I Marry a Wife for my Big Brother, Starting Out With Exile - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Sister-in-law, You’re So Good!

At that moment, Li Chenglale had already hoisted Lord Xu onto her back. Understanding that this wasn’t the time to act tough, Xu Xiao silently kept this kindness etched in his heart.

Jiang Jinyue glanced at Zhou Yuan a few paces away. Under his watchful gaze, she handed the healing medicine into Xu Xiao’s hands: “…Let’s see how effective the medicine is; His Lordship might just be able to wake up.”

Following right behind, Li Chenghuan handed two fever pills to Xu Xiao: “After applying the healing medicine, have Lord Xu take these.”

The box of fever medication only contained eight pills, so she couldn’t take them out all at once and had to handle it this way for now.

Xu Xiao nodded repeatedly in deep gratitude. The seventeen-year-old youth had reddened eyes as he bowed deeply to his several benefactors.

Zhou Yuan took a few quick strides forward, lowered his voice to say, “Move quickly,” and then retreated back to the rear.

Jiang Jinyue’s gaze flickered slightly, and she signaled for Li Chenghuan to walk side-by-side with her.

Grandma Li rolled her eyes and took the initiative to walk to Li Chenghuan’s other side. The three of them formed a row, blocking Li Chenglale and the Xu father and son behind them.

Zhou Yuan took everything in. He hadn’t judged incorrectly: these few were all clever people with a certain degree of ability, which was a good thing for Her Highness—only…

If Her Highness didn’t quickly change her mindset, no matter how many clever people she had around her, she wouldn’t be able to win them over and use them for herself, making it all in vain.

After all, the road of exile was long. Relying solely on himself made it very difficult to protect Her Highness’s safety thoroughly.

Hopefully, Grand Tutor Yu could see the situation clearly and wake Her Highness up early, uniting all available forces within the procession to safely reach the place of exile.

At that moment, Grand Tutor Yu had indeed seen through the situation. Keeping close behind Wang Yue and seeing that no guards were staring in their direction, he silently lengthened his stride.

“Your Highness must not lose heart; there is still a turning point to this situation.”

Wang Yue’s eyes lit up, and she also lowered her voice to ask, “What does the Grand Tutor mean by this?”

What did a turning point mean? Could she still return to the capital?

Grand Tutor Yu glanced toward the rear: “That Zhou Yuan should be one of our own people.”

“It’s Mother!” Wang Yue blurted out.

Grand Tutor Yu nodded: “If this old servant’s guess is correct, Empress Mother must have left a fallback plan.” In truth, that wasn’t the case—several imperial princes had launched a sudden revolt, catching even the Empress off guard; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been cast into the cold palace without even managing to send out a single message.

However, given the Empress’s intelligence and decisiveness, making some slight arrangements was entirely possible, such as this Zhou Yuan.

Grand Tutor Yu trusted his own judgment and knew that under haste, the Empress could only do so much. The reason he spoke this way was to rouse Wang Yue’s fighting spirit.

When all was said and done, Wang Yue was only a teenager who had enjoyed smooth sailing all these years. Suddenly encountering a catastrophic disaster, her mental fortitude was likely unsteady.

Wang Yue’s gaze brightened further. The Grand Tutor was deeply learned, far-sighted, and aside from her mother, the only person who knew her true identity.

Therefore, she had no doubts about Grand Tutor Yu’s words and held immense trust in him: “I beg the Grand Tutor to instruct me—how should I act next?”

Grand Tutor Yu lowered his voice even further: “Your Highness should treat scholars with courtesy and rally people to your side as quickly as possible.” He worried that in her haste, the Empress might have only arranged for Zhou Yuan alone on the exile road, meaning the first thing they had to consider was how to safely reach the place of exile.

The most urgent priority was manpower—available manpower—so that they could properly handle any unexpected perils.

Upon hearing this, Wang Yue’s gaze dimmed: “These people might not necessarily be willing to follow me.”

Her mother had frequently admonished her not to form cliques for personal gain, and she truly had never recruited court officials, only appreciating a few impoverished scholars to cultivate them as aides, such as Li Chengsi.

