Chapter 4
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Chapter 4: Unconscious, Yet Eating.
A single growl startled, two made it awkward, but the endless rumbling effectively freed Jiang Wu from his unnecessary worries and self-restraint.
When Aunt Tian got that girl\’s thanks, she bolted from the room like receiving a royal pardon.
That night, Sanqiao Post Station hosted a large crowd—one official, ten guards, nearly forty prisoners, plus the station\’s own crew. Mountains of food awaited Aunt Tian\’s hands.
By the stove, a pale-yellow dough blob slumped on the counter—a luxury even station workers rarely touched.
Aunt Tian washed her hands and resumed kneading.
Punching, pressing, and slapping, the dough soon turned smooth and springy under her practiced touch.
After half a month at Sanqiao Post Station, this big order was her chance to shine. Yet… why did that growling still echo in her ears?
Aunt Tian paused her dough-slapping, listening hard. Just her imagination. With a whole row of rooms between them, no sound could carry that far.
Still… how starved must someone be to growl like that?
Wordlessly, she shoved the kneaded white dough into a basin, scooped two bowls each from the buckwheat and mixed-bean flour sacks, then hauled a giant bag from the corner, dumping bran across the counter.
What could anyone do about hunger anyway?
Officials’ men ate white flour, station workers got mixed flour, prisoners… only bran bread.
Such was fate!
Zhao Qi slouched on a courtyard stool, boredly poking at radish slices in a bamboo tray. He’d just picked one to nibble when that sneaky old woman scurried from the kitchen again.
Their eyes locked. Aunt Tian instantly raised the cloth strips in her hand.
\"Dead men walking, still wasting good stuff,\" Zhao Qi grumbled, his tone as sour as his mood. He straightened from his slouch.
Seeing him rise, Aunt Tian froze mid-step, trembling.
This wasn’t like last time.
Her heart raced until she spotted the radish slice in the guard’s hand.
\"Sir! Our Sanqiao radishes are crisp and juicy! Let me peel some for you!\" Aunt Tian hunched like Liu Lao Wu, creasing her face into a flattering smile. \"So sweet—I’ll fetch them right after delivering these.\"
Zhao Qi eyed her quivering, eager face, smacked his dry lips, and waved her off impatiently.
Aunt Tian bowed repeatedly before darting back into the dim shack.
Quick outside, quicker inside. With outsiders alerted, she couldn’t hesitate or wonder if these prisoners committed vile crimes. She lunged straight for the straw mat.
\"Quiet now. Eat fast. Stay hidden.\" Aunt Tian yanked two fist-sized mixed-flour buns and a wooden bowl from her robe, then lifted her hem to untie a bamboo canteen. She poured warm water into the bowl, secured the canteen, and pointed across the room. \"Slide the bowl there when done. No noise. Understood?\"
The shaky old woman turned brisk, leaving Jiang Wu no chance to speak—he just nodded again and again.
Feeding prisoners might dent their money-extracting scheme, but it wasn’t a major crime. Better safe, though: Aunt Tian grabbed radishes to peel in the courtyard, dawdling as the guard munched, slowly tidying the bamboo tray. She stalled long enough for four buns to vanish before finally exhaling and returning to the kitchen.
Now she could knead dough with heart and might again.
No phantom growls haunted her ears; no vision of that girl’s cracked lips floated before her.
Still… why did that girl look so familiar?
While Aunt Tian kneaded in relief, far off in that tiny room, only a sliver of those mixed-grain buns had disappeared.
Feeding a \"vegetative\" person was just that slow.
Jiang Wu initially just tried to see if he could prop her up a bit, gave her a small sip of water, and then tried feeding her a tiny pea-sized piece of bun moistened with water.
Normally, you shouldn\’t feed or give water to an unconscious person, but the constant growling of her stomach really tested Jiang Wu as he held the food and water.
The water went down, and that little piece of bun mush was slowly swallowed, so Jiang Wu didn\’t need to step in. Luckily, Du Yinsui didn\’t know what Jiang Wu was thinking, or she would have been frantic.
The smells of green hills and clear waters, plump chicken, wild greens, radishes, and beans weren\’t real; only the mush in her mouth was true!
