Priceless: A widow with a baby asks the prince to marry again

Chu Shiyu is quite good at baking naan, which he learned during previous marches. He bakes it to the right crispy and fragrant texture without being burnt or bitter.

However, the soup made from dried meat was just as Liu Rusi expected.

Liu Rusi and Caiyun both took a bite and decided to just drink water. Only little Qinhao was forced by his mother to finish the stewed meat on the pretext of not wasting it. It wasn't that bad, but if little Qinhao had a choice, he would choose not to eat it...

While eating toasted naan with hot water, Liu Rusi learned a little about the schedule for the horseback ride. They were not planning on rushing the 800-mile journey, so they would let the horses rest several times along the way.

But bonfires could only be lit at night to boil water and bake naan. In fact, other people and Sun Zhizhao just ate cold naan and drank raw water. Only Chu Shiyu was so particular about boiling water and baking naan.

Liu Rusi directly raised her objections, but not to Chu Shiyu, but to others.

"After a major disaster, there will be a major epidemic. To a certain extent, this is because the flood polluted the water source! The corpses of various animals and humans were soaked in the flood, and the viruses on them... that is, the disease and death air dissolved into the water. When the flood overflowed, it brought the death air to the tributaries and even the well water."

"Boil the water and you can eliminate most of the dead air! Boiling water for drinking seems to be troublesome, as you have to boil the water and then pour it into the kettle. But if you get sick, or the kind that can be transmitted to others, this little trouble is nothing in comparison!" Liu Rusi explained as much as possible.

The ancients of the Great Xia Dynasty did not have the habit of drinking boiled water, because firewood, rice, oil and salt were expensive. Firewood may seem insignificant, but it is the biggest part of life at the bottom! The reason why farmers had two meals a day was not only because of food shortage, but also because they were reluctant to make fire to cook. They had no concept of microorganisms, so they would definitely not waste firewood to boil water to drink.

However, Liu Rusi had ignored this problem before, because everyone around her drank boiled water. Since she came to Qin Lie's house, Qin Lie let her do almost anything. When she said she wanted to drink boiled water, Qin Lie boiled water every morning without a single objection.

As a noble, Chu Shiyu was naturally different from ordinary people. He was always meticulous in his daily eating and drinking, so they used to drink boiled water and eat cooked food. As a result, Liu Rusi suddenly realized the public health problems in ancient times.

However, after a brief explanation, Chu Shiyu replied, "Just do as Madam Liu says."

So Liu Rusi didn't hear a single rebuttal, and her subordinates did as they were told, which made Liu Rusi feel like she was punching cotton...

The cavalry team was arranged to be on night duty, but most of the guards had already gone to bed. Seeing that their night duty plan had been changed and they had to take turns to be on night duty while boiling water in the only five pots, Liu Rusi felt a little uncomfortable.

They should be complaining in their hearts that she was looking for trouble and causing Prince Duan to torment them, right?

They will start their journey on horseback tomorrow, so there is a luxurious carriage to sleep in tonight. As for who will sleep in the carriage, Liu Rusi did not express her opinion.

It is difficult to change what Chu Shiyu has decided long ago, so she should save her breath. After all, as Chu Shiyu said, these are all subordinates he can trust.

While they were eating, Chu Shiyu had already signaled to the guards with his eyes to put the door back in place. Now he walked towards the carriage calmly.

"Let me help you make the bed. I've asked the servants to change the bedding."

"Godfather, we remember how to set up the bed. I saw the bedding too. It's in the cabinet under the back seat. Our luggage is on the other side. I saw it when I found it." Little Qin Hao interrupted.

Chu Shiyu paused. What happened? Didn't Xiao Qinhao secretly create opportunities for him? Why did he suddenly make things difficult for him? !

"Godfather, I'm already very skilled at it. If I finish it sooner, you can rest earlier. It's already late."

Chu Shiyu's tone was very gentle, but his pair of auspicious phoenix eyes narrowed and stared at little Qin Hao. This kid is so smart, is he doing this on purpose?

Little Qin Hao seemed unaware and didn't say anything. He just pinched a small piece of dried meat in his hand, put it into his mouth, and chewed it slowly.

"It's not that hard to make a bed. We can just make it ourselves."

Liu Rusi had already boarded the bus. She took out the bedding from the cabinet and placed it on the seat. Then she pulled out the bed frame under the side seat, set it aside, put the bed board on it, and put a cushion on it...

