Chapter 284: Cherish Life

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren followed the waiter's hand and looked over. It was Yao Zheyu's servant, and no one knew what he was doing here.

The servant heard the voice and must have been waiting for a long time. His face was a little stiff, "Mr. Zhou, Madam Zhou."

Zhou Shuren looked at the box in the boy's hand and asked, "What can I do for you?"

The servant waited for a long time. He just wanted to deliver the things and go back quickly. "This is from the young master to Mr. Zhou. The young master said that we will not owe each other anything in the future. Please keep it well, Mr. Zhou."

Zhou Shuren reached out to take the box, "Please tell the master that I understand."

The boy thought he would have to say something before sending it out, but he didn't expect it to be so smooth. "Then I'll go first."

Zhou Shuren, "Please."

After the servant left, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went upstairs back to their room. Zhulan looked at the box. She and Zhou Shuren knew that it would be better for them to follow Yao Zheyu in the capital, especially since Yao Zheyu had turned a little evil.

Zhulan closed the door. Zhou Shuren had already opened the box. "Come and take a look."

Zhulan walked to the table and saw that the box was full of banknotes, all of which were large denominations. Zhulan poured them out and counted them. "It really is 12,000 taels of silver. I thought Yao Zheyu had gotten away with saving my life!"

Zhou Shuren, "This only shows that Yao Zheyu has not completely turned evil. However, after repaying the life-saving favor, the last bit of warmth in Yao Zheyu's heart is gone."

Zhu Lan was a little worried. "You should go find the car team tomorrow. Let's leave as soon as possible. I don't know if Yao Zheyu is hiding from others to deliver the money. Don't let Yao Zheyu make you a cannon fodder."

Unfortunately, Yao Zheyu has changed, and her and Zhou Shuren's plan has fallen through. Although getting the money is a happy event, life is more important than joy and danger.

Zhou Shuren was also worried about this. "I had bad luck this time. The trip was not smooth, and the trip to the capital was not particularly smooth. Although I brought wealth, my life was always in danger. It is better to leave as soon as possible."

Zhulan looked at the silver bills in her hand. Now that she had money, she didn't dare spend it. Not only was it because they were in a hurry to leave Beijing, but also because they had already spent too much today. Today, the looks in Yazi's and Deng Xiucai's eyes had changed.

Meanwhile, the servant returned to the mansion, "Sir, the box has been delivered. Mr. Zhou received it but did not see what was inside."

Yao Zheyu dropped the book in his hand and said, "I understand. You can go down now!"

The servant lowered his head, closed the door carefully and went out.

Yao Zheyu was the only one left in the room. He sneered, laughing at himself. He had thought for a long time yesterday and decided to repay the life-saving grace. He was not willing to deny the favor. However, it seemed that Zhou Xiucai was indeed interesting. He must have noticed that he had changed, so he took the box without asking what it was. He was really sharp.

It's a pity that he is just a little scholar and not from the capital, so he is of no use at all. I closed my eyes and recalled the conversations between my grandfather and father behind his back, ha!

The next morning, Zhou Shuren went to look for a convoy early. He was lucky as there were many convoys leaving Beijing these days. There were convoys leaving the city every day. In the afternoon, there was a convoy heading to the northeast, but there were no extra carriages and coachmen, so he had to hire his own escort.

After discussing with Zhulan, Zhou Shuren decided to buy two horse-drawn carriages and only needed to hire a driver and escorts.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went to the North City where horses and carriages were sold. They didn't know much, so they could only pay more bribes to the broker to help buy two better horses.

The horses sold in the North City are not expensive horses. Most of them are domestic horses that are used to pull horse-drawn carts to transport goods. Even ordinary horses are extremely expensive, costing fifty taels each, not counting the carriage. The price of the horse-drawn cart alone is seventy taels.

In ancient times, horse-drawn carriages also needed to be registered with the government office. Horse-drawn carriages used to transport goods and people over long distances were still regulated, and not everyone could do the job of pulling a carriage.

In order to leave early, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren were willing to spend money, and in the morning they had found the horses, carriages, escorts and drivers.

Zhulan ordered a lot of braised pork, grilled chicken, etc. from the inn.

After settling the bill with the inn in the afternoon, the two of them took a carriage and followed the convoy to leave the capital.

Because the convoy was not a caravan transporting goods, but a team leaving Beijing to return home, the convoy was moving fast and the carriages did not stop to rest until dark.

Zhulan had been tossed around for the entire afternoon and her bones felt numb. She had no appetite, so she ate a chicken leg and lay down to rest.

Zhou Shuren and Zhulan hired four escorts. If they were not afraid of attracting too much attention, they would have hired more. They really valued their lives. Although they had grown ten years older after traveling through time, they also wanted to live well. Aren’t they being cautious just to live longer? They didn’t want to be innocent cannon fodder.

On the first night, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren didn't sleep much because they were not far enough from the capital.

The next day, at dawn, the convoy was notified that it was time to set off. There was no time to prepare breakfast. After a simple wash, the convoy set off.

We were on the road all day long and didn't even have a break at noon. The only time we stopped was either to rest the horses, take care of urgent needs, or get some water.

The convoy moved very fast and arrived at the first station that evening. It was really fast.

Zhulan finished her dinner and lay down on the bed. "If we keep going at this speed, the time we need to go back home will be shortened by half."

Zhou Shuren, "I didn't have time to visit my hometown when I came here. If I pass by my hometown when I go back, I will just leave the team there."

"That's what I was thinking of doing, I want to go back and see my parents."

Zhou Shuren hugged Zhulan and said, "Go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow to travel."

Zhulan didn't have a good rest yesterday. She couldn't sleep because she was rushing on the road during the day and the car was bumpy. She nodded and fell asleep in a daze. Although she fell asleep, she didn't dare to sleep too deeply. She was worried and her sleep quality was not good.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was seven days later. After seven days of continuous travel, the children could not bear it anymore and several of them fell ill. There was no choice but for the convoy to reach the county town and rest for two days.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren also looked pale. If they hadn't insisted on exercising, they would probably have fallen ill.

Even though they had suffered, they had already traveled most of the way. Zhou Shuren and Zhulan could finally rest assured that little people like them had not attracted any attention, so they didn't have to worry about being cannon fodder.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren felt relieved. They slept soundly on the first day, spending ten of the twelve hours sleeping and resting.

I didn’t regain my sleep the next day, but I slept too much and couldn’t fall asleep again.

Zhulan was no longer nervous. She had a lot of money in her hands and couldn't hold back her desire to spend it. She suggested, "Let's go shopping in town. We didn't buy anything good in the capital. Let's go to town and buy some more gifts to bring back."

Zhou Shuren didn't want to lie down anymore, "Okay."

Zhulan's first target was the jewelry shop. Now that she had money in hand, she could buy more jewelry for her daughter-in-law to prepare her wedding dowry in advance, and also buy some for herself.

Zhulan prefers jade and doesn't like pearl jewelry. This is because she has seen too many artificially cultivated pearls in modern times, which are not only round and big but also very cheap, so she doesn't really like pearls.

Zhulan selected three pairs of jade bracelets, some gold and jade headbands, and finally bought some exquisite head flowers for the little girls.

The total cost was one hundred and ten taels of silver.

Afterwards, the two of them went shopping again, and Zhulan bought some more fabrics, but nothing else.

Back at the inn, Zhou Shuren saw Zhulan fiddling with her jewelry without saying anything, so he asked, "What are you thinking about?"

(End of this chapter)