An hour later.
Qiao Mu reached the official road and waved down a carriage.
After giving the carriage driver half a liter of soybeans, she carried the bald child and boarded this carriage headed for Beilan City.
Since there was still around a two-hour journey by carriage to get to Beilan City, Qiao Mu was disinclined to walk the entire way while carrying the little baldy.
There were only two young couples in the carriage. One of the couples was also carrying a four to five-year-old girl, who kept curiously sizing up the little monk after he boarded.
“Amitabha. This poor monk greets all the benefactors!” The little monk put his palms together devoutly as he declared one of the Buddha’s names.
Yet the people in the carriage gazed at Qiao Mu with even greater curiosity.
After all, no matter how you looked at it, this combination of a half-grown young lady taking care of a four-year-old little monk was very weird.
While twitching her mouth, Qiao Mu pulled apart the little monk’s touching palms.
The little monk pursed his small lips and peered at Qiao Mu pitifully. “Benefactress, this young monk chased after you for quite a distance earlier. Now, this young monk’s stomach feels hunger…”
A veggie bun plugged up the little monk’s small mouth.
Go eat! Chattering on and on without end! He was still of a freakingly tender age, yet he was already so bookish and punctilious about minutiae of wording. It really made people inwardly amused.
Meanwhile, the little monk cupped the veggie bun with his hands and delightedly gnawed on it.
The same-aged little lady sitting opposite them stared covetously at the little monk without averting her eyes.
After eating half, the little monk was unable to eat anymore under the little girl’s stare. After pondering for a bit, he tilted his head, tearing off the smaller half of the veggie bun that he hadn’t bitten yet, before handing it over.
The couple that was holding the girl hurriedly thanked this benevolent little venerable master, accepting the veggie bun to feed the little girl.
Qiao Mu didn’t speak much. Rather, it was the couple that accepted the veggie bun who divulged to her themselves that they were going to Beilan City to seek refuge with relatives there.
The person driving the carriage was their old father, while the other couple in the carriage was their younger brother and his wife. Many brothers and sisters had died during their escape, and even their old mother had died on the road after catching a cold. Now, only a family of six was all that remained of their large family clan, which had originally consisted of more than a dozen people. When put this way, it was rather lamentable.
Qiao Mu merely listened to their story detachedly.
This family, which at least still had a horse and carriage that could shelter them from the wind and rain, was considered to be well-off.
It was not uncommon for an entire family to die while fleeing.
The nearer they got to Beilan City, the more foot traffic there was, causing the carriage to also gradually stall.
The old dad that was driving the carriage shouted from the outside, “Miss, the road ahead is congested, please wait a bit.”
“Mhm, it’s fine.” Qiao Mu responded indifferently.
She lifted up a corner of the curtain, and sure enough, she saw that the thoroughfare outside was congested with small and large carriages, as well as a crowd of people travelling on foot.
She couldn’t resist creasing her brow as she contemplated: If it came to it, then she’ll just slip in by herself at night so as to avoid suffering from the winds while spending the night outside the city.
“Benefactress, I want to pee.”
Qiao Mu: “…”
She really wanted to slap this little baldy flying. Even when not mentioning his long-windedness, he still had all kinds of terrible habits!
But when she turned around and saw that child peeking pitifully at her with a flushed, tender little face, her heart inexplicably softened somewhat.
“Pfft.” The woman with the child couldn’t help laughing out loud. “Miss, how about I bring this little venerable master outside to relieve himself.”
Before Qiao Mu could respond, the little baldy shook his head like a rattle-drum. “That won’t do! I just want Benefactress to bring me out.”