Chu Shiyu, who lost the opportunity to show his courtesy, became even more angry when he saw Xiao Qinhao chewing the dried meat slowly... He realized that this was Xiao Qinhao's revenge for the dried meat stew! But it was Liu Rusi who forced Qinhao to finish it, not him!

Liu Rusi looked back and saw that little Qin Hao was chewing.

"Haohao, you just brushed your teeth, why are you still eating?"

Little Qin Hao's chewing action paused and he looked at Liu Rusi with grievance, not knowing whether he should spit out the dried meat in his mouth.

"Don't eat what's in your mouth. Rinse your mouth with water later."

Liu Rusi turned around and made the bed with Caiyun.

Little Qin Hao looked at Chu Shiyu with eyes full of blame. It was all his adoptive father's fault. He was scolded by his mother.

Chu Shiyu deliberately glanced at Xiao Qinhao with a gloating look on his face. At the same time, he thought, what does it have to do with him? Isn't it your own fault?

But this kid actually learned to hold grudges and seek revenge, and he didn't remember Liu Rusi, but blamed him... Although it's not impossible, this kid is the key to getting along with Liu Rusi. It would be bad if he really turned against us. We still can't offend him easily in the future...

It was a dark and windy night when the carriage door finally closed again.

Little Qin Hao is not even five years old yet, so he must sleep in the carriage with her. And now Caiyun is a girl and she can't be allowed to sleep outside alone, so the three of them have to sleep together in the carriage.

The bed, which is 1.6 meters wide, is not very big, but it is quite spacious for Caiyun to sleep on the right, little Qinhao to sleep on the left, and Liu Rusi to sleep in the middle hugging her son.

"Mom, do you hate foster father Shi Yu? This is the first time I see mom so angry..." little Qin Hao asked quietly.

It's not a question of whether she hates him or not, but that she knows exactly what he wants, and she can't give it to him and doesn't want to give it to him, but she can't escape his control. This is an unsolvable contradiction.

Many things flashed through Liu Rusi's mind, but none of them could be told to Xiao Qinhao. Xiao Qinhao and Chu Shiyu were very different in age, but they had similar interests. As a mentor and friend, and now as a guide in life for her adoptive father, she didn't want Xiao Qinhao to be alienated from Chu Shiyu because of their problems.

"I don't hate him as a person, I just hate some of his actions. There are so many people in Xingzhou who are suffering from the disaster, but he slowed down his pace because he was afraid that we would be bumped."

Liu Rusi gently stroked his little head and asked, "Haohao, do you think this is good for us?"

After thinking for a while, Xiao Qinhao said, "It's good for us, but it's very bad for the people affected by the disaster."

Liu Rusi was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "On the surface, it's good for us, as we don't have to suffer a bumpy ride. But if his delay causes damage to the disaster area, will others blame us after knowing the reason?"

"It was Shi Yu's adoptive father who wanted to do this. It's not our fault. Why is he blaming us?" Little Qin Hao's logic was very clear.

"Because your adoptive father is doing this in the name of doing good for us, it would be difficult for others to know that we disagree. Besides, angry people tend to vent their anger on others. I'm afraid it doesn't matter whether we have refused or not." Liu Rusi knew that her son was very smart, so she would tell him some of her practical concerns.

"Your adoptive father is a prince of great reputation. Ordinary people may not, nor dare to, bear a grudge against him. But we are different. Perhaps in the eyes of others, we are just slanderers and flatterers. It is us who caused the prince of Duan to neglect public interests for personal gain. Some people even think that as long as we are eliminated, the prince of Duan will be the wise and powerful prince of Duan again."

Little Qin Hao was startled and turned to face Liu Rusi. Although it was too dark to see anything, he asked in surprise: "Get rid of us? Are you going to drive us away, or..."

"Or just kill us, simply and brutally, once and for all." Liu Rusi said bluntly.

Little Qin Hao is a household name. Although he is smart, he has experienced too little of the world and has never encountered such problems in Dongshan Village where he lived before.

"But, my godfather won't agree. He will definitely protect us!" Little Qin Hao already trusted Chu Shiyu very much.

"But if public opinion is overwhelming, can he really protect us? Your adoptive father has his father, the emperor. What if the current emperor wants to kill us?" Liu Rusi said the cruel possibility without disguising it. Since you may be forced to enter the circle of the powerful, you must adapt to the rules of this class.

