Chapter 156
156 Night Stay
The mountain road became more and more difficult to walk on. Zhou Jia wore a raincoat and drove the carriage halfway up the mountain. He walked with difficulty against the rain.
When they went down the mountain, they had no choice but to get out of the cart to stabilize it and slowly go down the mountain.
When they finally reached the foot of the mountain, Zhao Cai pointed at the depression in the mountain and said to Zhou Jia, “Young Master, there’s a house in the depression in the mountain ahead. Shall we go there to shelter ourselves from the rain?
Zhou Jia looked up and vaguely saw the house in the depression. “Alright, let’s go there to seek refuge from the rain.” He turned to Li Yu and said loudly, “Madam, there’s a place to hide from the rain in front.”
“Alright, be careful. Don’t be too anxious,” Li Yu replied loudly.
The group walked for another hour before reaching the house. When they got closer, they saw that it was a dilapidated Taoist temple. Everyone drove the carriage into the temple and saw a few healthy horses tied up in the temple and a few mule carts filled with goods.
Li Yu and Xiaoyu got out of the car. Zhou Jia led Ruyi and the others out of the car and pulled the car to a spacious eaves porch. They walked into the hall and saw that there were already people sheltering from the rain inside.
Li Yu looked at the three tall men and four merchants. Zhou Jia looked around and pointed at the seat on the right near the door. “Young Madam, let’s sit there for a while!”
Li Yu took a look. The position behind the door could block the wind and also allow her to look outside, so she nodded and brought He Xiaoyu to the corner of the wall. He Xiaoyu took out an oilcloth mat and laid it on the ground. Ah Gou removed the cloth mat and called out to Li Yu and Zhou Jia, “Young Master, Young Madam, the cloth mat is ready. Sit down and rest.”
“Alright, you should rest too.” After Li Yu agreed, she placed her bag in the corner and said to Zhou Jia, “Xiao Xi, your shoes are drenched. I’ll go get a pair for you to change into.”
Ah Gou stood up quickly. “I know where the young master’s boots are. I’ll get them.”
Li Yu nodded. After a while, Ah Gou walked in with Zhao Cai and Ruyi, who were carrying firewood.
Ruyi saw that they had already sat down behind the door. He took off her raincoat and said to Zhou Jia, “Young Master, it looks like the rain won’t stop for a while. I’ll go get the mud stove and boil some hot water for everyone to wash up.”
Li Yu looked at He Xiaoyu. “Xiaoyu, go with Ruyi. Bring a pot in and grab a handful of ginger powder from the basket. Make some ginger tea to drive away the cold.”
“Yes, Young Madam.” He Xiaoyu agreed and walked to the entrance of the Taoist temple with Ruyi. Ruyi asked He Tiezhu, “Tiezhu, are you cold?”
He Tiezhu smiled honestly. “Brother Ruyi, I’m not cold. I just feel that the gloominess opposite is a little terrifying.”
When the two of them heard this, they looked across the hall and realized that the dilapidated walls and rain fog gave off a sinister and terrifying feeling.
He Xiaoyu suddenly shivered. Ruyi held Xiaoyu’s hand and said to Tie Zhu with a smile, “Tie Zhu, don’t be timid when you go out. Come in with us. There’s no need to stand guard in the rain.”
“I’m just worried.” He Tiezhu smiled honestly and followed the two of them to the hall.
He Xiaoyu went in and began to heat up the fire to boil ginger tea. The other two groups sat in front of their fires and took out dry food to warm up before eating.
A skinny middle-aged merchant observed Li Yu and the others for a while. Seeing that they had boiled the ginger tea and were almost done drinking, he walked to Li Yu and the others with a wooden bowl. He smiled and cupped his hands at Zhou Jia. “Sir, I want to ask you for a bowl of ginger tea to drink.”
Zhou Jia saw that the old man’s hair was white and his face was full of fatigue. He nodded and said, “Alright.” Ruyi picked up a spoon and scooped a bowl of ginger tea for the traveling merchant.
