Chapter 345

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Seeing that Zhang Xiaohua had misunderstood her, Little Orange thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said: “Mm, you guessed right, Ren Xiaoyao. I do need to relieve myself. So could you… Go hide behind the carriage?”

Zhang Xiaohua was taken aback, then immediately flashed a bright white smile and said: “Of course. I’ll go right away.”

With that, he jumped off the carriage and walked to the other side.

Once Zhang Xiaohua had gone, Little Orange gently laid Miss Nie’s hand onto her own body, then slowly and with difficulty climbed down from the carriage. She glanced toward the rear of the carriage and said: “Ren Xiaoyao, you’re not allowed to peek!”

“Ugh~” Zhang Xiaohua nearly tripped and thought to himself, Do I look that shameless?

If I really wanted to look, I could just use my divine sense. Why would I need to sneak a peek? And besides, don’t you know exactly what you’re doing?

Sure enough, Little Orange was exceedingly cautious. As she walked, she kept glancing behind her, heading all the way to the spot where that Deputy Hall Master had fallen from his horse the night before. She looked around—several corpses lay scattered there. Because they had all been too frightened the night before, no one had clearly seen the Deputy Hall Master’s face. Little Orange had no choice but to crouch down and search through the clothing of each corpse. Before long, she found a small brocade box tucked inside one of them. Overjoyed, she glanced behind her again and saw that Zhang Xiaohua wasn’t peeking.

Standing up, she put the brocade box away. Just as she was about to return, her brows furrowed slightly. Finally, her face flushed red as she headed behind a small tree. Only after some time did she reappear.

Her brief excursion wasn’t without consequence—certain unusual sounds reached Zhang Xiaohua’s ears. His face also turned a little red, and he muttered to himself, Whew, good thing I knew what she was up to and didn’t release my divine sense. Otherwise…

Still, at that moment, Zhang Xiaohua found himself feeling a genuine fondness for this daring and clever young girl. That slight grumbling he’d had upon their first meeting was entirely gone.

When Little Orange returned to the carriage, she called Zhang Xiaohua back over. Sensibly, he didn’t ask her anything. He climbed aboard, flicked the reins, and mimicked the way a proper carriage driver would shout, “Hyah~!”

The black horse was quite obedient. With a firm push of its four hooves, it began to pull the carriage forward slowly.

However, the many corpses along the road put Zhang Xiaohua’s driving skills to the test. More than once, he had to get down and drag the bodies off to the side. The Sibu Xiang, Huanhuan, stood quietly by the roadside all the while, occasionally nibbling on wild grass. Now, seeing Zhang Xiaohua driving the carriage toward it, Huanhuan let out a happy whinny and followed along of its own accord, without Zhang Xiaohua needing to call it at all.

Inside the carriage, Little Orange watched with wide-eyed surprise.

She had originally been curious and wanted to ask a few questions, but when she glanced at the young lady lying sick and unconscious beside her, how could she still be in the mood?

At that moment, Zhang Xiaohua asked: “Little Orange, do you think we should keep heading forward, or turn back?”

Little Orange replied: “Of course we should go forward.”

“But I remember there’s a village not too far back. There might be a physician there.”

“Let’s keep going forward. Our escorts also went ahead—if we keep moving, we might even catch up to them.”

Little Orange spoke quite earnestly, but she had overlooked one thing: Zhang Xiaohua had seen all eight of their escorts. If he had taken the time to examine the corpses carefully, he would have recognized every one of them. How could there possibly be an extra guard out there waiting for them ahead? But in Little Orange’s eyes, Zhang Xiaohua was nothing more than a bumpkin from the countryside. How could someone like that be capable of such scheming? So she simply dismissed the thought.

Zhang Xiaohua, however, had no intention of exposing her lie. In his heart, he and these two girls were nothing more than chance acquaintances. Whether in daily life or on this brief journey, there would be no real connection between them. All he planned to do was help drive their carriage to the nearby market town—at most, help them find a proper escort agency, and have real bodyguards take them wherever they needed to go.

“It’s not like I’m some nosy little busybody. Why should I care what you’re hiding?”

Before long, they reached the main road. Zhang Xiaohua no longer paid attention to the two young girls in the carriage and focused solely on driving. Though he had never actually driven a carriage before, the horse pulling it had already been well-trained by others—it was much more spirited and responsive than the average horse. It hardly needed his guidance at all. And since the carriage wasn’t moving too fast, Zhang Xiaohua quickly got the hang of it.

Little Orange sat inside, sensing that the carriage wasn’t moving very fast. Though she was burning with anxiety, she didn’t dare rush him too much. It wasn’t until the sun was nearing noon that they finally arrived at a slightly larger market town. The first thing Zhang Xiaohua did upon entering was inquire whether the town had any escort agencies or medical halls.

Unfortunately, the town was too small—no escort agency had taken an interest in it. Fortunately, there was a medical hall. Not daring to delay, Zhang Xiaohua chose the largest one and drove the carriage straight there.

Miss Nie’s wrist had been fractured, and Zhang Xiaohua dared not move her too much. He had hoped to have the physician come out to the carriage for a look, but the physician merely sat inside the hall, unwilling to step out. He insisted they bring the patient in. In the end, it was only after Little Orange quietly slipped him a bit of silver that he finally agreed to come out and examine her. Zhang Xiaohua was thoroughly vexed—“Aren’t physicians supposed to have the heart of a parent? How could this one be so mercenary?”

Thanks to the silver, the physician was especially meticulous in his examination. After checking her, he frowned slightly. Zhang Xiaohua asked with concern: “Is something wrong?”

