If it were a normal day, Yu Xiaolian, a little child, coming to inquire about horse prices would have been ignored by the horse and cattle dealers. No family would send a child to handle such a big thing.
Moreover, Yu Xiaolian was dressed in patched clothes, looking less and less like someone who could afford a horse carriage. But this year, the drought left the horse and cattle market business slow. With days without a single customer, the dealers treated conversations with Yu Xiaolian as idle chats, not expecting to encounter a major buyer who not only wanted the best horses but also a carriage with a canopy.
Three months without business, one deal covers three months.
After Yu Xiaolian paid Silver, the horse and cattle dealers enthusiastically harnessed the carriage for her and even gave her a saddle and a small whip.
Yu Xiaolian was quite good at horsemanship in her past life and knew how to ride horses.
But she truly had never driven a carriage before, however, this didn’t bother her; practice makes perfect.
She jumped onto the carriage, swung the small whip, and drove the carriage. Having watched Jiang Lin drive a cattle cart, she followed the example and quickly felt this was something anyone could do without needing to learn.
Driving the carriage to the inn, she called the Sun family member and stored Yu Changhe and the blanket in space.
Outside in the carriage canopy, she first released Yu Changhe, then took out the geographic map of the Great Liang region she had bought when she sent the letter. Heading north all the way, it would take less than a day to reach Yangcheng.
If there were cars, it would probably be just a two-hour journey.
Yu Xiaolian, new to driving, didn’t dare to go too fast, fearing the horse might get startled.
"Lian’er, are we really going to Yangcheng?"
Even though Yu Xiaolian had discussed it with the Sun family member and Yu Changhe the night before, explaining the benefits of going to Yangcheng, the Sun family member was still reluctant to leave home too far behind.
"Mom, if we want to live comfortably without disturbance, we need to stay far away from my grandma and them. Otherwise, don’t even think about having peaceful days."
Yu Xiaolian had read too many novels and seen plenty of extreme cases. Now that it was happening to her, she had to stay as far away as possible. She had no patience for daily battles of wits and courage with extreme people. Once her temper flared, she just wanted to zap them with an electric baton.
To avoid turning into a violent little girl, it’s better to stay away from extreme people.
The Sun family member knew what kind of person the old lady Yu was. If she knew they bought a house in town and lived comfortably, she would surely come and cause trouble.
The village was close to the town, and who knows, one day they might bump into villagers there.
Going to Yangcheng would be different. Most villagers had not traveled far, with many having gone only as far as the town.
Places like Yangcheng, neither she nor Yu Changhe had been.
The Sun family member thought about possibly not being able to frequently see her own mother, feeling a bit sad.
Yu Xiaolian naturally knew what the Sun family member was thinking and promised to drive back to see Grandma Sun from time to time, which made her happy.
As the afternoon passed and they were only halfway through the journey, Yu Changhe became a bit anxious.
Displeased with Yu Xiaolian’s slow driving, he urged her to let him drive.
With this pace, it would be night by the time they reached Yangcheng.
The Sun family member held Yu Changhe down, stopping him from moving recklessly, "You have a wooden board on your leg, don’t show off."
The Sun family member understood Yu Changhe; men liked cars and horses. Seeing a tall, strong horse made Yu Changhe itch for it.
"Mom, when we reach that grove ahead, let’s rest for a bit and eat something?"
Driving the carriage wasn’t tiring, but it was hot. The blazing sun made Yu Xiaolian unable to open her eyes.
Seeing a grove ahead, Yu Xiaolian naturally wanted to cool down before continuing.
Already driving slow, and now wanting to rest, Yu Changhe sighed. If only his leg could move.
She parked the carriage in a shady spot, tied the reins to a grassy tree for the horse to graze.
Yu Xiaolian entered the space and picked from the shelves.
She took two self-heating small hot pots, one for her and one for the Sun family member.
Yu Changhe couldn’t handle spice, so she gave him a self-heating clay pot rice.
Mushroom beef, Taiwanese braised pork, tomato beef, fish-flavored shredded pork, Cantonese sausage, Sichuan spicy meat.
Six flavors, she chose tomato beef for Yu Changhe, as the other flavors all had some spice, which Yu Changhe couldn’t eat now.
Then she grabbed a bag of pure milk for Yu Changhe. She didn’t like pure milk and wanted to drink ice beer, but considering her body was only ten years old, she refrained.
She grabbed a bottle of chilled sea buckthorn juice for herself and the Sun family member.
After coming out, Yu Xiaolian lifted the curtain of the carriage and draped it over the canopy.
The wind needed to blow inside, or it would get hotter while eating.
In this scorching weather, she really wanted to eat a bowl of chilled noodles. The supermarket had cold noodles, but they couldn’t be cooked; she’d make do with a bite.
Eating this self-heating hot pot was definitely better than chewing on bread. Might as well heat it up. Read complete version only at novel·fıre·net
Yu Xiaolian opened the lid of the self-heating hot pot, took out the ingredients, and heating pack to place at the box’s bottom, then poured the noodle packet, seasoning packet, and vegetable packet into the inner box to stir, then added mineral water to the box and stirred.
Then, she tore open the plastic wrapper of the heating pack, added cold water just to submerge the pack.
"It’ll be ready in fifteen minutes."
"Fifteen minutes?" Yu Changhe frowned, "How long is fifteen minutes?"
Yu Xiaolian took out a watch and showed Yu Changhe, "This watch has twelve small marks, each mark is five minutes..."
She rambled on for a long time.
"But... this watch doesn’t have small marks?" Yu Changhe rubbed his eyes, wondering if his vision was failing.
"Well, this is a conceptual watch, minimalist version, without marks. But normal watches are like what I told you."
Yu Changhe asked again, "How do you know these things?"
Faced with such questions, Yu Xiaolian naturally pushed everything onto Yu Zikuang.
The all-purpose shield—Brother Yu Zikuang.
Yu Xiaolian checked the time, it was ready, and she opened the lid of the self-heating hot pot, immediately releasing a fragrant aroma throughout the carriage.
Luckily, she had chosen a relatively large carriage, so the three of them inside weren’t crowded.
She handed the Sun family member a disposable fork, while giving Yu Changhe a spoon.
The aroma was so enticing; she felt she hadn’t eaten hot pot in a long time.
Just from the smell, her mouth was watering.
She had given the Sun family member a mildly spicy flavor; hers was spicy and numbing.
A bite of hot pot followed by a sip of ice beer.
How delightful is it!
"This hot pot is really tasty, although a bit spicy, it’s the spiciness that makes you want to eat more, after one bite, you want the second."
The Sun family member picked up a piece of fatty beef roll, covered in broth, and put it in her mouth, making Yu Changhe’s eyes fixate, thinking it looked tastier.
Then he looked again, seeing the Sun family member’s juice was yellow, swallowing another mouthful.
Yu Changhe, seeing how deliciously the Sun family member was eating, couldn’t resist, "Can I try yours?"
The Sun family member was about to switch with Yu Changhe, but Yu Xiaolian stopped them, "No, you can’t have spicy or stimulating food now. Your meal is delicious too, try it."
Only then did Yu Changhe lower his head, took a bite of his clay pot rice, with big chunks of beef and rice smothered in fragrant tomato juice. He scooped a bite with his spoon and put it in his mouth, nodding repeatedly, scooped another bite and held it up to the Sun family member, "This is really good, try it!"