Chapter 7 Father and Daughter Jin Mingtang, who was sniffing the aroma near the earthenware pot, heard this…

Chapter 7: Father and Daughter. Jin Mingtang, who was sniffing the aroma beside the clay pot, heard this...

Jin Yanqiu had just acquired a special ability, her emotions in turmoil, so she had been unable to fall asleep.

When Commander Zhang's voice rang out, she immediately got up and came out of the carriage.

"Take out the weapons, Xiao Si, go check the situation. Hu Zi, you and Xiao Shu go set up the traps at the entrance..." Commander Zhang was giving various orders while fastening his belt when he suddenly saw Jin Yanqiu.

His hand trembled, and he almost messed up the knot.

If it weren't for Commander Zhang's years of traveling outside, his face deeply tanned from years outdoors, he would have turned beet red instead.

A fire was lit in the room, but the flame was very small, so Jin Yanqiu didn't see Commander Zhang's actions clearly. She asked worriedly, "Uncle Zhang, what's wrong?"

Commander Zhang said, "Lady, about a dozen horses are coming this way."

Jin Yanqiu was startled at this.

On their journey from Luoyang to Juyong Pass, the road had not been peaceful; they had encountered bandits, but few had horses.

First, horses were precious in those days, as valuable as a million-dollar luxury car today; second, the court was short of horses.

Because the court lacked horses, whenever there was a battle, they would conscript horses from the people.

When the Great Qi was first established, if the court conscripted horses, they would return them, and if the horse was injured, they would compensate at market price and give an additional rental fee, but in recent years, society had long since descended into chaos.

Even people conscripted might not return, let alone horses.

If a horse was conscripted, it was equivalent to raising it for no return; and not just horses, donkeys and mules were also conscripted.

Over time, no one raised horses anymore, and there were very few horses among the people.

A bandit group that owned horses was definitely a large group!

Seeing Jin Yanqiu's worry, Commander Zhang assured her, "Lady, rest assured. We have all been on the battlefield; we will not let you come to harm."

Jin Yanqiu said, "You guys be careful too. Safety is the most important. If worst comes to worst, we'll abandon our money and carriages and scatter and flee in different directions."

That they might encounter bandits on the road was something Jin Yanqiu had already considered, so she had chosen plain old carriages for their convoy.

Plus, whenever a main road was available, they strictly avoided small paths, so the journey had been relatively safe.

Unexpectedly, just as they were about to reach Juyong Pass, something happened.

Pushing aside her worry, Jin Yanqiu took out the "cosmetics" she had prepared in advance and blackened her face.

She was already dressed plainly, and after blackening her face, she looked no different from Xiao Tao.

Commander Zhang was quite pleased with Jin Yanqiu's actions.

With the lady dressed like this, she would not be conspicuous at all. If danger really came, he would flee with her on horseback, and the bandits probably wouldn't pursue them relentlessly.

Of course, this was the worst-case scenario.

Those who followed the lady were the elite of the elite, and their equipment was excellent; ordinary bandits couldn't defeat them!

Commander Zhang and his men were doing various things methodically when suddenly the sound of hoofbeats grew near, and at the same time, Xiao Si's voice rang out: "Lady! It's the general! It's the general!"

Xiao Si's voice was brimming with joy, and hearing him, Jin Yanqiu's heart leaped with joy.

Xiao Si and the others usually called Jin Mingtang "General," and even though Jin Mingtang had been demoted, the title stuck.

So, it was Jin Mingtang after all?

Jin Yanqiu's heart leaped with joy, and Commander Zhang promptly opened the door.

Just then, a voice came from outside the door: "Qiuer, your father missed you like crazy!"

As he spoke, an old man sprang up, nimbly jumping over the trap Commander Zhang had set at the entrance, and entered the room.

He was indeed old, with graying hair, a wrinkled face, and several missing teeth, looking like a man in his late seventies or eighties.

But when Jin Yanqiu looked closely, this person's appearance did resemble the father in her memory.

Jin Yanqiu said hesitantly, "Dad?"

After seven years without seeing him, how had Jin Mingtang aged so much?

Ordinary people in Great Qi did indeed look old; many were wrinkled and toothless in their thirties or forties, but the officials and gentry in Luoyang were not like that.

Among the gentry, many men in their forties or fifties still looked elegant and graceful.

Jin Mingtang had married late and was already forty-seven, an age where he could indeed call himself an old man in this era, but Jin Yanqiu hadn't expected him to look so aged.

