“Benefactor! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it really is you! How did you… Oh, I know! With your skills, getting into the city must have been as easy as taking a stroll,” Shi Yu said, answering his own question before anyone else could.
Chen Yuan had been wondering what excuse she should come up with. Instead, before she could say a single word, he’d already solved the problem for her.
Young man, thank you!
“Yu’er, don’t spout nonsense,” the old man scolded. Turning to Chen Yuan, he said apologetically, “Benefactor, I’ve spoiled this child rotten. He speaks without thinking. Please don’t take it to heart.”
“I don’t mind,” Chen Yuan replied. “He’s very clever. And please don’t keep calling me ‘Benefactor.’ My name is Chen Yuan.”
“In that case, for convenience, I’ll call you Xiao Chen.”
“I’ll call you Brother Chen,” Shi Yu said.
“That’s fine.”
“Xiao Chen,” Old Master Shi asked, “where are you headed? My grandson and I are going to the capital. Are we traveling the same way?”
“I’m going to Yuzhou,” Chen Yuan answered without revealing any more than necessary.
“That’s great, Brother Chen! We’re going the same way. Let’s travel together!” Shi Yu said excitedly.
Old Master Shi looked at her with the same hopeful expression.
“All right.”
With their horse-drawn carriage as cover, buying a few more supplies shouldn’t expose the existence of her Storage Space.
“Xiao Chen,” Old Master Shi continued, “where are you staying? My grandson and I plan to spend the night here, buy some supplies, and leave tomorrow morning. Would that work for you?”
So much for leaving that afternoon.
Chen Yuan nodded. “I was planning the same thing. I’m staying with a local family. How about we meet at the south gate tomorrow morning?”
“Excellent. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
After they parted ways, Chen Yuan bought more shoes for herself and the baby. As for clothes, she simply ducked into a deserted alley and retrieved them from her Storage Space.
With nothing else to do that afternoon, she remained inside the Storage Space, making flatbreads, steaming mantou, and preparing travel-friendly dried meat, meat sauce, and pickled vegetables. She also took the opportunity to organize the carriage.
She spread a straw mat across the floor of the carriage and covered it with two layers of oilcloth. In the rear section, she arranged a small iron pot, a clay pot, a medicine-brewing stove, and two sets of bowls and chopsticks. She packed small amounts of brown rice, coarse black flour, white rice, wheat flour, and millet, then added an umbrella before securing everything in place.
At the front, she laid down a mattress folded into two layers. She found a large wooden washbasin, lined it with a small quilt, and turned it into a cradle for Niuniu. The remaining space was filled with clothing for herself and her daughter.
Perfect.
Early the next morning, Chen Yuan arrived at the city gate well before dawn.
Since the grandfather and grandson hadn’t arrived yet, she spent the time playing with little Niuniu.
The baby had just passed her one-month milestone. Her expressions were becoming more varied. She no longer only stared with wide eyes and blew bubbles. Now she could pout when she felt wronged, and she had even begun to smile. Her complexion had grown fairer and softer as well, though she was still rather thin.
“Xiao Chen, you’ve already arrived. My apologies—we’re late,” Old Master Shi said hurriedly.
“Not at all. I simply came early.”
“This child is so fair. She’s a little over a month old, isn’t she? A boy or a girl?”
“She just turned one month old. She’s a girl. Let’s get going.”
As she spoke, Chen Yuan gently placed Niuniu into the wooden basin inside the carriage.
The little girl was still awake, but even after being laid down by herself, she neither cried nor fussed.
Once they passed through the city gate, the two horse-drawn carriages rolled forward side by side.
As they chatted along the road, Chen Yuan learned that the reason the grandfather and grandson had been allowed into the city the previous day was because the general guarding the gates happened to be acquainted with Old Master Shi’s son.
Judging from the old man’s tone, his son was likely a high-ranking official in the capital.
Old Master Shi himself had remained in his hometown practicing medicine. Used to living as he pleased, he had never wanted to settle in the capital.
It turned out that every year, his son would send his grandson to visit him. None of them had expected to run into such a disaster this year—even the young servant accompanying Shi Yu had been killed.
