Chapter 46

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Chapter 46: Does She Really Like It That Much…

Ever since Jiang Wu accidentally revealed the truth, Du Yinsui felt dazed whenever she caught the little one’s milky scent. In the apocalypse, such small children rarely survived. By the time Du Yinsui’s sense of smell sharpened enough to detect emotions, few toddlers remained. Those she encountered carried the metallic tang of a blood-soaked world—even with capable parents, only faint traces of that milky sweetness lingered.

But now…

Du Yinsui watched the little one hop off the donkey cart and immediately grab stones to practice horse-stance drills. Sensing Du’s gaze, the child turned, puffing serious cheeks while lifting the stone higher. A wave of milky scent washed over Du Yinsui.

There it was—Yin-niang’s milky charm!

Like a pitcher plant luring insects with nectar before trapping them. All traps!

Du Yinsui lowered her head, rubbing her temples.

"Tired? I’ll gather firewood. Rest." Jiang Wu approached, offering a bamboo water tube alongside… that piercing bittersweet fragrance.

Perfect. Trap number two!

Du Yinsui stayed silent. Neither "trap" had spoken; she’d rudely sniffed out their secrets herself. For the first time, she regretted taking the antidote so soon…

Accepting the tube, she noticed a man idling nearby—Wei Huiqing’s purchased slave, posing as her husband. Previously, he’d kept to the Wei family’s area, staying unnoticed. Searching for the lost antidote now?

Mulling over Jin Kingdom spies, Du Yinsui sipped slowly, momentarily forgetting espionage concerns.

This water…

She inspected the bamboo cup—clear, ordinary water. Yet it tasted faintly of fruit milk…

"What’s wrong?" Jiang Wu asked, noticing her frown.

Hmm?

The balanced fruit-milk flavor now flooded with overwhelming juice and cream.

Oh…

Du Yinsui shot Jiang Wu an unreadable look. Pre-apocalypse society had useless novelties—like "flavor cups" with scented rims that made water taste fruity. She’d only heard of them, never tried one.

She unexpectedly found herself in this strange world and was experiencing it firsthand.

"No problem…" Du Yinsui stood up and walked a few steps toward the little one, then sipped more water. Perfect; this balance made it taste even better.

The night raid on Old Cave Village by those twenty or so refugees, and even the two distant encounters before reaching the village, were just the start.

On the first day heading north past Old Cave Village, several groups of refugees appeared in the exiles’ sight, each in small clusters of three or five. This time, though, Tan Wang didn’t stop the group to check. To the exiles who only saw them from far away, those people might have been ordinary villagers.

But for Du Yinsui, with her regained sense of smell, it was different. The groups she could see smelled like refugees, and beyond what was visible, dozens more refugees had likely passed them by today.

These were probably the first wave leaving Daizhou, mostly strong men, with only a few family groups including women, children, and the elderly.

It made sense—in Daizhou, officials had hidden the disaster for so long that children, women, and elders suffered first. Surviving was hard, escaping was harder, and being among the first to break out was toughest of all.

Just those Du Yinsui could smell, and the ones they barely met on the road, added gloom to the already struggling exiles. The scent of their worry and fear grew stronger over time. The difficult journey was getting worse, so feeling anxious and scared was natural.

But…

The "imitation fruit milk" tasted good. Du Yinsui rubbed her strangely tight chest and took two big gulps.

Just as she started wondering if she was being too cold, the sweet fruit milk turned bitter and earthy, instantly reminding her of bitter grass fields.

She forced down the water and looked at Qin Chongli, who was dragging wood over.

The path had a strong, musty moss smell, now so strong it clashed with the sour-sweet-and-milky mix…

People can feel many emotions at once, and the strength of their scents changes with how strong each emotion is.

Like the unpleasant worry-for-country scent from Qin Chongli, which Jiang Wu also had—but Jiang Wu’s was much weaker than his overpowering secret affection scent.

It was truly overpowering.

Last night in the dark, with attackers coming, even Du Yinsui felt a bit nervous. Yet Jiang Wu’s nervousness was completely buried by that strong secret affection scent…

Thinking of this, Du Yinsui felt another headache coming.

"Teacher, do you know what you are now?" Not wanting a deep talk with Jiang Wu, Du Yinsui changed the subject to lighten the mood.

Qin Chongli paused, confused by little Du girl’s question, as he pulled a log along.

"Grandfather, you’re someone who doesn’t give away firewood!" Qin Haoyang, holding two dry branches behind him, quickly added.

Qin Chongli switched back to their daily question routine, nodded, and said, "I am someone who doesn’t give away firewood."

"Grandfather, you, bad man!" The little one, who’d overheard Qin Chongli and Chu Xiulan talking about whether Du Yinsui’s questions were teaching them to be bad, raised a stone high and gave a new answer.

Qin Chongli thought it over. They were nearing Daizhou, so the final questions were coming. He felt sad but still nodded gravely. "Yes, I am a bad man. I’ve become a bad man!"

"Yes, we’re bad now, we won’t feel sorry for others. We’re awful villains." Chu Xiulan, thinking the same as Qin Chongli, meant to comfort Du Yinsui before leaving. But as she spoke, tears filled her eyes, and she wiped them away.

"…" Surrounded by a scent too messy to describe, Du Yinsui just gave up on these impossible people.

Could this group of three adults and two kids ever have a whole brain among them…

Oh, and there was still one more.

Before Du Yinsui could take comfort in that last one, Jiang Wu spoke up.

"Du girl, you…" Jiang Wu detected Qin Chongli’s heaviness and Chu Xiulan’s reluctance, resonated with their assumptions, and felt his heart tighten.

