Exile Road: My Wife Brought Supplies Across Time - Chapter 3

Mist swirled, turning the rearview mirror into a gray blur.

Unable to see that lunatic anymore, Wei Xi withdrew her gaze and looked ahead. Within just a few blinks, the fog had become absurdly thick. Visibility dropped rapidly to less than two meters.

Wei Xi hurriedly slowed down and turned on her fog lights. Just then, an abrupt electronic voice made her heart jump.

“Turn right ahead onto Provincial Highway S01, please watch for oncoming traffic on the left!”

It was the phone’s navigation system! Realizing what had happened, Wei Xi quickly pulled her phone from her pocket.

The navigation voice continued. “Turn right ahead onto Provincial Highway S01, please watch for oncoming traffic on the left!” The screen, which had been frozen, was now moving again.

There was a signal!

Seeing the full bars of service, Wei Xi nearly burst into tears. The time displayed on her phone began to tick as well, jumping from 23:23 to 1:23 in an instant.

Before Wei Xi could ponder why time had suddenly normalized, a series of honks snapped her back to attention. She looked in front of the car, and her pupils dilated.

The fog had dispersed, leaving the view clear and expansive once more. Her car was parked at the intersection of a dirt path, just feet away from a paved asphalt road.

What was going on? Did she loop back out? Seeing the streetlights, which represented modern civilization, Wei Xi felt as close to them as she would to a friend.

Speaking of friends, she thought of Shen Shiyun. It had been over two hours since she started looking for her. Was she still waiting at the bar? Wei Xi immediately wanted to call her; after all the chaotic events of the night, she really needed someone to talk to.

But before dialing, she remembered the lunatic she had electrocuted. She had promised to call the police once she had a signal.

Right, call the police first.

This time, the emergency call went through immediately.

“Hello, 110? I’ve encountered a lunatic…”

On the other side, the young general, now paralyzed by the electric shock, didn’t know she had been labeled a lunatic. Because of her eye injury, she hadn’t seen the mist vanish, nor had she seen how the woman claiming to be a deity disappeared.

Everything around her had changed in an instant, as if manipulated by divine power. The continuous mountain range had instantly transformed into an open plain. Under the moonlight, at the end of the road where she lay, a simple, ancient city wall stood tall. Above the city gate, the characters for “Cangzhou” were written with imposing force.

Ever since Cangzhou was annexed into the Western Territory and fell under the jurisdiction of the eldest princess, Ji Chen, the princess had governed with great wisdom. Now, the city walls were solid, the garrison brave, and the people lived in peace, showing signs of stability even in these troubled times.

This year, for the Lantern Festival, the princess had ordered the curfew lifted. The city was bustling with lanterns, crowded with people, and exceptionally lively. Even at 2:00 AM, there were still residents walking back home outside the East Gate after the festival.

“Mother, there is someone in the grass by the side of the road!”

A child’s scream drew the attention of the city guards and surprised Ye Fengyu, who was contemplating whether gods truly existed in this world.

“She moved! She’s still alive! Mother, she’s wearing armor, she looks like a general!”

Hearing the word “general,” the guard protecting the eldest princess, who happened to be checking the situation at the gate, ordered her subordinates to hand over a torch to go and investigate. When she saw the face of the person on the ground, Qin Qiong was shocked.

“Young General Ye? Why are you here?”

Qin Qiong handed the torch to her subordinate and stepped forward to help the person up. “General, it’s me, Qin Qiong. Aren’t you training troops in Yezhou?”

“Qin Qiong?” Hearing the familiar name, a faint light flickered in Ye Fengyu’s red-rimmed eyes. “Qin Qiong, quickly, send me to Cangzhou! I need to see the eldest princess!”

“General, this is Cangzhou.” Qin Qiong felt the general’s legs go completely limp as she supported her, feeling horrified. “Who hurt you like this?”

As she spoke, she ordered her subordinates to prepare a carriage.

“Cangzhou?” Ye Fengyu suspected she had misheard. Cangzhou was over a hundred miles from Yezhou, how could she have arrived here?

Qin Qiong didn’t realize the other person couldn’t see clearly, so she supported her toward the city gate. “Look, the Cangzhou city gate.”

As she spoke, Qin Qiong glanced at the brown, finger-length object stuck to Ye Fengyu’s forehead, wondering, “What happened to you? Why were you lying outside the city gate?”

