Chapter 13
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Chapter 13: Jiang Wu leaned forward slightly, trembling as he tilted his ear closer to the faintly moving lips…
Jiang Wu’s question was well put, but Chu Xiulan truly couldn’t answer it.
\"Maybe we should feed her a bit less? Don’t want to overfill her,\" Chu Xiulan said, bending down to press lightly on the stomach of the person lying on the wooden board. She hesitated, \"It seems a little swollen…\"
Before she finished, a loud rumbling interrupted her.
Du Yinsui was exasperated. Finally, someone thought to check her stomach, but why not do it properly? Was it a swollen stomach? No, it was the flour sack!
You people, sometimes you’re really rude, but other times too polite!
\"She still sounds hungry…\" Jiang Wu shifted his left hand slightly but then curled it back slowly, not reaching out to press.
\"No matter how hungry she is, you still need to eat something.\" Chu Xiulan warned, worried that the families might be split up before food was handed out.
This time, Jiang Wu didn’t argue back.
He felt too ashamed to speak. After all, that afternoon, if Chu Xiulan hadn’t given him that half a black bread loaf, he feared he wouldn’t have made it this far.
But…
Jiang Wu glanced at the tired and worn-out Chu Xiulan, then quickly scanned his teacher’s pale face. He clenched his fists tightly and finally made up his mind.
\"Sister Chu, watch her for me for a bit,\" Jiang Wu said, thrusting the cart handles into Chu Xiulan’s hands.
The responsibility came suddenly. Chu Xiulan almost lost her grip. Once she steadied the handles and looked up, Jiang Wu was already heading toward the former Marquis Xuan Ning’s family on the right.
Chu Xiulan’s heart jumped. She hadn’t forgotten how, in jail, the concubines of the former Marquis Xuan Ning, Liu Yaozu, had cursed Jiang Wu from across the way. Back then, men and women were separated, so Liu’s male relatives weren’t there, but now it was the third day of exile, and Liu’s family hadn’t spoken a word to Jiang Wu. Their attitude was clear.
She should stop him… Chu Xiulan knew she ought to.
But what if… What if they could get some things Yong’an Bo had sent? Life would be easier for Jiang Wu. After all, this cart was worth five black bread loaves—Jiang Wu’s dinner for the next five nights. Chu Xiulan gripped the handles tightly and lowered her gaze.
Hope was just a vain thought in the end.
Familiar insults rose from the right. Chu Xiulan felt a chill down her spine, her eyes stinging. She couldn’t bear to listen closely.
After just a few moments, footsteps sounded beside her, and the handles were taken from her hands. Chu Xiulan blinked back tears before daring to look up. Seeing Jiang Wu with empty hands but his expression unchanged, like when he ignored the curses in jail, eased her worry a little.
He had been a Crown Prince, after all, with a broad mind.
Chu Xiulan tried to comfort herself, but it was too soon.
Qin Chongli, weak and drowsy, had slumped down to rest and fallen asleep. He jolted awake at the sharp shouts nearby and instinctively looked at his daughter-in-law. \"What happened?\"
Chu Xiulan was about to explain when she saw Jiang Wu, who had seemed so calm, suddenly turn his back. His hands on the cart handles clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.
Alright, so it wasn’t indifference, just pretending…
A pang of sadness hit Chu Xiulan. When she turned to her father-in-law, her tone was firm: \"It’s nothing, Father. Go back to sleep.\"
Qin Chongli: \"…\" Sleep it was, but why was his daughter-in-law getting fiercer each day?
The weak and sleepy Qin Chongli closed his eyes again, but Du Yinsui on the wooden cart wanted to leap up.
Yes, yes, asking for food or medicine in this situation was rude, and not getting any was fair when you had nothing to repay with, but did they have to curse so harshly? It was borrowing, not stealing!
Jiang Wu, oh Jiang Wu… If only you’d free me from these prison clothes! I don’t have diarrhea medicine, but I’ve got everything else you need!
Du Yinsui’s soul sighed deeply.
The guards who had gone to survey the surroundings gradually returned to the group. Shortly after, the whole group moved forward a bit more until they reached the campsite. Sparse trees by the riverbank served as posts for shackles. The guards herded everyone to the trees but didn’t lock them all up right away. First, they called out some women to gather firewood in the forest while it was still light. Chu Xiulan was among those chosen.
Jiang Wu wanted to follow, partly to protect her and partly in hopes of finding herbs in the woods… but he was refused.
\"With your cliff-jumping stunt yesterday, if you weren’t needed to push the cart, you’d be in shackles today,\" Wu Li said, waving him off. He didn’t dare bring someone under special watch.
Besides Chu Xiulan, women from other families were also picked and herded into the woods by the guards. Even though Wu Li, who seemed somewhat decent, was with Chu Xiulan, Qin Chongli stayed tense and wide awake.
The wait dragged on. The prisoners left behind could only watch their women return with armfuls of twigs, their hearts rising and falling each time. Before the last sunlight faded, the final batch of twigs was brought out, and the women were shackled back in place.
Qin Chongli didn’t know about the others, but his daughter-in-law, who looked merely dirtied by twigs, was actually trembling uncontrollably…
\"You…\" Qin Chongli’s heart swelled with rage and grief. He tried to lunge up but stumbled and couldn’t stand.
