"Do you know why my grandmother called me to her room?" Huangfu Yue asked.
The maid shook her head. "This servant doesn't know. Please follow me."
Huangfu Yue nodded, stepped out of the courtyard, and followed the maid towards "Fushou Garden," where Noble Consort Zheng resided.
"Fushou Garden" was not far from Huangfu Yue's courtyard, only a few minutes' walk away.
Upon entering "Fushou Garden," the maid led Huangfu Yue directly to the side room where Noble Consort Zheng lived.
As soon as she entered the room, Huangfu Yue realized something was amiss, for the room was filled with beauties dressed in mourning attire, wearing white flowers. Her four sisters-in-law were all present.
Huangfu Yue's eyes flickered slightly; it seemed there was something important.
If it weren't for something important, Grandmother would never have summoned her and her four sisters-in-law so late at night.
"Greetings, Grandmother. Greetings, my four sisters-in-law."
Huangfu Yue stepped forward, first bowing respectfully to Noble Consort Zheng, and then bowing to each of her four sisters-in-law.
While bowing, she subtly observed the expressions of her grandmother and sisters-in-law, noticing that her grandmother's face was extremely grim, her expression grave, and her brows tightly furrowed.
Her four sisters-in-law, on the other hand, all looked bewildered and clearly had no idea why their grandmother had summoned them.
"Yue'er, we've been waiting for you," Noble Consort Zheng said, looking at Huangfu Yue with an expression of pity that further confused Huangfu Yue.
Why was her grandmother looking at her like that?
"You may all withdraw," Noble Consort Zheng instructed the servants in the room.
All the servants immediately obeyed and quickly withdrew.
"Grandmother, may I ask why you have summoned us all so late at night? Is there something important?" Huangfu Yue's eldest sister-in-law, Zhu Jiayi, asked Noble Consort Zheng.
When she had asked her grandmother earlier, her grandmother had said she would speak after her younger sister-in-law arrived.
"Not long ago, I received news from the palace. The Emperor is extremely angry about the mistakes made by Prince Dai and his subordinates, which led to the loss of border defenses. He is now taking his anger out on us and will issue a decree tomorrow morning to send people to raid Prince Dai's mansion and exile all of us to Lingping," Noble Consort Zheng said with a heavy heart.
The moment these words were spoken, it was like a bolt from the blue. Everyone in the room, except for Huangfu Yue, was stunned and almost fainted.
Although Huangfu Yue was not as shocked as her sisters-in-law, she was still somewhat surprised, not by the news of their impending raid and exile, but by how Noble Consort Zheng knew this information beforehand.
However, considering Noble Consort Zheng's past residence in the palace, it was not strange for her to have informants there.
"Oh heavens, how could this happen! God, you are truly blind! Not only did you let all the men of Prince Dai's mansion die, but now you want to raid the mansion and exile the remaining elderly, weak, women, and children!"
Huangfu Yue's second sister-in-law, Xu Yuqing, looked as if she were going mad, crying out in despair.
"I prayed to the gods and Buddhas every day, but why don't they protect us! Why are we so miserable? Our men are dead, and now we are to be raided and exiled… sob sob…" Huangfu Yue's third sister-in-law, Zhong Liangshu, also cried out in despair.
"What are we going to do! I've heard that Lingping is a barren land, and there is currently a famine, with refugees everywhere and many people already starved to death. It is a living hell. Exiling us to Lingping is tantamount to sending us to our deaths!"
Huangfu Yue's fourth sister-in-law, Yang Wanqian, who was more than four months pregnant with her belly visibly showing, shed tears of anxiety.
Compared to her three sisters-in-law, Huangfu Yue's eldest sister-in-law, Zhu Jiayi, appeared much calmer. Although her face was unsightly, pale as paper, she did not cry.
"Grandmother, did you call us here to discuss how to deal with this, or have you already come up with a plan?" Zhu Jiayi looked at Noble Consort Zheng.
