In her carriage were Wong Mudan, Chen Ju and Baoxue. Their faces blue with fear, the two adults decided to get off the carriage after a while.
Chen Ju said, “I didn’t expect that horses also have tempers, just like men.”
Wong Mudan said, “How can you compare horses to men? Men are sensible, but horses are animals. They will be much fiercer if they get mad.”
Scared by their conversation, Baoxue shivered involuntarily and held her mother tightly.
Sitting in Ye Xiaoxian’s carriage were some daring boys and Old Mr. Xiao. Baocheng and Baoyang had been crying in excitement since it was their first time riding in a carriage.
Annoyed by the noise, Old Mr. Xiao shouted, “Why must those big families have carriages? I thought it would be comfortable to sit here, but my butt’s aching from the jolting!”
No one bothered to respond to his complaints. The boys kept cheering Ye Xiaoxian on to go faster. Of course, she didn’t satisfy their strong desire. For one thing, she wasn’t skilled in driving the carriage. For another, if her horse ran faster, Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu would undoubtedly lag far behind. Therefore, she just took her time.
…
Since there were too many people and carriages around her, Ye Xiaoxian had to be very careful to avoid collisions. Not long after she passed through the gate, a grand carriage overtook hers and stopped.
“Mrs. Ye?” the driver asked.
Ye Xiaoxian squinted at him and saw that it was Fengsheng.
“Fengsheng!” Ye Xiaoxian greeted.
Since his master had recovered from the disease, Ye Xiaoxian hadn’t seen Fengsheng again. During these days, she had been occupied with preparations for the escape. She had thought that they had returned to the capital.
“Mrs. Ye, where are you going?” Fengsheng asked.
Ye Xiaoxian kept on driving as she replied, “I don’t know. Perhaps we can find a dwelling on the way. What about you? Are you going to the capital?”
He answered, “Perhaps. We don’t have anywhere else to go.”
She replied with a polite smile. Then, he let her go ahead and followed slowly behind.
“Young master, Mrs. Ye is in front of us,” he said turning around.
Bored to death, Li Chengru was sitting limply in the carriage. “I heard it. I’m not deaf,” he drawled lazily.
“Young master, don’t you want to say ‘hello’ to her?” Fengsheng asked.
“No!” Li Chengru rejected decidedly. He hadn’t planned to escape the county. The invaders could be easily handled by the convened forces. Besides, he was anxious to get to the front lines and fight to the death.
However, Fengsheng discouraged him. The forces on the Xinhe border would soon be defeated. What difference could Li Chengru make there? He had never fought on the battlefield, knew nothing about military tactics and, furthermore, he was just an obscure prince. For these three reasons, he was likely to court death there.
Fengsheng advised him to be patient until the imperial court sent reinforcements. It wouldn’t be too late to defend their country by then.
Persuaded, Li Chengru asked Fengsheng to get a carriage to leave the county.
…
Ye Xiaoxian had no idea where their destination was. Now that Liu Qianqian was going north, she also decided to try her luck there.
Everyone was energetic on the first day of escaping. Even Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu were full of vigor, moving rapidly with the heavy carts. There had been a sea of people at the very beginning, but as they left in different directions, only a few trekked the same way as the Xiao family.
Although the Liu family had promised to wait for them, they had already disappeared far off into the distance. Liu Qianqian was a trustworthy friend, but she had to follow her family’s decision. Therefore, Ye Xiaoxian didn’t blame her for going too fast.
It was at noon when they stopped in a forest where there was a river was nearby. Since everybody felt hungry, Ye Xiaoxian suggested taking a brief rest there. Then, they got off the carriages one after another. The narrow space inside had numbed their feet.
Wong Mudan and Chen Ju kept complaining. “Oh my god! I’d rather pull the carts than sit here. I’m limp and dizzy, and almost want to throw up!”
Old Mr. Xiao also cursed as he trembled down, “Can I eat fried potatoes now?”
Li Hongmei said, “Dad, we can’t fry potatoes here!”
“Why? Don’t you have a pot?”
Ye Xiaoxian sneered. “Grandpa, do you know how long it takes to fry potatoes? We have to peel them first, pick some firewood and use a lot of oil. We have neither time nor the oil to waste. It’s noon now. We can only eat some buns before continuing on.”
Xiao Tieshu echoed, “Dad, we’re escaping, not picnicking. We must hurry to the next town before it gets dark, or we’ll have to sleep in the carriages tonight.”
Ye Xiaoxian gave everyone a steamed bun and asked the children to fetch water from the river. They would drink it to help swallow the dried food.
The children still felt hungry after eating the buns, let alone the adults. Old Mr. Xiao began cursing again. But Ye Xiaoxian explained emphatically, “We have 11 people here. 11 buns need about 250 grams of flour. Since we will have dinner, at least 500 grams of flour will be consumed in a day. Think about how much flour we have! Now we must save as much as we possibly can. We can eat a little more at night.”
After giving Old Mr. Xiao one more bun, Ye Xiaoxian tied up the food package.
Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu also felt empty in their bellies, but they could only follow the rules they had agreed on last night. Anyway, their hunger could be lessened if they drank more water.
While they were resting, Fengsheng drove the carriage past them. He informed Li Chengru, “Young master, it’s Mrs. Ye!”
