Thinking of Aunt Chen who left him, and then looking at his ex-wife who had killed someone with a sword, he felt a moment of sadness.

Seeing that Jin Daofei was about to give up, Ning Yan grabbed a black horse and leaped onto it. Then she rode off at full speed, her black cloak with gold trim billowing in the wind, leaving only the sound of hooves in the air.

Ye Dehai was drawn by the sound. When he looked up, he was met with Ning Yan's face, which was both cold and beautiful!

He made up his mind; no matter who this woman was, he was determined to have her!

The next second, a person, a horse, and a sword rushed in front of him, and all the bandits who wanted to stop Ning Yan were killed by her sword one by one!

Then, a look of horror appeared in Ye Dehai's eyes, because Ning Yan's sword was aimed directly at his face!

Having been a bandit for many years and committed numerous evil deeds, he possessed considerable skill and quick reflexes. Upon seeing this, he dodged the sword with a lazy roll, thus avoiding being trampled by the horse's hooves.

After rolling away, he turned to escape, but unfortunately, Ning Yan had already leaped on her horse and sliced ​​off Ye Dehai's head with a sword!

Holding her head, Ning Yan mounted her horse and shouted, "Ye Dehai is dead! Surrender and you will not be killed!"

When the bandits heard that their leader was dead, they immediately had second thoughts. Their leader was the most powerful among them. If he was dead, what chance did they have of survival?

Moreover, now that the boss is dead, wouldn't all those jewels on the mountain be easy for them to acquire?

So, these people made a couple of feints and then retreated back up the mountain.

After they left, Jin Daofei didn't dare to send anyone to chase them. One of his constables had died and seven or eight had been injured. He was afraid that if the bandits realized what was happening and mobilized their entire force, they would all perish here.

"Get out of Zhangzishan as soon as possible. Once they realize what's happening, we're doomed!"

No one knows how many bandits live on Zhangzi Mountain, but those who came down the mountain today are definitely not all of them. If it weren't for Miss Ning Er's intervention, hundreds of bandits could have killed them all!

Ning Yan didn't cause much trouble. Chu Laosan's arm was slashed by the bandits, but the injury wasn't serious; it would heal with a bandage and some rest. Chu Jingxuan, on the other hand, was lucky and wasn't injured.

Because the guards intervened, the Crown Prince's wife was unharmed, the children were all safe and sound, and Chu Yu even killed two bandits.

As for the others, what business is it of hers?

Ignoring the amazed and admiring looks from the Chu family, Ning Yan stuffed the entire Chu family into the carriage. Those who couldn't fit squeezed into the carriage with the guards. The group quickly fled Zhangzi Mountain and went to the next city to buy food and supplies.

Due to the heavy losses at Zhangzishan and the losses along the way, the original 386 prisoners are now reduced to only 137. Not all of them died; some escaped today.

Jin Daofei was also anxious. He might be punished when he returned from this mission, so he simply reported the incident of being robbed by mountain bandits to the local government.

He even exaggerated the matter a bit, claiming that many of the convicts had been killed by the bandits for resisting, and now only a hundred remained. Fortunately, they had killed the bandit leader of Zhangzishan, which was another great achievement. The local prefect promised to help him apply for commendation from his superiors, which finally put his mind at ease.

But in the following days, the convicts quickened their pace and covered the next 500 li (250 kilometers) in just eleven days.

This is the North, and the first month of the lunar calendar there is still incredibly cold. The sun rises late, and it takes at least four hours to walk a day.

Several more prisoners died of the cold on the way.

Ning Yan sent Zhang Qing on horseback to the place of exile. She bought a house in the north and prepared it in advance. After the exile team entered the city, Ning Yan naturally parted ways with the Chu family and returned to her own mansion.

Although Chu Lin was separated from his mother, he was not worried at all, because his mother said that she would stay with him.

Jin Daofei quickly handed over the remaining convicts to the local government. Because of the prefect's previous letter, which informed them that the group had encountered bandits, the official simply sighed that they were unlucky and then arranged for someone to take the convicts to their place of residence.

Ning Yan had been keeping an eye on this area. Once she confirmed that the Chu family had been assigned to Yuanshan Village, she took a carriage and rushed over with supplies.

Looking at the several carriages of things Ning Yan had brought, Old Madam Chu felt a little embarrassed. "Lin'er's mother, you've really gone to a lot of trouble."

When they first arrived in the north, their large family was assigned a place to live, but it was only the worst mud house, and there was nothing inside.

Even though the old lady still had the silver Ning Yan had given her, convicts were restricted in their movements, and they didn't even have the right to go into the city to buy things.

She could only buy things in the village with money, but the villagers had limited resources, and those were the worst things. Even in her impoverished state, she couldn't bear to cover herself with those stiff, crumpled blankets.

Now that her former daughter-in-law has arrived, she has truly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why are you being so polite with me? I'll have the servants bring the things in, and you can decide how to distribute them. If we need anything else, I'll have someone buy it. That's all we can get today."

The shops in the north sell ready-made cotton quilts and cotton-padded clothes, but not many, and she actually bought them all.

But the second wife alone has nearly twenty people, so there's really a fear that there won't be enough to go around.

"It's cold outside, let's go inside and talk," the Crown Prince's wife said, pulling Ning Yan inside.

The village chief just came by, and the Crown Prince's wife bought some firewood from his house to start a fire in the house.

Ning Yan had all the grain moved into the kitchen, heated up the food she had bought on the stove, and put the quilts in the old lady's room for her to distribute as she pleased. Only then did she have time to look at Chu Lin.

"Mom, are you going to live in the city from now on? What will I do if I miss you?"

Ning Yan had never been exiled before, nor had she been to any place of exile in her previous two lives. She had no idea that the activities of exiled prisoners were also restricted. She had thought she could live in the city with Chu Lin, but now she realized that such a wonderful thing was out of the question.

In particular, the emperor's secret guards are keeping an eye on things.

"Zhang Qing!"

"Your subordinate is here." Zhang Qing, who had just finished moving the grain, hurried over. "Go to the village and ask if there are any vacant houses. If there are, buy them. I may have to stay here for a while."

"Yes, Miss."

Zhang Qing went to buy a house, and the Crown Prince's wife didn't know what to say. Although Ning Shi divorced the fourth prince in order to avoid exile, she still suffered just as much.

Having completed the journey of exile, he now has to live in a remote mountain village for his son's sake. How is this any different from being a convict?

What shocked her the most was that Ning's martial arts skills were so high that she could even kill a bandit leader. At that time, she was protected by her son and all her attention was on Ning.

Because she knew that only if Ning was safe and sound could her family safely reach the North. She hoped that Ning would grow up healthy and sound, and that there would be no mishaps.

And so, she witnessed her sister-in-law leaping off her horse and severing Ye Dehai's head with a single sword strike!

She was so shocked she couldn't close her mouth. (End of Chapter)