The three of them drove the carriage around all the major pharmacies in the capital city. Sure enough, the prices were getting more and more outrageous with each pharmacy.
Wei Dongling sat in the carriage, indignant. "These heartless merchants are raising prices at will! It's simply intolerable."
Cui Huan lifted her clothes to check the wound. Seeing that there was nothing abnormal, she sighed and said, "I suppose the court has already bought a lot of medicinal materials and sent them there. Now that the prices are so high, we have no other choice. How about writing a letter to Young Master Yu and seeing if he can buy some reasonably - priced medicinal materials and transport them here?"
Wei Dongling thought for a while. Yan Gushan was even farther from Xingshan. She was afraid it would be inconvenient to transport the medicinal materials. But better late than never. So she could only nod.
Cui Huan turned around and went to send a letter to Yu Zixi.
Originally, Wei Dongling planned to take Cui Huan to Xingshan to deliver the medicine by herself and arranged for Old Master Lin to stay behind to take care of Luo Xunlong. But Luo Xunlong had been lying in bed for several days and was about to go crazy. He firmly refused to stay, so the four of them set off for Xingshan together.
After Old Master Lin stuffed rice, flour, and the luggage of the four of them into the carriage, it was packed to the brim, leaving only two rather narrow spaces for the two injured people to rest.
Wei Dongling winked at Luo Xunlong, who was lying on the luggage beside her, and whispered, "Uncle Luo, Cui Huan is a good girl. You should seize the opportunity!"
Luo Xunlong glanced at Cui Huan, who was sitting in front driving the carriage. His face instantly turned red to the roots of his neck. He ignored Wei Dongling and turned his face away shyly, pretending to sleep with his eyes closed.
The carriage full of medicinal herbs rushed towards Xingshan in a hurry.
The two fine horses ran for a whole day and were all exhausted. Only then did Cui Huan lead the horses to drink water, eat, and rest.
Old Master Lin set up two medicine pots and boiled medicine for Wei Dongling and Luo Xunlong respectively.
After Wei Dongling finished drinking the medicine, the four of them sat around the campfire and ate some dry rations.
After taking a one - hour break, they set off again in the direction of Xingshan.
The bumpy carriage made Wei Dongling's wound very uncomfortable. But thinking that Luo Xunlong was more seriously injured than her and was enduring it just like her, she could only grit her teeth and bear it.
In the middle of the night, a fine drizzle started to fall.
Cui Huan quickly stopped the carriage, covered the roof with a rain - proof oilcloth, and stuffed the windows and curtains tightly with luggage, for fear that the food and medicinal materials in the carriage would get damp.
The carriage traveled in the rain until dawn. They could barely see the vague county town of Xingshan at the foot of the mountain in the distance.
In the hazy morning mist and rain, they heard people making a lot of noise on the official road.
Wei Dongling lifted the curtain and stuck her head out. She saw the post - station staff wearing straw capes and bamboo hats walking towards them. They greeted Old Master Lin and said, "Old man, are you here to deliver food for disaster relief?"
Old Master Lin reined in the horse and stopped the carriage. He nodded and replied, "Yes, we are."
The two of them nodded and saluted. "Thank you! Leave the food and go back! The epidemic is spreading in the county. It may be dangerous for you to go in."
Old Master Lin cupped his hands and said, "Our brothers are practicing medicine and saving people in the county. The medicinal materials are in short supply. We are just going to join them and deliver the medicine."
"Medicinal materials?" The post - station staff said in surprise, "You can leave the medicinal materials and your address. We'll send them in. For safety's sake, no idlers should go in."
Old Master Lin and Cui Huan glanced at each other. They respectfully said to the two men, "There are also doctors on our carriage. We can help a little. Please be kind enough to make an exception for us."
The two of them shook their heads firmly and insisted, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince brought many imperial doctors here for treatment a few days ago. To prevent the spread of the epidemic, no idlers are allowed to enter or leave."
