"I wonder what Miss Wan Er wants to say to me?" Ma Xiaoqi remained polite to Wan Xueying for Pei Xuanqing's sake. With Pei Xuanqing's men still around, he had to give the Buddha a break.
"Because of the summer-heat soup incident, we have been criticized by others more than once or twice. If something like this happens again, I don't want to get involved in it anymore." Wan Xueying said.
"Miss Wan Er, do you mean you don't plan to cooperate with us anymore?" Hearing that she meant to back out, it meant they would have no money to make, and Ma Xiaoqi felt a little unhappy.
"Yes," Wan Xueying nodded. "But your Excellency doesn't need to worry about not making money from the summer heat soup in the future."
"Oh? What do you mean?" Ma Xiaoqi's expression became much better.
"I'm going to give you the recipe for the summer-heat soup for free. You can make it yourself or have someone else do it." She truly didn't want to worry about selling her flour anymore, taking the money. But the escorts couldn't afford to offend them, so she simply gave the recipe away. Those who couldn't afford the summer-heat soup could still trade her herbs for it.
"Are you really going to give me the prescription for free?" You have to know that in this era, prescriptions were extremely valuable, often passed down from generation to generation. Even the most common prescriptions wouldn't be easily sold to others, let alone given away. How could Ma Xiaoqi not be tempted? If he could get the prescription for free and then find someone within his group to do the business with, wouldn't it be useful not just this time but in the future? Wouldn't that mean a steady stream of money?
Wan Xueying nodded. "Yes, as long as you agree, I will write the prescription and send it to you later."
"I'll give you an answer after I discuss this with Captain Hao."
"Thank you for your help, sir."
After Ma Xiaoqi left, Qiu Shi and several guards knelt before Wan Xueying, awaiting her decision. Concubine Chen and Nanny Wu also stood by with their heads bowed, bracing themselves for a reprimand.
Wan Xueying glanced at everyone and asked coldly, "Is it because you don't recognize me as your master from the bottom of your heart that you disobeyed my orders and caused such a disaster?"
"Of course not! Since we followed you, we have sincerely regarded you as our master." Qiu Shi felt very ashamed.
"If you still regard me as your master, you must never disobey my orders again in the future!" Wan Xueying had been too good-tempered before, and she ate and drank with them along the way, which gave them the illusion that she was easy to talk to and had no dignity.
"I will absolutely obey your orders from now on. Even if you ask me and others to go through fire and water, I won't frown." Qiu Shi immediately expressed his opinion.
"Us too." The remaining guards followed suit.
Wan Xueying sneered, "I can say that too, and I can say it just as easily."
"Miss, just wait and see how we perform in the future." Qiu Shi also knew that it would be useless to just talk, and that he had to see the actual results.
Wan Xueying's expression improved a lot, but she still said with a stern face: "But I have to punish you for making a mistake this time." She had to take this opportunity to establish her authority.
"It's up to the young lady to punish her!" Qiu Shi breathed a sigh of relief. As long as there was punishment, it meant that the matter could be resolved. If there was no punishment at all, they would have to worry that Wan Xueying would settle the score with them later.
The others followed suit, saying, "It's up to the young lady to punish her!"
"Alright, since you were still protecting Aunt Lian and Nanny Wu, I won't punish you too severely. I'll just punish you by not letting you take a car without my permission for the rest of the journey. You'll also have to spend an hour every night practicing."
Isn't this punishment a bit too light? Several people looked at each other, and finally thanked Wan Xueying for the lighter punishment, and only stood up after getting Wan Xueying's permission.
"Xueying, it's all my fault." After Wan Xueying finished punishing the guards, Aunt Chen came forward with a blushing face to explain, "Qiu Shi and the others had consulted me before, and it was my idea."
Wan Xueying smiled at her and said, "Aunt Lian is doing a great job. You have to help make decisions when I'm not around." This is the responsibility that should be taken, regardless of right or wrong.
"But I didn't do this well!" Aunt Chen lowered her head and her face turned even redder.
"If it were me, I would probably make the same choice as my aunt." This is how the world is. Whoever has more power has the right to speak, and sometimes they have to bow their heads.
In this matter, she was not completely hypocritical in her treatment of Aunt Chen and Qiu Shi. Rather, she told Qiu Shi before leaving that if he was undecided, he should go to Ye Chengyun, and if Ye Chengyun was undecided, he would naturally go to the Third Prince.
