Thefeassedquickly。Withtheimperialorderalreadyreceived,XieZhengbeganpreparingforthejourothecapital。Areplatanderwasexpectedwithintwoweeks,anduntilthen,hewahebordervillagesproperlysuppliedandthewatchsystemrunningwithouthim。
Suyuamostofhertimehelpingwiththearras。Shecheckedthegrainrecords,questiohevillageheadsabouttheirremainingsupplies,andmarkedwhichroadswouldbeedifficultifaormcame。Shealsomadesuretheemergencystoresweredividedbetweenseverallocationsinsteadofbeiinoneplace。
WhenXieZhengsawthefinallist,helookedatitforalongmoment。
“Youveseparatedeverything。”
“Yes。”
“Why?”
“Ifooreisdiscoveredordestroyed,thevillageswontloseeverything。”
Henodded。
“ThatwaswhatIthought。”
Suyuanlookedathim。
Shegavehimaquietlook。
“Ayouletmefinditfirst。”
XieZhengpaused。
Ayao,standingnearby,immediatelyturnedawaytohidehersmile。
Xieignoredher。
“PerhapsIwaoseewhatyouwouldnotice。”
Suyuannarrowedhereyes。
“Thatsoundslikeanexcuse。”
“Itmightbe。”
Thatafternoon,Suyuanwalkedthroughthesouthernvillageonelasttime。Thewatonthehillgreetedherfromabove。Thetemporarybridgehadbeenpleted。Childrenwereplayihehouses,andmertshadbeguurningtotheroad。Itnolongerlookedlikethesamevillageshehadfirstseen。
AnoldressedasmallpackageofdriedfruitintoSuyuanshands。
“Forthejourney。”
Suyuantriedtorefuse。
Thewomanimmediatelyfrowned。