Transmigrated into the Scum Female Consort - Chapter 7

At this moment inside the thatched shed, the officers had just gotten up and had not yet spoken, and the prisoners also remained silent.

Yun Chi’s loud outburst was particularly jarring.

Yu Lu suddenly turned his head. Although he didn’t speak, his expression turned cold.

Zeng Laosan, standing beside him, secretly withdrew his gaze. He finally confirmed one thing in his heart: this Officer Yu seemingly avoided taking sides, but in reality, he was probably aligned with the Grand Princess Ye Xuejin.

Over here, Ye Xuejin acted as if she hadn’t heard anything, rising and still following behind Yun Chi.

After all, except for Zhou Qiyue, the rest of the Zhou family looked like they wanted nothing to do with her.

Since she was a woman, it was even more impossible for her to walk with those two brothers.

Zhou Qiyue, seeing this, couldn’t help but look at Madam Zhou, asking in a low voice, “Mother, can we really not help the Grand Princess?”

Does the Grand Princess have to follow that scum woman?

Madam Zhou, hearing this, gave her daughter a sharp, warning look.

“Mind your words.”

There were only exiled prisoners here, no ‘Grand Princess’.

Zhou Qiyue’s eyes dimmed. She took her little niece Zhou Ciying’s small hand and walked on glumly.

“Aunt, I’m hungry.”

“Be good, Ying’er. You’ll have something to eat soon.”

Zhou Qiyue looked at her five-year-old niece, feeling a catch in her throat. Yes, she thought, our Zhou family can barely take care of ourselves; how can we have the energy to help others?

“Aunt, don’t cry. Ying’er is not hungry anymore.” Little Ying’er gripped Zhou Qiyue’s hand, comforting her innocently.

Looking at her sensible little niece, Zhou Qiyue nearly burst into tears. It was foolish of me.

Madam Zhou sighed softly, her eyes full of helplessness.

In the past, she was the one who taught her daughter to be kind…

“Xiao Yue, let me hold Ying’er. You go to the back.”

“Mother?” Zhou Qiyue was confused; she didn’t understand…

Madam Zhou took Little Ying’er’s hand without explanation and said in a low voice, “Go and look after them. Just consider it a good deed.”

With that, she pretended not to see her husband’s knitted brows and kept walking, staring at her own feet.

Elder Minister Zhou rubbed his temples, unable to stop himself from muttering a reproach, “Feminine sentimentality.”

Despite saying so, he did not intervene.

Zhou Qiyue wiped the corners of her eyes. After a moment of distraction, she quickly ran to Ye Xuejin’s side.

Seeing a distance of half a meter between Yun Chi and Ye Xuejin, she simply squeezed herself between the two. When Yun Chi looked over, she warned softly, “What are you looking at? I’m not afraid of you. If you dare to lay a hand on her, we’ll fight again.”

Anyway, I’m not the only one getting whipped. My constitution is much better than this scum woman’s. Let’s see who gives up first.

Yun Chi was speechless. Although she needed to keep up the act, she knew the priorities and would absolutely not cause trouble while marching, okay?

However, having someone act for free was a good thing.

Striking Ye Xuejin required controlling the force and worrying about the performance not being convincing enough.

It was much easier to strike Zhou Qiyue; she could go all out and didn’t need to worry about anyone seeing through the act.

It was just that the whip strikes hurt too much.

Yun Chi pondered for a moment and had an idea: I’ll just use my mouth, not my hands.

Perfectly, Ye Xuejin clearly wouldn’t talk back, and as for Zhou Qiyue, the young girl was good and quite suitable as an opponent.

Seeing that Yun Chi was intimidated by her imposing manner and dared not utter a sound, Zhou Qiyue then awkwardly turned to Ye Xuejin.

“Your Hig—Your Hi—”

Ye Xuejin turned her head to look at her and said unhurriedly, “I believe I am a few years older than you. If you don’t mind, just call me ‘Elder Sister’.”

“Elder Sister Ye, my name is Zhou Qiyue. Just call me Xiao Yue,” Zhou Qiyue readily agreed.

She knew Ye Xuejin was twenty-six years old, a full ten years older than her, but she didn’t intend to correct her.

A few years older and ten years older; it seemed a few years older made it easier to close the distance.

Ye Xuejin nodded, unconsciously glancing at Yun Chi.

Yun Chi was lost in thought. She was so hungry. The two bowls of pea and minced pork noodles in her storage space seemed to still be warm, but she wondered if keeping them there longer would affect the taste.

She still had six anti-inflammatory pills left and wondered what the next reward would be.

And the condition for triggering a reward: did the items sent through her hand have to be given only to Ye Xuejin, or could they be given to anyone?

However, with the current lack of food and water, it was not advisable to verify it rashly. If there was no reward, wouldn’t she be losing the item for nothing?

After walking numbly for two hours, the exile party passed a village and stopped at the entrance.

The officers, as usual, distributed the coarse biscuits that were as hard as dirt clods, still half a piece per person.

After distributing the biscuits, the officers did not set up a pot to cook dried meat as they had yesterday. Instead, Zeng Laosan led them to exchange for food with the villagers.

Before long, several villagers followed Zeng Laosan and brought over bowls of food.

Yu Lu pointed to a stone slab a few steps away. “Put it down here, and do not come closer.”

