Chapter 202: Chapter 202: Shortcut

Seeing Huangfu Jingchen’s confusion, Xia Wenjin said nonchalantly, “Shortcut!”

Whether it’s a shortcut or not, only heaven knows.

Xia Wenjin knew Xia Wanqing specially came down the mountain to catch her, so how could she dare to take the main road? Of course, she chose the mountainous countryside route.

News travels poorly there, and it’s easy to hide.

She was determined never to return.

For Huangfu Jingchen, actually, the difference between roads didn’t really exist.

The only difference was that the main road was wider, allowing Xia Wenjin to ride the horse faster, and he had to constantly use his inner strength to perform Qinggong.

As for the small road, it was narrow and difficult to traverse, so Xia Wenjin let the horse slow down. The roadsides had wild grasses and abundant scenery with low mountains and valleys in the distance.

When it got dark, Xia Wenjin had no intention of staying in an inn, and Huangfu Jingchen didn’t mind. There were no inns or taverns in the wild countryside here.

Although they could seek shelter in the villagers’ homes, Huangfu Jingchen preferred camping out.

At that time, he was severely injured, and they had spent nearly ten days outdoors, with Wenjin taking care of him. Now he wanted to look after her for once.

The place Xia Wenjin chose to camp for the night was a slope with a clear pond not far away, with a cluster of lotus flowers and a patch of water chestnuts at the east corner of the pond.

Huangfu Jingchen volunteered to cut the thatch for them to sleep on and let Xia Wenjin rest for a while.

It was probably the first time his soft sword served as a machete; as the sharp blade swept through, a patch of thatch fell.

Xia Wenjin released the horse to graze freely and watched Huangfu Jingchen swinging the sword to cut grass with a smile.

That radiant smile and smiling eyes almost blinded Huangfu Jingchen when he turned around.

His mood lifted as well, and the sword in his hand danced even more brilliantly like flowers.

Xia Wenjin laughed, “That’s enough! We’re just staying one night. Having something to separate us from the ground’s dust is enough. Any more, and we could make a big bed with it!”

A big bed?

Huangfu Jingchen’s lips curled up; he’d be delighted, but estimated Xia Wenjin wouldn’t!

Huangfu Jingchen said, “I’ll go hunting!”

Xia Wenjin looked around and said, “It doesn’t look like there’s any game here. There’s a farmhouse two miles west; you can just buy a chicken.”

Huangfu Jingchen nodded and went off to buy one right away.

Xia Wenjin rested for a while, then stretched her arms, looking at the wild water chestnuts covering the surface of the pond. She couldn’t resist using a branch to scoop up one, picking some large ones back, along with a few lotus leaves.

Just as she was about to gather some firewood, Huangfu Jingchen returned.

He bought two fat hens.

Xia Wenjin was pleased, “How much for the lot?”

Huangfu Jingchen, in a great mood, said, “Very cheap, only ten taels of silver!”

Xia Wenjin: “…”

Very cheap? Ten taels of silver?

This gentleman probably didn’t know that ten taels of silver could feed that rural household for most of their lives.

However, Xia Wenjin didn’t regret it. Rural life was tough, and if spending some silver could improve their lives, it was a good deed.

Huangfu Jingchen talked about buying chickens with great sentiment, “Wenjin, you wouldn’t believe it, they only had two chickens. I initially just wanted to buy one, but after paying, the lady insisted on giving me the other one as well! They also had a piglet, and she wanted to give me that too. I strongly declined, and only then did they give up. Wenjin, people in the mountains are so genuine!”

Xia Wenjin laughed, “Indeed they are, thankfully you didn’t bring the piglet along! Farmers are sincere, knowing the value of ten taels of silver, they would’ve given everything they had.”

They didn’t know that ten taels of silver meant little to Huang Zheng.

Xia Wenjin said, “Leave them here. I’ll gather some firewood and then handle the chickens!”

Huangfu Jingchen immediately said, “I’ll gather firewood!”

Xia Wenjin teasingly said, “I need dry firewood!”

Huangfu Jingchen blushed, recalling their first time camping incident, awkwardly replied, “I’ll gather dry firewood!”

Watching him dash away to gather firewood, Xia Wenjin smiled, picked up the chickens, and went by the pond to prepare them.

She plucked the feathers, gutted the chickens, cleaned them, applied a layer of salt inside, and added the spices she bought while shopping yesterday. She then covered them with a thick layer of pond mud. Wrapped in lotus leaves, she brought them back.

Going out with two chickens, coming back with two lumps of mud.

When she returned, she found that not only had Huangfu Jingchen gathered the firewood, he had also lit a fire.

This time, there wasn’t a plume of smoke choking him. He had used dry thatch to ignite, adding small dry branches, and then placed on some thicker ones.

Xia Wenjin shot him an approving glance; he was quick at learning things.

She walked over and picked up a dagger to dig the earth.

Huangfu Jingchen, not understanding, asked curiously, “What are you digging for?”

Xia Wenjin replied casually, “Digging a pit to roast the chicken!”

“Isn’t it usually roasted over a spit?” That’s what she did last time.

Xia Wenjin smiled, “Today, let’s try something new.”

The dagger was sharp, and she quickly dug a small pit in the ground, placed the mud-wrapped chicken inside, and then dug another pit.

Two lumps of mud, two pits.

Then, she set up firewood on top of the pits and lit the fire.

Considering the weather wasn’t suitable for a fire, after moving the fire over the pits, she added appropriately sized dry branches and asked Huangfu Jingchen to tend to the fire to prevent it from going out, while she headed to the pond to wash her hands.

After estimating some time, she leisurely returned.

Huangfu Jingchen was adding firewood. Seeing Xia Wenjin return, he sighed in relief. He hadn’t seen how Xia Wenjin handled the chickens but guessed they were in the mud. He thought it was strange — how could the chickens be edible when wrapped in mud?

Were they eating chicken or mud?

Or perhaps mud soup chicken?

However, doubts aside, he wasn’t a bit unhappy; rather, he was a bit excited. Even if it was mud soup chicken, since Wenjin made it, it surely would be edible.

Xia Wenjin checked the mud lumps with a stick; they were cracking from the heat, but the cracks were small.

She used a branch to turn the mud lumps over, adding more fire to crack the other side as well.

When it seemed done, she extinguished the fire and took out the dry mud lumps from the pits.

Huangfu Jingchen stared at the large, oval, dry mud eggs, thinking it would be wise to keep silent in case Xia Wenjin’s roasting didn’t turn out well, which could be awkward.

He even contemplated that if it really went wrong, he could go hunting; even if there wasn’t much game here, they’d find something edible.

Xia Wenjin rolled the mud eggs with the branch, almost like bricks, very hard.

She handed him the branch, “Here, crack it open!”

Huangfu Jingchen asked, “Crack it open?”

Oh no, it really looked like the whole chicken was baked into a clay stone. Wouldn’t it mean the chicken would be dry and chewy?

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