“Child, you’ve suffered… Our family has burdened you…”
The three Su brothers had just brought Shen Yanxi before the Marquis and Marquise.
The Marquise, Lin Shi, grasped Shen Yanxi’s hands, her voice choked with tears as she spoke. Her eyes were filled with apology and heartache as she looked at Yanxi.
This was her own daughter!
When the Marquis Family lived in prosperous times, her own daughter hadn’t enjoyed any of its benefits.
Now that the Marquis Family had fallen into misfortune, her own daughter had to suffer hardships with them. How could her heart not ache?
Lin Shi lovingly reached out to touch Shen Yanxi’s cheek.
Shen Yanxi instinctively dodged slightly.
“Madam, the child has just returned. Don’t frighten her,” Champion Marquis Su Anzhi supported Lin Shi while gently comforting her.
“Cough, cough…”
But as soon as he spoke, he couldn’t suppress violent coughing.
Lin Shi immediately forgot about Yanxi and hurried to support Su Anzhi. “Marquis, how are you?”
“Pfft—”
Su Anzhi spat out a mouthful of blood.
“Father!”
“Father!”
“Father!”
The three Su sons quickly gathered around him.
Su Anzhi waved his hand, wanting to say he was fine, but before the words could leave his mouth, his mountain-like tall figure collapsed heavily.
Fortunately, Lin Shi and Su Qingyu caught him in time.
At this moment, the nearby yamen guard grew impatient. Raising his whip, he urged, “What are you dawdling for? Hurry up! Do you want to lose your heads for delaying the journey?”
Su Qinghuai quickly patted himself down, but he had already given away even his personal jade pendant earlier and truly had nothing left to offer now.
Shen Yanxi took out a pouch of silver from her sleeve and handed it to the guard. “Liu Bantou, please make an exception and allow us to find a doctor to examine the Marquis.”
Liu Bantou weighed the pouch in his hand—it was quite heavy.
He licked his lips. It would be good to let them stay a while longer. With all the extra money he had gained today, he could take his brothers to enjoy themselves in the capital.
Given the current situation, there might be no place for pleasure once they left the capital.
Liu Bantou frowned, feigning impatience. “Alright then, quickly take him to see a doctor.”
As he spoke, he casually took a silver ingot from the pouch Shen Yanxi had given him and tossed it to another guard. “Li Si, you go with them! After they get the medicine, escort them back to the Marquis Family’s woodshed and lock them up.”
Then, he waved his hand grandly. “The rest of you, come with me for a drink!”
Su Qinghuai looked at Shen Yanxi, his eyes filled with not only guilt but also newfound admiration. “Sister, thank you.”
Shen Yanxi smiled faintly. “One good turn deserves another.”
Although she now had only this pouch of broken silver left on her.
She didn’t feel distressed.
After all, buying time for the Su Family meant buying time for herself.
She had a Space with her. As long as she had time, she wouldn’t lack for money.
“Madam, Young Master, the Marquis’s injury…”
After examining Su Anzhi, the physician hesitated and shook his head. “If he could rest quietly, he might recover in three to five months. But now…”
The physician had often visited the Marquis Family to treat its members in the past and was well aware of their situation.
He knew the Marquis Family had been confiscated and exiled.
The Champion Marquis had sustained these injuries in the Golden Hall when he argued vehemently with the emperor, demanding that grain be released for disaster relief. This angered the emperor, who charged him with grave disrespect and ordered him beaten with canes.
It was only then that Shen Yanxi and the Su Family learned that before the Marquis Family was raided and exiled, Su Anzhi had already been subjected to a beating in the palace.
For an ordinary person, such a beating would likely have been fatal.
Yet Su Anzhi had managed to endure until now, without even the Su Family detecting any signs—this was beyond ordinary capability.
Upon hearing the doctor’s words, Lin Shi began wiping her tears. “Houye, why were you so foolish?
Wuwu…”
Su Qinghe quickly supported the Marquise. “Mother, please don’t cry. Let Doctor He attend to Father’s medicine first.”
As he spoke, Su Qinghe had already taken off his personal jade pendant.
He handed it to Doctor He with both hands. “Doctor He, we trouble you.”
Doctor He repeatedly waved his hands. “Young Master, this won’t do, it won’t do…
Not to mention that Houye ended up in this state for pleading on behalf of the people, even my Ping’an Hall owes its current standing entirely to the Marquis Family. How could I accept your money now?”
Since Doctor He insisted on refusing the jade pendant, Su Qinghe had no choice but to take it back.
He bowed gratefully to Doctor He with clasped hands. “The Su Family will never forget your great kindness, Doctor He.”
Doctor He carefully cleaned Su Anzhi’s wounds, removed the necrotic flesh, and applied high-quality Golden Sore Medicine.
He also had his assistant pack five bottles of Golden Sore Medicine and over ten doses of medicine for Su Houye’s internal injuries for the Su Family.