Du Yinsui, caught off guard, was overwhelmed by the intense bitterness and stepped away several paces, whispering, "I’m not leaving yet! Stop your imagination! You’re going to conjure up a whole field of bitter herbs with that!"

The bitter sensation stopped growing, while the sourness began to increase…

Du Yinsui rolled her eyes in exasperation and turned to the one who started the chaos, speaking directly, "Teacher, you are the grandfather of these two little ones, the father-in-law of Sister Chu, and Jiang Wu’s teacher. You are no longer the Crown Prince’s mentor who could propose helpful policies in court. There’s a saying, ‘If you’re not in the position, don’t meddle in the affairs.’ And another, ‘When poor, focus on your own goodness; when rich, help the world.’ With no wealth or people, you can’t handle the chaos in Daizhou. For those around you, you shouldn’t get involved."

Du Yinsui spoke bluntly. All along the journey, she never minced words.

Qin Chongli was used to it and, almost without thinking, saw sense in these truths he knew but ignored.

The musty smell of moss in the air lessened a lot, surprising Du Yinsui.

This man… was he really that willing to listen?

"There’s a creek over there, with some daylight left, I’ll see if I can catch small fish for soup." Qin Chongli said as he turned to get a bamboo rod from the donkey cart.

The heavy feeling of worry for the country and people faded even more.

Ah, he really listened to reason…

Du Yinsui sighed to herself, her eyes sneaking a look at Jiang Wu.

If only Jiang Wu were so easy to persuade.

Listening to reason?

Impossible…

The group moved north into Daizhou. Pushed by Tan Wang, they started earlier and stopped later each day, driving the donkey cart to its limit.

Day after day…

After eating, with everyone feeling warm and satisfied, Jiang Wu gave off a lightly bitter, sour-sweet air.

Tired from travel, as the air filled with oily weariness, Jiang Wu still had that lightly bitter, sour-sweetness.

When refugees attacked, with helplessness and panic mixing with shock and anger, fear and tension blending, Jiang Wu stayed the same…

Along the way, Du Yinsui tried many times, using quotes and hints, hoping to break Jiang Wu’s "little bird mark" to lessen his hurt when she left.

But no matter what she did, or how things changed, his top feeling was always his hidden liking for her.

Did he like her that much…

Du Yinsui felt she had to go; if not, her conscience would ache.

Yet, before leaving, she needed to do one last thing for them.

Finding the chance was hard, even harder than leaving.

Du Yinsui thought she might have to take a risk, but that night the chance rolled right to her.

It was the ninth day since the group left Old Cave Village, their seventh in Daizhou.

This was day sixty-one on the road for the exiles. Urged by Tan Wang and helped by the donkey cart, they had crossed a good part of Daizhou.

As some guards chatted, this was their fastest trip north and also the most unruly, since all prisoners rode the donkey cart.

Du Yinsui overheard Tan Wang and Zheng Yi’s secret talk, learning that their current route had shifted slightly westward from the old northern exile path. Tan Wang did this because he needed to meet someone in Daizhou but couldn’t leave the group alone for days. However, he told the other guards it was to avoid refugee waves.

Yes, refugee waves.

Just two days after entering Daizhou, the exile group often ran into refugee bands—not only by day but even during nightly stops. Perhaps because they were near Daizhou’s border, where refugees could head south to Xizhou for safety, or because each refugee group was small and scattered, the exile group encountered many refugees in those days without facing attacks.

But both the guards and Du Yinsui knew this brief "peace" would shatter as they went deeper into Daizhou. As Xu Lv yelled at Tan Wang in anger, going against the refugees now was a foolish gamble with death.

Sure enough, on the fifth day in Daizhou, a refugee group launched a night attack. Unlike the twenty-odd people from Old Cave Village who didn’t know guards were staying there, these refugees planned it well. Though the night-watch guards spotted them and woke everyone, a big fight broke out. In the end, some refugees died and others fled, but two guards got hurt, and the Kong family lost a donkey cart from their outer position. The guards chased them, not to protect the Kongs’ things but out of bloodlust. The refugees were ruthless—they grabbed most of the cart’s luggage, killed the donkey, and escaped into the woods.

That night, Du Yinsui and her group were close enough to the guards’ carriage to avoid direct attacks but far enough to dodge the Kongs’ bad luck. Still, two refugees slipped past the guards and reached their cart. It wasn’t many, so Du Yinsui didn’t fight herself. Instead, she coldly ordered Jiang Wu and Qin Chongli to "crack some skulls." Yes, she used those exact words.

Whether Jiang Wu and Qin Chongli wanted to or dared to was another matter—it was a good practice chance, and Du Yinsui wouldn’t let them miss it. Luckily, against refugees trying to throw children and steal the cart, they held up. Qin Chongli was weak, though; Jiang Wu had to block one refugee first before he could strike. The two refugees fled with bleeding heads, and Du Yinsui didn’t make her men chase them. For a first time, that was enough.

But thinking about such things and actually facing them were different. That night, Jiang Wu and Qin Chongli slept soundly after their work, but Du Yinsui lay awake for hours. How many more times would they face this before reaching Linzhou? And once there, would they truly be safe? The ever-present bittersweet scent around her and the little one who sneaked into her arms nightly despite her refusals weighed heavily on her heart.

On the seventh day in Daizhou, the group camped by a streamside woods again. After settling everyone, Tan Wang took a horse and rode west. Night fell, the moon rose, but he didn’t return. With no refugee groups around, his brief absence shouldn’t have mattered. But as the saying goes, when danger isn’t outside, it often brews within…