Chapter 3
Two people came out of the main tent. They were General Xie Heng and his son Xie Yuwang.
General Xie has been stationed at the border all his life. After the Shu Kingdom surrendered ten years ago, General Xie was sent to Shuzhou, and his son Xie Yuwang followed him two years ago.
Fang Shuo bowed to General Chu and said, "General, these are the new prisoners, ten in total. You can arrange them as you see fit."
There were twenty prisoners, but only ten were left due to various reasons along the way.
Xie Heng nodded, stroked his beard, and said, "I will make good arrangements for the people General Fang brought with him."
"Arrange them to the logistics camp, and you can arrange the others." Xie Heng turned his head and said to his son.
Xie Yuwang's eyes followed Lu Ling for a long time before he turned back to Xie Heng.
Fang Shuo left after giving his instructions. Life in the military camp was hard, and he didn't want to suffer here anymore after enduring so many days.
There were already some prisoners in the logistics camp, and there were enough people originally, but they had just been defeated in the war not long ago, and now they were in great need of people.
After being taken to the logistics camp, Lu Ling did not rest, but was taken by Xie Yuwang's deputy general to familiarize himself with the camp.
When it was over, it was completely dark and Lu Ling and the others were finally able to eat.
The food in the military camp was much better than what Lu Ling had eaten along the way. When Qingdai saw the pot of vegetable soup, her eyes lit up.
A group of people rushed to get food. Although Lu Ling was hungry, she was not in a hurry. Her innate etiquette told her not to rush. Even when eating, Lu Ling still chewed the steamed bun in her hand slowly.
Qingdai had been hungry for a long time, and was wolfing down the soup and eating the steamed buns.
Qingdai finished her two steamed buns, while Lu Ling had only eaten half of hers. Seeing Lu Ling's actions, Qingdai muttered, "Miss, eat faster, or the food will be gone by then."
Lu Ling lied: "I'm not very hungry, it's okay."
Qingdai curled her lips and said nothing more.
Qingdai was right. By the time Lu Ling finished the steamed bun in his hand, all the dishes were gone, not a single bite left.
Lu Ling stared at the empty pot in front of him, his eyes full of confusion.
In the middle of the night, Lu Ling tossed and turned on the ground in the camp.
There were no beds in the camp. Except for the generals with higher ranks, everyone slept on the ground, not to mention the prisoners. But fortunately, there was a place to shelter from the wind and rain.
Lu Ling ate little for dinner, and because he was not used to it, he couldn't sleep.
Qing Dai, who was standing next to him, heard the noise and asked Lu Ling in a low voice, "Miss, are you hungry?"
Lu Ling didn't say anything and nodded slightly.
Qingdai rustled out a steamed bun from her clothes and handed it to Lu Ling with a smile.
Lu Ling was about to ask her where she got it from, but before he could open his mouth, Qingdai raised her hand and made a gesture to silence her.
Lu Ling didn't ask any more questions, but just took the steamed bun and ate it in the dark.
The next morning, Lu Ling was woken up by the sound of the person next to him getting up.
"Miss, we have to get up early to work." Qingdai said in Lu Ling's ear.
Last night, after finishing the steamed bun, Lu Ling fell asleep. All this time in exile, he hadn't slept well. The wind blew past his ears. News of his mother bleeding profusely, his father being beheaded, Shannai's death, and Shen Wangyou's cold, emotionless eyes filled his mind as soon as he closed his eyes.
I arrived at the military camp yesterday. Although there was wind at night, it didn't blow on me. Lu Ling finally had a good night's sleep last night.
But this is not the Lu Mansion after all, and Lu Ling is no longer the eldest daughter of the Lu Mansion. She is now just the prisoner Lu Ling.
"You should wash these clothes this morning. There is a river behind the military camp. You can go there and wash them all." The person who spoke was an elderly lady, but her voice was full of energy.
There were several buckets of clothes in front. Qingdai squatted down, took out a few pieces of clothes from one of the buckets and put them in another bucket, then gave the bucket with fewer clothes to Lu Ling.
