Before Chen Shiyi could react, a great many people came rushing across the covered bridge. There was chaos and panic—shoes were lost, people fell…
Those who fell were trampled beneath the feet of people fleeing for their lives, and soon lay utterly still.
Only after someone slammed into her shoulder did Chen Shiyi come to her senses. She hurriedly grabbed one of them and asked, “What happened?”
The person was gasping for breath.
“Officers, officers! So many of them have come! Hurry, run! They’re killing people…”
Chen Shiyi bit down hard on the corner of her lip and quickly headed in the opposite direction.
Her only old clothes were there, along with the quilt stuffed full of cotton. She had not even slept under it for a single night.
Her face pale, she lowered her head and raced along the base of the wall toward her quarters. On the path around the corner of a side room, several hairpins and ornaments lay scattered about. Then, from within the grass, a few faint, dim glints of gold flashed.
Could it be gold?
Chen Shiyi’s heart began to pound. A shameful thought spread through her mind.
Should she pick it up or not?
People were fleeing everywhere, and officers were rushing about in every direction.
In such a chaotic scene, no one would know if she took it, would they?
With money, perhaps her life would be a little better from then on.
In the end, the temptation of wealth defeated her reason, and her legs carried her toward that spot despite herself.
They were two small gold beads, presumably fallen from some expensive piece of jewelry.
She clenched them tightly in her hand, her heart filled with nervous anxiety.
She had just reached the corner when, suddenly, a gleaming blade was pressed against her neck.
Behind her, she was pulled back against a hard yet warm chest. Scorching breath mingled with hurried breathing and spilled over her neck, like that of a ferocious beast trapped in a cage.
Chen Shiyi raised her head in terror. In front of her, dozens of shining blades were pointed straight at her.
She was merely a village girl from the mountains—when had she ever witnessed such a scene? She could not even faint. Her legs had gone weak, yet the person behind her hauled her upright, forcing her to stand on tiptoe.
The man at the head of the group wore a suit of armor. His eyes were deep and shadowy, and the corners of his mouth curved in utter disdain.
“Heir, stop resisting in vain. Surrender!”
Chen Shiyi heard a gentle voice come from behind her.
“His Majesty has issued no decree.”
“This officer bears His Majesty’s oral order. Marquis Wensu’s Residence is suspected of embezzling a huge sum allocated for the construction of the embankment in Miao Wu Town, Yun County—an amount so enormous it is outrageous. The old marquis has already been detained in the Imperial City Office’s prison within the palace, while the entire household has been taken to the judicial prison and awaits disposition.”
The person behind her stiffened. The hand gripping her shoulder trembled faintly.
The gleaming plaque reflected the midday sunlight, shining so brightly that Chen Shiyi could not open her eyes.
When she finally came to her senses, dizzy and disoriented, she was already sitting in the corner of a prison cell, staring blankly at the rats scurrying everywhere across the floor.
That morning, she had knelt down and begged once—and in the end, she had begged her way into prison.
The sumptuous meal at noon had actually been her last meal before execution.
It seemed she truly had been unable to withstand such heaven-defying wealth.
The prison was gloomy and sinister. Disordered straw covered the floor, giving off a peculiar stench. By the dim oil lamp set into the prison wall, one could still clearly see the stains of blood splashed across it.
Chen Shiyi was not afraid.
Whenever Lu Erniang took a dislike to her, she would throw her out and lock the door.
The woodshed, mountain gullies, reed marshes, the branches of great trees—where had she not slept before?
It was the several people across from her who were trembling violently.
There was one somewhat older woman, two girls around seventeen or eighteen years old, and a boy of about four.
The child stared timidly at Chen Shiyi.
All of them had been put into white prison uniforms made of hemp. The coarse, stiff edges scraped painfully against their skin.
To prevent the prisoners from hiding valuables on their persons, the officers had made them let down their hair and changed their shoes for ordinary cloth footwear.
Chen Shiyi said nothing. She lowered her head and looked at her left hand, which had been scalded not long ago and was still wrapped in white cloth after having medicine applied.
After they had spent one night in the cell, officers came the next day to take them out. They fastened shackles around their wrists and ankles, then hurried them outside.
Chen Shiyi was terrified.
“Officer, sir, you’re not going to behead us, are you?”
At Ten-Mile Pavilion outside the western outskirts of the capital, the land was desolate. The chilly early-spring wind rustled bleakly, still cold enough to pierce to the bone.
