Early in the morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten and everyone in the prison was still sleeping soundly, the prisoners were awakened by the jailers.
“Wake up! Hurry and eat. Once you’re done, it’s time for you to hit the road,” a jailer shouted as he banged on the cell door with the hilt of his saber.
Just as Liu Qingyu was about to rub her eyes, her mother smacked her hand away.
“Do you know how many germs are on your hands? And you’re still rubbing your eyes? Aren’t you afraid of getting an infection?” Her ears were filled with her mother’s loving nagging.
Liu Qingyu shared a meat pie with her mother while eyeing the food the jailers had brought.
Perhaps because it was their last meal in prison, the usual “clear-water porridge” had disappeared and been replaced with rice. However, one glance was enough to see the obvious rice bran mixed into it.
When the prisoners saw that breakfast actually included rice, some of those who were starving grabbed it with their bare hands, not caring whether it was dirty or not, and stuffed it straight into their mouths. The entire meal looked more like a battlefield than breakfast.
Soon after everyone had eaten, the jailers unlocked the cells.
“The women and children can leave after their shackles are put on. The men will have to wait; you’ll be fitted with cangues in a bit,” the jailer announced.
The women of the Liu family were among the first group to leave. There were hardly any people on the streets they passed, and by the time Liu Qingyu and her mother reached the outskirts of the city, the sky had only just become fully bright.
“Stop here and rest for a while. We’ll wait for the others,” said the officer in charge of the exile convoy after glancing at the sun and estimating the time.
The exiled prisoners had all been implicated in a corruption case.
That summer, the rains had been exceptionally heavy. Although the imperial court had continuously allocated funds to repair the dikes, the flooding in Yizhou had remained severe.
Later, the dikes were completely washed away by the floodwaters, destroying homes and farmland and leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.
The Emperor flew into a rage and ordered a thorough investigation. However, the case implicated too many people—even the First, Second, and Third Princes were involved.
The Emperor was already old and frequently ill. Upon learning the results of the investigation, he was so enraged that he fainted on the spot.
If only one prince had been involved, perhaps he could have hardened his heart and dealt with him severely.
But all three of his adult sons had taken part in the affair.
As a result, the Emperor could only hastily close the corruption case, selecting a few unlucky officials from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue—men who lacked powerful family backing—and sentenced their entire families to exile.
Perhaps feeling guilty, he specifically ordered his subordinates to appoint the most upright officer available to oversee the exile.
Even the time limit for reaching the place of exile was extended by half compared to ordinary exile convoys, giving them ample time to travel slowly instead of being forced to rush.
The place where Liu Qingyu and the others were currently resting had been specially chosen by that upright officer. It was a spot customarily used for exiles to rest and for their loved ones to bid them farewell.
At this moment, carriages were already approaching from the official road.
“Mother, look! Isn’t that Grandfather’s family’s carriage?” a child who had been sitting on the grass suddenly asked excitedly, pointing at one of the approaching carriages.
The woman nodded excitedly.
“Yes, it is! Come, let’s go greet them.”
The others in the exile convoy looked at the mother and child with envy.
After all, they were now convicted criminals. Their relatives were desperately trying to avoid being associated with them in any way.
For someone to come and see them off at a time like this—that was true friendship, the kind worth risking one’s life for.
Though, as the saying goes, even Qin Hui had three friends.
Gradually, the resting place became lively.
Some people arrived in horse-drawn carriages, others in donkey carts, all coming to bid farewell to those they cared about.
Perhaps this parting would last a lifetime.
“Madam! Young Miss!”
Liu Qingyu looked up and saw Qiuju, her mother’s dowry maid, climbing down from an ox cart with a large bundle on her back.
She looked at her mother in confusion, her eyes clearly asking, Mother, did you arrange this?
Tian Chunzhu nodded and walked forward with a smile.
“Qiuju, you really didn’t disappoint me.”
Qiuju handed the bundle to Tian Chunzhu, her eyes full of reluctance.
“Madam, you saved my life back then. Without you, I would have died long ago. This is all I can do to help you now.”
“What are you saying? What you’ve done already helps me immensely. From now on, you must live a good life,” Tian Chunzhu said as she accepted the bundle.
Qiuju nodded heavily. She reluctantly bid Tian Chunzhu farewell, and even after climbing back onto the ox cart, she kept turning around to look back.
In truth, after learning about the future, Tian Chunzhu had been delighted that her daughter possessed such a useful cheat as a spatial storage.
However, the items in that space needed a legitimate source before they could be taken out openly.
So she had sought out Qiuju, the person most loyal to the original owner of the body, returned her contract of servitude, and even gave her fifty taels of silver.
Half was severance pay, while the other half was for purchasing grain and various necessities and delivering them on the day of exile.
Liu Qingyu accepted the bundle from her mother and found it surprisingly heavy.
Upon opening it, she discovered more than twenty steamed buns on top.
Beneath them were three water pouches.
Further down were six pairs of cloth shoes with thick, layered soles, apparently made in sizes suitable for their family of three.
Beside the shoes were several bottles and jars wrapped in oiled paper. Judging by the labels, they contained medicine for external injuries.
At the bottom were a clay pot, a large sack of grain, a bag of dried vegetables, a fire starter, and several scattered pieces of silver.
“Mother, look!” Liu Qingyu pointed at the silver.
Tian Chunzhu sighed.
“Sigh… since she sent it back, let’s keep it for now.”
Liu Qingyu nodded, took out a pair of cloth shoes, handed one pair to her mother, and changed into another pair herself.
The handmade shoes really were comfortable.
She tied the bundle back up and slung it onto her back. Then she glanced at the unusually quiet members of the Liu family nearby and nodded in satisfaction.
As expected, people only learned how to behave after suffering a little.
The Liu family: A little suffering? That was psychological torture! Last night, the image of Madam Jiang getting thrown around kept replaying in our heads over and over!
Clop, clop, clop…
Hearing the sound, Liu Qingyu and her mother looked up and saw a carriage stopping nearby.
The coachman parked the carriage and set up the step stool before the curtain was lifted.
A middle-aged woman dressed in luxurious clothing stepped down with the support of a maid, followed by a young man with peach-blossom eyes.
“Madam Ning, thank you for sending food into the prison,” Tian Chunzhu said with a smile.
Madam Ning waved her hand.
“Bring the cart over,” she instructed her servants.
Only then did everyone notice that a handcart was following behind the carriage, and more importantly, it was piled high with all sorts of supplies.
“Madam Ning, what is this?” Tian Chunzhu asked.
Madam Ning took her hand and said earnestly,
“I know the road of exile will be extremely difficult, so I wanted to do something for your family. This cart was specially prepared for you. I hope you won’t dislike it.”
At that moment, Liu Qingyu wanted to curse.
Was Madam Ning treating their family as fools?
If only their family were being exiled, then an entire cart of supplies would indeed be wonderful news.
But now several families were being exiled together.
For Madam Ning to deliver so many supplies to them in front of more than a hundred people—
that was practically a death warrant.