After returning from the Unfinished Building, the smell of urine, feces, and perfume lingered in Famous's nose and followed it to its dream .
In the dream .
"Famous! Famous!" Someone was calling its name .
Without opening its eyes, it sat up out of reflex, then raised a front paw next to its head and made a peace sign with its paw––the most popular pose while taking photos with its fans . It had become its reflex .
"Famous? What are you doing…?"
As it opened its eyes, a slightly younger Old Time Tea appeared in front of it . It stared at its peace sign, confused .
Famous quickly put the paw behind its head and pretended to scratch itself . It then tilted its head and looked around .
The long carriage parade team was resting not far away . Kitchen smoke wafted through the air, carrying the nice smell of cooking food .
The carriages formed a circle, protecting the ladies inside . They even hung fabric curtains to prevent perverted men from peeping in on them .
The men in the parade all slept around the carriages, but they were getting up now . Everybody seemed so tired and were complaining and sighing in low voices .
The night watch team came back with muskets, rifles, and long knives . Most people slept immediately upon their return, hoping to get some sleep before departure . They could eat breakfast while walking . A few team leads were debriefing Wu Mancheng .
Wu Mancheng, Wu Ning's father, had another sleepless night . He cheered everybody on with red eyes, promising that they would all be paid a fortune as long as they could arrive at Binhai County safely .
He was not so generous back in Foshan, but he no longer had any better options under the current circumstances .
They were in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere––a dangerous area that the wedding parade team had been trying to avoid at all costs . It was far away from the biggest road, and they could not return anytime soon .
It was pouring rain that night . The flooding river destroyed the dock and submerged the river bed . At midnight, when the sleeping people suddenly woke up from their dreams, they realized that the murky water from the river had already flooded the room . Their shoes were floating around . As the rain continued, Wu Mancheng made a quick decision to travel forward at night and take a detour . Worse things might have happened if they had stayed and waited .
The next morning, the exhausted parade team suddenly heard a loud noise behind them––from the direction of the dock––like a thunder clap in the sky .
The pulling horses suddenly stood up as if they sensed something . They roared and stopped following commands; the carriage drivers could not control them .
The river had broken the levee . Not a single person in that village had managed to escape .
After a sleepless night, people were on the verge of falling asleep while they walked . They started panicking after they heard the news . Had it not been Wu Mancheng's strict discipline, then they might have left and scattered all around .
The flood chased after them at a high speed .
During the emergency, the wedding parade team took whatever road was in front of them to reach the highest ground . After they had finally escaped the flood, they were already far away from the planned route .
Luckily, in case of rogue bandits, Wu Mancheng had asked all the closest team members to carry hidden guns . They could use them to hunt and to protect themselves against robbers . The team was well prepared before departure, and they could replenish their food and water in the villages along the way . They would not be hungry .
Going back was as hard as moving forward, but Wu Mancheng didn't allow them to head back . Therefore, they had to push forward .
Famous, Old Time Tea, and Galaxy followed them all the way .
"Famous, are you okay? You seem a bit weird today…" Old Time Tea mentioned with concern .
Famous shook its head in embarrassment: "I'm fine… It's hard to explain, but I'm fine . "
"That's good . " Old Time Tea nodded, then pointed at the forest ahead with its paw . "There's a stream over there, and the water is clear . Famous, would you like to wash up? If you wait until everyone gets up, the stream may smell like urine and feces…"
Famous smiled bitterly . Why was it having so much trouble with urine and feces?
It looked toward the carriages and heard some women talking behind the fabric curtains . The ladies were up already; they might start washing up and dumping the toilet soon . Just as Old Time Tea had said, with any further delay, it would have to wash upstream .
Yet, Famous was a dog; it was not as fussy as cats in terms of being clean . It didn't really care about washing up .
"I'll skip it . Are they leaving soon?" it asked, checking the hour in the sky .
Old Time Tea was a bit confused as well . "Normally we'd be on the road by now… But today they are still silent . This is really weird… Famous, you can go wash up . No worries . I'll get you when the parade leaves . "
"Fine…"
Although Famous didn't really want to wash up, it didn't want to be a dirty dog in front of Old Time Tea . It ran into the forest, found the stream, drank some water, then dipped its head into the water, and shook its hair dry .
The stream water tasted so sweet––totally unlike the tap water in the real world . It tasted much better than the mineral water that claimed to be drawn from mountain top lakes . Even Fina's Evian water was not nearly as good .
After washing up, Famous ran back to where it had slept the night before . The parade team was still there and there was no sign of departure . Many people surrounded one carriage, pointed fingers, and whispered with each other . Wu Mancheng looked very worried, sighing with his hands behind his head .
"What happened?" Famous asked .
Old Time Tea shook its head . "I don't know . Someone seems to be sick . I just saw the accompanying doctor go inside the carriage . He has yet to come out and it has been a long time . "
The only people who slept in the carriages at night were either women or relatives of the Wu family . It must be someone important . The ordinary, lower-class people all slept outside .
If Wu Mancheng had sent for a doctor at the cost of delaying the trip, the sick person in the carriage must be important .
"Could Wu Ning be sick?" Famous asked anxiously . It would be bad if Wu Ning, the bride, fell sick .
"No . That's not Miss Wu's carriage," Old Time Tea said in certainty .
"Oh, that's great . " Famous was relieved . As long as Wu Ning was fine, it would be okay . The other people were not important to it . They were all extras in a film; they didn't even play supporting roles .
Galaxy meowed in the grass nearby, jumping happily toward a butterfly that was dancing on a wildflower . It seemed that even the end of the world could not disturb it from catching butterflies .
Famous was hungry and wanted to ask when breakfast was . Then the curtain opened, and an old, white-bearded doctor came out of the carriage, waving his hands at Wu Mancheng . Even if they could not hear what he was saying, they could tell from his face that the patient in the carriage was not doing well .
Chapter end
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