As a result, her appreciation had pushed those talented men right onto the execution ground. Perhaps her mother had also feared this day might arrive, which was why she gave such warnings to avoid implicating so many…

Yet because she was the legitimate daughter of the Central Palace and the Crown Prince, quite a few people in the court had still actively leaned toward her, such as Lord Xu, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and these people who had been implicated by her.

Grand Tutor Yu sighed inwardly, but still rallied his spirits to say: “Your Highness must not belittle yourself. In this old servant’s view, someone seems to have already resolved to follow Your Highness.” Things having reached this point, only Wang Yue could lead them back to the capital; clever people should be able to figure this out.

Wang Yue was startled: “Who?” How come she hadn’t noticed?

Grand Tutor Yu’s gaze turned deep as he uttered a person’s name, then stepped back a few paces because of the shouts coming from the front.

Wang Yue could only temporarily suppress her thoughts and ponder the matter herself.

The guards were shouting for the prisoners to quicken their pace because the sky was growing somewhat dark. If they didn’t march faster, they would have to camp in the wilderness again tonight.

Yet the prisoners had only eaten a single corn bun, hadn’t even managed to drink a drop of water, and had been marching the entire day, leaving them long since starved and utterly unable to speed up their pace.

Even with the guards cracking their whips to urge them on, the procession still failed to reach the next walled city before sunset.

Looking at the already closed city gates, Boss Gu spat out a mouthful of phlegm with a look of bad luck: “This bunch of useless trash, dragging me into sleeping in the weeds again.”

The other guards’ expressions weren’t looking good either. They had just looted a fresh batch of grease money, yet couldn’t enter the city to indulge and enjoy themselves—their moods were simply abysmal.

After the procession halted, Zhou Yuan came to the front, pulled out a fire starter, and lit a campfire: “Boss Gu, come sit and warm yourself by the fire; it’s going to be cold at night.”

Last night, he had also lit a fire, but Boss Gu and the others hadn’t called him over, instead sending him to the rear to watch the prisoners.

Tonight, no matter what, he was going to break into this group.

Boss Gu glanced at him and tossed over two pieces of shattered silver: “This is yours.” They had made a lot of grease money during the day, which hadn’t been shared with this kid. Now seeing that Zhou Yuan was quite tactful, he didn’t mind tossing him a few scraps.

Zhou Yuan picked them up happily, wearing a fawning expression: “Many thanks, Boss Gu. This subordinate knew that following you is the only way to have a bright future. From now on, as long as you have orders, this subordinate will gladly go through mountains of blades and seas of fire without hesitation.”

Hearing this, Boss Gu felt comfortable inside, and his expression improved somewhat: “Cut the crap, hurry up and boil a few bowls of meat soup.”

The so-called meat soup meant throwing dried salted meat chunks into a pot and boiling them with water.

Before long, the dried meat produced a rich aroma. The guards each held a bowl of meat soup, crumbled their baked flatbread into it, and soaked it—the flavor was passable enough.

To them, the meat soup tasted passable, but in the eyes of the prisoners, it was an unimaginable delicacy they wouldn’t even dare to dream of.

The aroma of meat gradually drifted out, and the prisoners’ stomachs growled louder than one another. Their insides felt as though a nest of gluttonous beasts had bred there, producing an unprecedented sense of hunger.

Yet no matter how hungry they were, they could only smell the scent, while even those hard-to-swallow corn buns wouldn’t be issued until tomorrow.

Li Chenghuan’s stomach was rumbling too. Staring blankly with empty eyes at the guards eating and drinking, she felt she was about to starve to death.

When on earth would this life ever end?

She wanted to eat meat, she wanted to drink soup, and she wanted to lie on a soft sofa, pulling up a tablet to watch variety shows while eating…

The back of her head was poked, and Li Chenghuan turned around to look at Grandma Li.

Grandma Li muttered: “I’m hungry.”

Li Chenglale chimed right in: “Second sister, I’m hungry too, and thirsty.”

