It was only March.
There was no way to keep the pork frozen in weather like this.
If Lan Luoyun tried carrying ice around, she’d probably freeze her own hands off first.
After some thought, she decided to keep two pieces of fresh meat and preserve the rest with salt.
By this time, everyone who had been roasting pork had gone back to sleep.
Even the guards had retired for the night.
Only Lan Luoyun and Lin Nancheng remained in the courtyard.
Lan Luoyun quickly pulled a large clay jar and a bag of salt from her storage space.
She layered the pork inside the jar piece by piece.
Lin Nancheng helped by sprinkling salt over each layer.
Working together, they soon finished preserving all the meat.
The entire bag of salt was used up perfectly.
Seeing that nobody was around, Lan Luoyun finally brought Lin Nancheng into her space.
“I haven’t had milk tea in ages.”
“Or any happy-fat-guy water.”
She muttered to herself.
Then she turned to him.
“Nancheng, want some happy-fat-guy water?”
He blinked.
“What is happy-fat-guy water?”
“Is it good?”
The name sounded completely bizarre to him.
Lan Luoyun grinned.
“You’ll know once you try it.”
She grabbed a bottle of cola from a supermarket shelf inside the space and tossed it to him.
Meanwhile, she continued strolling forward as if she owned the place.
Unfortunately, Lin Nancheng failed to catch it.
The bottle hit the floor.
Lan Luoyun kept walking.
Lin Nancheng picked up the bottle and twisted the cap open.
Instantly—
FSSSHHH!
A geyser of cola erupted from the bottle.
Startled out of his wits, he immediately threw it away.
“Luoyun!”
“What kind of water is this?”
“Why is it attacking me?!”
Hearing the commotion, Lan Luoyun turned around.
Seeing cola splashed everywhere, she burst out laughing.
“You didn’t even get to drink any!”
Then she fetched another bottle.
This time she opened it herself and handed it over.
Lin Nancheng stared closely.
Nothing exploded.
Nothing sprayed.
The drink simply sat there quietly.
His confusion deepened.
“Why didn’t it spray when you opened it?”
“When I opened mine, it blasted me in the face!”
Lan Luoyun deliberately kept him guessing.
“I’ll explain it someday.”
Satisfied with that answer, Lin Nancheng stopped asking.
He trusted her anyway.
Then he raised the bottle and downed the entire 300 milliliters in a few gulps.
Meanwhile, Lan Luoyun headed straight for a self-service milk tea machine.
She filled a giant cup.
Then drank it in one go.
Pure happiness.
Afterward, the couple returned to the twins and went back to sleep.
The only problem?
Lin Nancheng had drunk the cola far too quickly.
All night long he burped.
Every burp carried a strange smell.
Afraid others would notice, he spent most of the night hiding under his blanket.
Chu Yi-niang assumed her son had simply overeaten.
Because of the wild boar incident, everyone overslept the next morning.
Even the guards failed to wake on time.
When they finally opened their eyes, the sun was already high in the sky.
“Get up!”
“Hurry!”
“We need to make up for lost time!”
If they failed to reach Gannan within the required schedule, the guards themselves would be punished by the court.
Breakfast was skipped entirely.
The exile procession resumed immediately.
After witnessing the previous night’s battle, the guards had gained a new opinion of Lan Luoyun and Lin Nancheng.
Since both had proven useful in dangerous situations, the guards no longer kept them tied up.
If trouble appeared again, capable people would be valuable allies.
Lan Luoyun placed the jar of salted pork into the basket she carried.
As for Dabao and Erbao—
She simply sent them into her storage space.
No one ever checked whether the twins were actually inside the basket.
As long as they appeared during headcounts, everything was fine.
The moment the twins entered the space, they began searching for milk.
“Erbao.”
“Girls shouldn’t drink cold milk.”
“Let’s warm it up first.”
Dabao spoke very seriously.
After watching his mother use the microwave once, he had memorized the process.
The siblings carried their milk to the self-service restaurant area.
A few moments later, warm milk was ready.
After drinking it, they headed straight for the amusement area on the top floor of the shopping center and happily played to their hearts’ content.
Back outside, Lin Nanhao was increasingly irritated.
Why were Lin Nancheng and Lan Luoyun allowed to walk unbound?
He had fought the wild boar too.
At least, that was what he told himself.
Seeing Chief Chen nearby, he immediately approached.
“Sir.”
“Could you untie me too?”
“I contributed during the boar fight yesterday.”
Chief Chen looked at him with obvious disdain.
“Don’t think I didn’t see what happened.”
“I was watching the whole time.”
When the boar charged, Lin Nanhao had nearly dropped his chain and fled.
Chief Chen had noticed every second of it.
Nothing annoyed him more than cowards who abandoned their companions.
Lin Nanhao knew he had no argument.
Not wanting another whipping, he wisely retreated.
“Move faster!”
Chief Chen shouted.
“If we don’t reach the next stop tonight, we’ll be sleeping in the wilderness again!”
Fortunately, his mood was much better than before.
Instead of beating people, he merely urged them onward.
Ever since the wild boar incident, even Lin Yaru had become unusually quiet.
She seemed troubled by something and no longer caused trouble.
The day passed peacefully.
Lan Luoyun and Lin Nancheng even chatted occasionally with the guards.
By noon, however, everyone was starving.
The guards were no exception.
Skipping both breakfast and lunch was impossible.
Even the soldiers were beginning to feel faint from hunger.
One of them finally spoke up.
“Boss.”
“Shouldn’t we stop and eat something?”
Another quickly agreed.
“Boss, we’re starving.”
“We still haven’t tasted any of yesterday’s pork.”
“Let’s eat first, then continue.”
Chief Chen was hungry himself.
After a moment, he nodded.
“Fine.”
“Rest here.”
“But only for fifteen minutes.”
“As soon as you’re done eating, we move.”
The crowd immediately scattered in search of firewood.
Many still carried portions of the wild boar meat they had received the night before.
Soon, fires were lit.
The smell of roasting pork filled the air.
For the first time in days, people ate with genuine satisfaction.
But just as everyone began enjoying their meal…
Trouble arrived once again.