Grandma Zhu was surprised that her grandson was so smart, and she patted his little head with satisfaction.

"You're such a smart kid!"

After learning where Zhu Yiming had gone, Sun Jiayan quickly helped cover the scarecrow with a blanket.

After everything was done, the group exchanged knowing glances and, with a sense of unease, pushed the cart away.

Grandma Zhu led her family slowly to the front yard of the post station, where the escorts were already waiting for them.

Besides the escorts, Zhu Yanyan's family was also waiting at the door. When Zhu Borong saw the old lady, he glared at them and snorted disdainfully.

After seeing Old Lady Zhu come out, Chen Xiang led the escorts forward and disdainfully used his large knife to casually rummage through the luggage on the cart.

What's inside this vehicle?

"Lord Chen, this cart is loaded with some cooking utensils and clothes!"

Worried that the escorts would notice the scarecrow on the other cart, Old Lady Zhu quickly stepped forward to explain.

Chen Xiang approached the cart with some skepticism and gestured for his men to inspect the contents.

After receiving Chen Xiang's signal, the escort pulled out his broadsword and overturned everything on the cart, roughly rummaging through it.

When Tao Qinru saw that all her pots and pans had fallen to the ground, she went up to argue, "Why are only ours being inspected? Why aren't Zhu Yanyan's and theirs being inspected?"

Chen Xiang was leisurely eating and drinking his wine when he heard Tao Qinru's question. His face darkened, and he slowly stepped forward with the wine pot in his hand.

Seeing this, Old Lady Zhu quickly pulled Tao Qinru behind her and explained on behalf of her daughter-in-law, "Lord Chen, even if we are prisoners, you still have to be convincing to do things! Their psychological state should also be examined to be fair!"

Chen Xiang followed Old Lady Zhu's gaze to Zhu Yanyan behind him, his face dark and irritable as he beckoned to the escort behind him.

"Since our First-Rank Imperial Lady has spoken, let's investigate!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the escorts behind her burst into thunderous laughter, and approached Zhu Yanyan with mocking smiles on their faces.

Zhu Yanyan was not displeased at the arrival of the escorts; on the contrary, she smiled and nodded to them, indicating that they should inspect the premises.

The escorts arrived at Zhu Yanyan's cart, glanced around perfunctorily, and then swaggered up to Chen Xiang to report.

"Boss, the check is done, no problems!"

When Sun Jiayan saw the difference in how the escorts treated the two families, she was so angry that she wanted to go forward and argue with them. However, before she could go forward, Old Lady Zhu stopped her and signaled her not to be impulsive.

At Grandma Zhu's prompting, Sun Jiayan and Tao Qinru had no choice but to remain silent and fuming as the escorts rudely rummaged through the luggage on the cart.

After thoroughly searching through everything on the cart, the escort left the cart, satisfied, and went to report to Chen Xiang.

"Boss, the inspection is complete. No problems were found!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiang turned to look at another cart and, upon seeing the person covered with a blanket on it, questioned them coldly.

Who is the person lying on the cart?

"Lord Chen, that's my grandson, Zhu Yiming. Yesterday, for some reason, his whole body was covered in rashes, and they were even festering. He looked so pitiful!"

When Grandma Zhu saw Chen Xiang's gaze fall on another cart, she quickly ran over and stood in front of it, blocking the scarecrow with her body, and explained in a choked voice.

After hearing Old Lady Zhu's explanation, Zhu Yanyan did not believe it and laughed mockingly.

“Yesterday when we went to inspect the house in your backyard, Zhu Yiming was perfectly fine. How come he suddenly developed eczema? Sir, there’s something fishy about that car. You need to investigate it thoroughly!”

Having accepted Zhu Yanyan's money, Chen Xiang naturally had to get things done. Despite his reluctance, he still signaled to the escort beside him to check.

The escort was disgusted by the rash on Zhu Yiming's body and didn't want to risk going over, so he hesitated and looked at Chen Xiang.

"Sir, I've heard that rashes can be fatal and there's no cure, so it's best not to seek treatment."

"Just look, stop talking so much nonsense." Chen Xiang didn't want to waste time on this trivial matter, so he kicked the escort in the backside and turned to walk towards the door.

Left with no other choice, the escort walked toward the cart with a troubled expression, pulled out his broadsword with a look of disgust, and tried to lift the blanket.

Just as the guards dropped the broadsword onto the blanket, Old Lady Zhu suddenly collapsed onto the cart and burst into tears.

"Yiming! You must be strong! Even though your face is covered in pustules and your whole body is covered in rashes, Grandma won't despise you. She will definitely find herbs to heal you!"

Seeing this, the rest of the Zhu family also surrounded the escort, trying to block Zhu Yanyan and Zhu Borong's view with their figures.

The escort, who had been mentally prepared, felt even more resistant to his actions after hearing what Old Lady Zhu said.

So he closed his eyes, casually lifted the lid, didn't even look at it, and quickly turned and walked towards the door.

Zhu Yanyan had wanted to use the escort to check the situation on the cart, but she couldn't see anything because of the Zhu family's obstruction.

All I saw was the escort hurriedly leaving the cart and heading towards the door.

Chen Xiang was observing the situation outside the door when he saw his subordinates return. He then impatiently questioned them.

"Are you done?"

"Alright, boss, no problem, we can set off now!"

The escort quickly approached Chen Xiang and gave a perfunctory report on the situation inside.

After completing the task assigned by Zhu Yanyan, Chen Xiang glanced back at her, then directed the guards to count the number of prisoners outside the post station.

After a night of torrential rain, the prisoners outside the post station were all mentally broken, letting out mournful howls.

The escorts ignored the prisoners' condition after being soaked in the rain and brandished their long whips to warn the prisoners outside the post station.

"Stop sleeping! Get up and let's get going!"

Old Lady Zhu witnessed the escort's actions. Unable to bear seeing her former clansmen treated so inhumanely, she closed her eyes and turned away, refusing to look any longer.

Liu Meixin noticed that something was wrong with Old Madam Zhu's expression and comforted her by patting her back, "Mother, our ties with these clansmen were severed after we left the capital. I remember when I gave birth to Xixi, no one was willing to help me."

"So don't be soft-hearted this time, or the ungrateful thing will happen again!"

"Yes, you're right. I'll be fine as long as I don't go to see it!"

Old Mrs. Zhu understood what her daughter-in-law meant. Ever since Sheng An's accident, these people had made a lot of sarcastic remarks on the way to exile, and no one helped them even when they were most helpless. Now that the tables have turned, she really can't be soft-hearted anymore.

Seeing that her mother-in-law had taken her words to heart, Liu Meixin smiled with relief and looked down at Zhu Xixi in her swaddling clothes.

Zhu Xixi wasn't asleep at this moment; she was grinning happily, waving her limbs incoherently up, down, left, and right.

[Mommy, you're so great! Xixi loves Mommy very much!]

How should Xixi give the gold to her mother? Should she throw it into the woods like before so her mother can find it?