Ruling the Historical Romance Novel as the Female Supporting Character-Chapter 238: Three Strangers in the Carriage

Originally, it would take five or six hours to reach the county. Now, they managed to shorten it to four hours. However, the state-owned restaurant in the county only served meals during mealtime, and it was closed when they reached there. They had to settle for two rooms in a guesthouse, where they brought out stoves and pots.

Su Yijia fried some chicken mushrooms, made tomato and scrambled egg stir-fry, and also prepared a large bowl of egg soup. Everyone had the egg soup with steamed buns to quickly deal with lunch.

Su Yijia didn’t feel like sleeping at noon; instead, she squatted in the yard and picked out all the poisonous mushrooms. All kinds of poisonous mushrooms, like the red umbrella-shaped ones with white stems that could cause death when eaten, were all there.

At least a third of what she collected this time was poisonous mushrooms. However, there were also plenty of matsutake mushrooms and truffles, so overall, she definitely made a profit. Su Yijia put all the poisonous mushrooms into a large bamboo basket. She dared not throw them away randomly and planned to deal with them after leaving Yun Province. Otherwise, if someone picked them up and ate them, she would become an unintentional murderer.

After she finished her busy work, she specifically took Qin Kaize to take a bath. They would still have to endure several days of jostling on the train, and by then, they might start smelling bad. So of course, they had to clean up while they still could. However, due to time constraints, they took their baths separately. After all, her husband could be quite charming, and such a short time alone with him could easily make her lose her composure.

To harm oneself like this for a daily point was not worth it at all. Seeing them take a bath, the others followed suit and washed up quickly, changing into clean clothes.

For dinner, they ate at the state-owned restaurant. There were new chefs and waiters here, and there were still many people outside clamoring for the previous chef and, even more, for rice noodles. However, every person who finished causing trouble would be secretly taken away for forced withdrawal when no one was paying attention. Su Yijia ate while watching the scene with interest. It had to be said that as long as these things didn’t happen to her, they seemed quite interesting.

However, Xia Weiguo and the others became increasingly solemn as they ate. They had originally thought that now would be the best opportunity to intercept them in this county if the other party wanted to make the move. But as they waited for them to board the train, there was no sign of any disturbance.

This was enough to show that Xiang City, or at least this county, was unlikely to have any major problems now. However, if problems arose further away from Xiang City and Yun Province, it would be even more troublesome. It not only indicated that their influence had reached the outside, but also that there were definitely many hidden bad actors in places they hadn’t contacted yet. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

But there was nothing they could do. Xia Weiguo couldn’t manage so many things now. Apart from submitting the evidence, his most important task now was to ensure that Ze and Jiajia could safely reach the island. Everything had to wait until Ze finished taking his medicine and fully recovered. For safety, Xia Weiguo had specially used his private account to buy soft sleepers for everyone. Now, one soft sleeper cost as much as two months’ salary for an ordinary person, making it difficult to seek reimbursement from the team.

However, three berths in one soft sleeper compartment had already been bought by someone else. Xia Weiguo had specifically checked those three people; they were all educated youth returning to their village. Before they came here, those people had already booked tickets to return to Jiang Province at this time. Obviously, they couldn’t be bad people.

"Jiajia, why don’t we sit in the carriage with the strangers? There are three people your age. Maybe you can chat with them on the way," Xia Weiguo suggested. The atmosphere among the team members sitting together was indeed a bit oppressive. Moreover, the carriage without strangers was connected to the other carriages. If someone had ulterior motives, they would definitely come from another carriage. That would be even more dangerous. In front of them, besides the staff, was the train compartment. If anything happened, whether it was stopping the train or finding a way to jump out of the window, it would be easier.

"Okay, then let’s listen to Uncle Xia," Su Yijia hurriedly replied as she pushed Qin Kaize. Although they didn’t ask her to carry anything, many people boarded from their two carriages to save trouble. They were squeezed together like sardines, and the air was filled with a strong smell of sweat. Especially with a few Aunties bringing children, the crying and fussing were unbearable. In just a short carriage ride, her head felt like it was about to explode. Even though they isolated themselves from strangers, they still had to walk close together in such a small space. After she had just cleaned herself up, she was now covered in sweat again.

As for the strangers mentioned by Xia Weiguo, Su Yijia didn’t care at all. After all, she had been warned of the danger, and if any bad people were in the same carriage as her, she would take them down before they could do anything.

After squeezing into their seats, the three strangers had already settled in early. When they walked in, they glanced briefly but quickly looked away. Su Yijia helped Qin Kaize onto the lower bunk and leaned against it like a dead fish herself. "I thought there would be fewer people traveling by train at this time," she sighed weakly. Train tickets aren’t cheap now, so why would so many people be willing to travel?

"In this county, there’s less arable land, so they go to other places to help out during the busy farming season. And every year at this time, various brigades organize advanced individuals to go to prosperous villages to learn and see if they can learn some skills to help improve the lives of people in their villages. This is also the starting station, so there are fewer carriages.

When we get to other provinces and cities, more and more people will board, and new carriages will be added," Xia Weiguo explained while wiping the table. He took out sugar, melon seeds, peanuts, and some fruits bought from the supply and marketing cooperative from his bag. "There will be several days before we arrive, and I don’t know if the radio’s batteries will last. If they run out, I’ll send someone to buy more when we stop midway."

"It’s okay, the train rocking slowly is perfect for sleeping," Su Yijia said, knowing that he had prepared these things because he was afraid she would get bored on the long train ride. But she wasn’t really that finicky; being able to sleep safely for several days and nights to reach their destination was already quite good.

After they packed everything up and Grandma Lin and Grandpa Lin finished drinking the restorative potion, they lay down to rest early. Even though someone carried them down the mountain, their bodies remained stiff, and their energy was still too depleted.

The three educated youth next to them hadn’t spoken since they came in. They occasionally stole glances at them, looking curious. When Su Yijia caught her breath, she smiled and met their gaze. She wanted to say hello, after all, they would have to get along for several days. But as soon as the three saw her looking over, they immediately lowered their heads, pretending not to want to interact with them too much.