Chapter 42
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Chapter 42: The fleeting warmth that brushed across the back of Jiang Wu’s hand made him freeze momentarily. Returning to the stable, he carefully touched the pen and ink one by one, finally relaxing as he hugged a large turnip. A heart that had been unsettled for many days finally found peace at that moment.
Beside him, Du Yinsui chewed on hawthorn candy given by the little one while watching Jiang Wu handle everything with such care and affection. She couldn’t help but smile, "Do you like it so much?"
Jiang Wu glanced at Du Yinsui; he had words bottled up that he wanted to say. But seeing that everyone was gathered in the stable, squeezed together, he feared being overheard and could only try hard to suppress them.
This conflicted look made Du Yinsui even more amused. "You won’t be able to use all these turnips. How about giving me a couple to eat?" she teased, pretending to reach for the one Jiang Wu was holding.
"No!" Jiang Wu quickly tightened his grip on the turnip.
In that move, Du Yinsui’s feigned attempt to snatch the turnip inadvertently brushed against the back of Jiang Wu’s hand. The brief warmth made Jiang Wu freeze again.
Having been focused on obtaining these things, now that he had them, Jiang Wu slowly realized that this wasn’t the first time Du Yinsui had touched him like that today…
The previously lively man suddenly fell silent and lowered his head.
Du Yinsui assumed he couldn’t take a joke, withdrew her hand, and reassured him with a smile, "I was only teasing you. It’s not like I’m short of turnips to eat; go have your fun."
Jiang Wu recognized the tone, the same one she usually used to playfully talk to the little one. He wanted to argue that it wasn’t just for fun, but seeing Du Yinsui’s smiling eyes made him inexplicably flustered. He lowered his gaze, unable to meet her eyes.
Only when Qin Chongli and Chu Xiulan started talking with Du Yinsui about the day’s outing did Jiang Wu, relieved of the spotlight, gradually relax his inexplicably tense body.
As night deepened, the rustling sounds in the stable gradually faded away.
After hesitating for a long time, Jiang Wu eventually approached Du Yinsui before she lay down. "I want to make some travel permits for you. Wait for me to finish before you leave." For the first time, Jiang Wu voluntarily got so close to Du Yinsui, nearly cupping her left ear with his hand, whispering softly into it.
The stable wasn’t a place for chatting, but Jiang Wu was genuinely worried that their separation might come suddenly, before he could give her his gift.
Encircled by drowsiness, Du Yinsui didn’t expect Jiang Wu to say something like this, and it instantly made her alert.
The original Du Yinsui had been sent to the palace at a young age, with no memory related to travel permits. However, in her previous life, Du Yinsui had occasionally encountered them while studying history, but she didn’t know Zhao Kingdom was so strict. But… was a travel permit something one could just fabricate?
Du Yinsui had many questions but, aware of the many ears around them, could only nod to Jiang Wu to temporarily calm his nervous expression. The rest… they would discuss later, once they were away from this place.
Within the stable, the prisoners, weary from the day’s journey, gradually fell asleep.
Among those escorting them, however, many could not sleep.
The Wenhe City post station was one of the distribution points where Tan Wang would receive family letters during the journey. According to his calculations, the letter should have arrived two days earlier. Yet, when he arrived that evening, it was nowhere to be found.
Although changing situations on the road meant letters arriving a few days early or late was not uncommon, and Tan Wang had encountered such situations before, he felt inexplicably uneasy this time.
If not for the promise he had made to Du Yinsui regarding the Ironwood Dendrobium, and hoping to gain more benefits from her, Tan Wang wouldn’t have been in the mood for any unnecessary actions today.
Luckily, after taking those few out for a short trip, the courier from the north brought back a bundle of letters, and among them was one addressed to him.
However… when Tan Wang rushed to inquire about it, he discovered the sender was not who he had anticipated.
The letter was from his sister-in-law, or more accurately, the sister of the woman he was fond of.
He didn’t receive the long-awaited letter from his beloved, but instead, an unexpected one from a person who had never written to him before.
