With Chu Jiao’s glare actually looking quite intimidating, Hu Luoyan stopped what he was doing.
Once he stopped, he immediately regretted his inadvertent action.
He was the most cold-blooded ruler of outer Mongolia! Whoever was unfortunate enough to run into him would instantly become terror-stricken just at the sight of him, even going as far as to relinquish their armor in fright! How could he be terrified by a little girl!?
Hu Luoyan stubbornly raised his water pouch, not intending to heed Chu Jiao’s command.
This obnoxious princess wasn’t his wife yet, and even if they did proceed with the marriage, as the Xianbei Khan, Hu Luoyan surely wasn’t going to become a henpecked husband!
“Beardie,” A young girl’s clear voice rang in his ear, and Hu Luoyan immediately knew this was directed at him, “Do you know that we have a saying in the Central Plains…”
Hu Luoyan didn’t utter a response, but his ears still perked up in curiosity.
“It’s called ‘Treat your sister-in-law as your mother,’” Chu Jiao said faintly, “You are this princess’s fiancé’s younger brother, so this princess won’t harm you. However, you just need to heed my words.”
Hu Luoyan quickly spat out the water in his mouth.
The f*ck was she talking about ‘treating his sister-in-law as his mother!’ The f*ck was she talking about ‘heeding her words!’
The seasoned personal bodyguards, who knew of Huo Luoyan’s true identity, all simultaneously took 2 steps back.
All afraid that their Khan would be overcome with impulse and would snap the delicate neck of this pompous girl.
However, much to their surprise, their Khan did not do that. He merely broke the cover of the water pouch into pieces with his grip.
“Then, what kind of water does the princess want to drink?” He asked through gritted teeth, “We are currently in the wild, which is genuinely incomparable to the imperial palace of the Chu Kingdom.”
“Don’t worry. This princess is not intentionally trying to make things harder for you.” Chu Jiao’s fury was not easily provoked by the man’s ridicule as she unhurriedly said, “You can drink from this creek, but only after some work has been done on it.”
Chu Jiao immediately turned around and whispered instructions for Hong Xiu to retrieve some items for her. Although Hong Xiu hadn’t had the slightest clue as to why the princess was looking for these measely things, she still obediently nodded her head in acknowledgment and didn’t ask any further questions.
Soon, Hong Xiu finally brought all the things she asked for over.
Chu Jiao took a seat on the woven mat and spread the objects apart to take a better look. She then casually reached out a hand in front of Hu Luoyan, “Beardie, give me the water pouch.”
The tone she used was natural and intimate as if the two had known each other for a very long time.
Hu Luoyan also wanted to know what sort of card she had up her sleeve and tried to ignore the strange emotions he felt towards her unusual behavior just now, handing the water pouch over to her without any objections.
The idle soldiers, who were busy chewing on dry rations around them, gradually surrounded them, curious to see as to what this haughty princess was trying to achieve.
The majority of these soldiers were Xianbei people, who had grown up in the grasslands. Even though they had already shed off their primitive lifestyle of devouring raw meat and fowl, in terms of culinary know-how, they still only knew how to cook livestock and wild herbs. Outer Mongolia was not as abundant in produce, so as long as it was able to fill their stomachs, it was enough to satiate them.
This was the same for their drinking water, which was drawn from nature, like creeks. As long as the water looked clean, these people deemed it drinkable.
Chu Jiao had no way of explaining disease and bacteria to people from the historical periods. Instead, she could only use the general knowledge that modern people had used to show them how dirty the creek water really was.
And, that was through a simple physical water filter.
Chu Jiao laid out some common items in front of her, which were a white handkerchief, a handful of sand, some charcoal, a pair of scissors, some stones, and two fine transparent glass cups.
Among these items, the two glass cups were the most valuable ones, so everyone’s gazes were glued onto them.
Chu Jiao first poured the contents of Hu Luoyan’s water pouch into one of the glass cups, soon completely filling it up with water.
