In the evening, Sheng Jinyan found a cheaper inn.
But as soon as they walked in, the place was full of all sorts of riffraff, especially the men in the inn's main hall who looked at Shi Zhenxiang like wild boars had spotted meat.
Sheng Jinyan immediately didn't want to stay, so he pulled Shi Zhenxiang and switched to a better inn.
This time they still got two rooms, with two dishes and one soup.
Looking at the dwindling stack of silver notes, Sheng Jinyan finally realized, "How come this hundred taels isn't lasting at all?"
Wasn't a hundred taels quite a lot?
How did more than half of it disappear in just two days?
Shi Zhenxiang chimed in at the right moment, "It seems things aren't cheap around here, and we have a big family. Even if we don't buy any toys, just the food costs add up to a lot each day."
Sheng Jinyan's brows knitted tightly.
At first, he thought thirty thousand taels in silver notes was a huge amount, enough for them to spend for several years.
After all, common people probably only spent a few hundred taels a year.
Unexpectedly, in just two days, he had already spent over sixty taels.
And this was with just the basic two dishes and one soup.
If they kept spending like this, thirty thousand taels probably wouldn't be enough.
Shi Zhenxiang, seeing that he now knew the money wasn't enough, nodded in satisfaction.
She thought to herself that if you don't run the household, you don't know the true cost of daily necessities.
If she hadn't let him personally experience how quickly money runs out these past two days, in the future he would have wondered where all the money had gone.
Sheng Jinyan thought seriously.
"No, we can't stay at this inn."
"We'll just sleep in the carriage."
After saying that, he was about to check out of the rooms.
Shi Zhenxiang was speechless, "Wait, it's late at night. How cold will it be sleeping in the carriage?"
After all, it was winter.
It was precisely because it was winter that the inn charged extra for heating with fire, doubling the accommodation fee.
Sheng Jinyan sighed and looked at her with grievance, "Are you afraid of the cold?"
If she weren't afraid of the cold, sleeping in the carriage would be so much cheaper.
Shi Zhenxiang was speechless, "Your subject is not as robust as Your Majesty, so naturally, I am afraid of the cold."
When Sheng Jinyan heard her complimenting his robust physique, his mood lifted again.
"Alright then, we'll stay for now. We can stop staying at inns when summer comes."
They would save on accommodation fees then.
But winter in the north was long, so it wouldn't be easy to save money anytime soon.
The next day.
As soon as dawn broke, Sheng Jinyan moved his wife and children back into the carriage again.
The inn's food was expensive, so he didn't plan to eat there anymore.
He would just buy baozi and mantou from old people by the roadside, which was the cheapest.
This time, he also didn't take the children to eat at street stalls, to avoid them wanting one thing after another.
He directly bought a whole bag of mantou and baozi, along with some eggs, and brought an iron pot, preparing to cook for themselves.
This time, he also didn't take the official road; he went directly onto the mountain path.
Mountain paths at least had wild game, as well as fruits and firewood.
Cooking for themselves could save quite a bit of money.
And at night, they could roast by the fire, so the carriage wouldn't be cold, and they would naturally save on accommodation fees.
Shi Zhenxiang: .....
This guy really was a money-saving expert.
She wouldn't outright refuse him; she just treated it as experiencing a bit of outdoor camping.
If it got too cold, she just wouldn't stay.
Luckily, the children were also very excited. As soon as they reached the mountain forest, they happily went hunting for wild game with Sheng Jinyan.
Sheng Jinyan's wilderness survival skills were still quite strong.
He immediately caught a few wild chickens and also picked a good number of wild fruits.
The children, even more, brought back a big pile of firewood.
Setting up the iron pot, Sheng Jinyan began to teach the princesses how to start a fire.
"First, pick some dry leaves as kindling. Then, add the thin firewood little by little, building up to the thick pieces."
"Remember, it has to be dry to catch fire easily."
The several princesses nodded seriously, "We understand."
After the fire had boiled the water, Sheng Jinyan then taught the children how to kill a chicken and pluck its feathers.