"Miss, here you go." The person in front looked at Lu Ling innocently.
Lu Ling took the bucket and forced a smile.
Qingdai didn't have to suffer all this.
When Lu Xing went to court and did not come back until the evening, Lu's mother felt that something was going to happen at home, so she hurriedly dismissed everyone in the house. Qingdai and Shannai knelt down and begged Lu's mother and Lu Ling to be with them. In the end, there were less than ten people left in the huge Lu family.
Qingdai is the child of Lu Ling's wet nurse and grew up with Lu Ling. Although they are master and servant, they have actually been like real sisters for a long time.
A group of people were taken to the river by the old lady and started washing clothes.
The people around him took the clothes out of the bucket one after another, but Lu Ling was still holding the bucket, at a loss.
"Miss, put the bucket down first." Qingdai walked to Lu Ling and helped her put the bucket on the ground.
"Miss, watch how I wash first, and then you wash." Qingdai looked at Lu Ling with a smile.
Although Lu Ling was not spoiled since childhood, she did not need to do these little things. Qingdai did this because she knew that her daughter did not know how to wash clothes, so she had to let Lu Ling follow her and learn from her.
Lu Ling got the hang of it quickly. Washing clothes didn't require any special skills. Besides, the clothes of the soldiers in the barracks were made of rough linen, so there was no need to worry about them being damaged by washing.
But the river water was freezing cold. Although the climate in Shu was warmer than that in the capital, it was already winter, and the river water was no warmer than that in the capital.
Lu Ling looked around and found that he was the only one who was too cold to move. The people around him almost didn't care about the coldness of the river water, as if they were used to it.
"Qingdai, did you always use cold water for washing clothes in winter?"
Qingdai looked up at Lu Ling with a subtle expression, "Uh... uh, yes, it's me. I think it's too wasteful to wash clothes with hot water, so I always wash them with cold water. But don't worry, miss, I always wash your clothes with hot water."
Lu Ling thought Qingdai had misunderstood him, and then said: "It's okay, I just think it's too cold to wash clothes with cold water in winter. How can you bear it?"
Qingdai, as her personal maid, didn't do much laundry, so she didn't know how the servants who did laundry every day would survive the winter.
By the time he finished washing all the clothes, Lu Ling's hands were already red from the cold.
On this day, Lu Ling was either washing clothes or on the way to wash clothes. There were many soldiers in the barracks, and after washing one basin, there was another one waiting.
It was already dark when they returned. Lu Ling was walking at the end of the crowd, carrying a laundry bucket.
Suddenly, a figure appeared, and Lu Ling was covered with his mouth and taken to the nearby woods.
"Don't move, or I'll kill you." The man said in Lu Ling's ear.
Lu Ling nodded and stopped talking.
The two came to a place not far from the military camp, but it was very hidden and usually no one noticed it.
The man was still covering Lu Ling's mouth from behind. Lu Ling suddenly had an idea and stepped on the man's foot.
"Ah!" The man shouted and quickly let go to cover his stepped right foot.
Lu Ling turned around, grabbed the man's left ear, and cursed, "Okay, you've grown up and dare to threaten me, right?"
The person whose ear was grabbed bent his body and held Lu Ling's hands with both hands, wanting Lu Ling to let go.
"Good sister, please forgive me. I won't dare to do it again next time."
Lu Ling held on for a while, felt that the lesson was enough, and let go of his hands. He asked, "Tell me, what's the matter?"
"I haven't seen my sister for two years. Is it not possible for me to catch up with her?"
Lu Ling glared at her.
The man seemed not to see Lu Ling's eyes, and continued to look up and said: "Sure enough, sister only has that Shen Wangyou in her heart, and never me."
"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll leave." Lu Ling said.
"Sister, after hearing about Uncle Lu's case, father was busy trying to overturn his case, but before he could find any clues, Uncle Lu..."
"This matter is difficult in itself. Thank you for still believing in my father," said Lu Ling.
