A carriage?

Xu Huizhen said, "Master, have you forgotten? We are criminals now, and we can’t use a carriage.

These carriages should be for those escorts."

On this journey, they will need to carry food and water, didn’t you see that big carriage at the back, covered with oilcloth.

"I misspoke," Gu Baijiang was a bit embarrassed and angry, "take care of it yourself, do I have to handle everything?"

"For me to handle it, I need silver in my hands. Shouldn’t you, as the head of the family, show some initiative?"

As soon as Xu Huizhen thought about the living conditions of the other family, she became furious.

"You can freely spend silver on maintaining an outsider, but here are your wife and children, don’t you want to be a hands-off manager?"

Gu Baijiang looked at Xu Huizhen coldly, "There will be a divorce letter."

"Don’t try to scare me with a divorce letter, go ahead and divorce me if you dare." Xu Huizhen was not afraid of him. After giving birth to the third child, she was injured and managed to make sure Gu Baijiang could never bear children again, thus securing her position.

With so many children and grandchildren, they wouldn’t just sit back and watch her get divorced, so the Gu family could never shake her off in this lifetime.

"I have no silver," Gu Baijiang stopped and noticed a somewhat familiar figure, "go discuss it with the eldest and third sons."

"You’re the head of the family, they listen to you." Xu Huizhen had already asked before, "Aren’t those unreasonable rules you set up making it so that no one respects me as the matriarch?"

Gu Baijiang said, "Enough, stop talking about it, you bring the eldest and third sons over."

Hearing his agreement, Xu Huizhen was delighted, but upon turning her head, she found that the two unfilial sons were nowhere to be found.

"Kai Ping, where are Kai Yuan and the others?" Xu Huizhen asked Gu Kaichen.

Gu Kaichen said, "They’re over there buying things."

He also looked eager, but unfortunately was short of money.

When he looked at Xu Yulan again, he felt even more disdain. If he had known earlier, he wouldn’t have married the Xu family’s daughter just to please his mother; she was of no help and quite off-putting.

Look at their third sister-in-law, traveling while pregnant, she kept herself tidy and clean, unlike this foolish woman, with disheveled hair and dirt all over, as if she crawled out from a pile of beggars.

"Go call them over, let’s all discuss what needs to be bought."

Gu Kaichen eagerly turned and left. This time he had to make sure the elder brother and third brother bought more supplies.

Bai Suihe once again admired the ancient people’s business acumen; this whole industry chain was formed just like this.

From flint to mule carts and ox carts, everything you could want was available here.

And it seemed to be a monopoly, with prices several times higher.

"Don’t touch everything, look first, then decide if you want to buy," the waiter guarding the place seemed cocky, shouting loudly from time to time.

"I’m talking to you. If you’re not buying, don’t touch. Didn’t you see the prices marked on everything? Come register with me, then I’ll get it for you."

After speaking, he looked with disdain at these filthy people, worried that if they dirtied the goods, the shopkeeper would scold them later.

"Let’s buy some small items," Bai Suihe thought the prices were not worth it, but felt it necessary to maintain appearances.

Gu Kaiyuan said, "Let’s buy some necessities and think about other things later."

"I’m just worried the family will have something to say again," Bai Suihe looked at Gu Kaichen approaching, "The one wanting silver is coming."

The Gu family gathered again, and Gu Baijiang directly spoke to them, "We need a carriage, should we buy an ox cart or a mule cart?

There are also some daily necessities, pots, bowls, oil, and salt that need to be prepared. We have to travel over 1000 kilometers, and we’ll certainly spend nights in the wilderness."

(PS: In ancient times, 1 zhang = 10 chi, 1 chi = 10 cun, 1 li = 500 meters, here we use kilometers for convenience.)

"Mother can arrange these," Gu Kaiping noticed Gu Kaiyuan was looking at him, so he reluctantly said, "We all listen to father and mother."

"Then let’s buy an ox cart, oxen are docile and strong, able to carry more people."

Xu Huizhen made the decision straightforwardly, "I just checked, an ox with a cart costs eighty taels, you two brothers split it equally."

Hearing this, Liu Yun’s face changed, "That’s too expensive. Maybe we should buy a mule cart instead."

"A mule cart is also fine, you can take turns riding it." Xu Huizhen had no objections, since neither of the old couple would be the ones walking.

Gu Kaiping asked, "Third brother, what do you think?"

Gu Kaiyuan said, "Let’s get a mule cart, that way we can save some silver and buy other daily necessities.

However, let me make it clear, Bai Suihe is contributing half of the cost, and since she is pregnant, she must sit in the cart."

"Kaiyuan, isn’t that a bit unfair? There are still many women and children," Gu Kaichen immediately interjected. If things were distributed as the third brother suggested, none of their family would be able to sit in the cart.

Liu Yun was somewhat unwilling; the third family only had one Bai Suihe, but their family, excluding Gu Kaiping, had three people.

She didn’t want to walk anymore, but her daughter and son were also dear to her heart.

"An Tong and Anliang can’t walk anymore, and the soles of my feet are also blistered, we must sit in the cart too."

In that calculation, along with the old couple, six people in one cart should be enough.

Xu Yulan’s eyes turned, knowing what the two families were up to, she slapped her thigh and wailed, "You are so heartless; we’re all one family, but you’re dividing us into different ranks, why exclude our second family?

Father, mother, you need to stand up for us, we in the second family have no way to live."

Bai Suihe blinked, watching her perform this routine, silently learning in her heart, should she also make a scene in the future?

Gu Kaiyuan thought Bai Suihe was scared, he quietly stepped forward to protect her, "That’s just how Second Sister-in-law is, I saw this sort of thing all the time as a child, you get used to it."

What Gu Kaiyuan referred to was the Xu family’s usual conduct.

Bai Suihe gave him a sympathetic look, "Your childhood was quite colorful, didn’t you learn a few tricks?"

"Uh," Gu Kaiyuan tilted his head slightly, "do you want me to learn?"

"If you can learn, it’d be great," Bai Suihe thought to herself, this way their family would have someone to argue while maintaining her good image.

Using magic to defeat magic might be satisfying, but just thinking about Gu Kaiyuan as a shrew made Bai Suihe unable to suppress a smile.

"Alright, stop making a joke out of this," Gu Baijiang, concerned about face, spoke up, "then we’ll get an ox cart, the rest of you two arrange."

Liu Yun was truly displeased, the silver wasn’t theirs to spend, making such a decision just like that?

She glared fiercely at Gu Kaiping, "There’s no room for negotiation, I disagree."