The princesses watched with great interest, not afraid at all.
They even started plucking the feathers themselves.
After the chicken had been soaked in hot water, plucking the feathers was much easier.
A few nannies also came to help.
Soon, the wild chickens were prepared. They first put them in the pot to fry out the oil, and then fried the chicken meat in that oil.
Soon, the fragrant smell of chicken wafted over.
The princesses' eyes brightened up.
They all praised Sheng Jinyan, "Father Emperor, you're so amazing~~"
Being admired so much by the children put Sheng Jinyan in an incredibly good mood.
He lifted his chin high, looking quite smug, "This is nothing. There's even more impressive stuff to come."
The princesses were very happy and clung to him, refusing to get off.
So Sheng Jinyan took the opportunity, while the pot wasn't done yet, to teach them martial arts.
Seeing how amazing he was with his sword, the princesses immediately picked up small wooden sticks and started learning.
Sheng Jinyan was very satisfied seeing the princesses learning so properly.
Especially the Eldest Princess; she had a real talent for martial arts training. After learning a couple of moves, she could even draw inferences and improvise.
Sheng Jinyan was overjoyed and specifically sparred with her a few moves.
The Eldest Princess had very quick reflexes and could even trade blows back and forth.
Sheng Jinyan was very pleased and couldn't help but praise her, "My Eldest Princess is truly amazing."
Skilled in both letters and martial arts, she was truly his offspring, a born prodigy.
The Eldest Princess smiled shyly, but still lifted her chin smugly.
Shi Zhenxiang found it amusing to watch, but she called them over to eat.
After the chicken was cooked, eating it with the mantou, the princesses devoured it with gusto.
Even Shi Zhenxiang ate heartily, possessing none of that 'if the children eat, I should go without' mentality.
Instead, she ate two extra chicken drumsticks.
Seeing her only eating the drumsticks and nothing else, Sheng Jinyan immediately worried, "Why are you only eating the drumsticks?"
What was so good about those tender drumsticks? It wasn't as chewy as the chicken breast.
Shi Zhenxiang: ....
No, she just really liked chicken drumsticks.
Sheng Jinyan was certain she was reluctant to eat the good parts, wanting to save them for him and the children. What a great woman she was.
The several nannies: ....
They clearly saw that Noble Consort Shi genuinely only liked eating chicken drumsticks. How could His Majesty not notice?
The princesses didn't notice either, they only thought that their Imperial Consort mother couldn't bear to eat the good food and saved it all for them. Their mother truly loved them so much.
Both the princesses and Sheng Jinyan felt that Shi Zhenxiang was really too good.
They promptly picked the biggest wild fruits they had gathered and gave them to her.
Shi Zhenxiang took a bite of the winter wild apple.
Wow, it was extremely sour.
So she declined, "Mother doesn't like eating them, you guys go ahead."
After saying that, she truly didn't take another bite.
The princesses were moved again, "Imperial Consort Mother~"
How could their mother be so good, even reluctant to eat such a big apple.
The princesses were moved as they took a bite of their apples. It was crisp, not as sweet as the ones in the Imperial Palace, but still tasty.
Sheng Jinyan also ate one and didn't find it sour at all. He even praised it, "Still has a pretty good apple flavor."
Shi Zhenxiang: ....
Seriously, did none of you have taste buds?
Those apples were so sour, yet they didn't notice?
And they ate them so happily?
Shi Zhenxiang seriously suspected her own taste buds were broken, so she deliberately gave three wild apples to the three nannies to eat.
As a result, the three nannies almost spat them out.
Their faces were puckered sourly.
But because it was given by the Noble Consort, they ultimately didn't dare to spit it out.
Shi Zhenxiang understood then; it turned out these four, father and daughters, all loved sour things.
It was just that the fruits in the Imperial Palace were sweet, so she had never noticed how well they could handle sour food.
It seemed these four, father and daughters, were quite suited for traveling. They could happily eat anything.
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