Chapter 41
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Chapter 41: “Jiang Wu, if you hadn’t found me that day…”
Du Yinsui hadn’t concealed anything these past days, knowing suspicions would surface eventually. Truthfully, she wanted Jiang Wu and the others to sense it, so when the time came, they’d be prepared and it wouldn’t feel too abrupt. But as adults, shouldn’t they have understood without words?
The real issue was Du Yinsui hadn’t decided when or how to leave. Yet leaving was inevitable.
The poison inside her remained, only suppressed by her post-apocalyptic constitution, food, and the ginseng she’d eaten earlier. This world had no zombies or mutated creatures, and offered normal food—she wanted to live properly here. She had to reach the Jin Kingdom in the West.
Once they entered Linzhou, the exile zone controlled by the Han army, escape would become nearly impossible.
As Du Yinsui gathered words to answer Jiang Wu’s question, he spoke again.
“You’ve done enough for us. If you want to leave… go.” Keeping his head down, Jiang Wu’s eyes flickered to the fresh bloodstains on Du Yinsui’s pants. His throat tightened, voice dropping lower. “Go. Stop risking yourself for us.”
Du Yinsui smiled bitterly. How could she reply? Each sentence grew harder to answer. No accusations, not even probing questions.
Perhaps this was why she couldn’t walk away immediately.
“Remember the Liu family concubine who fell off the cliff days ago?” Du Yinsui changed the subject, unable to continue Jiang Wu’s thread.
Lost in farewell thoughts, Jiang Wu only reacted when Du Yinsui nudged his foot with firewood.
He wiped the reluctance from his face before meeting her eyes. “I remember.”
How could he forget? A life lost just days ago.
Unlike the poisoned Kong family or the child accidentally killed by Kong Fangqiu, the concubine’s death chilled Jiang Wu—especially since Du Yinsui had once fallen from a height too…
Noticing his unease, Du Yinsui hesitated before continuing. “Something happened down there. I waited to tell you, afraid it’d scare you.”
Jiang Wu’s scattered focus snapped back.
“Recall how the guards said her neck was twisted? That she died instantly?” Du Yinsui paused. “What comes next is grim. Don’t react loudly.”
Jiang Wu nodded slowly, her solemn tone stirring dread.
Du Yinsui’s next words struck like a blow.
“She was alive when the guards reached her. She died only after they’d been near her awhile.” Du Yinsui hesitated, then laid it bare. “Even if saving her was unlikely, Cui Wu kicked her head. That’s what broke her neck.”
Despite the warning, Jiang Wu’s eyes widened. He clapped a hand over his mouth.
“I meant to warn you all. Those guards—whether foul-tempered or polite—hold blades and power over life. In crises, they turn cruel. Like with that concubine.” Du Yinsui glanced at Jiang Wu.
He sensed something layered in that look.
It was complicated.
“The day she died, I thought deeply.” Du Yinsui’s gaze shifted from Jiang Wu to the fire. “Jiang Wu, if you hadn’t found me that day…”
She couldn’t finish. Jiang Wu’s hand covered her mouth.
He moved swiftly, but Du Yinsui didn’t evade.
When she first arrived in this world, her original body already lay at the slope’s base—wounds slightly milder than the concubine’s. But a disgraced woman with suicide attempts, broken limbs, and unconsciousness? To the guards, she’d been nothing but a burdensome nuisance.
If Du Yinsui had seen the guards first upon arriving in this world instead of Jiang Wu, that might have been her last sight in this new place. With her mouth covered, Du Yinsui blinked helplessly.
Jiang Wu was a good person, both then and now. Rarely did Du Yinsui allow Jiang Wu’s sneak attack to succeed.
As Jiang Wu realized his actions, he clumsily released his hold and fidgeted with his clothes, saying, “Don’t say that, it’s all in the past.”
“Yes, it’s in the past, but you truly did save me. Afterward, you and the others…” Du Yinsui glanced at the sleeping Qin family nearby, “you helped me a lot. It’s only right I do something in return. I wasn’t taking a risk today—my injury was just a small cut. What you gained is what you deserve. Do you understand?”
