Exile Road: My Wife Brought Supplies Across Time - Chapter 1

“You have deviated from your route. Please make a U-turn ahead.”

“You have deviated from your route. Please make a U-turn ahead.”

“You have deviated from your route. Please make a U-turn ahead.”

…

The electronic voice kept repeating itself like a broken record, making Wei Xi furrow her brows in annoyance.

“How am I supposed to make a U-turn? Look at this road, is there any room to turn around?”

Wei Xi took a deep breath, suppressing the growing frustration inside her. “If you had a head, I’d really want to twist it right off.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t, and the navigation system couldn’t understand Wei Xi’s threat. It continued to act brain-dead, neither recalculating the route nor doing anything helpful, just stubbornly insisting that she make a U-turn.

Wei Xi was starting to regret working as a ride-share driver late at night, and she especially regretted taking this job that led out to the wild outskirts of the city. Not only was she unlikely to get a pickup on the way back, but the navigation had also dragged her onto this rugged, narrow yellow dirt road.

There wasn’t a single street light in sight, and she had to rely entirely on her car’s headlights.

Wei Xi squinted, trying to see as far ahead as possible. The weeds in front were already taller than a person, bowing toward the center of the road and severely obstructing her view.

The navigation continued to prompt for a U-turn. Worried that the road might be a dead end, Wei Xi hesitated, stopped the car, and poked her head out the window. After confirming once again that there was no way to turn around on this road, she quickly pulled her head back in and rolled the window up.

The wind in early March felt a bit biting on her face.

After rubbing her face vigorously, Wei Xi took her phone from the center console, intending to use a different navigation app to figure out the way. Just as she picked up the phone, the screen lit up with an incoming voice call.

Seeing that the caller was labeled as [2 o’clock], Wei Xi turned off the car’s navigation, lowered the radio volume, and answered the call.

As soon as the call connected, a chaotic mix of loud music and shouting erupted from the other end.

“Wei Xi, where are you?”

Wei Xi held the phone away from her ear because of the noise. Before she could answer, the person on the other end continued to shout.

“Forget where you are, hurry up and get to P&P! Everything is half-price for the Lantern Festival, hurry!”

P&P was a bar Wei Xi frequented. Realizing the person was just drunk and excited rather than calling about something important, Wei Xi decided to hang up. She still had to solve the problem of being lost.

“No time. Drink by yourself.”

The person was clearly unsatisfied with that answer.

“Didn’t you lose your job? How can you not have time? Come over here, I’m telling people about your miracle, how you shut down three companies in two years. Everyone wants to hear the details!”

Wei Xi: “…”

That made it sound like she was the one who had driven those companies into the ground, when in reality, she was just an ordinary employee. It was quite pathetic, really. A graduate of the film academy’s directing department, she had started in post-production editing, only to run into the “winter” of the film industry, where every company she joined went bankrupt.

Fortunately, she could pick up freelance editing work. Having finished a job tonight, she thought she hadn’t been out in a while, so she decided to come out to see the full moon of the fifteenth day. She’d also decided to take a ride-share order to test it out, having just registered her account and never taken a single trip.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? What are you doing? Found a new lover, so you don’t want your old flame? Can’t even get you out for a drink?”

A barrage of questions came through the phone. Wei Xi regained her composure. She wasn’t going to tell this idiot that she had gotten lost on her very first day as a ride-share driver. If this person knew, they would laugh about it for the rest of her life.

Sticking to their usual banter, Wei Xi casually brushed it off.

“Busy picking up a passenger.”

Laughter erupted from the receiver.

“Oh? Picking up a passenger, are you? Selling art or selling yourself?”

Wei Xi chuckled at the exaggerated “Oh.”

“In the middle of the wilderness, specializing in burials. If you have any business, burn me some paper money, otherwise, I’m hanging up.”

Hearing that she was about to hang up, the person seemed to panic and hurriedly yelled “Wait.”

“Don’t, don’t hang up, I have something to say! I’m not joking, hurry over here. Your ex is here too, and she asked me to tell you that if you don’t come, she’s going to drink herself to death right here.”

Wei Xi: “…”

“You said you two had an amicable breakup, but this doesn’t look like it. She’s sitting here crying and drinking, saying she still wants to be with you.”

Wei Xi: “…”

“And Lily, Ava, Xingxing, and Xiaoyu—everyone you’ve rejected—heard someone once managed to take you down, so they all came to your ex’s table hoping she’d spill some juicy details!”

Wei Xi: “…”

They only dated for one day, what kind of “juicy details” could there even be? Remembering the other person’s drinking habits, Wei Xi sighed. “Keep an eye on her, I’m coming over now.”

As soon as she finished, Wei Xi heard her friend’s excited voice shouting, “Wei Xi agreed to come!”

