Chapter 609: Chapter 609: A Day Trip
Chewing on the last bit of dry food made by Mrs. Li and looking at the overpriced Yu Zhou dishes that were all show and no substance, Qin Yao and Liu Ji sighed in rare agreement.
Without a full stomach, there’s no energy.
Without energy, there’s no spirit.
Without spirit, you don’t feel like going anywhere.
The family of seven resolutely refused all of Zhou Meng’s entertainment suggestions, and after sending him away, the men and women split into two groups and returned to their respective rooms with Qin Yao and Liu Ji, lying down and not moving.
Their uniformly weak appearance was like a collective bout of depression.
This was only the third day out!
Three days ago, the family’s joyful and hopeful look at departure was so vivid and full of vitality.
"This can’t go on!"
Liu Ji suddenly sat up from the bed with a start, shocking Da Lang and his brothers. They looked at their father nervously, wondering if he’d gone mad from the terrible food.
Da Lang was full of worry, "Father?"
Liu Ji waved him over, "Get up, come on, let’s go to the market with me to buy groceries. Your mother hasn’t had an appetite in days. She’s looking thin and hungry."
The main thing is, his own stomach couldn’t take it anymore. Without a decent meal, how could he have the energy to head to the Capital?
He wanted to see his teacher one last time!
Speaking, Liu Ji didn’t care about the children’s reactions and directly got them off the bed. "Put on your shoes, let’s hurry up, maybe we can have a hearty dinner today."
Da Lang, Second Lang, and Sanlang nodded in a daze, quickly got out of bed, put on their shoes, and followed their father in a gust of wind and fire out of the inn.
When they got to the street, the three brothers finally reacted. Second Lang looked at their father bargaining with a peasant woman, trying to cry poverty, with surprise, "Mother is hungry and thin?"
Liu Ji, picking wild vegetables, didn’t turn back, "Haven’t eaten well for days, naturally she’s gotten thin, her face has shrunk."
Da Lang twitched the corner of his mouth, "Got tanned, looks smaller like that."
He remembered clearly, Mother’s arms were full of muscles when she rolled up her sleeves for lunch just now. A punch could kill a tiger, how was she thin?
Liu Ji shot a glare at the three boys, annoyed, "You guys talk too much, hold the vegetables, see if there’s any fresh meat."
Best to find some ribs, this fearsome woman at home has a different taste; others like fat meat, but she loves these skinny bones.
The peasant woman handed over the wild vegetables, just right, one bunch for each of the brothers.
Holding the three bundles of wild vegetables their father bought for ten cents, the three brothers followed behind him, watching Liu Ji eagerly searching for ribs. They were infected by his energy, exchanged glances, and laughed.
This Yu Zhou Main City is really big. Just selling vegetables takes up a long street—could wander for half an hour.
The father and three sons bought ribs and went to the general store to buy lots of spices. This place was full of merchants, not only was there a full range of goods, but the prices were much cheaper than those at Zijing Mansion.
Liu Ji grabbed a chicken with his left hand, held two slender rib bones in his right, and glanced back at the three sons holding wild vegetables and spices, mentally calculating the price difference and was quite surprised.
The things he just bought cost a hundred and twenty-eight cents less than in Kaiyang County.
The old father immediately gave a sly smile, turned and bargained with the three sons, "If your mother asks, say these things cost two taels of silver, okay?"
Second Lang, quick-witted, immediately understood his father’s little scheme, squeezed out a father-and-son sly smile, "Ten cents for silence fee."
Liu Ji readily agreed: "Deal!"
Sanlang chuckled, ten cents, enough to buy two sticks of candied haws.
Da Lang helplessly glared at his two younger brothers, seriously reminded, "Mother isn’t dumb, just ask a local person to find out the price difference. Dad, it’s not worth the risk for a hundred and twenty-eight coins."
Liu Ji was surprised, "How did you know it was a hundred and twenty-eight coins?"
The three boys said in unison, "We calculated it, isn’t it obvious, Dad?"
Liu Ji was choked for a moment, thinking, it’s not a good thing that the kids are all smart like him.
But he worked hard to shop and still had to cook a delicious meal himself. It wasn’t excessive to recoup a hundred and twenty-eight coins from this fearsome woman at home, was it?
The sumptuous dinner was served, and the family of seven finally had a satisfying hot meal. Qin Yao slurped down five bowls and leaned back in the chair to digest with a satisfied squint.
She didn’t ask how much the groceries cost, and Liu Ji didn’t voluntarily mention it. The couple understood each other and tacitly agreed to this approach.
After all, to Qin Yao now, the emotional value of the meal Liu Ji provided tonight surpassed 128 coins.
Moreover...
"Liu Ji, from now on, you’ll be cooking our dinners, right? It feels comfortable to have one hot meal a day, wouldn’t you agree?"
Qin Yao, in a lazy tone, smiled at him with squinted eyes. Liu Ji dared not refuse, naturally smiling obediently, "As long as you, dear, are satisfied, even three meals a day, I have no complaints!"
Qin Yao extended her finger in satisfaction, pointing at him in the air, "You performed very well today, I’m very pleased."
Knowing he’d pocketed some money, Liu Ji tried his best to keep smiling.
With Liu Ji cooking, Qin Yao’s tortured stomach was greatly soothed. Early the next morning, after enjoying a tasty and hearty breakfast, she energetically led her apprentice and children out for a day of fun.
Liu Ji was the last out. As he habitually did, he filled the mother’s and children’s water bottles with cool boiled water, tucked them into the cloth bag, added a box of freshly made meat pies, locked the guest room, and hurried after the mother and children.
Yin Le, observant as ever, noticed the heavy-looking bag on Grandmaster’s shoulder and hurried back to relieve him of his water bottle.
Liu Ji’s mouth twitched hard, thinking, nuisance, am I worried about that one water bottle of yours?
Forget it, don’t bother with this clueless girl, better not to provoke her protective master, avoiding unnecessary trouble for himself.
Overall, today’s day trip in Yu Zhou was quite successful.
The children saw performances they had never seen before, browsed the biggest general store here, saw many rare items from everywhere, and each bought a small gadget that didn’t take up space. They also ate the food they brought for lunch, and yesterday’s negative feelings were greatly compensated.
From mid-morning until the sun tilted west in the late afternoon, they finally circled Yuri Zhou’s main city. Though it was a quick tour, they had been here.
The family happily returned to the inn and passed by the reward notice wall of Yu Zhou Main City, where many missing person notices had been newly posted.
Qin Yao inadvertently glanced and noticed many were looking for lost livestock, and providing clues could get a reward ranging from two hundred cents to five taels.
This suddenly made her think, if she went to the Capital City, perhaps she could earn a nice sum on these bounties as pocket money too.
"Mother!" Si Niang, sitting on Liu Ji’s shoulders, suddenly pointed to the reward notice wall, curiously asking, "What’s human trafficking?"