Jiang Wu pressed his lips together, his silence showing he didn’t want to understand.
Du Yinsui shook her head with a smile and didn’t explain further.
She had said her piece. If Jiang Wu didn’t grasp it now, he’d think it over and understand later. Away from that troubled palace, with Qin Chongli and Chu Xiulan around, Jiang Wu’s feeling of unworthiness would fade. Someday he’d believe her words were true and right.
Silence fell by the fire, broken only by the soft crackle of burning wood. In the black night, everything seemed calm, as if time had frozen.
But real time doesn’t stop.
To enter the city smoothly, the group set off at dawn and hurried until they reached Wenhe City just before sunset, as the gates closed.
The post station in Wenhe City was the largest and grandest they’d seen. Yet for exiles like them, even a fine station meant nothing.
Dozens were shackled in a cleared-out stable—filthy floor, awful stench, worse than sleeping outdoors. The only comfort for Du Yinsui was Tan Wang pointing to a clinic at the street’s end before they arrived. He said he’d handle some business and fetch her later.
Du Yinsui wasn’t sure what freedom would bring after escaping exile. She might travel easier or become a hunted fugitive barred from cities. Tan Wang’s help was her best chance—a memory to hold onto.
Tan Wang took longer than expected. They’d entered the city late, and guards handed out supper with no sign of him.
When night thickened and Du Yinsui worried shops were closing, Tan Wang finally appeared.
One look told her he was weighed down by frustration, his earlier ease gone. Still, stone-faced, he unshackled her.
As Du Yinsui moved to follow, Jiang Wu grabbed her sleeve.
“Can I come too?” Jiang Wu asked, clinging to Du Yinsui but looking at Tan Wang.
Tan Wang seemed in no mood to talk. Du Yinsui squeezed Jiang Wu’s hand, bracing for refusal.
Frowning at the request, Tan Wang bit back a sharp reply when he saw Du Yinsui’s hand on Jiang Wu’s.
“Stay quiet, don’t stir trouble, and don’t make things hard,” Tan Wang said, kneeling to unlock Jiang Wu’s shackles. “Zheng Yi will watch you. Do nothing extra, or we won’t go easy.”
Jiang Wu nodded—just as a weight dropped onto Du Yinsui’s leg.
“Can I come too?”
A small figure clung to her, bright eyes fixed on Tan Wang.
Chu Xiulan felt a pang of worry, but before she could pull the little one off Du Yinsui’s leg, Tan Wang spoke sarcastically.
“If one wants to go, then all of you might as well go. Why not take everyone and take over the whole clinic?”
Tan Wang thought his refusal was clear, so much that even the tiny little one understood and lowered her head. Yet someone still didn’t get it.
“Take me! Take me!” Kong Fangqiu yelled, waving his arms as he shakily stood up from the Kong family group. “Why do they need to go when they’re fine? I need to go! Two hundred taels, take me!”
Tan Wang: “…Ha.”
The clinic, almost closing, suddenly filled with people.
Two guards who obviously weren’t locals blocked the front and back doors, while two more stood guard inside, their sharp looks making the clinic staff sweat nervously for no reason.
The attendant by the medicine cabinet felt his heart race under the stare of a still guard. He didn’t understand why the young woman was opening each drawer to ask about the herbs in such a strange way, or why she brought such odd company.
It was odd, and Tan Wang thought so too.
She opened a drawer, sniffed it, asked its name and use, then moved to the next. Was this some special Palace way to learn herbs?
Most herbs were dried and cut, looking nothing like when fresh. Could she really remember them or spot them in the wild?
Tan Wang doubted it.
Yet in that short time, the Deposed Crown Princess and the pharmacy attendant had covered nearly a third of the drawers. Their seriousness seemed real, not just an act.
Strange.
Then there was the Deposed Crown Prince sitting quietly nearby…
He came without speaking or getting treated, just watching over the others.
If not for both of them being women, Tan Wang might have thought they were growing close through hardship.
As Tan Wang watched Jiang Wu and Du Yinsui, a loud shout came from another room.
