Lu Taobao thought of a better method. After explaining, he urged the Qu family to find a wooden box to pack it, as he wanted to take it away.
"What, are you leaving after eating and playing?"
"Does Sister-in-law still have something?" Lu Taobao quickly stepped forward, smiling ingratiatingly, and asked.
He absolutely couldn't let Shen Xiaoyan think he was someone who left after eating his fill. If he did, he would surely have no more good food in the future.
"There's nothing much. I just wanted to talk to you about those fruits."
"Ah, my brain, I actually forgot about this." Lu Taobao hit himself hard on the head.
He knew something was forgotten, but it turned out to be such an important matter.
"Are they all ripe? When can they be picked? Otherwise, I'll go back now and call people?" Lu Taobao said in a rush.
"You are really in a hurry. There's no need to run errands yourself. I can just send a servant." Shen Xiaoyan said.
Lu Taobao nodded upon hearing this. He really didn't need to run errands himself.
"Then when will we pick them? Shall we go now?" Lu Taobao asked again.
As he spoke, Lu Taobao was about to leave. Zheng Wei quickly stopped him.
Shen Xiaoyan's heart also skipped a beat. Lu Taobao couldn't go to the fruit orchard now. After all, Princess Zande and the others were still there.
It wasn't that they didn't trust Zheng Wei, but rather that imprisoning a princess of a nation was a major event.
It was better not to let people know if it could be avoided.
"I've already had people pick them all. They are in the front yard." Shen Xiaoyan said.
"You are too kind. Why didn't you let me bring people to pick them? There are so many trees, and you don't have enough people."
Lu Taobao said with a gentle reproach.
Shen Xiaoyan found it amusing to hear this. They didn't take much time this time, and they had so many people to command.
With over 800 people picking, it was all done in a short time, much faster than Lu Taobao bringing people over.
However, this couldn't be said to Lu Taobao, so Shen Xiaoyan just smiled and said nothing.
About half an hour later, Huo Si, who had gone to fetch people, returned with Lu Taobao's large cart and servants.
Several people went to the front yard together, weighed the fruits packed in baskets, loaded them onto the cart, and then calculated the payment.
Due to the large quantity, the total amount was 5,000 taels of silver.
Lu Taobao blushed and scratched his head, saying sheepishly, "This is really... I didn't expect this, so I didn't bring money..."
"My lord, I brought it." Wu Yong, who was directing the loading, heard Lu Taobao's words and ran over.
After bowing to everyone, Wu Yong said to Lu Taobao, "When I came, my master said that he was afraid young master wouldn't have so much money on him, so he asked me to bring it."
Lu Taobao then burst out laughing, "Indeed, it's my father, always thinking of me so thoroughly."
Then, Wu Yong handed over the money orders. Lu Taobao took out 5,000 taels and handed them to Shen Xiaoyan. Then he said, "Brother and Sister-in-law, I'll be leaving now. After all, there's still a lot of work to do back home with so many things."
Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei naturally agreed. However, Shen Xiaoyan looked at Bai Ying, who was standing nearby. What should she do?
"I'll go with Brother Lu." Bai Ying also looked at Shen Xiaoyan, gave her a light smile, and then said to Lu Taobao, "Brother Lu, take me back to town, will you?"
Lu Taobao naturally agreed. No matter what, their families had been friends for generations. Even if he didn't want to be close to Bai Ying, he couldn't treat her like a stranger.
After seeing off Lu Taobao and his entourage, Shen Xiaoyan said, "Shall we go and see Princess Zande and the others?"
Zheng Wei saw the smile on Shen Xiaoyan's face and knew what she was thinking. Still, he indulgently said, "As you wish, my dear."
The two of them, without any servants, walked hand in hand to the fruit orchard.
Although it had only been two days, over 800 people had been working day and night. Even though the ditch was somewhat long, its depth had already decreased by about a meter.
Shen Xiaoyan glanced at it and was quite satisfied. Good, another two or three meters dug, and it should be enough.
Easily, Shen Xiaoyan found Princess Zande and Baili Ziyun among the group.
Unable to wash and dress, and dealing with dirt all day, even after just two days, the two of them looked like entirely different people.
Their former elegance was gone. Now, they looked like women doing farm work in the countryside.
No, they were even worse off than women doing farm work in the countryside.
Even though the two of them had better physiques due to their martial arts training and had strength, martial arts training was different from farm work.
There was no way around it. Both their hands and feet were covered in blisters.
They ate poorly and slept poorly. Their faces became sallow, and small pimples appeared on their faces.
Despite their dire situation and immense inner frustration, they still had to work.
As soon as they thought of causing any trouble, they would be beaten half to death by the guards swarming them.
Princess Zande's personal maids were even more miserable. They were ordinary women, not trained in martial arts, and not strong. They were used to a pampered life. Now, having them do this farm work was worse than death.
Some of them might not even dig a basket of soil in half a day.
Shen Xiaoyan didn't expect them to work hard. Whether they dug much or little was irrelevant, but not digging at all was impossible.
Baili Hao was still lying there, half-dead. Beside him sat Jiang Hong, who was muttering to himself.
Seeing Jiang Hong, Shen Xiaoyan felt speechless.
A man of seven feet had been scared into madness by two cats.
Although Luoluo was not an ordinary cat, she shouldn't have scared him to this extent.
It must be that he had harmed cats before, which was why he was so fearful.
Thinking this, Shen Xiaoyan's gaze toward Jiang Hong turned colder.
As a cat lover, she would not allow anyone to be cruel to cats, even if they weren't her cats.
The two of them walked slowly to Baili Hao's side and looked down at Baili Hao, who was lying on a worn quilt, half-dead.
Baili Hao's face was still covered with a black cloth. Only when Princess Zande fed him would she lift the cloth slightly from below. Therefore, Shen Xiaoyan still didn't know what Baili Hao looked like.
"Do you think he's incredibly ugly, which is why he always covers his face?" Shen Xiaoyan said to Zheng Wei.
"Yes."
Shen Xiaoyan had said it casually, but to her surprise, Zheng Wei answered yes. This made Shen Xiaoyan's eyes widen in astonishment.
What surprised her wasn't that Baili Hao was ugly, but rather how Zheng Wei knew he was ugly.
"How do you know he's incredibly ugly?"
Shen Xiaoyan asked in confusion.
However, as soon as she spoke, she realized. Looking at Zheng Wei's meaningful gaze, she knew why.
"Oh my, this half-dead appearance, hehe..."
Shen Xiaoyan wanted to sigh a few times but didn't know what to say.
"What exactly do you want?"
Baili Hao, who had woken up at some point, saw Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei standing beside him and asked, panting.
He had a very difficult time these past two days.
Not only did he have to sleep outdoors and eat coarse food, but his wound also ached continuously.
He had originally thought that Shen Xiaoyan had ordered someone to put medicine in his wound, which was why it hurt so much.
But after carefully examining the wound, he found nothing inside except for medicine to reduce inflammation and help the wound heal.
The medicine was fine, and the food was eaten by everyone together, so it was unlikely that only he had a problem.
Therefore, he couldn't figure out the reason for his constant pain.
Furthermore, Shen Xiaoyan hadn't visited for the past two days, and the people who brought him food completely ignored him. He couldn't ask anyone anything.
Now that he finally saw Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei, even if he spoke a single word, he would sweat profusely all over his body. Yet, he still forced himself to ask this question clearly.