The villagers put down the food and hurried away. In their eyes, the exiled prisoners were mostly heinous villains, and they felt contaminated by getting close.

The prisoners only had half a coarse biscuit and nothing to drink. Now, seeing the officers eating and drinking heartily, some people immediately couldn’t take it anymore.

The two similar-looking brothers were named Mu. The elder brother was Mu Da, and the younger was Mu Er.

The two brothers exchanged glances. Mu Da took off his shoe, inverted the insole, and fumbled out a piece of broken silver from inside.

Zhou Qiyue, who happened to witness this scene, suddenly felt nauseated and wanted to throw up.

She really wanted to ask Mu Da, Doesn’t that hurt your foot?

Yun Chi saw Zhou Qiyue walk away, covering her mouth, so she leaned toward Ye Xuejin and put the coarse biscuit into her hand.

“I have no appetite. You eat it.”

A hint of confusion flashed in Ye Xuejin’s eyes. Although puzzled, she still put the coarse biscuit away.

[You have gifted half a coarse biscuit. Please choose a reward: Ten taels of silver or five bags of milk]

Yun Chi’s eyes lit up. She silently thought: I choose sil—I choose five bags of milk.

She needed to save silver, but her body was more important. The water in her canteen was already finished, and it was not good to remain thirsty like this.

Besides, Ye Xuejin still had injuries.

Sensing that there were five bags of milk in her storage space, Yun Chi’s expression relaxed. She then saw the well-fed Zeng Laosan give her a look and twirl the whip in his hand.

Her heart clenched. She looked around and, seeing that Zhou Qiyue hadn’t returned yet, did not rush to do anything.

According to her guess, Yu Lu and Zeng Laosan had different stances and acted as mutual restraints; neither should go too far.

Unfortunately, she was mistaken.

Because Zeng Laosan, seeing her inaction, walked straight over and slapped her with the whip.

“Eat quickly. Stop dawdling.”

The whip landed on Yun Chi’s foot, and even through the cloth shoe, she felt a sharp stinging pain.

She had been careless. Both men, whether protecting or persecuting Ye Xuejin, had reservations—but those were specific to Ye Xuejin. She, the unlucky consort, was not within the scope of their reservations.

Realizing this, Yun Chi lifted her foot and kicked Ye Xuejin’s lower leg. “Hurry up and take out the coarse biscuit. I’m hungry again.”

Rather than taking a beating herself, she would rather strike Ye Xuejin. At least she could control the force and wouldn’t really hurt her.

Unlike the officers’ whips, which drew blood every time and held nothing back.

Their eyes met. Ye Xuejin knew this was acting, so she remained motionless.

She had no injury on her leg, only a soreness, and a few kicks wouldn’t matter.

“Did you hear me? Hurry up and take it out.” Yun Chi saw her cooperation and kicked her again.

“What are you doing!” Zhou Qiyue quickly ran back, shielding Ye Xuejin, taking a protective stance.

For a moment, everyone looked over, all thinking in unison: Two fools.

Every single person was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted.

Yet, these two had to fight every day. They truly didn’t know how to treasure their lives.

Yu Lu, who was not far away, also put down his bowl and chopsticks and walked toward them.

It seems my intervention last time was too gentle.

Just then, Ye Xuejin grabbed Zhou Qiyue’s arm, shook her head at her, stepped forward, and took out the half-coarse biscuit again.

Yun Chi took it, saying coldly, “That’s more like it.”

Yu Lu stopped short. As long as no one raised a hand, he would not interfere too much, making it easier for him to distance himself if he were to be questioned later.

Unexpectedly, Yun Chi immediately tossed the coarse biscuit back. “Why is this biscuit so hard? Get me some water and soften it before you give it to me.”

“You are going too far!” Zhou Qiyue couldn’t help but speak again.

“Xiao Yue, go to your aunt’s side,” Ye Xuejin frowned. She didn’t want to see either of them get whipped.

Zhou Qiyue saw the coldness in Ye Xuejin’s eyes and felt wronged. Unable to control her emotions for a moment, she turned and walked away.

Yun Chi’s face became slightly subdued. It seemed the gifted coarse biscuit could not bring a second reward. She had just had a thought, wanting to see what would happen if she gave the same biscuit again.

The result was unsatisfactory.

After a brief distraction, she looked at Ye Xuejin again, saying fiercely, “Hurry up and give me the coarse biscuit. You’re so lacking in common sense.”

Ye Xuejin: “…” Are we really going to keep acting around this half-biscuit back and forth?

Zeng Laosan was also somewhat speechless. So much noise for so little action. Does this beggar even know how to do her job?

This is supposed to be cutting meat with a slow knife. What is this?

Dissatisfied, Zeng Laosan swung his hand and delivered another whip strike, this time hitting Yun Chi’s arm.

“If you don’t want to eat, then don’t!” he said, stepping on the coarse biscuit that had rolled onto the ground, grinding it into the dirt.

Yun Chi sighed inwardly. She hadn’t eaten a single bite of anything today for the sake of the performance.

Ye Xuejin silently lowered her gaze. As the procession started moving again, she quietly slipped her unfinished coarse biscuit into Yun Chi’s hand and hurried forward, not looking sideways.

Yun Chi was slightly stunned, her heart filled with a complex emotion.