If they had initially helped the escort make the summer-heat soup, it would have been fine. But when they discovered the escort had diluted the soup and continued to help them, wasn't that aiding and abetting the evil? No wonder the crowd was so enraged. As for why the other guards were also punished? It was because no one tried to persuade Qiu Shi, which also amounted to aiding and abetting the evil.
More importantly, she wanted to use this opportunity to establish her authority. She realized that everyone had been too comfortable recently, losing their judgment and vigilance. They were already incompetent to begin with, and if they didn't even have vigilance, what kind of guards were they?
After dealing with the mess, Wan Xueying thought about the matter of the two Dark Forest Guards that needed to be resolved.
She called the two aside and gave each of them ten taels of silver as a token of gratitude for their hard work over the past few days. The two accepted it with a smile, without hesitation.
"Are you two planning to go back and report to Lord Pei? Or do you have other tasks?" Wan Xueying asked casually.
"We were just about to tell Miss Wan Er," one of them said, "We have another mission before we send you two back."
"About that master?"
"That's right." The man nodded. "If it's convenient, could you think of a way to swap the two back without anyone noticing? We can then escort the master away when we leave."
"This is easy. I'll ask someone to call the master over for lunch. The two of them can change in the carriage, and you just need to send the master away." At the end, she added, "Shen Yu would come to us before. Such a big thing just happened, it's not surprising for him to come." But she had originally wanted to let Shen Yu stay here for a while longer.
"Then do as Miss Wan Er says."
Wan Xueying naturally sent Qiu Shi to tell the Third Prince that she was back and asked him to come over if he had anything to say.
In fact, Ning Ze had already heard about what had just happened and was planning to find an opportunity to come over. Qiu Shi went to invite them. After greeting Captain Hao, he and Ye Chengyun came to the temporary resting place of Wan Xueying and the others.
"There's someone waiting for you in the carriage. Please get in first." She wasn't familiar with the Third Prince, and if they exchanged pleasantries and were seen by someone with ulterior motives, it would easily cause unnecessary trouble. After meeting him, Wan Xueying skipped the formalities and let him get in the carriage.
"Okay," the third prince understood what she meant and smiled, then added: "Thank you for your hard work during this period." These are the words that a person who has been in a high position for a long time is accustomed to saying to control his subordinates.
"You're welcome." She was doing this to save Shen Yu, not for this man. But given his status, she had to be hypocritical with him.
Seeing the third prince get on the carriage, Wan Xueying and Qiu Shi tried to stay as far away from him as possible.
She then used her mental power to scan the area and discovered that there were many people around who were not part of this trip. She didn't know if they were escorting the Third Prince, or if there were others. She initially concluded that they were so far away that she couldn't hear them, so she lowered her guard.
In the carriage, Shen Yu exchanged greetings with Ning Ze. Looking at Shen Yu, whose face was as pale as paper, Ning Ze said gratefully, "Thanks to you this time."
"Your Highness is too polite. This is what I should do."
"I won't say anything more. I'm just asking what your plans are for the future." Before Shen Yu could respond, Ning Ze spoke his mind. "I plan to take you and Ye Chengyun south with me. We have our forces there. If things really change, we can attack or defend. The only downside is that you two will have to fake your deaths and live in hiding for a while. If we ever succeed, I will never treat you unfairly."
Because of the long distance, the news from the capital had not yet reached them. Ning Ze and Shen Yu were still unaware that Shen Yu had been pardoned and given an official title.
"Your Highness, I have already told Pei Xuanqing that I plan to continue to follow the exile team to the northern border. But Your Highness, don't worry, even when I get there, I will never be an idler. I will definitely work hard to climb up and strive to be able to help Your Highness one day in the future." Shen Yu expressed his thoughts at the right time.
Ning Ze raised an eyebrow, "For the second young lady of the Wan family?"
"Not entirely. I can only say that she made my subordinates more determined."
"Well, I won't force you. When you arrive in Northern Xinjiang, I'll send someone to contact you. If you encounter any difficulties and need help, or if you want to come to me for help, you can always do so."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"It's better for us to change back sooner rather than later, as we're afraid of more troubles at night."
Shen Yu nodded, "That's exactly what I meant."
"But your injuries haven't healed yet. Can you withstand the next exile?"
Shen Yu smiled bitterly, "I'm afraid I'll have to spend some money to arrange for a carriage." He definitely couldn't bear it if he walked, but it would be fine if he took a carriage.
Ning Ze smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about that. I've already given them some money, enough for your carriage fare."
