Chapter 32

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Chapter 32: "It’s My Request, Don’t Feel Burdened."

Sun Xinang had a very hard time these past few days.

It wasn’t because the exile journey was tough or that food and drink were limited.

It was because Jiang Wu was doing too well.

Back in the Empress’s palace, Jiang Wu used to obey the Empress without question, having no will of his own. He’d been molded since childhood into what he became, and Sun Xinang had played her part in that.

So when she got the task to torment Jiang Wu during the exile, she didn’t think it would be hard.

Tormenting someone meant cutting their rations and adding hardships. She planned to take some of Jiang Wu’s food, fake injuries for her children so she could claim she couldn’t bear the journey and her children were useless—forcing Jiang Wu to carry her for stretches each day. Then she’d slowly shift all the hard work to him. Finally, she’d constantly bring up palace life and the former Empress in the Cold Palace to deepen his guilt and pain.

These were Sun Xinang’s original plans. They weren’t excessive but enough to get the job done. In truth, they were milder than the torments she’d secretly stirred up before under the former Empress.

But now Sun Xinang didn’t dare go too far. The person in the West wasn’t a foolish former Empress.

Though her task was to torment Jiang Wu, his suffering wasn’t that person’s real goal.

Sun Xinang had to be a pawn but feared being sacrificed later. She’d meant to control the torment, yet Jiang Wu… wasn’t tormented at all!

It was all Lianxin’s fault for appearing out of nowhere, and the overconfident Qin Taifu family!

In barely ten days away from the palace, Jiang Wu—no longer alone—seemed to shed the guilt and self-blame he’d carried for years. Sun Xinang’s words and tears gained her nothing from him, let alone caused any torment.

Now Sun Xinang’s problem had shifted from escaping after tormenting him to… how to torment him at all.

Worse, she couldn’t say much to her children.

Her daughter was useless in a struggle. Her son had some strength, but his view was blunt: instead of scheming to vent anger on Jiang Wu, find a chance to kill him quietly.

With no allies, Sun Xinang was deeply troubled these days.

There had to be other agents of that person in the group, though Sun Xinang didn’t know who. Her recent failures would’ve been noted. If she didn’t act, she’d be left in Linzhou as dead weight.

Sun Xinang had to bend to the situation. That morning, when the guards untied the prisoners, she went to the Liu family.

Liu Yaozu, the former Marquis Xuan Ning, Jiang Wu’s uncle—the last person Sun Xinang wanted to deal with, yet the one who could pressure Jiang Wu by blood.

It was the tenth day of exile. Apart from when jailed opposite each other, when Liu family concubines cursed Jiang Wu nonstop, the Liu family had avoided the Deposed Crown Prince and Qin family like the plague since leaving prison.

Sun Xinang approached first. Liu Yaozu sent away the concubines and younger children, keeping only his first wife Wang Yuerong.

Before Sun Xinang spoke, Liu Yaozu urged Wang Yuerong to fetch sweet cakes from their bundle, smiling: "Take some back for Juan’er. Come again if you need more."

Wang Yuerong’s face darkened as she untied the bundle, disgusted by his behavior. Had he forgotten leaving the Capital? He’d gone to talk to them, they’d pretended not to know him, and he’d fumed for days, refusing to glance their way. Forgotten so fast!

Wang Yuerong only grumbled inwardly. She took two cakes and slipped two thin sugar wafers inside.

"I’m not here for that," Sun Xinang refused Wang Yuerong’s offer.

Wang Yuerong swiftly stuffed the cakes back into the bundle.

"You…" Liu Yaozu frowned upon noticing Wang Yuerong’s petty demeanor.

"Master Liu," Sun Xinang interrupted, unwilling to waste time on trivial arguments. "I came to discuss Jiang Wu…"

At these words, Liu Yaozu’s brow furrowed deeper.

Neither spoke truthfully, and Sun Xinang began fabricating her tale.

She claimed the Second Prince had tasked her with tormenting Jiang Wu, hence her placement in this exile group. Their northward journey served to vent the Second Prince’s years of humiliation under the false Crown Prince. Upon reaching Linzhou—territory of General Han, the Second Prince’s maternal uncle—her family would gain freedom after completing their mission.

