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Qin Heng and Qin Sheng, taking advantage of the fading daylight, planned to gather some firewood from the surrounding area. Qin Zhao stayed behind at the wilderness cottage to watch over the women and children.
At this time of year, there was no completely dry firewood. Most of the firewood was partially buried in the snow, with only a section exposed.
However, they were not spared. Both Qin brothers gathered them, breaking them in half. They used the dry part themselves, and left the wet part to air dry for later use.
The guards followed them out, responsible for supervising them.
Taking the opportunity, Qin Heng pulled Qin Sheng aside, “A Sheng, I wanted to ask you, when did you start having this kind of good fortune again, finding things just by going out?”
When they plucked the goose, they noticed it had a slight injury, which didn’t attract much attention.
Little Six’s luck had always been good. When he was young, whenever he went out, he always found something. Anything that flew in the sky or swam in the water seemed to jump in front of him. Can you imagine him finding a big snake in the middle of winter?
Little Six’s good fortune shocked him and his father back then. Later, he and his father covered it up.
It seemed that this good fortune gradually faded after he turned five or six years old and became sensible. After his engagement at the age of ten, it seemed to disappear completely? Well, it wasn’t as exaggerated as before, but A Sheng’s luck was still better than ordinary people.
But it had been a long time since he had seen him finding things just by going out.
Inside the wilderness cottage, Old Madam Qin, after finding the cracked clay pot, also found a broken wooden bucket.
Taking advantage of the broken cottage that could be used to boil water and shelter, Lu Songli went to greet Xu Zheng first. Then, she and Old Madam Qin, along with Nie Yunniang, took a rough cloth and went to the next broken cottage. They enclosed a small space in the corner.
The three of them helped each other to clean themselves up a little.
The children were also taken one by one to wash themselves.
Xu Zheng didn’t say anything.
Zhao Long, however, glanced at them and spat, “Fancy.”
“Constable Xu, should we put handcuffs on them?” Zhao Long asked, full of food and drink.
Xu Zheng glanced at him, “Sure, go ahead and put handcuffs on them.”
This kid, he was the one who ate the most goose soup earlier. He had just finished eating the goose that was given to them, and now he wants to make things difficult for them. Xu Zheng had nothing to say to someone who eats with a bowl and then scolds with a bowl.
The three Qin brothers didn’t say anything about putting handcuffs back on.
In the evening, they made two fires.
Their shoes were more or less wet. They took them off and placed them by the fire to dry.
The guards took out their bedding from the carriage. Xu Zheng arranged for people to keep watch and then lay down. Some even went to sleep inside the carriage.
Qin Zhao, Nie Yunniang, and the baby slept in the middle of the corner. Qin Yu and Qin Zhen, the two children, slept next to them.
Qin Sheng and Qin Heng slept on the outermost sides, with Lu Songli sleeping next to Qin Sheng on one side.
Qin Mu and Qin Heng protected Qin Jia and Qin Han as they slept on the other side.
The next morning, the weather was quite good, with no snowfall. Xu Zheng gave them two quarter-hours to eat and take care of personal matters before hitting the road.
Last night, the three Qin brothers had secretly discussed and decided to take turns keeping watch. Qin Zhao and Qin Sheng would each take a half of the night. The person on watch could not sleep deeply and needed to add some firewood to the fire from time to time. They also had to pay attention to the simple earthen stove, where a clay pot sat with some water on top and a couple of large pieces of wood in the stove to keep the fire going.
At this moment, they put the dry bread into the clay pot to cook, making it soft and edible. Otherwise, the children couldn’t chew the dry bread at all, and Lu Songli’s cheeks would ache from chewing.
Lu Songli felt much better when they set off and refused to let Qin Sheng carry her on his back again.
Seeing their young aunt walking on her own, Qin Han and Qin Jia also wanted to walk on their own, thinking they could sit in the basket when they got tired.
The younger Qin Yu and Qin Zhen saw their older siblings walking on their own and followed suit, wanting to walk on their own as well.
The children were sensible and didn’t cry or fuss much despite the changes they were facing.
The three Qin brothers let them be, knowing the children wouldn’t be able to walk for long and would eventually need to be carried.
That day, they walked more than forty miles. By the end, Lu Songli felt her legs were numb and mechanical. Qin Sheng offered to carry her, and she accepted.
In the latter part of the journey, the children were almost carried.
Along the way, Xu Zheng mentioned that they would be spending the night at a ruined temple.
The ruined temple they mentioned was already occupied by a group of people.
Mo Bing stood on a high point, looking towards Chang’an City. “Brother Liu, do you think our young lady and master will be able to reach this ruined temple today?”
Liu Erxi replied, “No problem. Judging by their pace, they should be able to make it here by tonight.”
This ruined temple was not far from the official road and had always been a resting place for the guards escorting prisoners to the northeast. Within a radius of ten miles, with no village in sight, they would have to come here.
At this moment, Lu Mingzhi also walked out of the ruined temple.
Mo Bing saluted, “Young Master Lu—”
Lu Mingzhi nodded and asked them, “How is it? Have you seen them yet?”
“Liu Erxi said that our young lady and master are expected to arrive after dusk.”
“Alright, I’ll come out later.”
Lu Mingzhi had been kicked out of his home by his father. When the news of the Qin family’s exile to Pingzhou came out, his father decided to have him follow the people from the Yang Wei Escort Agency to secretly escort his sister to Pingzhou. A few months ago, he had even gone out with his teacher to broaden his horizons. Now that such a good opportunity had arisen, he couldn’t afford to waste it. What else could Lu Mingzhi say but to obediently comply?