\"I’m… fine…\" Chu Xiulan steadied herself, pressed her father-in-law firmly to the ground, and whispered after a deep breath, \"I’m all right. I just overheard something that scared me.\"
Qin Chongli, pinned down: \"…\" Well, she trembled, but her strength was still real.
\"Jiang Wu, Jiang Wu…\" Ignoring her father-in-law, Chu Xiulan caught her breath and shuffled toward Jiang Wu. Their families were shackled to separate but neighboring trees. If they both edged closer, they could talk. A large rock by Jiang Wu’s tree propped up the cart, freeing his hands.
Chu Xiulan glanced at the guards building a fire nearby, grabbed Jiang Wu’s hand, and quickly shoved a palm-sized cloth bundle at him. \"Hide this in your clothes now.\"
Jiang Wu had no time to question it. He tucked it away fast—Chu Xiulan’s force meant any delay would have jammed it into him anyway.
\"It’s from the Wei family girl—the one exiled for the third time,\" Chu Xiulan said, eyeing Jiang Wu. \"Do you know her?\"
Jiang Wu shook his head. Due to his status, he always kept away from the girls.
\"She overheard you needing food and medicine. See if you can use it…\" Chu Xiulan figured even if someone meant harm, this wasn’t the way, but Jiang Wu should decide.
Her gaze fixed on the fire-building guards, Chu Xiulan rushed on before Jiang Wu could reply, \"She also warned us about guards named Zhao Qi and Cui Wu. She said those two prey on exiled women, especially when Tan Wang isn’t watching. Be extra careful.\"
That was why she’d come back shaking.
The girl said during their first exile, also led by Tan Wang, women almost fell victim to those two guards. If not for a kind soul Tan Wang was protecting back then…
They were like fish on a chopping block. This time, they couldn’t rely on kindness; they had to watch out themselves. Evil was everywhere, but this was Chu Xiulan’s first brush with it so close, leaving her shaken.
After passing the warning, Chu Xiulan whispered the story to her father-in-law. Meanwhile, Jiang Wu crouched behind his cart and opened the bundle.
Inside were two flattened grain buns, looking and smelling like last night’s inn leftovers. Two small paper packets tied with green thread read \"Wound\" and \"Diarrhea.\" Jiang Wu sniffed them; the thread seemed dyed with fresh grass juice.
Likely, his words at his uncle’s had been overheard. Still, he recalled no ties to this Wei family girl.
The items were badly needed, but coming from the capital… Jiang Wu wavered, then hunkered behind the cart and took a big bite of the flat bun.
In the distance, the bailiffs set up two bonfires.
As the sky darkened, only the chaotic light from the fiercely burning fires remained.
That evening\’s meal was black bread loaves with heated river water. Since no station attendants were working, the bailiffs only boiled two pots of river water for the prisoners, and each prisoner barely got half a bowl.
Jiang Wu received a bowl of hot water for him and Du Yinsui, and… Du Yinsui\’s one black bread loaf.
Luckily, a kind soul had given them mixed-grain buns.
When getting the meal, Jiang Wu had already digested his bite of the mixed-grain bun for a while, and he felt fine—he had been too suspicious. Relieved, he softly called Chu Xiulan over.
But Chu Xiulan only took the medicine packet labeled \"diarrhea\" and refused the mixed-grain bun.
Hearing the constant \"gurgling\" sounds behind him, Jiang Wu didn\’t try to persuade her again.
Before feeding the paste, Jiang Wu acted cautiously, like a thief, copying Chu Xiulan\’s earlier move by pressing lightly on Du Yinsui\’s belly with two fingers together.
Hmm, it was a bit swollen but soft and could be pressed down—probably not bloated?
To be safe, Jiang Wu didn\’t use all the water for the paste this time; he drank a small half first.
To this, Du Yinsui could only think… \"Jiang Wu, whatever, as long as you\’re happy.\"
The warm paste smelled familiar and good, but Du Yinsui felt sad thinking about those boiled eggs.
After swallowing the paste, her sense of smell sharpened instantly, and Du Yinsui sniffed the two medicine packets Jiang Wu had mentioned.
Hmm, the closer one smelled a bit like what she had used before; the farther one seemed eaten, with only a faint scent on the paper—probably pills. Too bad her smell wasn\’t strong now, and she didn\’t know herbs well…
But the eggs in her clothes had gone sour.
She just hoped Jiang Wu wouldn\’t toss them out when he found them—she could still eat them! Sob sob!
Eggs~~~ She hadn\’t tasted any since months after the apocalypse~~~
Maybe her frustration was sky-high, or tonight\’s double-portion paste was extra thick.
When Jiang Wu put down the feeding bowl and was about to lay the person back on the cart to scrape the bottom, someone spoke.
A dry, raspy voice, low like a mumble.
Was the unconscious one waking up?
Jiang Wu\’s hands shook in shock. Staring at the person right there with closed eyes, he froze—should he stay still or quickly put them down and back off before being seen and hated?
But what if it was pain, or something urgent to say…
Duty finally beat his panic.
Jiang Wu leaned in, trembling slightly, bringing his ear near the twitching lips, holding his breath.
Then he heard.
\"Eggs…\"
Jiang Wu: \"…\"
