They complained about the food, they complained about the drink.
By nightfall, when they had to camp in the wilderness, these people who hadn’t yet adapted to their changed social status were still complaining!
Sang Zhixia stuffed a Dry Steamed Bun into her mouth.
Couldn’t they see the situation they were in? Having something to eat at all was already a blessing.
She wasn’t picky about the quality, staying silent and unwilling to meddle in others’ affairs, but Xu Ao couldn’t do the same.
He was constantly forced to shuttle back and forth among the weeping and wailing crowd.
Before Sang Zhixia could even manage to swallow the bun in her mouth, a waterskin landed by her feet.
Xu Ao tossed the waterskin and walked away, squatting down to pick up a bun that had been thrown on the ground.
He brushed off the dust clinging to the bun and handed over another clean one from his pocket.
“Grandmother, the journey is still long. Please eat a little.”
“Is this fit for human consumption?!”
Old Madam slapped his hand away angrily and gritted her teeth. “I won’t eat this! Get me something else!”
Xu Ao held out the bun for a long moment without moving, biting the inside of his cheek before finally letting out a bitter smile.
“This is all we have.”
“Then I’d rather starve than eat it!”
Xu Ao’s lips tightened with unspoken meaning, and then another commotion broke out from his biological mother’s side.
“Ah! There’s a bug!”
“Ao’er, there’s a bug here!”
Ao’er put down the bun and went to help swat the bug.
Once the bug was dealt with, his stepmother hugged her two young children and continued crying. Xu Ao comforted her briefly before rushing over to check on Old Master’s condition.
They had been traveling for a full day on this exile journey, and Old Master still hadn’t woken up.
By the time Sang Zhixia finished her bun, Xu Ao was still running around, busy with everyone’s needs.
Every breathing person here was calling his name, as if the name “Xu Ao” were suddenly worth its weight in gold, and no one was willing to let him go.
Sang Zhixia thought for a moment, then picked up the waterskin and walked over.
To be fair, aside from dragging her into this exile, Xu Ao hadn’t done much to wrong her.
When she confronted Sang Bingrou, he had even helped cover for her.
Lending a hand wouldn’t hurt.
“Hey.”
“Have some water.”
Everyone else was at their breaking point—Xu Ao couldn’t be made of iron.
Squatting on the ground, Xu Ao reacted slowly. Hearing her voice, he shook his head hard and looked up, seemingly startled to see her, but his gaze was strangely unfocused.
Sang Zhixia sensed something was wrong. “Are you alright?”
“I…”
Thud!
He hit the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
Xu Ao coughed up a large mouthful of blood and collapsed straight onto the earth.
Sang Zhixia’s mind went completely blank.
Damn, are you trying to scam me?!
“Xu Ao?”
“Xu Ao, are you alright?!”
She shook him a few times but got no response. Panicked, she turned and shouted, “Xu Ao has fainted!”
“Someone, come quick!”
Sang Zhixia truly raised her voice to its loudest, but aside from her mother-in-law scrambling over in tears and her two terrified younger siblings crying, everyone else just watched coldly.
Third Uncle Xu sneered, “So what if he fainted? After bringing the Xu family to this state, does he still think he’s the precious young master?”
“The journey to the northwest is long. Fainting now and then is normal. What’s all the fuss about?”
Old Madam’s face twisted as she once again flung away the bun Xu Ao had offered, saying coldly, “Yes, why get so worked up?”
Apart from them, everyone else remained indifferent.
“You…”
Xu Wenxiu stared in disbelief at her family’s cruel words, her fragile heart shattering instantly. She threw herself over Xu Ao’s body and burst into loud sobs. “Ao’er!”
“Your father is already gone. If anything were to happen to you, how could your mother go on living?”
“Ao’er, you…”
“He’s not dead yet!”
Sang Zhixia pushed aside the anxiously grieving woman with a dark expression, her trembling hand swiftly checking Xu Ao’s neck. Confirming he was still alive, she let out a sharp exhale and immediately ran toward the frowning prison guard.
Earlier, hiding in the corner, she had seen Xu Ao exchange a few words with this guard—they seemed familiar.
This might be a way out!
Without pausing to catch her breath, she pleaded, “Sir, Xu Ao has vomited blood and fainted. Can you help think of something?”
The guard hesitated. “It’s only the first day out of the capital. Many eyes are watching from behind. If…”
“Perhaps it’s best to endure it for now.”
After all, to avoid unnecessary trouble, calling a doctor was definitely out of the question.
Sang Zhixia wasn’t surprised by this response. She spun around, gritted her teeth, and said, “Then can I go search for herbs in that forest over there? I promise not to cause any trouble—I’ll come back as soon as I find something.”
Though she had no medical training, she had learned many self-rescue methods as a child in the orphanage. Later, while pursuing her doctorate in agriculture, she had become familiar with numerous medicinal herbs.
Xu Ao was clearly suffering from a surge of rage disrupting his qi and blood flow. If she could find some herbs to regulate his qi, there might still be hope.
Seeing the guard’s hesitation, Sang Zhixia turned her back to the others and retrieved a thumb-sized pearl from her sleeve. She pressed the pearl—plucked from her phoenix crown—into the guard’s hand and said with a bitter smile, “Please help us, sir.”
“If he remains unconscious like this, no one will be able to carry him tomorrow, and our journey will be delayed, won’t it? Let me find some herbs to feed him first. Once we’re less conspicuous in a few days, we can call a doctor then.”
The guard clutched the burning-hot pearl, glanced at the half-dead Xu Ao, and made a resolute decision. “Fine! But I have to go with you!”
Sang Zhixia had no objection to being escorted. She immediately led the guard into the forest.
Fortunately, it was midsummer, and the vegetation was lush. She didn’t have to search long before finding what she needed. Rushing back, she decisively wrapped the thorny leaves in her hem, crushed them, pried open Xu Ao’s mouth, and squeezed the green juice into it.
Xu Ao’s jaw was clenched tightly, and Sang Zhixia, attempting this for the first time, ended up splattering dark green liquid messily all over his neck.
Xu Wenxiu watched her repeat the process as if in a trance, then suddenly shoved her. “What are you doing?! What are you feeding Ao’er?!”
Caught off guard, Sang Zhixia fell hard on her backside and flared up in anger.
“If I don’t do this, he might die!”
She didn’t want to cause trouble, but the journey to the northwest was long, and Xu Ao was the only one who had thought to pass her a water pouch. If Xu Ao died, what good would come to her, a freshly widowed woman? These people would devour her alive!
Sang Zhixia climbed to her feet, her face dark, and said as Xu Wenxiu tried to intervene again, “Mother-in-law, you don’t want to lose your son, and I don’t want to be a widow. So I won’t harm him, alright?”
Xu Wenxiu seemed unaccustomed to her new role as a mother-in-law, weeping like a leaky sieve. But Sang Zhixia had no time to waste on further explanations.
The wild grass she had gathered was all crushed into juice and squeezed into Xu Ao’s mouth, not even sparing what had trickled down his neck.
After all the grass had been squeezed dry, she grabbed Xu Ao’s hand and used a sharp thorn to pierce his index finger, forcefully pressing his finger to squeeze out blood.
But even as her eyelids began to uncontrollably droop, Xu Ao, pale as paper, still hadn’t woken up.
It seemed as if he had truly just fallen asleep like this…
Sang Zhixia was still worrying before she lost consciousness.
When she was jolted awake by the sudden bright morning light in her dazed state, she reached out but didn’t feel the person who had been lying beside her last night, startling her into sitting upright: “Xu Ao?!”