“Be good, An’an.”
Jin Suian gulped down the water in her hands until it was all gone. With the comfort of her mother and grandmother, she soon fell back asleep.
Cheng Qiqi held her daughter all night without sleeping, only letting out a deep sigh of relief when the fever gradually subsided. Beside her, Liu Suyi was also awake.
On the second day in prison, breakfast was still watery porridge and steamed buns. The Jin family, having gone hungry for a meal, once again refused to eat. However, Liu Suyi took the porridge and buns to feed the elderly lady.
“Sister-in-law, back at home, even dogs wouldn’t eat this kind of porridge,” said He Shi, the wife of the eldest branch of the Jin family’s collateral relatives, her face filled with distress. “How can the elderly lady drink such porridge?”
“Sister-in-law, do you have the means to get medicine? Or can you bring in decent food?” Liu Suyi’s words left He Shi speechless.
Hah, if they don’t eat now, won’t they have to eat tomorrow anyway?
The elderly lady, half-asleep and half-awake, drank a little porridge-soaked bun water before sinking back into a deep slumber.
Cheng Qiqi ate her porridge, which she had secretly replaced with the rice soup she had prepared herself. The steamed bun had also been swapped. She couldn’t help but wonder how long the Jin family could hold out.
At the same time, Cheng Qiqi had fully grasped the relationships among the Jin family’s collateral relatives.
He Shi of the eldest branch, along with her daughter-in-law Meng Jingyao, brought her daughter Jin Yun, who was only five or six years old.
There was also Jin Xuan’er, who timidly hid in a corner. According to Liu Suyi, she was the daughter of a concubine.
Mrs. Wen of the third branch and Gao Shenglan, who had been married for less than a month.
Li Shi of the fourth branch brought her daughter Jin Qing’er, who looked like she was about to come of age soon.
It had to be said, the collateral branches indeed had abundant offspring.
And these were only the female members—excluding concubines, there were already eight people.
At noon, the eight members of the Jin family’s collateral branches reluctantly ate the steamed buns, complaining all the while.
“I won’t eat it. Even dogs wouldn’t eat it.”
Jin Xue’er was so hungry she could barely speak, but she pursed her lips, stubbornly refusing to eat.
By evening, Jin Xue’er had fainted from hunger.
Lin Huilan was terrified. At this point, it didn’t matter if it was watery porridge or discolored steamed buns—anything that could fill their stomachs would do. But Jin Xue’er refused to eat no matter what. Lin Huilan said, “Xue’er, if you keep being stubborn, won’t you end up starving to death?”
Jin Xue’er: “…”
Half-coaxed and half-forced by Lin Huilan, she reluctantly ate the watery porridge and steamed bun, vomiting as she ate.
…
In an unknown farmhouse at the foot of a mountain.
“Shizi, please wake up soon. Tomorrow, the Houfu family will be paraded through the streets and exiled.”
Zhongshan gently wiped the Shizi’s body with a cloth.
Over the past two days, the Shizi had been burning up one moment, hot enough to boil an egg, and freezing cold the next, as if ten layers of quilts couldn’t warm him.
Zhishui and Military Physician Hu were brewing medicine. Zhishui asked, “Old Hu, can’t we go see the Houye and Madam? And Miss Suian?”
Fearing discovery, they had all disguised themselves and dared not address him as Military Physician Hu, only as Old Hu.
“The Shizi isn’t out of danger yet. His life hangs in the balance, and he can’t withstand the slightest harm!”
Military Physician Hu glanced at them. “Everything will have to wait until the Shizi wakes up.”
Cui Lie hadn’t even spared the Shizi’s body. If they were seen and something was noticed, it would all be over.
On the third day, the Jin family was taken away for exile. The numb Jin family members seemed to sense that disaster was imminent.
“Sister-in-law, your maternal family, Grand Tutor Liu, surely won’t abandon you, right?”
“Sister-in-law, we’re all counting on you. Exile is hard, and Lingnan is even harsher. I hear the miasma there is terrible.”