Ye Fengyu, hearing the other’s certainty, couldn’t worry about how she reached Cangzhou for the moment. “Quick, take me to see the eldest princess!”

At 2:30 AM, Wei Xi arrived at the P&P bar. Not seeing her friend immediately, she found the bartender she was familiar with. “Have you seen Shen Shiyun?”

Miaomiao, the bartender, saw it was Wei Xi and pointed enthusiastically. “Look over there, at the liveliest table. She’s there with your ex-girlfriend.”

Seeing Wei Xi about to leave, Miaomiao hurriedly stopped her. “Sister Xi, wait, I have a question.”

Wei Xi paused. “Hmm?”

Miaomiao leaned over the bar, getting closer to Wei Xi. “Sister Xi, are you really asexual?”

Wei Xi raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Miaomiao hadn’t believed it at first, but after everyone chatted tonight, they realized something—no one had ever successfully slept with Wei Xi, and she hadn’t slept with anyone else either, including her ex-girlfriend.

“Is it true? Do you have an intimacy phobia?” Miaomiao puffed out her chest. “They say even when you kiss, you don’t touch here.”

Wei Xi: “…”

Could someone explain why she kept hearing such baffling things tonight? She, asexual? It was so ridiculous that Wei Xi couldn’t help but chuckle. “Who told you that?”

Miaomiao pointed to the corner she had indicated earlier, where things had become even more animated. “Your ex-girlfriend.”

Wei Xi looked over and saw her ex-girlfriend on the table, along with her reckless friend who was trying to climb up. Wei Xi drank a glass of water in one gulp and headed toward the noisy corner.

As she approached, she heard an argument.

“Wei Xi is just being unreasonable. I offered to pay for a better car, so she’d have some face when driving out, but she insisted on buying that piece of junk!”

“You’re the one with the problem. Wei Xi uses her own money to buy the car she wants, how does that affect you?”

“It affects my face! You know that car—people buy those for ride-sharing apps, how pathetic!”

“You’re the pathetic one. You think you’re so rich? If Wei Xi just asked, ask everyone here, plenty of people would buy her a car. This is called being pragmatic and not vain!”

“That’s clearly her looking for trouble and self-degrading!”

“That’s called self-reliance and self-sufficiency!”

“You’re wrong, it’s self-abandonment and self-inflicted trouble!”

“You’re the one who’s wrong, it’s being free and self-strengthening!”

“Self-inflicted!”

“Free!”

Two drunk people were arguing until it turned into an idiom competition. Wei Xi waited for them to run out of steam before walking over to the two kneeling on the table. She hoisted one under each arm and lifted them down.

“Wei Xi, it’s you, Wei Xi! Are you here for me? Wuu wuu, Wei Xi, you’re finally willing to see me! Wei Xi, don’t break up with me, okay? I don’t want to break up with you!” Fang Qingyu discovered it was Wei Xi and hugged her arm tightly.

Shen Shiyun, whose alcohol level was even higher, opened her tired eyes upon hearing the name. Seeing it was Wei Xi, she became even more excited than Fang Qingyu and grabbed her other arm. “Wei Xi, you finally came! Let me tell you, break up, you must break up with Fang Qingyu!”

Hearing this, Fang Qingyu, who had been subdued, started fighting again, and Shen Shiyun wasn’t about to lose. Wei Xi walked out with one under each arm.

The people on the sofa who had been watching the show finally realized it was Wei Xi and all stood up to try and stop her. “Wei Xi, Wei Xi, don’t leave! We have questions for you!”

Wei Xi dragged them both, carving a path through the crowd. “Another day.”

The next morning, in the East Wing of the eldest princess’s mansion in Cangzhou, Ye Fengyu sat up from the bed after hearing a knock on the door.

Her eyes had been bandaged by the doctor, and she couldn’t see shadows, so she had to grope with her hands and hop on one leg toward the sound. She had only jumped twice when she heard the door open.

Qin Qiong saw Ye Fengyu trying to get up and hurriedly helped her back onto the bed. “General, your leg should not be walked on for these few days, otherwise you might be left with a permanent injury.”

