Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“Xing’er, go bring the child over. Wanqing, do we still have any wound salve left?”

After giving Xiao Jingxing his instructions, Xiao Che turned to Pei Wanqing.

“We have a little, but not much.”

After the wound salve had been used on Xiao Jingxing’s whip wounds and then on Jin Bao’s scratches, there was very little left.

“Take it out and use it on Madam Lu first. From the look of it, her injuries aren’t light. If they’re not treated in time, in this heat, once they fester and she develops a fever, even the gods won’t be able to save her.”

Xiao Che could not bear to stand by. After all, this family of three was innocent.

“Madam, this old servant will go.”

Nanny Chen was not wearing shackles, so it was easier for her to move around.

Pei Wanqing handed the ointment to Nanny Chen.

“Granny Liu, how are you holding up? Can you still walk?”

Only after Xiao Jingxing stepped forward did he clearly see the crisscrossing whip wounds covering Lu Shuangshuang’s body. Blood had dyed her prison clothes a deep red.

Xiao Jingxing had been whipped himself, so he knew the guards never held back when beating prisoners. In their eyes, it was even better if someone died.

Even as a man, he had found it almost unbearable, let alone Lu Shuangshuang, a frail woman. There had to be more than a dozen lash marks on her body.

Madam Liu lifted her head at the sound of his voice and saw that it was Xiao Jingxing.

Her face did not show the same resentment as Xiao Yan and the others. Instead, she only sighed.

“Heir Apparent, thank you for your concern. We can still endure.”

Xiao Jingxing was moved. “Granny Liu, I’m no longer the Heir Apparent. If you don’t mind, just call me Xing’er. My father told me to come help you. This must be Aunt Lu, right?”

When Madam Liu heard that he had come to help, gratitude burst forth in her eyes.

“Xing’er, this is my daughter-in-law, Madam Lu. And this is my little grandson, Xiao Jingyu. We truly must thank the Marquis. The three of us really don’t know whether we’ll be able to hold on until the Northern Frontier.”

As Madam Liu spoke, her eyes reddened. She lowered her head to wipe away her tears, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Xiao Jingxing found the three of them truly pitiful.

Lu Shuangshuang had even dropped to her knees.

“Eldest Young Master, please save Yu’er. He is the only son left in our branch. His father went out to trade and ran into mountain bandits on the road. We don’t know whether he’s dead or alive. We…”

Lu Shuangshuang choked several times, and in the end, she could not continue.

Xiao Jingxing hurriedly helped her up.

“Aunt, this is something our Main Branch ought to do. You were dragged into this because of us. I should be apologizing to you.”

Neither Madam Liu nor Lu Shuangshuang answered. Perhaps, deep down, they did resent them.

But things had already come to this. Saying anything more would not help; it would only breed more bitterness.

Xiao Jingxing said no more. He bent down and picked up Xiao Jingyu.

The child had once been fair and adorable, but after only two days, he had already been tormented beyond recognition.

His little face was grimy, there was no color in his cheeks, his lips were cracked, and his expression was listless.

Nanny Chen came over and supported Lu Shuangshuang.

“Madam, this is wound salve from my lady. This old servant will help you apply it to your wounds. The weather is too hot. If they’re not treated in time, they’re likely to fester and breed filth.”

Lu Shuangshuang was deeply grateful, but this was not the right time to apply it.

“Please thank the Marchioness for me. I can still hold on. Let’s wait until we reach the relay station.”

Seeing this, Nanny Chen tactfully pressed the wound salve into Lu Shuangshuang’s hands.

“Madam, if you need anything, please give this old servant your orders.”

Lu Shuangshuang quickly thanked her.

Xiao Jingxing carried Xiao Jingyu back, while Nanny Chen supported Lu Shuangshuang and followed behind.

When the two groups met, Old Madam Xiao took Old Madam Liu’s hand.

“My dear younger sister, it was our family that implicated you and made you suffer. From now on, we’ll support one another on this road and look after each other.”

Madam Liu knew that once they had set foot on the road to exile, there was no turning back. Now that the people from the direct Main Branch were willing to support the three of them, grandmother, mother, and child, only gratitude remained in her heart.

“Old Madam, thank you.”

Old Madam Xiao patted Madam Liu’s hand. “There’s no need for all this ‘Old Madam’ business anymore. From now on, we’ll call each other sisters. If you don’t mind, call me elder sister.”

Madam Liu obediently did so. From that moment on, the two families became one group.

Xiao Che placed Xiao Jingyu on his lap and held him there.

Jin Bao was being carried on Xiao Jingmo’s back, and Lu Shuangshuang was supported by Nanny Chen.

For the grandmother, mother, and child, the last ten li of the road became much easier to walk.

After walking for more than another hour, they finally reached the relay station.

This relay station had only one large communal sleeping platform that could accommodate forty people. The rest would have to stay either in six-person rooms, three-person rooms, or single rooms, and naturally, the prices differed.

The communal platform was the same as the night before: one hundred wen per person. The six-person rooms were three hundred wen per person, the three-person rooms five hundred wen per person, and a single room cost two taels of silver per person.

Because Lu Shuangshuang’s injuries were quite severe and she needed ointment applied, the communal platform was not convenient.

After the two families discussed it, they decided that Xiao Che would stay on the communal platform with his three sons, while the remaining women and children would stay in a six-person room.

There was one extra child, but they could squeeze in. They just had to pay for one more person.

Once the rooms were assigned, Li Si began selling steamed buns.
But tonight there was thin rice porridge. It was not expensive either: ten copper coins a bowl. There was more water than rice, but at least it was hot.

