For lunch, they ate baked buns and meat pies again. In this weather, the food they brought wouldn't spoil for two or three days. Since they still had to continue their journey, and cooking porridge would take a long time, Tian Shu and the others cooked soup—egg drop soup.
However, there was something extra in today's egg drop soup. The children found some wild vegetables growing on the roadside ridges, dug them up, washed them, and put them in the pot.
Wild shepherd's purse is a wild vegetable that grows in this season. Although it is approaching winter, it is still green. The egg soup with shepherd's purse tastes better than before, and it is also more pleasing to the eye.
Hong Xiaoduo sipped her soup and looked around. The roads she had traveled recently, though they included mountains and forests, were quite far from the official roads, so she hadn't had a chance to hunt wild game lately.
Now that she has some gold and silver on her, she can order some fish and meat in the town. Otherwise, even if the forest is farther from the road, she would still go out to hunt some wild game to supplement the children's nutrition.
Hong Xiaoduo felt that feudal ancient times had some advantages that modern times don't have. At least when she went into the forest to hunt wild game, she didn't have to find out what level of protection the game was or what kind of punishment she would receive if she got caught.
Another thing is that she hadn't hunted wild game for a while, and her hands were itching to do it.
After setting off in the afternoon, the bodyguards noticed a problem: their third brother was either riding at the very front or at the very back, and was no longer by the young lady's carriage.
Hong Xiaoduo didn't notice any of this. In the afternoon, she started snoring in the carriage and decided to lie down and take a nap.
In a daze, I felt the carriage stop: "We're in town so fast?" I asked, sitting up and stretching.
I saw a few little ones huddled by one of the windows in the carriage, looking out at something.
"We haven't arrived yet. They stopped up ahead, I don't know what happened," Tian Shu told him from outside the carriage.
"Stop up ahead?" Hong Xiaoduo thought for a moment, put on her boots, got off the carriage, straightened her robes, and walked forward.
The first few bodyguards stood there, blocking her view. She couldn't see them, but she could hear a woman's pleading voice: "Young master, please have mercy and help us."
Hearing the commotion behind him, one of the bodyguards turned around and saw Hong Xiaoduo. He moved aside to make room for her.
Now we can see clearly that a carriage wheel is broken, a woman in her late forties is trying to reason with Dazhi, and a man in his fifties, who looks like a coachman, is standing by the carriage, covered in sweat.
Hong Xiaoduo looked towards the carriage. The windows were covered by curtains, but she could vaguely see a young woman inside.
"What's going on?" The sound of horses' hooves came from behind Hong Xiaoduo, followed by Tang Xihua's voice.
"Reporting to Third Senior Brother, their carriage wheels are broken, and they want our help," Dazhi quickly stepped forward to tell him.
Tang Xihua did not dismount. She looked at the broken carriage and saw that the wheels were beyond repair. She said, "How can we help? We don't have any spare wheels."
"Young master, could you give us a ride to the town ahead?" A woman's voice came from inside the carriage. It was very pleasant, which made several bodyguards unable to resist looking out the window.
It was only about two hours' journey from here to the town ahead, and Tang Xihua thought about it and agreed.
"Thank you for your help, young master. Please come down, Miss Xun." The woman quickly thanked her, turned around, opened the carriage door, and helped a young girl of about sixteen years old down from the carriage. She then went into the carriage and carried a bundle down.
The girl had her hair styled in a cloud-like updo, her skin was as white as jade, her eyebrows were as thin as willow leaves, her lips were slightly pursed, and after glancing at Tang Xihua with her watery eyes, she shyly lowered her head.
"Oh?" Hong Xiaoduo looked at Tang Xihua on horseback, wanting to see his reaction, but what she saw was a blank expression.
"Shicheng, tidy up that car a bit and let the two of them ride in it," Tang Xihua said to one of the bodyguards.
The bodyguard named Shi Cheng immediately responded and began to prepare the carriage he was driving. The woman and Xun Niangzi immediately looked over, and when they saw that it was the carriage they were to ride in to carry goods, Xun Niangzi frowned, and the woman's originally happy face immediately became somewhat unnatural.
"Young master, is that carriage not suitable?" the woman asked, pointing to Hong Xiaoduo's carriage after looking back.
Hong Xiaoduo remained silent, wanting to hear how Tang Xihua would respond.
"I'm sorry, that's not my carriage, and I can't make that decision. Besides, there's no room for both of you in that carriage," Tang Xihua said calmly.
"If it's not the young master's carriage, then whose is it? I'll go and ask." The woman asked unwillingly.
Tang Xihua didn't say it was Hong Xiaoduo's, but her expression was somewhat displeased as she coldly looked at the woman.
Unfortunately, the woman was so anxious to ask the owner of the carriage that she didn't notice Tang Xihua's expression. When she saw a bodyguard looking at Hong Xiaoduo, she immediately stepped forward and said with a smile, "Young lady, are those two carriages yours? Could my Xun's wife squeeze in for a bit? It'll only take two hours."
They're all young women, it's not easy being away from home, please do them a favor.
Hearing that she had asked Hong Xiaoduo, Tang Xihua immediately hesitated to speak and looked at Hong Xiaoduo.
When they set off, there was a carriage for one person, which was prepared for their junior sister. Later, when they took their junior sister back, they naturally rode in that carriage.
All the vehicles, except for the one Shi Cheng was driving which was carrying tents and other items, were now fully loaded with goods. When they agreed to give them a ride, they hadn't thought of sending them to Hong Xiaoduo's vehicle.
Although the woman was pleading, Hong Xiaoduo didn't like her. But looking at the girl's gentle appearance, she couldn't bring herself to refuse: "We can only squeeze her out."
As for the woman, if she didn't want to ride in the cargo cart, then she could walk herself.
The woman was pleased that the man had agreed. Although she herself couldn't sit, at least her young mistress could. Though she was unhappy, she knew she was asking for a favor.
"Then thank you very much, young lady." After saying that, she turned to the coachman and said in an unfriendly tone, "You useless thing, just wait here for someone from the manor to come."
The driver, after being scolded, obediently replied, "Yes."
Hong Xiaoduo noticed that when the woman scolded the driver, the gentle Xun Niangzi's expression did not change. She also noticed that half of the driver's cheek was swollen and there was blood at the corner of his mouth.
The woman, carrying a bundle, led Xun Niangzi toward Hong Xiaoduo's carriage.
Hong Xiaoduo walked to the broken carriage and asked the driver, "Did she hit you?"
The driver glanced at the woman's retreating figure and muttered, "It's my fault for not checking the vehicle carefully before I left."
Hong Xiaoduo frowned and walked towards her carriage.
Tang Xihua and the other bodyguards on horseback followed her movements with their eyes...
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