After making sure she was settled, Qin Qiong looked at her legs. The doctor had said last night that the bone was dislocated; fortunately, she hadn’t walked much, or she would surely be lame for the rest of her life. If she became a cripple… Qin Qiong felt heartbroken just thinking about it. Fortunately, someone had given the general a ride.

“General, your sword has been found. It was in the grass not far outside the city gate.” Knowing the general couldn’t see, Qin Qiong directly placed the sword into her right hand.

Ye Fengyu was holding something in her right hand and wasn’t prepared for Qin Qiong’s action, so she quickly withdrew her hand and reached out with her left. As soon as the sword touched her palm, Ye Fengyu knew without looking that it was her short sword.

“Thank you,” Ye Fengyu said to Qin Qiong. “I have troubled you.”

Qin Qiong didn’t find it a burden at all. “It is my honor to do something for the general. Please rest assured, the eldest princess has already taken people to Yezhou, you just focus on recuperating here.”

Ye Fengyu couldn’t fully set her mind at ease. If it weren’t for her eye injury, she would have gone along. “Tell me immediately if there is news from the princess.”

“Yes.” Qin Qiong agreed, then hesitated on her face, but finally asked, “Young General Ye, did you truly meet a god?”

She had been in the room last night when the general told the princess that a woman claiming to be a god had brought her to Cangzhou. Hearing this, Ye Fengyu tightened her grip on the object in her right hand. She wasn’t sure herself; after all, her eyes were injured, and she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the woman’s face, nor did she know how the other person had managed to get her to Cangzhou in such a short time.

Ye Fengyu thought of what the eldest princess said before leaving—perhaps she had injured her head and remembered the time wrong. “I do not know. The woman claimed to be a god, but whether it is true or not is impossible to verify.”

Unless, after her eyes healed, she could meet her again… When she saw her, she would be able to see her face and know if she was telling the truth.

Qin Qiong intuitively felt that the woman must be extraordinary. If not a god, then a demon… She couldn’t say that out loud. There were legends that demons appeared in times of chaos, causing suffering. She hoped it was a god, hoping the god would have mercy and help this chaotic world end sooner, so that the people could live in peace.

After urging Ye Fengyu to rest well, Qin Qiong took her leave. As soon as she left, Ye Fengyu opened her right palm. She had touched the object in her palm many times already: a piece of cloth the length of a finger, a finger wide, with adhesive on both ends.

The doctor said these things were originally stuck to the wounds on her face. She said she had never seen such a strange fabric; the color was earth-toned, and it had almost no scent. Not to mention her, even someone as knowledgeable as the eldest princess had never seen such items, let alone knew their purpose.

The doctor guessed they were for healing, hence being stuck on the wound. But her wound didn’t seem to be healing any faster. Ye Fengyu guessed, could this be a mark? Like branding a criminal, or a slave wearing an anklet? Was the woman marking her as her property by sticking this to her?

Ye Fengyu couldn’t help but wonder if, even if she took it off, there was a mark on her head that only that woman could see. She thought of what the woman had said—that she was the god of the “electric baton” in “Gu Xi La”? Where was Gu Xi La? And why would she suddenly appear in Yezhou and send her to Cangzhou?

Ye Fengyu was full of questions, but if she couldn’t meet the woman again, she feared no one could answer them. Would they meet again? Had she already returned to Gu Xi La? Would she come to look for her?

After so much trouble on her first day of ride-sharing, Wei Xi had already decided to give up this side hustle. After telling a sobered Shen Shiyun about the navigation failure and the lunatic, she asked if Wei Xi had been driving drunk…

Don’t drink and drive, don’t drive and drink—Wei Xi wasn’t some lawless outlaw. Seeing that she didn’t believe her, Wei Xi didn’t say much. She was busy with some post-production freelance work, so she didn’t have time to think about it. After Shen Shiyun sobered up and reconnected with her wealthy friend, she completely forgot to be curious about Wei Xi and her ex-girlfriend.

Everything went back to normal. Life continued, unchanged by a chance encounter with a lunatic.

But what Wei Xi didn’t expect was that a week later, the platform she registered with sent her a request. The client specifically asked for her car. Seeing the destination, Wei Xi guessed it was the archeology expert she had dropped off that night. At the time, the woman had said it was hard to get a taxi and the location was too remote, and Wei Xi had mentioned she could be booked in the future… She didn’t expect to actually be booked.

