Night fell. Huang Xiao and Zhao Yunhui had been away from Quanzhou City for almost a day.
"Junior Sister, shall we rest in those woods tonight?" Huang Xiao asked, pointing at a stretch of woodland ahead.
"All right!" Zhao Yunhui gave the reins a slight tug, turning her horse toward the woods.
After entering the woods, they dismounted and searched around before finding a relatively open patch. It was open because a large tree stood there, much larger than the surrounding trees. Its dense canopy blocked the sunlight, making it difficult for trees to grow beneath it.
Huang Xiao gathered some dry branches and built a campfire beside the large tree.
"Junior Sister, have some water and dry rations." Huang Xiao took out the dry rations Pu Jie had given them and handed them to Zhao Yunhui along with a waterskin.
Besides these, the bundle also held several banknotes totaling over a hundred taels. In principle, that much silver was enough for the two of them to travel comfortably to Kaifeng. But neither Huang Xiao nor Zhao Yunhui wanted to enter a city just yet. After all, they were avoiding people whenever they could, unless they had absolutely no choice.
Zhao Yunhui accepted them, took a bite of the dry rations, then pulled the wooden stopper out of the waterskin and drank some water.
"Senior Brother, you have some too!" Seeing Huang Xiao sitting beside her, silently chewing his rations, Zhao Yunhui offered him the waterskin.
Huang Xiao took it, then hesitated as he looked at it.
"What is it?" Zhao Yunhui could not help asking when she saw him staring blankly at the waterskin.
"N-no, nothing." Huang Xiao hurriedly took a drink from its mouth. Zhao Yunhui had just drunk from this waterskin, so drinking from it himself felt