I Marry a Wife for my Big Brother, Starting Out With Exile - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Protecting Jiang Jinyue

“Grandmother, look at what this is.” Inside the woods, (Li Chenghuan) feigned caution as she pulled a cup of water from her bosom.

Grandma Li’s eyes immediately went straight: “Lapis lazuli!” Such a transparent lapis lazuli cup—she had never seen such a fine thing in her entire life.

Seeing that the old lady’s focus was off, Li Chenghuan shook the cup: “It’s water.” With the nationwide drought, the common people had been lacking water for a long time, and the current price of water was even higher than oil.

Grandma Li glared: “I’m not blind; of course I can see it’s water.” With that, she quickly looked back and, with a sneaky expression, leaned closer: “Where did you get this lapis lazuli cup from?”

Their family didn’t own such fine things. When her ill-fated granddaughter had fainted, she had carried her for a stretch of the road herself; back then, there hadn’t been anything in her granddaughter’s bosom, and even if there had been, the water would have spilled dry.

Seeing that the old lady’s attention had drifted completely off course, Li Chenghuan paused inwardly: “Grandmother, this was given to me by sister-in-law. Once we finish drinking the water, the cup has to be returned to sister-in-law.”

The premise for triggering the golden finger was reducing the heroine’s corruption value, which meant that only by treating Jiang Jinyue well could she obtain rewards.

Because of the death of her eldest grandson, the old lady held deep resentment toward Jiang Jinyue. If she didn’t change the old lady’s mindset, she was afraid the old lady would hold them back.

Moreover, she also wanted to see if the rewards would become more generous if all three members of the Li family treated Jiang Jinyue well.

Grandma Li was startled: “Really?”

Although she said that, in her heart she already half-believed it. Jiang Jinyue, that jinx, was the legitimate daughter of a Minister’s household; it wasn’t strange for her to have good things in her possession.

Li Chenghuan nodded: “It’s absolutely true. Sister-in-law was so careful to protect this cup along the way, and just now she even gave special instructions for me to quietly show filial piety to you with it.”

Grandma Li let out a cold snort: “Consider her having a conscience.”

Li Chenghuan was speechless. Whether the other person had a conscience or not, she shouldn’t have to show filial piety to you, right? Jiang Jinyue was a proper young lady from a wealthy family; if she hadn’t been implicated by the Li family, how could she have become an exiled criminal?

Strictly speaking, it was their Li family that had wronged Jiang Jinyue.

“Grandmother, treat sister-in-law better from now on. Only then will she be more willing to show filial piety to you, right?”

Grandma Li looked thoughtful: “Since that jinx could hide this cup, she might still have other good things on her. We really do have to coax her a bit. You actually have some brains; this clever streak of yours comes from me.”

Li Chenghuan: “…” Heh.

Grandma Li took the cup and gulped down half of it: “You drink some too, and leave a couple of sips for Chenglale.”

Then, unwilling to let go, she added, “Do we really have to return this lapis lazuli cup to that jinx?”

Such a good thing—it definitely had to be worth a lot of silver.

Li Chenghuan said expressionlessly: “It has to be returned, otherwise sister-in-law won’t show filial piety to you with good things in the future.”

Grandma Li gnashed her teeth, closed her eyes, and handed the cup back: “Take it away quickly, don’t let me see it.” Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to bear returning it.

Li Chenghuan didn’t take it: “Grandmother, I’ll go call Chenglale over. We’ll return it after third sister finishes drinking.”

“You’re not drinking?” Grandma Li opened her eyes and tightened her grip on the water cup again. Such a fine item—she really wanted to keep it.

Li Chenghuan brushed her off: “I already drank some at sister-in-law’s place.” She had a bit of clean-freak tendencies, plus there was still the other cup of water anyway.

Grandma Li smacked her lips. Coaxing that jinx a little was fine; as long as she could wheedle things out of her, taking a step back was worth it.

On the way back, Li Chenghuan took out the remaining cup of water. Without touching it to her lips, she tilted her head back and drank half of it. As for the remaining half cup, it was naturally going to be used to farm the golden finger.

