A New Recipe for Horse Meat (1)

"Here."

Qiu Yunzi handed Su Qing a piece of cornbread. Like the men, she had protected the group against the bandits, so she should enjoy the treatment that the men got.

Su Qing looked at the cornbread and accepted it without saying a word. She would obtain strength after eating it, so there was no need to be humble.

Seeing that she had accepted it, Qiu Yunzi smiled at Su Qing, "Lady Su Qing, you were too brave today. You saved all of us."

Su Qing glanced at her and nodded. Then, she quietly went to the side to eat her cornbread. The cornbread was hard and dry, so Su Qing went to the basket and took a bamboo tube, pouring water down on the cornbread.

Ji Shui Sheng's deep gaze followed Su Qing's thin and weak body. When he saw her sitting under the tree, he walked over.

Su Qing was focused on eating her cornbread when she felt a black shadow block the sun. She looked up coldly and quietly at Ji Shui Sheng, who was looking down at her. Even though he was looking down on her, she didn't feel pressured at all.

"What exactly do you do?" Ji Shui Sheng looked at Su Qing's clear Phoenix eyes and asked her in a low voice.

Her mysterious medical skills, clean and neat killing methods, and her cold and calm expression made it impossible for her to be an ordinary village woman.

Su Qing propped her arm, which was holding the bamboo tube, on one knee and placed it on her knee. She looked at Ji Shui Sheng indifferently and asked with a cold expression, "Does it matter?"

Ji Shui Sheng was stumped. That's right! Was it important?

As long as she had no ill intentions towards the villagers of Peach Blossom Cove, it really didn't matter who she was. So what if she was a murderer?

"It's not important,"

Ji Shui Sheng looked at Su Qing for a long time and laughed. His deep voice was filled with unspeakable joy. Suddenly, he wanted to ask Su Qing a question, so he looked into her eyes and asked, "Why did you save me?"

Su Qing retracted her gaze and said coldly, "For Xiao Ying's sake. I didn't want to see her sad."

"Thank you," he said.

Ji Shui Sheng took a deep look at her, thanked her, and turned to leave.

Su Qing ignored him and continued to eat. After she was done, she patted off the crumbs on her hands and went to check on the progress.

[Congratulations, host. Your merit points for saving the villagers have been raised to level three. Your mental power, combat strength, and physical strength have been raised to level eight. Your God of War ability has been raised to level eight.]

The system's mechanical voice was telling her good news, but Su Qing was clearly dissatisfied with this result. She had saved so many lives in Peach Blossom Cove, but the system was too stingy to only give her two levels.

However, she had no other choice. The rules were set by the system, and it was already good enough to level up twice in a row. At least this current body had no problem protecting herself and killing enemies.

Su Qing's eyes lit up when she saw the injuries on the horses. She asked little seven to get her some herbs while she went to treat the horses.

She found that the progress of upgrading [medicine] by treating horses was similar to the progress of treating people. Treating four horses had increased the progress bar by four, and she was one step closer to upgrading by one level. At the same time, her merit points had also increased by four bars. However, it was still far from upgrading her merit points to level four.

After a short rest, Ji Shui Sheng urged everyone to continue their journey and rush to Guo City to rest before dark. Once they entered the county, the bandits would not dare to enter the city to cause trouble.

The children could not move anymore, so the men were responsible for carrying them. The women helped each other, and the older ones sat on the ox-cart. The escape team was even more miserable. Without exception, all of them had thrown away their helmets and armors, looking tired and covered in dust.

Finally, they arrived at the foot of Guo City. When the soldiers guarding the city saw the disaster victims coming, they came out with their Spears and chased them away.

"Go, go! Go quickly, don't stay here!"

"Why aren't we allowed to enter the city?"

Ji Shui Sheng went over to question them. The officers and soldiers saw his fierce appearance and pointed their guns at him, "Cut the crap and get lost. One more word and I'll arrest you for rebellion."

Ji Shui Sheng's eyes spurted out flames of anger as he clenched his fists tightly, making cracking sounds. This made the officers and soldiers nervous.

"What are you doing?"

"Sir, which one of us looks like we can rebel? This is the travel pass and household registration. We are all refugees from Yucheng, so please do us a favor and let us pass!"

Qiu Yongkang was afraid that Ji Shui Sheng would act rashly, so he hurriedly asked for the travel pass and household register from his grandfather. He then went over to the officers and soldiers and spoke with a smile. Ji Shui Sheng also put away the hostility in his body.

"Yes, sir, we are all disaster victims. Please raise your hand and let us pass!"

"Go, go, go! The Imperial envoy is inspecting Guo City. Isn't allowing you to enter the city causing trouble for our master? Hurry up and leave!"

The officer didn't even look at the travel pass and impatiently urged them to leave.

Ji Shui Sheng's attitude changed. He gave the leading official some silver pieces and asked him with a smile, "Which Imperial envoy is it? We're just passing by the city. Please do us a favor. "

"The eldest son of the Imperial uncle, Minister Wan, spared no effort in providing disaster relief to the Imperial court. He is a great benefactor. Even if I tell you, you wouldn't know. Go back to your Yu City and wait. The Imperial envoy is here to distribute disaster grain. His next stop will be Yu city."

When the officers and soldiers saw silver, their attitude took a 180-degree turn, even revealing a piece of good news to Ji Shui Sheng.

"Thank you, sir. Can we stay outside the city wall for the night? We will not enter the city."

Ji Shui Sheng's pupils suddenly shrank. He cupped his fists and thanked the soldiers, then suggested that he wanted to rest outside the city wall. The soldiers were impatient.

"No, the county Magistrate has ordered that the disaster victims are not allowed to stay in Guo City."

Ji Shui Sheng had no choice but to lead everyone to continue their journey. However, he had become taciturn along the way and the aura he emitted was very terrifying, like an angry and forbearing Lion.

Two hours later, they set up camp at the mountain god temple near the county town. They were thirsty and hungry, and everyone was exhausted.

However, they still had to cook. Otherwise, the horse meat would stink after one night.

The men went to chop wood, and Aunt Qiu and Aunt Li looked at the horse meat and became worried.

What could they do without water? Wouldn't it turn into black charcoal with fire?

Su Qing came over to help. She saw the frowning Aunty Qiu and Aunty Li, and then looked at the horse meat. She knew what they were worried about.

She looked around the mountain, and when she saw the green bamboo, she had an idea.

Su Qing walked over and told Aunt Qiu, "Aunt Qiu, I'll do it!"

"We don't have water, so we can't stew it. We can only roast it over the fire."

Aunt Qiu quickly told Su Qing that they had drunk more than half of the water in the bamboo tube along the way. They could not waste the remaining water, and they had not seen any new water sources yet!

"I know," Su Qing responded faintly and cut the horse meat into thin slices. 

Aunt Qiu was so anxious that she reminded her, "Su Qing, you can't stew it."

"Yes," Su Qing responded, not saying what she was going to do. She continued to slice the meat quickly, and when she felt that the knife was blunt, she ordered Li Daniu to sharpen it for her.

"Li Daniu, sharpen the knife. Seventh brother Jiang will go up the mountain to chop bamboo. It doesn't have to be too thick. It's fine if it's as thick as my wrist."

Su Qing gave a simple order. After Li Daniu and Jiang Laoqi saw how Su Qing killed the bandits so easily, they admired her a lot. They carried out her orders without hesitation. They did not feel embarrassed to be ordered by a woman.

Qiu Yue frowned as she looked at Su Qing. What was she trying to do? She couldn't waste the horse meat that she had obtained with great difficulty.