Traveling through time and space to become a lady of a noble family, but she only wants to escape

Chapter 235 Separation

Outside Ningzhou City.

Lin Chuqi's carriage clattered along the official road. They had left early and traveled day and night, leaving all the refugees behind. At this moment, they were the only ones traveling alone on the official road, kicking up dust.

Cheng Mao was nourished by the red mother and given a lot of life-saving tonics by the official doctor in Wu County. His pulse finally stabilized, but he still did not wake up and his face was still somewhat ashen. The two children did not dare to stop for a moment and took turns driving the carriage, determined to take Cheng Mao to the prefectural city to find the best doctor for treatment.

They were now only a hundred li away from the city, almost there. Lin Chuqi wiped his face with one hand; his strength was almost at its limit, and the carriage beneath him was also nearing its end. He planned to change to a new carriage once they reached the city. Fortunately, his sister had enough money in her baggage. He wondered if his sister had met up with Brother Yun yet.

Suddenly, the carriage wheel ran over a stone on the road, lurched heavily, and shattered on the ground with a sickening cracking sound. Lin Chuqi hurriedly pulled on the reins to stop the horse, then quickly got off to check the wheel.

Qiaoqiao poked her head out of the window: "Is the wheel broken?"

One of the outer wheels broke open, with only a few splinters of wood still connecting it. Lin Chuqi told Qiaoqiao about the situation, and Qiaoqiao got out of the car to take a closer look. Then she took out a hammer and nails from the luggage in the car and tapped and hammered at the wheel, finally managing to tighten the broken part.

The broken wood was so fine that it cut Qiaoqiao's hands. She casually spat some saliva onto her hands and said, "We need to drive slowly from here to the nearest county to change the tire."

The two children returned to the carriage. Lin Chuqi picked up the reins, cracked the whip, and the horse pulled the carriage forward a few hooves before stopping, its neighing weakly.

Qiaoqiao lifted the curtain: "The horse can't run anymore, why don't we rest for a while before we continue?"

Lin Chuqi frowned: "There's no village or shop in sight here, it's not safe. Neither of us knows martial arts, and Brother Cheng is poisoned. We should at least get into the city first."

But no matter how much Lin Chuqi cracked the whip, the horse wouldn't move an inch, only stamping its hooves in place.

"I'll get off and give it a push," Qiaoqiao said, about to get off the carriage. Lin Chuqi immediately remembered her selfless act at the Earth God Temple and quickly stopped her with her hand before she could speak: "No, you drive the carriage, I'll get off and push."

So Qiaoqiao was pulled to the front, and Lin Chuqi went to the back of the carriage and pushed it with all her might, calling out, "Qiaoqiao!"

Qiaoqiao cracked her whip: "Giddy up!"

The horse remained motionless.

She lashed the whip a few more times, and the whip handle rubbed the wounds on Qiaoqiao's hands until they ached. She gritted her teeth, reached back and pulled out a nail, then plunged it directly into the horse's rump.

Sigh—

The horse neighed sharply, raised its front legs high, and then galloped off wildly, oblivious to everything around it. Qiaoqiao gripped the reins tightly amidst the jolting: "Chuqi! Faster!"

But how can a human's legs outrun a horse's legs? Lin Chuqi chased after it with all her might, but could only watch the carriage go further and further away: "Hold the reins!"

"I pooped! Ahhhhh, don't run away!!"

In no time, the carriage disappeared from sight, and all that could be faintly heard was Qiaoqiao's desperate screams. Lin Chuqi's lungs ached from running, and her legs gave way, causing her to collapse to the ground.

There was no way he could catch up; he could only wait for Qiaoqiao to bring the carriage back to pick him up.

Half an hour later, there was still no sign of Qiaoqiao. Lin Chuqi regained some strength and continued walking along the official road. Horses occasionally whizzed by, but when he reached the vicinity of a county town, he still did not see Qiaoqiao.

The sun was about to set, so Lin Chuqi had no choice but to enter the city first.

He had put all his money in his bundle and was now penniless. He could only find an inn and negotiate with the innkeeper to exchange washing dishes for a side room where he could spend the night and a steamed bun.

Early the next morning, Lin Chuqi started looking for work all over the streets.

Qiaoqiao had a wound on her hand and couldn't hold the reins. The horse had also gone mad and might overturn. Lin Chuqi thought to herself that she couldn't wait for Qiaoqiao to come to her. She had to earn some travel expenses first and then look for her along the way.

But after wandering around all morning, he got nowhere.

He wanted to find a job that required writing, but there were too many literate people in Ningzhou, so there was no shortage of workers. He also wanted to find a physically demanding job, but he was too thin and weak, so no one wanted him. After a whole morning, there wasn't a single job he could do.

Although it was wartime and all the work was intense, he still couldn't help but feel frustrated.

Suddenly, a commotion arose nearby. A well-dressed man was shouting for workers by the roadside: "Unload the goods! Grain from Linzhou! One coin per bag!"

Many people gathered around to ask, but after learning that a bag of grain weighed fifty jin, they all left, leaving only some elderly people and thin men and women who couldn't find any work. Lin Chuqi stepped forward: "Count me in."

The recruiter took these seven or eight people to the north of the city. A dozen or so horse-drawn carriages lined up in a row. The recruiter instructed a few people to unload the goods into the warehouse, and someone was assigned to count them.

Lin Chuqi swung his arms and tried to lift the sack, but he almost knelt on the ground as soon as the sack hit his shoulder.

Fifty catties, exactly fifty catties.

He gritted his teeth, turned his head away, gripped the sack tightly, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and moved with the weight of a thousand pounds.

In less than half an hour, the goods were unloaded. Lin Chuqi's hands and shoulders were burning with pain. The recruiter counted the goods and handed Lin Chuqi a few sesame cakes: "You carried eighteen bags."

"Thank you." Lin Chuqi took the sesame seed cake and waited for the recruiter to pay him. Unexpectedly, the recruiter turned around and left. He called out to the recruiter, "Brother, I haven't been paid yet."

The recruiter frowned: "Didn't I already pay you your wages?"

Lin Chuqi was taken aback. She looked at the sesame seed cake in her hand and suddenly realized, "You want to use the sesame seed cake to pay your wages? Brother, I don't want the sesame seed cake, I just want the wages."

“Take it if I give it to you. Your wages are eighteen coins, and these sesame cakes are worth at least twenty coins. You’re making a profit.”

Lin Chuqi stubbornly shook his head and pushed the sesame cake back: "We agreed on one coin per bag, but we didn't say that we would pay the wages with sesame cakes."

"Hey, you little rascal, you're really taking this seriously," the recruiter said impatiently, shoving him. "Let me ask you, when I said one bag, one coin, did I say it was paid in copper coins?"

Lin Chuqi staggered a couple of steps and barely managed to steady himself. It was the first time he had ever heard such shameless talk. He was so angry that he was speechless for a moment, then he suppressed his anger and frowned: "You're just using clever words to distort the truth. Give me my wages, or I'll report you to the authorities."

The recruiter chuckled twice as if he'd heard a joke: "You're going to report to the authorities, huh? Hurry up and go, and bring the constables with you. It's wartime now, let's see if the constables dare to arrest the people who came to deliver the grain."

“One thing at a time. Even if it’s delivering food as a charity, they shouldn’t refuse to pay wages.” Lin Chuqi turned to the others. “Brothers and sisters, let’s go with me to report this to the authorities.”