Su Qingyu clenched his fists, his face dark with fury, ready to confront Du Qiang.
But before he could speak, Du Qiang’s whip lashed out again.
“Crack! Crack!” The blows landed on Su Qingyu’s body. “What are you glaring at? Not convinced, are you?
Do you still think you’re the young master of the Marquis Family, the Young General?
You’re nothing but a prisoner now, a piece of trash!”
Su Qinghe and Su Qinghuai instinctively moved to shield Su Qingyu.
But Su Yanxi was faster than both of them.
She stepped in front of Su Qingyu, her cool gaze fixed on Du Qiang. “Second Brother, give me the waterskin. I’ll go with him.”
“Little Sister…” Su Qingyu’s voice was full of concern.
“Xixi…” Marquis Su and the Marquise called out simultaneously.
“Thud!”
“Marquis!”
As their voices faded, Su Anzhi’s tall, gaunt frame collapsed heavily to the ground. Lin Shi cried out in panic.
Su Yanxi hurried over to examine Su Anzhi.
She discovered that Su Anzhi’s lips were parched and cracked, and he was running a high fever.
Setting aside concerns about propriety between men and women, she tore open the clothing on Marquis Su’s back.
What she saw were the club wounds, now red, swollen, and festering with pus.
During these days on the road, Lin Shi had been the sole caretaker for Su Anzhi; neither of them had allowed anyone else to help.
Thus, the rest of the Su Family had been unaware of how severe the injuries on Su Anzhi’s back had become.
Su Qingyu, with his impatient temper, couldn’t help but ask upon seeing his father’s condition, “Mother, why didn’t you tell us Father’s injuries were this serious?”
Lin Shi, her eyes red, wept as she replied, “Your father didn’t want you to worry. He told me not to say anything…”
Su Anzhi had been walking and moving normally these past few days, even taking turns with the three Su brothers to carry Su Xuan’er and Su Rui’er.
Not only the three Su brothers, but even Su Yanxi hadn’t realized his injuries had worsened to this extent.
They had assumed that since Su Anzhi had been taking the pills prescribed by Doctor He and Lin Shi had been changing his dressings daily, his club wounds would have been nearly healed.
No one had expected…
“Crack!”
Du Qiang’s whip snapped through the air, sweeping indiscriminately over the members of the Su Family.
“Enough chatter! Are you going to fetch water or not? If not, stay here and die of thirst!”
Su Yanxi shot a sharp glance at Du Qiang.
Resisting the guards openly at this moment would only bring more trouble.
She gently patted Su Qingyu’s arm, soothing him, “Second Brother, I’ll go fetch water first. You all take care of Father, Mother, and the children.”
Her gaze lingered for a moment on the little girl they had recently purchased.
Although she had been feeding the child Spirit Spring Water along the way, the little girl’s face remained as pale as paper, and she still hadn’t awakened.
It was uncertain whether she would ever wake up.
“Little Sister!”
The three Su brothers spoke in unison, their eyes filled with concern as they looked at her.
Su Yanxi gave them a reassuring look. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
On the other side, Feng Shan and Sun Hao, who were escorting the Shen Family, asked Liu Bantou and the other two to help guard the rest of the Shen Family members.
Both Feng Shan and Sun Hao were taking people to collect water.
However, after glancing at Li Wanzhi’s frail figure, they scoffed, “With her weak little body, how is she supposed to carry all that water?”
Shen Pengcheng was the first to step forward, bowing and scraping as he said, “Officers, she can carry it. Don’t be fooled by her frail appearance—she’s quite strong…”
Li Wanzhi immediately nodded in panic, “Yes, officers, I… I can carry it…”
Crack!
Feng Shan’s whip lashed out, striking Shen Pengcheng directly. “If I say she can’t carry it, then she can’t! Stop wasting your breath!
Hurry up and find someone else to go with her to fetch water!”
Yang Shi, seeing her precious eldest son struck, was instantly heartbroken.
She rushed over to support Shen Pengcheng and, in the same motion, pinched Chen Lan hard. “You little slut, are you deaf? The officers said to send someone with your sister-in-law to fetch water! Can’t you hear?
Why aren’t you going?”
Chen Lan was no fool. She could clearly sense the lecherous gazes of the two officers lingering on the three women.
Moreover, the officers had explicitly demanded that women accompany them.
Their intentions were all too obvious.
Chen Lan immediately feigned weakness, clutching her stomach. “Mother, it’s not that I don’t want to go. It’s just… I’m… I’m having my monthly courses. I’m unclean…”
Yang Shi was furious. “Disgusting creature!”
Sun Hao’s whip pointed directly at Shen Qingyan. “You go!”
As he spoke, Sun Hao licked his dry, cracked lips.
The lustful gleam in his eyes was practically spilling out.
Shen Qingyan also understood what these officers intended.
She glared at Chen Lan. “You’re having your monthly courses, not losing your hands or feet. Why can’t you go…”
Crack!
Before she could finish, Sun Hao’s whip struck her.
“I said you go, so you go! Why all the nonsense?”
Sun Hao had controlled the force of his whip.
It tore through Shen Qingyan’s coarse clothing but left only a red mark on her delicate skin.
After so many days of exile, the other women had long become disheveled and grimy, indistinguishable from the other refugees.
Only Shen Qingyan still washed her face clean every day and kept her hair meticulously neat.
Now, with her clothes torn and the red whip mark stark against her fair skin, she looked even more enticing.
Feng Shan and Sun Hao both swallowed hard, their eyes gleaming.
Even if Shen Qingyan didn’t want to go, she didn’t dare disobey.
Su Yanxi, Shen Qingyan, and Li Wanzhi followed behind the three officers—Du Qiang, Feng Shan, and Sun Hao—as they searched for water.
As they walked, Li Wanzhi gradually moved closer to Su Yanxi.
Su Yanxi frowned slightly but said nothing.
Li Wanzhi was actually quite pitiable. Though her maternal family were small merchants with some money, her mother had died early, and she had grown up under her stepmother’s thumb.
This made her timid and meek. After marrying into the Shen family, she never won Yang Shi’s favor.
After Shen Pengcheng passed the Xiucai and Juren exams, Yang Shi became even more convinced that Li Wanzhi was unworthy of her precious son.
If not for her luck in bearing a son to secure her position, she would likely have been divorced by the Shen family long ago.
During these days of exile, Li Wanzhi had been doing all the work for the Shen family.
The officers led them deeper into the mountains.
It was already nearly dark, and the further they went into the mountains, the more eerie it became.
Whether out of her past reliance on Su Yanxi in the Shen family or not, Li Wanzhi gently grasped the edge of Su Yanxi’s clothes. “Yanxi, I’m a little scared…”
Su Yanxi glanced down at the hand clutching her clothes.
Li Wanzhi had never been respected by Shen Pengcheng in the Shen family and had long been tormented by Yang Shi, making her naturally thin.
After days of exile with an empty stomach, she had grown even thinner.
Her hands were as emaciated as chicken claws.
She noticed Su Yanxi’s gaze.
Suddenly realizing that Su Yanxi was no longer a member of the Shen family, nor the sister-in-law who would always defend her, she withdrew her hand as if frightened.
“Yanxi, I’m sorry, I…”
Just then, Du Qiang at the front suddenly halted. “This is the spot.”
Shen Qingyan immediately protested in a coquettish tone, “Where’s the water here? Sirs, are you fooling us?”
“Heh heh heh…”
Du Qiang, Feng Shan, and Sun Hao let out a series of lewd, sinister chuckles.
“No water? We officers will drill some holes for you—there’ll be water soon enough…”