Wei Xi was someone who, once she made a promise, would not break it unless there was absolutely no other way. Even though she didn’t want to take the job, she accepted it.

At 9:30 PM, Wei Xi arrived at the client’s building on time. As expected, it was that same expert, an old lady with snow-white hair. Once she got in the car, Wei Xi verified her phone number and reminded her to fasten her seatbelt before taking off.

“Young lady, thank you for coming to pick me up so late.”

Wei Xi smiled. “You’re supporting my business, why thank me?”

Su Man understood. Where she was going was remote; going there was fine and provided income, but coming back would likely be an empty car, so experienced drivers usually didn’t want to go. Since this young girl had driven her once and was still willing to take her, it clearly wasn’t just for the money.

She was about to give her another compliment when, suddenly, Su Man spotted something incredible. Her wrinkled eyes narrowed. “Young lady, where did you get this?”

Su Man put on the reading glasses hanging around her neck and, with excitement on her face, took a string of copper coins from Wei Xi’s armrest box.

Wei Xi didn’t understand her excitement. She had found these on the passenger side floor mat; they must have been dropped by that lunatic. Before she could speak, she heard the old lady say in an exceptionally excited voice: “Young lady, will you sell this protective amulet of copper coins?”

“Huh?” Wei Xi was a bit dazed.

“If you are willing to sell, I can offer 180,000.”

Wei Xi blinked, doubting she had misheard. “What did you say?”

“If you think that’s too little, I can add some more.”

Wei Xi: ? Why did she only encounter abstract people when she went out at night? And the key was, at such an age… “Stop joking.”

Su Man rubbed the copper coins in her palm, her eyes full of surprise. She could be certain it was authentic! “Young lady, this old woman isn’t joking, and you don’t need to worry about me cheating you. These Qin Dynasty copper coins are currently valued at 20,000 each by collectors. You have nine, so that’s 180,000. If you are willing to sell them all to me, I can give you 200,000 directly.”

To be honest, if the old lady had just offered to buy her for 200,000, Wei Xi wouldn’t have thought she was being abstract; at most, she would have thought the old lady had “ulterior motives” despite her age.

“There are plenty of these in small commodity markets, they don’t even cost twenty yuan.” As she spoke, Wei Xi opened her phone and used an app to scan the coins for the old lady. She had overestimated; they didn’t even cost ten yuan, and shipping was included.

Su Man gave Wei Xi an unreadable look. “Those are fakes; yours are real. No wonder you just put them away so casually; it turns out you don’t recognize the goods. Fortunately, you met me today.”

Su Man patiently explained how to identify the authentic ones to Wei Xi. After listening, Wei Xi frowned. “You mean this string of coins is an antique?”

Su Man nodded. “I can’t be wrong. Although this one is very well-preserved, I am certain it was a special coin cast by Emperor Zhaoning of the Qin Dynasty when she was still a princess, in the Western Territory. Many soldiers regarded the princess as a god, so they strung these coins together as protective amulets.”

“Young lady, are you interested in history? Your stringing method and braiding style are very antique-inspired; it’s just that this extra pure gold lotus pendant is a bit redundant. Usually, there isn’t one.”

She hadn’t braided this…

Once she confirmed the old lady wasn’t being abstract, Wei Xi was stunned. She thought of that lunatic—what a real lunatic, carrying antiques on her person!

Wei Xi took a deep breath. To be honest, she was tempted! That was 200,000, not 20! But, forget it… ill-gotten wealth was easy to bring bad luck.

“Sorry, I can’t decide this. It was dropped by the last passenger. When I see her later, I have to return it to her.”

Wei Xi took the item back from the old lady. Knowing how valuable it was, she didn’t throw it around anymore. She carefully put it into her trench coat pocket and cautiously zipped it up.

Su Man looked regretful, then took a business card case out of her bag and handed a card to Wei Xi. “If you see her, please give her my card and tell her I want to buy these copper coins.”

Wei Xi looked at it; the card just had “Su Man” on it, plus a phone number.

“Okay.” Wei Xi put the card away and, resisting the heartache, reminded her they were leaving.

Along the way, Wei Xi felt miserable. If these copper coins were hers, she would have 200,000 now! To keep herself from thinking about the money, Wei Xi started chatting to distract herself.

“Are you working overtime at the ancient tomb again tonight?”

