In the busyness, time entered February. Doctor Qiu and Jiang Yuqing were about to leave for the capital.
Thinking that she would be away from home for a long time, Baby Dumpling hurriedly brought out things.
Lingmi, Lingguo, Lingquan, all kinds of precious medicinal materials and commonly used medicines for health preservation, as well as delicious melon seeds, candies and other snacks.
Just Lingmi alone prepared 10,000 catties, enough for the whole family to eat for more than a year.
She also asked the birds around to help take care of the fields at home and not attract insects.
At the same time, she also asked all the elders and brothers at home to pay attention not to let people harm these lovely little friends.
If possible, they could feed them some millet when they could not find food.
There were many concerns, and she was quite worried.
These days, the elders were also busy preparing things for her trip to the capital, from food to clothes and supplies, plus gifts for Doctor Qiu, large and small packages, as if moving house.
If carried by carriage, at least two carriages could be loaded, fortunately she had the Ling Realm that could serve as a mobile warehouse.
In addition, there were more than 20,000 catties of grain and potato seeds. Just these seeds filled more than ten carriages.
Plus the ones she and her master were riding, and those pulling local specialties as gifts, lined up side by side, it was almost half a mile long.
If it wasn't to keep a low profile, she could have put all the stuff into the Ling Realm and traveled light.
In addition to the twenty guards from the Feather Forest Army previously responsible for guarding the granary, the Jiang family had specially hired the Lin Escort Bureau from Madam Lin's maternal family to escort them.
Old Escort Head Lin even brought his two sons to join them personally. Safety shouldn't be a problem.
As for maidservants, neither master nor disciple brought any.
On the tenth day of the second month, greeted by the spring breeze and sunny warm weather, it was a good day to go out and travel far.
Government offices were closed for bathing break, and the school was on a ten-day break.
Early in the morning, the village road at the Xijin ferry was crowded with villagers seeing them off, including Jiang family members and common people of Xijin Village.
Those who wanted to exhort them had already finished speaking last night.
At this moment of parting, Jiang Yuqing kissed each of the elders goodbye, and finally hugged Madam Lu and kissed her heavily twice.
Madam Lu's tears flowed before she could speak, hugging her precious daughter unwilling to let go.
Her heart and liver were only this big but had to leave home, which was undoubtedly gouging out the heart of her mother.
Baby Dumpling gently wiped away her mother's tears, and comforted her in a soft, tender voice, "Mother, don't worry.
I will take good care of myself and will be back soon. I will also bring you gifts!"
To liven up the atmosphere, Baby Dumpling deliberately stretched out her hand to outline the size of an apple: "Beads as big as this, hairpins for Mother."
Hearing this, Madam Lu chuckled, with tears in her laugh: "Are you trying to break your mother's neck?"
Baby Dumpling nodded firmly: "Majestic!"
Madam Lu could only imagine herself wearing hairpins with pearls as big as apples... The scene was simply suffocating.
What bizarre aesthetics did her daughter have, forget it!
Distracted by Baby Dumpling, the grief of parting dissipated in an instant.
It was getting late, Doctor Qiu urged Baby Dumpling to get on the carriage quickly.
No matter how reluctant the Jiang elders were, they had to put Baby Dumpling on the carriage.
On the other side, after the husband and wife of the main branch said goodbye to the father (father-in-law), the convoy officially set off.
Baby Dumpling poked half her body out of the carriage window, waved at the crowd seeing them off, and shouted with her tender voice.
"Father, Mother, Grandfather, Grandmother, Uncles, Aunts, Brothers, everyone, goodbye. I will miss you!"
The Jiang women could no longer hold back their tears.
Even the men had red eyes.
Old Man Jiang turned his back to the crowd, squatted under a big tree, and cried,
Crying and mumbling: "My precious granddaughter, my little cotton-padded jacket, how could she be taken away by someone surnamed Qiu.
When he comes back, see if I don't choke him to death with chicken butts, woo woo woo...."
Over there, after the carriage turned a corner and could no longer see the family, Baby Dumpling reluctantly shrank back into the carriage, turned and threw herself into her master's arms, dropping pearls of tears.
