“Shen Qingyan, have you been eating too much excrement? The stench from your mouth carries for miles!”
As soon as Shen Qingyan finished speaking, a sharp, cold voice rang out.
Then, Su Yanxi and the Su Houye couple appeared in everyone’s sight.
Su Yanxi’s piercing gaze stabbed at Shen Qingyan like a blade. “I was merely answering nature’s call, and you’ve already falsely accused me of harboring a wanted criminal. According to Da Yong Law, those who falsely accuse others without evidence shall receive thirty lashes!”
Shen Qingyan’s face turned pale once again. She hadn’t expected Su Yanxi not only to be articulate but also so vulgar.
Su Yanxi couldn’t be bothered with her further. After carefully examining the wanted poster in the official’s hand, she said, “Officer, my parents just accompanied me to relieve myself behind the abandoned temple and didn’t see the wanted criminal in the portrait. Please investigate clearly!”
Though Su Yanxi appeared calm on the surface, her heart was pounding in her throat. The person in the portrait was none other than Xiao Xuanzheng. She didn’t know whether Xiao Xuanzheng had ever been a wanted criminal in her previous life, as when she had met him then, he was already a regional commander—and Xiao Lingyou’s strongest rival for the throne.
If Xiao Xuanzheng were discovered and taken back now…
Fortunately, the officials didn’t think Xiao Xuanzheng would be hiding here. After all, besides the exiled convicts, there were also government officers present. If Xiao Xuanzheng were to hide right under the officers’ noses, wouldn’t that be walking right into a trap?
After hearing Su Yanxi’s words, the head officer waved his hand. “Let’s go, continue the pursuit!”
The sound of hoofbeats faded into the distance.
Su Yanxi walked straight toward Shen Qingyan.
“Slap! Slap!”
She raised her hand and delivered two more slaps across Shen Qingyan’s face.
“You… Officer…” Shen Qingyan instinctively wanted to complain.
Su Yanxi raised her voice, “These two slaps are on behalf of the officers! Do you have any idea what would happen if your false accusations succeeded and the officers pinned the crime of harboring a wanted criminal on us? How much responsibility would the officers have to bear?”
The officers hadn’t considered this earlier, but Su Yanxi’s reminder made them realize: if the Su Family, as exiled convicts, were truly hiding a wanted criminal right under their watch, how could they possibly avoid responsibility?
“Smack!”
Feng Shan, who was responsible for escorting the Shen Family, broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of the terrible consequences. He directly whipped Shen Qingyan, “Stay in line! If you cause trouble again, don’t blame my whip for being merciless!”
When the whip landed on Shen Qingyan, the Shen Family members quickly stepped back, afraid of being implicated by her.
Su Yanxi suddenly remembered how, when Du Qiang had threatened to whip her, the entire Su Family had formed a human wall to protect her. She glanced at Shen Qingyan with some sympathy, curious about when Shen Qingyan would finally feel regret.
After all this commotion, the sky was already turning pale with dawn. There wasn’t much time left to sleep now. The officers cracked their whips, ordering everyone to pack up and continue the journey.
The scorching sun beat down overhead, while the officers’ whips cracked sharply behind them. The further west they traveled from the capital, the more desolate the land became.
The fertile fields were cracked with palm-width fissures, like devouring abysses. The crops planted in the fields had completely withered. Even the corn leaves would crumble to dust with a single pinch.
The number of refugees continued to grow.
These refugees would stare with gleaming eyes at the exiled convicts and the constables.
They knew the constables distributed one black cornbread bun to each convict daily.
Several times, when the constables handed out the buns, the ravenous refugees watched like hungry tigers, ready to rush in and snatch them.
Fortunately, the whips in the constables’ hands still served as a deterrent.
After two more days of traveling northwest, the land grew increasingly arid, with even the leaves of tall trees in the forests turning yellow and withered.
Yet, occasionally, the scent of meat wafted through the air.
Su Yanxi instantly realized what kind of meat it was.
A wave of nausea churned in his stomach.
The rest of the Su Family seemed to have figured it out too, their expressions growing graver by the moment.
Even Su Yi pressed his lips tightly together, silently following the procession.
Only the youngest, Su Xuan’er and Su Rui’er, unaware of the meat’s origin, felt a craving for it.
But the two little girls were well-behaved and did not fuss about wanting to eat meat.
In contrast, chaos erupted on the Shen Family’s side.
Shen Pengcheng’s six-year-old son, Shen Shiming, plopped onto the ground, wailing, “I won’t walk anymore! I want to eat meat, I want to eat meat, waaah…”
Soon after, Shen Pengxing’s two daughters, Shen Meixiang and Shen Meilan, mimicked him, sitting on the ground and kicking up dust as they cried, “We want to eat meat too! We want to eat meat too!”
Li Wanzhi hurriedly tried to soothe her son, “Ming’er, be good, don’t make a fuss. We don’t have any meat right now, we can’t eat meat!
Have some cornbread instead—Mother saved half a bun for you…”
As she spoke, Li Wanzhi pulled out the half bun she had saved from her robe and offered it to Shen Shiming.
With a sudden swipe of his hand, Shen Shiming knocked the bun away, “I don’t want cornbread! I want meat, I want meat…”
“Oh, you foolish child…”
Before Li Wanzhi could say more to Shen Shiming, she rushed to retrieve the half bun.
But the moment it flew through the air, a crowd of refugees surged forward.
In an instant, they were fighting over that half piece of cornbread.
There was no way she could get it back.
Li Wanzhi turned back to continue comforting her son.
Chen Lan, however, had far less patience.
She kicked each of her daughters, “Get up! You want to eat meat? Your mother wants to eat meat too…”
Before she could finish, a wild-eyed refugee pushed a gaunt, skeletal girl forward and asked, “You want to eat meat too?
How about we trade?”
Chen Lan didn’t immediately grasp what “trading” meant.
Frowning, she asked, “Trade what?”
The man swallowed hard as he stared at Shen Meixiang and Shen Meilan, “I mean, we exchange one of mine for one of yours. Then we’ll both have meat to eat!”
Shen Meixiang and Shen Meilan, meeting the man’s gaze, stopped their crying and quickly hid behind their parents.
It was then that Shen Pengcheng finally understood. He stared at the man in shock, “You’re talking about exchanging children to eat!”
The man’s eyes shone with excitement and longing as he nodded eagerly, “Yes, yes, trade and eat!”