The visitors were none other than the people who had come before:
Li Danqing, the Crown Prince’s secondary consort, and Xiao Zeyan, the Crown Prince himself.
It had to be said—the Xiao brothers were all remarkably handsome.
At the moment, however, the handsome Xiao Zeyan and the beautiful Li Danqing both wore troubled expressions.
..
Li Danqing spoke first.
“Yesterday, Yu’er and several children from the Wei and Zhu families secretly went fishing.”
“They all fell through the ice.”
“Yu’er and the Zhu family’s child managed to climb out after removing their cotton coats.”
“But the Wei children…”
She couldn’t finish the sentence.
After a pause, she continued quietly,
“So I was hoping…”
“Could you lend us a cotton coat?”
The moment she finished speaking, Xiao Zeyan lowered his head.
He knew how unreasonable the request sounded.
His younger brother could barely take care of himself.
Everything depended on Bai Zhi.
Not only was he unable to help them, he was now asking for something as precious as winter clothing.
Still…
Everyone else had already layered every piece of clothing they owned.
Only Bai Zhi’s group still had noticeably full bundles.
Bai Zhi glanced at the people secretly watching from behind.
A trace of irritation appeared in her eyes.
Faced with a plea from the elder brother he had once respected deeply, Xiao Zelan hesitated.
“Ah Zhi…”
“Maybe we could give them my cotton coat…”
“Whose coat is it?”
Bai Zhi’s voice was cold.
Xiao Zelan immediately fell silent.
Li Danqing understood at once.
Xiao Zelan wasn’t the decision-maker here.
Turning toward Bai Zhi, she tried another approach.
“Sister-in-law…”
“We did give you that fur pelt before…”
“Then take it back.”
Bai Zhi immediately picked up the pelt and held it out.
Li Danqing: “…”
After a moment, Li Danqing clenched her jaw.
“Forget it.”
“I’ll go ask that person.”
She grabbed Xiao Zeyan’s arm and turned to leave.
But Xiao Zeyan didn’t move.
How could he allow his wife to beg those shameless people?
Bai Zhi finally spoke again.
“You can have one.”
“If you pay for it.”
Xiao Zeyan’s eyes lit up.
“How much?”
“One hundred taels.”
Silence.
Everyone nearby stared at Bai Zhi in disbelief.
Seeing their expressions, Bai Zhi sneered.
“Too expensive?”
“Then if I offered you one hundred taels for your cotton coat, would you sell it?”
Nobody answered.
At a place where freezing to death was a real possibility, a coat was worth more than silver.
After all, money meant nothing to a corpse.
Beside her, Xiao Yu tugged at Bai Zhi’s sleeve.
She shook him off.
Then she pointed at the red cord hanging around Xiao Zeyan’s neck.
“Or trade me that.”
She had no idea what it was.
But if he wore it around his neck, it had to be important.
Li Danqing’s eyes immediately turned red.
“No.”
“Not that.”
“That belonged to the late Empress.”
“I’ll go ask those people.”
“They still have coats.”
Bai Zhi frowned.
“You’re a living person.”
“Are you really worth less than an object?”
Li Danqing froze.
Bai Zhi hadn’t named anyone.
But everyone knew exactly what kind of people she meant.
People who would demand more than money in return.
Li Danqing’s lips trembled.
She fell silent.
At last, Xiao Zeyan removed the jade pendant from his neck and handed it over.
“Sister-in-law is right.”
“The living are what matter most.”
Bai Zhi accepted it solemnly.
“As long as I’m alive, you can redeem this jade at any time.”
“Just bring the money.”
Xiao Zeyan nodded.
“Thank you.”
Bai Zhi did not allow Xiao Zelan to give away his coat.
Instead, she pulled out her own spare cotton outfit from her bundle and handed it over.
The one Zhao Auntie had prepared for her stayed with her.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you so much.”
The couple left carrying the clothing.
But before they got very far—
They were stopped.
A woman from the Zhu family blocked their path.
“Your son caused my son to fall into the river.”
“That coat should belong to my child.”
Li Danqing’s eyes widened.
“That’s nonsense!”
“Your children suggested fishing in the first place.”
“Now you’re blaming us?”
“I don’t care.”
“Your family caused it.”
“You owe us compensation.”
The argument quickly escalated into a shouting match.
Xiao Zeyan, though terrible at arguing, instinctively stepped in front of his wife.
But there were too many people.
The coat was nearly snatched away.
Then Li Danqing suddenly pulled a hairpin from her sleeve.
