Rebirth of the High Gate Mistress

Chapter 120 Even the brown rice porridge made by Li Ling is sweeter than honey

After passing Xiaochun City, you will reach the vast Gobi Desert a hundred miles further.

The road was rugged and difficult to navigate, and there was no room for Jingshu's spacious carriage and horses. Li Ling had no choice but to leave the carriage and horses in the post house and buy a new light carriage for his wife.

 After driving for less than an hour, Jingshu, who was sitting in the car, was jolted so hard that she vomited.

Li Ling rode a horse to protect her outside the car. Seeing that his wife was sad, he abandoned the horse, got into the car, put his arms around his wife and held her tightly in his arms.

Looking at his wife who turned pale after being tortured, Li Ling said distressedly: "Now you should know why I didn't want to bring you here, right?"

Lying in her husband's solid arms, Jingshu finally felt better. She smiled at her husband and said, "Even if I know it's so difficult, I still have to follow."

Li Ling sighed: "This is not the most difficult part. There is a desert ahead of us. Even vehicles and horses can't get in. It will take two or three days. I'm really afraid you won't be able to bear it."

Jingshu nuzzled into Li Ling's arms and said, "Then don't even think about leaving me."

The group braved the whistling north wind, holding torches, and walked until midnight before arriving at a small post house.

This is the only way station to enter the Gobi. Everyone must supply enough water here to prepare for crossing the Gobi.

The soldiers knocked on the door. After a long time, a watchman came out and called everyone in.

Although this posthouse is an official posthouse, due to its remote location, the house is very simple and can barely provide shelter from wind and rain.

 Fortunately, this place is located in the south and is close to the Gobi Desert. Although it is mid-March, the weather is already getting hot. Although the house is simple and rough, it will not get cold.

There is only half an earthen kang in the house, with a layer of invisible felt covering it.

Ziyun first used a broom to sweep the Tukang inside and out several times, then took out a piece of felt from the package he brought and spread it on it, and then helped Jingshu sit down.

Ziyun looked at the filthy bedding on the kang with disgust, and sighed: "How can you use such a thing?"

Jingshu replied: "It's okay, it's not cold anyway, it's fine for one night without a bedding."

Ziyun complained: "This small car can't hold too many things. The things we brought are all stored in Xiaochun City. Alas! The things here are really not decent."

She fiddled with the rough tea set on the broken wooden table and kept complaining: "How can you use this thing?"

"Hey! No wonder my uncle didn't agree with you to come with me."

Ziyun said to Jingshu distressedly, "If you insist on following me, you are suffering in vain."

 Ziyun was complaining here, and Li Ling came in with a small bowl of porridge. Ziyun then shut up angrily.

Li Ling put the porridge on the broken wooden table with no visible color, and said to Jingshu: "It's late at night, and there's not much left to eat in the kitchen. I saw that there was only this rice in the rice vat, so I boiled it for a while. Porridge, you haven’t eaten anything this whole journey, so at least eat it while it’s hot.”

Ziyun helped Jingshu sit down. Jingshu looked at the rice porridge in the bowl and asked, "Why do you still do it yourself?"

Li Ling took off his coat that was temporarily covered with dust and replied: "The women who cook in this post are all hired from outside. They come here to do their work during the day and then go home at night."

Jingshu asked: "Then how do the soldiers eat?"

Li Ling replied: "Don't you all carry dry food? Just one ration to fill your stomach is enough. When marching and fighting, it often happens that we can't eat a mouthful of hot food for ten and a half consecutive days. We people are so used to it that we can't afford this meal if we are hungry." It’s in the way.”

With that said, he sat in front of Jingshu, pushed the porridge bowl in front of her, smiled and coaxed her: "Eat, let's see how my craftsmanship goes?"

Jingshu picked up the porridge spoon, took a bite, looked up at Li Ling with a smile, and praised: "It tastes so good!"

Ziyun, who was busy packing things at the side, heard this and stretched his neck to glance at the porridge bowl curiously. It was actually porridge made from brown rice, and it was still the kind of inferior brown rice. In the Duke's mansion, even the lowest-class servants' food is better than this.

Seeing her young lady eating so deliciously, Ziyun felt both distressed and depressed.

　　It would be great to stay at home and enjoy the blessings, but I have to go out and suffer this foreign sin. I am even tired of eating porridge made from bird's nest at home. Once this brown rice porridge comes into my uncle's hands, it seems to be sweeter than honey.

Ziyun was busy with her hands, complaining in her heart, and glanced at the two people sitting at the table facing the bowl of brown rice porridge.

One has a crooked eyebrow, the other has a sweet face, one's eyes seem to be glued to the other, and the other looks at that eye while eating.

 When they were at home, the two of them could still stay together behind closed doors, but now they didn't even have to carry anyone on their backs.

You really have no eyes to see, no eyes to see!

Ziyun shook his head, packed up quickly and silently left.

Thinking of the brown rice porridge that her young lady ate and the shabby earth kang she slept on, she still couldn't help but feel distressed.

 “Hey! I have to suffer this crime.”

Ziyun muttered and was about to go to the car to find some useful things, but was stopped by Liang Jin.

He saluted Ziyun and said, "The soldiers have found some sweet potatoes and roasted them. Could you please send them to the prince, please?"

Just as Ziyun was about to ask him why he didn't send it himself, he remembered that Li Ling was with his wife and it was very inconvenient for him.

Ziyun took the hot roasted sweet potato from Liang Jin's hand and replied with a smile: "Thank you, Adjutant Liang."

Although this stuff is rough food, in this wilderness place where birds don’t poop, it’s good to be able to eat this in the middle of the night.

Holding the hot roasted sweet potatoes, she walked quickly into the house, stood outside the door and knocked on the door: "Your Majesty, Madam, there are some roasted sweet potatoes here."

When there was a response from inside, she pushed the door in and put the roasted sweet potatoes on the table: "This was just brought by Deputy Liang. It's still hot. The prince and his wife will use some."

Li Ling took one, peeled off the skin casually, handed it to Jing Shu, and muttered: "When did Liang Jin become so careful?"

Jingshu pushed away the sweet potatoes handed by Li Ling and said, "You can eat it. I just ate porridge and I can't eat it anymore."

Li Ling lowered his head and took a bite of the sweet potato in his hand: "I haven't eaten this for a long time. It tastes good."

Ziyun took out two pieces of thicker clothes that he found in the car and told Jingshu, "Madam, you can sleep under this cover for a while."

Ziyun still used to call her Miss Jingshu in private, but in front of Li Ling or outsiders, she followed the rules and called her madam.

Jingshu looked at Ziyun who was worried about her and replied: "Don't worry, I will take care of myself. You can go next door to rest."

After Ziyun left, Li Ling undressed and lay on the kang. He smiled and said to Jingshu, "Looking at Ziyun's distressed look on you, I wonder why I should blame me for bringing you out to suffer."

Jingshu smiled and said, "How could she blame you? It's me who wants to follow you."

Li Ling took his wife and let her rest on his arm. He covered her with the clothes Ziyun brought and said softly: "Just close your eyes and sleep for a while. Tomorrow morning, I will ask the post city here about the situation in the Gobi. Let's see. Let’s see if we can pass these two days.”

 (End of this chapter)