Yet Jiang Wu now had too many protectors hindering her task. Should Liu Yaozu assist by leveraging his uncle status and filial authority to suppress Jiang Wu, she’d commend him to General Han in Linzhou. Even without immediate freedom, serving the Second Prince under Han’s protection was better than surviving as the deposed Crown Prince’s uncle.

Liu Yaozu listened intently, remaining silent for a long while before speaking. "The Empress still carries a child."

"She’s been moved to the Cold Palace without a single maid. Master Liu, Her Majesty’s devotion to the Emperor earned her Noble Consort Han’s enmity. Now pregnant and abandoned…" Sun Xinang trailed off meaningfully, her lowered voice implying the unspoken peril.

Tormenting Jiang Wu mattered little to Liu Yaozu. His true dilemma was whether to betray his sister, former Empress Liu Baozhu. Should he join the Second Prince only for Liu Baozhu to regain favor—possibly bearing a new prince—he’d suffer greater losses.

"Master Liu, blood binds you to the Empress. Helping me preserves the Liu lineage; she’ll understand. Besides, your target is Jiang Wu. She always resented him for being a daughter. Now pregnant with her own child, remind her of the past if she blames you…" Sun Xinang coaxed softly.

Before Liu Yaozu could respond, Wang Yuerong hissed, "Shut up!"

"Yuerong," Liu Yaozu rebuked sharply.

"I care nothing for your grudges against Jiang Wu," Wang Yuerong spat at them. "But speak forbidden words, and exile won’t be our end—our clans will face extermination!"

"Those pregnant women… proved useless anyway." Liu Yaozu waved dismissively, noting Wang Yuerong’s tear-brimmed eyes. "Enough. We’ll speak no more of it."

Wang Yuerong wheeled on Sun Xinang. "I don’t know if you need his help or seek revenge for when he forced himself on you. Slaughter him if you wish. But you have children, and I have a son. Consider their lives. At least spare my son—or none of us will survive."

Sun Xinang flushed crimson at the exposed shame.

"The Empress saw you neglecting your son and feared losing control. She wanted you to bear another child. You couldn’t because your husband died… Blame Liu Baozhu." Liu Yaozu frowned, heeding Wang Yuerong’s warning.

*Beast!*

Couldn’t she have remarried? He’d acted on lust, yet now pretended he was doing her a favor! The shamelessness!

Sun Xinang seethed at Liu Yaozu’s cruelty, Wang Yuerong’s failure to restrain her husband, and Jiang Wu’s defiance that forced her humiliation.

"Ahem…" Liu Yaozu coughed nervously at Sun Xinang’s familiar rage. His gaze drifted to the riverbank where his three sons were causing trouble.

"Xinang, I’ll help if you’re truly desperate. You brought me luck—after Juan’er’s birth, three sons followed." He pointed toward the river. "Let their troubles begin there."

Stones hurled by the Liu boys struck the Qin Taifu’s granddaughter.

*So be it,* Liu Yaozu resigned himself. Compared to his sister Liu Baozhu—her future uncertain—the Han army in Linzhou under General Han, brother of Noble Consort Han, offered the safer path.

Empress Liu Baozhu and Noble Consort Han Yu had feuded in the imperial harem for over a decade. The throne once promised to whoever bore the first prince. Now Jiang Wu’s female identity was exposed—would Han Yu forgive Liu Baozhu for stealing the position meant for her and her son all these years?

Accepting Sun Xinang’s claims, Liu Yaozu sighed as his sons chased off the Qin family. *Very well.*

His decision was made, yet he cautiously pressed Sun Xinang: How had the Second Prince recruited her? What events led her to seek his help despite their past?

Sun Xinang focused on crafting her story while Liu Yaozu carefully weighed the pros and cons. To their surprise, they quickly struck a deal and even outlined a few initial steps in their plan. Drawing from past experiences, they agreed not to overthink but to take action first.

Wang Yuerong noticed their discussion was nearly done. She rolled her eyes to herself and called her sons back for breakfast; Liu Yaozu had earlier waved them away.