Wen Zhiheng sniffed with his nose reddened by the cold. A heavy wooden cangue hung around his neck, and chains bound his feet, yet his eyes remained fixed in the direction of the capital, filled with worry.
“Why haven’t Mother and Zhirou come yet?”
Beside Wen Zhiheng, his younger half-brother, Wen Zhiyuan, said respectfully, “Elder Brother, they are women. Their pace must naturally be slower.”
Not long afterward, four tall figures and one small one appeared in the distance, staggering toward them.
Wen Zhiheng hurried forward to greet them.
“Mother, are you all right?”
Madam Wen’s eyes were filled with grief. She examined the cangue around Wen Zhiheng’s neck, tears swimming in her eyes.
“What are we to do? The marquis’s life or death is still unknown. I do not even know what happened. How could everything have become like this overnight?”
Wen Zhiheng hurriedly consoled her.
“Mother, there is no need to worry so much. Father is not in any immediate danger. His Majesty has only exiled him to the northern lands for now. We have been separated from him and are merely being exiled a thousand li.”
“Our family has never suffered hardship before. Traveling such a long road… I fear we will die along the way.”
Wen Zhiheng quickly said, “Wu Jinghui still remembers that I once saved his life. I asked him to leave a maid for us. She can look after you to some extent along the way. There is nothing to fear.”
After hearing Wen Zhiheng say this, everyone’s eyes turned toward Chen Shiyi, who stood silently off to the side.
Chen Shiyi raised her eyes, but none of their expressions seemed to register. Her mind was filled again and again with that one word.
Exile.
Exile!
In the past, beneath the great banyan tree in Xiangyang Village, she would sometimes hear men who had returned from traveling tell stories about the outside world. They spoke of princes and nobles who had offended His Majesty or committed crimes and been exiled.
What she remembered most clearly was their saying that exile was a death sentence second only to execution.
Most people died on the road to exile. Of those who survived the journey, the rest died in the place of exile.
To this day, she had never heard of anyone who had managed to return alive to the capital.
A thread of despair rose in her heart.
She only wanted to stay alive. Why was that so difficult?
She could not understand. All the servants had been released—why had she alone been kept behind?
From the meaning of that young master’s words, she was the unlucky fool who was supposed to look after them all the way there.
She walked over to the officer nearby and said awkwardly, “Officer, sir, I don’t know them. Why are you sending me into exile? I really am innocent. Couldn’t you let me go?”
The officer was just as baffled.
“That’s not up to me. You’ve already been designated as a prisoner!”
Wen Zhiheng grew extremely impatient upon hearing this. How dare a mere maid ignore them?
“You, come here!”
Dragging her heavy wrist and ankle shackles, Chen Shiyi walked over to Wen Zhiheng.
Wen Zhiheng looked the frail, thin maid up and down and said with disdain, “Your status is now my, Wen Zhiheng’s, bedchamber maid. Your position has risen by more than a single level. Along the way, you need only take good care of my family. Once we arrive, prosperity and honor will not be lacking for you.”
Chen Shiyi also looked him up and down. He was a handsome and refined young man, exuding the air of someone born to the upper classes. Even in such a wretched state, he could not conceal his noble bearing.
But what did that have to do with her?
“What is a bedchamber maid?”
Chen Shiyi continued, “You’re still wearing a cangue. How can you make empty promises of wealth and honor? I’m not a three-year-old child. I’m past the age when people can coax and deceive me. Go tell the officer to release me.”
Wen Zhiheng was both furious and amused.
So this was what it meant for a tiger to fall onto the plains and be bullied by dogs. A mere maid actually dared to speak to him in such a tone.
“Let me tell you this: for the rest of your life, you can only follow us into exile, to that desolate place where no one lives. Whether you die of illness or starvation, do you think I’ll save you? If you know what’s good for you, you’ll obey me. Understand?”
Chen Shiyi shook her head.
“I don’t understand. There are so many servants—why choose me? Besides, I don’t know any of you. What gives you the right to make me look after you?”
“You once ate food from the Marquis’s Residence. Your contract of servitude is in the hands of the Marquis’s Residence.”
“I only ate one egg and one piece of braised pork! I don’t want to go into exile…”
At the desolate Ten-Mile Pavilion, Chen Shiyi’s loud sobs echoed across the empty road.
The entire family of the Marquis’s Residence exchanged glances, wondering if this girl might be a fool.