Chapter 43
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Chapter 43: That day, she inexplicably wanted to speak to Du Yinsui.
Sun Xinang persuaded the guards at length and slipped them silver before finally being brought before Xu Lv.
Xu Lv, who’d barely slept all night, felt a headache coming on the moment he saw Sun Xinang. His blood-related uncle, his childhood wet nurse, the grudge-holding Kong family… plus himself as the highest-ranking official—what a perfect team for tormenting Jiang Wu! Yet one family got crushed by stones and dared not speak, another was scolded till they were drenched, and one imploded without outside help.
What useless allies had they saddled him with?
And how did Sun Xinang learn about his mission?
Had the Second Prince’s side leaked like a sieve—wasn’t Zhao Qi knowing his allegiance enough? Now Prince Cheng’s side was full of holes too, letting even a nobody like Sun Xinang expose him!
A double agent with no capable underlings, leaks everywhere, and now his superior had dropped dead—how was he supposed to work like this?
"What is it?" Xu Lv rubbed his throbbing temples, unwilling to look at that familiar old face that brought him nothing but trouble.
Sun Xinang wasted no time explaining Tan Wang’s push for everyone to buy donkey carts. Smacking her knee, she fumed: "We’ve been scheming to take Jiang Wu’s carts. But if every family gets one now, it’ll be impossible! Blame the Kongs for starting this mess!"
As expected, nothing good ever came from this crone.
"Enough. Get out." Xu Lv’s irritation spiked. Until he controlled this convoy, adding donkey carts—even carriages—was beyond his reach.
Could he really seize control with just Zhao Qi, Chen Gang, and Zhao Qi’s friend Cui Wu? Zheng Yi would surely back Tan Wang, and fence-sitters like Ma Datou and Wu Yong would probably choose Tan Wang when pressured.
So! They should’ve given him covert guards when leaving the capital! Was tormenting the Deposed Crown Prince so unimportant they couldn’t spare a few agents? Those guards were useless in the capital anyway—the Young Lord still died!
"But… should we buy a cart or not?" Sun Xinang hesitated, watching Xu Lv claw at his hair.
"Buy it or don’t! Get out!" Xu Lv roared, furious.
Only when silence returned did Xu Lv gulp two cups of cold tea, calming slightly. With the capital’s situation unclear, his mission must continue—especially since the torment had to finish before reaching Linzhou. Now Tan Wang was speeding up the journey, leaving him less time.
If force wouldn’t work, he needed another way to control Tan Wang. Xu Lv’s gaze darkened as he pondered.
Meanwhile, Tan Wang drove the group to depart at dawn. They reached Wenhe City’s north gate just as it creaked open.
With two new donkey carts, most guards rode instead of walking. They pushed the carts to their limit and shortened the noon break to a quick stop. From sunrise to sunset—over six hours later—even the donkeys wheezed with exhaustion at camp.
Those with carts fared better; guards taking turns riding managed. But those without carts suffered, whipped to keep pace.
Indeed, on the forty-fourth day of travel, the guards’ whips finally found use.
Kong Fangqiu proved cunning, sensing something amiss shortly after setting off. He quickly took money to Tan Wang but was rejected, then turned to the Wei family.
After Wei Yuting accepted the money, the donkey cart carrying the Wei family of four added two Kong members—one adult and one child. So except for Kong Er, abandoned by Kong Fangqiu, the rest of the Kong family squeezed onto the donkey cart.
The Li family fared poorly.
Scolded by Xu Lv, Sun Xinang lost her chance to buy a donkey cart from Tan Wang.
The two donkey carts Tan Wang found this time were far less spacious than the one Li Village got for Jiang Wu and his group.
By the time Sun Xinang realized the problem, the Kong family had crammed onto the Wei family’s cart, and the Liu family’s cart was full too. Only Jiang Wu’s cart had space left—if they rearranged baskets or held bamboo containers, they might squeeze in a little room.
Sun Xinang thought about giving Jiang Wu a moral lecture, but Li Dayong stopped her, tired of constant humiliation.
Eventually, Sun Xinang asked Liu Yaozu for help, securing a spot for Li Xiaojuan at the cart’s edge, but she herself had no seat.
Just as Qin Chongli predicted earlier, Sun Xinang couldn’t keep up long and ended up carried by Li Dayong.
Jiang Wu’s carriage trailed at the rear, with walkers following behind.
When Sun Xinang first struggled, Du Yinsui sensed Jiang Wu and Qin Chongli’s discomfort, but they stayed silent, and she pretended not to notice.
Later, as Li Dayong carried Sun Xinang, his glances burned with hatred.
The hatred seemed baseless, but Du Yinsui saw a silver lining—it eased the others’ tension.
After all, even good people shouldn’t keep reaching out to biting dogs.
After leaving Wenhe City, they camped in the wild that first night.
They stopped much later than usual, setting up camp in near darkness. The firewood search shrank to the camp’s edge, with fewer people sent out.
With less area and time, Du Yinsui returned with only one wild chicken, half taken by the guards.
