijia Village again."
"Mother!" Mai Xiang became uneasy again when she saw her mother bragging.
Maixiang didn't understand the big principles, but killing people was a bad thing after all, otherwise her father wouldn't have been almost sentenced to death, and her whole family would have been convicted and exiled.
"It's okay, it's okay!" Aunt Mai comforted her daughter, "Dad and Mom both know they were wrong. They will turn over a new leaf and never make the same mistake again."
She said she would not do it again, but Gu Ran saw from her expression and actions that Aunt Mai did not regret at all that her husband had killed someone to protect the villagers. She even did not care when her own children were implicated after being convicted. He secretly became wary of her.
After explaining how she became a prisoner, Aunt Mai turned around and asked Gu Ran: "What about you, girl? Why are you locked up in a cell at the post station? What crime have you committed?"
Aunt Mai already knew that Gu Ranyi was a prisoner exiled to Minzhou. She was a sick prisoner who was left behind by the escort team a few days ago. She was lucky enough to survive. It was not clear whether she had also killed someone.
Gu Ran then told Aunt Mai and her daughter about his origins, and naturally emphasized his origin from the original owner's marquisate and his relationship with the Qin family.
Since both Liu Yichang and Mrs. Dou were considerate of her for the sake of the safety of the Marquis' Mansion, she would naturally raise this banner to intimidate others before safely reaching the place of exile, so as to at least create some momentum for herself, right?
As expected, Aunt Mai was surprised: "Oh, you are a girl from a wealthy family in Beijing."
"Mother, she is the prime minister's wife!" Mai Xiang was also surprised.
She didn't know what a marquis's mansion was, but in the operas she had seen, the prime minister was a high-ranking official.
Even Pei Liuniang in the corner turned her head slightly and glanced at Gu Ran calmly.
Gu Ran noticed it, and when he glanced over, he only saw a back, so he turned his head away again.
Although he also wanted to ask Aunt Mai and her daughter about what Pei Liuniang had done, it was not appropriate to gossip about her in front of her. Moreover, judging from their expressions, they were also very wary of Pei Liuniang, so it was not convenient to ask too much.
After Aunt Mai and her daughter warmed themselves up, they returned to the corner they had chosen, found their bags and packed them up.
Gu Ran continued to warm himself by the fire, occasionally glancing at the mother and daughter who were busy with their work.
When Aunt Mai walked into the cell, she was carrying two large bags in addition to her bedding, and Mai Xiang was carrying a small bag. It seemed that the people of Mai Village had prepared a lot of things for them when they embarked on the road of exile.
This women's prison is not big, only about 20 square meters, and usually accommodates about ten prisoners. When there are many people, at least more than 20 people will be squeezed in.
Now, there are only four prisoners living in this 20-square-meter cell, so there is still plenty of space. Moreover, it is winter, and mosquitoes and rodents are basically extinct. Compared with the cell where the original owner stayed a few months ago, the environment is much better.
The seat originally chosen by Aunt Mai and her daughter was a bit far from Gu Ran, but after discovering Gu Ran's fire basket, they moved their seat next to Gu Ran.
In fact, Gu Ran was not willing to get too close to the mother and daughter. She still had a workshop on her body that she needed to use, but there was nothing she could do at the moment. For the sake of having someone to take care of her during her future exile, this little sacrifice was nothing.
If she needs to use the workshop in the future, she can do so when everyone is asleep.
While the mother and daughter were spreading the straw and mats and taking out the bedding, Mrs. Dou came in with food.
The exiled prisoners were given a fixed amount of food, which was loaded onto donkey carts and carried along with the troops. The food was distributed uniformly at mealtimes.
After moving into the post station, the food was delivered to the post station kitchen, where the post station's cooks and servants would help cook it and then distribute it to the prison.
Originally, the post station was not responsible for Gu Ran's two meals a day, but Postmaster Liu had said so, and now that she had a good relationship with Mrs. Dou, Mrs. Dou was happy to do this favor.
The food that Mrs. Dou brought to the four people was exactly the same, two multi-grain pancakes.
Gu Ran didn't mind. He grabbed one portion and sat back in his seat, eating while warming himself by the fire.
When Aunt Mai and her daughter grabbed the pancakes and moved closer to the fire basket, Pei Liuniang, who had been hiding in the corner, slowly moved over, grabbed the last two pancakes, and sat back in the corner with her back to them.
Gu Ran finally got a glimpse of Pei Liuniang's appearance.
A rough impression was that she was probably thirteen or fourteen years old, younger than she was, and had a beautiful appearance.
After finishing the pancakes, Aunt Mai and her daughter continued to tidy up their bedding. Seeing their mats and quilts, which looked old but clean, Gu Ran couldn't help but feel envious.
But envy was useless. Gu Ran took advantage of the time when they were not warming themselves by the fire and used a fire basket to warm the thin blanket he had received from Mrs. Dou, and then covered himself with it after it was warm.
