At noon, the convoy never stopped moving.
From the bundle Bai Mingxuan had delivered, Bai Zhi and the others dug out a few buns to eat. Their water pouches had been wrapped in bedding the entire time, so the water inside wasn’t completely frozen yet. Each of them only drank a couple of mouthfuls.
Whenever they passed wooded areas, the convoy briefly halted so the prisoners could relieve themselves.
Bai Zhi and Xiao Yu both went once.
Xiao Zelan never went at all.
So throughout the afternoon, he barely drank any water.
The road of exile was far harsher than Bai Zhi had imagined.
The convoy barely stopped at all.
She was cold, hungry, and her feet had almost gone numb.
Finally, night fell.
The convoy stopped directly on the official road, surrounded by forest on all sides. There wasn’t even a large rock to block the wind.
The guards began distributing coarse cornbread buns.
Prisoners could also buy steamed buns instead.
Bai Zhi bought five and asked the guards to open the prison cart while they were at it.
The guard responsible for their section was Li Yang.
He was relatively easy to deal with.
Everyone scattered into the nearby woods, though no one ventured too far.
Xiao Yu helped Xiao Zelan relieve himself while Bai Zhi first cleared out a patch of open ground.
Once the two returned, she had Xiao Yu continue cleaning while she searched nearby for dead leaves and branches.
The forest floor was covered in snow, but beneath the snow lay thick layers of dead leaves.
Bai Zhi tried to pull out the driest leaves and sticks she could find from underneath.
Quite a few others had the same idea.
Working quickly, Bai Zhi carried back a huge armful.
By then, Li Yang had already moved the prison cart aside and tied it down.
He would sleep inside it tonight.
One of the perks of being the driver.
Their basket and bedding had already been unloaded.
Xiao Yu had cleared a space about the size of a bed.
Bai Zhi dropped the dead leaves there and gathered several stones.
“I’ll start a fire. You go gather more branches. Don’t go too far.”
“Okay.”
After Xiao Yu left, Bai Zhi took one sheet of oilcloth from the basket.
Without unfolding it, she laid it directly onto the cleared ground.
Then she placed the mattress on top and helped Xiao Zelan sit down.
Only then did she begin making a fire and boiling water.
The stones were roughly arranged into a circle.
Using a fire starter, Bai Zhi lit the driest dead leaves.
Smoke rose everywhere throughout the forest, but no one complained.
Without fire, they might literally freeze to death tonight.
Xiao Yu returned carrying a pile of dead branches, even dragging back a section of broken dry wood.
Gradually the fire grew stronger.
Bai Zhi packed snow tightly into the iron pot and placed it atop their crude makeshift stove.
The snow slowly melted into water.
Once it boiled, she tossed in a handful of chestnut millet.
The steamed buns had become somewhat hard.
Xiao Yu placed his homemade triangular stand made from fire tongs over the pot and heated the buns on top.
Once they were warm enough, he split them open and stuffed in a chopstick-full of mushroom meat sauce before reheating them again.
The weather was so cold that even the pork fat in the sauce had congealed.
Heating it made it easier to eat.
Bai Zhi glanced toward the guards’ side and saw them roasting buns too.
They were about to eat dinner themselves.
Bai Zhi took out the small jar of meat sauce from the basket and handed it to Xiao Yu to carry.
Then she pulled six gilded hairpins from her clothes and gave them to him as well.
“Take all of these to the guards.”
“All of them?”
“Yes. Make sure you tell them they’re only gold-plated.”
Xiao Yu hesitated, but still obeyed.
Holding the jar, he walked over.
Wang Zheng hadn’t expected the first prisoner to approach tonight would be the little prince.
When he opened the cloth bundle Xiao Yu handed him, he found six gilded hairpins inside.
Xiao Yu wasn’t capable of saying flattering things, so he merely muttered stiffly:
“Sister-in-law said only the outside is gold. The inside is silver.”
All the guards around them stared wide-eyed.
It wasn’t that they lacked experience.
But producing six such finely crafted gilded hairpins at once was absolutely extravagant.
Wang Zheng also noticed that one of the six hairpins was noticeably larger and more ornate than the others.
Xiao Yu then set down the jar.
“This is mushroom meat sauce. It tastes better heated.”
The moment he finished speaking, he ran off.
Li Yang snorted with laughter.
“That tiny crippled prince sure knows how to behave.”
Gao Wei opened the jar and dipped his bun into the meat sauce before taking a bite.
“Hm. Pretty good.”
Hearing that, the other guards immediately started dipping their own buns into the sauce too.
It really was delicious.
Liu Huai grabbed chopsticks and stirred through the jar a few times, discovering there was quite a lot of meat inside.