Li Chenghuan was completely bewildered. So what? What’s the use of telling me? I’m hungry too.

Seeing that she had no reaction, Grandma Li glared at her with a look of disappointed ambition, twisting her mouth to the side. This ill-fated child, where did her earlier cleverness go? Hurry up and coax that jinx into pulling out some food!

Following the direction of the old lady’s mouth, Li Chenghuan looked over and saw Jiang Jinyue sitting with her back to them.

Now she understood, and understanding was immediately followed by a wave of speechlessness.

Those words during the day were just things she had used to hoodwink the old lady; where on earth would the cold beauty have food on her?

Those two cups of water hadn’t been given by Jiang Jinyue either—they came from her golden finger…

Huh? A thought stirred in Li Chenghuan’s heart. Starving and thirsty as they were, whether it was her or Jiang Jinyue, what they urgently needed most right now was food and water.

If she could trigger a golden finger reward, maybe she really could eat meat and drink soup tonight.

Returning a look to the old lady that said “remain calm and don’t be impatient,” Li Chenghuan turned to Jiang Jinyue: “Sister-in-law, can you accompany me to nature’s call?”

With those words, she blinked with feigned profoundness.

Seeing this, Grandma Li hurriedly persuaded: “Chenghuan is the most timid. Jinx—cough, cough, darling Jinyue, just accompany her there once.”

She had lowered herself to speak with such a clear conscience against her better judgment; that jinx shouldn’t refuse, right?

Jiang Jinyue pressed her lips together slightly, stood up, and took the lead in walking away.

The early autumn night wind carried a chill, and because of the drought, the trees were already withered and bare long before winter had even arrived.

Only the stars filling the sky twinkled as usual, completely ignorant of human sufferings, illuminating the night sky brilliantly.

The two walked in silence. Once they were out of everyone’s sight, Jiang Jinyue stopped and turned around.

“What is it?”

Without wasting words, Li Chenghuan directly produced the half cup of water from her bosom: “Sister-in-law, hurry and drink some water.”

She had no idea if this half cup of water could cause the cold beauty’s corruption value to fluctuate. If it didn’t work, she truly had no more tricks left for today.

Jiang Jinyue was slightly startled, then took the water cup. Only after finishing it did she speak again: “Why give me water?”

She had to survive; only by staying alive was there hope, even if her methods were no longer above board…

Hearing no mechanical sound from the golden finger, Li Chenghuan felt utterly defirited and said with a muffled tone: “No special reason, just figured you might be thirsty.”

Jiang Jinyue glanced at her sideways: “Are you disappointed?” Disappointed by what? Giving her water—what was she hoping to get in return?

“I’m just too hungry and thirsty, feeling a bit dizzy; what would I be disappointed about?” Li Chenghuan said listlessly.

I am extremely disappointed, alright? Such precious water, and the cold beauty didn’t even drop her corruption value after drinking it.

No wonder she was prone to turning dark; she was simply too hard to move.

Jiang Jinyue sized up the person before her. Too hungry and thirsty?

“Do you still have water?” She didn’t know where Li Chenghuan had gotten the water from, even keeping it stored in a precious lapis lazuli cup, nor did she need to know, but she didn’t believe the Li family would let themselves go thirsty while yielding water to her instead.

Li Chenghuan drooped her head despondently: “Only this half cup, it’s gone.” Of course, what she had drunk earlier didn’t count; after half a day, she had long since grown thirsty again.

Jiang Jinyue’s gaze narrowed slightly: “Many thanks.”

Regardless of whether this person’s words were true or false, the water she had swallowed into her stomach was real. For now, she would treat it as the Li family’s good intentions and accept it.

[Heroine’s corruption value reduced by one, rewarded with two bowls of yam and meatball soup.]

Seeing a glimmer of hope after despair, Li Chenghuan abruptly lifted her head and looked at Jiang Jinyue as if gazing at a savior: “Sister-in-law, you’re so good!”

To Jiang Jinyue, this sentence without beginning or end seemed completely inexplicable.

(Li Chenghuan: Yam and meatball soup, it has meat and it has soup—wish accomplished!)