The Empress' Livestream - Chapter 252
Chapter 252: Another Real Time, Triggering Task (I)
The second day before the dawn, four wagons pulled sneakily out of town with a fifty-member entourage.
Even though there was only Liu She and his “son,” they prepared four wagons anyway.
Liu She was in one of the wagons, Jiang Pengji took another one, some of their servants took one, and the last one was used for storing clothes, food, water, money, and other luggage so they wouldn’t get cold. The entourage’s luggage was in that wagon, as well.
They downsized the items they could have possibly taken with them over and over again. There would have been at least six wagons if they took everything the Second lady and Madam Hu had prepared for them.
In a word, it was not easy to go for a long-term journey in an era where everything was extraordinarily undeveloped.
The viewers were astonished by the size of the group and they all claimed that they were taught a lesson.
Jun Muyi: “It seems like people traveling in the TV shows keep things simple; they basically only take a female servant and a pageboy to drive the wagon for them. Apparently it was just a lie in the TV shows… The extravagant travel patterns of our host are probably the accurate way in the ancient time.”
Jinghun Youlong: “This is so they are attended on by a large number of followers and servants, which seems really cool. Our host got a great deal this time from her time traveling.”
Most of the viewers were envious about her and they would have loved to experience the deluxe treatment the host was experiencing. Of course, there were some rational ones among the viewers.
Laosiji Liangmeng: “How could you buy the acting in the TV shows? Do you have any idea how terrible transportation was in the ancient time? I’m not just talking about the transportation methods––the road conditions, too. You don’t see courier stations everywhere along the road. It is rather common that you don’t see any living creature for about five days on your trip. If you don’t fully prepare with food and water, how would you survive in a place out in the middle of nowhere without any supply?”
A family with good finances naturally would take every aspect into consideration, including all the emergencies. People without such financial conditions, however, had no choice but to take small packages with barely enough food to keep them from starvation. They would have to be frugal and simple on their trip.
They were very likely to encounter all sorts of dangers, as well as being slow.
The ancient time was nothing like the modern society the viewers were familiar with. There were forests of high rises in modern life, which compacted the habitats for the wild animals to the maximum. People had heard about a species, but there was a chance that they had never seen it. It was a different story in the ancient time. Dangerous, wild animals ran around everywhere. It wasn’t abnormal to see snakes in someone’s home.
Maorongrong Degongji: “Come on, are you a combustible bomb today? We are just simply showing envy… It’s not necessary for you to be this furious, all right?”
The bullets screen was full of hostility, but it didn’t bother Jiang Pengji much. She dozed off, leaning her body on a side table.
While they were still in Hejian County jurisdiction, how much the wagon was shaking was acceptable. But when it came close to the noon time, the wagon started to shake more and it felt like it was nearly out of the control.
The viewers wondered if the wagon would shatter to pieces because it was shaking so badly.
Jinghong Youlon: “I’m no longer envious of her. It would be bearable if it was just a short time… But the bones of your body would fall apart after a while.”
Some of the viewers complained that how much the camera was shaking triggered their motion sickness. Their eyes hurt and they felt like vomiting after watching the stream for a while.
“Are we off the official road?” Jiang Pengji lifted the curtains of her wagon and the scenery outside had changed into chilling autumn.
Instead of being in the third wagon with the rest of the servants, Taxue sat beside Jiang Pengji in her wagon.
“According to my estimation of time, we should be off the official road. I have a cushion ready for you to sit on so that you won’t feel the jouncing quite as much.”
Why was the traffic in such a lagged stage that it isolated one place from another place in the current era? Inferior transportation was one reason; another major reason was the dreadful roads. In spite of the official road having been taken care and modernized, there were no roads in many places.
The wagons, which belonged to the Liu’s, had a relatively advanced shock mitigation system and they were suffering from the bumpy roads. There was no telling how bad it would have been for average wagons.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to ride the horse for a bit.”
Jiang Pengji had a strong physical quality, but the jolty wagon was too much for her to tolerate. It would be harder for the feeble people in the ancient time to take.
Liu She was speechless when he saw Jiang Pengji on the big horse.
“Naughty girl. Be careful,” he warned her, but he totally understood. It was definitely better to ride a horse than to sit in the wagon at the moment. He simply believed that his baby girl got off the wagon and chose to ride a horse as a result of suffering in the wagon too much.
“Yes, daddy.” Jiang Pengji sat on the horse, following the troop tardily. The sun was hanging in the air and it radiated with a dazzling light that beamed directly on her, which made her warm.
Traveling in the ancient time could be extremely inconvenient; however, thanks to Liu She’s sufficient travel experience, he was fully prepared with everything that one could imagine.
Liu She opened his curtain and said to her, “Let’s stop and have a rest. We should eat something, as well.”
“Sure,” Jiang Pengji replied to him. She gave the order to the whole troop to rest for reorganization. She asked her own people to make sure to eat something before they left again.
“Are you sick, Xu Ke? You don’t look good.” Xu Ke’s pale face drew her attention as soon as he got off the wagon. His lips were deathly pale.
Xu Ke felt like his body was about to shatter. The moment his feet landed on the ground, his legs went so soft that they could barely support him. While he was in such bad shape, his Langjun’s ridiculing smile spread from ear to ear, which made him feel terribly ashamed.
It took a while to straighten his back. Xu Ke put himself together, made a bow with hands folded in front, and smiled at Jiang Pengji.
Only his smile was very… reluctant.
“They just set the camp fire to boil water and cook some jerky. You go ahead and take a drink. If it’s too bumpy in the wagon, you can choose to ride a horse, as well.”
Jiang Pengji never questioned if Xu Ke was able to ride a horse or not, because the six-skills for men with merit were the must-master skills in the current era for people in school.
Xu Ke clasped his hands in front of his chest and showed appreciation to Jiang Pengji.
“No worries. You asked for it.” Jiang Pengji looked him from head to toe with a sense of taunting. She lowered her voice, saying, “Xunmei went to see you yesterday, right? Ugh, you might get yourself some company along the way if you are not a piece of wood and you can sense what a girl is thinking.”
Xu Ke’s face went pale and turned red right after. He explained in a hurry, “Don’t take it wrong, Langjun. Xumei didn’t…”
In most gentry families, the personal female servants were the backups for the owner’s concubines. How could Xu Ke ever covet that?
“Why were you doing it in such a hurry?” Jiang Pengji came closer to him and sneered. “Xunmei’s eyes were red when she came back.”
Xu Ke went mute.
Jiang Penji continued, “I treat her like my sister; I have no other thoughts about her at all, especially because Xunmei has her own ideas. She might not be pleased with the idea of being some big guy’s concubine… and she likes you.” Jiang Pengji knew she might as well say it straight. Her being so straightforward made Xu Ke lower his head more and more. “Then what do you think?”
“I said no to Xunmei…” Xu Ke’s voice was quiet, and he had blush on his cheeks.
“Honestly, I’m not fond of her choice. You are not the best match for her.”
Xu Ke was nobody for now, but he had a bright future. Jiang Pengji had confidence in him, more than she had confidence in herself.
The men who still kept their hearts for their love in the current era were scarce.
There were plenty of men who abandoned their first wives and took concubines after they became wealthy or gained a high position on the pretext of carrying on their family line.