Pei Wanqing worried that Jin Bao would ruin her health eating cold food all day. She was only a three-year-old child; if her body gave out, it would be hard to nurse her back.

After the lesson from last night, Pei Wanqing did not dare feed Jin Bao the porridge she had bought right away.

But she had nothing on her that could be used to test for poison, and for a moment she was at a loss.

Jin Bao hugged the bowl of porridge and started gulping it down.

“Baby!”

Pei Wanqing’s pretty face went deathly pale with fright.

“Mother, it’s okay. The porridge is yummy, not bitter. Mother should drink some too.”

Pei Wanqing quickly picked Jin Bao up and checked her over. Only after waiting the time it took to drink a cup of tea and seeing nothing wrong with Jin Bao did she finally let out a breath.

Then she suddenly remembered that when the roast chicken had been delivered last night, Jin Bao had said something too. She had said the roast chicken did not taste good, that it was bitter.

And today, she said the porridge was good and not bitter. Did that mean Jin Bao could tell whether food was poisoned?

Poisoned food was bitter? And food without poison was not?

Pei Wanqing hurriedly carried Jin Bao aside and sat down.

“Baby, Mother wants to ask you something. How did you know the roast chicken last night was bitter?”

“Baby smelled it. Baby’s nose is super sharp. The auntie from before said Baby’s nose was even sharper than a dog’s, hehe.”

Pei Wanqing did not know whether to laugh or cry. This child was too young to understand kind words from cruel ones, and had even thought that vicious woman was praising her.

“Is this porridge good? Do you still want more?”

Jin Bao shook her head. “It’s yummy, but it doesn’t fill me up. Baby’s tummy is turning into a water vat. Mother, listen. When Baby moves, there’s water going Duang inside.”

Jin Bao pressed her shriveled little belly close to Pei Wanqing’s ear for her to hear.

Pei Wanqing was amused by Jin Bao. This little girl truly was a bundle of joy.

She pulled Jin Bao into her arms and placed her on her lap.

“Then Mother will soak a steamed bun in porridge for you. That way it will fill you up, and you can have something warm too.”

Pei Wanqing fed Jin Bao a steamed bun soaked in porridge. Once Jin Bao was full, she began to grow sleepy.

After settling Jin Bao down, Nanny Chen had already finished applying medicine to Lu Shuangshuang.

Xiao Jingyu lay on the kang, still looking rather listless.

Lu Shuangshuang leaned over, took a black pill from the pocket of her clothes, and slipped it into her son’s mouth.

Xiao Jingyu had been born prematurely and had been weak since childhood. He had always needed medicinal pills to nourish his body.

When they were exiled, Lu Shuangshuang had secretly hidden some pills in her clothes. She had made them all herself, and once they were gone, there would be no more.

If she could get her hands on medicinal herbs, perhaps they could hold out until they reached the Northern Frontier.

When they were sent into exile, her mother had given her some silver to keep on hand. But her maiden family was not well-off either, so they could not send much, only a little over thirty taels, along with a few sets of clothes.

Her mother-in-law’s maiden family had long since fallen into decline, so there was no chance of anyone coming to help them.

The three of them could only rely on those thirty-some taels to survive along the way. Now that a single steamed bun was being sold at such an outrageous price, it was anyone’s guess how long their thirty taels of silver would last.

On the other side, Old Madam Xiao and Madam Liu were talking.

Only then did Old Madam Xiao learn about Xiao Han. For a moment, she could not help sighing. Truly, ropes always snapped at their thinnest point, and misfortune always sought out those already suffering.

The night passed without incident. Perhaps because the previous night had been too chaotic, tonight was unusually quiet, and no one stirred up trouble again.

For several days afterward, until they left the capital territory, Ye Xiaotu caused no further commotion.

That day, after the convoy had walked for two hours and reached the foot of Great Wilderness Mountain, dark clouds suddenly gathered overhead.

Before long, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and bean-sized raindrops came pouring down.

“Into the woods, now!”

Zhu Laosan held a bundle over his head, a whip in his hand, and pointed toward the mountain forest at the side.

The prisoners each covered their heads and rushed into the woods.

The rain was too fierce. Countless streams of rain wove together into a curtain and came crashing down. It struck the leaves with a loud rustling roar and hammered the ground, sending up the earthy smell of wet soil.

Zhu Laosan’s voice was quickly drowned out by the rain.

“Li Si, go into the woods and see if there’s a cave where we can take shelter from the downpour.”

Zhu Laosan had to shout to be heard, and even then, his voice was swallowed up in an instant.

Li Si signaled his acknowledgment and quickly plunged into the woods.

With no one watching them, the exiled prisoners began running through the forest like headless flies.

Zhu Laosan’s sharp eyes spotted one prisoner trying to escape.

He rushed over, grabbed the man, threw him into the mud, and lashed him dozens of times with the whip. The man was nearly on his last breath.

When the other exiled prisoners saw this, they all became much more obedient.

Ye Xiaotu and Li Duanjiang exchanged a glance. In each other’s eyes, they both saw bloodthirsty killing intent.

The two slowly approached the Xiao Family Main Branch.

Zou Yong and Cui Jin deliberately separated the people of the Xiao Family Main Branch from the crowd, trying to leave them isolated.

Xiao Che quickly noticed what they were planning.

“Jingxing, protect your mother, your grandmother, and the others. If anyone tries anything, kill them on the spot. Don’t hesitate.”

Xiao Jingxing nodded and quickly shielded the women and children behind him.