The strong grain smell, the light sweetness, and the slightly rough mush sliding over her tongue felt so good!
How many years had it been since she tasted something so normal! Du Yinsui was moved to tears.
Delicious! I love it! Gobble it up! Put it all in my mouth! Hurry up, eat!
Du Yinsui focused all her energy on her mouth and throat, but she still couldn\’t control her body and had to wait for her swallowing reflex to slowly move down the thin mush.
Compared to the poison that was sure to act, this mush that could stop anytime was more worrying. But this worry slowly eased with each new bit of mush appearing in her mouth.
This person… was quite patient.
She wondered if she stayed like this, could he keep caring for her…?
Du Yinsui took in another tiny bit of mush as her mind drifted.
The person lying down was clueless, happily eating away. But the person sitting faced a small problem.
There was still plenty of bun, but not much water left.
Jiang Wu tried making a small mush ball with less water and watched nervously as it vanished.
Yes, she was unconscious but could still eat.
He needed to find a doctor. Jiang Wu squeezed the small dough ball, his worried eyes scanning the injuries on the person across his lap.
The exiled group reached Sanqiao Post Station over an hour and a half after dark.
Forty to fifty people crowded into the courtyard, with only heavy footsteps, the clang of shackles, and guards shouting.
By then, even with the \"vegetative\" person eating slowly, both buns were gone, but then…
\"What was that sound?\"
The alert young guard, guiding newcomers inside, looked toward the room\’s corner.
Jiang Wu: \"…\"
Du Yinsui: \"…\"
The young guard shifted an elderly person and two children aside and hurried into the room toward the corner.
Seeing the elderly person at the door, Jiang Wu sat up straight and lowered his eyes: \"It\’s the sound of hunger from inside.\"
The young guard looked down at the woman on the ground in surprise: \"Could she have hurt something in the fall? Could hunger really be that loud?\"
\"Sir, could you speak with Master Tan Wang about getting a doctor… I can make landscapes in the style of bamboo and pines, and after paying the doctor, all the money will be yours.\" Jiang Wu didn\’t want to say this with the elderly person at the door, but staying quiet meant his next chance to see Tan Wang might be tomorrow. He blamed himself for worrying about having nothing and ink marks causing trouble for innocent people. Only after feeding her the buns did he foolishly realize he could offer \"imitations.\"
\"Bamboo what?\" The young guard had no idea about painting.
Just as Jiang Wu was about to explain further, a familiar rough voice sounded from the doorway.
\"What are you dawdling for? Hurry and lock up so we can eat,\" Zhao Qi glanced at the four by the door. \"Wu Li, can\’t you see there\’s not much space here? Move these four to the next room.\"
\"Brother Zhao, why are you so kind? Cramped space is good; criminals shouldn’t live comfortably. They should squirm,\" Wu Li grinned as he nudged the elderly man at the door. \"Get in there… am I supposed to invite you, Your Excellency?\"
\"Heh, I\’m just that kind-hearted,\" Zhao Qi joked as he nudged the two little ones with his foot. \"Go on, join the others.\"
Qin Chongli was pushed and staggered slightly but obediently went into the room with help from his daughter-in-law.
\"Wait for me, Brother Zhao. I\’ll lock them up quickly. I smelled something delicious as soon as I came in. Are we having braised meat? It smelled so good, I was starving,\" Wu Li salivated as he moved the two smaller ones to the corner of the room.
\"Indeed, there\’s a new cook; timid as a mouse but skilled,\" Zhao Qi smacked his lips, savoring the meat he tasted back at the kitchen, urging, \"Lock up quickly.\"
\"All done.\" Wu Li bound the elderly and the child near Jiang Wu\’s group with chains and then locked the ankles of the two children.
The two guards headed for their meal with arms slung around each other. The door to the room was locked from the outside, and soon the stench inside grew stronger.
The guards set up a table right in the courtyard to eat while keeping watch. Each had a big bowl of braised meat with a large white bun, plenty to go around.
During the meal, Zhao Qi praised Aunt Tian’s cooking, laughing about her timidity, not realizing the mouse-hearted woman had pulled a fast one right under his nose.
Outside, the courtyard was lively with eating, while in the kitchen, Aunt Tian reheated the delicate dishes meant for the post station chief and others.
