Chapter 22
It takes forty miles to walk from Qingyi to Sui County.
Gu Ran learned from the original owner's memory that they had to walk about forty to fifty miles a day, and they only stopped for a long time on the way once, which was to distribute dry food to the prisoners to fill their stomachs.
In other words, according to the prescribed route, they must arrive in Sui County before nightfall today.
However, it has been snowing for several days now, so even if they only take the official road, the journey is difficult and the people's walking speed is naturally much slower than before. The daytime is short, so the time they have to walk is also less than before, so it is unrealistic to want to walk forty miles in a day.
However, judging from Li Jieguan's appearance, he was not worried about this problem. He had probably already made arrangements, so the group just followed his orders and continued on their journey.
Gu Ran walked at the end of the queue, one foot deep and one foot shallow, and felt okay at first.
It was so cold that I felt cold staying in the prison. But after walking outside for a while, my body actually became warmer because of the movement.
Gu Ran exhaled white air and felt that his toes, which were stuffed in the new cotton shoes, became warm as the blood flowed freely.
"how?"
Pei Liuniang followed Gu Ran and saw that she was keeping up with the team. She lowered her jaw a little and asked, looking at the cotton shoes on her feet.
"very nice."
Gu Ran is telling the truth.
The soles of these cotton shoes are sturdy, but they make walking much easier. They are a very useful aid for walking in the snow.
I don’t know where Pei Liuniang learned the shoe-making skills, but the finished product is comparable to the snow high boots she has worn.
Hearing Gu Ran's boasting, Pei Liuniang's face lit up with a slight curl of her lips.
Unlike prisoners like Gu Ran who were willing to be exiled, Pei Liuniang, as a serious criminal who had killed someone, would be strictly guarded by the officials. The shackles she wore were even heavier. Not only were there iron chains on her hands, but the chains were also connected to a wooden shackle around her neck.
So in the line, just by looking at the shackles and chains on their bodies, you can tell who are the serious criminals and who are the minor criminals.
Based on these judgments, you can naturally choose to avoid repeat offenders and avoid getting into trouble.
Gu Ran immediately caught sight of four or five prisoners in front of him who were shackled and chained like Pei Liuniang. Among them was Mai Xiang's father, Uncle Mai.
Gu Ran exhaled another breath of white air, lowered his head to glance at the snow, and continued to move forward.
Although the road is difficult to walk on, we still maintain a steady speed.
Although the original body had suffered a serious illness and was much weaker, he had recovered a lot of strength after a period of recuperation. In addition, he had even persisted in a thousand-mile trek for more than two months before that. It can be seen that this body has adapted to long-distance walking.
Gu Ran followed the large group for an hour without falling behind.
Of course, this was also because they took a short break during the journey, allowing the prisoners to drink hot water and replenish their energy.
After waiting for more than two hours, when Gu Ran felt that his strength was gradually exhausting, the team stopped to prepare to boil water and distribute dry food.
Originally, before winter came, when dry food was distributed, it was the best time for prisoners to take a break during exile, because they could take the opportunity to get some fresh air and improve their rations. Some of them did not like the unpalatable steamed buns and dry bread prepared by the officials, so they could get permission from the officials and build their own stoves to cook their own meals during a temporary break.
However, the heavy snow made walking difficult and slowed down the pace, and it was difficult to find enough dry firewood and grass that were easy to burn to make a fire, so everything was kept simple. The prisoners were only allowed to collect their own share of rations, try to eat early, and then set off again to travel a little further before dark.
Gu Ran just wanted to follow Li Jieguan's team and reach the place of exile as soon as possible. He was very obedient all the way. At this time, he lined up, received a dry and hard steamed bun, and waited to borrow the bamboo tube that Pei Liuniang carried with her to go to the water boiler to drink some hot water.
After setting off, Gu Ran discovered that being an accomplice did have some benefits. For example, he didn't have a container to carry hot water with him - but even if he did, it would be cold in this kind of weather without insulation.
If you want to drink hot water, you have to wait for the officials to boil the water, and then queue up with a bamboo tube and a broken bowl to get water.
Probably because they were afraid that the prisoners could not bear the severe cold weather, the officers would boil water on the road - they would build a simple stove, dig a handful of snow from the nearby snow pile, throw it into the pot, heat it up and let the prisoners drink it.
Gu Ran had neither a bowl nor a bamboo tube for water. Didn't she share the same predicament as Pei Liuniang? When he asked to borrow her bamboo tube, Pei Liuniang readily agreed.
So two people take turns drinking from one bamboo tube.
Of course, even if there was hot water to drink, Gu Ran didn't dare to drink too much. He just took a few sips to warm his stomach, make his body more comfortable, and make the dry and hard steamed bun easier to chew.
After roughly eating the steamed buns, the group continued on their journey.
When it got dark, Li Jieguan asked the group to speed up their pace, and finally they arrived at Xiaogou Village, a small village outside Sui County, before it got completely dark.
It was only at this time that Gu Ran realized that Li Jieguan was an old hand. This was not the first time he had taken this route to escort exiled prisoners from Zhengzhou. He had also taken this route in previous winters and was very familiar with the road conditions here.
I have a clear idea of how much the journey has been delayed and how long it will take to reach the destination. Therefore, I know that if I set out from Qingyi at this time after the New Year and fail to reach Sui County, I can stay in Xiaogou Village outside Sui County for one night and continue on the road tomorrow.
