Ning Ruobing’s gaze, however, flickered back and forth between Xie Ciyuan and Yun Jiuqing.
Only when sounds came from outside did Yun Jiuqing react—if Xie Ciyuan could still pick up her thread, it meant the two of them had known all along.
The realization that Xie Ciyuan and Yun Jiuqing shared a secret she knew nothing about stirred an unprecedented sense of crisis in Ning Ruobing.
Seeing Xie Ciyuan and Yun Jiuqing standing together, faces anxious as they looked outside, she complained with displeasure, “It’s all Aunt’s fault—she can’t even take care of a child properly. One moment it’s a fall, the next a bump.
And Second Brother too—why on earth did he have to go provoke that Wang Jingkang? He got himself whipped for nothing, and dragged Xuan Lie and the others into suffering along with him.
Cousin, you’d better eat something while you can, because I’m afraid once that Wang Jingkang snaps out of it, he won’t give you the chance to eat at all.”
Ning Ruobing wasn’t stupid either—they were exiled convicts, and making such a racket was no different from challenging the authority of the escorting officers.
Once the officers came to their senses, they would surely find ways to retaliate.
But Xie Ciyuan’s status was special, and Xuan Qing and the others had martial skills to rely on, so the officers wouldn’t dare go too far.
Traveling at night wasn’t safe for them either—the only means of revenge they had was simply withholding food.
Yun Jiuqing agreed wholeheartedly, grabbing a pastry and shoving it to Xie Ciyuan’s lips. “Listen to her—open up. Once this chance is gone, it’s gone.”
Xie Ciyuan couldn’t see, but he still cooperatively opened his mouth, and Yun Jiuqing stuffed the pastry in.
Xie Ciyuan dutifully ate two pieces, but the increasingly fierce shouting outside made it hard to continue.
Just then, Uncle Mo returned. “Prince, this old servant went to listen—apparently the escorting officers deliberately dragged other convicts to the wall and beat them, forcing them to cry out loud to stir the hearts of the brothers at Nangu Ying.
A few of our men over there couldn’t hold back and climbed over the wall—Xuan Qing and the others acted early to keep things from escalating.”
Uncle Mo hadn’t mentioned Yuanyuan or Ning Ruoyu at all from start to finish. Yun Jiuqing shot Ning Ruobing a puzzled glance, but before she could say anything, the other woman had already bitten her lip as if about to cry in grievance.
Yun Jiuqing found it utterly exasperating. “You all talk—I’ll go take a look outside.”
With that, she turned and left. If she couldn’t win against them, she could at least avoid them, right?
Back when Prince Yan’s Residence needed a bride to ward off misfortune, they’d all kept their distance. Now they were acting as if she were some mistress climbing her way up—ridiculous.
Stepping out the door, she saw Xuan Qing and the others locked in a brawl with the escorting officers.
The relay station had been burned down, so they were now staying in an official warehouse near Nangu Ying—four walls but no roof.
The single private room had been given to Xie Ciyuan, while the entire Ning family was in the main warehouse. At this moment, Xuan Qing and the others were fighting fiercely with the officers, and the Ning women were badly frightened. Yuanyuan, nestled in the arms of the Ning family’s eldest matriarch, Wen Xin, was crying so hard she had begun to convulse.
Faintly, the sounds of arguing from the Nangu Ying soldiers could be heard beyond the wall.
Yun Jiuqing strode over to the eldest matriarch. “Aunt, give Yuanyuan to me.”
The poor child was already showing symptoms of respiratory alkalosis, yet Wen Xin was still patting the child’s back in a panic, trying to make her stop crying.
If she truly stopped, the child’s life would be over.
Wen Xin had long since been terrified out of her wits, and seeing someone clear-headed and calm approach, she unconsciously let go.
Yun Jiuqing picked up the child, soothing her breathing while murmuring gently, “Yuanyuan, be good, don’t be afraid—your sister-in-law the Princess is right here.”
The words had barely left her mouth when an officer stumbled and crashed toward them, nearly landing on top of them.