Light footsteps approached the door, mixed with a boyish voice kept low but bright.
\"Auntie, Auntie, let me have a bite too.\"
The young post officer squeezed to the stove, opening his mouth wide as Aunt Tian fed him a chopstick of meat.
\"Ah Hu, shouldn’t we be bringing bread to the prisoners?\" Aunt Tian, a bit tense, patted the tall stack of cold black bread loaves.
\"Uh, hmm… no, no…\" Tian Hu raised his hand to stop Aunt Tian from taking the bread, reluctantly swallowing the fragrant braised meat, \"You don\’t have to go this time.\"
Aunt Tian was puzzled, \"Weren\’t you supposed to let me follow you when we have business passing through, so I can learn how to sell bread to the exiled?\"
\"The post station chief called Zhou Xiao back; he\’ll come with me.\" Tian Hu grabbed another piece of meat, praising, \"Auntie\’s cooking is still the best. Auntie, you should eat too.\"
\"Didn\’t Zhou Xiao return to visit his mother on his days off?\" Aunt Tian blocked Tian Hu’s hand, offering him chopsticks. She couldn’t eat; today her dinner portion was reduced to radish soup after giving up two grain buns.
\"We\’ve got big fish this time. Zhou Xiao\’s great at squeezing money; the station chief called him back specially.\" Tian Hu pointed at the black bread loaf pile with meat-stuffed cheeks, \"Just make them like before, lots of bran.\"
Aunt Tian nodded.
Tian Hu tore a piece from the top of the black bread loaf, spat it out after a few chews: \"Yuck, too much bran scratches the mouth. But it still tastes fresh. Not good, Auntie, make sure to brush some sour water on them, let those fat sheep know how bad unpaid meals taste.\"
The young man\’s quick movements nearly startled Aunt Tian to death when Tian Hu tasted the bread, suddenly regretting her softhearted decision to make two with less bran. Luckily, they were at the bottom, but… if she didn’t go, the bread wouldn’t reach that young girl and the grumbling stomach.
Never mind, it was fate.
She lived cautiously every day, yet today she risked danger again and again.
\"Someone\’s pickles went bad earlier, if you think it\’s okay, you use it,\" Aunt Tian obediently offered a jar of pickles from behind the stove.
Tian Hu leaned in to sniff and gagged, nodding repeatedly.
\"No need for all of them, some poor devils.\" Tian Hu blinked, leaned closer to Aunt Tian, whispered excitedly, \"Auntie, you don’t know, there\’s someone extraordinary in this exile group Tan is leading. I overheard the station chief talking to Tan; among the exiles are the deposed Crown Prince and Princess. The Prince was actually a woman, can you believe it? A woman who married another woman. The royal family sure is full of surprises. Sanqiao Post Station isn\’t far from the Capital, yet we’re slow on news; we didn\’t even hear about this until they arrived.\"
\"Who?\" Aunt Tian\’s mind buzzed, wondering if she had misheard.
\"The female Crown Prince and her wife. Haven’t you seen? They were the two women Tan led in earlier. I must take a good look later at such remarkable women. A woman acted as a prince for eighteen years, managed to wed, and even after exile, she had a wife; unlike me, still unmarried.\" Tian Hu dove back for more meat, unable to stop talking. \"It\’s a shame, people of such stature, not a copper coin to their names, later give me two regular black bread loaves, they probably can\’t afford any better. Oh, and Qin Taifu. Only brush half the bread loaves with the sour pickle juice; no money to be squeezed from them. Auntie… Auntie, are you listening?\"
\"We, we only have one Crown Prince, right? All these years, just one Prince, right?\" Aunt Tian seemed dazed as she looked at Tian Hu.
\"Yes, the one who was a Prince from birth,\" Tian Hu supported the suddenly weakened Aunt Tian, concerned, \"Auntie, are you alright?\"
Aunt Tian shook her head, lost and confused.
No wonder, no wonder she seemed so familiar.
That girl was the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince…
She hadn’t recognized her; her old eyes were truly blind!
Oh heavens, what had she done? She only gave the Crown Prince two grain buns and a bowl of water without even leaving her the bamboo water flask!
She was worthless; she was a sinner!