Opening it in haste, Tan Wang’s heart sank.
Although the letter didn’t say anything bad, the unclear part asking him to meet in Daizhou was enough to make him worry.
Tan Wang’s lover, named Liu Wanxing, was the family member of an official exiled to Linzhou for crimes. They met many years ago when Tan Wang first went to Linzhou with a team.
Back then, Tan Wang was just an ordinary guard in the escort team. But that trip was unlucky; they met bandits first, then a mudslide. Many guards died, even the team leader. Tan Wang, being strong among the survivors, naturally took charge for a while. Liu Wanxing was respected because she warned about the mudslide and saved most of the team.
The two young people fell in love during the exile journey. But Tan Wang was only a small guard and couldn’t stop the exile. He could only spend money to find connections and have Liu Wanxing sent to a lighter place in Linzhou. Over the next ten years, Tan Wang went back and forth between the Capital and Linzhou, escorting groups of exiles and earning money dishonestly. Besides buying medicine for Liu Wanxing, he used it to bribe officials in Linzhou, moving her step by step to a safer spot near the border between Linzhou and Daizhou.
Still, no matter how much money he spent, Tan Wang couldn’t change Liu Wanxing’s status as an exile. He only got her out of the exile camp and freed her from forced labor. Though she had to stay in Linzhou, she could live like a normal person at home, not enslaved in the camp.
The person who now came to Tan Wang, telling him to "act as before," was using Liu Wanxing and her leaving the camp to control him.
The Liu family’s exile was over ten years ago, and Liu Wanxing was a woman. Honestly, it wasn’t rare for exiled women to marry local soldiers and leave the camps. But Tan Wang wasn’t a local soldier and moved her further south.
On this trip, Tan Wang took things from Du Yinsui and gave them favors, which made Xu Lv complain a lot. But to be fair, it was the kind of deal he would have made before. He was that kind of greedy person, not changing at all.
But this time, he didn’t get a letter from Liu Wanxing; instead, it was from her cousin, which really worried him.
Liu Wanxing’s cousin was also punished because of the family and exiled to Linzhou ten years ago, after Liu Wanxing had been there for years. That time, Tan Wang specially arranged to escort that exile team, protecting the Liu relatives through the Northern lands. Coincidentally, it was also when Wei Huiqing was first exiled to Linzhou.
The key problem now was that Liu Wanxing’s cousin was still an exile. Though she married a local soldier and was quietly allowed to leave the camp and live in a fort, it was in Linzhou, even in the north near the border with Cang country.
How could she suddenly write to him, asking to meet in Daizhou, which wasn’t even as far as Linzhou?
The address was an unfamiliar place in Daizhou. He went back and asked a courier who often traveled to Daizhou and learned it was a small town in the south-central part, a little off the direct route to Linzhou.
Even though it was a small detour, Tan Wang had to go.
A bad feeling stayed with Tan Wang, so when he bumped into Xu Lv in the hallway after leaving the courier, he still wore a serious frown.
Xu Lv, however, didn’t have time to care about that.
Tan Wang, looking troubled, and Xu Lv, pale-faced, passed each other in the hall without a word, neither noticing the other’s strange look.
Xu Lv was also at the courier station to find someone, but not a courier from the north—he was looking for a clerk who brought reports from the south.
When he arrived at Wenhe City station that evening, Xu Lv, already angry, sent a letter to the Capital right away.
This Tan Wang was really out of control.
Jiang Wu went from being half-starved and pushing a cart to having meat, grain, vegetables, and riding a donkey cart every day!
Halfway through the exile journey, the job of tormenting Jiang Wu hadn’t even started. Xu Lv had to report to his bosses to avoid blame.
This time, Tan Wang was too tough, and Xu Lv’s helpers were too weak. Even when showing their cards, they couldn’t beat Tan Wang’s plans.
Xu Lv only hoped that after getting his letter, his bosses would send some secret guards—either to kill Tan Wang so he could take over, or to hurt Jiang Wu directly from hiding. Xu Lv no longer expected to hide behind Tan Wang, letting him do the dirty work while staying clean. He just wanted the task finished.