The villagers of Xiaogou Village all smiled when they saw Li Jieguan.
Since I have walked this route more than once, I have naturally dealt with the villagers in this village.
The villagers could earn money by providing accommodation and food for the prisoners, and they welcomed them to stay overnight.
Sure enough, the officials quickly borrowed rooms from the villagers.
Gu Ran didn't know how they arranged the male prisoners. The female prisoners were arranged into the same room of a family.
It is called a wing room, but in fact it only has a few bed boards put together. Probably considering the cold winter weather, a thin layer of straw is also laid on it. As for other things, there is only a toilet in a corner.
Just for overnight use.
After the officers untied the chains on their hands, Gu Ran went to retrieve his bag, untied the rope, and took out the pair of old cotton shoes he had dried. Then he spread the straw mat on the bed board he liked, and then picked up the thin quilt. It was the first time they spent the night outside the prison, and they didn't know if they could borrow a fire pot or charcoal basin from this family, so the four of them planned to sleep together and squeeze in oil to keep warm.
Because Pei Liuniang had to remove the wooden shackle, she was the last one to get her luggage and the last one to choose the bed board.
Aunt Mai and her daughter were still quite afraid of Pei Liuniang. As an accomplice who had also received benefits, Gu Ran naturally slept in the middle as a barrier, separating the mother and daughter from Pei Liuniang.
When Pei Liuniang saw her bed, she didn't say anything and silently put down her bag.
After they settled in, an official came to ask them to collect their rations. The woman who headed the household where they were staying also came over and glanced at them. "Well, what do you need me to help you with?"
Gu Ran was stunned, and then looked at Aunt Mai.
"Hey, um, how much do your food cost?" Aunt Mai asked about the price in an experienced manner.
"It's much cheaper than what other families in our village eat. What's more, what we're having tonight is a feast that's only available during the New Year. You can't get it outside."
What the woman called the main dish was meat and vegetable dumplings.
A serving of eight dumplings costs thirty cents, which is quite expensive, but the good thing is that it comes with a bowl of bone soup.
Having eaten cold steamed buns all day, Aunt Mai really wanted to eat some hot food. She gritted her teeth and bought one portion, sharing it with her daughter. If it was not enough, she would go to the official to get more.
As for Gu Ran, he also bought one, and Pei Liuniang bought three.
Then the woman earned 140 coins in one go.
This is why the people of Xiaogou Village like these exiles to stay overnight on their land - the prisoners can charge the officials for accommodation when they stay overnight in the village, and if they want them to arrange something extra for them, they naturally have to pay the corresponding money.
You can choose not to buy it if you think it is too expensive, but after eating too much of the rations that are barely enough to be considered rice and tea, many prisoners who have money in their hands still want to have a good meal.
After all, there are not many opportunities to eat good food. If you miss it this time, there may not be another chance.
Gu Ran thought so too. This was the first time she had spent money to buy food since she came here - she didn't dare mention it to Mrs. Dou in prison.
Now that the police were around and there were accomplices around, when they heard there were meat and vegetable dumplings, they immediately became greedy.
After putting the meat and vegetable dumplings into her mouth, she found that the filling of the meat and vegetable dumplings was actually mainly cabbage, but the woman classified it as meat and vegetable because she said that it was because some lard residue that had been boiled in oil was added. It was not visible when she bit into it. It was probably crushed into pieces. The taste was pretty good, at least there was enough salt.
As for the bowl of bone soup, it was just plain water. You could see shredded radish in each spoonful, but there was no meat or oil at all. I guess it was made with bones that had been boiled countless times, but it had a strong radish flavor.
Cabbage and radish are the most common vegetarian vegetables that can be stored for a long time during the New Year period. It is not uncommon to see them in farmers' homes.
Considering that it was a rare opportunity to eat hot food outside, Gu Ran couldn't say that he was dissatisfied.
After we finished eating, the woman came to collect the copper coins and continued to sell us: "You guys are leaving early tomorrow morning, right? We'll make steamed buns for breakfast tomorrow and give you a side of bone soup. Would you like to buy some?"
Baozi? Gu Ran's mouth immediately watered.
"Meat bun or vegetarian bun?"
"Vegetarian buns. If you want meat buns, you can, but you have to pay extra."
A vegetarian bun costs five cents, and a meat bun costs ten cents.
Gu Ran remembered that a vegetarian bun usually cost only two cents, and a meat bun only cost four cents.
Seeing that there was not even a speck of oil in the filling of the dumplings they made, they were also called meat and vegetable dumplings. It was estimated that there was not much stuffing in the meat buns either, so Gu Ran did not order meat buns, but fifteen vegetable buns.
These days, the vegetarian buns probably wouldn't go bad even if they were kept for a long time, so she decided to buy a few more to change the taste while traveling.
With the same idea of improving her appetite as her, Pei Liuniang actually bought fifty of them in one go.
Gu Ran was not surprised that Aunt Mai bought thirty of them in one go. After all, she even included the share for her husband and son. But how could Pei Liuniang, a woman, want so many?
Gu Ran looked back and thought about it. It seemed that Pei Liuniang usually had a bigger appetite than them. Just like just now, she finished three servings of dumplings in one breath.
Eating a lot, is it because you are growing up?
Seeing the woman accepting the money and about to leave with satisfaction, Gu Ran stopped her and said, "Auntie, could you please do me a favor?"
The woman stopped and the other three looked at her.
"What's the matter?"
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