Chapter 114: You Are Not In Exile You Are Clearly Traveling!
Chapter 114: Parental Concern
Wu Zhang returned to his wife and daughter. The two of them rushed over nervously, "Are you alright? I heard..."
"I'm fine." Wu Zhang quickly interrupted his wife's words, then revealed the crabs from inside his clothes, "Look, what's this!"
"Wow, it's crabs!" The little girl saw the crabs and clapped excitedly, "Daddy is so amazing!"
"Of course!" Hearing his daughter's words, Wu Zhang naturally felt proud, "If it weren't so cold, daddy could catch a few rabbits for you to eat."
"But rabbits are so cute, why would you eat them?" The little girl was a bit puzzled.
"Alright, don't tease our daughter." Wu Shi interrupted them, "We don't have a pot, how can we cook the crabs?"
"Let's just grill them directly over the fire!"
After saying this, Wu Zhang looked at the thin clothes worn by his wife and daughter, "I'll go find the bailiffs to exchange for some clothes."
"Will they agree?" Wu Shi was a bit worried, "What if they take the crabs and then turn hostile?"
"That's why we'll eat first, let our daughter eat her fill before we talk." Wu Zhang also felt some concern. Although he knew Xu Tian's character, the other bailiffs might not be as accommodating.
The family of three walked to a secluded spot not far from the bailiffs, so others wouldn't try to snatch their food.
Wu Zhang skewered the crabs with a stick and grilled them over the fire. Meanwhile, he didn't idle around.
Since they only had a few crabs, it was impossible to exchange them for clothes from the bailiffs. So, he decided to do some manual labor.
However, without a knife, he couldn't make bamboo products. Instead, he made some items out of vines, such as a vine chair or a vine bag.
He mainly made practical items that others could use, otherwise, the bailiffs wouldn't accept them.
"Daddy, the crabs turned red, they're red!"
The little girl squatted by the fire, her face flushed from the heat, her eyes fixed on the crabs. When she saw them turn red, she clapped happily.
Wu Zhang made a small bowl out of vines and fashioned a pair of chopsticks. He placed the cooked crabs in the bowl, cracked their shells, and extracted the meat.
Wu Shi also helped, extracting the meat from the crabs and putting it in their daughter's bowl.
"Daddy, mommy, you should eat too!"
The little girl handed them the bowl, urging them to eat, but Wu Zhang just shook the crab shells in his hand.
"Daddy has already eaten, you should eat first!"
Wu Shi also said, "Mommy has some too, dear, you eat first, it won't taste good when it gets cold."
The little girl looked suspiciously at the crab shells in her parents' hands. Seeing this, Wu Zhang quickly picked up a crab shell and pretended to suck on it.
Seeing her daddy enjoying the food, the little girl stopped doubting, but still picked up a piece of meat and handed it over.
"Daddy, the meat is delicious!"
"Daddy doesn't like meat, you eat it!"
The little girl handed the meat to her mother, "Mommy, you eat the meat..."
Wu Shi wanted to refuse but was interrupted by Wu Zhang, "Take a bite, it's your daughter's filial piety."
Wu Shi reluctantly ate the piece of meat, about the size of a mouse dropping.
"Are you full?"
Seeing their daughter finish eating, Wu Zhang asked, but the little girl nodded, "I'm full."
"Gurgle gurgle!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the little girl's stomach rumbled, clearly not yet full.
"Children shouldn't lie!" Wu Zhang said seriously.
The little girl nodded, but then nervously hugged her father's leg, "Daddy, the water is cold, let's not eat the crabs, I'm not hungry."
Obviously, the little girl was very clever and understanding. She knew her father had caught the crabs from the river, and with the weather so cold, she was afraid they would freeze, so she lied.
Wu Zhang was deeply moved, but smiled, "It's okay, daddy is an adult, not afraid of the cold."
Though he said so, he felt guilty inside, and decided to grill all the crabs. With only a few left and not much meat, he wouldn't be able to exchange them for anything from the bailiffs.
It was better to let his daughter eat them and replenish her body.
He continued to make vine chairs and other items, planning to use them for exchange. He also had another idea.
...
After some time, he made a few small baskets and a vine chair, which was actually just a small stool.
Then he took these things to find the bailiffs, but unfortunately, Xu Tian was not there, and he didn't know where he had gone.
With no other choice, Wu Zhang approached a bailiff who seemed more approachable and explained his idea.
However, the bailiff shook his head and refused, "We don't have any spare clothes."
In fact, they really didn't. Apart from food, there was nothing else on the carriage.
Moreover, they weren't interested in Wu Zhang's items at all.
"Can I exchange them for some food?" Wu Zhang hesitated for a moment and couldn't help asking.
"No."
The bailiff refused without hesitation, "These things aren't worth anything. You can't exchange food for them. If you want to buy something, you can use silver."
"I..."
Wu Zhang sighed. If he had money, he would have already used it. Unfortunately, he was just a servant before and didn't have much savings. He had been looted by Captain Sun and the bandits earlier, and didn't have much silver on him.
Helpless, he could only try one last method.
In fact, he had considered selling these items to other prisoners, but now everyone knew the importance of silver and wouldn't spend it casually. Moreover, after being looted by Captain Sun and the bandits, no one had much money left.
So, they wouldn't waste money on unnecessary items. Even for the vine chair, it was unnecessary for the prisoners. They could just sit on the ground.
...
"Miss, someone is looking for Master Chen!"
Chen Xue was busy designing a bamboo house. After all, they had collected so much bamboo that they could build a bamboo house.
However, they didn't know how to build one, so after some discussion, they decided to build a simple one. They didn't need a roof for now since it wouldn't rain indoors and there wasn't much sun exposure.
So, they just needed to enclose a few small rooms with bamboo, so they'd have rooms to rest in.
Chen Xue was contemplating the design of the rooms. Although she didn't know how to build a bamboo house, she had seen one before, and combined with the shape of the rooms from her previous life, she wanted to come up with a better design.
However, after she came up with the design, Chen Yuan and the others were at a loss when it came to actual construction.
It was like knowing how to think but not how to act. They arranged the bamboo into a row, but didn't know how to make doors and windows.
And when they looked back at the sheep pen, they found that it was no different from the bamboo house they were building now.
So, Chen Xue was feeling frustrated when she heard someone looking for someone, which piqued her curiosity.
She got off the carriage and saw a man with several small baskets around his waist and a vine chair in his hand.
"Who are you..."
The man immediately respectfully introduced himself and explained his purpose, fearing that Chen Xue might misunderstand. He quickly clarified that he wanted to buy some clothes for his daughter to prevent her from getting frostbite.
Chen Xue waved her hand to interrupt him, staring at him, "Do you know how to build a bamboo house?"
The man was a little puzzled, but still nodded, "Yes, I was a craftsman before."
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