Chapter 138: You Are Not In Exile You Are Clearly Traveling!
Chapter 138: Questioning Life
In the following days, Chen Xue didn’t go out, pretending to be severely weakened, lying in the carriage.
In reality, she was in the space with Xiao Die, researching how to make delicious food.
Meanwhile, Master Chen and Madam Chen weren’t idle either, distributing ginger soup with the servants.
When they were in the county, they replenished their ginger stock. This time, although they bought a lot, it wasn’t given out for free.
Instead, it was an exchange.
This meant that people had to trade something for it.
But that something wasn’t money or other valuables.
Because Chen Xue and others discussed that a bowl of ginger soup only cost a few copper coins; it wouldn’t make sense to charge a few taels of silver!
Charging too little made the money pointless, and charging too much would cause dissatisfaction.
So, they decided to barter.
The exchange item was “knowledge”.
For example, if someone knew how to cook a certain dish, they could write down the recipe.
Or, if they knew a certain craft, they could document the technique.
In short, any skill or knowledge they deemed useful could be traded for a bowl of ginger soup.
Although some ancient techniques were considered priceless, it depended on the technique.
Since most of them were officials or from noble families, they didn’t care much about what common folks valued.
Moreover, many advanced techniques were often kept within noble families.
So, trading technology for ginger soup might seem unworthy, but in the freezing cold, a warm ginger soup was invaluable.
Especially since it was Chen family’s ginger soup.
Everyone knew Chen Xue was a fairy; they witnessed someone being brought back to life by the Chen family a few days ago.
Even if they hadn’t known at the time, they heard about it later, as the woman constantly went to the Chen family to thank them.
In short, the Chen family was seen as celestial beings, and anything they offered wasn’t ordinary.
So, they felt trading less valuable techniques for what might be a magical ginger soup was a huge win.
As a result, Chen family’s ginger soup was sold out within half an hour.
Fortunately, they bought over a hundred jin of ginger. Even if they saved dozens of jin for planting, they still had seventy to eighty jin left.
Seventy to eighty jin would last them more than half a month.
Compared to their investment, their return was worthwhile, with contributions pouring in continuously.
Chen Xue, though not going out, sat in the space watching the contribution points grow.
Fifteen thousand.
That was the current number of contribution points, equivalent to fifteen thousand taels of silver. Although it didn’t sound like much, in real silver, it could crush Chen Xue to death.
Chen Xue and others collected a lot through ginger soup, and instead of being angry, the people were more grateful to the Chen family.
Because after drinking the ginger soup, they indeed felt warmer and less prone to illness while traveling in the snow.
Moreover, no one froze to death afterward.
Additionally, Master Chen discussed with Xu Tian to let the elderly and children continue to ride in carriages to avoid freezing to death in the cold.
Xu Tian had no objection, and Master Chen even gave up two carriages for the elderly and children.
This time, when Master Chen gave up the carriages, no one complained; instead, they praised the Chen family for their kindness.
After a long journey, they finally reached a new post station.
Although everyone had enough clothes and food, traveling in the freezing snow was still exhausting.
At the post station, the yamen provided rooms for everyone to squeeze in, which was much better than sleeping in the snow.
The post station had not only large communal beds but also small rooms suitable for one or two people, or families.
Once Xu Tian revealed his identity, he was given a private room, and he also arranged several rooms for Master Chen’s family.
But Master Chen declined, saying his family would squeeze into one room and give the others to the prisoners, winning their goodwill once again.
Even the post station clerks were surprised; it was the first time they saw prisoners refuse rooms and prefer to squeeze together.
Actually, Master Chen and his family didn’t sleep in the room; they slept in the space, having gotten used to the beds there.
Moreover, the post station rooms weren’t well soundproofed, so their conversations could easily be overheard.
Early the next morning, just as the Chen family was about to leave the post station, they encountered a group of soldiers.
The Chen family’s guards immediately gathered, saying, “Master Chen, these are the general’s personal guards, probably here to collect the wound medicine.”
Only then did Master Chen remember that he had asked Xiao Qing to deliver Zhao Guang’s clues to Xie Yunshang, and also mentioned that they could send someone to fetch the wound medicine.
He didn’t expect Xie Yunshang to act so quickly.
Master Chen immediately found Xu Tian, asking him to lead the team to leave first. Xu Tian agreed without hesitation, leading the team away.
The post station clerks were bewildered, questioning their understanding of reality. Wasn’t the Chen family supposed to be prisoners?
What was happening?
Seeing Xu Tian and the yamen officers leaving with the prisoners while leaving the Chen family behind, the clerks were stunned.
However, when they saw Xu Tian leaving respectfully after Master Chen waved, they were even more surprised.
Especially seeing some yamen officers guarding the Chen family like bodyguards, their shock deepened.
Why did it seem like the entire exile team was listening to the Chen family?
Could the Chen family be important court figures?
Instantly, the post station clerks became eager, rushing over to curry favor with the Chen family, offering help.
Finally, after sending them away with difficulty, the Chen family met with Xie Yunshang’s personal guards.
Chen Xue directed them to move several boxes from their carriage, and the personal guards moved boxes from their carriage to the Chen family’s carriage under her instructions.
The Chen family’s guards were amazed, as they had no idea how so many boxes appeared in the carriage.
The carriage was small; how could it hold so many boxes? They had been with the Chen family all along; how could they not know about the boxes?
But they quickly adjusted, having witnessed too many astonishing things recently.
Having seen countless battles, they could normally keep their composure, but several times recently, they had their jaws dropped.
This time, they were only slightly surprised and quickly got used to it.
“Aren’t you going to check them?”
Seeing Xie Yunshang’s personal guards move so many valuable goods without checking the boxes of wound medicine, Master Chen was touched by Xie Yunshang’s trust.
“But you’re giving too many valuables!”
“This is the general’s order!” the personal guard replied. “Due to the snow and the urgent journey, we only have one carriage of supplies. The general said he would send more next time.”
“Um...”
Chen Xue, looking at the boxes full of gold, silver, and jewels, was speechless. The sight dazzled her, and hearing their words, she was left speechless. Truly, the wealthy were indeed wealthy.
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