The physician replied in puzzlement: “The bandaging technique and the medicinal salve used here are both of excellent quality—only a hair’s breadth below my own. How could she still have a fever and be unconscious?”

Zhang Xiaohua’s heart stirred, but he merely smiled and said: “We happened to run into a wandering physician by the roadside earlier, and he treated her rather carelessly. That’s why we hurried here, knowing your skills would surely be far superior.”

The physician was quite pleased by this flattery. He chuckled and said: “That explains it. The treatment was fine but lacked proper aftercare, and nothing professional was used to immobilize the injury. That’s easy enough to fix—hardly more than a light task for me. Just wait a moment.”

The physician was indeed quite capable. In no time, he had properly set and secured Miss Nie’s wrist, and with a flourish of his brush, he wrote out a prescription and instructed the apothecary’s assistants to prepare the medicine. Little Orange, being cautious, examined the prescription carefully before allowing the decoction to be made.

Once the medicine was ready, Little Orange carefully fed it to Miss Nie. Zhang Xiaohua also carried several medicine bundles back onto the carriage. Only then did he drive the cart away from the clinic.

Upon reaching the roadside, Zhang Xiaohua asked: “Little Orange, should we continue heading forward, or…”

He hadn’t finished his sentence—he had intended to leave the choice up to her—but Little Orange was quite decisive and said with some embarrassment: “Ren Xiaoyao, could I trouble you to help find us an inn first? With Miss like this, traveling further might worsen her condition.”

Zhang Xiaohua sighed. Of course he knew that what patients needed most was rest. But he, too, was anxious to return home. The family in Guo Village hadn’t heard from him in four years. His mother surely missed him dearly every day. He just wanted to get on the road as soon as possible.

“Forget it—what difference do a few more days make? I’ll sort things out once I find a proper escort agency.”

Having made up his mind, Zhang Xiaohua prepared to drive the carriage off in search of an inn. But just as he lifted the reins, a thought crossed his mind. He turned back and asked: “Little Orange, I have an idea. Would you be willing to hear it?”

Little Orange replied: “Whatever it is, please feel free to say it.”

“It’s like this, this morning I saw all those corpses lying in front of your carriage. You also said that someone tried to kill you and steal your things, right? So, don’t you think they might send others to come after you again?”

“You’re right!” Little Orange’s face turned pale in an instant. “Ren Xiaoyao, you’re absolutely right! They’ll definitely send more people to kill us. What should we do?”

Zhang Xiaohua was speechless. How would I know? What does any of this have to do with me? I don’t even know where you two come from, let alone who your pursuers are. Who’s right and who’s wrong—I couldn’t say even if I wanted to.

After thinking a bit, Zhang Xiaohua said: “Since they were able to catch up with you once, I’m guessing they must have some clue. Maybe it’s your carriage. Maybe it’s your appearance. Now, appearances—those can’t be changed, but the carriage? That can be swapped. Don’t you think so?”

“Yes! Ren Xiaoyao, you’re brilliant! Are you really some countryside farm boy?” Little Orange clapped her hands in praise.

Zhang Xiaohua tossed his head proudly and thought to himself, “This is just the beginning.”

Then he added: “Let’s first leave this town. Once we’re outside, you two can wait nearby while I go back and get a new carriage to pick you up. How does that sound?”

Naturally, Little Orange followed Zhang Xiaohua’s lead.

So Zhang Xiaohua drove the carriage out onto the main road. After traveling for a while, he turned onto a secluded path, tied the black horse to a tree, and got ready to ride his Sibu Xiang back into town.

Just then, Little Orange poked her head out from the carriage and called: “Ren Xiaoyao, you…”

Zhang Xiaohua asked curiously: “Is there something else?”

Little Orange looked at him with pleading eyes and asked: “You’re… you’re not going to run off and never come back, are you?”

Zhang Xiaohua’s heart stirred—now that wouldn’t be a bad idea!

Of course, it was just a passing thought. He wasn’t so shameless as to actually do it. He struck a pose of mock disdain and snapped his fingers. “Do I look like that kind of person? I’ve read a few months of the Three Character Classic, haven’t I?”

“Pfft—” Little Orange nearly fell out of the carriage laughing.

But after a while, when she saw that Zhang Xiaohua still hadn’t set off, she grew puzzled and asked: “Why haven’t you gone yet? Don’t tell me I offended you by asking?”

Zhang Xiaohua gave her a once-over, as if seeing her for the first time. “Is this still the quick-witted Little Orange? Don’t you know that buying a carriage requires silver? You two are the ones who need the new carriage—I won’t even ask you to pay me for driving it, but am I also supposed to pay for the carriage out of my own pocket too?”

Little Orange’s face flushed with embarrassment, and she quickly ducked back into the carriage. A moment later, she re-emerged holding a small, emerald-green coin pouch. She handed it to Zhang Xiaohua and said: “Ren Xiaoyao, this is my purse—there’s some silver inside. Please, take it.”

Zhang Xiaohua took the pouch, opened it, and couldn’t help exclaiming: “Aiya, you really are loaded—there’s even gold in here!”

As he spoke, he pinched out a tiny gold piece and gazed at it fondly, utterly unwilling to let it go.

Watching Zhang Xiaohua’s money-loving look, Little Orange didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Just use that for now. If it’s not enough, come find me. My lady still has more.”
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Orluros’s Vault of Secrets: Hi everyone, I’m taking a small vacation XD The posting will resume in September. If you liked the chapter feel free to donate 🙂 and if you find any errors in the translation please mention them in the comments here or in discord