Chapter 5: Being kidnapped
As the saying goes, when one person succeeds, everyone around him will prosper, but there is also a saying that when one prospers, all prosper, and when one suffers, all suffer.
Therefore, because Mr. Zhou's family was of the same clan as Lord Zhou, and had enjoyed wealth and prosperity for more than ten years in Lord Zhou's mansion, when Lord Zhou cursed the current emperor for murder and tyranny, was sentenced to dismissal and confiscation of property, and his entire family was exiled to Liaodong, their family was also implicated. Except for Zhou Feng and Zhou Lin who were already married, all the family members were taken as accomplices.
Of course, it wasn't just their family that was kidnapped. All of Lord Zhou's relatives within the five generations of mourning were included. They were all sentenced to be exiled to Liaodong with Lord Zhou's family, a total of 392 people, young and old, men and women!
The exile team of several hundred people, dozens of escorting officials, and seven or eight mule carts carrying food for hundreds of people, when they moved, was really huge and quite eye-catching!
Because the team was too large, they naturally could not pass through the streets and alleys. They had to choose a road far away from the city, mostly through the wilderness. If they came across an inn on a remote road, it would be okay, as there was a yard to shelter from the wind and they could also get some cool and clean well water to drink. If they didn't come across one, they could only sleep in the wilderness.
Fortunately, it was June, so they didn't have to worry about freezing to death, but the heat was still unbearable, especially since they had to travel at least fifty miles every day.
Because of the fear that men might cause rebellion during exile, the Dayan law stipulated that all men over the age of 20 must be shackled during exile, and all men between the age of 13 and 55 must be beaten in court before exile.
The beating in the imperial court had already caused serious injuries, and the hot weather caused the wounds to fester. There was also a lack of medical care and medicine, so the exile team had only been there for five days, just over 200 miles away from Kyoto, when three men died of infection.
That wasn't all, as the exile team had been walking in the wilderness, not only did they have to worry about heatstroke and wound infections, but they also had to worry about wild animals occasionally coming down the mountain to forage, snakes, insects, rats, and ants hiding in the grass, and even bandits who would rob them on the road... It was simply... how miserable could one word describe it!
Before Zhou Jin and Zhou Yu came through, the exile team had just been attacked by a small group of bandits. However, the target of these bandits was not to rob money, but to rape women.
Dozens of bandits suddenly broke into the exile group with machetes. They robbed young women and ran away. Some men in the family reacted quickly and tried to stop them, but the bandits just picked up their machetes and started chopping them.
The adult men in the team had all been beaten with a stick and were wearing shackles. In addition, they were used to a life of luxury, so they were no match for the bandits. After seeing several men being hacked to death or injured by the bandits, most of the men retreated.
This group of retreating men also included Old Man Zhou and his children and grandchildren. When Zheng had just hidden her youngest son and daughter and turned around to protect her eldest son and daughter, she was unfortunately discovered by bandits and her good looks were snatched away. She was so scared that she couldn't move forward and became a coward.
Zhou Jin's original body was just over twelve years old when he was exiled, but not yet thirteen. Luckily, he escaped the beating in court and was not put in shackles. When he saw his mother being kidnapped, he hurriedly chased after her. Zhou Yu's original body was two years younger than Zhou Jin and had no opinion of his own. When he saw his brother chasing after the bandits, he hurriedly followed him. As a result, the brother and sister were discovered by the bandits not long after they had chased. The brother and sister were no match for the bandits and were both beaten to death. The Zhou Jin and his sister of the end of the world came through.
In fact, if they were just beaten by bandits, the lives of the original brothers and sisters would not be lost. Moreover, the man called the boss saw that Zhou Yu was a girl, so he rushed up the mountain and did not kill her. He just kicked her with just enough force to knock her unconscious.
