Xie Mingzhu turned her head to look and was surprised to see a durian tree.
Before she could respond, the yamen runner driving the cart explained, “That’s a stinky lotus tree. It smells worse than shit and isn’t edible.”
Xiaoshi quickly covered her nose and mouth with her hand covered in red moles. “I thought someone had pooped their pants, but it turns out it’s that stinky tree.”
Xie Mingzhu was astonished. While it was true that it smelled worse than feces, it was also genuinely fragrant, and in her previous world, it was extremely expensive.
No one here ate it? Did that mean she could indulge to her heart’s content in the future?
But given the circumstances, if she secretly ate it, she’d probably be mistaken for secretly eating shit.
“Hey, there’s another strange fruit over there. Can we eat it?” Xiaoshi had discovered another new fruit.
Before Xie Mingzhu could get a look, Xiao Yunyan, who usually acted steady and fitting of an older brother, unexpectedly lost his composure and shouted, “Sisters, look over there! There are actually bananas!”
It was unbelievable—banana trees actually looked like that, and their leaves were so large.
His shout drew the yamen runners’ attention. Seemingly amused by their unsophisticated reactions, they patiently explained, “Those are plantains, but they’re quite delicious too.”
Saying this, one of them actually called out to Yang Defa ahead: “Boss, I’m going to cut some plantains for the kids in the cart. Wait a moment.”
Xie Mingzhu was shocked. Since when did exiled convicts receive such treatment?
But in fact, Yang Defa had already given orders for everyone to stop under a shady tree. Not only did he send the yamen runners to cut plantains for everyone by the roadside, but he also told them to bring plenty of plantain leaves for sun protection.
This was practically saintly.
Xie Mingzhu quickly thanked Yang Defa and the others: “Thank you, sirs.”
Yang Defa smiled and acknowledged her gratitude. He had long taken notice of Xie Mingzhu’s family. “Madam Xiao, you’re quite capable—raising five children so well, and four of them are daughters! Excellent, truly excellent!”
His latter remark startled Xie Mingzhu. What did he mean by “daughters are excellent”? But upon closely observing Yang Defa’s expression, it seemed he was genuinely praising them.
This left her momentarily puzzled.
There had actually been quite a few children in the convoy initially, but along the way, some died of fright, others succumbed after days of convulsions, and some perished from colds. After all the turmoil, each family now had only one or two children left.
That Xie Mingzhu’s family—two young women with five children—remained intact indicated they had some skills.
Yang Defa also knew that the escorts transporting exiled convicts didn’t treat them as human beings. He could roughly imagine what suffering everyone had endured at their hands along the journey.
So he finally understood why Xie Mingzhu’s family was so filthy.
No matter how beautiful someone might be, if they were that dirty—even worse than beggars—who would want to touch them?
Still, they were lucky not to have contracted any strange diseases, only developing some moles and rashes, which would likely heal after some rest.
Therefore, he rather admired Xie Mingzhu.
He also noticed that unlike other families’ children—who were either timid or still somewhat haughty, looking down on them Lingnan folks—her children affectionately called him Uncle Yang.
Their greetings warmed Yang Defa’s heart, and he personally went to cut two pineapples for them.
However, these children and Xiao Mo’er stared wide-eyed at the prickly pineapple, clearly unaware that it was edible.
Xie Mingzhu felt a craving but dared not show it too obviously, instead feigning puzzlement: “Can this be eaten too?”
Unlike the Li, Lu, and Su families who had daughters willing to sacrifice themselves to ensure they ate and drank their fill, their group had been unable to compete with the editors for food later on. Thus, they hadn’t even gotten decent leftovers, let alone fruit.
At her words, the children all gazed eagerly at Yang Defa.
Suddenly, Yang Defa drew the large-ringed sword from his waist.
Everyone was startled by the flash of silver light.
Unexpectedly, he then used the sword to lift the prickly pineapple, peel it, cut it into several pieces, and arrange them on a clean banana leaf. “Try it.”
The golden pineapple placed on the green banana leaf looked even more enticing, emitting a mouthwatering fragrance. Xie Mingzhu could no longer resist and quickly picked up a piece. “So sweet.”
Following her exclamation, Xiao Mo’er and the five children also reached out their hands, soon all wearing expressions of surprise and delight.
“It’s even sweeter than malt sugar,” Xiao Yunwan couldn’t help exclaiming, swallowing her piece hastily before grabbing another to stuff into her mouth.
But even while eating herself, she didn’t forget to hand a piece to the youngest, Xiaoshi. “Xiaoshi, you should eat more too.”
Xiaoshi took it, her eyes curving into happy crescents. “Thank you, Fourth Sister.”
Actually, besides her inherent reluctance to part with them, Xie Mingzhu had decided to bring these children mainly because she discovered that although the five were born to four different mothers, they were more united than full siblings.
The older ones always yielded to and protected the younger, while the younger respected the older. In short, they constantly thought of each other.
That’s why Xie Mingzhu couldn’t bear to abandon them.
Now, seeing an older sister sharing food with a younger sister was already commonplace to her.