Having marched for so long without getting a drop of water, Jiang Jinyue must definitely be thirsty.

Returning to the procession, just as Li Chenghuan finished speaking with her third sister and was about to look for Jiang Jinyue, she saw that the bailiffs who had left earlier had all returned.

The five of them were laughing and talking, every single one of them glowing with health—at a glance, anyone could tell they had eaten and drunk their fill.

“Brother Zhou, this is what Boss Gu had me bring for you.”

The remaining guard was named Zhou Yuan. He reached out to take the food and smiled ingratiatingly: “Sorry for the trouble, many thanks to Boss Gu.”

Boss Gu was the lead escorting bailiff. He glanced at Zhou Yuan: “Have the prisoners eaten? Did anyone kick up a fuss?”

The five of them were all constables from the Shuntian Prefecture, yet only this fellow surnamed Zhou had been assigned to the Military Bureau. No one knew whose connections he had pulled to manage to get this lucrative assignment from Shuntian Prefecture.

Though the road of exile was bitter, the rewards were generous, especially since this batch of prisoners consisted of people of high wealth and nobility. If one played their cards right, they could certainly reap a lot of grease money. Who knew whether this Zhou Yuan was on the same side as them?

Boss Gu had deliberately left Zhou Yuan behind alone to guard the prisoners precisely out of a desire to test him.

Zhou Yuan nodded and bowed: “They’ve all eaten. Don’t worry, Boss, nobody kicked up a fuss.”

Boss Gu’s gaze turned cold: “The prisoners only got one corn bun each, and the water wasn’t even enough to go around. How could nobody kick up a fuss?”

It seemed he wasn’t on the same side after all; otherwise, he wouldn’t even understand this basic rule.

Zhou Yuan scratched his head in bewilderment and hesitated: “Perhaps someone did kick up a fuss?”

Only then did Boss Gu’s expression look a bit better: “I knew someone must have kicked up a fuss. Brothers, go give them a taste of our power.”

The other four guards tacitly drew their whips and rushed into the procession in a swarm, lashing out at anyone they saw.

Cries of agony erupted all around. Zhou Yuan’s expression changed slightly, and he lowered his head to eat his food.

There was no shortage of smart people in the procession, especially those three women from the Li family. After they had proactively delivered the waterskin to Wang Yue, the rest of the people had more or less figured things out and eaten their corn buns.

Otherwise, taking another beating like this on an empty stomach meant very few people would be able to hold out.

The journey was long, and he wasn’t in a position to go against these people; for now, this was all he could manage…

Seeing him wolfing down his food and only caring about eating, Boss Gu curled his lips and shouted loudly: “The brothers didn’t get to eat many good meals, so we’re feeling annoyed, which makes us put more strength into our lashes. If we all eat and drink well and feel happy in our hearts, naturally we won’t waste our energy.”

The implication was clear: if they didn’t want to suffer the whip, they had better offer good food to keep the guards happy. As for how that was to be done, it depended on how tactful these prisoners were.

As soon as these words fell, quite a few prisoners indeed reacted and began shoving things into the guards’ hands.

Seeing this, Li Chenghuan could only temporarily put aside her plan to show goodwill to Jiang Jinyue.

Spotting a guard brandishing a whip and walking toward her, she rolled on the ground and tried hard to lower her presence, but still ended up taking a lash.

Hiss, son of a gun, this life is truly unlivable!

Her back burned with pain. Lying on the ground, Li Chenghuan looked toward Jiang Jinyue’s direction and saw a guard walking toward the standing Jiang Jinyue.

Panic gripped her heart; she scrambled up and ran over there.

Unexpectedly, someone was even faster than her. Like a gust of wind, Li Chenglale rushed in front of Jiang Jinyue, pounced forward like a tiger to knock her down, and took a whip blow squarely on her own body to shield Jiang Jinyue.

Li Chenghuan: “!!!”

Third sister is so fierce.

Watching the bailiff raise his whip again, Li Chenghuan wanted to go over and protect Jiang Jinyue together, but someone grabbed her clothes.

