Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Lu Shuangshuang quickly took the roasted jerky from her bundle and shared some with everyone.

“Old Madam Xiao, Madam, you should eat a little, at least. A body is like iron and must be forged with grain; miss one meal and your stomach will know no peace. Besides, the Eldest Young Master is blessed by heaven. Something may not necessarily have happened to him.”

Old Madam Xiao accepted the jerky and sighed. “Shuang’er is right. No matter what, we must reach the Northern Frontier. Even if we do not think of ourselves, we have to think of Jingmo, Jinghao, and jin Bao and her brothers. If all of us collapse, what will happen to those three children?”

Pei Wanqing’s vacant eyes finally shifted. She pulled Jin Bao tightly into her arms and wept without a sound.

Only after a long while did she raise her head and take the jerky.

Xiao Jingmo and Xiao Jinghao stayed by her side, one on the left and one on the right. Pei Wanqing slowly pulled herself out of her grief. Tears still clung to her smiling face, and bitterness still weighed on her heart, but her mother-in-law was right. Life had to go on, not for herself, but for the children.

“Thank you, Sister-in-law. We owe so much to you today.”

Lu Shuangshuang shook her head. “Madam, it’s nothing. If you hadn’t helped us along, the three of us might have ended up like them, left in that forest forever.”

It was already June, and there were many mosquitoes and insects at night. The big communal platform bed had some bugs too, but it was still better than the straw shed outside.

Lu Shuangshuang took out the half-dried mugwort she had roasted in the cave, lit it, and smoked the area around the shed.

It could drive away mosquitoes and also help guard against poisonous insects.

“Auntie, you’ve worked hard all day. All of you should go rest. My father and I will take turns keeping watch. You can sleep in peace.”

Xiao Jingmo kept everything Lu Shuangshuang had quietly done for them in his heart.

They were a temporary little group now. Everyone silently did what they could, supporting one another and striving to survive together.

After Pei Wanqing fed Jin Bao a few pieces of jerky, the little girl snuggled into her arms and fell asleep.

Xiao Jingmo took the first half of the night watch. He sat alone in the pile of straw. When he looked up, he could see specks of silver light leaking through the gaps in the straw shed. The moon was bright tonight. In his ears were the sounds of his family’s breathing and the chirping of insects. For the first time, he felt that the night could be so peaceful.

At some point, Jin Bao suddenly rubbed her eyes and sat up.

Still dazed, she seemed as if she were dreaming, staring blankly at the roof of the shed.

Xiao Jingmo noticed something was wrong with Jin Bao at once. He walked over quietly and lifted her from Pei Wanqing’s side.

At that moment, what Jin Bao saw was an entirely different scene.

The courier station where they were staying had been a village long, long ago.

One day, a band of bandits came to the village. They burned, killed, looted, and committed every evil imaginable.

There was a landlord family in the village, and the bandits had come for them.

When the landlord heard that bandits had entered the village, he immediately buried a jar of gold beans beneath an osmanthus tree in his courtyard.

Then he took his family and fled through the back gate, planning to return and retrieve it after the bandits left.

Who could have known that the bandits had never intended to spare anyone? They caught up to the landlord’s family, slaughtered them all, ransacked the landlord’s house, and swaggered off.

Time flowed on. In the blink of an eye, a hundred years passed. The village of old no longer existed, and the landlord’s house had been converted into a courier station.

“Little Sister? What’s wrong?”

Xiao Jingmo gently touched Jin Bao’s forehead and found no sign of fever, but he called her several times and received no response.

“Second Brother? Baby needs to pee-pee.”

Jin Bao finally spoke. Xiao Jingmo hurriedly carried her out into the courtyard.

The straw shed had been built against the southern wall of the courier station’s rear courtyard.

Once they stepped out of the shed, the kitchen building stood opposite them. There was a well in the courtyard, and against the western wall grew a tall osmanthus tree, lush with branches and leaves. It looked quite old.

Xiao Jingmo had originally planned to carry Jin Bao to the southwest corner, but Jin Bao pointed at the osmanthus tree.

“Second Brother, go under the tree.”

Xiao Jingmo changed direction and headed toward the osmanthus tree.

After Jin Bao was set on the ground, she relieved herself on her own. Then, following the scene from her dream, she walked to the other side of the osmanthus tree, stuck out her little bottom, and started digging with her small hands.

There had been a heavy rain yesterday, so the soil was very soft.

Hearing the movement, Xiao Jingmo turned around and saw the little girl huffing and puffing as she dug a hole.

“Little Sister, what are you trying to dig up? Second Brother will help you.”

Jin Bao’s little hands were covered in mud, and beads of sweat had already broken out across her forehead. She could not help raising a hand to wipe them away, only to smear mud all over her face and turn herself into a tiny calico cat.

