How can someone travel through time and space and become a beggar?

Xia Tian had to leave early the next morning, so even though Xia Chu was reluctant to part with her newly acquired pony, she handed it to the groom. She then stayed with her two brothers until the three of them returned to Zhang Zhou's place. Zhang Zhou and Xia Tian played chess while Xia Chu played a recently composed piece on her pipa.

Although everyone seems to be doing their own thing, it is neither boring nor awkward. Xia Chu likes this kind of atmosphere very much.

Xia Chu also wrote to Wang Yong and Dong Xiaohuan, updating them on her recent situation. She ended with a delighted recount of her horse racing experience with Xia Tian and the pony she had won. She had also collected some small finds and asked Xia Tian to bring them back. She also wrote to Bai Wuxia and the others, bringing them gifts.

"Xiaochu, I'm leaving at dawn tomorrow, so don't come to see me off." Xia Tian suddenly said.

"Are you in such a hurry to leave? Can't I get up earlier?" Xia Chu said unhappily.

Zhang Zhou glanced at Xia Tian and understood what he meant. He must have been worried Xiaochu would cry. Xiaochu was always smiling and rarely cried. But when she did cry... especially when she was feeling particularly upset, she would cry like Qiu Yu, with her head thrown back and her mouth open, sobbing. She usually looked like a fairy, but when she cried, she regressed by ten years.

"That's all we need to say goodbye today. Wouldn't it be nice to sleep a little longer in the morning?" Xia Tian touched her head. "I'll come to see you next time I'm free."

Xia Chu lowered her head, pursed her lips, and looked unhappy.

"Isn't my second brother still here?" Zhang Zhou saw that she was still unhappy, "Want a drink?"

Xia Chu rolled his eyes and glanced up at Zhang Zhou, "What do you want to drink?"

"Osmanthus wine?" Zhang Zhou smiled.

"Tsk!" Xia Chu's face fell, and he glanced at Zhang Zhou and muttered in dissatisfaction: "What kind of wine is this called osmanthus wine? It's just kidding. Even Qiu Yu thinks it's not strong enough."

"Are you still complaining?" Xia Tian said with a smile, "Who got confused after drinking half a cup last time?"

Xia Chu turned her head and looked up at the sky, "I don't know, I don't know, don't ask me."

Zhang Zhuxia and Xia Tian laughed at the same time.

When Jia Qingwu woke up and found her daughter gone, she panicked for a moment. Seeing her standing at the window, she asked softly, "Xia Xia, why are you up so early?"

"Brother's gone." Xia Chu looked at the sun that had just risen. The frost on the road had probably not melted yet. She gently wiped away her tears. She turned back and smiled at Jia Qingwu. "I'm a little hungry."

"Then I'll go prepare food right away." Aunt Xu put down the basin of hot water and went downstairs again.

Jia Qingwu looked at her slightly red eyes, walked over and hugged her gently, "Wait until spring and then go back to Lin'an."

"Yeah." Xia Chu responded softly.

Life seemed much the same as before, but with a few more ponies, the young men and women in the mansion had something new to do. If they had some free time, they would go to the stables and they would definitely see them.

"Second Miss, although horses love to eat candy, they cannot be fed to them every day." Seeing that Jia Wanqing secretly fed the pony two more pieces of candy, the groom reminded her softly.

Xia Chu turned around and saw that she had withdrawn her hand, trying to hide it. She was clearly holding the third candy. She sighed, "Wanqing, horses will get sick if they eat too much candy."

Jia Wanqing's eyes widened. "Can eating sugar make you sick?"

"Yes, Second Miss," said the groom.

Xia Chu nodded solemnly, "Yes."

Jia Wanlin and Jia Junjie quietly took back a candy and pretended nothing had happened.

Jia Junting smiled and continued brushing the horse.

"You can't brush it every day, Junting." Xia Chu turned to him.

Jia Junting's smile froze. "Ah? Can't I wash it every day?"

The groom gave his cousin an appreciative look and nodded, saying, "It's better not to."

"My cousin knows a lot. She can even raise horses." Jia Wanqing looked at Xia Chu with admiration.

"It's just a broad range of knowledge, but not a deep one." Xia Chu smiled, "But horses like to be brushed. If you don't wash them, you can brush them."

"Okay." Jia Junting responded that he remembered it, and took the cloth to gently wipe Xiao Ma dry.

In the blink of an eye, it was the twelfth lunar month, and the weather was getting colder. The temperature inside and outside the house was the same, and Xia Chu sometimes felt warmer outside than inside. The charcoal brazier in the house was always on, but from the constant heating, Xia Chu's lips were chapped, and a pimple had even appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Do you want to take some medicine?" Jia Qingwu heard that her voice was hoarse, and it was obvious that she had a serious fever.

"Isn't that necessary?" Xia Chu actually had an ulcer in her mouth. Although there were some vegetables at home, they weren't that many. The only fruit was dried persimmons, and she wasn't sure if they even counted as fruit. She hadn't been so pampered in Lin'an before, so she didn't know why she became like this just by roasting a fire in Huizhou.

"Let's get a doctor to take a look." Aunt Xu was also a little worried. "I'll send someone to get one right away."

However, the doctor came and said it was nothing serious. He prescribed two doses of heat-clearing medicine and left.

Xia Chu discovered a pattern: everything that cleared heat seemed to be bitter. Chrysanthemum tea, bitter melon, honeysuckle tea—none of them were palatable. This heat-clearing medicine was even more bitter. After just a close sniff, before even starting to drink, Xia Chu had already retched twice.

"Be good, eat the candied fruit after you drink the medicine." Jia Qingwu pinched the candied fruit between her fingers, waiting to feed her one after she drank the medicine.

Xia Chu's throat twitched twice, and she pinched her nose to swallow the medicine. But before she even put the candied fruit into her mouth, she spat it all out. This made the pain even worse, and even the ulcer in her mouth trembled with bitterness.

"What should I do?" Jia Qingwu frowned, wondering what to do if she couldn't drink the medicine.

"I won't drink it anymore. I just have a sore throat." Xia Chu rinsed her mouth, but the nausea and vomiting in her mouth was hard to dissipate. "It will be better in a few days."

There was really nothing she could do since she couldn't drink the medicine. Jia Qingwu could only try to get the farm to send more vegetables so that Xia Chu could eat more and clear her internal heat.

Just when they were feeling depressed, Jia Xu returned. He had finished his last batch of goods for the year-end and was ready to go home and rest. This time, he had gone to the south and brought back several truckloads of oranges.

Jia Qingwu got two baskets and distributed some to the servants, and ate the rest in the house. "Xia Xia, don't eat too much. This will also make you get angry."

Xia Chu nodded in agreement. The end of the year was the time to settle accounts. Although Jia Qingwu didn't own many shops, she was busy. Xia Chu refused to go with them, citing illness as an excuse. When Jia Qingwu came back from checking the accounts that evening, she saw a table full of orange peels and almost thought she had seen something wrong. For the first time, she sternly glared at the maid, "Didn't I tell you not to eat too many oranges because they cause internal heat? You two are in this room, and you didn't even bother to persuade them?"

Someone quietly put the orange they had poked a hole in and were about to peel back on the plate. Cuihua and Cuiya were so scared that they knelt down. "Mom, I just love eating it. This orange is sour and sweet, and I couldn't resist it."

Jia Qingwu sighed as she heard her voice grow hoarser.