“Let the third one block it; her hide is tougher than yours,” Grandma Li whispered.

Li Chenghuan was worried: “Grandmother, third sister is still young.” Li Chenglale was three years younger than the original body, only fifteen this year.

Grandma Li slapped the back of her head: “The third one is more useful than you, just stay put.”

Her younger granddaughter was naturally big-boned and built like an adult, much sturdier than her ill-fated second granddaughter’s weak and slender frame.

At that moment, Li Chenglale’s mind was completely filled with her grandmother’s words: the water was given by sister-in-law, sister-in-law still had good things on her, and she had to coax and protect sister-in-law all along the way so that sister-in-law would share food and drink with them.

The whip rose and fell again, and Li Chenglale took four blows in succession. Seeing that they showed no intention of pulling out any items, the guard finally moved on to someone else.

Jiang Jinyue gazed blankly at Li Chenglale. The young girl’s eyes were resolute, and though the pain distorted her facial features, she never once stepped aside, carefully and thoroughly shielding her.

She lowered her eyelids, her tone complex: “They’ve gone. Third sister, get up quickly.”

[Heroine’s corruption value reduced by one, rewarded with one bottle of safflower oil.]

As the mechanical voice rang out, Li Chenghuan turned her head in surprise to see Jiang Jinyue already standing up, while Li Chenglale came running back with large strides.

“Grandmother, I protected sister-in-law,” Li Chenglale said, letting out a silly laugh. Would sister-in-law be willing to share food and drink with them now?

Grandma Li sighed softly and pulled her into her arms: “Silly child, does it hurt?”

Li Chenglale shook her head: “It doesn’t hurt.”

Of course it hurts! Li Chenghuan’s heart was a whirlpool of mixed emotions. Without hesitation, she pulled out that bottle of safflower oil and shoved it into Grandma Li’s hands.

“Grandmother, hurry and apply this on third sister. The healing medicine sister-in-law gave me is very effective for pain relief.”

Grandma Li’s eyes lit up, and she blurted out: “We don’t need to return this healing medicine, right?” The healing medicine given by that jinx definitely wouldn’t be bad.

Li Chenghuan nodded. The golden finger had rewarded another bottle of safflower oil; she might as well let the old lady hold onto this one.

As for why the reward was once again safflower oil, she looked back at the others—of course it was because it was urgently needed.

After collecting plenty of bribes, the guards stopped with a sense of lingering satisfaction, leaving the prisoners scattered about in a miserable state.

“Dad, wake up, Dad…” In the procession, a youth cried out unceasingly. The middle-aged man collapsed on the ground like a withered husk, unresponsive.

The youth wiped away a tear and abruptly scrambled up.

“I beg you to save my father, I beg you…” The youth threw himself down at the guards’ feet, kowtowing incessantly.

Boss Gu and the others laughed as they divided up the silver, completely ignoring the youth.

Zhou Yuan could no longer stomach watching. He recognized the youth: Xu Xiao, the son of the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review—a youthful prodigy.

He had also heard that Lord Xu, the Vice Minister who had always been a staunch supporter of the Crown Prince in court, had been bedridden at home with illness recently.

Zhou Yuan clenched the bamboo chopsticks in his hand. There were smart people in this procession, but smart people understood the principle of self-preservation above all else; who would actually stand up?

What’s more, standing up might not even be useful.

“Your Highness, you must not.” Grand Tutor Yu held back Wang Yue, who wanted to step forward.

Wang Yue shook him off. Lord Xu was a rare, loyal, and upright official who had consistently supported her…

“Grand Tutor, I cannot ignore this. I’m going to beg them.”

“Your Highness, it’s useless.” Grand Tutor Yu’s voice was dry.

Since ancient times, countless prisoners had died on the road of exile, and Her Highness’s identity was sensitive; for all they knew, there might even be agents of several imperial princes among the guards. How could she possibly intervene?

Wang Yue froze in place. Useless? It’s useless…

Right at that moment, a cool, clear female voice rang out: “I know some medicine; perhaps I can help take a look.”