“Second Brother, dig up gold. Lots and lots of gold beans. Then we’ll have money to buy food for everyone and live in a big house.”
Jin Bao spread her arms wide, outlining the shape of a great big house. Beneath the moonlight, her large eyes shone bright and sparkling.

Xiao Jingmo’s eyes lit up. Gold beans?

He carried Jin Bao to the side and began digging with his own hands.

Before long, he really did dig up an earthenware jar. The outside had even been coated with tung oil, and it was sealed extremely well.

The jar was not large, but it was very heavy in his arms. If what was inside were gold beans, it had to weigh at least two jin; that would be twenty taels’ worth of gold beans.

Xiao Jingmo’s heart burned hot with excitement.

Jin Bao also leaned her little head over. One big and one small crouched head-to-head in the courtyard, both staring at the earthenware jar on the ground.

Xiao Jingmo reached out and pried open the seal on the jar. By the moonlight, he saw that it was filled with glittering, round little beads.

He grabbed a handful and picked one out, weighing it in his palm.

A single gold bean was worth roughly one tael of silver. The only question was how many were inside.

Judging by their size, the gold beans were all about the same. They had probably been specially melted and cast by someone.

“Second Brother, does this mean tomorrow we can eat white-flour steamed buns and live in a big house?”

Jin Bao looked at Xiao Jingmo with eager, pitiful eyes.

“That’s right. Little Sister, you’ve made another great contribution. With these gold beans, our food and lodging for the next month are settled. But wealth must not be shown off. Aside from our own family, you mustn’t tell anyone, understand?”

Jin Bao quickly nodded her little head. “Second Brother, Baby remembers. I won’t tell anyone.”

Jin Bao clapped both hands tightly over her little mouth, only to smear mud all over it.

When Xiao Jingmo saw that, he nearly laughed out loud. Calling her a silly little thing, he carefully wiped her hands and face clean.

The eastern sky had only just begun to pale like the belly of a fish when Zou Yong came to urge everyone to get moving.

Li Si could not be bothered to hawk his goods either. He simply laid out the food he had bought from the relay station on the tables in the main hall.

After that heavy rain, these people’s food supplies had all been ruined.

Last night, Zhu Laosan had gone to Li Si and told him to distribute one coarse cornbread bun per person each day. If anyone wanted better food, they could pay for it.

Li Si had originally wanted to argue, thinking those people must still have some private savings hidden away, but Zhu Laosan used the excuse of needing to hurry on the road and made him give up the idea.

This morning, just when everyone thought they would have to go hungry, Zhu Laosan suddenly said, “Each person gets one black-flour cornbread bun. Finish eating and get on the road.”

At such good news, everyone rushed over in a swarm.

Xiao Jingmo lined up and collected the cornbread buns for both families, ten in total. He also spent money to buy four white-flour steamed buns.

What made his heart ache was that although the cornbread buns were now free, the white-flour steamed buns had risen to two hundred coins apiece.

One gold bean of his had only bought five white-flour steamed buns. If he bought fewer than five, Li Si would not give him change, so he might as well spend it all on buns.

Li Si stared at Xiao Jingmo’s retreating back for a while. This man had not even had money for lodging last night, yet overnight he could suddenly produce a gold bean. Li Si’s gaze shifted to Jin Bao. Could it be this little child’s ability had led them to find it?

It seemed his older cousin had been right. He needed to pay more attention to this little child. In the future, he should be more polite to the Xiao Family Main Branch.

Li Si buried the doubts in his heart and packed up his stall, preparing to set out.

Xiao Jingmo gave the white-flour steamed buns to Madam Liu, Old Madam Xiao, Jin Bao, and Xiao Jingyu. He wanted to give the extra one to Pei Wanqing, but Pei Wanqing refused. She felt that if everyone else could eat black-flour cornbread buns, then so could she.

The elderly and children had weaker stomachs. White flour was easier for them to digest, so the extra bun would be saved for lunch.

Lu Shuangshuang was deeply grateful. She had asked around about the price of white-flour steamed buns; it had more than doubled from before. Her family certainly could not afford them.

She had not expected the Second Young Master to be so considerate as to think of her mother-in-law and child.

“Second Young Master, thank you for looking after us.”

Lu Shuangshuang gave Xiao Jingmo a grateful bow.

“Auntie, there’s no need for that. You’ve helped our family a great deal. They’re only two steamed buns. It’s not worth mentioning.”

Lu Shuangshuang knew this was the Main Branch showing gratitude and returning kindness for kindness, so she said no more. From now on, she would do her best to take good care of everyone’s health.

They walked for another seven or eight days. On this day, they arrived at a town.

Zou Yong took the initiative to seek out Cui Jin.

The two of them plotted in a room for half an hour before Zou Yong left.

After dinner, everyone went off to rest.

Jin Bao was unusually restless, agitated and unable to sit still.

But her Heavenly Eye had not opened. Even so, her instincts told her that many people would die tonight.

That instinct was carved into her very bones, and it had never been wrong.