Zhulan and Zhou Shuren looked over in the direction of the waiter’s hand. It was Yao Zheyu’s servant, and no one knew what he was doing here.

The servant heard the voice, he must have been waiting for a long time, his face was a little stiff, “Zhou Xiucai, Madam Xiucai.”

Zhou Shuren looked at the box in the servant’s hand and asked, “What can I do for you?”

The servant waited for a long time. He just wanted to deliver the things and go back quickly. “This is from the young master to Mr. Zhou. The young master said that we would not owe each other anything in the future. Please keep it well, Mr. Zhou.”

Zhou Shuren reached out and took the box. “Please reply to the young master for me. Zhou Xiucai understands.”

The boy thought he would have to say something before he could send it out, but he didn’t expect it to go so smoothly. “Then I’ll go first.”

Zhou Shuren, “Please.”

After the servant left, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went upstairs and returned to their room. Zhulan looked at the box, fully aware, as was Zhou Shuren, that it was better for them to stay on good terms with Yao Zheyu in the capital—especially now that Yao Zheyu had become somewhat darker in nature.

Zhulan closed the door. Zhou Shuren had already opened the box. “Come and take a look.”

Zhulan walked over to the table and looked inside the box. It was filled with silver banknotes, all in large denominations. Zhulan poured them out and counted, “It’s really ten thousand taels of silver notes. I thought Yao Zheyu would renege on repaying the life-saving favor!”

Zhou Shuren, “This only shows that Yao Zheyu has not completely turned evil. However, after repaying the life-saving favor, the last bit of warmth in Yao Zheyu’s heart has disappeared.”

Zhulan was a little worried. “You should go find the convoy tomorrow. Let’s leave as soon as possible. I don’t know if Yao Zheyu is hiding from others to deliver the money. Don’t let Yao Zheyu implicate you and make you a cannon fodder.”

Unfortunately, Yao Zheyu had changed, and her and Zhou Shuren’s plan had gone down the drain. Although getting the money was a happy event, compared with joy and danger, life was more important.

Zhou Shuren was also worried about this matter. “This time, our luck hasn’t been great; the journey has been difficult, and even our arrival in the capital wasn’t particularly smooth. Although we’ve brought some wealth with us, there’s been constant danger to our lives. It’s definitely better to leave as soon as possible.”

Zhulan looked at the silver bills in her hand. Now that she had money, she didn’t dare to spend it. Not only because they were in a hurry to leave the Capital, but also because they had already spent too much today. Today, the looks in the broker’s and Deng Xiucai’s eyes had changed.

On this side, the servant returned to the Marquis’ Mansion and said, “Sir, the box has been delivered. Zhou Xiucai received it but did not see what was inside.”

Yao Zheyu dropped the book in his hand and said, “Got it, you can go down now!”

The servant lowered his head, carefully closed the door, and went out.

Yao Zheyu was the only one left in the room. He sneered, laughing at himself. He had thought for a long time yesterday and decided to repay the life-saving favor. He was not willing to deny the favor. However, it seemed that Zhou Xiucai was indeed interesting. He must have noticed that he had changed, so he took the box without asking what it was. He was really perceptive.

It was a pity that he was just a young xiucai, not from the capital, and was of no use at all. He closed his eyes and recalled the conversation between his grandfather and his father behind his back.

The next morning, Zhou Shuren went to find the caravan early. He was lucky. Many caravans were leaving the Capital these days. Caravans were leaving the city every day. There was a caravan going to the northeast in the afternoon, but there were no extra carriages and drivers, and the escort bodyguards had to be hired by themselves.

After discussing with Zhulan, Zhou Shuren decided to buy two carriages and only needed to hire a coachman and bodyguards.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went to the North City where horses and carriages were sold. They didn’t know much, so they could only give more bribes to the broker to help buy two better horses.