“That’s right, Sister-in-law. Lingnan is so far away. If we have nothing, who knows how much suffering lies ahead on this journey!”
The wives of the eldest branch, He Shi, the third branch, Mrs. Wen, and the fourth branch, Li Shi, all stared eagerly at Liu Suyi!
They were collateral relatives of the Jin family, relying on the prestige of Zhongyong Houfu to live comfortably in Jingdu. Now that they had been stripped of their property and exiled, those who usually flattered the powerful and trampled on the weak would certainly not care about them!
“I’ve long lost contact with Taifu Fu.”
At the thought of her father, Liu Suyi’s expression grew even more somber. Back then, she had ignored her father’s advice and resolutely married Zhongyong Hou, cutting all ties with the Liu family long ago.
“How can there be lasting grudges between father and daughter?”
He Shi of the eldest branch rolled her eyes, about to say more, when she saw the yamen runners arriving.
The group was led out of the prison cells by the yamen runners. The glaring sun made the Jin family, who hadn’t seen daylight for three days, instinctively shield their eyes!
Cheng Qiqi turned sideways and lowered her head to block the light for her daughter. Fortunately, there were fever-reducing medicine and water in Kongjian, and her daughter’s fever had broken on the second day, allowing her to eat and drink again.
“Marquis!”
Lin Huilan threw herself, weeping, before the wounded Zhongyong Hou. “You must stand up for your humble servant!”
‘Ugh.’
Zhongyong Hou, covered in injuries and weakened after three days in prison, winced in pain as Lin Huilan crashed into him.
“Second Uncle, are you all right?”
Jin Runzhi, the son of the third branch, supported Zhongyong Hou and said, “Concubine Lin, if you truly care for Second Uncle, you should keep your distance.”
“Exactly, Second Uncle is already covered in wounds.”
Jin Lizhi, the son of the eldest branch, supported him from the other side. He and Jin Runzhi exchanged a glance. With the Shizi dead, how could a wastrel like Jin Yanzhi compare to them?
If they could earn the Marquis’s special favor, there might still be a chance when the Houfu rose again.
“Mother, I’m so hungry, I’m starving to death.”
“The porridge and steamed buns in the prison cells aren’t even fit for dogs. Hurry up and find a way to get me some food.”
Jin Yanzhi, the biological son, was less filial than his two cousins. As soon as he saw Lin Huilan, he started complaining about hunger.
“Yanzhi, you’ve lost so much weight. Mother will go right away…” to get food.
Lin Huilan didn’t finish her sentence, as she was also starving.
“Onto the prisoner carts!”
The yamen runners cracked their whips, herding the people forward.
The twenty-some members of the Jin family were loaded onto prisoner carts—men in one cart, women in another.
“Qiqi.”
Liu Suyi found a spot for Cheng Qiqi beside the elderly lady, letting her squeeze into the middle with her child in her arms.
Just as Cheng Qiqi was wondering why, she saw He Shi of the eldest branch place her youngest granddaughter, Jin Yun, in the middle. Only about five or six years old, the girl’s bewildered eyes held fear.
Would people throw rotten eggs and vegetable leaves at them later?
“Serves you right! You caused us to lose the war.”
“Spit! Bloodsucking parasites living off our sweat. The Emperor is wise!”
A vegetable leaf was thrown into the prisoner cart, accompanied by curses and insults. The common people were furious, and soon, not only vegetable leaves but also rotten eggs were hurled at them…
“The Marquis and the Shizi never achieved any merits. They would never do such things.”
Someone spoke up in defense of the Jin family, but the next moment, they were drowned out by the resentful crowd: “Spit! It was the soldiers who won the battles. What does it have to do with the Houfu?”
“The Houfu is so wealthy, all from embezzled silver!”
“Beat the corrupt official to death!”
Vegetable leaves were thrown even more fiercely!
Through the gaps in the prison cart, rotten vegetable leaves and stinky eggs were tossed inside. Liu Suyi, agitated, defended her son’s name: “Mo’er is not that kind of person; he did not embezzle silver!”
“He is not a corrupt official!”