Chu Xiulan took the little one to the river to clean it. The group took turns with such bloody tasks, children included, and honestly, the kids did better than Qin Chongli.
Du Yinsui kept Qin Haoyang tending the fire and sent Qin Chongli to the river, telling him to debone the chicken before returning.
Too embarrassed to ask why deboning was needed for stew, Qin Chongli obeyed with the stone tool.
Everyone was exhausted. Though camp was set late, it quieted earlier than usual.
When the guards settled down, leaving only two on watch by the fire, Du Yinsui nudged Jiang Wu under his blanket. "Asleep?"
"No," Jiang Wu replied, wide awake.
Du Yinsui had told him to wait up, so he fought his fatigue.
"Come, learn this tonight." Du Yinsui sat up, pulling Jiang Wu with her.
Just as Jiang Wu thought her hand felt warm, something cold and thin was pressed into his palm, startling him.
What came next shocked him more.
Instead of sleeping, Du Yinsui taught him how to pick locks!
Even with Du Yinsui’s reassurance that their spot was hidden from the guards, Jiang Wu trembled holding the bone for picking locks.
The delicate work, his racing heart, and Du Yinsui guiding his hand made him jittery, especially as she chattered away.
Her talk wasn’t idle—it covered the travel documents they hadn’t discussed properly the night before.
As they shifted to that topic, Jiang Wu’s anxiety slowly eased.
It wasn’t very complicated. He had first thought about leaving, so he learned about it. As the Crown Prince, he didn’t handle major affairs, but he dealt with minor tasks and used those chances to check files and records, noting how travel documents looked.
The night before, at the study supplies shop, he felt many types of paper and picked one closest to the travel document’s texture. Sadly, it wasn’t as good as what he prepared back in the Palace.
After saying this, Jiang Wu paused for a long time, until he felt enough warmth from Du Yinsui’s hand on his, then spoke about last year before going to Fengzhou for disaster relief. He took the assignment, thinking it was the best chance to leave afterward. He gathered courage to ask his mother, the Empress then, if she would leave with him.
One could leave the Palace for disaster relief, and another could fulfill a vow at a temple near Fengzhou. If they worked well together, escaping the trap of Jiang Wu pretending to be the male Crown Prince wasn’t impossible.
But sadly, what Jiang Wu thought was a solution made the Empress punish him to kneel all night in a small Buddhist hall.
The Empress strictly ordered Jiang Wu not to imagine such things, saying that if Jiang Wu acted alone after leaving the Palace, she might as well die.
Jiang Wu figured the fake travel document plan was just a dream. Yet after much wandering, he used it now.
He never told anyone about his past. First, no one to tell, and second, what was the point?
But that day, he strangely wanted to share it with Du Yinsui. Maybe he hoped for kind words or a little warmth, but even after finishing, he didn’t know why he spoke.
Jiang Wu didn’t expect that right after speaking, before Du Yinsui said a word, a low, hoarse voice sounded nearby, almost scaring him to death.
"I heard from Fan Zaizhi you fell in water in Fengzhou?" Qin Chongli never thought he’d lose sleep and overhear whispers, nor that he’d blurt his question before morning. "Fan Zaizhi said it might’ve been an accident from looting during supply handouts. What do you think?"
"I… what do I think?" Jiang Wu, patting his chest in shock, didn’t catch Qin Chongli’s meaning.
"The teacher asks if you think it was an accident or someone tried to harm you." Du Yinsui glanced at Qin Chongli, still wrapped in a blanket, unseen but likely thinking alike.
"Of course it was an accident, who would…" Jiang Wu answered without thinking, then sharply looked at Du Yinsui.
Du Yinsui quickly looked away.
It was odd. Showing the world’s darkness to Jiang Wu was what she’d aimed to do, but now at this chance… she hesitated.
Maybe Jiang Wu’s calm tone hid too much pain, softening her heart.
Was it the Empress?
Without proof, the topic had to stop.
Even a tiny doubt planted seeds of pain.
Du Yinsui couldn’t grasp why Qin Chongli asked such a painful, useless question.
Unable to understand, the next morning she sent others away and asked Qin Chongli.
"Then, I suddenly thought if cutting his hopes about the former Empress might make him go with you," Qin Chongli said bitterly, mocking himself, "A troublesome idea for you, but I felt… he’d be better off with you than going to Linzhou. But…"
"But you can’t cut it," Du Yinsui said honestly, not mentioning trouble. "If just a doubt could sever it, he wouldn’t be Jiang Wu."
Qin Chongli knew, but he couldn’t help it, impulsively voicing useless anger for Jiang Wu.
After that short talk, came serious learning.
Night after night…
Hard work made Jiang Wu the first among them to open shackles alone with a bone for picking locks.
In the firelight, Du Yinsui saw Jiang Wu’s bright smile and suddenly recalled their first meeting.
If she still had her brief normal smell sense from when she arrived, she might not smell decay on Jiang Wu but fresh growth or success.
But her poison couldn’t be cured here, so she couldn’t smell it.
Still, Du Yinsui never expected that the night she thought "what a pity," she caught an unexpected scent after eating well.