Turning toward Bai Zhi’s camp, he commented:
“Xiao Zelan’s little wife sure can cook. Too bad she’s too dark and skinny. Dry as a stick.”
Wang Zheng knew exactly what kind of person Liu Huai was.
Frowning, he barked:
“She’s that young and you’d still touch her?”
Liu Huai chuckled obscenely.
“No, boss, I was just joking. With so many beauties around, why would I want some scrawny dark little girl?”
Then he glanced greedily toward the hairpins in Wang Zheng’s hand.
“Boss… these hairpins…”
Wang Zheng laughed and cursed lightly.
“Take them yourselves. One each.”
The five guards quickly divided up the hairpins.
Naturally, they intentionally left the largest and most elaborate one behind.
“I’ve seen hairpins like this before. Pretty sure they’re from Linglong Workshop…”
“The craftsmanship is incredible…”
“When I get home and give this to my wife, let’s see if she still calls me useless.”
“You hopeless fool, listen to yourself…”
Meanwhile, Bai Zhi’s group finally finished cooking their porridge.
Each of them drank two bowls of hot porridge, and warmth gradually returned to their stomachs.
After eating, Bai Zhi cleaned the pot and bowls using snow, then started boiling water again.
“You watch the fire here,” she told Xiao Zelan. “Xiao Yu and I are going out for a bit.”
Taking a piece of oilcloth, she headed toward the prison cart with Xiao Yu.
“What is it?”
Li Yang had already finished feeding the horse and was preparing to sleep.
He only had one thick quilt, used for both bedding and covering himself.
“My lord… may we cover the cart with oilcloth?” Bai Zhi’s voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, her timid appearance making it seem as though these few words had consumed all her courage. “My husband’s legs can’t endure the cold…”
Li Yang had already eaten their food and accepted their gifts.
He was in a good mood.
Besides, if the cart were wrapped in oilcloth, he’d sleep warmer too.
Naturally, he had no reason to refuse.
“Hurry up then. I still need to sleep.”
Xiao Yu actually smiled for once.
“It’ll only take a moment.”
The two of them worked quickly, draping the oilcloth over the prison cart.
They nailed down three sides completely.
The extra flap at the back was propped up diagonally, creating a tent-like entrance supported by long wooden sticks on either side.
Using stones, they hammered all the nails down firmly once more before running back to their sleeping area.
Not far away, Hu Kai snorted.
“Li Yang got lucky. That bastard really drew the good assignment.”
Liu Huai laughed obscenely.
“What’s so great about his assignment? Ours is the real good one.”
Thinking about the wealthy merchant traveling with more than twenty concubines, Hu Kai started laughing too.
Bai Zhi and Xiao Yu returned to their camp.
The water had already boiled.
None of them bothered washing their faces. They only rinsed their mouths.
The remaining hot water was poured into two hot-water bottles, and there was still some left over.
Bai Zhi poured the rest into a clean bowl.
They had barely dared drink water during the day.
At night, they needed at least some.
The stones from the makeshift stove were pushed aside with sticks.
The remaining firewood was spread out so it could continue smoldering a little longer.
Their leather boots were set near the fire to dry.
All three had already changed into cotton shoes and now sat back-to-back atop the mattress, quietly drinking water.
Before they even finished, a beautiful woman approached carrying a piece of fur.
“Fifth Brother, use this fur beneath you.”
She stuffed the fur into Xiao Zelan’s hands.
“No need, Sister-in-law Li… we already brought bedding.”
“Take it. Your elder brother told me to give it to you.”
With that, the beautiful woman turned and left.
From the moment she appeared, Bai Zhi had looked utterly stunned.
Holy hell.
This was definitely the kind of peerless beauty novels talked about.
Even wrapped in a burlap sack, she’d still stand out instantly in a crowd.
“Wow.”
Xiao Yu asked, “What are you wow-ing about?”
“Is that the Crown Princess? She’s gorgeous.”
“That’s Consort Li Danqing, Crown Prince Brother’s secondary consort. She used to be the Crown Princess’s dowry maid. Later the Crown Princess personally arranged for her to become a consort…”
Xiao Yu continued rattling on endlessly.
By the time he finished, Bai Zhi’s head was buzzing.
How had she never realized Xiao Yu was such a gossip before?
The fire finally burned out completely.
Bai Zhi swept the ashes aside with branches and spread out the second sheet of oilcloth.
Then she pulled one quilt from the thick mattress bundle.
One underneath.
One on top.
Perfect.
The bedding was ready.
But Xiao Yu suddenly realized there was a problem.
How exactly were they supposed to sleep?
Bai Zhi failed to understand the issue at all.
“Your brother sleeps in the middle. One of us on each side. Isn’t that simple?”