The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2265 - 2240: Departure (Bonus - for Reader "Ten Years Mengmeng" Reward)

Bai Erlang was stunned, "I can’t know either? What if both of you run into trouble?"

Bai Shan confidently replied, "We won’t run into trouble."

Even if he gets into trouble, Manbao won’t be in danger. With Uncle Zhou around, very few people can harm her, so he is quite relieved.

After ushering everyone out, Bai Shan and Manbao packed about half of the boxes themselves. It was only after they locked them up securely that they allowed Bai Erlang and the others to come in and help fill the boxes with stones and dry grass leather.

Even Yin Huo felt a bit doubtful of his life choices. While clumsily wrapping a dirty wolf’s skin around a large bundle of dry grass and putting it into a box, he asked, "Is this it? Aren’t the things still in the luggage? What if we end up fishing out a box of hay or stones instead of gold and silver if the boxes are scattered?"

Bai Shan confidently replied, "They won’t be; trust me on this."

Well, since the little partner said so, everyone could only believe and proceed. Thus, the six of them worked together to complete the disguise on all the boxes, and then they personally wrote and affixed seals on them.

Bai Shan admired his handwriting with great satisfaction, "There probably aren’t many seals as good-looking as these."

Manbao glanced at his own handwriting and secretly decided to extend his practice time; otherwise, the gap between them would only widen further.

With the seals affixed, they finally opened the doors to let the soldiers come in and reload the luggage onto the carriage.

The soldiers noticed when lifting that some boxes had become heavier while others were lighter. Although they didn’t understand the purpose, they didn’t ask questions and dutifully followed orders to secure everything on the carriage.

These matters naturally couldn’t be hidden from Mr. Zhuang. Although curious, he didn’t ask questions and instead discussed departure times with Master Zhi Ren.

Jiechen’s condition was improving. Perhaps it was due to not having complete medicine before, or the quality of the medicine wasn’t very good. Now that better medicine was applied, his recovery was exceptionally quick.

Although he still had a slight fever, his wounds were indeed healing. Even the deep hole on his leg had started to slowly fill in with tissue and shrink.

Manbao was delighted to see this and told Master Zhi Ren, "With such a quick recovery, we can set out in two or three days."

Zhi Ren also took a deep breath of relief, becoming more proactive in discussing the reconnaissance with Assistant General Nie and Mr. Zhuang.

Assistant General Nie personally led a team to scout the route and reported back to Zhou Man and the others, "It takes two days to bypass their checkpoints, and we get as close as eight miles to them at a certain point, meaning they could reach us on horseback in fifteen minutes. Therefore, we must be very cautious while passing by, ensuring we aren’t discovered."

Bai Shan asked, "Approximately what time will we pass the section where we are closest if we take this route?"

"When I walked it, it was approximately three quarters past 1 p.m."

Bai Shan said, "Then we’ll travel in the afternoon so that it’s dark by the time we reach there, reducing the chance of being noticed."

Assistant General Nie was surprised, not having considered this, and pondered for a moment, "But marching at night might be dangerous."

"Get a few guides familiar with that path to lead us. Though it’s cold at night, it’s summer, and the cold is limited. Eight miles isn’t long, yet not short either. They probably won’t notice us at night, and we have a lot of people, which is conspicuous. That’s the best plan I can think of."

Assistant General Nie thought for a while but couldn’t come up with a better plan and nodded in agreement.

Zhi Ren and Mr. Zhuang also had no objections, so they finalized the departure time.

Bai Shan took out two pieces of relatively good silk and gave them to the village chief, asking him to find two capable guides to lead them.

The old man looked at the silk in his hand, turned to glance at Zhou Man, and finally nodded in agreement. He found two people, one being his eldest grandson, and said to Zhou Man and the others, "They often go herding and hunting over there and are most familiar with that route."

Then everyone waited for Jiechen to be able to move.

Manbao and the others were quite curious about Jiechen, mainly because they heard from the villagers that he was particularly brave and highly skilled in martial arts. At that time, he charged into the horse thieves with just one long staff, fighting ten to one, sweeping away the broadswords aimed at the villagers and routing the horse thieves completely.

The village chief’s youngest grandson vividly recounted the tale, gesturing enthusiastically, holding a firewood stick, climbing onto his family’s wall, and leaping off with a cry to demonstrate how impressive Jiechen was at descending from the sky then.

Manbao and the others could now barely understand some of their speech, and combined with gestures, they could communicate quite smoothly.

Manbao gestured to ask, "Did those horse thieves try to rob you?"

The young grandson pursed his lips in grievance, pointed to the cattle and sheep outside the village, and said, "They wanted to eat our cattle and sheep. The adults wouldn’t give them, so they raised their knives to kill people. Very bad."

Manbao nodded, agreeing that they were indeed bad.

In private, Bai Shan said, "If the Anxi Protectorate can’t eliminate the horse thieves, it’s only a matter of time before calamity befalls the village living here."

Manbao agreed, but even Master Zhi Ren couldn’t persuade the villagers to leave. Because leaving here didn’t guarantee survival elsewhere.

Migration requires a lot of resources, which the villagers clearly didn’t have.

Sighing in his heart, Bai Shan, unable to bear it, left the remaining pieces of silk left by the horse thieves to the old man when departing, smiling, "Thank you to the villagers for hosting us over these days. Consider these as our gifts to you."

The villagers, reluctantly saying goodbye, brightened at the sight, and their gazes grew even more friendly.

They naturally wouldn’t use the silk themselves but could exchange them for food. Without having to travel far, they knew of a large market at Puchanghai, a day’s ride away.

The silk there could not only be exchanged for food but also for wine and medicines, providing many options.

The village chief was also grateful and, considering the nearby horse thieves, he did not reject Bai Shan’s goodwill.

If truly forced, these silks could help them leave here and live elsewhere.

Since Jiechen’s injuries still prevented major movements, he was carried to the carriage.

Bai Shan generously offered his and Bai Erlang’s carriage, laying it flat and spreading a layer of bedding for Jiechen to lie down and heal.

Being tall, even lying sideways didn’t quite accommodate his legs. Luckily, the uninjured leg could bend, making it better than sitting up, so travel was bearable.

Bai Shan traveled in another carriage with Manbao. After having lunch in the village and resting for a while, they set off after 1 p.m.

They traveled slowly, trying not to make much noise. Bai Shan and the others were especially quiet, sometimes untying the curtains to look outside or playing chess in the carriage out of boredom.

Manbao also had Keke keep a constant watch on the checkpoint. If they were truly discovered, as soon as the horse thieves made a move, she would know.