At the critical moment, Xin Ruoyu rushed forward and embraced Yu Shi with her back facing outward, taking the whip lash on her own back.
“Third girl!” The Old Madam gasped in shock, instinctively reaching out to support the collapsing young girl.
“Third sister!” Xin Mengxue stared at the bloody whip mark on Xin Ruoyu’s back, her small face turning deathly pale with fear as tears uncontrollably streamed down.
Xie Ninglan opened her mouth but couldn’t immediately react.
How could they whip someone so casually? This damned feudal empire truly was a place where reason held no sway.
“Mother!” The third master Xin Wenan shouted with a panicked expression, hurriedly turning around while dragging his cangue.
Xin Wenyuan, also worried about his wife and daughter, quickly followed in the rush.
Within moments, the Xin family members gradually gathered around, creating an invisible pressure.
The Escorts immediately grew alert, cracking their whips through the air while shouting in angry embarrassment, “What’s going on here? Planning to rebel before we’ve even left the capital?”
“What, still think you’re some kind of nobility, masters and mistresses?” A bearded escort with a full face of hair crossed his arms, sparing no effort in his mockery.
“I’m telling you, on this journey, all of you are exiled criminals! You must obey the rules!”
Xin Ruoyu, her small face pale, secretly gritted her teeth against the pain, “I’m… I’m alright, grandmother.”
The Old Madam’s eyes reddened with heartache as she cupped her hands toward the bearded escort, “Sir, please calm your anger. This old woman will definitely do her utmost to keep up and won’t dare delay the procession.”
The bearded man wouldn’t let it go, “Old hag, remember your words! Otherwise, my whip shows no mercy!”
As he spoke, he raised his whip and cracked it through the air.
However, this impressive display lasted less than three seconds when the whip’s tail inexplicably rebounded, “smack!” landing heavily on his smug face.
The unexpected blow immediately drew blood from half his face. The bearded man howled “Aow!” and quickly covered his face with his hand.
Blood dripped between his fingers, creating a chilling sight.
Xie Ninglan secretly glanced at her young daughter, who wore an innocent expression.
Her large, clear black-and-white eyes wide open, her acting identical to everyone around her, also showing a quite surprised expression.
“What’s going on? What’s all this commotion? Can we proceed properly or not?”
“Liang Tou.”
“Liang Tou.” Several guards shrank their necks upon seeing the head escort approaching angrily.
Liang Guang had a broad, square face, short stature and sturdy build – standing there like half an iron tower.
Behind him followed an escort over fifty years old, his face weathered dark by wind and sun, with a beard connecting to his temples.
“Oh, what happened to Bearded? How come your face is all bloody?” The old escort walked forward laughing, pushing the howling bearded man who covered his face, then turned to look at the young escort standing nearby.
“Xiao Jia, you tell me.”
The young escort scratched the back of his head, “Not sure what happened. Everything was fine just now, then Beard’s whip suddenly bounced back onto his own face.”
The old escort didn’t conceal the schadenfreude in his eyes, laughing heartily, “Boy, you must be seeing things! How could Bearded be so stupid as to not even know how to wield a whip? Ah, hahaha!”
Xiao Jia flushed red and argued, “How could that be, Uncle Lao Zhang? Don’t make fun of me, my eyesight is actually quite good.”
The old escort gave Xiao Jia’s shoulder a heavy pat, then turned to look at the bearded man. “Your face alright?”
The bearded man grimaced while clutching his whip. “Does this look alright to you? It was clearly those women causing trouble…”
“Now, now. Xiao Jia already said you accidentally whipped yourself. What’s that got to do with the women?” The old escort stopped him from raising the whip, casting a meaningful glance toward Xie Ninglan and Xin Nian. “Xiao Jia, aren’t you going to help your Brother Beard away?”
“Alright then, since this has nothing to do with you all, let’s continue our journey peacefully. No more disturbances.” The old escort offered a hollow smile and nodded to Yu Shi and the others.
Liang Guang left with a stern face, hands clasped behind his back.
Xie Ninglan quickly moved closer to her daughter, whispering, “These men don’t seem like good people. Are they really letting us off just like that?”
Xin Nian was also somewhat puzzled. She had used a minimal amount of spatial power to distort space and teach the bearded man a lesson, never expecting the matter to be resolved so easily.
She hadn’t anticipated the old escort would come to defuse the situation.
Unable to figure it out, Xin Nian comforted her mother: “Even in ancient times, escorting prisoners had its rules. We haven’t even left the capital yet. If they abuse us and cause a large number of prisoner deaths, these escorts would likely face severe consequences too.”
“That makes sense.” Xie Ninglan nodded.
As they spoke, Lu Momo came running up with a little girl on her back, her face full of anxiety. “Madam, are you alright?”
Yu Shi looked at her old friend’s weathered face, her heart aching. “I’m fine, but poor Ruoyu took that whip strike directly.”
“Should this old servant carry Third Young Miss for a while?”
“No need, Momo still has to care for the children of the first and second wives. I’ll manage.” Xin Ruoyu gritted her teeth and waved a hand, beads of sweat the size of peas rolling down her face.
Five-year-old Xin Man’er, perched on the old nursemaid’s back, lifted her head like a little adult. “Great-grandmother, don’t cry.”
Yu Shi forced a smile. “Great-grandmother is fine.”
She squeezed Lu Momo’s hand. “Cuihua, just focus on caring for the wives of the first and second sons and their two children. Don’t worry about us.”
“But Madam, Third Young Miss’s back injury can’t be delayed…”
“Let’s try this golden sore medicine.” Xin Nian pulled a bottle of hemostatic powder from her bundle.
Xie Ninglan quickly reached out to take it. “Let me do it.”
Xin Ruoyu clenched her teeth against the whip’s pain. “Thank you, Fourth Aunt.”
Xie Ninglan sighed. “We’re family. No need for thanks.”
With that, she removed the stopper and poured about half the bottle along the whip wound.
Normally, the wound should be cleaned before applying medicine, but under current circumstances, that wasn’t possible.
The procession ahead had already started moving, so Xie Ninglan could only quickly apply the medicine to Xin Ruoyu’s wound and help the young girl straighten her clothes.
“This hemostatic powder isn’t working well,” Xie Ninglan whispered to her daughter as they walked in single file. “I used nearly half the bottle, but the blood’s still seeping through. That poor girl is going to suffer terribly.”
Xin Nian frowned. “The medicine doesn’t smell problematic. It might just be slow-acting. Nothing to be done about it – this is the medical standard of feudal dynasties.”
“I hope we can find some useful herbs along the way. Your brother’s fever hasn’t broken either. We need to think of something else.”
The procession moved at a brisk pace. Dragging heavy cangues and iron chains, urged on by the escorts’ shouts and scoldings, they finally managed to reach Shi Li Po on the capital’s outskirts before noon.
The moment the escorts announced a rest stop, the convicts collapsed to the ground in unison, wailing and lamenting their misery without end.
Like deflated balls, everyone lay sprawled and utterly unwilling to move another inch.