Despite being older than the former Empress Liu Baozhu, Liu Yaozu’s three sons were still young. His eldest, Liu Shunxin, born from concubine Aunt Dong, was only ten. The second son, Liu Shunyi, born to Aunt Xia, was just six. Wang Yuerong’s own son, Liu Shunan, had just turned five before the exile.

As Wang Yuerong signaled Liu Shunan, the other two sons and their mothers gathered around.

Feeling uncomfortable among the Liu family women, Sun Xinang decided to leave since their talk was mostly over. Liu Yaozu stopped her to give her some sweets. As they exchanged items…

Suddenly, stones rained down from the sky!

Liu Yaozu felt a sharp pain in his arm, then a large stone hit his forehead, making him dizzy and seeing stars. When he clutched his head to clear his mind, he heard cries of pain all around.

Sun Xinang held her shoulder, sons wailed, and wives and concubines panicked over their children…

Liu Yaozu saw the big gash on his second son’s forehead. He lowered his own hand from his head and saw it covered in red, almost fainting.

"Qin Chongli, are you crazy?" Liu Yaozu trembled, pointing at the man in front, using Sun Xinang’s sleeve to stand.

Their plan was to throw stones randomly. But Qin Chongli aimed at Liu Yaozu, blaming the father for the son’s faults. He’d never hit anyone before, but his aim was… good… drawing blood.

When Liu Yaozu called him out, Qin Chongli just looked up at the sky.

To Liu Yaozu, it seemed like Qin Chongli rolled his eyes at him!

"You…" Liu Yaozu’s hands shook with anger.

"Your family started it!" Chu Xiulan stepped forward, eyes red, pointing at the three boys. "They threw stones at our child for no reason!"

"So what? They’re just kids—they don’t know better, but you should…" One of Liu’s concubines jumped in but got hit in the mouth by a stone, making Liu Yaozu cover his own mouth.

"I see no children, only people and beasts. If they act like beasts again, I’ll break their legs," Du Yinsui said calmly, one hand stroking the little one’s head, the other holding a small stone. "I’m serious. Let them do it now, and I’ll show you."

Wang Yuerong held Liu Shunan’s head where flesh was torn off, her hands shaking badly. She wanted to rush out like Aunt Xia but was too slow.

"That little girl only got a scratch…" Wang Yuerong burst out, even as Aunt Xia clutched her bleeding mouth.

Why did the girl just get a scratch while her son lost flesh?

"The first to start trouble is the worst. Even a scratch—next time, I’ll break their legs!" Du Yinsui tossed her stone; it thudded into the cart, leaving a dent. She moved aside to show the mark.

"Where are the guards? Officials? Someone’s attacking us!" Another Liu concubine shouted.

"Your son only got a scratch—isn’t that enough?" Chu Xiulan shot back.

"Guards can’t watch you forever," Du Yinsui smiled slightly. "It might be hard to say which leg your son loses then."

The loud cries stopped dead, like a chicken silenced mid-squawk.

"Cursing us, calling us filthy and saying we eat rats…" came the muffled cries from the little girl nestled in Du Yinsui’s arms.

"Just stay away from us and stop saying things we don’t want to hear," Du Yinsui said as she threw a stone that hit the knee of a medium-height boy. The boy, already crying from the blood streaming down his forehead, was knocked to his knees with a thud.

"We didn’t say… anything!" cried Aunt Xia, clutching her bleeding son’s face.

"Yes, but since your son is the worst of beasts, I’ll mark that knee for next time," Du Yinsui replied, tapping the wooden board and signaling to leave.

Seeing his wife, concubines, and sons humiliated, Liu Yaozu clenched his fists but dared not act, eyeing the remaining stones glistening on the cart.

Liu Yaozu looked around and found himself locking eyes with some guards who seemed to be merely watching.

Damn it! No one stepped in!

However, there was someone who wanted to intervene…

Zhao Qi, helpless, turned to Tan Wang, who shared his meal, and said, "Tan, did you do this on purpose?"

