Chapter 605: Chapter 605: Safe Travels
The village head election meeting was held on schedule, and surprisingly, the one who got the most votes was the old village head’s grandson, Liu Qi.
Liu Dafu was very frustrated, having not been elected after several rounds. It seems that the villagers now prefer young people to manage them.
After the election meeting dispersed, Liu Dafu came up to Qin Yao, saying irritably, "It’s all because you started this. From now on, I won’t participate in these village head elections anymore. Let the young people have their fun."
Qin Yao laughed, "That’s good, young people are energetic and hardworking, and they have the stamina, not afraid of long journeys."
Liu Dafu choked, jokingly glared at Qin Yao, and eventually couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud, "Enough, enough, talking to you about this, I came here just to find trouble for myself."
"When do you plan to leave?" Liu Dafu asked concernedly.
Qin Yao replied, "In three days."
So soon! Liu Dafu was a bit surprised and also vaguely envious. If he were 20 years younger, he might leave as soon as he decided, right?
But he just thought about it, "You guys were born at the right time. When I was young, the world was in chaos. Being able to hide here in this mountain valley and avoid the misery of war to live until now is not easy."
Seeing his envy, Qin Yao locked the ancestral hall door and solemnly handed the key to the new village head, Liu Qi, who was waiting behind her. She turned around and smiled at Liu Dafu:
"Now that the world is better, you’re not really old. As long as your legs can still move, you can leave whenever you want."
Liu Dafu was just envious and hesitant about really going out. He waved his hand sheepishly, "You young folks should go. If I encounter mountain bandits or wild beasts, I’d end up dying out there."
People born in this place have great reverence for spirits and gods. If one died outside, it might bring disaster to the family and they wouldn’t even be allowed into the ancestral grave.
Having interacted with Qin Yao for so many years, Liu Dafu gradually accepted some of her novel ideas, but he couldn’t agree on matters of life and death.
Speaking of which, they walked to the fork in the road, nodded at each other, and each took their path home.
Just as he was walking, Liu Dafu suddenly stopped and looked back towards the direction of North Slope. His view was blocked by the village houses, and in the darkness, he could only see a vague gray.
"Sigh~" he sighed heavily, ultimately not daring to move forward. The envy in his heart spread, making him feel a bit sour.
After pushing open the courtyard door and returning home, Qin Yao found the house in a mess with all kinds of luggage because of the journey three days later. The four Da Lang siblings, along with Yin Le, were still making the final reductions to their luggage.
They couldn’t bring too much; there was only one carriage and two horses, carrying people and goods. If it was too heavy, it would be hard to travel on the road.
Moreover, on the way to the Capital City, who knows what circumstances they’d encounter. Naturally, they should lighten their load. Just in case, if anything unexpected happened, it would be quicker to escape, wouldn’t it?
"Has Liu Ji not returned?" Qin Yao scanned the front yard and didn’t see any sign of Liu Ji.
Those inside, one adult and four children, immediately turned their heads, and Si Niang replied, "Father isn’t coming back tonight."
Yin Le added, "There are some procedures that need to be completed tomorrow, Master probably plans to finish them all before returning."
Besides clothing and Silver Coins for this long journey, they had to prepare two important documents.
One was Liu Ji’s examination certificate.
The other was the travel permit for the whole family.
Without these, they couldn’t even leave Zijing Mansion.
Fortunately, Sheng Country now encourages citizens to engage in commerce, and the movement control of people has been relaxed compared to before; otherwise, getting a travel permit would be difficult.
After understanding Liu Ji’s situation, Qin Yao nodded and told the children to continue tidying up. She returned to her room, took out a land map ’requested’ from Zhen Yubai, and started planning the route to the Capital.
Sheng Country has two capitals, one in the east and one in the west. The Eastern Capital is the main administrative area, home to the Emperor and all the officials.
The Western Capital is the old capital, not as prosperous as the Eastern Capital, but it serves as a military defense base, guarding the western border and deterring the countries in the Western Regions.
According to the map, Zijing Mansion is located about northwest of Sheng Country’s Eastern Capital. This journey to the Capital City involves traveling southwards, passing through two prefectures, eight counties, and six towns. It’s ten days quickly, twenty days slowly.
If by water, it also takes half a month, but staying on a boat all the way is less tiresome and much more comfortable.
However, the current boats are either merchant ships or small private boats, unsuitable for carrying carriages, only fit for light packing.
Unless having people to support from the front and back, bringing much luggage is not feasible.
But Qin Yao’s family does not have this condition, and without servants or maids, they’d rely entirely on themselves. Thus, the option of taking a boat was immediately ruled out by her.
Besides, traveling by land allows them to see the unique landscapes and customs of different places, which is much more interesting than taking a boat.
As for Gongliang Liao’s illness, it depends on fate to see if he can last these twenty days.
If he couldn’t, even rushing by boat might not be in time.
Having seen too many separations of life and death in the apocalypse, Qin Yao no longer has the obsession of meeting for the last time. Cherishing the moment and enjoying life without regrets is the way not to regret later when fate changes unexpectedly.
The lover cherished today may be worlds apart within hours; sometimes death comes so suddenly.
There is no time to dwell in sorrow because the crisis is already at hand, and survival instincts would only drive one to quickly leave their lover’s corpse behind and flee.
Even to the extent that the deceased lover could become a shield, using his broken body to love you once more, protecting you from the monster’s bites.
"Tsk tsk~" Seeing bloodstained scenes resurface in her mind, Qin Yao shook her head, expelling those images and refocusing her attention on the map.
Since traveling with children, and considering the natural wilderness conditions, Qin Yao planned to stay in inns as much as possible along the way.
Therefore, daily travel plans must be made in advance, trying the best to avoid camping in the wild.
However, as the saying goes, plans can’t keep up with changes, so she quickly marked out a few cities where they could definitely find lodging.
With the rough plan completed, the night was deep, and the house was so quiet that even a pin dropping could be heard.
Qin Yao’s ears twitched slightly, quickly raising her sharp eyes toward the direction of the door: "Who!"
"It’s me."
It was Ah Wang’s voice.
Qin Yao’s eyebrows raised in surprise; could it be that he figured it out and planned to go to the Capital with them?
Evidently, she thought too much.
Ah Wang was indeed highly skilled in martial arts, but he wasn’t fearless of death. If he went to the Capital City, whether it be Prince Feng or the Holy Empress, they would certainly have him killed!
Qin Yao got up and came behind the door, hesitated for two seconds, but still opened it.
Ah Wang’s expressionless face appeared in front of her; Qin Yao frowned and asked, "What do you want?"
Ah Wang raised a cloth bag, from which the clinking sounds of bottles and jars could be heard.
"Hemostatic medicine, knockout drug, painkiller, diarrhea medicine." Ah Wang said succinctly, "Wish you all a good journey."
This time, he didn’t give them any strange names anymore.
But...
She just felt like she wanted to throttle someone!