Yang Defa watched from the side, listening to the children’s occasional thanks of “Uncle Yang,” his grin stretching ear to ear.
Soon, the yamen runners brought back plenty of local wild fruits, such as ripe bananas and other fruits whose names nobody knew.
Sour, sweet, and varied, even officials like Minister Lu who had seen the world had never encountered them before.
The convoy soon set off again, with Yang Defa mentioning that after another ten li or so, they would reach a courier station where they could have sour plum rice balls.
Except for those families who used their daughters to curry favor with the Escorts, the rest had been surviving on scraps for the past couple of months.
Hearing about the rice balls, they all watched with eager anticipation.
Yang Defa swapped places with the yamen runner driving Xie Mingzhu’s cart and took the reins himself.
From time to time, he glanced back at Xie Mingzhu and her sister-in-law Xiao Mo’er.
Under his gaze, Xie Mingzhu grew wary, beginning to fear that all crows were equally black.
Perhaps her defensive look was too obvious, for Yang Defa noticed and averted his eyes.
But this made the family, who had just begun to relax, grow anxious again.
Finally, they arrived at the courier station. Accustomed to heading to the backyard, they were surprised when Yang Defa led them all to the shade of the front courtyard instead.
Along the way, the scenery was truly picturesque, with majestic mountains and rivers nurturing exceptional talents. Yet for some reason, despite the mountains being visibly abundant with endless varieties of wild fruits, there was an underlying scent of poverty everywhere.
The courier station was also extremely dilapidated, lacking even a proper main hall—just a simple shed.
Since it couldn’t accommodate so many people inside, they were arranged to rest under the shade of trees in the front courtyard.
An elderly and frail station attendant then brought out a large sieve filled with neatly arranged glutinous rice balls.
Yang Defa was organizing the constables to serve cool tea one by one, explaining, “Don’t be put off by the dark color of our tea—it’s actually very effective at relieving summer heat. Drink up, everyone. Since you’ve just arrived, you might not be used to the weather here yet.”
Xie Mingzhu thought the color didn’t look very appealing either, but out of respect for the fact that they had provided each person with a bowl, she downed hers in one go.
Unexpectedly, the summer-heat-relief tea didn’t have the aroma of tea but instead carried a tangy fragrance reminiscent of passion fruit. She handed her bowl back to the constable pouring the tea and asked, “May I have another bowl?”
“Of course,” the constable replied cheerfully. He felt that the batch of exiled convicts their county had received this time was quite good—unlike the ones in the neighboring county last year, who had nothing to offer and wore sour expressions, complaining about everything.
Seeing Xie Mingzhu drink so readily and even ask for a second bowl, he took it as a sign of approval for their local herbal tea and was naturally pleased.
He happily refilled her bowl.
Seeing Xie Mingzhu drink, Xiao Mo’er and the children followed suit and found the taste quite pleasant.
Children, after all, are innocent and unaffected—even Xiao Yunyan was no exception. Savoring the subtle sweet and sour aftertaste, he genuinely felt much cooler. Noticing the tall papaya trees outside the station laden with fruit, he couldn’t help but blurt out, “I think this place is wonderful in so many ways, with such abundant resources. Why does everyone seem to despise it?”
Yang Defa happened to be approaching Xie Mingzhu just then and, overhearing this, sighed deeply. “Young man, it’s true that everything you see seems good, but the weather here is unbearably hot, and snakes, insects, rats, and ants are countless. Just a little further into the mountains, and you’re surrounded by miasma. What decent family would want to live here?”
No matter how you put it, the real issue was the lack of people.
If there were enough people, why would they be competing so fiercely for exiled convicts?
Hearing this, Xiao Yunyan finally understood. “So that’s how it is. What a pity for such beautiful mountains and waters.”
When someone praises their homeland, Yang Defa and the others naturally feel happy. They chatted cheerfully for a while.
Then, they distributed the prepared rice balls.
The area produced a lot of glutinous rice, so the rice balls were made from steamed glutinous rice, simply mixed with salt and sauce, and filled with chopped sour plums in the center. The interplay of sour and salty flavors was quite appetizing.
Thus, these sour plum rice balls were one of the staple foods in the region.
After the meal, Yang Defa allowed everyone to rest a while longer.
During this time, he called Xie Mingzhu aside for a private conversation.
This made Xiao Mo’er and the children extremely anxious, clinging to Xie Mingzhu’s clothes and refusing to let go.
Yang Defa felt they must have misunderstood something and said helplessly, “Don’t worry, Uncle here is no bad person. If I really intended to do something wrong, why would I bother asking your mother’s opinion?”
That reasoning was quite sound.
Xie Mingzhu gently patted Xiao Mo’er’s hand reassuringly, “Don’t worry, keep an eye on the children. I’ll be right back.” She simultaneously reminded Xiao Yunyan to help watch over his younger sisters.
Unexpectedly, Yang Defa didn’t take him to any bamboo tower either, but stood talking beneath the papaya tree outside the post station.
This left those who had been somewhat gleeful, thinking Xie Mingzhu had also failed to maintain her integrity till the end, rather disappointed.