But Xu Lv didn’t expect that soon after he sent his urgent letter, the stationmaster said an official report came from the Capital, and the biggest news was that the Heir of Prince Cheng died by accident during an autumn hunt.
The Wenhe City stationmaster said it as casual gossip, but it hit Xu Lv like thunder, shocking him deeply.
Xu Lv forced out a few replies and then went to find the person who delivered the report to see it himself.
The Wenhe City stationmaster had no reason to lie.
A moment later, Xu Lv let go of the wrinkled report, barely made it back to his room, and let himself fall to the floor.
The Heir of Prince Cheng was dead. Where would his letter to the Capital go?
No…
The real question was, did the Heir of Prince Cheng really die by accident? Or…
Master Xu’s heart felt heavier than the night, and he was momentarily unsure where to go next. But what Master Xu didn’t know, Tan Wang knew all too well. He needed to reach Daizhou as fast as possible. To do that, he had to make the slow ones move faster.
The next dawn, just as light began to show, Tan Wang kicked a group awake in the stable. "Donkey carts for sale. Want one?" Tan Wang held back his impatience as he scanned the people he’d roused. "Twenty taels per cart," he added.
The prisoners, groggy and half-asleep, thought they were dreaming. Wei Huiqing was the first to react, nodding, "I’ll buy."
"Our family already has two donkey carts," Kong Fangqiu said, clutching his stomach. He couldn’t believe Tan Wang, always tight with money, would offer a fair deal. A decent donkey cart cost over twenty taels. If Tan Wang sold one for two hundred, Kong Fangqiu might believe it was a good cart. Twenty taels? Ha! Probably a rotten donkey on a broken cart.
Kong Fangqiu’s smugness made Tan Wang clench his fists. But to speed up the group, Tan Wang swallowed his anger and explained stiffly, "Your family’s too big. Two carts won’t fit everyone. We need to hurry."
"If there’s no room, we’ll take turns running," Kong Fangqiu refused to waste money.
"I’ll buy…" Li Dayong started, but Sun Xinang pulled him back.
"We’ll think on it, just think first," Sun Xinang said with a sweet smile at Tan Wang, tugging her son’s arm.
"I’ll buy!" Liu Yaozu said. The price seemed low for Tan Wang, but with three adults and three kids, one cart could hold them all. He was sick of walking and had asked Tan Wang for a cart before, always refused. Now Tan Wang offered, so he jumped at the chance.
"Today it’s twenty taels. Tomorrow, it’ll be two hundred," Tan Wang shot a look at Kong Fangqiu and Sun Xinang. Without waiting, he turned and left.
Tan Wang’s noise in the stable woke the others. As he stalked off, looking dark, whispers broke out.
"I bet those who didn’t buy a cart are in for trouble," Chu Xiulan murmured, eyeing Kong Fangqiu back in the stable and Sun Xinang talking to a guard.
"Tan Wang said plain enough: they need to speed up," Qin Chongli frowned, watching Sun Xinang. She seemed to have talked a guard into taking her somewhere. "Why didn’t Sun Granny buy? The Kong family has carts, but she doesn’t. Could it be…"
Du Yinsui turned to Jiang Wu. Lately, he’d been grilled with questions, so he blurted out, "No seats free on our cart."
Du Yinsui nodded, pleased, but tossed another question: "What if she can’t keep up, twists her ankle, and begs you?"
Jiang Wu paused.
"She’s got a son. Let him carry her," Qin Chongli said, used to these drills. He knew what answer Du Yinsui liked.
Du Yinsui gave Qin Chongli an approving look.
"And if her son twists his ankle too?" Chu Xiulan added, loving the stir.
"They’re… not our people," Jiang Wu said. He knew Du Yinsui wanted that answer, though it still felt rough. But he craved Du Yinsui’s approval, not her looking at others.
"Good," Du Yinsui patted Jiang Wu’s shoulder, full of praise.
Jiang Wu suddenly found those words easier to say.