Doctor Qiu held her little disciple without saying anything, just gently patting her back.
She was not unfeeling.
She was also reluctant.
She laughed in the face of parting, just not wanting the family to worry and miss her more.
Fortunately, inside Baby Dumpling was a mature, strong and optimistic soul.
Leaving behind the sorrow, she happily looked out the window at the scenery.
This was the first time she had left home since reborn into this world.
The primitive means of transportation, the natural scenery, gave her a different feeling and mood than her previous life.
Bai Xiaoshi followed closely beside her carriage, occasionally chatting with her. As for Bai Xiaojiu, she left it at home.
Thanks to drinking spiritual spring for years, and occasionally empowered by her, it grew too fast.
At just over a year old, it was already a circle bigger than the average adult tiger. It still had three years to mature, who knew how big it would grow.
It was fine in Xijin Village, where everyone had watched it grow up and was not afraid of it.
It could stay home if it wanted, or go up the mountain to chase rabbits and wild goats when bored.
Once away from Xijin Village, wherever it went, it caused chaos and panic, with people and horses scrambling.
It wasn't about fear of being bitten, but humans had an innate fear of beasts. So it could only stay home to guard the house.
The convoy headed north, passing through the city.
After a short rest at noon by the roadside, they continued on their way, stopping for the night in a small town called Baimangpu at dusk.
After traveling all day, Jiang Yuqing was quite tired. She went to bed early after dinner. She got up the next morning, had breakfast, tidied up a bit and set off again.
On the way, she would sometimes study medical books, sometimes lie down and rest.
When she got bored of sitting in the carriage, she would ride Bai Xiaoshi for a stretch.
When they rested in the wild, she would also forage for useful herbs nearby with her master.
Going along with rests in between, the convoy arrived at Lingzhou Prefecture in the morning of the fifth day.
Doctor Qiu decided to stay here for one night before moving on.
The prefectures of Great Xia were equivalent to provincial capitals in later generations, and were naturally much more prosperous and wealthy than Qingzhou County.
The imposing and majestic city gates, the wide, flat streets, shops lined up side by side, pedestrians coming and going, all busy as ants.
Jiang Yuqing even saw several women with veiled hats walking in groups, who must be young ladies from prestigious families.
The convoy turned a few streets and stopped in front of a luxuriously decorated large inn.
The boss and waiter immediately came up to greet them inside.
The advance team had already booked this inn, and arranged everything so there was no need to worry.
After the meal, Doctor Qiu asked Jiang Yuqing if she wanted to walk around nearby. Jiang Yuqing thought about it and decided there was no harm going for a walk since they had nothing else to do.
She asked the boss if there were any fun places around.
The boss said that not far from this street was a Taoist temple called Qinghua Temple.
There was a stele forest in the temple, left by literati and ink scholars of past generations.
In addition, there were seven natural fountains in the temple, called the Seven Star Spring.
The spring water gushed constantly all year round, and the taste was clear, sweet and refreshing. It was also one of the main water sources in Lingzhou Prefecture.
If the guests were interested, they could go take a look.
Jiang Yuqing was not interested in things like stele forests, but she was very curious about the Seven Star Spring. She wondered how it compared to the spiritual spring in her Ling Realm?
Since the little disciple was interested in the temple, Doctor Qiu would naturally take her there.
Entering the temple, a young attendant led them to the Three Purities Hall first.
When Jiang Yuqing was still Ah Piao, it was an old Taoist priest with the demeanor of an immortal who helped her cross over and gave her the greatest blessing.
Therefore, she had a special liking for the ancestral masters and gods of Taoism, and kowtowed particularly devoutly.
When leaving the Three Purities Hall, she also donated one hundred taels of incense money.
At the same time, she also received a peace talisman gifted by the abbot.
Jiang Yuqing kept this peace talisman on her body. Not for anything else, this was her religious belief.
Exiting the main hall and turning left, after passing through a clump of bamboo forest, there was a winding covered corridor.
The red lacquered columns and carved painted brackets were very magnificent.
Steles engraved with calligraphy by celebrities of past generations were erected in this corridor.
