Chapter 169 With one's heart set on speeding home
Shu Huan had learned needlework from mother Du for a while and because she (SH) could draw, she could skip the process of practicing drawing patterns. She could directly embroider flowers. Although she didn’t learn all the stitching techniques and her sewing wasn’t skilled enough, it wouldn’t be a problem to only sew some simple things. At least the stitches were straight. It didn’t look like when she was a beginner and sewed a crooked centipede leg instead.
She made a backpack with wide and flat straps that could be worn on both shoulders, which was easier to use than the ordinary cloth bundle. One could completely have their hands free, and the shoulders could also lighten the burden. The seam must be densely stitched together too. It didn’t need to be beautiful but it needed to be sturdy.
She had sewn this handmade strange bag for a whole day. After sewing, she felt that her neck so sore that she almost couldn’t lift her head. However, one bag wasn’t enough, so she called the other maids in and let them sew a few more bags like that. Afterwards, she fell asleep the moment she touched the bed.
When she woke up, three more bags were in front of her. All of which were sturdy. In terms of beauty, it was several times better than hers, so Shu Huan felt that she really didn’t have the talent in needlework. These three maids who didn’t do needlework often were even much better than her.
She blinked her eyes a few times and said with a smile, "Well done on the sewing."
After hearing this, the maids breathed a sigh of relief.
Meijing said with a smile, "That's good. We were worried and afraid that it doesn’t look like the one miss made."
Of course, it didn’t look alike. It would take a certain amount of skill to make a bag so ugly like hers.
Shu Huan became a bit embarrassed because her (M) words, covered it with a cough and said, "Make three more!"
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Dry pastries that were baked till there was no moisture at all were wrapped in baking paper and could be stored for a long time; a large bag of sugar and salt; water bags that was filled full of water; needle bags; flint stones, steel for flint and tinder; candles; carbon paper; a change of clothes; sheathed daggers… …
After the backpacks were sewn, Shu Huan filled it until it was full of stuff. Afterwards, she remembered that commonly used medicine had to be prepared too, so she sent Liangchen and Meijing to Ji Danqing to ask for it. She also let them hand over three backpacks to Ji Danqing, which was naturally full of these emergency items too.
"So heavy!" Meijing frowned and said, "Miss, You've been so weird these days. What are you going to do with these things?"
Shu Huan answered without much thought, "For prevention. If the house catches fire or something just like the earthquake from two days ago happens, remember to each pick up a bag and run away. Then, we don’t have to think about packing up these things anymore."
After she said that, she suddenly remembered something. She opened a chest and took out a thick cotton-padded coat. She took the needle and thread, and began to sew a hidden pocket inside, intending to seal all her precious jewelries inside.
Riches shouldn’t be revealed. She knew this principle since she was young.
However, Liangchen was staring blankly at the three backpacks on the table and asked hesitantly, "Do you really want to send these things to doctor Ji's?"
Shu Huan smiled, "Preparedness averts peril."
Liangchen and Meijing found it very embarrassing to send these backpacks to Danqing's place. They were afraid that Ji Danqing would laugh at Shu Huan for having nothing to do and sending these weird things to him. However, beyond the expectations of Liangchen and Meijing, he didn’t make fun of them after seeing the backpacks. Instead, he solemnly nodded, thanked them and said, "It is your miss who is rather thoughtful."
In fact, it couldn't be considered to be thoughtful. It was just that one born in ancient times with outdated science and technology, information was extremely hard to get. If something really happened, ordinary people like them couldn’t know in advance. They could only rest assured when they were ready to deal with all kinds of emergencies.
—
As it was getting dark, two people on horses outside the city galloped really fast. They entered the city smoothly when the gate was about to be closed.
The streets inside the city were still bustling with pedestrians, so they had to walk slowly on foot with their horses.
The man who was in front and dressed in plain white clothes was stained with a lot of dust, but it didn’t diminish his graceful demeanor. Especially, his bright, clear eyes made his already handsome face more charming. It made people unable to shift their gaze away from him, and made many women in the market look back shyly after they passed him.
However, this person had the appearance of having heavy thoughts. His long eyebrows gathered together in one place and his face was full of impatience. He didn’t even look at those girls on the road and was only in a hurry.
"Second young master, second young master, please slow down." Behind him was the servant leading the horse. He was sweating and came up to say, "There's a shop selling tea up front. How about second young master has a cup of tea and rest before continuing?"
This man was no other than Gu Xiran.
He tightened his lips and said faintly, "Drink what tea when we're almost home?"
"But…." Ranmo who was chasing after him was in a very difficult position. "The family doesn't even know that you came back so suddenly. This little one is afraid that old madam will be startled. You better…. better have a cup of tea and rest for a while, and let this little one go back first to report to them?"
Gu Xiran swept over him and revealed a smile, "You're afraid that something might have happened at home and cause you to be punished if I rush back without saying anything, right?"
"Second young master…," Ranmo was unable to respond to that
"Alright, don't worry. You're serving me now, so I'll definitely protect you," As Gu Xiran said that, he continued to move forward with the horse.
He rushed back because he had a hunch that something had happened at home. Otherwise, why would old madam send him one after another letter to always send him further away? It would be fine if there was really an urgent matter for him to deal with. Every time it said it was very serious in the letter but when he rushed over there to check it, it was only a small matter with the accounting. They could have sent any bookkeeper to check such a matter. Why bother to get him, a man who didn’t know much about business, to take care of it?
Moreover, he had learned a lot from the bookkeeper these days. When he had nothing to do, he often chatted with the shopkeeper and found out a lot of things. He found that the most troublesome thing at the moment was the big business of Gu family in Jingtian City. However, old madam didn’t even mention it, as if nothing had happened at all. Therefore, he had to think carefully about why she had sent him off on this trip.
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt in his heart.
Gu residence still had the person he cared about the most. No matter how he thought about it, he felt that old madam had sent him out because she wanted to deal with Shu Huan. Therefore, he insisted on coming back to Jingtian City two days ago regardless of Ranmo and the bookkeeper's pleas.
When they got near the city, they had stopped for a rest midway. They heard people talk about the earthquake from two days ago. Although it was only a small earthquake, it still made his face turn pale. It made his heart more set on returning home as soon as possible. They galloped all the way to rush into the city.
As they approached Gu residence, there were more people on the road. He was already very impatient when he couldn’t ride on his horse and Ranmo wanted to persuade him to go back later. He naturally refused to do so!
He had only one thought at the moment and that was to see if Shu Huan was still doing fine. As long as she was safe and sound, it didn't matter even if they didn’t let him stay and send him out again.