After that brief glance, Prince Jing’s carriage curtain had already fallen.
The convoy soon departed, and the official road became clear again.
Inside the swaying carriage, the brief tremor from earlier gradually settled as the chill disappeared.
Su Jinse closed her eyes, pushing that cold and stern face out of her mind.
That man had an aura around him that she was extremely familiar with.
Death—and a kind of ultimate power capable of devouring all life.
It was naturally opposed to her wood ability.
However, one was a royal prince, while the other was an abandoned daughter cast aside by her family. Their paths would likely never cross again.
Ten days passed after leaving the capital. The long and monotonous journey was enough to wear down anyone’s patience.
Especially Huamei’s.
“Why is this road so bumpy? My bones are falling apart.”
“We’ve run out of water. I’m dying of thirst. There’s not even a cup of hot tea.”
“If I had known it would be this miserable, back when I was in the residence I never should have…”
Her complaints grew from restrained grumbling into shameless whining, buzzing around the cramped carriage like annoying flies.
Su Jinse leaned against the wall of the carriage, silent, as if in meditation.
Seeing that she had no reaction, the nameless anger in Huamei’s heart burned even stronger, and her words grew increasingly harsh.
“What a dull lump. I don’t know what the marquis and madam were thinking, sending me to serve a fool. I must have had terrible luck for eight lifetimes.”
All her fear about the uncertain future and dissatisfaction with the exhausting journey turned into sharp arrows aimed at the defenseless mistress in her eyes.
Five more days passed.
At last the carriage stopped at a relay station in Nanyang Commandery.
As soon as they entered the main hall of the station, Huamei seemed to regain the arrogance she once had in the capital. She straightened her back and imperiously ordered the best room and a table full of food and wine.
“Waiter, the bill.”
After eating and drinking to her fill, Huamei slapped the table, putting on an air of authority.
The waiter handed over the bill with a polite smile.
Huamei glanced at the amount written on it. Her expression changed slightly, but she casually reached for the purse in her robe.
The next second, her movement froze.
The purse was empty.
In the capital she had lived comfortably and spent money freely, never calculating her expenses. The travel money given by the marchioness had long been squandered along the road.
“Customer?”
The waiter’s smile faded a little.
The gazes of several nearby diners drifted over.
Huamei’s face instantly flushed red.
Not from shame—but from anger at being embarrassed in public.
She suddenly turned and shouted at Su Jinse, who sat quietly in the corner.
“It’s all your fault!”
“If it weren’t for dragging along a burden like you, we wouldn’t have ended up like this! You’re a jinx!”
Her shrill voice pushed all the blame and embarrassment onto Su Jinse.
The hall fell silent.
Everyone’s attention shifted from Huamei to the thin, plainly dressed woman sitting quietly in the corner.
Facing the sudden accusation, Su Jinse did not even lift her eyelids.
Only when Huamei grew so anxious she was nearly jumping and was about to be thrown out by the waiter did Su Jinse finally move.
She quietly took out a small, faded cloth pouch hidden in the lining of her clothes.
Opening it, she poured several pieces of broken silver onto the rough wooden table.
They made a clear ringing sound.
These were savings she had painstakingly kept from the tiny monthly allowance of the original owner during the past six months.
She picked up the smallest piece and handed it to the waiter.
“One… bowl of plain porridge.”
Then she pushed all the remaining silver pieces toward Huamei.
Huamei’s scolding stopped abruptly.
Her eyes stared at the silver pieces as if a starving wolf had seen meat. Her breathing grew heavy.
She immediately snatched the silver and stuffed it into her robes, her face instantly switching to a fake smile as she paid the bill.
Afterward, she ordered another table full of food and wine and ate greedily by herself.
In the corner, Su Jinse slowly drank her bowl of thin porridge.
The pitiful scene contrasted sharply with Huamei’s gluttonous eating.
But broken silver was limited.
A few days later, in another more remote town, they once again found themselves completely penniless.
This time Huamei’s gaze fell on Su Jinse’s only luggage—the small, half-worn bundle beside her.
There was no longer any attempt to hide her greed and malice.
She was certain the fool must still have money hidden somewhere.
Just as she could no longer restrain herself and was about to reach out and snatch it—
Su Jinse, as if she had eyes on the back of her head, calmly pulled the bundle in front of her.
Then she took out the rosewood box her brother had given her.
Click.
The lid opened.
Inside lay a thick stack of neatly arranged banknotes.
The one on top clearly bore the words “One Thousand Taels.”
Beneath the banknotes were several simple red-gold hairpins and a warm, creamy-white jade pendant.
Huamei’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
Her breathing stopped entirely.
Her mouth hung open as she made choking sounds like a fish out of water.
The next moment—
Thump.
Huamei’s legs went weak, and she suddenly knelt on the dirt ground before Su Jinse.
“Mi… Miss… this servant was wrong! This servant failed to recognize your greatness! This servant deserves to die!”
She kowtowed repeatedly, her attitude making a complete reversal, becoming extremely flattering.
“Miss, are your legs tired? Let this servant massage them.”
“Miss, are you thirsty? I’ll pour you some tea.”
The way she called out “Miss” sounded sweeter and more sincere than anyone else’s.
With overwhelming wealth, Su Jinse had subdued this malicious servant and completely taken control of the situation.
She remained unmoved by Huamei’s flattery.
Slowly, she took out a banknote from the box and handed it over.
“Go.”
Her voice was still soft but carried an unquestionable command.
“Buy every kind of vegetable seed and grain seed you can find in this town.”
“The more the better. The more varieties, the better.”
Holding the one-hundred-tael banknote, Huamei hurried off eagerly.
Before long she returned carrying a heavy cloth sack.
Su Jinse held the bag filled with seeds tightly in her arms.
As her fingers brushed across the grains, she could clearly feel the life contained within them.
At last, a smile appeared on her lips—a smile no one could understand.
Wuling Mountain.
That barren and desolate land in the eyes of the world.
In her eyes, it would soon become the richest granary.
And these seeds would be the first cornerstone for building her own kingdom.