Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 1254 - 1251_1

It took Xiao’er half a day to reach the bottom of the valley.

This was only after she had traveled more than halfway down and then jumped straight down, which expedited her journey.

Before she jumped, she threw four wrapped parcels down, each filled with dry food and dried meat, prepared for the soldiers who had been trapped for nearly ten days.

The valley below Swallow Ridge is called Chishui Valley.

This valley is full of bizarre rocks, most of which are tinged with a bit of red. The stream flows over these rocks, making the water appear red from a distance. Hence, it is named Chishui Valley!

Xiao’er looked up and spotted huge chunks of red-hued rocks on the mountain. Likely due to exposure over time and erosion from rainwater, some rocks were as smooth as though they’d been intentionally sculpted with a knife.

Xiao’er only took a glimpse, then picked up the four large parcels from the ground, all smeared with mud, and slung them onto her back.

She then began to follow Bai Tian’s instructions to find Shangguan Xuanyi. After finding him, she would then together they would find Brother Ri and the others.

At the moment, Shangguan Xuanyi was leading a team following the traces left by Brother Ri’s party, in order to find them.

There are many rocks in the valley, but not many animals or plants. Even finding wild vegetables to eat is hard!

Mainly because the path they were currently walking had already been traversed by Brother Ri and his soldiers, all edible food had been dug up by the Eastern Jin Dynasty soldiers. This made finding food even more difficult for them!

Shangguan Xuanyi’s spatial ring contained plenty of food, but most of them were dried meat and cooked food, with no wild fruits or vegetables.

When the soldiers really couldn’t find anything to eat, he could only occasionally find an excuse to go to a secluded place and bring out some fresh sweet potatoes or potatoes from the space for them to eat.

To make it look more authentic, as though the sweet potatoes and potatoes had just been dug up, he even had to rub some dirt onto their skins.

Now, it was time for the noon meal. Shangguan Xuanyi found an excuse to go to a secluded place and came back with a bag of sweet potatoes to share with the soldiers.

Because if the sweet potatoes are roasted, the skin will get burned and after peeling, only half of the sweet potato will be left. So, everyone was hesitant to roast them. But without a pot to cook them, they could only eat them raw.

"Could it be that the soil in this valley is particularly suitable for growing sweet potatoes? I feel like the sweet potatoes that the prince digs up are particularly sweet!" said a soldier while gnawing on a half cleaned sweet potato.

"The sweet potatoes are dug by the prince himself, of course, they are sweet! We are very lucky to eat the sweet potatoes dug by the prince!"

Feng Qing then said: "I also feel that the sweet potatoes dug by the prince are particularly sweet! It’s not like ordinary sweet potatoes! My family is poor, and I can say that I grew up eating sweet potatoes, but I’ve never eaten such a delicious sweet potato. I used to hate sweet potatoes, but now I don’t think they’re enough!"

Unable to resist, Feng Xing said, "Of course you can’t eat enough. When you’re hungry, anything tastes good. I also feel like I can’t eat enough!" Each person could only have half a sweet potato per meal which wasn’t even enough to fill the gap between teeth!

But in a place like this where nothing grows, to be able to have half a sweet potato, rather than chewing on tree roots, he was quite content!

The soldiers sat in a circle, eating sweet potatoes and talking animatedly.

Shangguan Xuanyi sat on the side watching everyone eat their sweet potatoes, remaining silent.

He was wondering what Xiao’er was doing. Maybe she was playing with a few other children inside the spatial ring?

He hadn’t seen the children for a while and wondered if they had learned to walk yet.

When he led the troops to attack Pingyao County, the children had already learned to walk by themselves, holding onto the edge of the table for support.

Now, more than half a month has passed, so they should have already learned to walk well!

Suddenly, he turned his head to look in the direction they had come from.

One figure was sprinting towards them at an incredible speed.

Upon seeing this, Shangguan Xuanyi quickly stood up.

The other soldiers also picked up their weapons and stood up.

"No need to panic, these are our people!" Shangguan Xuanyi announced, before using his Qinggong to fly over.

Seeing Shangguan Xuanyi flying towards her, Xiao’er immediately asked the wolf to stop.

Shangguan Xuanyi stopped in front of Xiao’er.

"Brother Shangguan!" Xiao’er greeted Shangguan Xuanyi with a sweet smile.

"You’re here!" Shangguan Xuanyi said, looking at Xiao’er’s sweet smile. He felt warm, as if the wind blowing in the valley had grown gentle!

As he was thinking about her and their children, she suddenly appeared in front of him. This feeling, the indescribable joy, was wonderful.

Shangguan Xuanyi noticed that Xiao’er had several big bundles on her back, and hurriedly took them off for her.

The other soldiers ran over at this point, and upon seeing the princess dressed as a man, all bowed in respect.

Everyone was familiar with Xiao’er’s male disguise, so they immediately recognized her.

Feng Qing couldn’t resist joking: "Princess, did you bring us some dry food? I’m sick of gnawing on tree roots!"

"When did you start gnawing on tree roots? You were just eating sweet potatoes! Stop playing pathetic! Didn’t you say you could eat sweet potatoes for a lifetime without getting bored?" Feng Xing said, looking disdainful.

"There aren’t many sweet potatoes, and they aren’t enough to fill my stomach, so I had to find tree roots to gnaw on!"

"Luckily, I brought some dry food and dried meat for everyone to eat! Aren’t you touched?" Xiao’er pointed at the four bundles in Shangguan Xuanyi’s hands.

Shangguan Xuanyi promptly passed the four bundles to Feng Qing.

"The princess is the best! I knew being with the princess would mean having food to eat!" Feng Qing promptly accepted them.

"Princess, you carried these four huge bundles all the way down the cliff?" Feng Xing asked in surprise.

"No, I threw them down from the top!"

Feng Xing glanced at the bundles, which were indeed dirty and had some mud on them.

Feng Qing opened the bundles, grabbed two pieces of dried meat, and gave one each to Xiao’er and Shangguan Xuanyi.

However, both of them refused and told him to eat it himself. So, Feng Qing handed out a piece of dried meat to each soldier, and one bundle of food was gone.

There were still three bundles left for tomorrow’s meals.

After everyone received their share of dried meat, they tactfully distanced themselves from Prince Rui and Princess Rui, allowing the reunited couple some private time to chat.

Seeing Xiao’er’s nose was red from the cold, Shangguan Xuanyi asked, "Why didn’t you put on an extra layer of clothes?"

"I’m not cold, my hands are warm. Besides, using Qinggong to get here warmed my whole body. The wind just made my nose red."

Shangguan Xuanyi knew that using Qinggong did indeed warm the body, and Xiao’er’s hands were indeed warm. He thought of the children and asked, "Can the kids walk now?"

"Yes! They just learned recently! Brother Ri and the others are right ahead, not far off. They have gone into the cave. Let’s quickly find them and go back. It’s almost New Year!" Xiao’er was worried that Yun’er might overthink things. She wanted to find Brother Ri quickly, and then hurry back to Zezhou.

"Alright!"