“He’s my son. If anyone goes, it should be me.”
As she spoke, Chen Wanning started walking toward the guards.
Li Danqing grabbed her arm and laughed bitterly.
“What would you go for? They aren’t interested in you.”
Compared to Li Danqing, Chen Wanning could only be described as dignified and proper.
Chen Wanning was already crying.
“But…”
Xiao Zeyan suddenly shouted harshly:
“No one is going! We’ll give him all the money we have and ask him to take—”
Li Danqing interrupted him even louder.
“If we have no money left, we’ll all starve to death! Besides, secretly bringing prisoners into the city for medical treatment is no small matter. No one would risk it lightly.”
“Then we’ll leave it to fate! How can a man survive by letting his elders sacrifice themselves for him…”
Xiao Zeyan couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Father… cough cough… Auntie, don’t go…”
Li Danqing immediately rushed over and knelt beside Xiao Jingyu.
She had practically raised these two children more than their birth parents had.
If anything happened to them, it would be like taking her life.
“Don’t go, Auntie… cough cough… it’s all my fault…”
Xiao Jingyu coughed until his face turned red.
“Auntie…”
His younger sister Xiao Siqi also burst into tears and clutched Li Danqing’s sleeve.
Li Danqing gently stroked Xiao Siqi’s head before turning to Xiao Jingyu.
“Yu’er, you’ve always been smart. You should understand our situation now. Even if I don’t go today—even if you die—people like us still won’t survive the journey to the northern lands. You have to think about your mother and your sister too.”
With that, Li Danqing resolutely walked toward the guards.
Bai Zhi hadn’t expected the guard she approached would actually be Li Yang.
In the end, Li Yang and Li Mu took Xiao Jingyu and Li Danqing into the city, leaving the Xiao family behind under a cloud of despair.
Tonight, for once, they stopped early.
Everyone built fires and warmed themselves.
After more than ten days on the road, fewer and fewer people were buying steamed buns.
Most people simply nibbled slowly on coarse cornbread.
Tonight, Bai Zhi’s group was eating cornbread too.
The exile prisoners received two cornbread buns per day, and this was the first time Bai Zhi’s group had actually eaten them.
The coarse grain seemed mixed with some kind of wild vegetable.
It tasted bitter and scraped harshly against the throat.
They still cooked chestnut millet porridge tonight.
Every time Bai Zhi made porridge, she only used about three liang of grain.
After more than ten days, they only had a little over two jin of millet left.
The beans remained untouched, but they only had forty or fifty pancakes left now.
Bai Zhi sighed.
Looks like they needed to find a way to buy more supplies soon.
After dark, the people sent shopping finally returned.
Xiao Zeyan and Chen Wanning hurried over to receive Xiao Jingyu and Li Danqing, while everyone else crowded around trying to collect their purchased goods.
“Did you buy our padded clothes?”
“My buns! Give me my buns!”
“My things—”
Li Mu shouted sharply:
“Why are you all yelling? Stand aside and wait.”
No one dared move forward again and could only wait nearby.
At last, Xiao Zeyan’s family managed to receive Xiao Jingyu and Li Danqing.
Both Xiao Jingyu and Li Danqing now wore new padded robes.
Li Danqing also carried two large bundles on her back.
“These are the medicines the doctor prescribed. Two pills each time, morning and evening. And this is some food.”
She shoved both bundles into Chen Wanning’s arms, then pulled a sheet of paper from her sleeve and handed it to Xiao Zeyan.
“This is a divorce letter I had someone write for me. Put your fingerprint on it.”
“Danqing…”
Xiao Zeyan stared at her in disbelief.
Even Chen Wanning froze.
“Qing’er, you…”
Li Danqing continued calmly as though no one had interrupted.
“You already knew I once had a childhood sweetheart and fiancé. If the Old Madam hadn’t insisted that men couldn’t be trusted and feared Young Miss wouldn’t be able to keep your heart, I would never have been forced to accompany her into marriage.”
Looking directly at Xiao Zeyan, she continued:
“There was never any deep love between us anyway. Consider this ordeal repayment for the wealth and luxury I enjoyed in the Eastern Palace all these years. Once you sign this divorce letter, we’ll owe each other nothing.”
Xiao Zeyan gripped the paper tightly, his eyes bloodshot.
“Qing’er… I failed you.”
Chen Wanning broke down crying.
