Jiang Wan spoke very directly, giving Zheng Cui'er no face at all, which made Zheng Cui'er's face turn red.
She was already a straightforward person, especially towards people she disliked, to the point where she wouldn't even bother to beat around the bush. After all, she feared that some people would pretend to be ignorant when they understood, and it would only disgust herself!
Chen Yuezhi gave Jiang Wan a look, signaling her to stop talking. Although she was also a bit unhappy with Zheng Cui'er's behavior, she was still a young lady and had to give her some face.
The atmosphere was too awkward. Zheng Cui'er put down her bowl and stood up. "Aunt Jiang, my parents seem to be back. I'll go back and cook for them first."
After speaking, Zheng Cui'er pulled Zheng Xiaoshan, who was still eating, along.
Zheng Xiaoshan was very greedy. He twisted his body and said unhappily, "If you want to go, you go yourself. I want to finish eating. The food at home is watery and thin. I don't want to go back and eat it."
These words were like slapping Zheng Cui'er's face repeatedly, making her wish she could find a hole to crawl into.
Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore. She ignored Zheng Xiaoshan and left on her own.
Zheng Xiaoshan finished the food in his bowl and still felt it wasn't enough. Seeing that Zheng Cui'er's bowl still had quite a bit left, he picked it up and ate without any hesitation. Jiang Wan rolled her eyes so much they almost reached the sky.
The other members of the Jiang family also felt disgusted, but thinking that the leftover food would be thrown away if Zheng Xiaoshan didn't eat it, they couldn't be bothered to say anything.
The next day, Zheng Cui'er indeed did not come again, and Jiang Wan was finally free from feeling disgusted.
However, her legs hurt even more. She had no choice but to use her abilities to relieve the pain while traveling. Although the effect was very obvious, it consumed a lot of her abilities.
Thinking that she still had to travel for several months, Jiang Wan felt her vision go black.
Jiang Pan saw her with a sad little face and came over to pick her up. "Wan Wan, are you tired? Your mother will rub your legs later, and you won't feel uncomfortable after the massage."
Jiang Wan sighed, "It would be great if our family had an ox. Then we wouldn't have to work so hard."
Jiang Pan stroked her little face. "Tomorrow you can sit on the cart, and Dad will push you. Dad's strength is even greater than an ox."
Jiang Wan shook her head. "No, Wan Wan will walk herself. Wan Wan is not afraid of being tired."
What a lie!
She was almost crying from exhaustion, so she had to find a way to get an ox quickly.
Seeing his daughter like this, Jiang Pan felt very distressed. He found Chen Yuezhi to discuss. "Why don't we sell that ginseng when we reach the town and buy an ox? Wan Wan feels sorry for us and refuses to ride in the cart, insisting on walking herself. She's so young, how can she endure such travel?"
Chen Yuezhi quickly nodded. "I was also planning to talk to you about this. Although we already made arrangements for the ginseng, money is not as important as people. Moreover, the ginseng was found by Wan Wan. Buying an ox to pull the cart means Wan Wan won't have to walk herself."
The couple hit it off immediately and then shared the news with Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan was so happy she wanted to jump up. She quickly sent out her little pony to scout ahead and see how much longer it would be until the next town.
The little pony was very efficient and soon brought back news.
The next town was about twenty li away from their team, and they could reach it the next day.
As expected, by noon the next day, they arrived outside the town.
The town gate was guarded by soldiers. Only locals could enter and exit freely. Outsiders had to pay a fifty wen entrance fee per person.
The villagers from Xiaoshan Village originally wanted to enter the town to check the situation, but when they heard the fifty wen entrance fee, they immediately retreated in fright.
However, at the city gate, they met some villagers.
These were the villagers who had helped carry Jiang Laosan to see a doctor a few days ago.
As soon as Granny Jiang saw those people, she hurried forward to ask, "Why are you here? Where is my Laosan? How is he?"
Those people said, "Don't worry, your Laosan is fine. The doctor in the city said that the medicine from Da Pan's wife is very effective. Otherwise, your Laosan would have died on the way. The entrance fee is too expensive, so your Laosan's wife asked us to wait for you here. Why are you so slow? We've been waiting here for several days."
Granny Jiang automatically filtered out the latter part of the words, only hearing that Jiang Laosan was fine. She knelt on the ground with a thud, clasped her hands together, and bowed to the sky. "Thank you, heavens. Thank you, heavens."
The villagers were speechless. Shouldn't this be thanked to Chen Yuezhi?
Granny Jiang found out the name of the medical clinic where Jiang Laosan was, gritted her teeth, paid the fifty wen entrance fee, and rushed into the city to find him.
Chen Yuezhi took out the bag containing the family's silver money and counted out one hundred large coins.
The family did not have much money. These one hundred large coins were saved by squeezing every penny.
Just as the two were about to pay the entrance fee with the money, Jiang Wan stopped them.
"Dad, Mom, wait a moment. I'll ask my little bird to scout ahead into the city. Once we confirm there are people selling oxen, we'll go in. Otherwise, the entrance fee will be paid in vain."
Hearing this, the two felt it made perfect sense and sat down to wait with peace of mind.
As for Jiang Wan's little bird, the two accepted it very well. After all, with immortals existing, what was so strange about a little bird sent by an immortal?
The little pony worked very hard and searched the entire, not very large, town. The result it brought back made Jiang Wan very dejected.
The situation in the city was very bad. Most of the shops were closed, and both carriage and horse businesses had their doors shut tight, with nothing in the back stables.
Jiang Wan sadly squatted on the ground, drawing circles.
Jiang Pan and Chen Yuezhi felt heartbroken. They picked her up and comforted her. "Wan Wan, don't be sad. It's okay if we can't buy one. You can just sit on the cart. Dad has plenty of strength. You can sit on it with confidence."
Just as Jiang Wan was hesitating whether to agree, the little pony brought back another piece of news.
In a mountain hollow about ten li away from the town, there were two horses that had been severely injured!
Jiang Wan exclaimed in shock, "Really?"
The little pony chirped excitedly on the branch, repeatedly guaranteeing that its news was absolutely true.
Jiang Wan quickly told Jiang Pan and Chen Yuezhi this news. The couple was also extremely shocked and immediately decided to go find those two horses!
So, the family of three deliberately found an excuse, saying they wanted to look around, and hurried towards the direction of the mountain hollow.
Ten li seemed not far, but walking it was no joke.
The couple took turns carrying Jiang Wan along the way, not daring to delay at all. It took them about an hour to reach the place the little pony had mentioned.
When they arrived, the family of three was startled.
Jiang Pan even quickly reached out to cover Jiang Wan's eyes.
In the mountain hollow, there were corpses lying everywhere in disarray, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of blood.
These corpses were all wearing the same black tight-fitting attire, indicating they were not ordinary people. And the two injured horses were among those corpses.
Jiang Pan and his wife were simple farmers and had never seen such a scene before, so they didn't know what to do for a moment.
Jiang Wan tried to pull Jiang Pan's hand away.
Jiang Pan held it tightly. "Wan Wan, don't look. It will scare you."
Unexpectedly, Jiang Wan said indifferently, "Dad, you covered it too late. I already saw it."
Jiang Pan: ...