Yang Wanqian immediately opened her mouth and swallowed the medicine handed to her by Huangfu Yue. Huangfu Yue immediately withdrew her hand.
All their shackles were strung together by an iron chain. The chain was pulled very tight. When she turned to raise her hand to feed her fourth sister-in-law the medicine, it would pull up the chain, tugging at the people in front and behind, making them uncomfortable. Therefore, she had to quickly withdraw her hand and put it down.
It was truly inconvenient now; she had to consider so much just to raise her hand.
"What are the people behind doing? Why have you stopped and are standing still? Hurry up and walk." A rather fierce shout came from the front.
The escorts, who were pulling the iron chain and leading the people from the Dai Prince’s estate, found that Huangfu Yue and her group had stopped. They impatiently urged them forward, their voices tinged with impatience.
"Fourth sister-in-law, do you feel any better?" Huangfu Yue asked Yang Wanqian.
The medicine she had requested from the medical system was one that would take effect immediately. Yang Wanqian should no longer be in pain after taking it.
"Much better. The medicine you gave me is so magical; the pain stopped as soon as I took it." Yang Wanqian nodded, looking astonished.
Upon hearing this, the people from the Dai Prince’s estate were all relieved and let out a sigh of relief. They had all been afraid that Yang Wanqian’s stomach pain would continue and that she would miscarry.
"Didn't you hear me? Hurry up and walk. Don't stand around anymore. If you dare to stand still again, I’ll get rough."
The escorts’ shouts came again from the front. She saw him raise the whip in his hand.
Why would he have a whip? It must be specifically for driving and whipping exiled criminals.
Huangfu Yue stared at the whip in his hand, her gaze flickering slightly.
That whip looked good; she could "borrow it to use," but now was not the time.
"Fourth sister-in-law, since your stomach doesn't hurt anymore, let's continue walking. Please persevere," Huangfu Yue said.
They had not yet left the city, so it was not yet time to make a move. She could only ask her fourth sister-in-law and everyone else to persevere for a bit longer.
Yang Wanqian nodded. Although she really wanted to sit down and rest, in their current predicament, she could only force herself to keep walking.
Huangfu Yue and her group continued walking. As they walked, Huangfu Yue quietly observed the escorting team in secret.
The Dai Prince’s estate had more people than ordinary families, but not as many as large noble households. Counting the masters and servants, there were only forty people in total. Counting herself, there were only ten masters.
There were thirty servants. Four were specifically serving the grandmother, people from the grandmother’s courtyard. Three were specifically serving the eldest sister-in-law’s family.
The second sister-in-law’s family also had three servants. The third sister-in-law’s family and the fourth sister-in-law’s family each had three servants. She had two servants attending to her.
There were four people in the kitchen, all women. There were two gatekeepers, both old men. The remaining six were miscellaneous laborers and rough maids.
Among the servants, apart from three relatively young and strong young men, all the others were old, weak, women, and children, each weaker than the last. Therefore, the number of escorts was not large, only six people.
At the very front were two. One was the young man pulling the chain, treating them like cattle and sheep. She had heard his companion call him Lu Da Nian before.
The other was walking behind Lu Da Nian, a middle-aged man slightly older than him, whose name she did not know, only that Lu Da Nian called him Brother Fang.
Walking behind were two escorts, their names unknown.
At the very end of the escorting team was the commander of the escort, sitting in a carriage and leisurely drinking wine. He was reportedly surnamed Feng, his name unknown. There was also a young fellow driving the carriage, whose name was also unknown.
Huangfu Yue looked at the carriage a couple more times. The carriage looked decent, not that it was particularly magnificent. In fact, it was quite ordinary, even somewhat rudimentary inside, piled with a few blankets and a large amount of food.
The blankets were certainly not for them, the criminals, but for the escorts. As for the food, they would likely get some, but whether they would receive it, and how much, was uncertain.
However, neither the blankets nor the food piqued her interest. Her interest was in the carriage itself.
"Yue’er, what kind of medicine is this? It’s too magical. After I took it, not only did my stomach stop hurting immediately, but I also feel much lighter now, not as heavy as before," Yang Wanqian’s voice suddenly came from behind.
Huangfu Yue withdrew her gaze from the carriage and looked at Yang Wanqian, replying, "It's a fetal-stabilizing medicine. It doesn't have a name yet."
"Yue’er, how do you have fetal-stabilizing medicine? Are you hiding any other medicine on you?" Xu Yujing from the front asked curiously.
"Be quiet," Zheng Taifei reprimanded in a low voice. "There are escorts in front and behind us. Aren't you afraid of being overheard? Watch your mouth and don't ask too many questions."
Huangfu Yue glanced at her grandmother, a hint of a smile flashing in her eyes.
She quite liked this grandmother. Her grandmother must have a lot of questions for her now, such as about the royal estate's treasury, but her grandmother had not mentioned a single word about it so far, showing great restraint.
However, any intelligent person would surely restrain themselves from asking, and now was not the time.
"We're almost at the city gate," Zhong Liangshu's voice suddenly sounded.
Everyone immediately looked towards the front and found that they could already see the city gate. The city gate was only a hundred meters away, and the soldiers guarding the gate were opening it.
A hundred meters was not far; it would take two minutes. By the time Huangfu Yue and her group reached the city gate, it had already been opened. The soldiers guarding the gate had just lined up in formation before it.
"We are escorts from the Dali Temple, here to escort exiled criminals to Lingping." Lu Da Nian approached the guarding soldiers, announced their identity, and showed his waist token to the soldiers.
The guarding soldiers all stared curiously at the people from the Dai Prince’s estate, especially the women. Many eyes were shining.
"So many beauties! Whose noble family's wives and daughters are these? What crimes did they commit to be exiled to a desolate place like Lingping?" one of the guarding soldiers asked.
"From the Dai Prince's estate. The Dai Prince and his son caused the border fortress to fall into enemy hands, committing a grave crime. Although they are dead, the Emperor still felt they should be punished, so he decreed that the Dai Prince's estate be raided and their family members exiled to Lingping," Lu Da Nian replied.
"These are all old, weak, women, and children; it's quite pitiful!" one of the guarding soldiers said sympathetically.
"Pitiful? The Dai Prince and his son committed such a grave mistake, causing such an important border fortress to fall into enemy hands. As family members of the Dai Prince and his son, they naturally deserve punishment."
Another guarding soldier snorted dismissively and then cursed, "Don't look at them as pitiful now and forget what their status was before; they were all royalty!
What kind of people are royalty? They all have their heads in the clouds and treat us commoners as dirt. Normally, they are all arrogant and imperious when they see us. Now they deserve this fate!"
Many of the guarding soldiers nodded in agreement.
Huangfu Yue sighed inwardly with a touch of helplessness: Is this what they call class hatred?