Xin Nian pondered thoughtfully, “People in this era have internal energy, right?”
“Mm, that’s how it’s written in martial arts novels.”
“I felt like there was someone in the tree earlier. But when I rushed over to look, there was no one there.”
Xin Nian waved her hand dismissively, “I still need to keep practicing instant movement. My speed is too slow, otherwise I could have caught that big rat.”
Xin Wenyuan came running back holding a jar, “Let’s go, let’s go. Oh my, young lady, you’re impressive enough. It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already recovered to the second level. Your father feels much more at ease now.”
“Mm.” Xie Ninglan nodded, “Come on, daughter, let’s go back and brew medicine for your brother first.”
The family of three returned to the gathering area with jars in their arms and water pouches in hand.
Dali had been pacing anxiously around the flatbed cart. Seeing the madam and young lady return safely, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.
She hurried forward to take the water pouches from their hands, unable to hide the anxiety on her face, “Madam, young lady, please don’t send me away in the future. When the Old Madam assigned me to follow you, she meant for me to stay by your side at all times.”
“Alright, alright, we’ll listen to our Dali.” The young girl reached out to pat Xin Dali’s cheek, smiling with affection.
Dali coughed lightly, her face flushed as she looked at her mischievous young mistress. Following behind her, she whispered softly, “Young miss, please don’t take this lightly. If something really were to happen, the master and madam would regret it terribly.”
Lowering her voice further, she said, “These escorts are all money-grubbing scoundrels, not a single good one among them. They particularly enjoy escorting female prisoners because they’re easy to bully. The court knows about this too – these are unwritten rules that everyone tacitly accepts.”
Xin Nian pulled Dali to sit down, nodding obediently like a pecking chick, “Yes, yes, I know I was wrong. I’ll listen to Dali from now on. Dali, you’re so good to us.”
Xin Dali’s face turned even redder. She coughed, “It’s my duty.”
“Dali, go gather some branches. Later we’ll boil all the water we fetched and refill the water pouches.”
“Alright.”
Xie Ninglan sat beside her daughter muttering, “Is it okay to drink without filtering? Could it cause stomach problems?”
Xin Nian rolled her eyes at her mother, “Stop being so particular, Mom. By the time we finish filtering, everyone else will be asleep. We have to continue our journey at three in the morning tomorrow!”
Xie Ninglan’s whole demeanor soured at the mention of three o’clock.
These ungodly hours in ancient times – really!
“When I was fetching water earlier, I noticed there were very few animal footprints upstream. The water quality is quite clear. Don’t underestimate ancient streams and rivers – without modern industrial pollution, ancient people would just scoop up raw water and drink it.”
“If you’re really that worried, I’ll grind some medicinal powder later and sprinkle it in to prevent sudden dysentery. Other illnesses are manageable, but dysentery can be fatal.”
Xie Ninglan nodded repeatedly, “My daughter is truly capable, thinking so thoroughly and doing everything with such care.”
Xin Nian suddenly asked, “Where’s your little son?”
“Ah?” The foolish smile on Xie Ninglan’s face froze abruptly. “Oh no!” she exclaimed, jumping up and rushing off to find her son in a panic.
Xin Nian couldn’t stop laughing, but her hands kept moving swiftly.
By the time Xie Ninglan returned with the child from Xin Ruoyu’s side, Xin Nian had already started brewing the medicine.
“What took you so long?”
“I chatted with Ruoyu for a bit.” Xie Ninglan patted her little son’s back.
The child had fallen asleep on Xie Ninglan’s shoulder, with a few faint tear tracks still visible at the corners of her eyes. Clearly, she had frightened herself again and cried pitifully.
“Ruo Yu is truly a good child,” Xie Ninglan said awkwardly, rubbing her nose. “We always forget about Mohan, and Ruo Yu has been helping us look after him.”
“She seems quite ill herself, yet she still takes care of Old Madam along the way.”
“I just ground some hemostatic and scar-reducing powder. Later, help me give it to her,” Xin Nian said calmly.
“Oh, alright,” Xie Ninglan replied, well-acquainted with her young mistress’s temperament. Though she always wore a smiling face when dealing with others, her heart was colder than anyone’s.
It had been like this in her previous life—few could truly enter her heart. Even when helping others, she always sent the couple to do it, never appearing herself.
Everyone was eating their evening meal, which was still half a coarse rice cake, but tonight they could eat it with water, making the treatment slightly better.
Several families were secretly watching Xin Nian brew medicine, but aside from Imperial Physician Cheng who came forward to ask a few questions, no one else moved.
Imperial Physician Cheng didn’t dare lift the lid to check, but just from the scent of the decoction wafting out, he knew it was for reducing fever.
“Sixth Girl can prepare medicine herself? Has she studied medical texts?”
“Oh, this prescription was from an itinerant doctor before. My young mistress recognizes a few of the ingredients, so she only dares to brew it for our own family. You know Third Son’s condition. Alas, we can only try every possible remedy,” Xie Ninglan vaguely explained. Seeing her response, Imperial Physician Cheng didn’t press further.
As they spoke, Beardie and two underlings approached with fierce expressions, heading straight for Xie Ninglan and her daughter.
Xin Wenyuan hurriedly stood up to intercept them. “What brings you escorts here…”
Beardie shoved Xin Wenyuan hard. “Get out of the way, we’re not here for you.”
Dali stepped forward, placing a hand against Xin Wenyuan’s back to prevent him from falling.
The two underlings tightened their grip on their whips, their triangular eyes glaring coldly at Xin Dali blocking their path.
Seeing the escorts coming to pick a fight, Imperial Physician Cheng quickly retreated several steps, glancing fearfully at the whips in their hands.
“You two women, did you see Gouzi upstream at the creek earlier?”
“What Gouzi?” Xin Wenyuan interjected confusedly. “Is, is that one of the escort masters?”
“Didn’t ask you, shut up!” Beardie glared fiercely at him before turning to scrutinize Xie Ninglan and Xin Nian. “Answer the question, now!”
Xin Nian pretended to be frightened and shrank into her mother’s embrace.
Xin Mohan was awakened by the noise. Opening his eyes to see several fierce-looking escorts glaring at his parents and sister, he clung tightly to his mother’s back in terror, his dark eyes wide and round.
To others, Xie Ninglan appeared like a mother lion ready to strike—carrying her young son on her back while holding her trembling daughter, she seemed like a startled bird.
“N-no, we haven’t seen him. Wh-who is Gouzi?”
“Impossible!” Beardie roared. “Gouzi went looking for you two! How could you not have seen him?”
As he spoke, he reached out to grab Xin Nian who was hiding in her mother’s arms.
A cold glint flashed in Xie Ninglan’s eyes as she raised her hand to block the escort’s dirty hand. Pretending to be scared, she hugged her children and shrank back, loudly protesting, “We haven’t seen him means we haven’t seen him!”
“We were going to fetch water from the upper stream. But it was just the two of us at the time. Later, seeing there were fewer people here, we even had Dali call the master over to fetch more water before returning. Everyone saw it—if you don’t believe me, ask them!”
Xin Wenyuan instantly understood that something must have happened between the mother and daughter while he had rushed to the upper stream earlier—they just hadn’t mentioned it to him.
Good heavens, his daughter must have killed someone!