But the bad thing was that the original mother and son had been imprisoned with the whole family for more than two months before being exiled. They were already frightened and frightened, and had poor food and drink, so they were already very weak. Especially Zhou Yu, who had become as thin as a skeleton after more than two months. In addition, they had to go hungry and endure the high-intensity trek of fifty miles every day in the summer heat during the days of exile. The brother and sister had already reached their limit, and they were frightened by the bandits and both lost their lives.
Zhou Yu followed the exile team while sorting out his original memories. He walked and walked until he felt his feet were floating and he felt like he was riding on clouds. Then the servant Song waved the whip in his hand and shouted to everyone to stop at a forest not far from the water. By then it was already dark.
The exile life in the past few days has made everyone experienced. When they saw the team stopped, they ignored their fatigue and ran into the woods to find a dry place to rest at night. The forest was only so big and there were not many good places. If you were unfortunate enough to be close to the water, the mosquitoes dancing in the sky would bite you and you would not be able to sleep all night.
Zheng also quickly took a few children and rushed to a place under a tree that was a little remote but at least dry. Fortunately, she got a spot before a few others.
The Zhou family members who were walking behind them were not so lucky. When Zhou Ruifu brought his family over, all the good spots had already been taken.
When the yamen runners were beating people, Zhou Wangzu and Zhou Wangye, the eldest son of the Zhou family, were unable to dodge and were unfortunately whipped several times. In addition, they had not yet recovered from the beatings they received in the court a few days ago, and they had old and new injuries on their bodies. They had to be supported by their concubines to walk all the way, so the whole family walked very slowly and gradually fell behind the team.
The family searched around but couldn't find a suitable place to stay. When they were about to go to the river, they saw where Zheng's mother and others were staying.
Feng immediately brought her two daughters-in-law and walked towards Zheng's family. When they got close, she didn't even need to speak in person. Her eldest daughter-in-law, Sun, arrogantly said loudly to the Zheng family:
"Third sister-in-law, why don't you give up your place to our parents? Can't you see that our mother is exhausted?"
Zhou Jin had just spread out the mat he brought. He frowned when he heard this and was about to speak when he saw Zheng, who had always been timid in his memory, point to an empty space beside him and speak. Although her voice was still gentle, it was unusually firm.
"There's still room over there. Sister-in-law, please help Mom over there quickly, or she'll be snatched away soon."
If Zheng had followed her usual nature of taking a step back and seeing the bigger picture, she would have definitely given up this position. But today she was too angry. When she thought of the family's cowering expressions when she was kidnapped by bandits, she could no longer hold back and became unusually sharp.
"You!..." Sun didn't expect that Zheng, who had always been honest, obedient and peaceful, would say such a thing to her. She was not fluent in speaking and was choked for a moment.
Qian, who was standing by, was always sarcastic and mean. She was extremely tired at the moment and wanted to lie down on the mat laid by Zhou Jin to rest for a while. But when she saw that Zheng refused to move away, she immediately started screaming without caring about anything!
"Hey, Third Sister-in-law, are you going to rebel? How dare you talk to Mother like that? What, after being attacked by bandits today, has your temperament changed to that of a bandit?"
Her words were so heartbreaking that even Zhou Ruifu, who was standing behind her, frowned when he heard them.
As far as Zhou Jin knew, while the Great Yan Dynasty, where they lived, was less strict with women than the Ming and Qing dynasties of their previous lives, women were allowed to remarry and divorce, and were not required to bind their feet. However, physical contact with men other than their husbands was taboo, even with their sons. After the age of seven, boys were required to move to the front courtyard, and mothers and children were required to avoid suspicion.
Zheng hugged Zhou Jin and cried without caring about anything else today. It was because she was too excited about the loss and recovery of her children. As far as she could remember, after Zhou Jin turned seven years old, Zheng rarely held his hand.
Therefore, Qian's implication that Zheng had had physical contact with the bandits and that her body was not clean was too insidious!
"You!! Cough cough!!!" Zheng was so embarrassed and angry that she couldn't breathe and started coughing!
"The second one's!"
"Mother!"
