Transmigrated into the Scum Female Consort - Chapter 10

The reason the halt was forced was that the total number of prisoners being escorted to the southern frontier was twenty, and the Zhou family alone accounted for sixteen of them.

The Zhou family had not committed a capital crime warranting the execution of their entire clan, but Elder Minister Zhou had scorned the Imperial Majesty in front of the throne, enraging the Emperor, which essentially implicated most of his family.

Among the sixteen Zhou family members, Elder Minister Zhou, Madam Zhou, their children, and their little granddaughter were the principal household.

The remaining people were servants who had sold themselves to the Zhou family, and so when they saw the Madam and the Eldest Young Master collapse, they all stopped.

With their halt, the rest of the team could no longer proceed.

What was worse, both Madam Zhou and Zhou Qishan had fainted.

Fortunately, although Elder Minister Zhou was a civil official, he was fond of learning in his youth and was not content with only the six arts of a gentleman. He had studied medicine for a period.

He took the pulses of his wife and son and let out a sigh of relief.

“Father, are Mother and Eldest Brother alright?” Zhou Qiyue asked worriedly.

Elder Minister Zhou let out a long breath. “It’s nothing serious. Just a lack of vital energy and blood.”

Simply put, they were too starved and too thirsty.

Compounded by days of continuous travel, the lack of rest tonight, forcing themselves to run that distance, and then the fall, both people fainted.

Xiao Gao, hearing this, looked back and could still see Yu Lu on horseback, blocking the road.

He simply ordered, “Since we can’t proceed, let’s rest here. We’ll leave at dawn.”

Zeng Laosan immediately expressed his displeasure. “Why can’t we proceed?”

Even if Yu Lu isn’t here, it’s not this brat’s turn to give orders.

Xiao Gao glanced at the still-unconscious mother and son. “What do you suggest we do with these two? Who is going to carry them? What if a few more faint?”

Everyone was exhausted. They had only run this far by sheer willpower. It was manageable if everyone looked out for themselves, but carrying someone would only lead to another person fainting, as Zhou Qishan’s case demonstrated.

The Zhou family would also not agree to abandon Madam Zhou and Zhou Qishan. Rather than cause a commotion, it was better to preserve their strength.

Zeng Laosan was choked up and said irritably, “How can we not run? What if those women are vengeful ghosts and catch up to claim our lives? How will anyone survive?”

Xiao Gao ignored him directly; talking to this kind of person was a waste of breath.

If they were truly vengeful ghosts, they couldn’t escape anyway.

Furthermore, since Yu Lu was able to stop those women without any major incident or confrontation, it suggested the situation wasn’t as bad as they initially reacted.

Because it was the middle of the night and the women had appeared so suddenly, their reaction was overly aggressive.

Now that they had calmed down and were a safe distance away, there was no need to panic excessively.

Seeing Xiao Gao ignore him, Zeng Laosan coldly snorted and sat down. He was also exhausted and his throat felt parched, yet he had not a single drop of water. This trip was truly miserable.

Over there, the only child among the prisoners, Elder Minister Zhou’s little granddaughter, five-year-old Ying’er, was already crying, terrified to see her father lying motionless on the ground with his eyes closed.

Zhou Qiyue quickly comforted her in a low voice, “Be good, Ying’er. Your grandmother and father are alright…”

As she spoke, Zhou Qishan woke up first.

“Father, Xiao Yue, Ying’er, where is my mother?” Seeing Madam Zhou lying on the ground, her head resting on Elder Minister Zhou’s leg, looking lifeless, he immediately cried out, “Mother…”

“Stop wailing! Your mother is fine,” Elder Minister Zhou glared at his son, though his expression was serious.

His son was young and recovered quickly.

But his old wife was elderly and had never endured such hardship. Even if she survived this time, it would be difficult for her to withstand the next.

Elder Minister Zhou suddenly regretted it a little. He shouldn’t have denounced the Emperor as foolish, but as an Imperial Censor, how could he fear death? Dying for a remonstrance was the glory of an Imperial Censor.

It was just that he had implicated his entire family, old and young…

Just then, Madam Zhou’s mouth moved. Although her eyes were still closed, she could speak.

“Water… water…”

Having heard what she was muttering, Elder Minister Zhou quickly ordered his children, “Go find water immediately!”

After speaking, he lost himself in a daze.

Where can they find water? They hadn’t encountered a river all day. The prisoners had no container to store water and couldn’t save any. The officers only had one water flask each, which was likely emptied after a day of marching.

Zhou Qishan naturally thought of the officers first.

“It’s empty.”

“It was finished long ago.”

