In the early morning of the twenty-first day of exile, a group of people finally saw a two-story building with dim lights in the rain.
Everyone howled with excitement like dogs seeing a bone.
Without even Gao Hongbin driving them away, they hurried over there.
Chi Xingyue breathed a sigh of relief and stopped after watering the last patch of grapes.
A group of people pushed the cart for more than ten minutes before arriving at the entrance of the post station.
Gao Hongbin raised his hand and slammed the door. The person inside cursed and took a long time to come out and open the door.
"What are you doing?" The moment he opened the door, he saw a bunch of ferocious-looking people and was almost scared to death.
Gao Hongbin glanced at the postman, and the aura of a superior on him shocked the man speechless.
When the postmaster saw that the postman had not come in for a long time, he hurriedly put on his clothes and came to check.
He was more perceptive than the postman and bowed as he came up: "Sir, may I ask what you may have to say?"
Gao Hongbin took out his badge and waved it in front of the two men: "We need to rest here. Please ask the postmaster to prepare two tables of food and boil a few buckets of hot water."
The postmaster was in a dilemma. In this year of famine and heavy rain, there was no food to give them.
What's more, there are not ten or twenty people in front of us, but two or three hundred people.
Seeing the postmaster's dilemma, Gao Hongbin actually became understanding.
Ask someone to bring the food that has been soaked in rainwater: "Process these and serve them up."
These are things that can’t be kept forever, so I don’t feel bad eating them.
Seeing this, the postmaster breathed a sigh of relief.
They hurriedly invited people in. The huge team filled the hall to the brim with people and couldn't even accommodate them.
Gao Hongbin made the decision to arrange the exiles into the large dormitory, while his own people took turns resting on the second floor and in the hall.
The bunk beds in the post station were not very big, and even if there was no distinction between men and women, they had to sleep head to head and feet to feet.
Old Master Han wanted to move to a more comfortable room, but he found that he had nothing on him except a few silver bills that were soaked by rain.
Fortunately, his children and grandchildren were all filial. They chipped in a little from here and there and finally managed to scrape together five or six taels of silver, which they exchanged with the postmaster for a warehouse and a piece of ginger.
"If it weren't for the bad weather, you wouldn't be eligible to stay at the inn. I'm being kind and offering my help, but there's no hot water. You'll have to find a way on your own."
"Excuse me, sir, may we use the firewood and pot in the kitchen?"
"The pot is fine, but the firewood isn't. It's raining so hard outside, and we have limited firewood. We can't afford to feed so many of you."
The Han family understood and decided to go out in the rain to chop firewood.
Although wet wood produces a lot of smoke when burning, it can still start a fire no matter what.
Seeing this, Ling Jiheng fished out a few pieces of silver from his pocket and asked Chi Xingyue for two pearls: "Please, sir, make room for me."
When the postmaster saw that the pearls Ling Jiheng gave him were round, white, and as big as a fingernail, he felt happy but also a little scared.
Turning around, he saw that no one noticed him, so he quickly stuffed the pearls into his clothes, tumbling the silver coins in his hand as he thought for a while: "Then I'll allocate three rooms for you. The kitchen will be the same as theirs, you can use it, but don't touch the things inside. Otherwise, don't blame me for not giving you face."
Ling Jiheng said he knew, and gave the person an extra golden melon seed when he sent him away.
The postmaster's eyes lit up. He asked someone to bring a pot of hot tea to each of the three rooms before leaving humming a little tune.
Here, the exiled prisoner, exhausted, put the cart and boxes in place and prepared to go back to his room to sleep.
However, most of them had flushed faces and hot bodies, and were obviously in a serious condition.
Gao Hongbin took a shower in the room, changed into the postmaster's clean clothes, and went downstairs.
Seeing that everyone looked unhappy, each family selected two people and they went in groups to look for firewood.
In order to prevent them from getting into trouble, two guards were arranged to follow them.
He dug out a few soaked medicine bags from his supply cart and handed them to Chi Xingyue: "Go make some soup and distribute it to everyone."
Chi Xingyue: "..."
Do you really think you are a fire-making girl?
But I didn't refuse, after all, I could reserve a stove in advance.
He nodded, walked to the kitchen in small steps, said hello to the chef, found a clay pot, put the wet herbs that had not yet grown hair into it, then added water and put it on the fire to boil.
Seeing that there was a small stove in the kitchen that no one was using, he quietly asked the chef, "Uncle, can I use this stove?"
Acting cute and coquettish is not very effective in this era. But she has money, and with banknotes, she is always successful.
Chi Xingyue took out a ten-liang silver note from the oil-paper bag and quietly put it into the master chef's arms.
The chef glanced at the door and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one was there. "Use it, use it. Put it inside and don't let anyone see it."
After saying that, he glanced at the kitchen and said, "Are we going to cook later? You can use a little of those seasonings, but not too much!"
Chi Xingyue nodded obediently: "Thank you, uncle, you are so kind!"
The master chef felt a little guilty, thinking that if this girl hadn't told him, he wouldn't be so kind.
Alas, it was just bad luck for him that he was assigned to work in the kitchen.
The postmaster and the postmen at the front all get tips, but he just has to guard the stove every day and gets no benefits.
This banknote was the largest denomination he had ever received since he took office.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little complaining. A smoked fish that had been soaked in water and had become soft was smashed into pieces by him.
The chef panicked for a moment, then calmed down. He scooped out the fish as if nothing had happened and heated up another one.
After getting permission, Chi Xingyue stopped meddling in the master chef's affairs.
He dug out a clay pot from the corner, washed it with water, and then returned to the hall, only to find that the Ling family had already gone upstairs.
I knocked on the door of the innermost room and found that it was Ling Weicheng who opened the door.
Chi Xingyue greeted her stepfather-in-law before asking about the old lady's room.
"It's right next to us. We men have one room, the women have one room, and you and Heng'er have one room."
Chi Xingyue looked embarrassed: "Dad, this is not good."
"It's nothing bad. You've worked hard on this journey." Ling Weicheng said jokingly, "When Heng'er comes back, you two can have a good rest. Don't rush to get up."
Chi Xingyue's feet were about to break the soles of her shoes, and her face was flushed red.
I was thinking, what's the point? Let them make up for their wedding night?
Not to mention that their relationship hasn't reached that point yet, even if it has, his small body wouldn't be able to handle it!
I can only say that Chi Xingyue was overthinking it.
Everyone in the Ling family, oh no, except Gu Youlian, unanimously reserved a house for the young couple. In addition to being grateful for their efforts along the way, they also really had some thoughts in mind.
Thinking that if they were in the same room, the mysterious man would appear.
Not to mention some delicacies from land and sea, just some brown rice and coarse noodles will be enough for them to survive for seven days.
This place is not far from Yingtian Prefecture, and I will soon be able to get away from Gao Hongbin and enjoy freedom.
It’s really exciting to think about it!
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