But after all, they were their family, connected by countless ties of flesh and blood, so Xie Mingzhu naturally couldn’t criticize them too much.
Who knew if they might reconcile with their families in the future?
What would she be then?
Even so, her words had struck a chord with the three of them. Their endless grievances seemed to be understood, and they cried even more intensely than before.
Xie Mingzhu knew they needed to vent their emotions and didn’t stop them. She originally wanted to take out a handkerchief for them to wipe their tears, but where would she find such a thing now?
She did have one, but when Xiaoshi’s shoes tore, she had used it to pad the hole.
In the end, she could only comfort them with words, “Cry, let it all out. After this, live well. Life is still long!”
The three cried for a while until they heard Xiao Mo’er’s voice coming from outside the woods. They wiped their tears and returned to the group with Xie Mingzhu.
With red, swollen eyes, they ate their meal, then boarded the carriage and continued on their way.
Yang Defa saw this and grew quite worried. Having heard that in the neighboring county, a girl had taken her own life after arriving, he hurriedly advised, “I say, young ladies, don’t overthink it. There are many cases like yours. It’s not something you willingly chose. The people of Guangmao County can tell right from wrong.”
The three were merely resentful of their own families. What chilled them more than the openly malicious escorts were their own closest relatives.
However, since Yang Butou personally spoke up, they replied with a few words.
This somewhat reassured Yang Butou, but privately, he still asked Xie Mingzhu to keep a closer watch on them, ensuring nothing unfortunate happened.
Otherwise, if anyone went missing, the county magistrate would surely blame him for incompetence.
That evening, they reached a courier station and slept on bamboo mats spread on the floor overnight. The next day, they set off again.
By noon, they arrived at Guangmao County.
Although ever since entering the Lingnan region, they hadn’t encountered a single decent village along the way, let alone a town.
Now, finally seeing signs of human habitation, everyone was very excited.
Even though the streets were potholed, covered in mud and gravel, without a single proper road. The houses were mostly bamboo huts with thatched roofs, and most of them were diaojiaolou (stilt houses), with livestock kept underneath.
So the streets had a rather unpleasant smell.
Everything looked dilapidated, but surprisingly, among these shabby buildings, there were still teahouses and wine shops.
“Where is this?” Xie Mingzhu wondered. When they entered, she hadn’t seen any village sign or the like, so she asked Yang Defa.
Yang Defa beamed with joy, “This is Guangmao County.”
Xie Mingzhu thought they had finally reached the territory of Guangmao County, but then she saw Yang Butou pointing to a fork in the road ahead and saying, “Over there is our county office.”
At these words, everyone who had been excitedly looking at the stilt houses on both sides was stunned.
Xie Mingzhu was so shocked she was speechless. It took her a while to barely process it. “This… is Guangmao County Town?”
Yang Butou smiled candidly, “Our county town is a bit poor, but rest assured, our county magistrate is a good official. I believe it won’t be long before things improve.”
Xie Mingzhu could no longer force a smile, but still spoke against her conscience: “It’s actually not too bad—looks quite rustic.” She should have realized earlier that a place of exile could never be anything desirable.
It had just rained, and the ground was still damp with moisture. Soon enough, the mules’ hooves were caked thick with mud, making the journey arduous as they slipped repeatedly.
Seeing this, Xie Mingzhu decided to jump down from the cart. “Since we’re almost at the county office, let’s walk the rest of the way.”
Yang Butou thought it was a good idea, as it was only a short distance left.
But shortly after stepping onto the ground, their already worn-out shoes quickly filled with sand and mud.
The others also learned that this was Guangmao County and felt as if the sky had collapsed.
It was understandable—they were all from the capital, accustomed to prosperity, and knew nothing about remote, impoverished areas. With their limited understanding, they couldn’t fathom just how dire true poverty could be.
Adding to their dismay, the place lacked even a city wall, let alone a city gate. They struggled to accept that this shabby village with just two streets—inferior even to a town—was actually Guangmao County.
The thought of spending their entire lives here, growing old and dying in such conditions, filled them with despair. Some even wished they had died on the journey.
Their arrival drew crowds of locals, though there was little difference between them—all were descendants of Yan and Huang, with black hair and yellow skin.
The people here, however, dressed more lightly, their clothes vibrant in color.
Both men and women wore straw sandals that exposed their toes, while those better off wore wooden clogs.
Naturally, the local customs were more liberal compared to other regions.
In other provinces, a woman’s feet were equated with her chastity—if seen by another man, it was as if she had been defiled. Even rural women working in fields wore socks.
The procession soon arrived at the so-called government office.
Although they had braced themselves for the area’s poverty after what they had seen, their hearts sank further at the sight of the fence resembling a rural farmstead, with a few stilted thatched huts inside.
Yet, the place was bustling with activity.
It was densely packed with people.
