Liu Qingyu turned around and saw her father returning with an empty cloth bag, a bare basket strapped to his back.
“Dad, Mom, come quickly! Look what I found!” she called out excitedly.
Tian Chunzhu and Liu Hongyi didn’t know what their daughter had discovered, but seeing how excited she was, they still walked over.
“What is it, girl? Did you find ginseng?” Liu Hongyi joked.
Tian Chunzhu shot him a glare. “This isn’t some deep mountain forest. Where would you find ginseng?”
Sigh… how did I ever get fooled by his outward appearance back then? She had once thought he was honest and steady, but he turned out to have the temperament of a child.
Even after so many years in the military, that personality hadn’t changed much.
Although it wasn’t ginseng, it’s more useful to us right now!” Liu Qingyu said with a smile, pointing at the mint.
Liu Hongyi looked closely for a moment. “This is mint?”
“That’s right. Now that we have this, combined with the honeysuckle, far fewer people in our exile group will suffer from heatstroke. We can travel faster and reach the northwest sooner to settle down.”
She held a mint leaf in her hand, eyes bright with excitement.
Tian Chunzhu nodded as well. “What Qingyu said makes sense. Being on the road all the time carries too many risks. This mint came at just the right time.”
The family happily began harvesting mint. The parents picked what they needed for immediate use, while Liu Qingyu gathered extra for their household and carefully dug up some with roots to transplant into her spatial storage.
The three worked quickly, and before long, all the mint in the area had been harvested.
Liu Qingyu glanced at the sky and saw the sun already beginning to set toward the west.
Tian Chunzhu wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve and also looked up.
“Your father, I don’t think Lord Lu has called us back. We’ll probably be setting up camp here tonight. Since I’m here with Qingyu, go find some dry firewood for cooking later.”
Liu Hongyi agreed with a smile. He first took his basket to Lord Lu to deliver the herbs and explain a few things, then left.
He planned to gather as much firewood as possible while it was still light, and store the excess in his daughter’s space for later use.
After harvesting more honeysuckle for a while, mother and daughter returned with full cloth bags.
“Miss Liu, your father is really impressive. I drank a cup of that herbal brew just now, and I already feel much better,” one of the women said warmly.
Liu Qingyu pointed at the bag and replied, “Auntie Zhang, my father actually discovered even better herbs. Tomorrow everyone should be able to travel more comfortably.”
“Really?!”
“Liu Hongyi is amazing!”
People around them immediately chimed in excitedly.
“It’s true. Don’t worry, you’ll see the results tomorrow. It’s getting late—we need to prepare dinner now,” Liu Qingyu said, squeezing out of the crowd with her mother.
Tian Chunzhu glanced at her and chuckled. “Why are you giving all the credit to your father? The mint and honeysuckle were clearly found by you.”
“We’re family. Why split it so clearly? Besides, compared to a young girl like me, they’re more willing to trust my father,” Liu Qingyu said with a helpless shrug.
“Achoo!”
“Who’s talking about me?” Liu Hongyi muttered.
At that moment, he was using a flint to light firewood. Just as the flames started to catch, the sneeze blew them out, forcing him to start again grumpily.
When mother and daughter returned, he had already managed to get the fire going.
“Come sit and rest. I’ll heat up some buns for you,” he said with a smile.
A simple stove had been built over the fire using stones, and on top sat a clay pot left by Qiu Ju. Inside were water and rice—clearly meant for porridge.
The family sat under the tree, quietly listening to the crackling of burning wood.
Soon, the aroma of rice spread from the pot, making Liu Qingyu’s already hungry stomach protest loudly.
“Haha, don’t rush. It’ll be ready soon,” her mischievous father teased.
Soon, the scent of food filled the entire exile group. After a long, exhausting day, smiles finally appeared on many faces.
After dinner, Liu Hongyi told his daughter to take advantage of the night to store the dry branches and leaves he had gathered into her space.
With full stomachs and exhausted bodies, everyone quickly fell asleep under the trees.
Only the occasional snoring and the crackling fire remained in the quiet camp.
Meanwhile, in the Ning residence in the capital, Madam Ning was far from peaceful.
“No… don’t come near me… I’m not afraid of you…”
Old Master Ning, who had already fallen asleep, was awakened by his wife’s sleep talking.
He was about to wake her when her next words made him freeze.
“Kang Yazhi… so what if the master favored you? I still killed you. I can kill you once—I can kill you a second time!”
“No… I did nothing wrong… the one at fault isn’t me! Don’t come closer!!”
Kang Yazhi had once been Old Master Ning’s childhood sweetheart. They had even been engaged.
But before the engagement could be finalized, she suddenly disappeared. A letter was found in her room saying she had met someone she truly loved and had eloped with him.
Old Master Ning never believed it. He wanted to leave home to find her, but his mother stopped him, threatening to hang herself if he did.
Bound by filial duty, he had no choice but to stay and study hard, hoping to earn official rank so he could leave openly and investigate the truth.
But that wish was never fulfilled. After he became a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, his mother arranged another engagement for him—this time with the current Madam Ning.
Step by step, he was pushed forward until he was forced into marriage. After that, he buried Kang Yazhi deep in his memories and never thought about her again.
Who would have thought that tonight, from his wife’s sleep talk, he would learn the truth—that Kang Yazhi had actually been killed by her.
Old Master Ning felt as if his entire life had been a joke, a puppet show where no one ever truly cared about his feelings.
“Aah!!” he cried out in collapse.
The shout woke Madam Ning from her nightmare.
“Master, what’s wrong? Are you unwell? Should I call a doctor?”