"Among common folks, there are poor peasants and rich peasants. We have strength in numbers. Do you think you can survive relying on the Shen family?"
"Here's your chance now. There may not be another opportunity along the road."
"Go back and think it over carefully. Remember to have that Shen girl come serve our Lu Xue and Lu Shuang as well. If the young couple does more work, won't you have less to do?"
Feng Xiao'e's eyes lit up at these words.
That's right—the son pays the father's debts.
If Fu Xuanheng and Shen Yunyue worked like oxen and horses for the He family, then that little brat Fu Xuansheng could be used as a slave too.
The He family would naturally give them their protection.
And no other family would dare do anything to them, right?
With that thought, Feng Xiao'e quickly pulled her daughter away.
Shen Yunyue saw Feng Xiao'e heading over to the He family's side but paid her no mind.
If she dared to cause any trouble, Shen Yunyue wouldn't care who Feng Xiao'e was.
"Grandfather, Grandmother. Please get on the carriage first." Shen Yunyue let Old Master Shen and Old Madam Shen board first.
Old Madam Shen saw that the carriage wasn't large and there were many of them. She sighed. "Yuebao, let Xuanheng get on first. This old woman can still walk."
"That's right, that's right. Your grandfather's legs are still strong—I can walk too. You young ones get on and sit."
Shen Yunyue's nose tingled. The older generation of the Shen family had never shown favoritism.
"Yuebao. Let your Great-Granduncle and Great-Grandaunt ride the carriage too. At their age, they truly can't walk much further." Old Master Shen had nothing but love for his descendants, and he looked at Shen Yunyue with pleading eyes.
Great-Uncle Shen and Madam Ma Shen came over, dragging their two little great-grandsons along.
The carriage was small, and the horse was old.
"Fine. I'll follow Grandfather's arrangement." Shen Yunyue thought it over—as long as the eldest branch didn't cause trouble, it would be fine.
If they had any other ideas, she wouldn't hesitate to set aside family ties.
Madam Ma Shen quickly climbed onto the carriage, calling out, "Old man, hurry up and get on!" The couple had only followed their son from their ancestral lands to Jingcheng.
They had learned the etiquette of the capital in a half-baked, awkward manner.
Not at all like Old Master Shen and his wife, who were kind and gentle.
"Yunyue, let Xuanheng get on the carriage first," Old Master Shen quickly suggested.
"Grandfather, if you two elders don't ride, no one else dares to ride either." A warmth surged through Shen Yunyue's heart. How could a family like the Shens end up as cannon fodder?
Feng Xiao'e happened to arrive at that moment and scrambled to climb onto the carriage.
She muttered:
"My feet hurt. I should get on first."
"Concubine Feng, the old, the weak, and the sick board first. If the others can't fit, they walk." Shen Yunyue's expression turned cold. "If you're not happy with that, the He family is right over there. Be my guest."
The Jiechai waved his whip, urging everyone to get moving.
The number of Chaitou and Jiechai was assigned according to the number of exiles.
No one wanted to travel too late.
Otherwise, they'd have to camp out in dangerous places after dark.
They had to reach each Zhoufu within the allotted time to get their Travel Permits stamped—being late meant punishment.
Tonight they would definitely be sleeping in the wilderness. They could only hope to find a rundown temple to settle in for the night.
Feng Xiao'e wanted to throw her weight around, but seeing that Shen Yunyue didn't take her seriously,
she glared angrily. "Shen Yunyue, I am a secondary consort of Taizifu. How dare a junior like you be so insolent!"
Mo Yiran's knees went weak with fright, and she nearly fell to the ground.
Shen Yunyue stepped forward to steady Mo Yiran, then turned with a light laugh: "Fu Xuanheng's father has also been stripped of his rank and made a commoner. You're not a secondary consort—just a concubine. At most, I'll respectfully call you Concubine Feng."
"As you know, a concubine is called half a master, but that half isn't really a master at all. You're only a step above a servant. Xuanheng and I are the true masters here. You can't pull rank as an elder."
Fu Xuanting bit her little hand and burst into tears. "Brother, this bad person is bullying my mother!"
Fu Xuanheng was pushed over by Shen Yunfeng and Shen Yuncheng.
Fu Xuansheng and Shen Yunzheng walked hand in hand behind them.
The two little ones huffed and puffed as they carried him to the carriage. His face darkened: "What are you crying about? Why don't you go bully someone else? Don't always count on the He family. If you want to go, go. Yun Yue and I are staying with the Shen family."