When handing the medicine to Su Qinghe, he also slipped him a pouch of silver.
“Young Master, the times are turbulent now. The journey to Shachang is long and arduous. Please do not refuse these worldly possessions.”
The Su Family indeed needed these items now.
Su Anzhi had been an incorruptible official. Aside from the pampered Su Qingyan, who had more jewelry, the rest of the family dressed modestly.
Now, the only valuable items they had left were their personal jade pendants.
With a journey of three thousand li to Shachang ahead, without financial support, they would likely never reach Shachang, let alone endure until their sentence was served and they could return to the capital.
Su Qinghe accepted the items from Doctor He and respectfully bowed to him three times.
Shen Yanxi had been quietly observing since entering the clinic.
Although she had known that the Champion Marquis had a good reputation among the common people, she hadn’t known much more about this family.
Seeing Doctor He’s attitude toward the Su Family, she realized that their character was undoubtedly commendable.
Since the Su Family had good character, she decided to look after them a bit during the exile journey.
Su Qingyu carried the still-unconscious Su Houye on his back and was driven back to the Marquis Family by the constable Li Si.
“Get inside!”
Upon reaching the firewood room of the Marquis Family, Li Si shoved Su Qinghuai, who was walking last, forcefully.
Then, with a “bang,” he locked the firewood room door.
Su Qingyu couldn’t help gritting his teeth in anger. “These bootlicking scoundrels!”
Su Qinghe sighed. “Second Brother, they’re just doing their duty.”
Su Qinghuai also said cheerfully, “Elder Brother is right. Besides, he only pushed me.
I’m tough-skinned and thick-fleshed—it’s nothing.”
Su Anzhi had not yet regained consciousness.
Su Qinghe and Su Qinghuai found a pile of dry grass in the firewood room and spread it on the ground. Su Qingyu temporarily laid Su Anzhi down.
Lin Shi stayed by Su Anzhi’s side. After drying her tears, she cautiously looked at Shen Yanxi. “You… what is your name?”
“Shen Yanxi,” Yanxi replied truthfully.
Before the Su family could speak, she curled her lips slightly and said, “From now on, call me Su Yanxi!”
Thinking of the things the Shen family had done in her past life, she was unwilling to use the surname Shen anymore.
As soon as these words left her mouth, not only Lin Shi, but even the three Su brothers exchanged surprised glances.
All four faces showed the same excitement.
Lin Shi, tears streaming down her face, excitedly embraced her, “My child, my dear child…”
Su Yanxi’s body stiffened unconsciously. Unaccustomed to such closeness, she instinctively wanted to pull away.
But then she felt a warm tear roll into her neck as Lin Shi choked out, “It’s my fault, my child… sob…”
Su Qinghe also stepped forward, speaking to her as if making a vow, “Little sister, don’t worry. Although the journey into exile will be hard, as long as your eldest brother is here, I will protect you with all my strength.”
“And your second brother.”
“And your third brother.”
Su Qingyu and Su Qinghuai chimed in as well.
Su Yanxi looked at the three Su brothers, as elegant and noble as orchids and jade trees, and couldn’t help but smile faintly in her heart.
As far as she knew, Su Qinghe was twenty-four this year and had topped the imperial examinations three years ago. However, because the Kang Yuan Emperor was wary of the Su family, although Su Qinghe was the top scholar, the court had never assigned him an official position as per regulations.
Su Qingyu was twenty-one and had been training in the army under Su Houye.
Su Qinghuai was only seventeen and usually enjoyed wandering among the common folk. To put it nicely, he was close to the people; to put it bluntly, he was idle and neglected his proper duties.
In her eyes, they were just three young and inexperienced boys. Protect her?
Although Su Yanxi shook her head inwardly, her heart, long hardened by endless torment, softened imperceptibly.
She nodded to them and said, “Alright, thank you.”
At her thanks, Su Qinghuai scratched the back of his head somewhat sheepishly, “Little sister, no need to be polite. This is what we older brothers ought to do.”
“By the way, little sister, are you hungry?”
As he spoke, Su Qinghuai pulled out an oil-paper package from his chest, “These are crab yolk pastries from Furong Tower. You and Mother can have some to tide you over.”
Su Yanxi looked at the crab yolk pastries in Su Qinghuai’s hand, her feelings complicated.
She knew that these newly introduced crab yolk pastries from Furong Tower were highly sought after by the noblewomen of the capital and were now extremely hard to come by.
The price had even risen to five taels of silver per piece.
In a year of favorable weather, five taels of silver would be enough to feed a family of five for a year.
In this year of great disaster, if that silver were exchanged for grain, who knows how many lives could be saved.
Yet, despite this, the emperor refused to allow the nobles to open the granaries to relieve the people. Instead, he had the Su family, who proposed opening the granaries, stripped of their property and exiled.
How absurd—in this world, a commoner’s life was worth less than a noble’s bite of pastry.
Perhaps she should go to Shachang sooner and find that person…