At the noon break, the boat did not continue to move forward. It would take another three or four days to reach the capital. The boat would stay at this shore for half a day and set off again tomorrow morning.
The crew on the ship would also come down to buy supplies at the market.
Liu Qiaoer doesn't care much about material things, she just likes to eat.
Wherever she went, she would go to the market to see if there were any local snacks or the like.
The capital is located in the northwest of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Most people here eat pasta, which is more suitable for Liu Qiaoer's appetite.
Holding Xiaoliu's hand, with Hong Yuan following beside her, she came to a pancake stall.
The advantage of having a lot of people is that when selling something, you only need to sell one, just taste it, and the rest can be shared.
The pancake was spread out and some chopped green onions were added on top. Liu Qiaoer also asked for an egg, which was equivalent to instructing the pancake lady to make an egg pancake.
After rolling it up, Liu Qiaoer asked them to cut it open. She handed one portion to Hong Yuan and another portion to Xiao Liu.
Hong Yuan rubbed her belly and said, "Girl, I'm full, you can still eat more."
Liu Qiaoer pointed at Xiao Liu who was eating with gusto and said, "You don't eat as much as he does. You are a martial artist, you need to eat enough."
Hong Yuan twitched the corner of her mouth and said, "Take a few bites of what you sold, and give it all to me. I ate most of it."
Liu Qiaoer took them to a place selling cakes.
I bought some hawthorn cakes: "Here, eat some hawthorn to help digestion."
Hong Yuan was too exhausted to speak.
At this moment, suddenly, she felt something was wrong and saw that someone seemed to be following them behind Liu Qiaoer.
He tugged at Liu Qiao'er's sleeve and said, "Miss, someone is following us. Take the Sixth Young Master back to the boat first. I will lead him away."
Liu Qiaoer was surprised: "There are still people following us, OK, let's go back."
Liu Qiaoer pulled Xiaoliu and walked back while eating.
After walking for a while, Hong Yuan hid in an alley.
They immediately stopped the person who was following them and started fighting.
During the fight, the man was seen retreating while fighting, and shouted loudly to Liu Qiaoer: "Miss Qiaoer, it's me, Qi Ze, and the young master asked me to find you."
Liu Qiaoer heard the familiar voice and quickly called for a stop.
"Hong Yuan, stop it, stop it now, we are one of us."
It can be seen that Hong Yuan's kung fu is better than Qi Ze's. With a few more moves, Qi Ze will definitely be knocked down.
Qi Ze hurriedly came to Liu Qiaoer and knelt on one knee: "Girl, please come back with me, something has happened."
Liu Qiaoer was surprised: "What's the matter?"
Qi Ze didn't have time to say anything before a carriage was already coming over.
"The young master is critically ill. Come with me first, young lady. I will tell you in detail on the way."
Liu Qiaoer originally planned to go with Qi Ze by herself and let Hong Yuan take Xiao Liu to the boat first. However, Xiao Liu held Liu Qiaoer's hand tightly and refused to let go.
Liu Qiaoer made a prompt decision: "Hong Yuan, go back and tell Zi Yu that I've taken Xiao Liu away. When we get to the capital, go to the Lu family to pick him up."
Hong Yuan didn't know what to say when she saw Qi Ze was so anxious. Then she saw that there were four or five people in their group and nodded.
"Then go ahead, girl. I'll tell the young master and then I'll chase you."
Hong Yuan is Xiao Liu's personal maid, and they have never been separated. Naturally, she is not at ease leaving him to others.
Liu Qiaoer took Xiaoliu and got on the carriage.
Qi Ze shouted loudly, "Go!" and the carriage sped away.
Liu Qiaoer quickly hugged Xiaoliu in her arms: "This carriage is not comfortable, it's really..."
Fortunately, the official road was relatively smooth along the way. Liu Qiaoer took out the quilt from the carriage and spread it out, so that they could endure the journey to the capital.
Something happened to Lu Yunyang.
Qi Ze couldn't quite explain what had happened, but he just said that after he came home from school, he lost his appetite and had a fever for a few days. Suddenly one day, he started vomiting blood and then fainted.
A doctor from the capital was also invited, but he couldn't see any cure. He prescribed several medicines, but there was no improvement.
Lu Yunzheng even asked Princess Mingxin to invite people from Yaowang Valley over.
However, no one from the Medicine King Valley in the capital was willing to see the patient.
There was really no other way, Lu Yunzheng thought of Liu Qiaoer and found out her whereabouts. Lu Yunzheng asked Qi Ze to wait for her here.
Liu Qiao'er was puzzled: "Yun Yang is still young. As long as he didn't eat anything wrong, how could he be seriously ill? Did he fall somewhere?"
Qi Ze said: "I have been following the eldest master all the time. I don't know what is going on in the madam's courtyard. I only know that the master and the lady are living under someone else's roof and are not living well."
Nonsense, it would be strange if you could live well under someone else's roof, unless you were biological sisters with the same father and mother like Aunt Xue and Mrs. Wang, you could live better.
Lu Yunzheng's family had little relationship with the Lu family in Beijing.
Now that Magistrate Lu's case has come to an end, Grand Tutor Lu is willing to let their family live in the Lu Mansion because of the personal relationship between Lu Yunzheng and Princess Mingxin.
If there isn't even this benefit, who would really treat strangers as relatives
In the end times, Liu Qiaoer had already experienced the fickleness of human nature, so when Madam Lu entered Yuzhou City, she advised her to leave the two children in Fengxin County.
At least in Fengxin County, they can live freely and safely.
However, Mrs. Lu refused to listen. She felt that her family had married into a rich family, and if she wanted to go to the capital to see the world, she would have to take her children with her.
Mrs. Lu brought so many people to live in Master Lu's house, and three meals a day required a lot of money. Later, Mrs. Lu felt that she really couldn't afford it, so she built her own small kitchen.
The Grand Tutor also agreed, and the expenses were finally reduced.
But then, money continued to flow like water.
Qi Ze sighed heavily: "All the money earned by Fengxin County has been left to the current County Magistrate Lu. When the young master left, he took some money with him and left some for his wife."
"After arriving in the capital for more than two months, all the money from Madam Lu was spent. You know we don't have a shop in the capital, so naturally we don't have any income."
Liu Qiaoer was a little puzzled: "Didn't the people from Zuiyuefang follow Lu Yunzheng to Beijing? Could it be that Zuiyuefang is not making any profit either?"
Qi Ze was helpless: "The capital is more complicated than we thought. Miss Nichang's dance music is indeed more attractive, but Zuiyuefang also supports such a large family. Moreover, the housing prices in the capital are extremely high. A yard like that would cost thirty thousand taels of silver a year."
Thirty thousand taels? It's indeed a lot.
"The location is good, the yard is big, and the taxes in the capital are high. Master Gu has calculated that earning 50,000 taels a month is just enough to cover the expenses."
Lu Yunzheng had just brought people over, and he needed to do renovations and tidy up the place, all of which required money. It would not be profitable in the short term.
Liu Qiaoer asked again: "The rouge shop in Yuzhou City has made a lot of money. Lu Yunzheng owns 30% of the shares. Logically, it should be enough for Madam Lu's family to spend in the capital."
Qi Ze smiled bitterly: "It's not enough. When Madam Lu came to Beijing, the eldest master gave her five thousand taels. I don't know how she spent it. It was all gone in two months. Later, Master Gu went to check Madam Lu's account under the pretext of giving her money. Really..."