She then raised the cup, revealing a clarity unlike that seen inside the water pouch, and under the radiance of the sun, the impurities that were initially invisible in the creek were brought to light. Everyone could clearly see that several sand particles, water plant bits as well as other unknown substances floating in the seemingly clear water.
“What’s wrong with this? We all drink this kind of water, and we’re fine!”
A person amongst the crowd did not take her seriously, causing several others to agree with his comment.
“This princess is so delicate, throwing such a fuss over good drinking water and even using such precious utensils to prove her point too!”
Some people started to whisper from skepticism.
“What did you say?!” Hong Xiu wanted to argue on behalf of her master but was immediately stopped by Chu Jiao.
“Princess, your body is a treasure. You shouldn’t drink this creek water,” Bi Luo noticed the suspicious gazes that everyone directed towards the princess, her gloominess from this morning’s admonishment finally dissipating slightly. She started to defend her mistress but only carelessly gathered feelings of resentment for her instead. “This slave will look whether there’s still any mountain springwater left from the imperial palace!”
“Did I say I wanted to drink mountain springwater?” Chu Jiao did not pay any heed to the surrounding questioning gazes as she said this. She once again warned the female lead in a grave tone, “Bi Luo. Shut your mouth. Don’t make me repeat this morning’s words a second time.”
This was one of the benefits that her current role had provided, so putting the female lead in her place was but a cinch.
Bi Luo lowered her eyes in aggrievement, no longer daring to make a sound.
However, on the inside, she just thought to herself. At least she tried to put in a good word. If the princess were to embarrass herself in front of everyone, the blame wouldn’t fall onto her.
Hu Luoyan carefully observed the master-servant pair, this time, not saying a peep to help sweep the servant girl out of trouble.
Even though he did not know about rear court affairs, he was still a well-respected master, and he knew that the servant girl had indeed stepped out of line.
Recalling this morning’s affairs, wherein he had attempted to speak for the servant girl, which resulted in him trespassing into her tent, Hu Luoyan awkwardly rubbed his nose, feeling that he might have misunderstood this little princess.
“Hong Xiu, use the stones to grind up the charcoal.” Chu Jiao no longer paid attention to Bi Luo, swiftly turning her head to instruct her other servant.
Originally, the activated carbon should have been used as a filter, but under this kind of environment, she could only use the charcoal that the cooks used to heat food as a replacement.
Fortunately, all the other materials were readily available.
Hong Xiu quickly grinded the charcoal to black powder and dutifully followed Chu Jiao’s calm instructions, carefully folding the handkerchief into four layers and placing it onto the mouth of Hu Luoyan’s emptied water pouch.
After pinching the top of the pouch, Chu Jiao turned it over, using the scissors to cut the bottom of the pouch open.
Hu Luoyan’s personal bodyguard instinctively sucked in a breath from the distress of watching this.
That was the water pouch made from the rhinoceroses the Khan personally hunted, numbering only a few in the entire Outer Mongolia!
This clueless princess! How could she cut this rare item without any hesitation!
They once again took two steps back.
Afraid that their Khan would be overcome with impulse and would snap this eccentric girl’s delicate neck.
However, their Khan did not do what they expected. Instead, he reached out his hands to hold the water pouch that looked to be quite heavy for the girls in front of him and watched as she threw the sand and charcoal particles into the opened pouch.
“What are you trying to do?”
Didn’t you want to drink water? Why are you throwing sand and charcoal inside?
Hu Luoyan held a faint conjecture in his heart, internally guessing that the princess must’ve wanted to purify the water, but he also felt that the objects she used wouldn’t be able to achieve that purpose.
“Something that would prove to be useful when your troops go to war.”
Chu Jiao replied, making Hu Luoyan’s heart thump. Yet, everyone around them only looked on with contempt.
Chu Jiao pursed her lips in concentration, completely ignoring the surrounding people’s gazes as her delicate goose-egg face brimmed with earnesty.
Hu Luoyan’s gaze was originally fixated on the peculiar water pouch, but at some point, it somehow shifted onto her face.
