While Min Yueqing cooked meat and vegetables for the little one, she also gave Shi Tou some pointers on how long to cook different ingredients. The lunch was quite lively and enjoyable.
This weather is a perfect match for hot pot. After eating, everyone was covered in a fine sweat, feeling warm all over and not cold at all.
In the afternoon, the friends who had gone out for a trip returned one after another. In the evening, Min Yueqing treated everyone to a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner at the best restaurant in Banan County.
After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Min Yueqing took out a thick stack of red envelopes and gave one to each person. The men, having eaten and drunk their fill and still holding the red envelopes in their hands, were all beaming with joy and said auspicious words to Min Yueqing.
Back at the inn, Min Yueqing followed custom and placed a red envelope under each of the children's pillows. Inside were New Year's money for the children, meant to ward off evil spirits and ensure a peaceful year ahead.
Pei Ji knew that his parents had this habit: as soon as they got into bed, they would move their pillows to look for their New Year's money.
Although it happens every year, Pei Ji is always just as happy to receive it. And here it is, Min Yueqing successfully received a sweet kiss from the little one.
Stone discovered it when he woke up the next morning. He slept in a very relaxed posture, and his pillow rarely stayed in place overnight. However, this time, after the pillow was moved, what was exposed was not the bed sheet, but a red envelope.
Shi Tou was overjoyed and excitedly opened his red envelope, only to find a gold coin inside!
It's no exaggeration to say that Shi Tou was stunned. His parents had given him lucky money before, but it was always just a copper coin, so he had always thought that lucky money meant just a copper coin.
Shi Tou silently put the gold ingot back into the red envelope and kept it close to his body.
He didn't think he would use the gold ingot, but he would keep it so that every time he saw the red envelope, he would think of his master who was good to him, and of course, Pei Ji.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, a troupe of opera performers was invited to the county town. Many people went to watch the spectacle, and the children were especially happy, dancing and waving their arms. The county town was filled with a joyous atmosphere.
Some of the men liked to join in the fun, so they went to see the play in twos and threes; others didn't like to join in the fun, so they stayed in the inn sleeping and chatting. Min Yueqing didn't interfere with their activities.
Min Yueqing did take Pei Ji and Shi Tou to join in the fun, but firstly, it was too noisy in the audience, and secondly, she didn't understand the play, so she just accompanied them and let the two children watch by themselves.
After spending about an hour under the stage, Pei Ji and Shi Tou both suggested they go back.
There were many food stalls set up here, and many of the local foods were things that the two children had never seen before. Min Yueqing handed Shi Tou a purse and said, "Buy whatever you want to eat. Buy more and share it with Amei and Azhu when you get back."
So, after walking this short road, the two children returned home with a full load of goodies.
The Spring Festival was spent in a lively atmosphere amidst the incessant sound of firecrackers, and the next day, everyone set off early.
A little over a month later, Amo excitedly shouted, "Madam, Qingzhou is just ahead! Once we get to Qingzhou, it won't be more than half a month before we reach Master's place!"
The men were thrilled to hear his shout. They had been traveling for half a year since they set off from the capital last year, and now they were finally about to arrive.
Upon entering Qingzhou, Min Yueqing's most striking impression was the abundance of mountains and dense forests, with exceptionally tall trees. This caused them to sometimes feel as if they were in the dark even in broad daylight, which explained the rumors of rampant miasma in the area.
Seeing this environment, everyone couldn't help but look somewhat apprehensive.
Amo said, "Although everyone in the capital portrays the southwest as particularly terrifying, the southwest region is actually quite large. It's only in these dense forests that people rarely venture out that things are like this. Once you get out of this area and reach inhabited places, it will be much better. You might even find the mountain scenery beautiful then!"
The guys were a bit skeptical, thinking that Ah Mo was probably joking or lying to comfort them.
Pei Ji struggled to eat the dry rations in his hands, drinking a mouthful of honey water after each bite, otherwise the bread would choke him and he would refuse to go down.
Min Yueqing was also powerless to help.
Although Amo said that this situation was only temporary, this section of the road was sparsely populated, and it was springtime, when everything was thriving, the mountains were covered with lush vegetation, and the dense forest was always shrouded in a layer of white mist.
Under these circumstances, even Min Yueqing didn't want to linger and just wanted to get on her way as quickly as possible.
Firstly, it was to prevent the miasma from harming everyone's health if they stayed in such an environment for too long; secondly, the safety of the water source in such places was unknown, and there was a great risk of contracting diseases if they drank it or used it for cooking.
"Miss, thankfully you told us to bring extra water buckets when we set off, otherwise we wouldn't even dare to drink water once we got into these mountains," A-Zhu said, still feeling lingering fear after seeing the treacherous environment they had been in for several days.
What she didn't know was that the water they had fetched at their previous lodging had long been used up, and the water in the buckets these past few days had been secretly transferred into them by Min Yueqing from her spatial storage.
The group was large, and when the servants needed water, they would go directly to the carriage with the water tanks. Even Amei and her companion were unaware of the specific water usage, so they did not notice anything unusual.
Over the past six months, similar situations have occurred countless times. Since Min Yueqing often only takes her two children with her when she goes out, neither the staff nor Amei know exactly what she bought.
Sometimes when they went out of town to eat in the wild, Min Yueqing would even move the cooked food out of her spatial storage and then openly have someone fetch it.
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