Although Grandmother was over sixty, she was not senile at all; on the contrary, she was very shrewd and always had the best ideas.
Noble Consort Zheng looked at her eldest granddaughter-in-law and showed a look of approval.
Among all her granddaughters-in-law, only this eldest one was capable. She was truly worthy of being the future mistress of Prince Dai's mansion, the Crown Princess. It was just a pity that Prince Dai's mansion was already ruined.
Thinking of this, Noble Consort Zheng's gaze became incredibly sorrowful, but she did not dwell on her sorrow; it was more important to discuss matters of consequence now.
Noble Consort Zheng nodded at Zhu Jiayi. "As Wanqian just said, Lingping is a barren land and is currently experiencing famine. It is now a living hell. If we go there, we will die…
Furthermore, Lingping is thousands of miles away. Along the way, who knows how much hardship and danger we will encounter. We, the elderly, weak, women, and children, might die on the road before we even reach Lingping. Therefore, we cannot wait to be exiled.
However, I heard that the Emperor is currently enraged. Begging him will be useless, and I fear he will not even see us. We can only escape."
"Escape?!" Everyone in the room's eyes lit up, showing expressions of hope, except for Huangfu Yue.
Escape? It seemed difficult.
It was easy to leave Prince Dai's mansion now because the Emperor had not yet issued the decree to raid the mansion, nor had he sent people to monitor it. But what about after leaving the mansion?
Where could they hide?
It was likely that no matter where they hid, they would be found.
The Emperor exiled the people of Prince Dai's mansion to vent his anger. Upon learning that the people of Prince Dai's mansion had escaped, he would definitely order a nationwide manhunt for them, searching every nook and cranny to find them.
No matter how well they hid, they would eventually be discovered, unless they hid in her space.
But she definitely couldn't take them to hide in her space, because she absolutely could not let them know about the existence of the space.
However, Huangfu Yue's four sisters-in-law all felt that the idea of escaping was feasible and nodded in agreement.
"Grandmother's idea is good. We can escape. Escaping is the solution," Xu Yuqing said.
"Let's escape now. I'll go back and call Ling'er right away," Zhong Liangshu said, standing up.
She and her husband had only one child, their daughter Huangfu Ling, who was still sleeping in her room.
"I'll go back and call Xuan'er and Jing'er right away," Zhu Jiayi also stood up, looking anxious.
Xuan'er was Zhu Jiayi's eldest son, and Jing'er was Zhu Jiayi's second daughter. Zhu Jiayi and her husband had one son and one daughter.
"I'll go call Ying'er," Xu Yuqing thought that her sisters-in-law were all going to wake up their children and escape with them, so she also had to quickly wake up her daughter and escape with her.
She and her husband had only given birth to one daughter, named Huangfu Ying.
"I'll go pack our belongings," Yang Wanqian said, touching her belly as she stood up.
She had only been married to her husband for two years and had not yet had children, only this one she was carrying.
Thinking that her child would be born without a father and would have to live in hiding, she felt unbearable sadness and wanted to cry again.
"Wait!" Huangfu Yue spoke up, stopping her sisters-in-law who were eager to leave.
Ignoring the gazes of her sisters-in-law, Huangfu Yue looked at Noble Consort Zheng. "Grandmother, escaping is not the best course of action! It is not difficult for us to escape the mansion now, but the difficulty lies in where we will hide after we escape?
I fear that no matter where we hide, we will be found, because if the Emperor knows we have escaped, he will surely put out a nationwide manhunt for us…"
"I know," Noble Consort Zheng interrupted Huangfu Yue.
Upon hearing this, a trace of surprise flashed in Huangfu Yue's eyes.
Grandmother knew, yet she was telling them to escape? Could it be that she had already thought of a foolproof plan to prevent them from being caught?
"I have already thought of a way for us not to be caught after we escape," Noble Consort Zheng confirmed Huangfu Yue's thoughts.