Zhou Qiyue’s eyes immediately turned red when she saw Zhou Qishan return dejected and empty-handed.

Suddenly, she remembered something and abruptly stood up.

“Xiao Yue?” Zhou Qishan called out to her.

Zhou Qiyue murmured, “Besides the officers, someone else has a water flask.”

Hearing this, the Zhou family members’ eyes unanimously fell upon Yun Chi.

This was because Yun Chi had loudly told Ye Xuejin the day before that she had found a water flask by the river.

Many people had heard it at the time.

The prisoners were gathered together, and Yun Chi and Ye Xuejin were only two meters away from where the Zhou family was seated, so they naturally hadn’t missed anything that transpired here.

Yun Chi looked at Zhou Qiyue, who was walking toward her, and preempted her before she could speak. “Both of ours ran out long ago, too.”

There was only a little milk left in her water flask, which absolutely could not be known by outsiders. Otherwise, it could cause endless trouble.

Zhou Qiyue froze and couldn’t help but look at Ye Xuejin. She didn’t believe the shameless scum consort, but she trusted the Grand Princess, who was rumored to be noble and impeccable.

Ye Xuejin pursed her lips and slowly shook her head.

She did not want to lie, but she certainly did not want to implicate Yun Chi. After all, the origin of this milk was too mysterious. She herself didn’t fully understand it, so how could she explain it to an outsider?

Zhou Qiyue completely lost hope and turned away in despair.

In the distance, Yu Lu was still on horseback, seemingly facing off against those women. It seemed there was no major issue.

Otherwise, Yu Lu would surely have seen the team stop here, and if something was amiss, he would certainly have given some instructions.

The officers knew they didn’t need to worry too much, so they each found a flat spot and lay down to sleep.

They were simply too exhausted.

They, at least, could eat their fill, but the prisoners were far worse off and in a much poorer state.

Overwhelmed by exhaustion, even speaking a word seemed to take a lot of effort. Everyone wordlessly lay down on the ground.

Elder Minister Zhou also instructed the servants to quickly go to sleep, while he continued to stand guard.

Zhou Qishan and Zhou Qiyue, the siblings, naturally couldn’t sleep either, so they kept watch over Madam Zhou with him.

The two Mu brothers had already lain down to rest when the team stopped.

Yun Chi nudged Ye Xuejin’s arm and tilted her head toward the Zhou family.

Ye Xuejin vaguely understood Yun Chi’s intention but didn’t know how to respond.

She didn’t want Yun Chi to risk helping, nor did she want to see anything happen to Madam Zhou.

Seeing her silence, Yun Chi understood. Even if she felt sympathetic, she had to restrain herself.

Before long, the officers and prisoners, scattered on the ground, began snoring one after another. Falling asleep so quickly showed how utterly exhausted they were.

Fortunately, Madam Zhou was now alright. Though weak, she was at least awake.

The night wind was cold and made people shiver. Yun Chi looked at Ye Xuejin, who was facing away from her, and silently reached out her hand.

When a hand gently touched her shoulder, Ye Xuejin suddenly opened her eyes, then quietly closed them again.

Yun Chi, however, didn’t hold her tight, but turned her shoulder, attempting to make her turn over.

Ye Xuejin opened her eyes again, which she had just closed. After a momentary hesitation, she obediently rolled over and lay on her side, face-to-face with Yun Chi.

Yun Chi scanned the area, carefully took off her water flask, and offered it to Ye Xuejin’s lips.

Ye Xuejin turned her head to avoid it. She knew there wasn’t much milk left. Although she was very thirsty, she could still endure it.

Seeing that she wouldn’t drink, Yun Chi didn’t insist. She tilted her head and drank a few gulps herself, then offered the water flask again.

Seeing Ye Xuejin still refuse to take it, she moved closer and whispered, “There’s more.”

There’s a cup of watermelon juice in the storage space.

Only then did Ye Xuejin take the water flask, drink the remaining few sips, and return the empty flask to Yun Chi.

The person in front of her, however, was lost in thought and did not take it.

Yun Chi was looking at the large text before her. As expected, sending out the same item repeatedly indeed resulted in progressively smaller rewards.

[You have gifted one bag of milk. Please choose a reward: One tea egg or two milk candies]

She still chose the tea egg, because compared to milk candies, the tea egg was better at staving off hunger.

She also needed to find opportunities to take out the items in the storage space more often to give to Ye Xuejin, so she could get rewards as quickly as possible.

Seeing her delay, Ye Xuejin did not interrupt. She just quietly watched her, gazing at the eyes that shone as brightly as stars in the night.