Chapter 5 It's time to test your luck
The ten-mile long pavilion is a place for farewell.
Relatives and friends at home would give money, clothes, food, and even carriages to the exiled or exiled prisoners.
During exile, you are allowed to accept and carry away money and gifts from relatives and friends.
The government stipulated that each prisoner was only given six taels of food per day, which was a small bowl of rice or a palm-sized pancake. For children under fifteen, the amount of food was halved.
Prisoners were not allowed to communicate with outsiders. They could only shop and eat through the escorts, and the money they gave would eventually go into the escorts’ pockets.
Being exiled to Lingnan was a long and dangerous journey, and it would take more than half a year. Escorting prisoners was a tough job, but yamen runners were lowly, and most of them came from poor families, so they all rushed to do this job.
They control the prisoners' eating, drinking, defecating and urinating. They can squeeze some money out of the prisoners' mouths and make extra money from them.
Whoever can help the escort earn money will naturally have a better life.
The old lady, Xiao Shen, and Xie Xiangxiang had never experienced such hardship before. They were so tired that their legs were weak and they stared towards the direction of the capital.
"Prince Xi will definitely come." Although the old lady had no money, she was full of confidence. "He is the prince. He will definitely fulfill his words. Otherwise, how can he convince the people in the future?"
Little Shen also mustered up her confidence and gently stroked Xie Xiangxiang's soft long hair: "Xiangxiang is so good, King Xi should know how to cherish her."
The third wife, Fang, came over immediately and said, "Mother, Prince Xi will definitely send a carriage full of supplies. For the palace, this is just a piece of cake."
Xie Qingmu said with longing: "My eldest niece is the most talented woman in Kyoto, and the daughter-in-law personally appointed by the imperial concubine. Prince Xi is well-known for his virtue, so he will definitely not fall short of etiquette.
At least three carriages will be sent, one for father, one for eldest brother, and one for mother, eldest sister-in-law and eldest niece. I will just take father's carriage. It took more than an hour and I am so tired. "
"Uncle San, what are you thinking? Prince Xi will definitely take Xiangxiang away. The Imperial Concubine has already arranged the marriage. Xiangxiang belongs to Prince Xi. Why would she be exiled to a wild place?"
Xie Anhuai's eldest son, Xie Yun, was very disdainful of Xie Qingmu.
Xie Qingmu immediately perked up: "We don't have to be exiled, right?"
"I don't know about that. Anyway, our family will definitely be acquitted."
[Xiangxiang will definitely ask King Xi to pardon my family and my third uncle’s family]
[As for the second wife, bah! They didn’t come from the same mother, what the hell do you want?]
Xie Tingting came close to Xie Xiangxiang and pleaded flatteringly: "Eldest sister, if Prince Xi comes, can you take me with you? I will listen to you all my life."
Xie Xiangxiang thought about the fact that Prince Xi would ascend the throne in half a year, and she felt relieved. She said softly, "Let's talk about it when the person arrives."
As everyone was talking, they saw a carriage coming at high speed.
Everyone looked at it eagerly. Was this carriage coming for them?
The old lady was also looking forward to it, but she felt a little dissatisfied. Why did only one carriage come?
The carriage was getting closer and closer. It was a most ordinary carriage on the street, with a blue cloth fence and no decoration at all.
As they got closer, the carriage stopped and a middle-aged man leaned out.
Xie Tingting shouted: "Butler Fang."
She was so excited that she took Sanniangzi's hand and said, "Mom, grandma is here to send us money and a car."
The Fang family was not well-known in Kyoto circles, and their ancestor was only a minor official of the fifth rank. When Fang Xue married the Third Master Xie Qingmu, she was definitely marrying above her station.
Butler Fang got out of the carriage and wanted to give the parcel to the Third Lady, but Xie Tingting held on to the carriage and refused to let go: "Leave the carriage to us. My mother and I are so tired. We have several blisters on our feet."
Fang also held the carriage tightly and refused to let it move.
Butler Fang had no choice but to leave the package and the carriage behind and walk back on foot.
Tingting Xie looked at the packages prepared in the car, 200 taels of silver, a few sets of clothes, and a large bag of bread.
The biscuits were dry and hard, and she had no interest in them at all, but now that she had a carriage, she no longer had to walk by herself.
