Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and Zhulan’s luggage was packed. The caravan’s carriages arrived early in the morning. One of the two carriages was for the luggage, and the other was for Zhulan and Zhou Shuren. After the luggage was loaded, Zhulan made sure that nothing was left behind before getting on the carriage.

Zhulan explained everything she needed to say and left the money she was supposed to give. For three months, she left Zhao Shi 30 taels of silver, which included three months’ monthly allowance, three months’ food money, and other expenses.

Zhou Shuren also left one hundred taels of silver for Boss Zhou, in case there was any major event that required money and Boss Zhou could take out the money.

During the three days, Zhulan also bought some ornaments and tea to use when visiting relatives and friends at home.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren got on the carriage swiftly, without any sign of reluctance.

The sons of the Zhou family looked at each other in silence. Why did they feel as if their father and mother had lost a big burden?

Because of this feeling, the four sons of the Zhou family felt nervous.

People’s intuition was sometimes very accurate. They really felt that if they made their parents angry one day, they would really abandon them.

They warned themselves in their hearts that they must be filial to their parents and never make them angry.

Among the different Zhou Family daughters-in-law, Li Shi was panicking, especially when her mother got on the carriage without saying a word. She realized that she was the most dependent on her mother-in-law, and her mother-in-law always sided with her at home. Now that her mother-in-law was not there to suppress Zhao Shi and Dong Shi, she knew that she could not compare with her two younger dìmèi, and she was a little scared!

Li Shi couldn’t help shouting, “Mom.”

Unfortunately, it was her father-in-law who pulled the curtain of the car.

Li Shi’s mood instantly disappeared and she was frightened back!

Zhao Shi was not panicking, but worried. Her mother-in-law was the only one in the family who could calm Dong Shi down. She was afraid that when her mother-in-law was not at home, Dong Shi would agree to her promises verbally but go against her will behind her back.

Dong Shi had no reason to be reluctant while her mother-in-law was leaving. After all, she did not have a deep relationship with her mother-in-law, and she was afraid of her mother-in-law. After her mother-in-law left, she was probably the only happy person in the family.

Xuehan stood beside her sister and watched the changes in her brothers and sisters-in-law. These three months were going to be interesting. She also has a secret mission given to her by her mother!

The carriage left, and Zhulan instantly felt like she had let go of a burden.

She let out a long breath and said to Zhou Shuren in a low voice, “Only after leaving the Zhou family did I feel like I was Yang Zhulan.”

Zhou Shuren understood what Zhulan meant. In the Zhou family, Zhulan was the mistress of the household, worrying about the affairs of the entire family. Only when she left would she become the modern Yang Zhulan, living a relaxed and comfortable life alone.

Zhou Shuren held Zhulan’s hand and said, “I am the same.”

He and Zhulan took over the original body, not only to change the fate of the Zhou family as cannon fodder but also to teach the Zhou family. The two of them were cautious in every step, and it looked easy, but, how much effort it took was only known to themselves, and they were also tired.

So Zhulan has been thinking about going to the capital and also wants to relax.

Zhulan leaned against Zhou Shuren, and neither of them spoke. They listened quietly to the sound of horse hooves, waiting to meet up with the caravan at the city gate.

The carriage arrived at the city gate. Zhulan lifted the curtain of the window. The convoy was really large, and it was filled with carriages as far as the eye could see.

Zhulan asked, “Whose convoy is Lord Jiang looking for?”

Zhou Shuren shook his head. “I don’t know the details. I only knew that it was a caravan heading to the capital. They hired the best escort company for protection. Lord Jiang stuffed us in there to make us safer.”

Zhulan pulled open the carriage curtain again and looked at the escorts on horseback. There were quite a few hired men, but they were a little too many.

The road from Pingzhou City to the capital was very safe because it was the most important official road. The area around the road was cleared once a year and the bandits had been cleared out long ago. There is no need to hire so many bodyguards.

