Chapter 178 Why are you doing better than me?

"Father, how would I know? The Xu family doesn't like daughters anyway, they're probably just trying to deceive me!"

Ling Xuerou lowered her head, looking guilty.

"It's all my fault for being useless. I haven't been able to stay by my father's side all these years, which has made him misunderstand and misunderstand me."

Upon hearing this, Lin Shujing immediately hugged her daughter.

"What are you doing, sir? Xue'er hasn't done anything wrong. I think it's Xu Qingshi who's worried."

We'll join forces with Yun Zhao and deliberately hide this from us! Xue'er is our daughter, how can you doubt her?

"Mother, it's not Father's fault!"

Ling Xuerou sobbed softly, nestled pitifully in Lin Shujing's arms, looking utterly pathetic.

After all, she was his own daughter, and Ling Ruofeng sighed with some annoyance.

"Father isn't blaming you, it's just that Yun Zhao has this special ability, even if it can't be used by us."

We must never let her help others against us. As for you, you are Father's biological daughter, do you understand?

Whether Ling Xuerou acted out of jealousy or not is irrelevant.

She's still young, and I have time to educate her.

But Yun Zhao's ability must not be allowed to be exploited by others!

Ling Xuerou felt a little better after hearing this.

She sobbed softly, "Xue'er understands."

Perhaps because of this incident, Xu Qingyi held Yun Zhao tightly in her arms while traveling in the afternoon.

Seeing her mother drenched in sweat, Yun Zhao said with concern, "Mother, Zhao Zhao is too heavy. Why don't you let Uncle carry me?"

"Yes, sister, let me hug you!"

Xu Yifei felt extremely distressed seeing her like this.

Xu Qingyi shook her head.

"No need, I can manage. It's my own daughter, I can hold her myself!"

The Xu family tried to coax and persuade him, and the Wei family, seeing this, looked at Wei Jingchen.

"What's the situation with the Ling family?"

"It's probably because Ling Ruofeng saw Zhao Zhao's abilities that he arranged for Lin Shujing to get close to her."

However, Ling Xuerou and Xu Qingshi were jealous and kept the matter a secret, which led to a quarrel within the Ling family.

This likely made the princess worry that the Ling family would harm Zhaozhao, so she held Zhaozhao tightly and dared not let go.

It was originally a scheme deliberately set up by Wei Jingchen and Yun Zhao, but they didn't expect it to frighten Xu Qingyi.

Fortunately, they didn't walk for long before they arrived outside Suzhou.

Suzhou is the center of Jiangnan, and the Nanjiang River runs through the entire city, serving as its lifeblood.

Suzhou was the first city to be affected by the breach in the dikes in Jiangnan.

Arriving outside the city gate, the sight of the collapsed city walls of Su City, a scene of utter devastation, was truly shocking.

Ding Yan had already arrived with his men. Although he was only in charge of investigating the Governor of Jiangnan, given his personality, how could he ignore the city full of refugees?

Tents had already been set up outside the city to accommodate the refugees.

As they approached, soldiers immediately stopped them.

"Where did it come from? Is there any documentation?"

Luo Qing stepped forward with three documents, handed them over, and explained, "We are officials from the Dali Temple."

The original document stated that the prisoner was being escorted to Lingnan. When the route passed through Yangshan Prefecture...

They joined another group of exiles; these two documents were from that other group, and a new document provided by Prefect Yang Shanzhou.

Seeing the miserable state of the refugees outside the city, Luo Qing dared not mention the matter of taking Prince Jin away from Suzhou.

These soldiers were brought in to control the situation; they only glanced at the documents to verify their authenticity before letting them pass.

"Don't look around, go straight into the city to find Lord Ding."

The soldier glanced at it and then returned the document.

"Lord Ding?"

Luo Qing was somewhat taken aback.

"Suzhou is now under the full jurisdiction of Minister Ding of the Cabinet. You'll see when you go inside."

Remember, don't wander around looking at things. Don't blame us if something happens!

The soldier hissed.

Upon hearing that Ding Yan had taken over Suzhou, Luo Qing was overjoyed.

"We understand, let's go into the city!"

After taking the documents and putting them away, Luo Qing immediately led his men into the city.

"Ah Hao, you lead the way, and make sure the brothers are on high alert!"

"Okay, I understand!"

Luo Hao strode forward and shouted sternly, "Hurry up, stop dawdling, let's get into the city!"

They led the way, but Yun Zhao was worried that something else might happen inside the city, so he had the tiger hide in the carriage beforehand and followed them into the city.

Luo Qing hurriedly ran to the back and whispered to Wang Quan.

"Once we're in the city, tell them to keep the Ling family quiet. If they find out it's the Prince of Jin's army, we're all doomed!"

Wang Quan quickly agreed and ran off to find Ling Ruofeng.

Lu Xun drove his oxcart at the back of the procession and saw the broken walls of the city in the distance, and his heart sank.

"Zhichun, quickly cover the wooden cart with waterproof cloth, and make sure the refugees don't see what's inside!"

"Okay, I'll get right on it!"

Zhichun quickly got off the vehicle and tightened the tarpaulins on the two wooden carts to ensure that nothing was exposed.

When Luo Qing arrived, he saw Zhi Chun already pulling on the waterproof cloth and nodded to himself.

They were quite alert.

"Drive your carts to the middle of the procession, behind the officers' wooden carts, and don't make a sound, understand?"

"We know, don't worry."

The group was on high alert.

The soldiers guarding the gate naturally saw the vehicles following them and quickly ordered their men to block the refugees from both sides.

Although Ding Yan has taken over the situation in the city, the relief grain from the imperial court has not yet arrived, and the entire city of Suzhou is in a state of food shortage.

The refugees stared wide-eyed at the donkey carts following the exile procession.

"Sheep! There are sheep over there!"

Donkeys and oxen are used for farming, and most people are reluctant to eat them.

But sheep are different.

The refugees, who had been hungry for a long time, stirred up a commotion when they heard someone shout "There are sheep!"

Where is it? Where is it?

There must be meat on the train!

Someone shouted something, and it exploded like a drop of water falling into a pan of oil!

"Whoosh!"

The soldiers drew their swords and blocked the refugees at the perimeter.

"This is a contingent exiled by the imperial court; attacking imperial officials is a capital offense!"

"I'm starving to death, who cares about dying!"

"Exactly! The exiled people eat better than us. Why should they?"

Although they were an exile group, they were all full of energy and even fatter than most refugees.

If they weren't wearing prison clothes and shackles, you'd think they were a group of people enjoying a spring outing!

The refugees were in a frenzy, so Luo Hao had no choice but to quicken his pace and lead his men into the city as fast as possible.

Yun Zhao felt somewhat saddened as he looked at the people who had been stopped.

They originally lived in the prosperous Jiangnan region, but suffered this undeserved disaster because of the insatiable greed of the court officials.

Ding Yan was ordered to investigate the Governor-General of Jiangnan. Unable to bear the suffering of the people, he took control of Suzhou on his own, but was troubled by the fact that the imperial relief grain had not yet arrived.

Once inside the city, the situation wasn't much better than outside.

Everywhere was mud and collapsed houses.

Everyone covered their faces with cloths, and every now and then soldiers would carry away in haste on white cloth stretchers.

"Is the plague in Suzhou still not under control?"

Lin Shujing was a little worried and quickly covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve to ask.