Seal script, clerical script, running script, regular script, cursive script, engraved calligraphy, all kinds of calligraphy styles you could imagine could be seen here.
Although Jiang Yuqing was not very interested, since she was here, she naturally had to appreciate them properly.
Otherwise, in later generations, she would inevitably be charged admission tickets to enter.
Leaving the stele forest, they turned left and went around a bamboo forest, arriving at the Seven Star Spring.
Baby Dumpling was looking at it seriously when a young girl's voice suddenly scoffed, "Little girl, can you even recognize the words? Just sitting there pretending."
Jiang Yuqing turned her head to take a look, and saw that the speaker was a girl of thirteen or fourteen. She was quite pretty, but her thin lips made her look somewhat sour.
There was no need to pay any attention to such a person. Jiang Yuqing walked around behind her and continued appreciating the carvings.
Seeing that Jiang Yuqing was ignoring her, the girl was quite angry. She reached out to grab Jiang Yuqing by the back of her collar. "Hey, little girl, I'm talking to you! Are you deaf?"
Jiang Yuqing was prepared. She dodged nimbly to the side, and the girl grabbed nothing but air. Jiang Yuqing turned her head and glared at her furiously. "What do you think you're doing?"
Doctor Qiu had also noticed the situation. He strode forward angrily and demanded, "What family are you from, young lady, that you don't even know basic manners?
If you continue bullying my child, I will have no choice but to go to your family and have some strong words with them!"
The girl's two maidservants were afraid she would cause trouble that would reflect badly on them when they returned, so they quickly came forward to advise her, "Young miss, it's getting late, we should head back now. Otherwise, when your mother finds out, you'll be punished again."
Hearing this, the young miss looked at Jiang Yuqing's cold face, then at Doctor Qiu glaring angrily at her. Seeming to think of something, she turned and left in a huff.
After the crazy troublemaker left for no reason, Jiang Yuqing had lost her mood for appreciating the stele forest.
She asked the young guide to lead them directly to the Seven Star Spring.
The Seven Star Spring really lived up to its reputation.
The seven springs were arranged in a large spoon shape, spread over an area of around two acres, continuously gushing water.
It had an effect similar to the gushing springs Jiang Yuqing had seen in her previous life, and was extremely spectacular.
In addition to visiting tourists, many nearby commoners carrying buckets came here to draw water.
Master and disciple found a peaceful spring vent and took turns drinking the water. It was indeed clear, sweet, and refreshing - very good to drink, but compared to her spiritual spring, it was...not comparable.
Jiang Yuqing played in the park for a long time before returning to the inn as the sky was getting dark.
After dinner, everyone did a simple wash-up and then went to sleep.
The next day, the sky was overcast.
As soon as they left the city gate, it started raining. Fortunately the rain wasn't heavy, so they could continue on their way.
Spring rain was persistent and dense. It was the hope of farmers, but not so friendly to travelers.
Even wearing rain gear, after walking all day, one would feel chilled to the bone.
Therefore, as soon as they arrived at an inn in the evening, Doctor Qiu would take out a package of medicine and order hot water to distribute to everyone, to dispel the cold and dampness.
From that day onward, it was continuous days of gloomy rain. The roads also became especially muddy and difficult to travel.
Cooped up in the carriage, Jiang Yuqing watched the hazy curtain of rain outside, feeling that she was as wet as the roadside bushes, almost sprouting mushrooms.
When passing through a narrow mountain gorge, the convoy suddenly stopped.
The advance scout from the Feathered Forest Guard reported that a carriage ahead of them was stuck in the mud and couldn't get out. Doctor Qiu quickly ordered people to go help.
Not long after, a matronly middle-aged female servant holding an umbrella came to give thanks.
"This servant is from the Chen family of Jizhou up ahead. Today, thanks to your esteemed household's assistance, our carriage was able to continue on its way. My young miss has specifically sent me to thank your household for its great benevolence."
Doctor Qiu said, "No need to stand on ceremony, it was just lending a hand. The rain is getting heavier and heavier, we must hurry and get back on the road."
The matron nodded and said it was so. After giving thanks once more, she took her leave. Not long after, the convoy set off again.