Shen Yunfeng climbed onto the carriage and shifted Fu Xuanheng to the inside.
Old Master Shen and Old Madam Shen also boarded the carriage. Shen Yunzheng was young and didn't understand anything—the little one cheerfully climbed aboard.
"Xuansheng, you get on too." Shen Yunyue saw how timid Fu Xuansheng looked and beckoned him onto the carriage.
"Brother Xuansheng, come sit by me!" Shen Yunzheng waved happily. The little boy had no idea what exile truly meant.
Fu Xuansheng didn't dare meet Concubine Feng's dagger-like glare and obediently crawled over to sit beside Shen Yunzheng.
"Mother, you and Second Aunt get on the carriage. Yunfeng will drive." Shen Yunyue was young, but she looked like a little adult.
Mo Yiran and Liu Xiaoyun instinctively treated Shen Yunyue as their pillar of strength.
Forgetting that she was still a child of only thirteen with a face full of youthful innocence.
"This carriage can't hold that many people. All you adults are riding, but my grandson's wife is heavily pregnant!" Madam Ma Shen saw Shen Yunyue arranging for so many people to board and quickly protested.
"This isn't your family's carriage. Where do you get off with all that talk?" Shen Yunyue said, though in the end, she still felt sorry for the pregnant woman.
Looking at the Shen family's main branch, a frail woman was heavily pregnant.
In her hand, she held a little girl of no more than three years old.
The little girl looked at everyone with timid eyes.
"This is your cousin Shen Yunhe's wife, Liu Feifei. This three-year-old girl is his daughter, Lingbao. As for the child in her belly, no one knows if it's a boy or girl yet." Mo Yiran sighed sympathetically.
"Sister-in-law Feifei, take Lingbao and get on the carriage." Shen Yunyue was not a heartless person.
She would grant this courtesy, but only as long as they harbored no ill intentions along the way.
"Thank you, Sister Yue." Liu Feifei bowed in gratitude and led her daughter onto the carriage.
As the little girl passed by Shen Yunyue, she gave her a big smile. "Auntie is so pretty."
The crack of a whip nearby made Shen Yunyue flinch, and she nearly lost her footing and fell.
She still hadn't gotten used to the sound of whips.
Taking a silk flower from her hair, Shen Yunyue tucked it into the little girl's hair. "Go inside the carriage now."
From the Shen family's main branch, besides those who had boarded the carriage, there was also the eldest son, Shen Citong, and his wife, Madam Zhou Shen.
The second daughter-in-law, Madam Lu Shen, and her nine-year-old grandson, Shen Yunhai. It was said that another grandson, sixteen-year-old Shen Yunteng, had left years ago to follow a wandering monk and had not been implicated this time.
Married daughters didn't count, so they weren't implicated either.
The family wasn't large—compared to other households, the Shen family was considered a small clan.
Most of the clan members were still in their ancestral home and had never come to Jingcheng.
Turning her head, she saw Concubine Feng trying to climb onto the carriage again. Shen Yunyue said softly in a low voice:
"Concubine Feng, you and Xuanting should walk. Everyone in the carriage is either elderly or children—this old horse can't pull that many people." Shen Yunyue inexplicably disliked this Feng Xiao'e, always feeling that the woman was brewing nothing but trouble.
"Fine then. You bought the carriage under my Fu family's name, and in the end, we're the ones walking." Concubine Feng refused to accept it and tried to force her way onto the carriage.
"Yuebao, let the mother and daughter ride." Mo Yiran, preferring to avoid trouble rather than invite it, wanted to give in.
"No. If making a fuss gets you a seat, what's next?" Shen Yunyue wasn't about to indulge her bad habits. "Concubine Feng, the carriage cost twenty-five taels of silver. Do you have the silver?"
Concubine Feng was nearly choked with rage—where would she get silver after the family had been raided?
She hugged Fu Xuanting and said nothing, glaring at Shen Yunyue with venomous eyes.
Liu Xiaoyun carried Shubao into the carriage and handed him to Old Madam Shen to hold. She and Mo Yiran both walked as well.
Shen Yuncheng and Shen Yunfeng drove the carriage together.
Neither of the two young men knew how to drive, but they were learning on the spot.
Besides, they were bold, and anyone who could ride a horse probably figured driving a carriage was much the same.
The rest of the Shen family's main branch walked, with Shen Citong holding a tree branch in his hand.
A Jiechai rode over on horseback, cracking his whip hard in the air. "Get moving now, all of you. Looking for death, are you? Dawdling like you're on a sightseeing trip."