The July sun beat down ruthlessly, making everyone drowsy with its scorching heat.
Inside the carriage, the air was suffocatingly hot. Ji Qingqing yawned, gloomily realizing that the flatbreads she had made were on the verge of spoiling.
Fortunately, they had these provisions over the past two days. Lord Feng was strictly acting as an escort and nothing more; he didn’t care about anything else.
Seeing that the dry rations were almost inedible, Ji Qingqing plucked up her courage to consult Lord Feng, then placed the flatbreads on the carriage roof to bake in the sun.
Lord Feng’s mouth twitched at the sight of the dark flatbreads. Watching Ji Qingqing and Eunuch Liu eating them with gusto, he couldn’t help but crack a rare joke: “Getting an early taste of the hard life, are we?”
Xiao Yihan and Gu Feng had been unconscious for the last two days.
Fearing the two men would starve to death, Ji Qingqing boiled a handful of rice during every break and forcibly spoon-fed them, while regularly nourishing them with ginseng-infused water.
As a result, the bruises from fingers on Xiao Yihan and Gu Feng’s faces grew worse by the day.
Every time, Ji Qingqing awkwardly turned her head away and pretended not to see, while silently thinking, Who told these two to be so vigilant even when they’re at death’s door? Keeping their teeth clenched so tight!
The only thing that left Ji Qingqing speechless was that Eunuch Liu didn’t treat her like a girl at all.
Perhaps because they were fed so much fluid, Xiao Yihan and Gu Feng needed to relieve themselves every two hours.
Eunuch Liu tended to Gu Feng, while Ji Qingqing took care of Xiao Yihan.
Ji Qingqing had tried to resist, but Eunuch Liu shut her down completely.
In Eunuch Liu’s words: “How could a servant like me pay as much attention to detail as a young lady? It is an honor for a humble servant like me to attend to the Master personally. In the past, you wouldn’t even have had the chance to serve him…”
Ji Qingqing… I don’t want this kind of honor!
Feeling stifled inside the carriage, Ji Qingqing walked alongside it, silently watching the exile guards up ahead occasionally lash their whips at the prisoners.
She congratulated herself: Thank goodness I’m not up front. Otherwise, with just two wild-herb steamed buns a day and constant beatings, I’d be dead in a matter of days.
According to Eunuch Liu, Xiao Yihan’s maternal grandfather, the Grand General, and his entire family were among the exiled crowd—clearly dragged down by association.
When the guards knocked down another old man with a whip, a wave of loud weeping erupted from the exiled group.
Four young men in heavy wooden stocks did their best to shield the old man, while several women frantically helped him up. The young men were already covered in bloody welts, yet the procession moved onward without delay.
Ji Qingqing could hardly bear to watch.
After traveling another ten li or so, they stopped to rest and have lunch in a patch of woods.
Ji Qingqing sat leaning against a tree to catch her breath, planning to dig for some wild herbs in a bit—otherwise, they would soon be starving.
Just then, Eunuch Liu’s high-pitched voice rang out, “Girl Qing, Girl Qing, come clean up quickly!”
Ji Qingqing wiped her face in resignation, scrambled into the carriage, and skillfully removed Xiao Yihan’s soaked trousers.
Eunuch Liu took the trousers to a nearby stream to wash them.
As Ji Qingqing wiped down Xiao Yihan’s bottom—which had already developed a heat rash—she desperately missed modern disposable diapers.
Suddenly, a chill ran down her spine, and goosebumps instantly covered her arms.
She rubbed her arms and poked her head out to check outside. “Strange… the weather hasn’t changed!”
When she turned back to continue wiping, she dropped the rag in sheer horror, her brain going completely blank.
Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?!
Meeting Xiao Yihan’s glare—a look reserved for a dead person—Ji Qingqing hastily pulled a tattered quilt over his exposed lower body to cover it up. She gave it an awkward pat and forced a fake smile that looked worse than crying.
With a trembling voice, she stammered, “Yo… Yo… Your Highness, you… you’re awake!”
She immediately let out a nervous laugh. “It’s good that you’re awake! Now Eunuch Liu won’t have to wipe away tears every day.”
Xiao Yihan stared coldly at the familiar-looking woman in front of him. She was dressed in coarse cloth with rolled-up sleeves, sported a messy bird’s-nest hair, and had a somewhat dark complexion. Irritation welled up inside him seeing her behaving suspiciously around his lower body and now putting on a guilty, fawning smile. His gaze grew several degrees colder.
He opened his mouth, a raspy, harsh voice squeezing out of his throat: “Where are we?”
Ji Qingqing shivered, her fake smile collapsing entirely.
Facing Xiao Yihan’s murderous gaze—as if she were a pervert he couldn’t wait to kill—she felt so awkward her toes could dig out an entire apartment.
Faced with such a sensitive topic, Ji Qingqing raced her brain to figure out an answer that wouldn’t hurt his pride or make him hold a grudge against her.
Just as she was caught in a dilemma, Gu Feng woke up as well.
Gu Feng groggily turned his head, saw himself lying next to his master, and his face instantly turned pale as he sat up in terror.
He likely pulled at his injuries, letting out a painful grunt. Even so, Gu Feng insisted on kneeling beside him, his voice raspy: “Please punish me, Master.”
Ji Qingqing stared wide-eyed at Gu Feng, who seemed to be apologizing completely bare-bottomed, and secretly gave him a mental thumb’s up: Brother, you’re dedicated.
Xiao Yihan cast a faint glance at Gu Feng. “It’s fine.”
Gu Feng froze. Realizing he was bare from the waist down, a blush flushed over his dark, handsome face. He shifted his body and gritted his teeth, choking out: “Miss, please excuse yourself.”
Ji Qingqing had no interest in staring at a naked man anyway. Just as she was about to slip out to find Eunuch Liu, she saw an inquiring look in Xiao Yihan’s eyes.
She stood there awkwardly, unsure whether to stay or leave.
“Girl Qing, hurry and gather some wild herbs! We’re moving out in fifteen minutes!”
For the first time, Ji Qingqing found the eunuch’s voice music to her ears. She shouted back enthusiastically, “Got it!”
With that, she jumped off the carriage and bolted.
Eunuch Liu chuckled and scolded the wild girl as she sprinted off. But when he pulled back the carriage curtain and peeked inside—clack! The clothes in his hand dropped straight to the ground…