The horses sold in Beicheng were not expensive. Most of them are domestic horses, especially used to pull carriages and transport goods. Even ordinary horses were extremely expensive, fifty taels each, not counting the carriage. The total price of the carriage alone was seventy taels.

In ancient times, horse-drawn carriages also needed to be registered with the government office. Horse-drawn carriages used for long-distance cargo and passenger transport were still subject to regulation, and not everyone could do the job of pulling a carriage.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren were willing to spend money to leave early. In the morning, they had found all the horses, carriages, escorts, and coachmen.
Zhulan ordered a lot of braised pork, roast chicken, etc. at the inn.

After settling the bill with the inn in the afternoon, the two of them took a carriage and followed the convoy to leave the capital.

Because the convoy was not a merchant caravan transporting goods, but a team leaving the Capital and returning home, the convoy was traveling fast and did not stop to rest until dark.

Zhulan had been bumping around for the entire afternoon and her bones felt numb. She had no appetite, so she ate a chicken leg and lay down to rest.

Zhou Shuren and Zhulan hired four escorts. If they were not afraid of attracting too much attention, they would have hired more. They valued their lives. Although they were ten years older after traveling through time, they also wanted to live well. Weren’t they being cautious just to live longer? They didn’t want to be innocent cannon fodder.

On the first night, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren didn’t sleep much because they were not far enough from the capital.

The next day, just after dawn, the convoy announced that it was setting off. There was no time to prepare breakfast. After a simple wash, the convoy set off.

They were on the road all day without a break at noon. The only time they stopped was either to rest the horses, take care of urgent needs, or get some water.

The convoy traveled very fast and arrived at the first post station that evening. It was really fast.

Zhulan finished her dinner and lay down on the bed. “If we keep this pace, the time we need to go back will be shortened by half.”

Zhou Shuren, “We didn’t have time to visit our hometown when we went. If we pass by our hometown when we go back, I will leave the team there.”

“I was thinking of going back to see my parents.”

Zhou Shuren hugged Zhulan and said, “Go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow to travel.”

Zhulan didn’t get a good rest yesterday. She couldn’t sleep because of the bumpy ride during the day. She hummed and fell asleep in a daze. Although she slept, she didn’t dare to sleep too deeply. She was worried and her sleep quality was poor.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was seven days later. After seven days of continuous travel, the children could not bear it anymore and several of them fell ill. There was no choice but for the convoy to go to the county town to rest for two days.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren also looked pale. If they hadn’t insisted on exercising, they would probably have fallen ill.

Although they had suffered, they had already traveled most of the way. Zhou Shuren and Zhulan could finally rest assured that small figures like them had not attracted any attention and they did not have to worry about being cannon fodder.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren felt a weight lift from their hearts. On the first day, they slept deeply, for twelve hours, ten of which were spent in sleep and rest.

On the second day, although they hadn’t fully caught up on sleep, they had already slept so much that they couldn’t fall asleep again.

Zhulan was no longer tense. She had a lot of money in her hands and couldn’t resist the urge to spend it. She suggested, “Let’s go to town for a walk. We didn’t buy anything good in the capital. Let’s go to town and buy some more gifts to take back.”

Zhou Shuren didn’t want to lie down anymore, “Okay.”

Zhulan’s first target was the jewelry shop. Now that she had money in her hands, she could buy more jewelry for her daughter in preparation for her dowry, and also buy some for herself.

Zhulan preferred jade and didn’t like pearl jewelry. This was because she had seen too many artificially cultivated pearls in modern times, which were not only round and big but also very cheap, so she didn’t like pearls.

Zhulan selected three pairs of jade bracelets, some gold and jade hairpins, and finally bought some exquisite head flowers for the little girls.

A total of one hundred and ten taels of silver were spent.

Then the two of them went shopping again, and Zhulan bought some more fabrics, but nothing else.

When Zhou Shuren returned to the inn, he saw Zhulan fiddling with her jewelry without saying anything, so he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

(End of this chapter)

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