Then, a clear cheer erupted from the receiver, along with people urging her to hurry up.

Wei Xi: …So many people.

“You’d better be quick, everyone’s waiting for you. Once you get here, I can finally get away. You have no idea, with you not here to crush everyone with your looks, there are so many people hitting on me! A rich lady even handed me her room key. I was planning to have a deeper interaction later, so don’t you dare delay me—”

“Hanging up.” Wei Xi ended the call without waiting for them to finish.

If she wanted to be fast, she had to find the road first. Finding the navigation app on her phone, she set the destination to P&P bar. After several routes popped up, she chose the one that took the least time. Seeing that the navigation showed this small, unnamed road would lead to a provincial highway, she finally let out a sigh of relief.

As long as the road wasn’t blocked, it was fine.

Shifting gears to start again, she turned up the radio volume slightly.

“That concludes tonight’s late-night emotional stories. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Wei Xi glanced at the time—it was 11 o’clock. After the commercials, the radio station began a new program. She didn’t know why, but following the emotional stories, there was a program about history. Listening to history at this hour felt a bit hypnotic, and she considered switching to music to keep from getting sleepy.

But one sentence from the radio host kept her listening.

“The historical figure we are introducing today is related to a newly discovered ancient tomb in the suburbs.”

Wei Xi’s eyebrows arched slightly. The job she had taken earlier today was actually driving an archaeological expert to this newly discovered tomb—they said there was a major discovery and were going to work overtime.

“The identity of the owner of the suburban tomb has been basically confirmed. It is Emperor Zhaoning of the Qin Kingdom. This was the only empress in the history of the Qin Kingdom. She stated before her death that she would not be buried with anyone else, nor would she enter the imperial mausoleum. There were no records of the specific location of her tomb. Who would have thought it was here in Heng City!”

The host raised their volume, sounding very excited.

“Today, in the empress’s mausoleum, the experts made an incredible discovery. Listeners, would you like to guess what it was?”

Wei Xi’s eyebrows twitched. What incredible thing could be found in a tomb… most likely just some burial goods. If the host was this excited, could it be that they saw a ghost?

The host didn’t keep them in suspense for long, giving the answer after a perfectly timed pause.

“Today, in the empress’s mausoleum, the experts also discovered another coffin.”

Wei Xi couldn’t help but laugh; I guess that did count as seeing a ghost—finding another dead soul. After laughing, she thought back to what the host had said. The empress said she wouldn’t be buried with anyone, so why was there another coffin in the tomb? Who was it?

The host solved the mystery right on cue.

“The historical figure our program is introducing today is the owner of this other coffin, a famous female general in the history of the Qin Kingdom—Ji Yelán.”

Ji Yelán… Wei Xi repeated the name in her heart. She didn’t know much about the history of the Qin Kingdom, so the name was naturally unfamiliar to her. She found it strange—why was a general buried in an empress’s tomb?

The host seemed to hear her confusion and addressed it.

“I believe many listeners are curious as to why a female general was buried in the empress’s tomb. We’ll talk about that later. First, let me introduce this general to you.”

Wei Xi “tsk-ed” at that; the host was clearly fishing for listeners, trying to keep them from changing the channel. Having had her curiosity piqued, Wei Xi didn’t bother changing the station. She continued driving carefully while listening intently.

“This General Ji Yelán, according to historical records, was born right here in Heng City. The General’s Mountain in the west of the city was named in her memory. In ancient times, that mountain was called Tiger Head Mountain. Our Heng City wasn’t called Heng City back then; it was called Ye Province, an important frontier fortress of the Qin Kingdom…”

Hearing this, a smile flashed in Wei Xi’s eyes. She was a native of Heng City, so this general was an “old fellow countrywoman” who had crossed a thousand years of time.

“Ji Yelán joined the army at 13, was promoted to a general of the cavalry at 15 for her military achievements, and at 18, saved the people of an entire city with her own strength…”

18? Saved the people of an entire city? Wei Xi couldn’t help but get curious about what this “fellow countrywoman” had done.

“A thousand years ago, also on this Lantern Festival, Ji Yelán discovered evidence that her superiors were colluding with the enemy. Knowing they were planning to coordinate with the enemy to let them pass through the gates and massacre the city, she broke through the encirclement, risking her life. Relying on her stubborn willpower, and even with a broken leg, she walked nearly a hundred li to successfully deliver this important information to Princess Zhaoning, who was guarding the western border…”

A hundred li—that was 50 kilometers. Walking 50 kilometers with a broken leg? Wei Xi was amazed. Was she even human?

On the radio, mournful music played, and the host said regretfully, “After this event, General Ji Yelán’s leg had permanent damage and she could never walk like a normal person again.”

