"Who do you think you are? Do you really think you can diagnose patients? You’re spouting nonsense and endangering lives." Liushi was infuriated, her weakness exposed: "I don’t care who invited you, please leave immediately."
The voice was sharp, the expression fierce.
Master Zhou Qi, witnessing this from the adjacent room, furrowed his brows deeply.
"Of course I will leave, but only because I’ve been paid to dispel calamities for others. Since I’ve taken on the task of diagnosing you, naturally, I must cure your illness for it to be valid."
Chun Nuan wanted to advise her: A woman who overdoes things may not necessarily be doing herself any favors.
"One should learn to avoid curses, you keep saying you’re ill, that your health is poor, and you won’t live long." Chun Nuan remarked calmly: "Any unfavorable words spoken should be considered as foretelling the future; if you persist in ignoring my advice and continue with this supplementation, you’ll fulfill your own prophecy."
"You..."
Liushi was terribly angry, what did this woman mean?
"Using your weak health as an excuse to keep Master Zhou Qi is understandable, but you shouldn’t continuously intake various supplements, lying in bed all day without going out, which severely depletes your body..."
Chun Nuan was no longer concerned about Liushi’s feelings, directly exposing the lie so that Master Zhou Qi in the next room could fully understand.
"Shut up, get out of here."
Liushi couldn’t take it anymore and screamed, then magnificently fainted.
Chun Nuan found it both amusing and exasperating; this time it wasn’t an act, she truly fainted.
"Someone..." Chun Nuan called out, and with a gesture from Master Zhou Qi, A Zhuang released Liushi’s maid and servant.
Chun Nuan pinched her philtrum to revive her.
"Take good care of her."
There was nothing left for her to do.
Walking out of the inner court, she saw A Zhuang.
Chun Nuan looked left and right, wanting to see how her newly embraced tree was doing, but she didn’t see Master Zhou Qi.
"Miss Xiao, shall I escort you back?"
What? Just like that she’s being sent away, without any delay or issue?
"Master Qi said you should deliver the winter clothes going to Northern Desert to the Xiao Family Pier’s trade company, just provide your name."
"Alright, thank you."
Thanking him first for keeping his word, secondly for A Zhuang’s escort home.
Chun Nuan returned to her own courtyard, where her aunt and others swarmed forward, hesitant to speak.
"Aunt, mother, Aunt, sister-in-law, have you finished the winter clothes for the Northern Desert?"
"Yes, we specifically stuffed extra cotton inside, making them thicker, though a bit heavy, and quite a lot, Nuannuan..."
"No matter, pack them well and send them to the pier tomorrow."
"Will they really reach them?"
"They will."
Master Zhou Qi indeed promised to protect the Xiao family after curing Liushi’s illness. For a businessman who ventures across the lands, finding people in the Northern Desert shouldn’t be a problem.
"Then..."
Mrs. Xu hesitated.
"Aunt, if you have something to say, we are family." Chun Nuan knew she had thoughts to share.
"Nuannuan, do we have some broken silver at home? Can we exchange it for silver notes and sew them into the clothes?" Mrs. Xu said: "Their days in Northern Desert must be much harder than ours..."
During the family’s confiscation and exile, good clothes were seized altogether, each person had only a few pieces of clothing, and not a single piece of winter clothing was taken.
The government officer scolded: "You’re being exiled, not visiting relatives for enjoyment, carry what you can on your back, you’ll have to walk fifty miles every day, if you think you can manage, take it..."
Exiled to Northern Desert, relying on the legs to walk fifty miles a day was indeed a specific challenge for those accustomed to traveling by carriage. They had no choice but to deliberately give up the cumbersome winter clothing.
"Aunt, I’ve thought about that too." Chun Nuan took out some broken silver: "Sew these into the corners of the heavy winter clothes."
"Silver notes..."
"Silver notes won’t work, if they get wet, they become useless paper." Chun Nuan said: "Sew them in the corners, I’ll mention it when writing to my brother."
"What if your letter..."
"Don’t worry, my brother and I have our secret code; they won’t notice."
During farewell, Chun Nuan and her biological brother made a pact; when they write letters they hide important information inside, using this unique method to interpret them, outsiders wouldn’t be able to decipher.
"That’s good, that’s good."
They sought several heavy winter clothes and sewed silver into the corners. Even pinching and feeling wouldn’t detect it, indeed very secure.
Chun Nuan, accompanied by Chun Ning, Chunyan, and Chun Shu, each carrying a large bundle, headed to the Xiao Family Pier, finding the Zhou trading company.
"You’re Miss Xiao, yes, yes, Master Qi instructed that we verify one shipment, register it, and later show you the signed receipt after delivery..."
Chun Nuan checked every detail with the manager, finishing with a family letter.
"This must be handed to my family personally."
Besides the winter clothes, Chun Nuan also prepared pills for her family, some for colds and fevers, coughs and phlegm, bleeding, treating frostbite...
The family was separated into three areas, yearning for their eldest sister in the Capital, worrying about their brother in the Northern Desert, surviving in Shu City.
After delivering the winter clothes to the caravan, Chun Nuan began to anticipate news from the Northern Desert.
Northern Desert, the Xiao family returned from work, exhausted, still needing to cook.
Two rooms were their refuge.
Initially, they couldn’t do anything right, cooking undercooked meals, kneading dough hard as stone, not knowing how to fry vegetables, unable to wash clothes...
In general, several grown men were as clumsy as could be.
Fortunately, because it was Northern Desert, everyone was the same, no one looked down on each other.
Their neighbors, the Ma family, exiled over a decade ago from Jiangnan, willing to shelter others after experiencing hardships themselves, actively taught the Xiao family survival skills here.
Such as when to buy the cheapest at the market, where it’s best to chop firewood; how to slack off in work locations without getting whipped by soldiers...
The Xiao family was naturally grateful to them.
After more than a month of learning and exploration, they finally managed to get by.
Former writing hands, besides labor, picked up needle and thread for mending themselves.
"I remember mother once said, country people are frugal, using new clothes for three years, old clothes for another three and mending for three more years. Now we truly need to experience this lifestyle."
"Absolutely, fortunes come and go before old age." The three brothers sighed: "Who knows how mother and others are doing in Shu City?"
"Returning to Shu City should be alright, after all, there are clansmen looking after them there."