"You and Uncle Xie should stop investigating this matter. If someone with ulterior motives finds out, I'm afraid your Xie family will be implicated."
Xie Yuwang remained noncommittal. "Uncle Lu is the most upright, honest, and incorruptible person I have ever met. I don't believe he would do such a thing. If such a person were to suffer such a fate, then it would be too unfair of God."
"I hope I can investigate the truth of the matter, but I don't want to hurt the people around me because of this."
"I understand, sister." Xie Yuwang said.
"Also, from now on, you and I should never meet in private again. There are too many people in the barracks to see anything, and we'll have to avoid any trouble."
Xie Yuwang's eyes were dim, somewhat surprised, and he only said "OK" in the end.
"I'm leaving first." Lu Ling turned around and was about to leave.
"Wait." Xie Yuwang took out a bottle. "Sister's hand injury hasn't healed yet. She did laundry today, so the injury must have gotten worse."
Xie Yuwang pressed the bottle into Lu Ling's hand, "Sister, hold it carefully. Don't let it get any worse."
"Thank you." Lu Ling hurriedly said this and left, leaving Xie Yuwang alone in the woods.
Xie Yuwang watched the departing figure, feeling somewhat disappointed. He had originally thought that Lu Ling would be happy to see him after not seeing him for two years, but that day, Lu Ling said nothing when he saw him.
Afterwards, Xie Yuwang wondered if Lu Ling would come to see him, but she didn't. If he didn't look for Lu Ling, did Lu Ling intend to remain silent?
"Sister, you have changed." Xie Yuwang sighed and walked towards Lu Ling.
When Lu Ling arrived at the military camp, he knew that this was arranged by Xie Heng.
She knew what being exiled meant. In the past, almost all those who were exiled were sent to reclaim wasteland. They were exposed to wind and sun all day long, and they were not adapted to the climate of Shu. After a few days, those people either died or became seriously ill.
Now I am in the military camp. Although I have to work there, it is not as tiring as reclaiming wasteland.
Xie Heng has helped her so much, she can't let them get hurt because of her.
When Lu Ling returned to the tent, she saw Qing Dai calling her with red eyes, "Miss, where have you been? I just looked for you in several places and couldn't find you. I was scared to death."
"Nothing, I just went to the bathroom."
"Miss, can you tell me where you are going next time? Don't make me worry."
"Okay." Lu Ling laughed.
Qingdai glanced inside the tent and saw that no one was paying attention to this side. She rustled out a piece of naan.
"This is what I just took. Miss, since you haven't come back yet, I put your share away. Otherwise, it will be gone soon."
"You are the only one thinking about me." Lu Ling said, touching Qingdai's head.
"That's right." Qingdai said proudly, "I'm not like a mountain..."
Qingdai's words stopped abruptly, and tears flowed from her eyes.
Lu Ling patted Qingdai's back and comforted her, "Shannai must be fine now. At least she won't suffer like us, right?"
"Yeah." Qingdai wiped away her tears, "She left because she didn't want to suffer with us. I don't miss her anymore."
"Qingdai, you can call me sister from now on. The Lu family is gone, and I am no longer Miss Lu. It is inappropriate for you to call me Miss."
Qingdai shook her head, "No, a lady will always be a lady."
"What's wrong with calling me sister? You and I grew up together, and I have long regarded you as my own sister." Lu Ling said.
"I...I...can I really?"
Lu Ling found it a little funny when he heard it, "Why not? I never treated you as a maid."
"Ah...sister." Qingdai's voice trembled and tears welled up in her eyes.
Lu Ling hugged her with red eyes and choked up, "I have family again."
It was getting late and Lu Ling had to get up early the next day, so he lay in bed without any sleepiness.
Taking out the medicine bottle given by Xie Yuwang, Lu Ling applied the medicine on the injured hand.
The wound on my hand has been there for a long time and was almost healed, but today I washed my hands with cold river water and the wound started to hurt again.
After applying the medicine, Lu Ling stared at the bottle in a daze, thinking that Xie Yuwang had grown up.
But the relationship between the two can never go back to the way it was before.
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