Zhulan retracted her neck. Her premonition really came true. “There are quite a lot of escorts and quite a few vehicles. The wheels look compacted. There must be heavy objects inside. Why do I feel that it is unsafe to follow the convoy?”

Zhou Shuren frowned and stretched his head to look a few times. His heart skipped a beat and he lowered his voice, “Lord Jiang has no reason to cheat us. Thinking back carefully, Lord Jiang mentioned safety to me several times. It seems that the journey to the capital this time will not be peaceful!”

Zhulan wanted to curse in her heart, “Lord Jiang must have heard the news. He didn’t remind us not to go to the capital. Do you still think he is not trying to trick us?”

She seriously suspected that Lord Jiang wanted the two of them to die so that he could control Changlian. With the Dong family around, the Zhou family was in Lord Jiang’s hands. But that didn’t make sense. Lord Jiang didn’t need to plot against them. The Zhou family wasn’t worth it.

This only meant that Lord Jiang didn’t know much and it was difficult to tell them. For their safety, it was safer to squeeze them into the convoy.

Zhou Shuren also thought of what Zhulan thought, “I thought I would go to the capital to travel around, but I didn’t expect that it would go against my wishes.”

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren didn’t want to talk anymore. There were bodyguards everywhere nearby, so it was better to be careful.

After waiting for a while, some more carriages arrived one after another. Zhulan kept watching them and felt relieved. They were also the carriages that followed the convoy. The more people there were, the safer it was. It seemed that Lord Jiang really did not plan against the couple and had spent a lot of thought on their safety.

But the news that Lord Jiang dared not mention must be very important.

After waiting for another quarter of an hour, the convoy finally moved. Zhulan was very excited. It was the first time she saw so many horse-drawn carriages traveling together in ancient times. It was quite shocking.

The only downside was that there were too many carriages and they were not moving very fast. It was noon and Zhulan was no longer in trouble, but the carriages did not go very far.

Zhou Shuren put down the book in his hand and said, “You must be hungry.”

Zhulan nodded, “I am indeed a little hungry, let’s eat something.”

As she spoke, she took out a basket of buns. The buns were not particularly cold because they were covered with a mat. These were the buns that Li Shi had specially made in the morning. Zhulan then took out a jar containing pickles and finally took out a jar of porridge, which was still warm.

Li Shi also prepared a lot of pastries, but Zhulan didn’t want to eat them. She just wanted to eat some light vegetarian buns and white porridge.

The carriage was not big, and there was not much space after putting on a small table. Zhulan and Zhou Shuren found the dishes and had lunch.

After the meal, Zhulan did not wash the dishes. The water in the water bag she brought was boiled water, which was clean and safe. They would wash the dishes when the carriage stopped in the afternoon and found a water source.

By the afternoon, Zhulan had long gotten over the shock of the huge convoy. She just felt it was inconvenient. Not only was it slow, but the most inconvenient thing was the need to stop every time to meet people’s urgent needs. There were indeed many ancient forests, but there were too many people. The scene was quite shocking.

Especially for the women, it was the most inconvenient. They had to wait until the women were finished before the men could go. Fortunately, there were many maidservants standing by to keep watch.

Zhulan benefited quite a bit from it, but alas, talking about it too much only brings tears.

In the end, Zhulan refused to drink water easily, and the caravan traveled for a whole day without reaching the post station. It was too slow, so they could only find a place with water to stay for one night.

Zhulan was finally able to get out of the car and walk around. Each family prepared their own meals. Zhulan and Zhou Shuren decided to have cakes in the evening. Zhou Shuren first accompanied Zhulan to wash the dishes.

There was no need for anyone to watch the car, as the important banknotes were all on her. The more people watched, the more likely they would think there were some good things in the car.

It would be better to be open and honest. After all, they were not wealthy and did not have anything valuable. It was enough to just leave the coachman to watch the carriage.

The two returned the dishes and chopsticks but were not in a hurry to return to the carriage. They were exhausted after a whole day’s ride, so they did not leave the carriage too far but kept walking around it. Suddenly, Zhulan stopped and said, “Look at the stream ahead.”

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