Kai Yuan nodded, moved back to his original position, and patted Bai Suihe, "You should rest a bit more. There’s still some time before dawn."

Bai Suihe had been here for so long without knowing how to tell the time, and there were no night watchmen outside the post station to refer to.

"I wonder what time it is now?"

Kai Yuan quietly walked to the window and glanced outside, "It’s almost dawn, I think I heard a rooster crow."

The two were considering whether to find an opportunity to enter the space and take a good rest when they suddenly heard the crack of whips, "No sleeping, get up! We need to cover 30 kilometers today, no dawdling. If you delay us, don’t blame us for being harsh."

"Lord, it’s not even daylight yet, why are we getting up?" someone protested loudly, taking advantage of the darkness where no one could see clearly.

"Not daylight yet? Do you need more people to serve your waking up?

You need to realize this over 1000-kilometer journey, if you don’t reach the destination within the specified time, you’ll be penalized.

This is not only about delaying our task, you’re gambling with your lives. Follow our orders from now on, and if anyone talks back, don’t blame me for being rude."

The crack of the whip created a tense atmosphere in the room, and no one dared to say more. They quickly sat up and packed their things.

After a night, each member of the Gu Family had an extra quilt.

Kai Yuan packed Bai Suihe’s and his quilts together and strapped them on his back.

While the Gu Family was still dawdling, he was already supporting Bai Suihe outside to receive the morning rations.

Gu Kaiping, "..."

Liu Yun, "What about these quilts?"

They had slept well, but thinking about carrying the quilts on the road today, the mood wasn’t so good.

"What else can we do? Carry them," Gu Kaiping grabbed Gu Anliang’s quilt, packed it, and slung it over his back, "We can’t just buy new ones every night, can we?"

"Dad, what about mine?" Gu Antong asked helplessly.

"You’re a big girl now, carrying a quilt shouldn’t be that difficult. I’ve reached my limit helping your brother with his quilt, otherwise, see if your mother can help you?"

After all, she was the daughter he doted on, Gu Kaiping turned his gaze to Liu Yun.

Liu Yun, "Tong Er, be good. You know your mother’s health isn’t great either. You endure this for now, and we’ll figure something out later."

"Hiss... hiss... hiss..." came sounds of breathing in pain, and soon many were holding their feet, groaning in pain.

"Why do my feet hurt so much?"

"My foot is blistered..."

"Yesterday’s blisters aren’t healed; how do we travel today?"

Gu Antong cried out as well, "Mom, my feet hurt."

This quickly had the two Gu children crying too, all complaining about foot pain.

Gu Baijiang suddenly slapped his forehead, realizing how accustomed they had grown to easy days, forgetting the hardships of travel.

In the past, when he was preparing for exams, blisters under his feet were common.

It takes time for calluses to form and make it better.

Over the years of standing in court and aging, his feet were covered in thick calluses, so he didn’t have these problems.

When he went to sleep last night, he remembered he’d forgotten something, it was to remind everyone to burst their blisters first.

"You should burst the blisters and apply some ointment, or today will be painful."

"But it really hurts," Gu Antong tried to walk a few steps, each one a torment, "I really can’t walk."

"What’s all the noise?" The escort was used to this. They had purposely not warned them yesterday to give them a taste of hardship for better management, making people more compliant.

"The post station has medicine, and there’s still some time, quickly go buy some. Delaying everyone won’t be as simple as not being able to walk."

While promoting the post station, they didn’t forget to give a little scare.

Xu Huizhen, holding her foot, said, "Kai Yuan, go buy the medicine for everyone."

Receiving no response, she looked toward Kai Yuan’s bed, which was already empty.

"They went out early," Kai Chen spread his hands, "Mom, give me silver, I’ll go buy.

If we can, let’s stock up a bit more."

"Again with the silver, we have a total of only 20 taels and used 2 last night. How will we manage in the future?"

Xu Huizhen was unwilling to part with the silver and looked directly at Liu Yun, "You’ll be needing the medicine too, so you pay first, and I’ll repay later."

"Mom, my foot hurts," Liu Yun hadn’t thought of an excuse to refuse before hearing her son’s cries.

Reluctantly, she handed over 2 taels of silver to Gu Kaiping, "Then go and buy some medicine; otherwise, we can’t move today."

She quietly reassured herself that this was for the sake of her child.

The blisters needed to be burst, and she hurriedly called, "See if you can get a needle too."

Gu Kaiping nodded and walked out, only to find the place where they’d bought supplies yesterday now packed with people, including the third brother and his wife.

"Third brother, why are you here? Are you buying medicine too?" The Bai Family had brought two bottles of medicine yesterday, but so far, no one knew if they were for wound treatment.

"We want to see if we can buy a water pouch. The journey ahead is long, and without water, there’ll be trouble.

Brother, I suggest you buy a few too. You can go hungry, but lacking water is different," Kai Yuan suggested.

He’d prepared some before, buying one now would allow him to secretly replace it later.

"Oh, water pouches," Gu Kaiping couldn’t bother chatting with Kai Yuan and quickly squeezed into the crowd. There didn’t seem to be many water pouches available, and he had to grab one quickly.

After managing to snatch one, he came out looking a bit disheveled.

Quickly tidying up his clothes, he saw Kai Yuan still patiently queueing, and couldn’t help but mock him with a laugh as he walked inside.

"Where’s the needle?"

Gu Kaiping only then remembered he’d forgotten, "Just use your fingers to burst the blisters and apply the medicine. There’s no need for so much fuss."

Recalling the earlier scene, he didn’t want to squeeze in again, it was simply demeaning.

"You bought just one water pouch?" Gu Baijiang asked, pointing at his hand, "Is one enough for our large family?"

"This was already hard to get, and Kai Yuan stupidly waited in line.

That one water pouch isn’t cheap; it costs two coins."

Gu Baijiang turned to Xu Huizhen, "Give the eldest one tael of silver more, to buy five water pouches."

"Another tael of silver?" Xu Huizhen felt that at this rate, even two thousand taels wouldn’t last until their exile lands.

"Stop talking; when you’re without water, you’ll understand what real suffering is."