"Mom, come up quickly." Xie Tingting climbed into the car happily.
The third room cheered excitedly. They were the first relative to come and deliver gifts. It was so honorable.
"It's just a broken car, what's there to be proud of!" Xie Yun snorted. If it weren't for the accident at home, he would be the future marquis.
The eldest sister is the concubine of Prince Xi and is to be included in the royal jade disc. What is a broken carriage to her?
As everyone was waiting eagerly, several more carriages came from afar.
The people of the former marquis' mansion were once again full of anticipation for opening the blind boxes.
The carriage was getting closer and closer, and Jiang Shuang suddenly shouted happily: "It's the Jiang family's carriage."
The people from the second house didn't move much, and the supplies that Jiang Shuang brought were roughly equal to the things from the old lady and the first house. It was lucky that they could slip some through their fingers for Xie Yanyan and his sister.
The carriage stopped, the curtain opened, and a maid with two buns came down.
Jiang Shuang continued to look at the car curtain, but no one came down.
"Where is my brother?" Jiang Shuang's family was also a minor official, and they had few descendants, with only one elder brother in the direct line.
The maid unfolded a paper roll and said expressionlessly, "In compliance with the orders of the master and the eldest young master, for the sake of the Jiang family's descendants, I will sever ties with the eldest young lady from now on."
That piece of paper was a letter of severance of engagement, and both the old man and the eldest brother of the Jiang family had signed it, which was considered the unanimous opinion of the clan.
Jiang Shuang's face turned pale, and she screamed out of control: "Impossible, you are talking nonsense, who sent you?"
The maid was polite and thoughtful, but her tone was cold: "Miss, before I came here, the master asked me to bring a few words to you: you are a filial daughter-in-law, but not a good daughter. Over the years, the mansion has done its best to subsidize you, but you have never been filial to the master and his wife."
After saying this, the maid got on the carriage and left without looking back.
Jiang Shuang started crying in embarrassment.
The old lady cursed: "The tiny Jiang Mansion is so arrogant that it wants to subsidize the Marquis Mansion? What a joke!"
Naturally, no one from the first house comforted Jiang Shuang.
Fang was so happy that she almost died. "It would be fine if my parents didn't send me any gifts, but they also broke off the relationship! Second sister-in-law, didn't you always say that my brother and sister-in-law were very nice?"
Tiffany Xie said sarcastically, "Even if you're breaking up, you should at least send some dry food, right? Do you want to starve you all to death?"
"Shut up." No matter how bad Jiang Shuang was, she was still their mother. Xie Ning and Xie Yong yelled at Xie Tingting, "The clothes you're wearing were made by my mother!"
"Oh, no wonder I'm so unlucky, it turns out it's because of this dress." Tiffany Xie never took the people from the second house seriously.
Xie Anfeng glanced at the third room and said in a low voice, "Shut up."
He had fought in battles and killed enemies, and his hands were stained with blood. Xie Tingting was afraid, so she rolled her eyes and stopped talking.
Song Lingling was the daughter-in-law. She supported Jiang Shuang and gently advised, "Mom, being angry is bad for your health. Please sit down and rest for a while."
Xie Yanyan had a dull expression on his face the whole time, and had no intention of comforting her at all.
In the original body's memory, whenever Jiang Shuang went back to her mother's home, her grandfather and uncle would indeed give her a lot of money, but Jiang Shuang spent it all on serving Old Shen and Little Shen.
Jiang Shuang often stayed up late to make clothes and shoes for the old lady, the children of the eldest and third wives, just for a sentence of praise such as "the embroidery work is really good" and "the second child is filial and generous, and is a good person."
As for the four siblings in his family, their clothes and shoes were basically made by their eldest sister-in-law, Song Lingling. Before their eldest sister-in-law came into the family, Xie Yong and Xie Lingyu often wore shoes with their toes exposed.
Jiang Shuang kept scolding them for wasting their shoes.
Carriages kept coming to Shili Pavilion, but they were all relatives from other families. As the sun set, the old lady became anxious.
Why hasn’t King Xi come yet?
The escorts calculated the time and prepared to set off. In the distance, they saw several fast horses approaching at lightning speed, with a cloud of dust rising behind their hooves.
A carriage followed closely behind.
The old lady breathed a sigh of relief, it must be Prince Xi who came.
(End of this chapter)
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