"Your Highness has been of great help to me."
"I don't have any banknotes on me right now, I'll ask someone to send you some later. You'd better ask the second lady of the Wan family to help you take care of your body." Ning Ze was particularly generous because Shen Yu almost died for him this time.
"Thank you, Your Highness!" He was indeed short of money, so Shen Yu did not hesitate to be polite with him.
The two then discussed some other things, including that Shen Yu needed to help Ye Chengyun fake his death.
Because the exile team was about to set off, the one who got out of the carriage this time was the real Shen Yu.
Although she knew he would be riding in a carriage for the rest of his exile, Wan Xueying was still concerned that he wouldn't be able to handle it, so she gave him some medicine she had recently prepared for his condition. This time, Shen Yu gripped the bottle tightly before carefully putting it away, cherishing it with a level of care that was far superior to before.
Wan Xueying went out and got an extra carriage. Uh... the one I thought I could take advantage of was used by the Third Prince.
Fortunately, the Third Prince was quite generous. He later asked one of the Dark Forest Guards to give her two hundred taels of silver, saying that it covered her recent food expenses.
By the way, he asked the Anlin Guard to ask her if eating whole grains and not being picky about food was really good for his health?
The answer is definitely yes! Not only for the Third Prince, but for everyone.
She also suggested that the Third Prince exercise regularly. As for how to use medicine to regulate the Third Prince's health? With so many imperial physicians present, she had no intention of interfering.
Shen Yu also received one thousand taels of silver from the third prince. It was inconvenient for him to carry it with him, and he didn't plan to keep it, so he gave it all to Wan Xueying.
Wan Xueying had spent a considerable amount of money on medicine and supplements for Shen Yu, especially the supplements. Finally, she saw some return money, so she didn't hesitate to be polite with him.
Captain Hao agreed to terminate the contract with Wan Xueying by using a recipe for a summer-heat soup without much thought. However, after that, Captain Hao, Ma Xiaoqi, and many other escorts continued to come to Wan Xueying to get the summer-heat soup.
Wan Xueying did not care about this small profit and gave it to them for free every time, and still maintained a good relationship with them.
A few days later, according to the pre-arranged plan, Ye Chengyun suddenly had a red face and high fever at noon one day. He fainted soon after, looking very much like he had heatstroke.
There is no doubt that without timely medical treatment, he "unfortunately" did not survive and ultimately contributed to the death toll in the exile team.
Because Wan Xueying had punished Qiu Shi and the others by forcing them to walk the rest of the way, the mule cart and her newly purchased carriage were kept busy. Besides packing the food and everyone's luggage into the new carriage, Wan Xueying arranged for the rest to be rented out.
Because there were too many people, especially the elderly and children, who were gradually unable to bear it, their family members were anxious but could not afford to buy a mule cart. When they heard that she was going to rent a cart at a very low price, they all came to her.
Wan Xueying collected some deposits, negotiated a daily rental with them, signed the lease documents, and rented the mule carts to those people. This way, while doing good deeds, she could also make some money and cut off the escape routes of those guards, which was a double-edged sword.
Seeing the new carriage without a driver, Qiu Shi had thought Wan Xueying would arrange for someone to drive it, but Wan Xueying simply ordered him to lead the horse. Well, not even a glimmer of hope remained for anyone.
At first, they relied on their strong bodies and didn't take it seriously. But within three days, everyone's shoes were worn out and their feet were worn out. In the evenings, they had to practice after dinner, which was unbearable.
Wan Xueying's only good point was that she had plenty of food and drink, and even gave them medicinal powder. However, after seeing how resilient they were, she hardened her resolve and decided to continue training them, even considering increasing the pressure on them.
The exile team was getting closer and closer to Fengyang Ridge. Although they did not wait for the ambush originally planned by the prince, chaos broke out within the team.
"Have you heard? The Third Prince is dead. They say our group won't make it to the Northern Frontier and will all be buried with him."
"How is it possible? Isn't the third prince in the carriage behind? Who is so vicious to spread such words?" Someone questioned this.
"You are stupid. The person in that carriage is not the Third Prince at all."
"Really?"
"If you believe me, run away when you get the chance."
"Escape? How? Where else can I escape to?"
"There will definitely be a chance, and escaping anywhere is better than dying."
No one knew who started this. Even though Captain Hao said these were just nonsense, the fake Third Prince never came out to clarify, and everyone still felt uneasy.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com