After Li Danqing became a secondary consort, she had received endless favor.
Even though Chen Wanning knew Li Danqing had always acted for her sake, there had still been an indescribable discomfort in her heart.
And because of that unspoken tension, Li Danqing had voluntarily drunk contraceptive medicine all these years.
She feared that if she bore children, they might outrank Chen Wanning’s own children.
Li Danqing hugged Chen Wanning and whispered softly into her ear:
“Miss, I have my own plans. Don’t worry about me. Just take care of yourself and the children.”
Xiao Zeyan still clutched the divorce paper tightly.
Finally Xiao Jingyu persuaded him.
“Father, sign it. If you don’t, Auntie will only suffer more.”
At last, Xiao Zeyan bit his finger and pressed his bloody fingerprint onto the paper.
Li Danqing tucked the divorce document into her sleeve, then walked toward Bai Zhi’s group carrying an oil-paper package.
“Younger Sister… I still don’t know your name.”
“My name is Bai Zhi.”
Li Danqing smiled faintly.
“Sister Bai Zhi, please take care of them for me in the future.”
Without waiting for Bai Zhi to respond, she shoved the package into her arms and turned away.
Inside the package was a roast chicken.
It smelled delicious, but none of the three of them could taste anything.
Tonight the entire convoy was filled with the scent of food.
Everyone had purchased quite a lot, especially the wealthy merchant’s group.
They practically had fish and meat feasts.
Even the strongmen each received two buns.
Later that night, more sounds of panting drifted through the wind.
The women beside Liu Huai and Hu Kai had already been replaced twice.
Those discarded women occupied the very bottom rung of the convoy now.
The merchant would no longer touch them, which meant he no longer favored them either.
They survived on only two cornbread buns a day while walking such long distances.
They had no choice but to cling to other men for survival.
Bai Zhi pulled some cotton from the seams of her padded coat and rolled two cotton balls to stuff into her ears.
She needed to wake early tomorrow.
She absolutely had to sleep.
The next morning, while it was still dark, Bai Zhi got up.
Xiao Zelan asked quietly:
“Where are you going?”
Bai Zhi briefly explained her plan.
Xiao Zelan grabbed her wrist.
“No. It’s too dangerous. Leaving the convoy without permission is serious.”
Bai Zhi patted his hand reassuringly.
“Relax. I know what I’m doing.”
Then she shook off his grip, slung the basket onto her back, and quietly slipped away from the convoy.
After walking for roughly fifteen minutes, she arrived outside the city gates.
Bai Zhi’s eyes lit up.
As expected, people were already waiting to enter the city.
She walked toward a middle-aged woman carrying shoulder baskets.
“Auntie, what are you selling?”
“Steamed buns. Three copper coins each. Little girl, want some?”
The woman lifted the rough cloth covering the baskets, revealing steaming hot buns inside.
Bai Zhi chirped brightly:
“I want ten qian worth! Auntie, make sure you give me extra.”
“Of course! I’ll add two more.”
The woman grinned from ear to ear.
She hadn’t expected the girl to buy so many at once.
Ten qian equaled one hundred copper coins.
The woman wrapped up thirty-five buns for Bai Zhi.
Bai Zhi handed over one of the small chopped silver pieces she had prepared earlier.
“Oh dear, it’s silver bits. I don’t have a scale.”
A young man nearby immediately spoke up.
“I do.”
He pulled out a tiny portable scale.
The woman weighed the silver and found it was slightly more than enough, so she returned seven copper coins to Bai Zhi.
“Big Brother, what are you selling?”
The young man answered cheerfully:
“Just things grown at home. Red dates, peanuts, and red fruit.”
The “red fruit” turned out to be hawthorn berries.
Each pile looked to weigh around four or five jin.
Bai Zhi waved a hand grandly.
“I’ll take everything.”
“Huh?”
In the end, Bai Zhi spent three pieces of chopped silver and still received more than a dozen copper coins in change.
The red dates were the expensive part.
Peanuts were much cheaper.
The hawthorn berries were practically thrown in as extras.
After stuffing everything into her basket, Bai Zhi headed straight toward a burly man pushing a handcart.
The man was probably a hunter.
On his cart lay a wild boar along with several pheasants and rabbits.
“How much is the meat?”
“I’m selling the whole lot to a restaurant. Little girl, go buy inside the city instead.”