“Hmm, there have been some new discoveries.”

“I heard on the radio last time that the empress’s ancient tomb in the west of the city also contains a general’s coffin? Were they buried together?” Thinking of the broadcast she hadn’t finished listening to last time, and since there was an archeology expert sitting right next to her, Wei Xi thought asking her directly would be more authoritative than the radio.

The news had already reported this, so Su Man had nothing to hide, while also realizing this person wasn’t a history buff. Otherwise, she should have been paying attention.

“Not considered a joint burial. The general’s coffin doesn’t contain remains, only a sword.” A couple of days ago, her colleagues discovered another tomb not far from the empress’s tomb, which was initially verified as General Ji Yelanch’s. The strange thing was that there was no one in the coffin in the general’s tomb, only a set of armor. However, some very interesting records were discovered in the general’s tomb. This general seemed to have a deity she specifically believed in. Her colleagues hadn’t been able to decipher exactly what kind of god it was yet.

“A god?” Wei Xi remembered what was introduced on the radio last time. “Isn’t it said that this general only believed in herself and not in gods?”

After saying that, Wei Xi found a suitable explanation herself: “Probably after the leg problem, she found some spiritual sustenance.” Just like many sick people, when they are truly helpless, they naturally seek out gods and Buddhas.

“Leg?” Su Man was confused. “Whose leg has a problem?”

“General Ji Yelanch. Isn’t she called the lame general?” Wei Xi remembered the radio broadcast said that that night.

Su Man smiled. “Young lady, you remembered wrong. Her legs were fine. She spent her life in battle, but it’s a pity she died in battle at 19.”

Wei Xi frowned. What was going on? Did she remember wrong? The radio broadcast that night clearly said the general was lame, and she had even sighed that it was a pity.

Forget it, it didn’t matter. Whether she had broken legs or not had nothing to do with her.

She changed the subject and continued to chat. The chatting time passed very quickly, and more than an hour slipped by unknowingly. After safely delivering the woman, Wei Xi predictably didn’t get any return passengers and had to drive back empty. This time she was very careful and would absolutely not follow the navigation into unknown small paths.

The journey back was smooth, basically following the same route, but after turning right at a traffic light, the navigation went crazy again!

“You have deviated from the route, please make a U-U-U-U-U-U-turn ahead!”

“You have deviated from the route, please make a U-U-U-U-U-U-turn ahead!”

“You have deviated from the route, please make a U-U-U-U-U-U-turn ahead!”

…

Wei Xi looked down at the navigation with a dark face: “You’re messing with me again, right?!”

As she spoke, a white light flashed before Wei Xi’s eyes, and she closed them subconsciously. When she opened them again, she was actually in a tunnel… Was there a tunnel in front just now?

Wei Xi was a bit dazed, but before she could remember, she was out of the tunnel.

This time, no one fell from the sky, but a person was standing directly in front of her car! The eyes met, and the light of the car headlights shone on Ye Fengyu’s face, illuminating the horror in her eyes!

There was actually a woman sitting in a strange-looking “white box.” This huge box was rushing toward her at high speed!

Shock, horror, Ye Fengyu was full of disbelief!

Wei Xi felt she wouldn’t be able to brake in time, so she could only slam the steering wheel to the side! Fortunately, there was enough room to dodge! Avoiding the person, Wei Xi slammed the brakes and stopped the car!

“Looking for death? If a car is coming, move out of the way!” Rolling down the window, Wei Xi turned her head to look at the person standing motionless in the middle of the road and cursed angrily: “I’m asking after your heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys!”

Wei Xi cursed every curse word she could think of before her heartbeat finally calmed down a bit after nearly hitting someone. The person who hadn’t moved seemed to have been moved by the scolding and slowly turned around.

Seeing the person’s face clearly, Wei Xi felt the fire she had extinguished ignite again.

“It’s you, that lunatic again!” Today she had to teach someone a lesson and let them know that even if they were crazy, they couldn’t block the road at the entrance of a tunnel!

“Again?” Ye Fengyu’s ears twitched slightly. This voice!

The shocked eyes seemed to have a ray of moonlight fall into them, exceptionally bright.

“It’s you!”

Ye Fengyu walked quickly toward the strange “box,” asking loudly as she walked: “Is it you? The god of ‘electric batons’ in Gu Xi La?!”

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