Everyone gathered around the fireplace, talking for more than an hour, until Mr. Zhuang felt sleepy and everyone dispersed.
A place like the post station, with only one building within five miles, typically ant an early bedti after sunset. By the ti the Post Station Steward returned, his eyes were almost shut.
His wife couldn’t help but mutter, "City folks are strange. It’s dark and they don’t sleep, but sit together chatting idly."
The Post Station Steward said, "Don’t talk nonsense. I think these officials are observing the people’s sentints, just like in the plays."
"There are just the five of us here, what sentints are they observing?"
Post Station Steward: "...They asked a lot of questions, but not much about our family. If you don’t understand, don’t speak randomly."
His wife couldn’t help but mutter, "How do I not understand? By the way, do you know where they dug up the mountain pepper?"
"Where did they dig it up?"
"That’s what I don’t know, so I’m asking you. I wanted to find a broken wooden bucket to plant it, but after wandering around, I couldn’t see where it was stored."
The Post Station Steward didn’t care, "Maybe it’s stored on the cart. Those nobles have so many carts. Don’t wander over there, if sothing gets lost, it’ll be hard to explain."
"I know, I’m just watching from a distance. That mountain pepper isn’t small, how can it fit in a cart..."
The Post Station Steward had already fallen sound asleep.
The couple got up before dawn the next day, waking up their children to prepare breakfast noodle soup.
After eating a bowl of noodles, Manbao and the others set off, continuing towards Xiazhou.
They traveled leisurely, stopping to rest for a couple of days whenever they encountered a good or interesting place.
Assistant General Nie, who sided with the Yin Family, knew Yin Huo’s health was poor, so he naturally didn’t mind the caravan stopping to rest. However, the two emissaries from Honglu Temple were anxious for a while.
But after climbing mountains with Mr. Zhuang, visiting famous local doctors, and eting with local officials and so commoners, they gradually adapted to everyone’s pace, understanding that at this rate, it would be a miracle to return to Chang’an even after five years, let alone the planned five months.
On second thought, in terms of age, Mr. Zhuang was older than them; in terms of prospects, Bai Shan, Zhou Man, and Bai Cheng each had a much grander future. Ti was more precious to them than it was to the two emissaries.
Since they weren’t in a hurry, there was no need for the emissaries to rush either.
So they began to relax too, occasionally discussing the classics with Mr. Zhuang.
The two emissaries had graduated from the Ming Classic departnt but also aspired to the Imperial Examinations, so they took the opportunity to clarify any unclear subjects with Mr. Zhuang.
anwhile, Mr. Zhuang and the others needed to learn so of the languages of the grasslands and Western Regions from them, creating a strong atmosphere of learning within the group.
Manbao, Bai Shan, and Bai Erlang had been preparing for this in the past two years, so they were familiar with so daily phrases.
However, they had either learned the official language or the languages of major tribes, which ant they knew fewer phrases than the two emissaries, let alone mastering them.
So they were now busy learning languages from the emissaries.
Surprisingly, the fastest learner was Zhou Liru.
Bai Shan, Manbao, and Yin Huo were considered knowledgeable and had great mory, but even they needed to listen to a sentence multiple tis to rember and repeat it, and when they did, it often ca out with various accents that needed constant correction.
But Zhou Liru only needed to hear it a couple of tis before she learned it.
She had an exceptional mory for these languages; what she learned today, she could mostly rember the next day, and then use it to converse with the two emissaries.
By the ti they reached Xiazhou, Zhou Liru had already morized common phrases used in daily communication, even surpassing Bai Er, who had prepared in advance.
Bai Er couldn’t help but say to Bai Shan and Manbao, "Look at you two, you’ve been learning for over a year and can’t compare to her learning in twenty days."
Bai Shan: ...
Manbao, unwilling to concede, said, "What about you? Can you catch up with my niece?"
Bai Erlang replied, "I haven’t, but that’s because I was never good at learning. You, on the other hand, haven’t learned well either."
Yin Huo said, "It’s not too late to learn now."
Liu Huan hesitated and said, "Isn’t it too late? After Xiazhou is the grasslands. With the two emissaries with us, why should we learn the language ourselves?"
Everyone looked at him and said together, "You’ll understand when we reach the market exchange."
The caravan slowly arrived beneath the gates of Xiazhou City, and Manbao lifted the curtain, looking up at the tall gates.
The Xiazhou at this ti was different from when they had left; more people were coming and going through the gates, giving it a bustling atmosphere.
A guard ca forward with the docunts. As their group was on an official mission from the imperial court, they were allowed to enter directly through the alternate city gate.
As their group proceeded slowly, the guard who had examined the docunts imdiately sent soone to notify Yang Heshu at the governnt office.
As they entered the city, Manbao lowered the curtain to avoid drawing attention. However, the guard who had read the docunts kept staring at the caravan and, after half of it had passed, couldn’t resist asking, "Didn’t they say Imperial Doctor Zhou was in the group? Where is she?"
"Miss Man is in the second carriage. Do you know our Miss Man?"
The guard smiled upon hearing this, "There isn’t a person in Xiazhou City who doesn’t know Imperial Doctor Zhou. See these three pockmarks on my face? They were cured by Imperial Doctor Zhou."
Guard: ... Having pockmarks on your face, what’s there to be proud of?
The guard was very proud because he was able to survive the smallpox outbreak. As soone from the military camp, all those who survived after contracting smallpox were treated by Zhou Man.
He only had three pockmarks left, much better than many others.
Since Imperial Doctor Zhou had already passed, he could only watch wistfully as the caravan made its way into the city.
Once inside the city, Manbao once again lifted the curtain to look outside.
Bai Shan also looked outside and said to Manbao, "Xiazhou City is different from how it was before."
Manbao nodded, "Their faces have more smiles now, and it’s harder to see the traces of smallpox."
Bai Shan’s lips curved slightly, "Scholarly Senior Brother Yang’s capability is undeniable."
The caravan continued toward the post station.
The Xiazhou City post station was near the County Governntal Office. As the caravan reached one side, soone had already co from the governnt office to greet Zhou Man, saying, "Lord Zhou, leave the caravan to us. We’ll take them to the post station. Lord Yang has prepared a banquet for you, and we would like to invite the gentlen and scholars to rest at the governnt office for a couple of days, allowing us to exercise our duties as hosts."
Manbao and Bai Shan exchanged a glance and nodded in agreent.
Thus, the six of them headed to the governnt office with Mr. Zhuang.
The carriages and horses were directed to the side gate of the governnt office’s backyard, where Ms. Cui stood waiting to greet them. She smiled and said, "My husband is still busy at the front and can’t get away at the mont, but he inford to entertain you well."
She laughed, "Knowing you were coming, I prepared two courtyards for you early on. It’s more comfortable than the post station."
Manbao replied with a smile, "Thank you, scholarly sister-in-law."
Ms. Cui smiled and said it was no trouble, then asked, "How long can you stay in Xiazhou?"
Manbao said, "I want to first take a look at the situation in Xiazhou."
She was also interested in understanding the health of those who had suffered from smallpox, observing whether the dicine had any adverse long-term effects on their health.
Additionally, she wanted to gather information about the situation on the grasslands.
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