"On purpose? To deprive you of a sense of justice you’ve never had?" Tan Wang laughed, adding more meat to Zhao Qi’s bowl. "This little disturbance stopped as fast as it started; since when have we bothered with such things?"

"Mr. Liu, see, Jiang Wu sides with them now. You should have questioned him as his uncle!" Sun Xinang was displeased that Liu Yaozu hadn’t taken advantage of this opportunity.

"You didn’t speak up either," Liu Yaozu said, reaching out with his hand on his forehead. "Do you have a handkerchief?"

Sun Xinang remained silent. She had already endured too much and now only wanted to work from behind these fools.

While both were lost in their thoughts, the mothers of the boys began questioning the events. Eventually, Wang Yuerong easily coaxed the truth out of Shun’an, who was younger and more obedient.

Just as Sun Xinang was about to urge Liu Yaozu to take action, she heard a shout that sounded… familiar?

Sun Xinang stopped speaking and scanned the surroundings, spotting Wang Yuerong under a tree, pulling at her daughter Li Xiaojuan and striking her face.

"What are you doing, Wang Yuerong!" Sun Xinang ran quickly towards them.

Despite the short distance, Wang Yuerong had already slapped Li Xiaojuan several times by the time Sun Xinang intervened, leaving the girl’s face swollen and the corner of her mouth split.

"What are you doing!" Liu Yaozu arrived, shocked, and grabbed Wang Yuerong’s hand.

Wang Yuerong struck Liu Yaozu’s face with a resounding slap.

The blow left Liu Yaozu stunned, momentarily numb to the pain in his cheek. The women he had thought of as submissive had slapped him?

He wondered if he was dreaming; a day where stones hit him and now being slapped by the very people he thought beneath him.

"I hit her, I hit you, and you too!" Wang Yuerong shouted wildly, breaking free from Sun Xinang while her hair got pulled. She slapped Sun Xinang, screaming, "You vile pair, your wretched child convinced Shun’an and the others to call the Qin family filthy rat-eaters, and handed them stones to throw! Poor Shun’an, with his small strength, could only hit their clothes, yet ended up with a bloodied head! It was your abominable daughter who lured them in with sweets!"

Liu Yaozu: "…"

Sun Xinang: "…"

Wang Yuerong couldn’t fight off all three, so she pulled two concubines into the mess, turning it into a dog-eat-dog brawl for a while.

Meanwhile, Du Yinsui and her group got revenge for the little one without causing trouble with the guards, which went smoothly. On the way back, only the little one hummed happily a couple of times, while everyone else stayed quiet. Each had their own reasons for the silence.

Luckily, the guards soon urged them to move on, before the silence got too strange.

Chu Xiulan and Qin Chongli walked ahead of the cart, with Chu Xiulan hurrying her father-in-law forward and nudging her son ahead too, making space to talk alone.

"Father, Du girl was a good person. Those kids might be young, but they were awful. If Haoyang and I hadn’t been there today, and only Yao’er was alone, think what they could’ve done to her," Chu Xiulan said, worried her father-in-law might see Du Yinsui as too harsh. As she spoke, she pictured the scene and her eyes reddened, her voice cracking, "We’ve got no doctors or medicine on this trip. If Yao’er got badly hurt, how could I ever face my brother-in-law and his wife, even if I died?"

"Hold on… what nonsense are you spouting!" Qin Chongli had been uncomfortable with his daughter-in-law whispering so close, but her words shocked him.

"Du girl was just warning them, Father. Don’t you ignore her over this!" Chu Xiulan’s heart ached at the thought of worse harm to the child, and she glared at her silent father-in-law.

"Who’s ignoring her!" Qin Chongli felt terribly wronged, "I was just thinking…"

He recalled little Du girl’s sharp hearing and whispered too, "I was thinking that little Du girl had great aim. I threw three stones, all aimed at Liu Yaozu. I saw you threw three at the medium-sized kid, but only one hit his arm…"

"It was him, throwing nonstop, fierce and mean. The big one stopped, and the small one was weak with poor aim. I bet that mark on Yao’er’s head came from the middle boy!" Chu Xiulan blushed a bit at hitting a child, but Du Yinsui’s words calmed her down.