Her dense lashes, button nose, and onyx-colored eyes were filled with a confident glow, which made her already pretty countenance look even more tantalizing.
Chu Jiao did not pay any attention to the man’s gaze.
She firmly instructed Hong Xiu to open her untouched water pouch filled with creek water, unscrew the top of Hu Luoyan’s water pouch, which was used to make a simple filter, suspended over the other unused glass cup, and slowly pour the creek water through the bottom of the pouch that was cut open.
“What is the princess trying to do? It’s filled with sand and charcoal. If you pour water in, wouldn’t the water turn muddier?”
“Haha! Perhaps despite the princess’s noble status, she actually likes drinking mud?”
“Hahahahahaha!”
Everyone started to ridicule her in spurs low voices, and since they weren’t people from the Central Plains, they didn’t hold much respect towards her.
Hu Luoyan furrowed his brows. He turned his head to the troops and was about to warn them to be quiet when the snickers abruptly came to a stop.
Sweeping his gaze across those once-snickering people, Hu Luoyan saw an incredulous expression arising in their faces.
He turned his head back and saw that Chu Jiao had already poured the majority of the creek water out of her pouch. And after a while, his sand and stone-filled pouch revealed that the white handkerchief gradually turning damp, and water seeping out under.
The water dripped into the transparent glass but what took people by surprise was what had seeped out of the strange contraption. It was not the mud that everyone was certain of in the beginning. Instead, it was sparkling and crystal clear water that was without the slightest shadow of impurities.
When all the water had completely passed through the filter, Chu Jiao placed the two glass cups side by side.
One cup was filled with water taken from the creek. The other was water that had gone through a strain.
Without any comparison, the results wouldn’t have been glaringly obvious. If the glass cup with filtered water wasn’t used as a basis, the creek water would have still been considered clear. However, as soon as Chu Jiao placed the filtered water beside it, the water that Hu Luoyan had planned to down at the very beginning could be said to have been extremely dirty.
Hu Luoyan’s face quickly turned dark.
Did he just think of drinking this dirty water moments ago?
Why did he feel that this was not the case before?!
Cough.
Fortunately, he hadn’t drunk it yet.
After asking the cook to boil the filtered water, Chu Jiao finally felt at ease, taking small sips of the water in the cup, satisfying her parched throat.
As for the pouch that Chu Jiao had turned into a filter, it had now fallen back into Hu Luoyan’s hands. Several soldiers surrounded him with their eyes glinting with interest as they carried out more experiments with gusto.
They deliberately added soil-covered weeds and stone bits in the water, turning it extremely impure, and once again tested the filtration ability of this device. Upon seeing purified water seep out once again, as well as the originally clean handkerchief being covered with impurities, soldiers with some form of knowledge immediately felt delighted.
Seeing that some people understood the mechanism behind Chu Jiao’s invention, Chu Jiao didn’t keep herself reserved, stepping forward to further elaborate for them, “When you’re in the wild, the sources of water you find will be filled with floating impurities, or when the water is muddy and unclear, do not drink it directly. You can dig a pit big enough for a person 10 or 12 meters away from the water source and allow water to seep through gaps of sand, stone and soil. Then, you can gently extract the water without stirring in the silt at the bottom, and you would be able to obtain water that is comparatively cleaner.”
All the Xianbei soldiers earnestly listened to her, including Hu Luoyan’s personal bodyguard. As it turned out, the princess was right after all. Her earlier words claiming that this would ‘be useful for troops going to war’ were not just empty words!
Such a simple contraption of purifying water would be able to save countless lives on a battlefield where water was nothing but scarce!
The gazes they cast at Chu Jiao suddenly turned bright.
As expected of their Khan!
The Khatun1Khatun: Mongolian term for empress, equivalent to the Khan’s wife he was taking in was also just as amazing!!
——————-
Hu Luoyan: As expected of the queen I personally chose, you make this Khan proud!
Chu Jiao: Hehe, who was the one who said he didn’t want to become henpecked?
[Completed]
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