Wei Xi frowned. So, she was… lame? That was truly miserable, especially after what she had just heard. It was clear this was a formidable general, and such a person likely wouldn’t be able to accept being disabled.

Wei Xi continued to drive slowly, thinking to herself that it was better now. There were cars, and if that general had a car, she wouldn’t have had to run until her legs broke…

The radio continued to tell the story, which involved some complex ancient political struggles. Wei Xi summarized it to mean that this event was very important to the woman who was then a princess, and her later successful seizure of the throne was largely thanks to General Ji Yelán.

“All along, regarding the relationship between the two, historians have tended to lean toward a bond of monarch and subject. But this time, in the empress’s ancient tomb, some very special items were discovered. The relationship between the empress and the general seems to be more than just friendship…”

Finally, it reached the key part. Wei Xi pricked up her ears. More than friendship—did that mean there was some sapphic love?

The host’s tone became ambiguous.

“Among the burial items unearthed today, there is a very special bronze object with a passage engraved on it. The experts have already completed a preliminary translation. Let me read it to you—static…”

Almost at the same time as the radio static started, Wei Xi’s field of vision suddenly opened up. She had finally driven out of the small road!

But wait…

As she saw the scene before her, the smile on Wei Xi’s face froze. Why wasn’t this the provincial highway? Didn’t the navigation say she would reach the provincial highway after coming out?

Why, after coming out, was she facing a mountain? And there was a tunnel.

With the light from her headlights, Wei Xi could see the name of the tunnel—[General’s Mountain Tunnel].

General’s Mountain Tunnel? Wei Xi was full of confusion. She had been through the General’s Mountain Tunnel before, and it wasn’t in this wilderness…

Wei Xi picked up her phone in confusion to check, but the navigation wouldn’t load, and her phone had completely lost signal. Looking around, there were no other roads. Wei Xi looked at the tunnel in front of her again, and she could faintly see light at the other end, like street lamps.

The tunnel wasn’t long, so she thought she would just pass through it first. If there were street lamps on the other side, there should be a signal too.

In the dark of night, the car started again and gradually disappeared into the moonlight.

Also disappearing was the [General’s Mountain Tunnel].

The night grew deeper, and the moonlight gently enveloped the entire Tiger Head Mountain, illuminating the people rushing through the mountains.

The figure leading the pack, clad in silver armor that rippled like water under the moonlight, was the best guide for the pursuers.

Dodging another arrow, Ye Fengyu looked at the pursuers she had intentionally led here and hurried to the top of the mountain. Before her was a cliff, and behind her, arrows flew in with the rushing pursuers.

Ye Fengyu looked up at the moon in the sky. The people of Ye Province believed in the Moon God and would pray devoutly every fifteenth day, hoping for divine protection.

She had never believed in these things, and there was nothing that needed divine protection… In her view, rather than believing in gods, it was better to believe in oneself.

This was the first time she had prayed to the moon; she wanted to live, she needed to live! Under the moonlight, her blood-stained eyes were resolute and determined.

Waiting for the pursuers to approach, she used the cover of the night and feigned being hit in the chest by an arrow. Like a tree that had been felled, she plummeted into the cliff behind her.

The pursuers who hurried to the edge of the cliff looked at the bottomless abyss and hesitated.

“Should we keep chasing?”

“Why bother? Struck by an arrow and falling off a cliff—even if not dead, she’d be crippled. How could she report the news?”

“You’re right.”

“Let’s go, go back to report.”

Under the moonlight, the group hurriedly went down the mountain to report.

On the other side of the mountain, the figure rolling down rapidly was also heading toward the foot of the mountain. Having grown up in Ye Province, Ye Fengyu knew there was a slope at the north cliff of Tiger Head Mountain. As she tumbled, she firmly protected the letter against her chest; it contained evidence of the garrison general’s collusion with the enemy, and she had to deliver it to the princess.

The lives of the people in the city hung in the balance.

Gravel scratched her eyes, and blood seeped into the corners of her eyes. Ye Fengyu squeezed her eyes shut. Her injured body was constantly slammed against trees and rocks, but she bit her lip, enduring all the pain.

The wind whistled past her ears, sounding almost as intense as her own breathing.

Faster and faster!

Just as the dizziness was about to overwhelm her reason, Ye Fengyu felt her body go empty, and she was thrown out heavily.

She had reached the foot of the mountain. Ye Fengyu knew there was a stone wall at the foot, with a drop of one zhang to the ground. She did her best to curl her body, bracing for the excruciating pain of the landing.

“Boom!”

A figure plummeted straight to the ground!

“Ah!”

A gasp rang out in the car!

Wei Xi had never expected that as soon as she drove out of the tunnel, someone would fall from the sky!

And they had fallen right in front of her car!