Yun Jiuqing glanced over and saw Xuan Qing and the others still fighting fiercely. She covered Yuanyuan’s ears and roared out in sheer exasperation, “Damn it, stop it right now!
If you’ve got the guts, go kill enemies on the battlefield—what kind of skill is it to bully your own people?
The Prince is still thinking of the Great Chu River and Mountain even in his nightmares—when will you ever let him rest in peace?!”
Her voice cut through like a piercing wail, carrying immense force.
The moment she shouted, not only did the brawlers in the warehouse freeze, but even the Nangu Ying soldiers on the other side of the wall fell silent.
Xuan Qing and the others were ashamed that all their shouting combined couldn’t match the volume of one woman’s voice, while the officers were simply stunned—they’d never seen an exiled convict as brazen as Yun Jiuqing.
Snapping back to himself, Wang Jingkang strode over to Yun Jiuqing in displeasure. “Hold on—who the hell do you think you are, giving orders to me?”
Wang Jingkang wasn’t a high-ranking official, but on the road escorting convicts, he was a petty tyrant.
If he was in a bad mood, he’d pick someone at random for a beating, or cut off the prisoners’ food—such things were routine for him.
Today, the Prince Yan’s Residence guards daring to lay hands on him had already pissed him off, and now a woman was daring to talk back to him. Wang Jingkang was on the verge of exploding.
Being called to a halt by Yun Jiuqing only stoked his fury. He barked out an order, “Keep beating them!”
His officers all depended on him for their livelihoods, so they naturally followed his lead, immediately swinging their fists back into the fight with Xuan Qing and the others.
Even on the way to escort the prisoners, they deliberately shifted toward where the Ning family women were hiding, scaring them into crying out to provoke the soldiers of Nangu Ying just beyond the wall.
Yun Jiuqing held Yuanyuan with a calm expression. “It doesn’t matter what I amount to, but if you keep being this stupid and force those men over here, I guarantee you—they won’t need a single blade. They could beat you to death with their bare fists alone.”
With that, she lowered her voice and sneered. “I know someone put you up to this.
But use that rusted brain of yours and think carefully—even the death of the Grand Emperor wasn’t enough to sentence Prince Yan to death. How much trouble would you have to stir up for your master behind you to achieve his goal?
Are you sure your little life isn’t just part of your master’s plan?”
Prince Yan had rendered outstanding service, and Nangu Ying was equally renowned. If the Emperor wanted to move against either, it wouldn’t be a quiet affair.
The charge of dereliction of duty wouldn’t be enough—better to add violent prison-breaking and indiscriminate murder of innocents.
And out here in these desolate wilds, besides the soldiers of Nangu Ying, the only others were these escort officers. Apart from them, where would there be so many innocents to kill?
Wang Jingkang’s official rank wasn’t high—just a Jiuzhou Xunpu—but this position brought him into contact with all sorts of people.
He quickly sorted out the web of interests, yet he refused to be led around by the nose by a woman—especially a woman who was a convict. He deliberately scoffed at Yun Jiuqing. “Who the hell do you think you are? Why should I listen to you?”
“Tsk, if only you’d said that sooner.”
Yun Jiuqing gave a sly smile. “Captain Wang, are you seeing double right now?
When you shake your head, doesn’t your neck crack? And by the way, your lower abdomen and throat—there’s a feeling that’s neither quite sore nor quite painful, but it itches…”
When she hadn’t mentioned it, Wang Jingkang felt nothing. But the moment she said it, he suddenly felt discomfort everywhere.
Wherever Yun Jiuqing mentioned, his hand instinctively went to touch. After confirming the corresponding symptoms, he finally demanded anxiously, “You bitch, what did you do to me?”
“Poisoned you—what else did you think I could do?”
Yun Jiuqing said without the slightest guilt the very answer Wang Jingkang had guessed himself.
She had been smiling just before, but as soon as those words fell, her face turned cold. “Tell them to stop right now. Otherwise, I’ll make sure you die without even knowing which direction your grave faces!”