Ji Taoyu froze for a moment upon hearing this, his heart flooded with overwhelming joy. But at the last second, reason slammed shut like a valve, blocking that joy from rushing in.
How could this possibly be true? He shouldn’t let himself get excited for nothing.
"Don’t tease me."
Ji Taoyu’s voice carried a hint of complaint: "What’s the point of saying things just to make me happy for a moment? Won’t it only make me feel worse later?"
"So you do want to go with me."
Huo Shu said: "That’s why you’re upset."
Ji Taoyu widened his eyes, a faint mist forming in them as he stared at Huo Shu. "Is it fun to trick me into admitting things?"
"If I brought this up, it wasn’t to mock you. If you truly want to go, I’ll take you."
Huo Shu gently brushed aside the soft strands of hair by Ji Taoyu’s ear. He had never been one to cling to others, but clearly, that didn’t work with Ji Taoyu.
"Y-you mean it?"
"Mm."
Seeing the seriousness in Huo Shu’s eyes, Ji Taoyu knew he wasn’t the type to act recklessly without considering consequences. If he was this certain, then he had already made up his mind.
He was overjoyed that Huo Shu was willing to take him on such a long journey, despite the possibility of him slowing them down. Yet he also knew that even if Huo Shu agreed, there would still be many obstacles.
"But..."
"Traveling for trade isn’t leading troops into battle. Even in the northern army camps, there were young ger like you. I’m your husband, bringing you along on a business trip isn’t improper or shameful. There’s no insurmountable obstacle in this."
Huo Shu continued, "Your parents will inevitably oppose it. But if you can’t even face and overcome this small hurdle, then your desire to go is just a passing whim. If you don’t end up going, it’s fine."
Ji Taoyu thought Huo Shu’s words made perfect sense.
If he couldn’t handle even this bit of difficulty, how would he cope with the endless problems along the way?
After a brief silence, he said, "I’ll try."
Then he nestled closer to Huo Shu. "But you’ll always be on my side, right?"
"Naturally."
Huo Shu gave Ji Taoyu’s hand a light squeeze. "If you’re coming with me, the first thing isn’t convincing your parents, it’s not sleeping in."
"Ah!"
Ji Taoyu whined, "But my legs are so weak."
Huo Shu got out of bed, pulling Ji Taoyu up with him. "Is there any part of you that isn’t soft?"
After breakfast, Huo Shu and Ji Yangzong went to inspect livestock. Ji Taoyu had woken up early, and the family was unusually gathered around the table in the morning.
Huang Manjing added a bowl of porridge for Ji Taoyu. Seeing him still bleary-eyed, his eyes red and swollen, she would usually have asked what was wrong.
But now that he was married, pressing further wouldn’t be appropriate.
"I’ll boil an egg to roll over your eyes."
Ji Taoyu shook his head. "I’ll just use a warm cloth after eating."
Ji Yangzong let the mother and child sort themselves out and said to Huo Shu,
"I’ve asked around the village, a few families are selling livestock. We’ll go take a look later and see if any suit our needs. Village prices are negotiable, but even if they’re fair, we can’t rush into a decision. Since we’re traveling so far, the animals must be strong and hardy."
"If we can’t find enough, we’ll check the livestock market. But with spring coming, traders are hiking prices. We’ll need to visit a few places to compare properly."
Huo Shu acknowledged with a sound.
Transporting goods mainly depended on sturdy animals, but buying horses in Tongzhou was nearly impossible.
Ge Liang had mentioned that even an ordinary, healthy young horse could cost twenty to thirty taels, while an adult horse might double that. Good horses were practically priceless.
Even if they could find a way to buy horses, the cost would eat into their budget for fabrics and tea.
Back on the battlefield, horses had been in high demand, but the south was even worse than the north.
Huo Shu’s own horse had been a reward for his promotion to captain. It wasn’t the finest in the northern herds, but it was still a good one. In the south, however, it was a rarity.
So their options were mules, donkeys, and oxen.
Mules, born from a female donkey and a male horse, were scarce in the south, but their prices were reasonable since they couldn’t reproduce. Many saw them as less valuable than other livestock, so prices stayed low.
The most common choices were donkeys and oxen.
They were usable, though slow.
Huo Shu figured that if they brought Ji Taoyu along, the slower pace might actually work better.
"Traveling north is a long journey, we must prepare as thoroughly as possible and consider every detail."
Ji Taoyu nibbled on pickled vegetables, barely tasting them as he listened to his father and Huo Shu talk. Seizing an opening, he said,
"The road is long, and there are barren stretches where you might not see a village or town for days. Falling ill on the way would be dangerous."
Ji Yangzong nodded. "True, we should stock up on medicine. You and Xiao Taozi can get some common remedies from your grandfather."
"But they won’t know how to use them properly. What if they make things worse?"
Ji Taoyu kept his eyes on the dishes, speaking as if offhandedly, "If I go with them, we wouldn’t have to worry about that."
The table fell silent for a moment. Then Huang Manjing picked up some pickled vegetables and dropped them into Ji Taoyu’s bowl. "Eat your food. What nonsense are you spouting? They’re not fools. If the instructions are written, they’ll know how to take the medicine."
Ji Yangzong clearly didn’t take Ji Taoyu’s words seriously and was about to continue discussing with Huo Shu.
But Ji Taoyu insisted, "I mean it."
"Mean what? You just said yourself there are barren stretches with no villages for days. Do you not know your own health? You expect Huo Shu to watch over the goods and you at the same time?"
"Don’t be childish. You’re an adult now, married—stop fooling around. This isn’t a trip to the market where you can pester your father into taking you. It’s not the same!"
Huang Manjing added, "I know you’ve just married and don’t want Huo Shu to leave for so long, but you can’t selfishly hold him back."
Ji Taoyu held firm. "It’s not just that I don’t want him to go so far for so long, I also want to see more of the world. I’ve lived this long and never even left Tongzhou."
Seeing his ger's stubbornness, Ji Yangzong’s temper flared. Arguing was pointless. Now that Ji Taoyu was married, he figured he could ease up a little as a father.
If his words held no weight, surely his son-in-law’s would. He turned to Huo Shu. "Talk some sense into your fulang. He’s just being unreasonable."
Huo Shu remained impassive. "If he wants to go, let him go."
Ji Yangzong’s eyes nearly bulged. "What did you say?"
Thinking that his father-in-law’s hearing was failing with age. Huo Shu - ever patient, repeated slowly "If he wants to go, let him go."
Ji Yangzong and Huang Manjing had thought only Ji Taoyu was being delusional, but now it seemed both of them had lost their minds!
As if Huo Shu would say no to Taoyu lol
ReplyDeleteThank you for the update!!!