Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

The next morning, when Da Niu set off from the post station, she was carrying a large earthenware pot wrapped in cotton cloth, which contained pheasant soup that had been simmering on a small clay stove overnight, as well as dozens of fried dough cakes, which she had asked the cook at the post station to make.

After watching the delegation leave, the cooks who had been busy since before dawn were all exhausted and their bodies ached.

"Hey, hurry up and buy more earthenware pots. These adults have taken all the pots from the shop. People from the capital are really different. When we're out and about, we just grab some dry bread and water for lunch and call it a day. Look how particular they are," said one of the cooks, rubbing her arm.

“That’s for sure. All the pickled vegetables and salted eggs have been sold out. If any more people come, there won’t be any side dishes to go with the porridge,” another cook added.

It turned out that Xia Yu had eaten porridge and salted duck eggs for lunch the day before, which inspired many others to follow suit. They bought porridge from a clay pot at the inn, and also bought some pickled vegetables and salted duck eggs from the inn. They thought they would have a good meal for lunch too.

When they stopped again in the wild for lunch, Xia Yu noticed that many people had taken out earthenware pots, added some water, heated them slightly, and then poured out thick millet porridge or rice porridge. Others had taken out the same fried dough sticks, pickled vegetables, and salted duck eggs to eat with the porridge.

Seeing this, Xia Yu simply smiled slightly. She told Da Niu to put the pot on the fire. Soon the chicken soup in the pot was reheated, bubbling away, and the aroma of pheasant soup wafted out.

Those closest to Xia Yu and her companions were the first to smell the aroma. Some, carrying bowls, followed the scent and found a maidservant offering a bowl of chicken soup, topped with a layer of butter, to Grand Tutor Li. Grand Tutor Li took a sip of the soup, letting out a satisfied sigh, then took the fried dough from Xia Yu, broke it into small pieces, and soaked it in the soup. The dough, now saturated with the broth, became even more fragrant and tempting.

"Gulp" was the sound of swallowing saliva.

"Boss, why didn't we think of making chicken soup with those two chickens yesterday? That way, we could each have a couple more bowls. Those two chickens wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth gap if we just roasted them." The guard, who was eating fried dough and drinking millet porridge, swallowed the saliva that had welled up in his mouth because of the aroma of chicken soup, and said this to his squad leader with an unspeakable regret in his tone.

"Go away, go away, go away! I didn't see you talking so much when you were eating roast chicken yesterday. If you talk any more, I'll punish you by making you catch two rabbits." The squad leader was already regretting his actions when he smelled the chicken soup, and he became even more annoyed when he heard the guard's words.

"Captain, I'm willing to go." The squad leader said this unintentionally, but then he heard the guard from before reply in a low voice.

"..." The captain remained silent.

The guard wasn't just talking for nothing. While the nineteen girls went out hunting again, he used the excuse of protecting them to go along. When he returned, he brought back a plump rabbit and a pheasant. The others in the group, including the squad leader, didn't say anything, but their smiles widened considerably.

Murong Fu turned a blind eye to what was happening on their side. The journey was long and he was quite bored. As long as the safety of the delegation was ensured and their progress wasn't hindered, he found it understandable that they were looking for something to do.

With his tacit approval, whenever Xia Yu and her friends went out to hunt rabbits and pheasants, several guards would always accompany them under the guise of protection.

As for the other members of the delegation, who were not skilled at hunting, they opted to buy ingredients at post stations or inns and have the kitchen staff cook them for them.

Under Xia Yu's influence, the delegation's lunches were no longer just simple flatbread and hot water, but became more varied and substantial. Murong Fu, who was in charge of the delegation's food and lodging, even converted the fixed lunch allowance into cash and distributed it to each person. On one occasion, Xia Yu even saw several people eating around a pot; peeking closer, she discovered it was a pot of stir-fried green peppers and shredded pork. They were holding flatbreads bought from the town.

Xia Yu couldn't help but laugh; it seemed she had opened the door to a new world for these people.

They traveled by carriage for more than twenty days. They were originally expected to reach the Lucheng dock in eighteen days, but due to rain, they were stuck in an inn for several days and arrived at the Lucheng dock seven days later than expected.

Once back on the official ship, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Even those who had complained of seasickness were eager to board, as many of them had discovered they also suffered from carriage sickness. Like Da Niu, they hadn't noticed the problem before, but after sitting in the carriage for more than ten hours a day, those ailments gradually began to appear.

Compared to traveling by carriage, it's much better to be on a boat. At least on a boat, you can be protected from the wind and rain, and you'll have hot soup and water for every meal. Even if you don't want to get out of bed one day, you can sleep in your cabin all day. It's much more comfortable on a boat than the hardships of traveling by carriage.

After more than twenty days of sailing, they finally arrived at their destination, Zhenbei County, a border county with a permanent garrison of 200,000 troops.