He looked older than her maternal grandfather; if they stood together, people might think that her grandfather was actually Jin Mingtang's son-in-law.

Jin Mingtang had no idea what his daughter was thinking.

After entering, he looked around for his daughter, but failed to find her.

Hearing Jin Yanqiu call him "Dad," he realized this was his daughter, and his eyes immediately welled up: "Qiuer, how did you get so dark?"

He was wrong; he shouldn't have always complained to his daughter about being poor and asked her for food!

His daughter had been fair and tender as a child, and now she was so dark—it must be from working out in the sun.

Jin Yanqiu was silent for a moment, then said to Jin Mingtang, whose eyes were brimming, "Dad, I'm just disguised."

As she spoke, tears involuntarily pricked her eyes.

She was disguised, but Jin Mingtang was not.

Jin Mingtang had clearly suffered a lot over the years.

When Jin Yanqiu was born in this life, Jin Mingtang was already away from Luoyang, and for several years afterward, she never saw her father.

Thus, at first, she had no feelings for Jin Mingtang.

Later, when Jin Mingtang returned to Luoyang and carried her around all day, taking her everywhere, she finally formed an impression of her father.

Jin Mingtang probably also formed an impression of her at that time and began to send her gifts.

What Jin Mingtang sent her were mainly wooden toys and carvings he made himself, as well as pretty stones, furs, and the like.

Over time, Jin Yanqiu developed feelings for her father, even wanting to go to the border to see him.

But Jin Mingtang firmly refused her in his reply.

Because the border was not only poor but also dangerous.

They hadn't seen each other for seven whole years.

"It's just a disguise, haha. I said you took after your mother when you were little—you were as white as lard. No way you'd suddenly turn dark like me." Jin Mingtang spoke.

Jin Yanqiu: "...As lard? What kind of comparison is that?!"

As they talked, Jin Mingtang's personal guards filed in from outside. All of them were travel-worn and thin, and as soon as they entered, they looked at Jin Yanqiu with longing.

They didn't say a word, but Jin Yanqiu knew they were hungry.

"Xiao Tao, go heat up some water," Jin Yanqiu said to Xiao Tao, then turned to Jin Mingtang: "Dad, I'll get you something to eat."

With that, she climbed into her carriage and exchanged twenty Gratitude Points for twenty kilograms of compressed biscuits.

Last time, she had exchanged for the kind of compressed biscuits sold as snacks in supermarkets. This time, she got ten kilograms of snack biscuits and ten kilograms of military-grade compressed biscuits used as field rations.

Military compressed biscuits were harder and less fragrant, each piece weighing a full two hundred grams. One piece could be broken up and boiled into a pot of porridge.

She planned to give Jin Mingtang and his men some porridge made from military biscuits first to warm their stomachs. If they were still hungry, they could eat the snack biscuits.

Just as she finished the exchange, she heard Jin Mingtang's voice from outside: "What's that smell? It's so fragrant!"

Jin Yanqiu came down from the carriage holding a box of compressed biscuits.

The fire in the room had never been extinguished, and a clay pot of water had been kept boiling on it, so Xiao Tao already had hot water ready.

Jin Yanqiu immediately tossed a kilogram of military compressed biscuits into the pot.

Some compressed biscuits from the World War II era were notoriously awful—extremely hard and unappetizing. But modern military compressed biscuits had been improved. The biscuits Jin Yanqiu had were made with milk powder to improve the flavor.

As the biscuits soaked in hot water, a rich aroma of wheat and a hint of milk filled the room and spread everywhere.

Commander Zhang and his men, having eaten their fill earlier, were a bit tempted but stayed composed. Jin Mingtang and his men, however, couldn't help crowding around the clay pot, gulping.

Jin Mingtang forced his gaze away from the pot and said to Jin Yanqiu: "Qiuer, we're all rough men. You don't have to feed us your snacks. Just cook us some beans."

Such fine stuff was probably meant by his father-in-law to supplement his daughter's nutrition—how could he eat it?

Jin Mingtang's personal guards nodded in agreement, embarrassed to eat a young girl's snacks.

Seeing this, Jin Yanqiu said, "Don't worry, eat up. I have plenty of these biscuits."

"How many could you have?" Jin Mingtang asked helplessly.

This thing called biscuit was made from fine wheat flour and made with milk. It must be an expensive treat.

His daughter had been eating them all the way here; there couldn't be much left.

Jin Yanqiu said, "About several tens of thousands of catties."

Jin Mingtang, who had been leaning close to the pot to smell the fragrance, almost toppled headfirst into it.