“What? Brother Chen is only fifteen years old? And you’re already a mother?”
“You brat, stop making such a fuss. Keep your voice down. It wouldn’t be good if others overheard,” Old Master Shi scolded, rapping his grandson lightly on the head.
“Look at yourself. Xiao Chen is only two years older than you, yet she’s far more mature.”
Then the old man turned back to Chen Yuan.
“Xiao Chen, your child has only just turned one month old. Why are you traveling alone?”
“The baby had barely been born when her father was conscripted. He died on the battlefield. My husband’s family wouldn’t take us in anymore, so I had no choice but to take my daughter and head to Yuzhou to seek refuge with relatives.”
It was only half true, but close enough.
Old Master Shi seemed to recall something painful and let out a long sigh.
“Ah… these are truly troubled times.”
“Brother Chen, don’t be sad,” Shi Yu said earnestly. “If they couldn’t accept you, that’s their loss. With your skills, you’ll definitely be able to raise your daughter well, even on your own.”
Chen Yuan was speechless.
Young man… are we really not letting the whole “your skills” thing go?
How did you even connect martial skills with raising a child? What does being good at fighting have to do with being a good mother?
Although she couldn’t understand his train of thought, she still replied, “Thank you.”
It was also during their conversation that Chen Yuan finally learned why no Tatar pursuers had appeared after they left Songshan County.
As it turned out, when Chen Yuan had wiped out the Tatar vanguard, their main force had indeed been camped only five li away.
Just as that larger force was preparing to march on Songshan County, they received urgent news that their headquarters, dozens of kilometers away, had come under a surprise attack by Yuansheng Kingdom forces. If they didn’t rush back immediately, their base would be overrun.
As a result, the bulk of the Tatar army had hurried back to defend its headquarters, leaving only a small contingent stationed outside Songshan County.
That was what had given the common people a chance to flee.
It had also bought the Yuansheng court precious time to catch its breath, allowing it to dispatch a large army to defend Yanggu County.
Perhaps, before long, Yanggu County would become the next battlefield.
Now that they had a carriage, traveling became much faster. Although sitting in a carriage for long periods was hardly comfortable, it was still far better than riding horseback all day.
Everywhere they went, the land lay barren.
The villages they passed were lifeless and desolate. The occasional villager they saw was little more than skin and bones.
The wealthy still had grain stockpiled, but ordinary farming families had long since resorted to chewing tree bark and grass roots.
Some had even reached the point of eating clay.
That evening, after darkness fell, the four of them arrived at a place called Gedagou. They paid a little grain as lodging and spent the night at a farmhouse.
The household was a small one, consisting of only an elderly woman and her five-year-old grandson.
Her son had died three years earlier, and her daughter-in-law had remarried soon afterward, leaving the grandmother and grandson to depend solely on each other.
In the middle of the night, they were suddenly awakened by the old woman’s cries.
“Xiaobao! What’s wrong? Xiaobao! Don’t scare Grandma! If anything happens to you, how am I supposed to go on living? Xiaobao!”
Chen Yuan hurriedly got out of bed, dressed, and stepped outside, where she found Old Master Shi and Shi Yu had also awakened.
The three of them rushed into the room where the grandmother and grandson slept.
The child’s face had turned bluish-green, and his belly was grotesquely swollen.
He looked as though he might not survive the night.
Old Master Shi, being a physician, immediately examined the boy before asking, “What has he been eating these past few days?”
The old woman wiped away her tears as she answered.
“Whatever I eat, he eats. A few days ago we still had wild vegetable porridge. The day before yesterday, there wasn’t a single grain of rice left, so I boiled some grass roots. But Xiaobao wouldn’t eat them. I had no choice but to make flatbreads out of Guanyin Clay for him. That’s all he’s eaten these past two days. If you kind people hadn’t come today, he wouldn’t even have had a bowl of thin porridge tonight.”
As she spoke, she broke down into sobs once more.
“Grandpa,” Shi Yu asked in confusion, “what’s wrong with him?”