"Wanwan, get in my family's carriage. It's spacious here, and I can teach you to read."
Cheng Sinian sat on his family's carriage shaft, his eyes full of longing, beckoning to Jiang Wan.
Jiang Wan didn't appreciate the offer. Clutching the drowsy little horse, she didn't even spare him a glance.
This boy was truly persistent, always extending a sincere invitation to her when they set off each day. But she didn't want to go. Although Mrs. Cheng's carriage was quite comfortable, Jiang Wan detested learning to read.
Especially those traditional characters, each one so complex it was dazzling, making one drowsy with just a glance.
Seeing that Jiang Wan refused to come over, Cheng Sinian dejectedly retreated into the carriage. "Aunt Jiang, can you call Wanwan over?"
Mrs. Cheng, who was reading a medical book in their carriage, couldn't help but chuckle at his words. "I can't help with that. That girl doesn't defer to anyone."
She had bought the medical book in the town a few days prior. Her medical skills were too limited, and she wanted to learn properly. However, she wasn't very literate, and reading the medical book was quite strenuous. Thus, she came to Mrs. Su, so she could ask for help with unfamiliar characters or unclear passages.
Mrs. Cheng hadn't hired any servants, so the task of driving the carriage fell to Erlang.
Jiang's family's carriage was already quite cramped, so this arrangement was just right.
Cheng Sinian was undeterred. He poked his head out of the carriage window again and called out to Jiang Wan as if summoning a spirit.
Jiang Wan was extremely annoyed. She grabbed two small clumps of cotton from Mrs. Su's sewing basket and stuffed them into her ears.
Mrs. Su was amused by her petulant little expression. She bit off the knotted thread and handed her the garment, smaller than her palm. "Take this to your little horse to wear. It's a bit heavy with the cotton stuffing; I wonder if it can still fly with it on."
Jiang Wan took it and immediately tried to put it on the little horse. "If it can't fly, so be it. It's been through a lot these past few days."
The little horse was a migratory bird. In previous years, it would have already flown south to spend the winter. This year, it had been intercepted by Jiang Wan on its southward journey and made her follower. The weather had been getting colder these past few days, and the little horse looked listless, which made Jiang Wan feel uneasy.
Fearing that the little horse would freeze to death, Jiang Wan now wouldn't let it out of the carriage. She held it in her hands all day to keep it warm, occasionally channeling her powers into it, which had caused the little horse to grow quite plump.
Everyone could see that the little horse was deliberately being spoiled by Jiang Wan, but since she was happy to indulge it, no one exposed it.
However, it had truly become very cold recently, to the point where water could almost freeze into ice.
The cotton that had been distributed earlier was all put to good use. Everyone stuffed the cotton into their old padded clothes, placing the old cotton on the outside and the new cotton on the inside. Their padded clothes became half as thick again, making them incredibly warm to wear.
With these thickened padded clothes, everyone felt much better while traveling.
In the evening, when they found a place to set up camp, the villagers took out their tent frames, dug a few pits in the ground, secured the frames inside, and then tied them tightly with cloth strips. Finally, they erected the large oilcloth, creating a simple yet sturdy tent that could block the wind.
As they were setting up camp, a strong wind began to blow. To prevent the oilcloth from being blown away, the villagers dug up a lot of soil to press down the edges of the oilcloth.
When everyone crawled into the oilcloth tents, listening to the howling cold wind outside, they couldn't help but praise Jiang Pan's foresight.
Previously, many villagers had been quite puzzled by Jiang Pan's decision, thinking that buying cotton and oilcloth was unnecessary. But now, everyone was extremely grateful for Jiang Pan's decision, otherwise, they would all be freezing.
Now that the weather had turned cold, no one dared to sleep on the ground anymore. Jiang Pan taught everyone how to build simple beds. They would place their luggage on the ground, then rest wooden boards on top of the luggage, and finally spread out their bedding. This would create a simple wooden plank bed.
With a charcoal brazier burning inside the tent, it was incredibly comfortable.
By the time they had finished setting up the tents, the wind outside had grown even stronger. Something was hitting the oilcloth tents, making a crackling sound.
People poked their heads out and saw large snowflakes falling from the sky.
"Oh, it's snowing."
"It's snowing so heavily."
Jiang Wan poked her head out of the carriage. The sky was overcast, and snowflakes were falling all around. It looked quite beautiful.
But it was also truly cold.
After watching for a short while, Jiang Wan retreated back into the carriage.
In the past few days, Jiang Pan had further thickened the four walls of the carriage. He had bought a pile of fabric scraps and asked Mrs. Su to stitch them together to make a large, thick piece of cloth. Then, he secured this cloth to the outside of the carriage, wrapped it tightly with another layer of oilcloth, and fixed it with wooden strips and nails.
Now, even without a charcoal brazier, sitting inside Jiang's family's carriage didn't feel cold.
By nightfall, the snow was falling even harder.
Fearing that the family's horses would freeze, Jiang Pan, along with Dalang and the others, built a shed and herded the horses inside.
By the time everything was tidied up, the ground was already covered in white.
After patting the snowflakes off his body, Dalang climbed into the carriage. Jiang Wan looked outside and saw that the snowflakes were so dense that they obscured visibility.
"This snow is falling too heavily."
Dalang rubbed his nose, which was red from the cold. "A timely snow promises a good harvest. It looks like next year will be a good year."
Jiang Wan looked up at the sky, but she didn't think so.
She had a feeling that this snow was not a good omen.
Jiang Wan's premonition was correct. Around midnight, she was awakened by a commotion.
"Oh no, Old Wu's shed has collapsed under the snow! Quick, go save them!"
Jiang Wan quickly pulled back the curtain and looked outside. The world outside was a sea of white, with the accumulated snow already reaching past the halfway point of the carriage wheels.
The villagers' tents were all piled high with thick snow. Old Wu's tent in the distance had already collapsed.
Many villagers rushed to help rescue them.
Soon, Old Wu's family of several people were dug out from the snow by the villagers.
The shaken family looked at their collapsed tent, on the verge of tears.
However, everyone was also secretly relieved. Fortunately, the snow was heavy enough. After the charcoal brazier burned a hole in the oilcloth, the snow on top fell into the brazier, extinguishing the charcoal. If the oilcloth had caught fire, it would have certainly injured people.
Once Jiang Pan confirmed that Old Wu's family was unharmed, he found a few people to help re-erect the shed. He also instructed the villagers to quickly clear the snow from their own tents to prevent further collapses.
After Old Wu's shed was rebuilt, the accumulated snow had already covered the footprints the villagers had made earlier.
This snow was abnormally heavy.
Finally, as morning arrived, the snow began to lighten, but it still hadn't stopped.
By this time, the depth of the accumulated snow was nearly up to an adult's waist.
Jiang Pan frowned, "With such thick snow, how can we travel?"
The old village chief said, "Looking at the sky, it's unlikely to stop anytime soon. We won't travel today. We'll wait until the snow stops."
Jiang Pan nodded and passed on the message, telling everyone to be careful to clear the snow and to leave gaps in their tents for ventilation.
Everyone had initially thought that the snow had lessened and would soon stop. However, by the afternoon, the snowfall had intensified again.