Chapter 156: Reading Letters From Home (1)

He Changdi immediately stood up and opened the door. The moment he entered the courtyard, he spotted a middle-aged man dressed as a merchant standing in the middle of the open space, carrying a huge bag on his back.
After He Changdi took the package from him, the man gave a salute and quickly left.
When Laiyue saw that his master seemed to be so distracted by his own thoughts that he had yet to open the bag, he helpfully reminded, “Young Master, quick, open it and see what’s inside!”
He Changdi walked back into the house and placed the bag on top of the table. He gently loosened the strings tying the sack closed and opened it, peeking at the contents inside.
The bag had been stuffed full to the brim, and the topmost layer was made up of autumn clothes. These clothes were not the unlined long gowns normally worn by the nobles in the capital; instead, they were short and made of the most common fabric. For outerwear, there was only a single cloak made of two separate pieces. For innerwear, there were a few more sets of inner clothes, as well as socks. These were also made of much higher quality material, since no one would be able to notice them when they were worn on the inside.
Other than that, there was also a pair of deerskin boots. They were perfect for this weather, since deerskin was hardy and waterproof.
A light flashed in He Sanlang’s eyes as he took in the sight of them all.
Laiyue was happy for his master as he looked over all the clothes. He heaped on generous praise as he said, “Third Young Madam is so considerate. The things she sent are all what Young Master needs most right now.”
Chu Lian had done some backpacking before back in the modern world, so she knew what was most needed when out in the wild. Although she had gotten Senior Servant Gui and Xiyan to pack things for her, she had looked over the contents and taken out all the useless things like unlined long gowns, fans, and jade amulets. She had changed them out for socks, inner clothes, short gowns, gloves, and so on.
They had left in a hurry and in secret, so they didn’t bring much with them. The pair of shoes on He Changdi’s feet had already been worn out in a few places. It was about time for him to switch to a new pair.
The letters were squashed by the clothes inside, so He Changdi carefully pulled out the fragile papers. When Laiyue noticed the especially huge envelope within, he exclaimed loudly, “Third Young Madam wrote such a thick letter!” After saying so, he chuckled with a silly grin directed at his master.
He Sanlang cast a sideways glance at Laiyue and didn’t open Chu Lian’s letter in front of him. Instead, he carefully placed it off to one side.
There was a smaller package in a corner of the bag.
He Changdi pulled the smaller package out and opened it up. Inside was a gourd, some small jars and a few exquisite cloth bags.
While finding it strange, he picked up the gourd and gently uncorked it. Instantly, a fragrant, refreshing aroma came drifting out of the gourd.
Laiyue’s nose was sharper, as he normally drank quite a lot while out with his young master. He hadn’t had a drop of wine in months, so the moment he detected the scent of alcohol in the air, his eyes sparkled.
“Young Master, this… this is wine.”
He Sanlang’s eyes glimmered for a moment before he gave a light snort and quickly corked the gourd again. He put it off to the one side that Laiyue couldn’t reach, like he was protecting a little chick from a big bad wolf…
Following that, He Sanlang purposely put on a calm facade while opening one of the exquisitely made cloth bags. When the blue bag was opened, the smell of something delicious mixed together with spices permeated the air.
He Sanlang cast a measuring gaze over the rest of the bags. He seemed lost in a daze for a moment.
Laiyue was dying of curiosity. He moved closer to his young master and asked in a light tone, filled with expectation, “Young Master, what’s in this cloth bag? Is it food?”
He Changdi was brought back to the real world by Laiyue’s words. The corners of his mouth twitched. He looked over the bags and picked the smallest one out. With an unwilling expression, he tossed it over to Laiyue before he swiped the rest along with the package and retreated into his own room.
Laiyue was someone who was extremely easy to satisfy. When he received the cloth bag, he couldn’t wait and immediately opened it up. He walked over to the door and used the dim light of the evening to look inside before taking a long sniff at it. After confirming that the bag contained jerky, he was delighted!
He quickly took out a piece as big as half his palm and bit into it.
His mouth chewed at top speed; it was so good that tears almost leaked out from his eyes.