Wei Dongling thought to herself, so they've sealed off the county town? How serious is the epidemic inside?
Old Master Lin got off the carriage, took out two silver ingots from his bosom, and quietly stuffed them into the hands of the two men. He said with a simple and honest smile, "Sir, please make an exception for us. Our brothers are waiting to save people!"
The two men glanced at each other, quietly took the silver, and waved to Old Master Lin, signaling them to enter the city.
The group rushed non - stop on the winding official road of Xingshan.
Two hours later, the rain finally stopped.
The official road was full of potholes and mud. Occasionally, when they passed by a village with some families, Cui Huan would get off the carriage to ask for directions. When she came back, her two delicate embroidered shoes were covered in mud.
Cui Huan's clothes were soaked through. She lifted the curtain and said to Wei Dongling, "The family just now said it will take several more hours to reach the address on the letter."
"It doesn't matter. We'll just take our time." Wei Dongling felt sorry for her being wet all over. She asked Cui Huan and Old Master Lin to go into the carriage to change into clean clothes respectively. They found a dense bamboo forest to take a rest.
Wei Dongling led the horses to feed them.
Cui Huan wanted to boil medicine but couldn't light the fire. She was holding a pile of wet firewood, at a loss.
Luo Xunlong smiled at her, took out a big knife from the interlayer of the carriage, took the wood from her hand, carefully shaved it into a pile of wood shavings, and then lit a fire with a fire starter.
Cui Huan stared at the campfire lit by Luo Xunlong in disbelief and exclaimed, "Brother Long is so amazing!"
Hearing her praise, Luo Xunlong blushed shyly. He lowered his eyes and said with a smile, "The wind and snow in our frontier are very heavy. Most of the firewood is wet. We usually start a fire like this. Miss Cui Huan, dry your wet clothes. Be careful not to catch a cold."
Cui Huan nodded repeatedly and brought the wet clothes over to dry.
When Wei Dongling came back with two wild chickens in her hands, she saw Old Master Lin dozing off against the carriage. Cui Huan and Luo Xunlong were sitting side by side, chatting about interesting things in the frontier.
Oh, not bad!
A motherly smile appeared on Wei Dongling's face.
Hearing her footsteps, Cui Huan turned around. Seeing the mischievous smile in her eyes, she lowered her head in embarrassment, her face flushed bright red.
Luo Xunlong looked at the two fat wild chickens in Wei Dongling's hands and couldn't help smiling. "Girl, you can even hunt game. Not bad!" Then he got up, took the wild chickens from her hand, and went to the river to pluck the feathers and gut them.
Wei Dongling pursed her lips and smiled but said nothing.
Cui Huan carefully filtered the medicine juice from the small pot, held the clay bowl, and blew on it gently to cool it down.
This girl hadn't slept for a whole day and night. She must be exhausted. Seeing the tired look on Cui Huan's face, Wei Dongling felt secretly sorry for her. "You go and rest in the carriage for a while. I'll call you when it's time to eat."
Cui Huan nodded and climbed into the carriage to rest.
Luo Xunlong was quite good at cooking. He took out the seasonings to marinate the wild chickens, wrapped them tightly with leaves, covered them with mud, dug a pit on the spot, buried them, and started a fire on top. Then he took Cui Huan's two embroidered shoes covered in mud, went to the river to wash them clean, and carefully dried them by the campfire.
This amazed Wei Dongling. She never thought there could be such a warm - hearted man from the frontier!
Luo Xunlong held Cui Huan's delicate embroidered shoes and sighed, "Do the feet of the women in the capital city all have to be so small?"
Wei Dongling laughed dumbly. "You haven't even seen the so - called 'three - inch golden lotuses' which are even smaller!"
Half an hour later, the fragrance of the beggar's chicken wafted far away.
Wei Dongling's mouth watered. She ate one of the chickens with Luo Xunlong along with some steamed buns. Both of them were very satisfied.