Chapter 47: Stumbling upon a Secret
"Husband, when will we arrive? I really can’t do this anymore." Song Yulan, the eldest son’s wife from the first branch was sobbing in her husband’s arms.
Ye Lingyue coughed in a voice, and she was about to walk back toward her carriage when she heard their next words.
She instinctively held her breath, looking around for any patrolling imperial guards nearby that might hear them.
"I..." Song Yulan stammered softly, her voice as quiet as a mosquito. "I really want to run away from here. Being exiled is so terrible... it’s full of suffering."
Ye Lingyue was expecting Ye Jincheng to refute her words, calling it nonsense. Instead, he was supporting her.
"Shall we go away from here...?" Ye Jincheng muttered.
At this moment, Ye Lingyue decided to run away from the scene, rubbing her chest. These folks from the first branch were crazy. The couple always harassed their second branch for necessities like water and food.
Song Yulan and Ye Jincheng were relatively quiet and didn’t cause trouble, but she didn’t expect that they would harbor such intentions like running away from the exile party.
She understood that many exiled nobles would regard it as falling from grace, a humiliating matter. It tormented them both physically and mentally.
However, running away could only give a short relief.
They could only gamble whether the imperial family would care about them, and if they did, their lives would no longer be peaceful. If only they could wait until they arrived at the exile destination...
Ye Lingyue bit her nails and shook her head. She wouldn’t tell the imperial guards about their plan to run away since it was their decision.
She just wouldn’t interfere.
They had already been on the journey for five weeks, and it needed only a month for them to arrive.
The surroundings noticeably grew more sparse of vegetation, and the weather was also getting hotter. The imperial family definitely wouldn’t send them into a good living condition.
"Put all the supplies in the wagon cart, we might not find many places where we can get food in the next few days," Commander Leng told the imperial guards.
She frowned when she heard that. Now that someone mentioned it, the number of games she had caught in the past few days indeed had grown noticeably lower.
It seemed that she also needed to make a stockpile and not rely on hunting alone.
During the night, she slipped away.
It was also the time where people were sometimes more honest. The ones patrolling that night were the imperial guards under Yan Luo.
"What do you think about what Captain Yan has done to us...?" The imperial guard gulped, seemingly hasn’t accepted it.
His emotions were a little complicated at the moment. After all, not all people who were under Yan Luo shared his principles too.
Ye Lingyue recognized the other imperial guard. He was the one who had admitted using sleeping powder in their food.
"What can we do? We are weaker than him?" He shrugged, helpless.
She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, somewhat still holding a grudge. In an instant, a few pebbles in her hand made their way to his vital points where they hurt the most.
It wouldn’t kill him, but it was definitely painful.
As expected, the imperial guard collapsed and groaned on the ground. His companion was startled, trembling as he crouched down.
"What’s the matter? Don’t scare me like this." He turned around to scan his surroundings as though he was afraid Yan Luo would suddenly jump out of nowhere.
Yan Luo rarely showed himself after the last punishment, mainly because he was still recovering. The painful lesson did help him to behave.
Ye Lingyue didn’t pay the imperial guards any attention any longer. She subconsciously glanced at the first branch.
The familiar man who was sleeping outside with Ye Shichang was his eldest son, Ye Jincheng. So, he and his wife didn’t plan to execute their plan tonight...
She wondered whether what they said was merely to vent in the heat of the moment or their true plan.
After a while, she just shook her head. She needed to slip into the night market and sell some of the jewellry to exchange for food.
As she slipped into the darkness...
Her hand reached out and slapped the person beside her.
"What was that for?" Ye Lanxi gritted his teeth.
She rolled her eyes. This scoundrel always suddenly appeared beside her in the most unexpected manner or time. The first time it happened, she almost got a heart attack because her power hadn’t recovered and she was at her weakest.
Although she could detect his presence easily with her enhanced senses now, she still couldn’t get used to it.
"Stop playing such tricks on me," she scolded unhappily.
"Why not?" Smugness laced in his voice. "Can’t take it? Scared?"
She harrumphed and took off running, not wanting to engage in his provocation any longer.
As expected, Ye Lanxi followed. He asked, "Where are we going?"
Her eyelids twitched. "We?"
He nodded without batting an eye. "Yes, we. What’s wrong? Mother asked me to protect you."
She sent him a suspicious look, not believing he would do such a kind thing. Her words immediately exposed him. "Hmph, you just want to go out and use me to gain your personal agenda, don’t you?"
They bickered on the way until they reached the night market. Ye Lanxi raised his eyebrows. "So that’s where you got your little snacks."
"Took you long enough to figure it out." She made fun of him.
"Do you even have money?" He cleared his throat.
"Of course, I am not like you."
She immediately went to a stall selling jewellry. They usually would be willing to buy her jewellry at a lower price.
Since she was pressed for money right now, she really didn’t mind. There was still quite a bit of jewellry in her storage space.
The moment she took out a hairpin and jade bracelet.
Ye Lanxi’s pupils constricted, and he suddenly reached out for them, his tone raised higher. "Where did you get those?!"