CHAPTER 233: CHAPTER 233: HER MIND IS STIRRING AGAIN

Not only is Sun Manyu interested in Su Jingchen, but the other young girls are also curious about him. They all know that Manyu likes Scholar Su, and they don’t dare to compete with her for a man.

Besides, they aren’t as pretty as Manyu. If Scholar Su isn’t interested in someone as pretty as Manyu, how could he possibly be interested in them?

How do they know that Scholar Su isn’t interested in Manyu?

Anyone with eyes can see it. Throughout the journey, Manyu has been trying to get close to Scholar Su, but he always subtly avoids her. Once or twice might be unclear, but after many times, everyone can see what’s going on.

Even Sun Siye scolded his eldest granddaughter, saying that sheep meat can’t stick to dog meat, and if you’re not a match, don’t try to force it. Scholar Su is a learned man with accolades and privileges; he’s exempt from taxes and receives state support for scholars. You can’t even read a word, you’re not a match for him.

After being scolded by her grandfather, Sun Manyu became much more restrained. She only dared to steal glances at Su Jingchen from afar, not daring to approach him.

However, after the incident at Weicheng’s city gate, Sun Manyu felt Su Jingchen might have some interest in her. Otherwise, why would Scholar Su pull her out among so many girls from the Sun Family?

Sun Manyu’s thoughts began to stir again.

Yu Xiaolian felt that if she were to tell others about Su Jingchen’s family matters, it would seem like gossiping. Especially since Su Jingchen’s family situation was a bit complicated, with a stepmother who wasn’t a stepmother and a maid who wasn’t a maid. As they say, family scandals shouldn’t be spread abroad; for Su Jingchen’s sake, she felt she couldn’t talk about it casually.

Yu Xiaolian casually said, "I’m not very familiar with his family, I only know he has a younger brother."

Sun Manyu responded with an "Oh" and then asked, "Do you know why Scholar Su was rejected by that Ning family? Does he really have some hidden ailment?"

Yu Xiaolian didn’t answer Sun Manyu’s question. Instead, she shouted outside, "Stop the carriage, we’ve been going for nearly an hour. Let’s switch passengers."

"Come on, come on, everyone get off and walk for a bit, switch people in the carriage.

Sister-in-law, since you’re pregnant, you stay seated.

Now, you others get off."

"It doesn’t seem like it’s been an hour yet?" Sun Manyu muttered as she got off the carriage.

After swapping out a batch of passengers, the chatter around Yu Xiaolian quieted down significantly. Those who got on the carriage leaned against the sides and dozed off. Despite the sounds of varying snores, without Sun Manyu’s persistent questioning, Yu Xiaolian found it much less annoying.

After over another hour on the road, Yu Xiaolian called out loudly, "Not far ahead, there’s a creek behind the hill. Let’s rest there for a bit, water the horses, and cook some meals."

After a bit more traveling, Su Jingchen’s carriage stopped ahead, and Sun Daji’s followed suit.

Yu Xiaolian halted their carriage, jumped down, and said, "Come on, everyone get off. We need to unyoke the horses and let them rest."

After fetching water from the creek for the three horses and unyoking them, Yu Xiaolian allowed them to graze on the grass by the creek.

Fifth Elder Sun remarked, "This is so nice here, the horses can even graze. Where we’re from, even the grass roots have been dug up for food."

If it weren’t for the Sun family giving all of Sun Fengshou’s family’s grain to Fifth Elder Sun’s family when they left, they might have been among those eating grass roots too.

Fourth Elder Sun’s household had many members, and even when the sons’ grain was pooled together when they left, it wasn’t as much as the Fifth Elder Sun’s family. Thankfully, Fifth Elder Sun took charge, combining the grain for communal meals, dictating how much was eaten each time.

When they were in Bohai City where porridge was being distributed, Fifth Elder Sun was adamant about not cooking their rice. If they had eaten rice every day then, they wouldn’t have any left by the time Su Jingchen arrived.

With more people, work gets done faster, but fewer people mean eating less. Their group of six or seventy gulps down a good chunk of rice in a meal of thin porridge.

Sun Daji’s wife and Sun Dalin’s wife set up separate iron pots, each cooking porridge.

Yu Xiaolian walked to a secluded spot behind a rock to relieve herself.

Then she took out a telescope, climbed up a higher rock slope, and peered south to confirm they could reach the next town by nightfall. She then put the telescope away and jumped down from the rock.

By the time she returned, the porridge was ready — just one bowl per person, not more.

The bowl reserved for Yu Xiaolian by Sun Daji’s wife was noticeably thicker than the others’.

Having had a poor breakfast, Yu Xiaolian was indeed quite hungry. Though a bowl of porridge wasn’t enough to fill her stomach, it made her feel even hungrier.

This journey wasn’t as freeing as when she traveled alone; back then, she could eat snacks and drink beverages while driving the carriage.

Now, with about a dozen people in her carriage, besides sipping water from her flask, she couldn’t do anything else inside.

Fortunately, she had boiled eggs in advance the previous night. Yu Xiaolian took them out, kept two for herself, gave two to Su Jingchen, and then distributed the rest for everyone to share.

Clearly, when they reached the next town, she needed to boil more eggs and prepare more buns.

After resting by the creek for about an hour, they resumed their journey.

This time, it was Sun Manyu’s turn to ride in the carriage, but Yu Xiaolian had Sun Sanji drive, while she ran over to Su Jingchen’s carriage to sit with a bunch of kids.

In Su Jingchen’s carriage were two of Fourth Elder Sun’s grandsons, named Mansheng and Manqing.

There were also two great-granddaughters of Fourth Elder Sun, named Sun Feixue and Sun Qingxue. Among them, twelve-year-old Sun Feixue held her younger brother, Sun Huaixing, in her arms.

Sun Mandao’s two sons were also in this carriage.

The carriage also held Fifth Elder Sun’s grandsons, Manzhi, Manfeng, Manyuan, and Manyi.

Yu Xiaolian counted; including her, there were twelve people in the carriage.

However, she remembered that Fourth Elder Sun’s family also had a few younger great-granddaughters named Dongxue and Qiuxue. Why weren’t they in the carriage?

Yu Xiaolian turned around to look behind, but the carriages were blocking her view.

To allow those walking behind to keep up, the carriage didn’t move fast. Yu Xiaolian jumped off the carriage.

"Where are you going?" Su Jingchen reined in the carriage.

"Don’t worry about me, I’m going to take a look back there!"

Yu Xiaolian darted off towards the back.

After the third carriage passed, Yu Xiaolian saw that in the group of more than twenty people behind, Sun Manbo and his wife were walking drenched in sweat, carrying bundles on their backs. Among the group, there were also two kids with bundles, stumbling along mixed with the able-bodied adults.

Four-year-old Sun Qiuxue walked just as fast as the adults, with a small bundle slung over her arm, skipping as she went, looking rather cheerful.

Eight-year-old Sun Dongxue wasn’t as happy as Sun Qiuxue. She wore a serious face, devoid of any smile, and instead of following behind her parents, she trailed behind Sun Daji’s grandson, Sun Mancang.