Lu Jin tenderly picked up Jiao Jiao, his eyes turning cold as he looked at Shen Qing Tang.

That gaze was as if he were looking at an incomprehensible madman.

Lin Peirou quickly stepped forward, tugged at Lu Jin's sleeve, and said in a choked voice, "Cousin, please don't blame your sister-in-law. My sister... she might just be in a bad mood. She didn't mean it. Please don't blame her..."

As she spoke, she secretly glanced at Lu Jin, her expression hesitant and unsure of what to say.

This only made Shen Qingtang seem more unreasonable and domineering.

Looking at the two exchanging flirtatious glances, Shen Qingtang felt that she had been blind in her past life.

They had such an obvious affair, yet he had never noticed it.

She still foolishly believed that Lin Peirou was sincere towards her and that Lu Jin was just being considerate of his cousin.

"When did it become anyone else's place to tell me how to discipline my daughter?"

Shen Qingtang met Lu Jin's gaze, her tone calm yet undeniably firm, "Lu Jiaojiao spoke rudely to me, her mother, and pointed her finger at my parents and brothers to their faces. Shouldn't she be taught a lesson?"

Lu Jin was taken aback, clearly not expecting her to refute him in this way.

His face darkened further: "Jiaojiao is young and speaks without thinking. Why bother arguing with her? Besides, isn't what she said true? Your father and brothers have been so aggressive, have they ever taken my Marquis's mansion seriously?"

"Aggressive?" Shen Qingtang sneered as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world. "Lu Jin, put your hand on your heart and tell me, when have my father and brothers ever wronged you? On the contrary, you have used the resources of my Shen family to rise step by step, but you can't tolerate them at all!"

Her words struck Lu Jinxin like a heavy hammer, instantly turning his face ugly.

Shen Qingtang, however, was too lazy to look at him anymore.

Her gaze fell on Jiaojiao in his arms, her eyes icy: "From today onwards, if anyone dares to teach her to talk nonsense or disrespect me, don't blame me for being impolite!"

Lu Jin was speechless after being rebuked by Shen Qingtang, his face turned ashen, and his hand pointing at her trembled: "Incomprehensible! Shen Qingtang, you are becoming more and more unreasonable! You weren't like this before, you have disappointed me so much!"

He was too lazy to argue with her anymore and held Jiaojiao, who was still sobbing.

Then he pulled Lin Peirou, who was on the verge of tears, along with him.

He walked out without looking back.

Lin Peirou was protected by him. As she passed by Shen Qingtang, she glanced at her almost imperceptibly. Her eyes were gentle, with a hint of grievance and a hint of inquiry.

There was also a hint of barely perceptible smugness.

Shen Qingtang stood there, watching their departing figures, her fingertips turning white from the force of her grip.

She knew all too well what was going to happen next.

The root cause of this exile lay in the emperor's excessive favoritism towards the newly appointed Consort Chen. Consort Chen came from a humble background, yet she was deeply cunning and scheming.

After seizing power, she began to settle scores with the nobles who had looked down on her, and the Duke of Dingguo's mansion, which refused to submit to her, became her primary target.

Lu Jin's Yongning Marquis's mansion was framed by Consort Chen's family, who accused them of secretly colluding with the deposed crown prince's former subordinates and plotting against him.

With these two charges brought down, the Duke of Dingguo's mansion and the Marquis of Yongning's mansion were overthrown overnight, and their entire families were exiled three thousand miles away to the bitterly cold lands of the far north.

That journey was a nightmare etched into Shen Qingtang's heart.

Shortly after leaving the capital, they encountered a once-in-a-century flood. The escorting convoy was scattered, and many people were swept away by the muddy torrent, their bodies never to be found. Holding "Jiaojiao," she barely managed to reach the shore by stepping on the floating corpses, her feet bleeding profusely from the sharp rocks.

Plague: While passing through a dilapidated town, a plague broke out in the town. People were falling ill with high fever, vomiting, and festering sores.

Lin Peirou pretended to be "sick," which allowed Lu Jin to steal the last bit of ginseng that could enhance her resistance. She herself was almost thrown into the incinerator as a patient.

Upon entering the desert, she was swept away by a fierce wind and separated from the main group. She wandered for three days and three nights through the endless yellow sand, her lips cracked and bleeding, and she almost died of thirst in the Gobi Desert.

While crossing a desolate mountain, a torrential rain triggered a mudslide. Her father, trying to protect Lu Jin, was buried alive by the falling boulders and mud, leaving no last words. Near the far north, they encountered a blizzard that blocked the road, and the temperature plummeted. The team ran out of food, and many people, exhausted, froze to death in the snow. Her second brother, in search of food, ventured alone into the deep mountains and never returned.

These natural and man-made disasters are deadly enough in themselves.