"Not saying your aim was bad. But look, with our aim, who hit those kids on their heads?" Qin Chongli added, "Before we left, little Du girl asked you who hit lightest and second-lightest. And their injuries matched, right? She was quite thoughtful."

"What?" Chu Xiulan didn’t get it.

Qin Chongli stroked his beard, "If she’d asked who hit hardest, and that kid ended up badly hurt, would you have felt a bit…"

Before he finished, Chu Xiulan understood.

"Oh. No, I’d have said she did great," Chu Xiulan snorted, "Father, don’t think I’m too soft-hearted."

"…" Qin Chongli gave her a side-eye, "It’s little Du girl who thought you were too soft-hearted."

Chu Xiulan: "…"

"And you said I ignored her, but you didn’t talk earlier either!" Qin Chongli shot back.

"I…" Chu Xiulan paused, "Yao’er seemed mad at me. Maybe because when she wanted to throw stones back, I stopped her…"

The little one was indeed angry.

Her anger was obvious, even to Du Yinsui.

Jiang Wu pushed the cart while watching Du Yinsui open the last packet of medicine from the Sanqiao Post Station granny. She rubbed it on the little one’s forehead and wrapped it with a clean cloth. Strangely, what was a small wound now looked much worse.

Unaware of Jiang Wu’s thoughts, Du Yinsui patted the little one in her arms and whispered softly, "Your aunt kept sneaking looks at you, and you saw but turned away. Are you mad because she took the stones and stopped you from hitting those bad kids?"

"Hmph!" The little one lifted her bandaged head high.

Jiang Wu walked steadily as the voice on the cart explained soft spots, worries, and how love is more urgent than hate, using stories that filled the nearly four-year-old’s mind and touched Jiang Wu’s heart too.

The high-held head slowly drooped, the pout faded, and the little one tumbled off the cart, running after the others.

"Auntie～～"

The little one returned to her loving aunt’s arms.

Even though Jiang Wu deliberately slowed his pace, he still heard Chu Xiulan’s soft cooing as she held the little one.

Will we become your weakness…

Jiang Wu watched the now-silent Du Yinsui on the cart, a thought flashing through his mind before he instantly cursed his own shamelessness.

"Jiang Wu."

"Yeah?" Startled at being addressed, Jiang Wu stumbled despite his steady steps.

"Did you hit anyone today?" Du Yinsui asked.

"Well…" Jiang Wu felt his heart grow heavy.

"It was my instruction. Don’t feel guilty." Du Yinsui spoke slowly.

Earlier, she’d remained cautious of the guards, not wanting to appear solely responsible. She’d had others throw stones as cover.

The injuries on the main culprits? Precisely measured by her hand.

Where others aimed? She hadn’t specified.

She’d assumed Jiang Wu wouldn’t hit anyone.

Jiang Wu… wasn’t particularly troubled. After all, he’d hit his own uncle.

"Did you take those three targets yourself because you worried we’d regret hitting children? So we could just throw randomly?" Jiang Wu followed Du Yinsui’s logic.

Du Yinsui didn’t answer. The truth would reveal she wasn’t as cold-hearted as she pretended.

She was an apocalypse survivor! Cold-blooded through and through!

"Thanks for pushing the cart. Once my leg heals in a couple days, I’ll help." Du Yinsui sorted the remaining stones on the cart.

Though Chu Xiulan and Qin Chongli’s whispers were soft as bubbles in water, she’d heard every word.

Today, Du Yinsui realized the apocalypse had changed her too much. She’d never truly be like them.

Their acceptance today? Only because of the little one.

Tomorrow, for other reasons? That acceptance might vanish.

During their journey, she’d once caught the scent of ginseng, another time of lingzhi mushroom. Neither lay on their path nor within her permitted range.

With the cart to ride, she’d been willing to wait.

But perhaps waiting was unwise.

Jiang Wu couldn’t grasp how a broken leg might heal in days. Yet Du Yinsui’s unnervingly calm tone sent panic through him—

A deep, twisting panic that felt like a knife plunging into his gut.