Zhou Sui hurriedly explained, "The situation was urgent last night, so I forgot to tell you. She is the daughter of the governor of Liang City. She was with Fifth Lady Chen, so we brought her out together yesterday."
Jiang Jin nodded. She already knew last night that there was an extra person in the group, and guessed it must be someone from a family on good terms with the Chens, but she hadn't expected it to be the governor's daughter.
Looking at the anxious Luo Qingci, she decided to take her in without much hesitation. There were already several weak women in the group anyway; one more wouldn't make a difference.
However, some things needed to be made clear. "You can stay in the group, but you must absolutely obey orders. Second, if you dare to do anything detrimental to our group, I will absolutely not forgive you. You must remember these two points."
Luo Qingci was both grateful and pleasantly surprised. She bowed deeply to Jiang Jin. "Thank you, my lady. I will obey you and be loyal to you."
Jiang Jin nodded. "Then you can take care of the wounded."
After Luo Qingci left, Jiang Jin returned to her carriage.
Opening the door to a small compartment in the carriage, she used her body as a shield and pretended to take out dining utensils like a tripod cauldron, a pot, plates, bowls, and a machete from inside.
She also took out grain, oil, salt, vegetables, and meat, and even brought out two of the chickens she had slit the throats of.
She called Dong Si over and handed the chickens to him. "Make soup with these two chickens to nourish everyone's bodies."
She then pointed to the pile of things on the ground and instructed, "All these utensils need to be washed again. Oh, and boil some water for drinking. From now on, no one in our group is allowed to drink unboiled water."
Dong Si took the two chickens somewhat numbly and lowered his head in shame. "My lady, this servant... this servant doesn't know how to prepare them."
He didn't need to be taught how to clean utensils, but he truly didn't know how to prepare a chicken.
Jiang Jin frowned and looked at Feng Qingzhu and Liu Mi. Both had their heads lowered, completely afraid to meet her eyes.
Jiang Jin: "..."
She couldn't help but rub her forehead, cursing inwardly. They were all young lords and ladies who didn't know how to do a single thing.
But on second thought, it made sense. One was a capable eunuch serving the empress, and the other two were imperial concubines. It would be weirder if they knew how to kill a chicken.
Zhou Sui pursed his lips and was about to step forward to help when Xie Nanxiao stood up. "Let me do it. I know how to handle it."
Jiang Jin secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I'll leave it to you. Teach them while you're at it."
They were a team, and everyone had to pull their weight. It wasn't fair to make one person do everything just because they knew more—fighting the battles and cooking the meals.
Dong Si hurriedly patted his chest and promised, "Rest assured, my lady, I will learn earnestly."
Things were different now. In the palace, everything had been prepared for them. Now that the Yan Kingdom had fallen and they were forced to flee, they had to do things themselves.
He wanted to learn how to cook well to make more delicious food for the princess. The princess was so noble, yet she was now living a life worse than a commoner's. It was too bitter.
Liu Mi and the other woman also hurriedly promised, "We will learn too."
They were the most useless in the group, knowing nothing, and were terrified of being abandoned by Jiang Jin.
They had actually learned cooking before, but the ingredients had always been pre-prepared, and someone else had managed the fire.
Their so-called cooking skills merely consisted of putting ingredients into the cauldron or pot, or even just watching from the sidelines while the kitchen maids did the work.
Jiang Jin finally nodded in satisfaction and took Zhou Sui to scout the terrain.
The two climbed to the top of a steep hill, from where the canyon below was clear at a glance.
They walked slowly along the top of the canyon, identifying several hiding spots that were convenient for an attack and nearly invisible from the valley floor.
After half an hour had passed, Zhou Sui hesitated for a moment and said, "My lady, you should rest first. I'll keep watch here and notify you if anything happens."
The terrain here was high, allowing them to see three or four miles away, so there would be no problem sounding an alarm if they spotted anything.
Jiang Jin didn't feign politeness. "Thank you for your hard work. I'll relieve you after breakfast, and you can get some good rest then."
When she returned to the temporary camp, she saw the horses leisurely grazing nearby. Little Red cast a sidelong glance at her before lowering her head to continue eating.
Jiang Jin: "..."
She then looked at Dong Si's three-person kitchen crew, and her mouth couldn't help but twitch.
Dong Si was coughing incessantly from the smoke, his veins bulging and his face flushed red; it looked as if he was going to cough his lungs out.
A small patch of hair on Feng Qingzhu's forehead had been singed into curls, looking somewhat fashionable in a way that didn't belong to this era.
Liu Mi's face had turned completely black. Seriously, it was so evenly blackened that only the whites of her eyes showed; who knew how she had managed it.
Looking at the stove they had built, all that could be seen was thick smoke without a single spark.
Jiang Jin's face darkened, and she wildly cursed in her heart. Seriously, it was just lighting a fire and cooking a meal. Did it have to turn out like this?
Xie Nanxiao stood to the side and threw his hands up in sheer helplessness. "My lady, I tried my best, really."
He really had tried his best. He had prepared the chicken, built the stove, and started the fire. It had been burning brightly, but who knew it would turn into this the moment he handed it over to them!
Jiang Jin waved her hand. "It's fine. Go keep an eye on the north side of the canyon peak. Leave this to me."
The canyon was winding and narrow, so Zhou Sui, who was on the south side, couldn't see the north side very well.
Although the pursuers from Liang City were coming from the south, the dangers in this chaotic world were far more complex than just pursuers.
If refugees or other barbarians sneaked over from the north, they would be in just as much danger.
Especially since the entrance to their camp was through the north end of the canyon. If no one was watching, they could easily be ambushed and surrounded.
Xie Nanxiao nodded and quickly left. He didn't want to babysit these three useless people either. Truly, they were too useless—impossible to teach and impossible to carry.
Jiang Jin returned to her carriage and took out an iron pickaxe from the small compartment. Iron agricultural tools already existed in this era and were widely used.
Although the stove Xie Nanxiao had built was usable, it didn't ventilate the smoke well and wasn't very sturdy. She was worried the cauldron might fall off while cooking.
After thinking for a moment, she also took out a bamboo tube specifically used in kitchens for blowing on fires.
Since they were near a stream, the soil here was relatively soft. Jiang Jin found a good spot and started digging.
Her cooking skills weren't that great either. She had a spatial inventory to store food and a camper van, so in the 25th century, she could just take the van out to cook.
Therefore, she had never cooked outdoors, but she had seen outdoor stoves before, so she knew how to build one.
Watching the princess hack away with the pickaxe, Dong Si's eyes grew red again. "My lady, let this servant do it. I can do it."
Jiang Jin ignored him. She quickly dug out a stove, directed Dong Si to move the soup pot over to it, and transferred the firewood they had nearly extinguished to the new stove.
She tossed in a few dry leaves and blew through the bamboo tube. The fire soon flared up brightly.
Watching the princess do all this so familiantly, Dong Si's eyes grew red once more. "My lady, did those bald donkeys at Yinshan Temple bully you? Did they make you do chores all day long?"
Jiang Jin paused her movements but didn't say anything. Those high monks had already taken the blame for her anyway, so one more misunderstanding wouldn't hurt.