When I asked Mrs. Dou for a fire basket, it was mainly for roasting orange peels to treat frostbite, but now it is for warding off the cold and keeping warm.
In fact, after losing the solar heating patch, Gu Ran was afraid of catching a cold again. His body couldn't bear it, so he sneaked into the workshop to spend the night. Although the time passed in the workshop at the same time as the outside world, the temperature inside was at room temperature, so it was naturally not as cold as outside.
But in order to hide from others, I still have to use a fire basket to warm the quilt before entering the workshop, so that it will be comfortable to cover myself with.
Otherwise, in the increasingly cold weather, if I wear so little and cover myself with such a thin blanket and don't feel cold, it will definitely make people suspicious.
So Gu Ran simply did a thorough job of keeping warm.
Aunt Mai and her daughter saw Gu Ran's actions and looked at their bedding - although they were brought from home, they were thin. Using a fire basket to warm the quilt before sleeping was a good idea, so Aunt Mai asked Gu Ran to borrow the fire basket.
"Then, Mrs. Gu...Mrs. Qin..."
"Just call me Gu Er Niang."
"Mrs. Gu, can we borrow your fire basket so we can warm our quilts?" Aunt Mai asked directly.
"Yes, Sister Gu, we spent the night in the snow a few nights ago. It was so cold." After talking more with Gu Ran throughout the day, Mai Xiang was no longer as reserved as when she first came and acted pitifully with her.
"Oh, I see..." Gu Ran looked at the small fire basket he had used up, feeling very hesitant.
"Well, we won't use your fire basket for free. How about one penny a day?" Aunt Mai saw Ran hesitate and made an offer in a very polite manner.
"Well, alright then!"
Gu Ran nodded, and Aunt Mai and her daughter happily brought the fire basket over and started to roast their own quilts.
While they were busy, Gu Ran was not idle either. He grabbed some straw stalks beside him - a pile of unused dry straw that he had bought from Mrs. Dou and originally intended for burning.
She arranged the straws one by one, planning to weave a rope, and then laid the straws out in clusters and tied the ends with ropes. Since she had nothing to do anyway, she decided to make a straw blanket for herself before the weather got colder.
When you go to bed at night, put on a warm thin blanket and cover it with a layer of straw to keep you warm.
In her previous life, before it was discovered that she had the spiritual roots to become a cultivator, her family was poor, and her mortal parents taught her how to make straw bedding for the winter.
While twisting the rope, she looked at Pei Liuniang, who was the farthest away from them, and saw that she had already tidied her bedding and lay down to sleep.
After twisting the rope for a while, Aunt Mai and her daughter warmed their own quilts and returned them.
Gu Ran added a few pieces of charcoal and deliberately placed the fire basket closer to Pei Liuniang. Then he took off his cotton coat, spread it on the thin quilt, and lay down.
After everyone lay down to rest, after a while, the sound of steady breathing could be heard in the cell.
They were probably tired from all the work before coming to the post station, so they fell asleep quickly.
Gu Ran secretly sat up and looked around to make sure they were all asleep. Then he lay down, pulled the thin quilt over his head, grabbed the small fire basket, and then went into the workshop.
After entering, he opened the lid of the fire basket as usual and roasted the orange peel on the table.
This is what was left from the red tangerine she ate today.
Except for the first day, Gu Ran now only picks one red tangerine every day and dares not eat more.
Because this pot of red tangerines was originally planted in a special way to curb their growth, it is only about the size of the medium-sized New Year tangerines that must be bought during the Spring Festival. It is used as a display rather than for eating the fruit, so although there may seem to be many red tangerines on the tree, there are actually only about forty of them, so she has to eat them sparingly.
Although it can grow on its own in the workshop without fertilizer and sunlight for photosynthesis, it still consumes spirit stones. A pot of red tangerines only consumes one low-grade spirit stone a month, so she can afford it.
There are spiritual stones for growing red oranges. She stores a batch of spiritual stones here in advance every year in the boxes under the desk. Now there are also a few bags of spiritual stones in the boxes that she specially saved.
But now she has traveled to the Great Sheng Dynasty, and all the spiritual stones in the workshop have turned into ordinary stones. Of course, she can no longer continue to grow this tangerine tree. If she still wants the tangerine tree to bear fruit, she can only transplant it as soon as possible.
After the orange peel was roasted, Gu Ran continued to add orange leaves and mash them into a paste.
Although the swelling of the chilblains has subsided and the pain and itching are gone, she still has to apply a thin layer of the ointment several times to prevent it from recurring. She can only feel at ease after making sure it has been eradicated.
After applying the orange peel paste on his hands and feet, Gu Ran covered the fire basket, quietly put it back in place, and then fell asleep.
The next day was another snowy day. When there was a noise and bustle outside, Gu Ran was called out by Mrs. Dou, who said that Chief Liu wanted to see her about something.
What could it be?
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