Pointing it directly at the crowd, she shouted:
“Anyone who comes closer dies!”
She had completely lost her patience.
The Zhu women immediately backed away.
None of them dared test whether she was serious.
In the end, the couple escaped with the coat.
Watching them leave, both Xiao Zelan and Xiao Yu breathed sighs of relief.
Then they simultaneously turned toward Bai Zhi.
Who was already looking at them.
Bai Zhi felt an explanation was necessary.
“You saw what happened.”
“We can’t let people think we’re easy to talk to.”
“Because being easy to talk to means being easy to bully.”
Xiao Zelan opened his mouth.
“I understand…”
Bai Zhi continued:
“You’re just soft-hearted.”
“That’s normal.”
“Anyone would feel sympathy.”
“Especially when the two of you used to be close.”
“But I don’t know them.”
“So I’ll be the bad person.”
Xiao Zelan lowered his eyes.
A deep sense of helplessness washed over him.
“I’m sorry.”
Bai Zhi shrugged.
“It’s fine.”
“Just remember your promise.”
“You said you’d listen to me.”
The procession resumed.
Several children remained forever beneath the frozen river.
Xiao Jingyu had already put on the coat Bai Zhi provided.
A cloak was wrapped over it.
Even so, he looked terrible.
Walking exhausted him.
The adults took turns carrying him.
His condition clearly wasn’t good.
Falling into icy water in the middle of winter…
With no doctors and almost no medicine…
The outcome was easy to imagine.
The Zhu family’s child fared much better.
Perhaps because he practiced martial arts.
Despite wearing nothing but mismatched thin clothing gathered from others, he still appeared energetic.
That night, the convoy stopped again.
This time they camped beside a mountain forest.
Large boulders were scattered nearby.
Bai Zhi’s group selected a spot against one of the rocks.
Using smaller stones, they built a rough windbreak around it.
It wasn’t much.
But it helped.
Xiao Zeyan’s family settled nearby and copied the arrangement.
Dinner was sparse.
Five steamed buns.
No porridge.
Only hot water.
Supplies were running low.
The next time they passed a city or county seat, they’d need to ask Wang Zheng’s men to purchase provisions.
The wind grew even stronger after dark.
The three huddled together.
They propped up an oilcloth sheet using stones, creating a crude barrier against the howling northern wind.
In the middle of the night, Xiao Jingyu developed a fever.
His younger sister cried so hard her voice nearly broke.
Unable to bear it, Xiao Yu secretly delivered one of his fever-reducing pills to his nephew.
Bai Zhi pretended not to notice.
She wasn’t heartless.
The situation simply left little room for kindness.
The next morning, Xiao Jingyu’s fever had broken.
But one of the wealthy merchant’s concubines had died.
The merchant couldn’t even be bothered to bury her.
Several women who had been close to her wanted to help.
But frozen earth could not be dug with bare hands.
Xiao Jingyu no longer had a fever.
Yet he coughed constantly.
His body looked ready to collapse at any moment.
When Xiao Zeyan walked behind a tree to relieve himself, Xiao Yu followed him.
Xiao Zelan naturally understood why.
He lowered his head.
Unable to meet Bai Zhi’s eyes.
Bai Zhi sighed inwardly.
One day, Xiao Yu—the future “great protagonist”—would still need Xiao Zeyan as a teacher.
So she chose to ignore it.
Again.
That evening, Xiao Yu finally confessed.
“I gave my medicine to… Big Brother.”
“In my dream…”
“He helped me many times.”
“Big Sister-in-law and Sister Li helped me too.”
He stood there like a guilty little quail.
Head lowered.
Eyes fixed on the ground.
What could Bai Zhi even say?
In the end, she merely nodded.
“I know.”
On the third day, they finally passed a county town.
The guards stopped the convoy beside the road outside town.
Two escorts were preparing to go inside and buy supplies.
Bai Zhi had planned to ask them to make purchases on her behalf.
Unfortunately, the guards were already surrounded.
Everyone wanted the same thing.
After listening for a while, Bai Zhi learned the terms.
The guards took eighty percent.
Give them ten taels.
You’d receive only two taels’ worth of goods.
And even then, they couldn’t carry everything.
The highest bidders received priority.
Bai Zhi immediately abandoned the idea.
Nearby, Li Danqing was preparing to beg the guards to take Xiao Jingyu into town to see a doctor.
Suddenly, the Crown Princess, Chen Wanning, grabbed her arm tightly.
“Don’t go.”
“If you go…”
Her voice shook.
But she couldn’t finish the sentence.