As soon as Yang Butou arrived, someone hurried forward to greet him, eyeing the young women in the group while pulling Yang Butou aside to ask questions.
But Yang Butou, needing to report back on his mission, had no time to entertain them. He waved them off, saying, “Wait over there for the magistrate’s orders.”
The crowd dispersed, though they didn’t leave the county office grounds, gathering instead under a coconut tree on the other side.
As for Xie Mingzhu and the others, they were directed to an open space on the right.
Most were disheartened, with little hope for the future.
No wonder the team sent to fetch them hadn’t even included a horse—it wasn’t that they, as exiles, were unworthy of horses, but that the county office simply didn’t have any.
And the mules were led away immediately upon arrival.
They then learned that several had been borrowed from local wealthy families.
Xie Mingzhu also felt uneasy, though not because of the poverty.
She had accepted the reality—exiles had no right to be choosy. Poor as it was, this place wouldn’t let them starve to death.
The biggest issue here was the backward transportation infrastructure.
Her current worry was what kind of household she would be assigned to. So she had been secretly observing the group resting under the coconut trees opposite.
Of course, the other side had also been watching them.
Xiao Mo’er was already betrothed. Though she didn’t know what her future husband would look like, Yang Butou was a reliable man, so the younger brother he raised probably wouldn’t be too bad? Now she was only anxious for her sister-in-law, worrying incessantly.
Su Yurou and the other two were also nervous and uneasy. After all, their reputations were tainted, especially Li Jiao Xing, who was pregnant with a bastard child. Though she loathed it, she hadn’t had the chance to get rid of the unwanted fetus.
She wondered whether Yang Butou’s promise to find her a dependable family could really be trusted?
Time passed minute by minute. The people opposite seemed more impatient than them, having gone in to urge things along several times.
It made sense—they had received notice earlier, summoned from their homes. Some families lived far from the county town, requiring one or two days of travel!
Like the villagers from Silver Moon Beach.
They couldn’t afford delays, so naturally, they were in a hurry.
All they wanted now was to claim their wives and hurry home.
Thus, under the opposite side’s urging, someone soon emerged—a scholarly-looking young man, likely the county’s advisor or assistant magistrate.
He definitely wasn’t the county magistrate, because Yang Defa hadn’t come out yet.
Evidently, he was still reporting to the magistrate.
After emerging, the young man gave a few instructions to the minor officials beside him. One of them then approached Xie Mingzhu’s group and called out loudly, “Those whose names are called by our Assistant Magistrate Fang, step forward.”
Everyone grew tense at once, their eyes converging on the young man.
So this was Assistant Magistrate Fang of Guangmao County.
He had originally earned the title of Provincial Graduate but never took the Palace Examination, which limited his official career. Now middle-aged, he remained an assistant magistrate, transferred repeatedly among various counties in Lingnan.
But Guangmao County was the poorest one he had served in.
Ultimately, it was due to the sparse population.
So when the newly appointed magistrate proposed remarrying widows, he fully supported the idea.
After all, this place was truly impoverished, and no one wanted to come here. They had to find their own ways to increase the population.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to acquire this batch of exiled convicts.
Now, seeing the number of women registered for remarriage, he was quite satisfied.
But for the moment, he was first assigning people to the coastal fishing villages for salt-drying and land reclamation.
Thus, all families with dependents—except unmarried daughters—were included. These people would be supervised upon arrival at the coast.
Also included were the young scholars from the Hanlin Academy.
In truth, besides lacking population, the locality was especially short on talent.
But they dared not keep these people in the government office, given their status as convicts. How could they be allowed to handle official affairs?
So they were all sent to the coast for salt-drying and land reclamation.
As a result, most people were filtered out, leaving only widows like Xie Mingzhu and unmarried girls.
Among those remaining, Xie Mingzhu was the only widow with children—five of them, no less. Her face hadn’t healed yet, still covered in bumps and pits, ugly and unsightly.
So even with Yang Butou’s discreet maneuvering, her chances of being chosen by a good family were still very low.
She was even worse off than those girls and widows who had scarred their faces to preserve their chastity.
Now that the families were being separated, there was inevitably a great deal of crying, struggling, and pulling. It took quite a while before those people were taken away, and the courtyard finally quieted down somewhat.
But within moments, they were all surrounded again by the group of people opposite, watching them like tigers eyeing their prey.
Xie Mingzhu quickly pulled her children closer, and in no time, her family was pushed into a corner by the fence.
Since her entire family now looked rather unsightly, they naturally weren’t among the first choices for anyone.
Just as she breathed a quiet sigh of relief, hoping no one would want her while facing these fierce and aggressive people, Yang Butou pulled a woman along and squeezed through the crowd.
Yang Butou seemed very busy and only said one sentence: “This is my woman.” Then he hurried off. Shortly after, Xie Mingzhu saw him lead Li Jiao Xing away, though she had no idea where he was taking her.