They were all disguised, with thicker eyebrows, darker complexion, and different hairstyles.
Mo Bing styled herself as a woman and, together with Liu Erxi, pretended to be a newlywed couple heading to Lelang County to sell goods.
At this moment, a young man from the Yang Wei Escort Agency came out. “Miss Mo Bing, our leader asked me to ask you, what should we have for dinner?”
“Make some bone broth! Two pots!”
“Got it!”
“Add some ginger slices and wine.” It can ward off the cold.
The young man responded and started to plan. He would also steam some steamed buns and bacon, and that would be it. Their food was top-notch this time.
After the young man went inside and told Yang Wei, the chief escort, Yang Wei glanced at him and waved him away, telling him to go prepare. This kid was not honest. The bone broth was definitely at Mo Bing’s request, and the steamed buns were also necessary. In such cold weather, a grown man could easily become chilled just drinking broth. But the bacon was definitely the kid’s craving, and he insisted on steaming it.
However, it was no big deal. This time they were going to Pingzhou, and he had brought sixteen brothers with him. He had brought almost all the best fighters in their escort agency, leaving only a few behind to guard the house.
They had prepared ten carriages! They were packed with supplies, rice, noodles, oil, items to keep warm, everything you could think of. Cough, eight of those carriages were prepared by the Lu family, and the remaining two were theirs, which was pitiful. But the Lu family didn’t care about food and never deducted anything from the supplies. They could eat as much refined rice, noodles, and meat as they wanted, as long as they didn’t waste it. After two or three days, the escorts had developed a favorable impression of the Qin and Lu families.
But at this moment, Yang Wei thought about meeting the famous Miss Lu, and to be honest, he was a little nervous.
The sky was getting dark, and Lu Songli and the others were finally approaching the ruined temple that Xu Zheng had mentioned.
“Huh? There are people at the ruined temple?” Xu Zheng stopped.
The constable next to him tiptoed to take a look. “There are people. Look at the carriages tied to the porch. There must be quite a few people.”
Upon hearing this, Lu Songli’s eyes lit up.
“Brother Xu, should we go there now?”
“Go!” If they didn’t, they would have to sleep in the wilderness. Besides, the ruined temple was deserted, why not go?
At this moment, someone came out of the ruined temple.
Yang Wei came out and said with a hearty laugh, “Brother, you must be Xu Zheng, the constable from Baoding Prefecture, right?” Those who traveled far and wide had good memories. Besides, Chang’an and Baoding were not far apart, and he had indeed interacted with Xu Zheng a couple of times.
Xu Zheng also found the man familiar. “You are Yang Wei, the chief escort of the Yang Wei Escort Agency?”
“Yes, it’s me, brother Xu. Come on, come in!” Yang Wei invited him enthusiastically.
“Chief Escort Yang, what are you doing here?”
“Well, this time I’m escorting a shipment to Lelang County, and I’m staying at the ruined temple tonight. Brother Xu, if you don’t mind, we can squeeze in together tonight?”
Xu Zheng glanced at Lu Songli. Escorting a shipment to Lelang County would pass through Pingzhou. What a coincidence?
“Of course not.” It was the same as before, the ruined temple was unoccupied.
“This ruined temple is quite large. I have many people and a lot of stuff, so I’m using the main hall. The side halls are still empty. Brother Xu, feel free to choose whatever you like.”
“Alright, we’ll choose a place ourselves later. Chief Escort Yang, you must be tired. You’re still out escorting shipments at this time.”
Yang Wei still laughed heartily. “There’s no way around it. The employer requested to leave at this time, so we have to comply. We’re all just trying to make a living. Constable Xu, you’re also traveling far away during the New Year.”
Xu Zheng also looked helpless, “There’s no way around it, we have orders from above, we have to go along with it.”
After that, Xu Zheng and the others settled in the side hall on the right that they had just chosen for the night.
Just then, Yang Wei came in through the side door, “Brother Xu, we’ve prepared dinner over here, if you don’t mind, why don’t you join us for a meal?”
“Isn’t that inappropriate?” Xu Zheng hesitated.
“What’s the harm in that? We’ve been traveling all over, there’s no need to be so polite. Come on, let’s all eat together!” Yang Wei called out to the other guards.
Xu Zheng and the others reluctantly sat down.
After they started eating, Yang Wei and Xu Zheng discussed, “Brother Xu, we have extra rice porridge here that we can’t finish, can we send some over to them?” Yang Wei gestured with his eyes towards the Qin family.
At this point, Xu Zheng had a rough idea of what was going on.
Yang, the head guard, glared at the young helper in the kitchen and pretended to say, “It’s all because of my kid at home, he has big eyes but a small appetite. When he cooks, he keeps adding food to the pot! We can’t finish all this, and tomorrow the noble will ask for a new one, isn’t this wasteful?”
The young man he scolded just chuckled.
Xu Zheng said, “It’s fine, they are prisoners, if you want to send them some food, it’s okay.”
So, one person from the Qin family received a large bowl of steaming hot bone porridge, which was thick and fragrant.
After thanking them, Lu Songli started eating, “Go ahead, it’s fine. I’ve heard of Yang, the head guard, he’s a kind and just person.”
As she started eating, the three brothers of the Qin family also understood that she was one of them?
The three brothers of the Qin family followed suit, and Old Madam Qin and the children knew that the bone porridge was safe, so they began to eat as well. This was the most comfortable meal they had in the past two days.
As for Yang Wei, who heard Lu Songli’s last sentence: … he didn’t really want this kind of praise.