Two voices of dissuasion were heard at the same time. One was their grandfather, Mr. Zhou Ruifu, and the other was their second cousin, Zhou Hu. They both obviously felt that Qian's words were too much. As for the other people in the Zhou family, hehe... it was lucky that they didn't watch the fun!
Zhou Jin was so angry that he laughed and stood up quickly!
"According to my second aunt, my mother was nearly kidnapped by bandits, and my eldest uncle, second uncle, and several cousins ignored her. I, your nephew, rescued my mother myself, and I thought I was wrong?
If that's the case, my nephew will learn a lesson. If the same thing happens to my second aunt tomorrow, I will definitely learn to stand by and watch. Otherwise, if I follow the example of a woman like my second aunt, even if I am rescued, I will still die. Why bother with this, right?"
Zhou Yu embraced Zheng, who was shaking with anger, patted her mother's shoulder, and followed her brother's sarcasm:
"Mom, let's not learn from Second Aunt. We can't let you die. If you die, won't it ruin the reputation of our men?!
"After what happened today, our man already has a bad reputation! If he's not able to protect the women in the family and then has a reputation for forcing them to death, he'll be even more shameful!"
Zhou Yu deliberately dragged out the last few words while looking at her adopted grandfather.
I thought to myself: If you're still not ashamed, let them continue to make trouble! Let's see who will be more embarrassed when the matter gets out of hand!
………
Mr. Zhou...
"You two little bastards, you're so bold..."
"Qian! Shut up!"
Qian was bullied by Zhou Jin's brother and sister. She gritted her teeth and wanted to curse again, but was stopped by Zhou Ruifu who was standing by. Zhou Ruifu never thought that the people from the third branch who were usually quiet would dare to make such a fuss, especially his own grandchildren, who could say such words just now, and completely belittled their elders in both open and covert ways.
Especially the granddaughter in front of him, the little girl who usually didn't even dare to raise her head when she saw him, now dared to stare into his eyes, as if she was going to make a big deal out of it if he didn't stop Feng and the others.
Old Master Zhou was very dissatisfied with this behavior that challenged the authority of his Zhou family, and the girl was useless. However, he suppressed his unhappiness for the time being, knowing that now was not the time to pursue these things.
It was ironic that the runner Song called these men cowards today. Along the way, the runners had also made fun of their family. The failure to rescue Zheng had indeed brought shame to these men in their family. Even Lord Zhou had some complaints about him and called him over to scold him.
Although the person Mr. Zhou hated most now was Lord Zhou who had been exiled because of him, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Even if he was exiled, they still had to rely on him, so naturally they dared not offend him.
Not to mention angering Song Yayi, who had the power of life and death over them during their exile. He was even more like the King of Hell to them.
Therefore, Mr. Zhou felt that their family must now keep a low profile and be obedient, stay in the exile team and not show up, so as not to make these two people have a deeper and worse impression of their family. Therefore, he felt that Feng's behavior of bringing her two daughters-in-law to squeeze Zheng and others at this time was really stupid!
Old Master Zhou couldn't scold his two daughters-in-law directly, nor did he want to embarrass Feng in front of others. Seeing Feng and her two daughters-in-law standing there without coming back, he angrily kicked his two sons and cursed in a low voice: "Go and pull your mother and those two shit-mouthed women back here! It's such a late hour and you still dare to bark! Don't you think our family hasn't been embarrassed enough?"
Old Master Zhou was used to having the final say at home, and no one dared to disobey him. Zhou Wangzu and Zhou Wangye hurriedly ran forward and kicked their wives, then whispered Old Master Zhou's words in their ears.
After hearing this, Feng didn't dare to make trouble with her daughter-in-law. She let her two sons pull her back to the place Zheng had just pointed out.
But before leaving, he still glared fiercely at Zheng who was wiping her tears with her head down, thinking that it was all because of his third daughter-in-law who was ungrateful. If she had given up her position earlier, there wouldn't have been so many problems!
The author has something to say:
Please add it to your collection! Please comment! Please give me some flowers!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
