Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family-Chapter 1101 - 1100: Fate Tribulation

Liu Sisi didn’t know whether it was paranoia or something else, but she always felt that there were several pairs of eyes secretly watching their group.

Several times, she spun around abruptly, yet still, she discovered nothing.

Noticing her frequent movements, Marquis Yongwu naturally spoke up, "Princess, don’t worry. Although I the minor official possess modest abilities, I will definitely protect you. You won’t come to harm on my watch."

Liu Sisi, feeling somewhat embarrassed, gave a shy smile and said, "I guess I’m just a bit jumpy."

"For a princess to show such courage on her first battlefield is truly commendable. I remember, when I initially joined the battlefield, I was so scared I wet my pants outright. For a long time afterward, that embarrassing incident was frequently brought up by everyone. Even a few years ago, His Majesty also mentioned it."

Marquis Yongwu seemed to recall something and couldn’t help but show a faint smile on his face.

"Perhaps it was precisely because of that incident that you, Old Master Marquis, decided to undergo a transformation, bravely charging into battle and slaying the enemy, hence forging your unparalleled military exploits, right?" Liu Sisi couldn’t help but laugh as well.

Leaning on a wooden stick, her footsteps didn’t halt.

"The Princess is truly worthy of her title; you guessed it right." Marquis Yongwu remarked with a sigh, "That incident also caused my father in the military to hang his head in shame for quite a while. My spirits were very low at the moment. Thankfully, my dad comforted me, saying, ’A person, if they fall down, must simply get up from where they fell! There is no hurdle in this world that can’t be overcome—it all depends on whether you want to cross it or not.’

Marquis Yongwu’s words were suggestive, but they caused the trace of a smile that had finally appeared on Liu Sisi’s face to vanish.

Talk is cheap; indeed, there are no insurmountable obstacles in this world.

However, it also depends on whether a person is willing to step over them.

To her, Ye Lei was the one hurdle in her life she was least willing to cross—her karmic obstacle!

Whether that predestined calamity could be overcome was up to the will of the heavens!

That night, the three found a random spot sheltered from the wind to rest.

Owing to the day’s events, even Ms. Gao was very alert.

Fortunately, their luck wasn’t bad; they actually found a small puddle. Liu Sisi boiled the water and used a towel to collect distilled water. She busied herself until midnight before finally refilling their previously empty water bags.

Perhaps it was Liu Sisi’s method that aroused Marquis Yongwu’s curiosity, causing him to glance at her frequently.

"Princess, this...this method is really useful!"

Marquis Yongwu’s face showed astonishment: "In the past, when my brothers were desperately thirsty, they would drink raw water from the wilderness, resulting in many deaths. Later on, we also boiled the water, but the brackish water from these saline-alkali lands were truly undrinkable. Even if some managed to force it down their throats, a good number still suffered from diarrhea to the point of exhaustion, seriously affecting the march’s pace. But after your process, this water... has actually become clear water!"

"Oh! This method is actually quite simple. It’s just that you didn’t have the time to do this during a forced march, which led to such consequences."

Given ample time, this method certainly worked.

But in the heat of battle, where one was barely looking out for their own life, how could they afford the luxury of slowly collecting distilled water?

As they talked, Liu Sisi casually dug several small pits and placed large bowls in them. She covered them with large overlapping leaves, the roots dangling into the bowls.

While she did all this, Marquis Yongwu merely watched silently and didn’t stop her.

In the sky, countless stars twinkled.

After the scorching heat of the day, the temperature dropped sharply at night, causing Liu Sisi and Ms. Gao to huddle together, draped with thick blankets to keep warm.

However, Marquis Yongwu seemed oblivious as usual, still sitting silently on the other side of the fire--a location that allowed him to watch over the two women while maintaining an appropriate distance.

By the next morning, as the thick fog began to spread, the large bowl that Liu Sisi had set out had gathered a small amount of rainwater, more or less.

This water might seem insignificant alone, but combined together, it was enough to make a simple breakfast.

Since they had water, Ms. Gao straightforwardly made a meal of wheat paste, adding a bit of salt and some freshly picked wild vegetables--which allowed the three of them to eat quite comfortably.

Marquis Yongwu was so content that he sighed with satisfaction!

"You women handle things with much more care than we rough men. If everyone could learn this skill, then we wouldn’t fear a lack of water when marching into battle in the future."

"This is just a coincidence, effective only in places with large day-night temperature differences. The sky is already bright; we should get going quickly."

For Liu Sisi at the moment, finding clues was the top priority; everything else was secondary.

The group continued to expand their search area.

For several days in a row, they maintained this method of proceeding.

However, as their search radius expanded, the luck of finding small puddles of water became less frequent, and they mostly relied on saved clear water and rainwater collected in the mornings to sustain themselves.

Half a month passed, and they still hadn’t discovered anything.

Not even Chou Chou and Gao Qi’s two teams of horsemen had crossed paths with them.

One day, when Liu Sisi realized they had been circling the same area several times without finding a way out, she could no longer persevere and stopped in her tracks.

"Old Master Marquis! Something seems off here. I remember this is the third time we’ve passed this place. Look, the mark I made last time we were here is still there."

Liu Sisi pointed to the characters written with stones not far ahead.

This scene couldn’t help but remind her of when Lin Xiner had trapped the characters in the courtyard; she knew Di Yelei was not far from the characters, but she just couldn’t see him or hear his voice.

At present, although she could see her surroundings, the feeling was the same—they were all circling around a certain spot.

Marquis Yongwu had obviously noticed the anomaly here as well.

He frowned and thought for a long while, "How about this: Princess, you and the other women stay here and wait for a while, and I the minor official will go explore the path. If I find the exit, I will come back for you, Princess, how about that?"

Liu Sisi was silent for a moment before shaking her head, "No good! It’s never a good strategy to split up, especially since we still haven’t figured out what’s happening right now. I suggest we stick together, rest up properly, and then look for the exit."

The usually silent Ms. Gao couldn’t help but speak up, "I the old servant think the Princess is right, this place is indeed... very strange."

As she spoke, she shivered slightly.

"All right, let’s try going in a different direction later, see if we can get out that way," Marquis Yongwu said, knitting his brows.

Liu Sisi didn’t think this was a good idea; she carefully recalled the scene where Lin Xiner had led her out of the courtyard where she had been trapped previously.

Perhaps...