Chapter 11
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Chapter 11: “Please unfasten my clothes, immediately!”
Inside the kitchen, a neatly stacked pile of firewood against the wall made the old door waiting to be chopped nearby stand out.
The red paint on the door was chipped and peeling, and the metal ring was rusted, but it was a solid plank of wood, just about the right size for the wooden cart.
Jiang Wu felt a surge of joy and quickly lifted the door without waiting for the young guard to say more.
Wu Li, who meant to help, slowly pulled back his half-outstretched hand behind his back.
Though the door looked thin, it weighed at least fifty pounds. Plus, yesterday he hadn’t seen it himself, but he heard from Zhao Qi that this Deposed Crown Prince had swiftly jumped down a steep hill where guards needed ropes, and carried the injured person up alone. It seemed this Deposed Crown Prince wasn’t the weak, untrained person rumors claimed.
But showing such skill too early might not be good for him.
Jiang Wu didn’t think about what the young guard behind him might be guessing. He just hurried back to the low side room, holding the door high.
The teacher’s family stood by his \"new cart\" at the entrance. Jiang Wu put the door on the cart, not checking if it fit well, and quickly glanced inside. The person in the corner was still calm and peaceful, as when he had left, showing no sign of waking.
“We need to drill holes,” Qin Chongli said as he walked around the new plank, pointing to its corners. Then he lifted the door a bit to show the frame below.
There were still some half-rotten thin wood pieces in the drilled holes of the frame.
“We need to drill holes, make four new wooden wedges, and nail them in,” Qin Chongli added, looking at the pile of junk inside.
“No time,” Wu Li frowned, watching more people gather in the yard. “Just use it like this for now. Be careful and it won’t slide off.”
Jiang Wu tested it and thought it would work with caution.
The shouts for gathering in the yard grew louder, so Jiang Wu couldn’t delay. He pressed the sagging planks on the cart’s sides tightly against the door. It was better than nothing.
While Jiang Wu went inside to carry the person, Chu Xiulan grabbed some worn-out straw to spread on the door. Qin Chongli decided to ask the young guard for permission to find small wood pieces from the junk pile. Later, when there was time, he’d try to make wedges and nail them.
With nothing else to carry, the group soon joined the larger gathering.
Roll call, lining up, setting off.
The fifty-person team had arrived in the dark and now left at dawn, staying only one short night, but leaving behind hundreds of silver coins.
Having made a good profit, everyone at the post station was thrilled. Even Station Master Ma Qiaosheng, worried about his distant nephew’s task, couldn’t hide his smile.
Everyone was happy, except…
Aunt Tian stood by the stable in the side yard, watching the exiled group fade into the distance. Only then did she drop her helpful, busy act and wipe away her tears angrily.
She hated that she hadn’t recognized him when she had the chance, losing the opportunity to thank him alone later.
It was just her fate…
Aunt Tian had lived honestly all her life. The most dishonest thing she did was take this job at Sanqiao Post Station, which might involve fleecing a \"fat sheep,\" when she should have been resting in her old age.
She had no choice.
Years ago, her children grew up. Her daughter married a wealthy farmer with good land south of Fengzhou. Her son’s family ran a decent food stall on the edge of the Capital, and she helped with the stall and grandchildren. Life was mostly fine.
But last year, she went to Fengzhou to see her pregnant daughter and faced a huge flood. She suffered a lot. Luckily, though they went through hardship, her daughter and son-in-law were safe. The newborn granddaughter was weak but could be nursed back. As for the damaged fields, they’d recover slowly.
Her children were grown, and she couldn’t expect her son to pay for her granddaughter forever. Even if her daughter-in-law complained, she had to find work to earn silver for her daughter. She tried several low-paying jobs before her distant nephew got her into Sanqiao Post Station.
She never thought she’d see the Crown Prince again here.
Every time she saw him, he was in a bad state.
Pushing debris blocking relief carts through knee-deep mud, running around with a gong to tell people to drink boiled water, carrying supplies over broken ruins after the flood… Aunt Tian would always remember when food ran low. The Crown Prince led a team to a mountain untouched by the flood to gather acorns and make acorn flour. When no one dared taste it, he pushed aside the officials trying to stop him and drank the first bowl of brown paste in front of everyone.
The always-soiled, disheveled, yet steadfast Crown Prince… Heading north, surely he would live well. Perhaps one day she would see the Crown Prince tidy and spirited, living a good life. Maybe not too far from now.
Aunt Tian’s regret and reluctance, her blessings and hopes, all faded with the exiled procession. The fleeting encounters of this night felt like a dream.
After waking, Aunt Tian still had to earn her keep.
Having sent off the officials, Sanqiao Post Station’s delayed breakfast returned to its usual standard.
\"Today’s buns are especially soft—Aunt Tian’s skills keep improving. Last night’s braised meat was excellent too; even Master Xu adored it,\" Station Master Ma Qiaosheng remarked, biting into a steamed bun. \"Preparing food for prisoners must’ve worn you out. Rest after breakfast, Aunt Tian.\"
At another table, Aunt Tian nibbled coarse-grain buns and smiled in agreement.
Liu Lao Wu, beside the station master, ladled wild vegetable egg-drop soup into his bowl. After blowing on it, he gulped a mouthful and sighed, \"This soup’s delicious today—so much tender egg.\"
Ma Qiaosheng straightened up, stirring the soup pot with a spoon. Seeing more egg than usual, he asked sternly, \"Three eggs per morning meal—still just three today? None extra?\"
\"Only three,\" Aunt Tian confirmed.
\"Good,\" Ma Qiaosheng nodded. \"Yesterday’s earnings won’t last forever. Stick to our standards—no extravagance.\"
Both tables murmured agreement.
Aunt Tian joined them.
No extravagance.
Widowed young, she’d fed entire households and raised children alone. She knew how to stretch two handfuls of flour into a full basket of buns, or one egg into a large bowl of soup…
This was the first time she’d used such tricks outside her home.
They’d fed that corrupt official meat and flour, scraping hundreds of taels from him. Why shouldn’t she skim a bit of flour and egg for the Crown Prince—who deserved better than that scoundrel?
Aunt Tian stirred her soup, sipping slowly.
For Jiang Wu, Sanqiao Post Station lay behind him. His focus was wholly on balancing the wooden cart, keeping the door plank—and the person atop it—steady.
Pushing heavy loads over rough ground was hard enough without Zhao Qi buzzing beside him: \"Asking for trouble,\" \"You can’t seriously think she’s your wife,\" \"Obsessed with being a man?\"
Years of palace discipline had taught Jiang Wu self-control. Or so he’d thought. Now… he truly wished to kick that fly into silence!
It wasn’t the words themselves—but Du Girl had ended up like this precisely because she couldn’t bear being promised to a woman. If she woke to find Jiang Wu tending her wounds… he hardly dared imagine her revulsion.
And Zhao Qi kept ranting. What if Du Yinsui heard, even unconscious?
Yet Du Yinsui, though hearing, paid no mind to Zhao Qi’s yapping.
She cared only… for the grain-scented cloth beneath her, and that glorious aroma—
Eggs! Granny Radish’s eggs!
What was wrong with Jiang Wu? When he’d lifted her onto the plank, they’d been so close! How had he smelled nothing?
Hold tighter!
Humans’ noses here were so dull it was infuriating!
This whole journey, Du Yinsui heard no barking. Her entire soul screamed one thing at Jiang Wu…
\"Unfasten my clothes—now!\"