Liu Rusi had already vaguely guessed how cruel the fight for money could be...

The competition for power is probably more cruel than the competition for wealth. No one will be soft-hearted just because someone is young. So she will try her best to let little Qin Hao know what he should know. Liu Rusi's ambition is not high. She just wants to survive with her son and be as happy as possible on this basis.

Little Qin Hao was stunned.

But Liu Rusi continued to talk about other possibilities: "Maybe he can really protect us, and even the emperor can't kill us easily. But can he stop the people from talking? We will be cursed and become scum in the eyes of thousands of people, and even leave a bad name in history books."

"But! All this may not happen. It is not certain that there will be consequences if we are slow... Even if there are consequences, we may not know about them. It is because we are slow..."

Little Qinhao felt more and more guilty the more he spoke. He also knew that it was not a good idea to think this way. The books of sages he read made him understand some right and wrong.

"But what Mom said is possible, right?"

Liu Rusi did not rebuke Xiao Qinhao for having some selfish thoughts. Selfless people are very rare, and she herself could not do it, so it is better to start from herself.

Little Qin Hao nodded slowly. Although she couldn't see it, Liu Rusi could feel her son's movements in her arms.

In the darkness, she smiled and said softly, "A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall. Since we have foreseen the possible consequences, we should try our best to avoid them from happening."

"Let's put this matter aside. It will be the same in the future. No matter how long we spend with your foster father, we must try our best to avoid becoming a negative factor to him during the time we are with him. At least we must not be seen as treacherous villains in the eyes of the outside world."

Little Qin Hao digested it for a long time before he said seriously: "I understand. We should be good ministers around our adoptive father. If our adoptive father wants to do something bad, we should immediately advise him."

Is that so? It seems to be about the same... So Liu Rusi nodded and said, "Well, it's a good idea to think so."

The mother and son's nighttime conversation came to a conclusion, and the carriage soon fell into the tranquility of sleep.

Although they slept last night, the three of them had developed very accurate biological clocks from their farm life, and they packed up the carriage and themselves at dawn.

Chu Shiyu was not happy about this. Not only did they return the carriage to its original state, they also carried out the three bags!

Most of their luggage would go with the car. Chu Shiyu asked two guards to stay behind to drive the car, and they would follow slowly. Liu Rusi believed in the professionalism of Chu Shiyu and other guards, so she felt at ease leaving most of her property in the car.

However, in order to prevent accidents during the few days on the road, Liu Rusi used the backpack again, still according to the previous configuration.

In addition to the backpack, Liu Rusi also carried a wooden box with a red cross drawn on it. Inside it were medical supplies and instruments that she had slowly accumulated since her rebirth. Suitable tweezers, scalpels and other things were hard to find.

"Let me hold it for you. This box doesn't seem light..." Chu Shiyu knew the box was very heavy from the way she walked.

"These are my tools for healing. They will be more effective if I carry them with me. Don't worry, I will put them on the horse and won't carry them all the way."

Liu Rusi was looking at which horse she was going to ride. The box was indeed heavy because she had put all the strong liquor in it, and the weight of the cans alone was not light.

Seeing this, Chu Shiyu quickly brought the horse prepared for her.

Liu Rusi had learned how to mount a horse by herself, and she climbed onto the horse's back with some difficulty but successfully, and slung the long leather belt of the box across her body. Then she turned the box in front of her and placed it between her and the front saddle, so that the horse was bearing the force, and the box could follow her at any time.

Caiyun also got on the horse, and little Qinhao was still sitting in Chu Shiyu's arms. Everything was ready.

Prince Duan's cavalry officially began to gallop!

More than three hundred horses galloped on the road, and the sound of their hooves hitting the ground was deafening.

This time, Chu Shiyu did not deliberately slow down to accommodate them. Liu Rusi and Caiyun had experienced what it was like to travel fast on horseback before, so they couldn't deceive her.

However, due to the long journey, the horses needed to maintain a uniform speed for a long time, so the cavalry team was able to maintain a similar formation. Chu Shiyu, Liu Rusi and other three were guarded by 300 cavalrymen in the center.

This was for safety reasons. The road to Xingzhou was full of wilderness and there might be bandits. The emperor probably took this into consideration and prepared more horses for him so that he could reach Xingzhou smoothly.

Chu Shiyu would not take the lead after learning from his previous lessons, and now he just wanted to stay by Liu Rusi's side.