The traveling merchant bowed and took the bowl with a grateful smile. “Thank you, sir.”
Zhou Jia looked at the traveling merchant and smiled. “It’s fate that we met. It’s just a bowl of ginger tea.” Zhou Jia turned to look at the others. “Everyone, you can also have some ginger tea. Don’t stand on ceremony if you need it.”
When the other three merchants heard Zhou Jia’s words, they all came over with wooden bowls and asked for a bowl of ginger tea. After bowing and thanking him, they went back to slowly drink the ginger tea in the bowls.
After the older traveling merchant finished drinking, he smiled and said to Zhou Jia, “Thank you for the tea, sir. It’s much warmer after drinking it.”
“Old Sir, you’re too polite. It’s just a bowl of ginger tea.” Zhou Jia smiled politely.
Li Yu and the others made a bowl of oil tea noodles around the fire. Li Yu held the oil tea noodles and used the edge of the bowl to take a quick look at the three tall men opposite her. She saw that they were looking down and sitting opposite her casually. Li Yu lowered her head and finished the oil tea noodles. She whispered to Zhou Jia, “Xiao Xi, you and Ruyi have been driving for the entire day. Spread this out a little. Take Ruyi and the others to sleep. We still have to drive tomorrow morning!”
Although Zhou Jia also felt a little tired, he felt that his body was much stronger than before. Thinking that they still had to travel, he nodded and replied, “Alright, the few of us will rest for a while. We will take turns to rest.”
Zhao Cai had already brought in a wide oilcloth mat and opened it to lay it on the clearing. The few of them lay down and quickly fell asleep.
Li Yu and Xiaoyu guarded the few of them and watched as the sky gradually darkened. The other people in the hall who were hiding from the rain were also sleepy. Other than the breathing of the people hiding from the rain, only the sound of raindrops falling on the roof could be heard.
It took another hour for the rain to stop. A traveling merchant kicked the others. “Fourth, the rain has stopped. Let’s go out and guard it.”
The traveling merchant called Fourth rubbed his eyes, picked up his bag, and walked out. The other two traveling merchants also took their luggage and went out to guard the cart.
Li Yu stood up and looked at the horses and luggage rack tied at the door. The elderly traveling merchant smiled and said to Li Yu, “Madam, don’t worry about the luggage. The few of us often settle down in this Taoist temple. This place is quite stable.”
Li Yu bowed. “Thank you for telling me.”
Li Yu returned to the Taoist temple. Just as she reached the door, it suddenly became noisy. Li Yu wrapped her cloak around her and walked to the door. She saw a group of people arriving in front of the hall. There were more than ten carriages in total. The first carriage had a flag on it. On the red flag with black words were the words Wuwei Escort Agency.
When the group reached the main hall, they pulled away the tarp covering the car and cursed. “This damn weather almost drenched me to death.”
Li Yu saw that more than ten carriages were loaded with wooden boxes with brass nails on them. From the looks of it, they were hauling expensive items.
Li Yu had been in this alternate world for a few years, but this was the first time she had seen an escort agency with her own eyes. She stood at the door and sized it up before returning to the hall. Seeing that Zhou Jia, Ruyi, and the others had already woken up, Xiaoyu and Ah Gou looked at them sleepily. Li Yu said to them, “It’s fine. It’s a convoy called the Wuwei Escort Agency.”
Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu and nodded. He covered his mouth and coughed a few times.
“Xiao Xi, you caught a cold?” Seeing that Zhou Jia’s face was a little red, Li Yu hurriedly squatted down and touched Zhou Jia’s forehead. She felt that it was a little hot. “Xiao Xi, you’re a little hot. Take some pills.”
Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu and smiled in embarrassment. “Madam, I’m really a weak scholar. I’m too useless.”
“What nonsense are you talking about? You’ve caught a cold from the rain.”
As she spoke, Ruyi had already brought the medicine bag in. Li Yu poured a cup of water from the hanging pot and handed it to Zhou Jia. “Hurry up and take the medicine. You’ll be fine after a nap.”