Chapter 2993 - 2994: Diplomatic Mission to the Western Regions

Chapter 2993: Chapter 2994: Diplomatic Mission to the Western Regions

Bai Ruozhu and her companions stayed in Beiyu City for about ten days before heading towards the Western Regions.

This time, because they were dispatched to the Western Regions with a team, and there was not much danger, Bai Ruozhu decided to bring all three children along.

In the horse carriage, the two little buns were causing a commotion, each fighting to hold Snowball. Snowball had an innocent look; it was just a cat, not a toy.

Tutu looked pitifully at the two snowballs. Were they abandoning it?

"Enough!" Bai Ruozhu called out helplessly, "Have you ever liked Tutu? Seeing a new pet, you abandon the old one. Look, Tutu is crying."

Saying that, she gave Tutu a signal, and the black Tutu squeezed out two sparkling tears.

"Tutu, don’t cry." Bengbeng said with guilt, going over to hold Tutu, while Tiaotiao let go of Snowball and joined them.

"Tutu, Tutu, love you." Tiaotiao said, his mouth even sweeter.

"Give it to me!"

"Me first!"

The two little buns could only say a few coherent words while arguing; the rest was just a mess of babbling.

Tutu was now truly crying. Don’t fight over me; baby is hurting!

Bai Ruozhu found herself exasperated and shouted outside, "Jiang Yichun, come and take care of your sons!"

Outside, Jiang Yichun was riding a horse with Little Dengdeng, confused, and responded casually, "Aren’t I already taking care of a son?"

His words were like adding fuel to the fire. Bai Ruozhu jumped out of the carriage and kicked him off the horse.

"Go take care of the younger ones!" she said through clenched teeth.

Jiang Yichun wasn’t actually kicked off completely. Seeing her angry, he didn’t try to avoid it and landed firmly on his feet before hopping onto the moving carriage beside him.

The guards were accustomed to it, but the coachman was frightened, worried that he might not steer the horse properly and trample them.

"Mom, weren’t you complaining about the sun outside? You said it’s bad for the skin and shouldn’t be out often?" Little Dengdeng asked, holding back laughter.

"Enough of the nonsense, child. I just want to ride a horse now." Bai Ruozhu said irritably. Just thinking about her three sons made her frustrated.

The journey afterward was smooth, and soon they encountered a merchant team heading to the Western Regions. Learning that Bai Ruozhu and her companions were an envoy to the Western Regions, the team followed them closely.

"Master, that merchant team keeps following us, though we’re not completely sure if there are any spies among them." Jianqi reported to Bai Ruozhu.

"They probably feel safer following us. Don’t bother with them. Speed up. If they can keep up, so be it; if not, it’s none of our concern." Bai Ruozhu instructed.

Meanwhile, the two little buns started fighting again while eating. Aunt Nanny, who accompanied them, was tired out, and Bai Ruozhu, unwilling to see her suffer, quickly went over to educate them, finally calming them down.

"Thinking about it now, Little Dengdeng was so good when he was young. Why can’t the other two be like him?" Bai Ruozhu lamented.

Ao Song came over, hunched his shoulders, and said, "Luckily, us Zhong Family members can only have one child, so I won’t experience this kind of trouble in the future."

Well, no need for contraception then, that’s quite something.

Not wanting to admit defeat, Bai Ruozhu said deliberately, "What if you want a daughter and end up with a son? Or vice versa?"

Ao Song replied indifferently, "I don’t like kids, so it doesn’t matter. If it fails, I can always adopt one."

"That’s actually a good idea. Maybe I should adopt a daughter too." Bai Ruozhu considered.

As she was just having this thought, a poorly dressed little girl ran fast towards them from behind, with members of the merchant team trying to stop her.

The little girl was blocked by the guards just as she reached them. She fell to the ground, getting dusty Yellow Sand all over her face.

"Sir, please, sir, save me!" Her voice was thin but seemed like she used all her strength.

Bai Ruozhu was taken aback, looked at her, and she appeared to be a ten or so year-old girl, with a petite oval face looking especially small due to severe thinness, and extraordinarily large eyes.

Her hair was dry and yellow, clearly due to malnutrition, but judging by her features, she should be purely from Danliang, without any Western Regions blood.

Her big eyes glistened with tears full of pleading and hope, silently saying "save me".

"Find out what’s going on?" Bai Ruozhu immediately thought of human trafficking and instructed Jianqi.

"Yes."

Jianqi stopped the guards from the merchant team who had chased after her. They feared him greatly and greeted him respectfully.

"Sir, don’t be deceived by that girl. She is the daughter of a merchant from our team. Her father arranged a marriage for her with a well-connected merchant in the Western Regions when she came of age. Now he wants to take her to fulfill the marriage agreement, but this girl has run away several times, even knocked her father out not long ago." A guard explained.

Jianqi frowned, "If she doesn’t want to marry, isn’t it wrong for her father to force her?"

"Before we set off, she didn’t say she didn’t want to marry. But halfway through, she tried to escape several times. It’s her caprice, but where can she survive as a lone girl running away? Her father is worried sick and doesn’t know what’s gone wrong with her." The merchant team’s guard replied.

Bai Ruozhu was bored anyway and told the merchant team’s guards, "Bring her father here, let him speak to me."

At this time, they had stopped for a break, and everyone drinking water and eating dried food by the roadside was drawn to this incident.

The girl was brought before Bai Ruozhu, and she stiffly bowed.

"G-greetings, Madam."

"Why are you running away? Where can you escape to alone? It’s not just the beasts at night that you’d have to worry about; even bad weather would be harsh enough." Bai Ruozhu said.

"I just don’t want to go to the Western Regions to get married. I simply want to follow this road back home." The girl answered.

Bai Ruozhu noticed the key point; she didn’t want to get married anymore. Initially, she had probably agreed and now changed her mind.

"Is anyone else at home?" she asked.

"Nobody really, just an old servant. My mother passed away half a year ago." The girl answered.

Just then, the girl’s father was brought over. He was a lean merchant in his thirties, and standing next to his daughter, it was clear they were parent and child, not just by the resemblance but also their similarly thin figures.

"This humble one, Yong Guang, greets the envoy. This is my daughter, Yong Qiaoqiao." The merchant greeted politely, introducing himself right away.

"Why is this child so thin? Was she mistreated at home?" Bai Ruozhu asked casually.

Yong Guang showed a guilty look, "My wife fell seriously ill a year ago. We spent almost all our money on treatment and medicine, which caused hardships for this child. Later, when her mother passed away, she was heartbroken, stopped eating properly, and wasted away like this."