On the road north, a biting cold wind howled and snow fell in thick flurries. Lin Jingyue, Manzhi, and Bochun remained cooped up in their specially outfitted carriage, day after day. Having suffered no small amount of hardship in her previous life, Lin Jingyue found long journeys by carriage to be relatively easy, so she endured the discomfort with patience.
Bochun, however, was naturally lively, and having been confined to the Eastern Palace alongside her mistress for so long, she had been overjoyed at the start of the journey. When they stopped to set up camp, she would often play in the snow. But four or five days after leaving the Capital, the view remained a vast expanse of white, with no clear path or direction in sight. The mountains in the distance were obscured by fog and snow, and the nearby river was frozen so thick that even the burly soldiers, struggling under the weight of giant stones, could not break the ice.
Bochun grew listless. At camp, rather than staying cooped up in the carriage, she took an umbrella and, after seeking permission from the Crown Princess, ran to the riverbank to watch Wu Yong offer advice to the soldiers on how to break the ice to catch fish and fetch water. Clean snow could be melted for water, but with so many people, it was never enough.
Chapter 244