“You say she ate too much? She’s stuffed?” Kong Fangqiu roared, pointing at the doctor checking Qin Ruoyao’s tongue.
“What’s wrong? You fed a small child so much meat she got sick, and you complain?” the doctor shot back impatiently.
They had changed from prison clothes to regular wear before arriving. Du Yinsui went straight to the medicine cabinet, while Jiang Wu got the little one a doctor since they were there.
Kong Fangqiu and Qin Ruoyao each sat with a doctor, so they were mistaken for a family.
The doctor’s words left Kong Fangqiu speechless.
He had paid so much, so much! Just to barely feed the Kong family, losing three concubines, two grandsons, and a son gone mad! Yet the Deposed Crown Princess spent nothing, got a donkey cart and food from guards who favored her, and still ate so much meat she fell ill!
Where’s the justice?
“Stop moving! I can’t check your pulse like this,” the doctor with Kong Fangqiu tapped his wrist angrily.
The clinic was closing, and now these people came and wouldn’t cooperate—how annoying.
Kong Fangqiu, hurt in mind and body, held his unhealed stomach wound, grumbling and panting hard.
Du Yinsui quickly smelled every herb, pushed Jiang Wu to see a doctor and got a new bitter medicine pack for her pain. The little one held two bags of sour hawthorn pills, and Kong Fangqiu sweated from having his wound pressed. Everyone left the clinic with a… ‘happy’ future.
Only after they left did Tan Wang mistake Jiang Wu’s earlier wish to come as wanting another check on her condition.
Jiang Wu stopped in the street, in front of a shop halfway to the post station.
"Master Tan…" Jiang Wu carefully chose his words. "Could you let me go in to buy some writing supplies? I’m good at copying calligraphy and paintings to sell for silver. We can split the profits like before."
Tan Wang vaguely recalled a young guard mentioning this long ago.
But…
"Forget calligraphy. If a Deposed Crown Prince’s writing tools got traced back through me, it’d bring trouble," Tan Wang refused. Unlike herbs, art could easily become evidence for false charges—a risk he wouldn’t take.
"Just let us look—we won’t sell any art," Du Yinsui countered, squeezing the hand gripping her sleeve.
That habit of Jiang Wu clutching others’ clothes when nervous hadn’t changed one bit, hah.
Throughout their journey, Jiang Wu never questioned her odd ideas or actions—not even last night when she revealed the Liu family concubine’s true cause of death without explaining how she knew details from the cliff.
Jiang Wu lived with so little self-interest, making requests was rare. Since entering the stationery shop wasn’t hard, Du Yinsui pushed for it.
Tan Wang felt he’d indulged Du Yinsui enough that day. Yet considering the goodwill he’d built—and how she’d found both the ginseng and Ironwood Dendrobium—one more concession seemed minor.
"Make it quick," Tan Wang finally agreed.
Once inside, paper and ink were bought with Du Yinsui’s money, though Tan Wang held back from interfering.
Until…
"Not this." Tan Wang stopped Jiang Wu from taking the seal carving knife. Though its blade was fingertip-sized, it remained sharp iron—too dangerous for a prisoner.
His refusal was absolute. The knife stayed unpurchased.
Outside, seeing Jiang Wu droop like frost-bitten eggplants despite his purchases, Du Yinsui whispered: "Want to carve something? Use stones on wood. Or find turnips to practice."
Hadn’t people carved wood, turnip stamps, or rubber for ages? Did a knife really matter?
She meant to cheer him, but he instantly brightened, whirling to point back toward the clinic: "Turnips! The vegetable stall beside the clinic has them!"
Tan Wang: "…"
You’ve memorized every inch of this street!
After locking the Deposed Crown Prince—now burdened with ink, paper, and turnips—back in the stable, Tan Wang sighed in relief. Never again would he take this troublesome ex-royal out, no matter who begged!
Everyone returned unharmed, but his relief came too soon.
During their brief absence, Wenhe City’s post received two bulletins. Couriers from the north delivered a mail bundle.
That night, thunder cracked as the exiles’ fate reached its turning point.
