There are no post stations in the desert, but there are inns specifically for merchants and travelers to stay and resupply.

The inn is right by the road, and before their carriage even arrived, a servant warmly greeted them and apologetically said: "Gentlemen, there are only three superior rooms left in the inn."

Everyone: ...Well, that’s really unfortunate.

Servant: "But within a hundred miles from here, there’s only our inn."

Old Master You hurriedly asked: "I remember there is a small town past your inn."

Generally, small towns are situated on the edge of an oasis.

The servant grinned and said: "Yes, if you follow this road forward for over a hundred miles, there is an oasis."

So right now, the only option for resupply is their inn; it’s the only business.

Everyone was helpless and could only choose to stay; Old Master You very cleverly said: "I’ll squeeze in with the servants in the lower room, the adults can rest in the superior rooms first."

Assistant General Nie thought for a moment, realizing he couldn’t compete with Zhou Man, the main official, for a room, nor could he compete with Yin Huo, the titled noble, for a place to stay. He glanced at Mr. Zhuang and felt that although his official rank was comparable to the other’s, snatching a room from such a senior civil official wouldn’t be good. So he waved his hand, instructing others to take the carriages and horses to secure a space and look after them while the rest went inside the inn to rest.

Mr. Zhuang and two travelers shared a superior room, the bed was a bit small, but the superior room also had a wooden couch, squeezing a bit could still accommodate them.

But Bai Shan and his group were different; the four young men went to see the so-called lower room, which was a large shared bed, and they were successfully deterred, obediently returning to the superior room and said: "The four of us can squeeze together."

Manbao generously waved her hand and said: "Just move the wooden couch from my room over."

Daji then led the guards to move, and the servants took out their bedding, wooden basin, and other items from the carriage to replace all of them in the room.

Not only were the inn’s servants, but even Old Master You was stunned watching this.

The manager, seeing their surprise, turned to them and smiled: "Our young masters are a bit particular, so they use their accustomed bedding and pillows."

The servants realized and scrutinized them, only now noticing they were unlike past traveling merchants, seemingly of higher status.

They smiled and accepted their inn’s bedding and wooden basins, etc., to take them down.

Just right, with so many people suddenly staying in the lower room, they really needed blankets.

Zhou Liru also took out the bedding of her aunt and niece from the carriage, while Manbao took out the wooden basin and towels and placed these daily items into the room. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Whenever they stayed outside, it was like this, only before it was at post stations, and the post station maidservants would help with these things.

Doing it themselves was also quite nice, Manbao made two trips up and down, and after some activity, she felt the soreness from sitting in the carriage all day had lessened greatly.

She opened the window, leaned out to look down, and met the gaze of several people sitting under the big tent drinking tea outside. Manbao smiled kindly at them, nodded, and then cast her gaze far away; all she saw was yellow sand stretching endlessly across the land before she retracted her gaze.

She closed the window, and the people in the tent also withdrew their gaze. One person licked his lips and said, "Big brother, this young lady is really beautiful, with delicate skin, not like our people at all."

The other person also withdrew his gaze, drank all the wine in his bowl, and said: "Take care of your eyes, can’t you tell these are officials?"

The other person was taken aback, asking: "Why would officials take our road?"

He said, "The other road is plagued by banditry, it’s not open for travel, so naturally, they have to come this way."

The other person became excited and shouted: "Is it because of smallpox?"

Their leader didn’t speak.

He then said: "I say, now that the smallpox has just passed, everyone is still anxious. We should take this opportunity to capture one or two towns, plunder their goods and leave, that’ll be enough to make us wealthy for a lifetime."

With the window closed, Manbao turned to go find Assistant General Nie; he was next door talking with Bai Shan, and as she pushed the door open, both of them turned to look.

Manbao closed the door, turned and said: "The people staying at this inn seem a bit unusual, Assistant General Nie, do you want to send someone to inquire?"

Assistant General Nie nodded solemnly, "Young Master Bai was just discussing this with me, I also think the people at this inn seem overly fierce, I’ll go investigate shortly."

Manbao nodded, whispered: "Take good care of our luggage."

Assistant General Nie decided to arrange twice the people for night watch over the luggage.

After he withdrew, Bai Shan then asked Manbao, "You sensed it too?"

Manbao said: "Making those two trips up and down, their gaze displeased me."

She said: "Tonight we will rest early and set off the next morning."

Bai Shan agreed, instructing the manager to arrange for resupply.

With so many of them, food and drink for the journey, even if only prepared for two days, isn’t a small amount. However, this has always been the manager’s task, just that the feeling of this stay was unpleasant, so Manbao decided to personally check the food and water preparations shortly.

But before she could go, the manager came with a face full of helplessness, bowed and said: "Young Master, Miss Man, the food and water at this inn are too expensive."

Manbao didn’t even ask how expensive, directly said: "Then buy some vegetables, we still have rice, flour, meat, and eggs with us."

Manager: "...there’s still water."

"Supplies then."

The manager emphasized: "The water here costs money, and it’s very expensive."

Throughout their journey, they’ve been replenishing with raw water, cooking it themselves along the way, so it’s usually just drawn directly from the well. Normally, the post station’s staff would arrange it for you without needing to worry, so they never expected even water would cost money here.

Manbao realized a moment later, "Oh, this is the desert, water would be expensive."

Bai Shan opened his eyes in disbelief and asked, "Is there so little water here that we can’t bathe?"

Manbao became nervous too, "Cannot bathe?"

Manager: ...Is this what we’re discussing right now? Aren’t we discussing the issue of money?

Bai Erlang also turned to look and seriously told the manager: "The master must bathe!"

Liu Huan: "Exactly!"

Yin Huo, beside them, laughed and said: "Money is not a problem."

The manager finally breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when Bai Shan suddenly stopped him to ask: "How much is the water?"

The manager said: "Twenty wen per bucket."

Everyone opened their eyes wide in shock, even Yin Huo couldn’t help but clicking his tongue, "How much for the superior room overnight?"

Manager: "Eighty wen." He paused and added: "Not including bathing."

Bai Erlang then turned to Bai Shan, "I remember when we stayed at the post station, one superior room was only fifty wen, right? The post station room was much better than this."

Bai Shan said: "Things become more valuable when rare, there’s only this one inn on this road. Is their well isolated?"