Chapter 4 Leaving
Eunuch Feng is the emperor's confidant. At this moment, he appeared at the gate of the Zhenbei Palace with his grandmother's confidant, Nanny Wang, which made Zhou Yunshu a little puzzled.
"Eunuch Feng is so polite."
Eunuch Feng nodded to Zhou Yunshu, then turned to Zhang Qinglai and said, "According to the Emperor's order, the Zhou family will not be imprisoned and will be exiled with the families of other criminals."
After saying this, he looked at Li Jialan and the others and said, "The Emperor, in recognition of the merits of the eldest princess, has granted permission for the Zhou family to travel to Nanman on their own, and they must leave the capital before the city gates close today."
Eunuch Feng's words shocked everyone present...except Zhou Yunshu.
Because Zhou Yunshu knew in her previous life that the Zhou family left the capital on the day their house was raided, which is why she asked Chunque to buy a mule cart.
However, in their previous life, when the Zhou family left the capital, they were penniless and had no choice but to sell all their fine clothes in exchange for a donkey cart to leave the capital.
With Zhou Yunshu in this life, the Zhou family doesn't have to leave Beijing in such a miserable state as in the previous life.
"Although the emperor's grace is great, exile under the emperor's grace is still exile. The Zhou family must reach Nanman before the end of the year. Special people will escort you."
Such treatment is indeed much better than ordinary exile. The emperor's main purpose is to drive the Zhou family out of the capital, or in other words, to let the Zhou family die on the road.
If they wanted to reach Nanman by the end of the year, they couldn't stop, but there were too many variables along the way.
In recent years, natural disasters and man-made disasters have continued. Qingzhou in the east of Beijing and Luzhou in the south have suffered severe droughts, and there has been no rain for four months.
The war situation in the north was tense. After the Zhou family army was framed, the Eastern Turkic and Tiele tribes marched straight down. By the end of the year, they had fought all the way to the northern capital. Seeing that the capital was about to fall, it was Ji Sheng who led his troops to stabilize and reverse the situation.
The success of the Eastern Turks and Tiele tribes in the north gave confidence to other tribal states, and conflicts began to break out in the northwest.
Although the southern part of the Great Zhou Dynasty was spared from the invasion of war, the people never had a good life due to earthquakes in the southeast, snow disasters in the central part, and floods in the south.
Anyway, when Zhou Yunshu died of childbirth, Ji Sheng was still fighting against the Eastern Turks in the northern border. As for what happened afterwards, she had no idea.
After Eunuch Feng finished speaking, the soldiers who had originally surrounded the Zhou family dispersed instantly.
"We have finished what we have to say, so I will take my leave now."
Eunuch Feng left, but the man in the carriage and Nanny Wang did not leave.
Nanny Wang stepped forward, looked at Li Jialan, and said, "Madam, the princess said you should take your family to the South City Gate. She will get there before the gate closes."
Li Jialan nodded.
So many things happened today. The women and children of the Zhou family did not have to go to jail or be exiled with the large group. It must be something that the mother-in-law did.
"I understand, Nanny Wang."
Nanny Wang glanced at the man beside her and said, "I still have to go find the princess. Chuqi will go with you to the South City Gate."
Li Jialan nodded and watched Nanny Wang leave.
When only the Zhou family was left in the Zhenbei Palace, bursts of sobbing and crying were heard.
When the soldiers were there, although they had heard a lot of bad news, few of them showed any fear. This was because they knew that the more afraid they were, the more proud those who wanted to harm the Zhou family would be.
Li Jialan also tried hard to suppress the bitterness in her eyes. She looked at her daughter who had not left yet. Just as she was about to say something, Zhou Yunshu came forward and hugged Li Jialan in her arms, "Mom!"
When Li Jialan thought of the news that her father-in-law, husband and son died in the war, she finally couldn't hold back her tears.
"Why are you here? Does the King of Wei know? The Zhou family is a place of trouble right now. You shouldn't be here. Go back immediately!"
Li Jialan also wanted to hug her daughter more. Once she left, she probably would never have the chance to return to Beijing in her life, let alone see her daughter again.
But she couldn't be so selfish. Their Zhou family was finished, but her daughter was still the Princess of Wei.
"Mother, I'm leaving the house on my own accord."
Zhou Yunshu's words were like a bombshell, instantly silencing the surroundings.
"Shu'er, why would you ask to leave the house on your own initiative!" The voice belonged to Zhou Yunshu's second aunt Wu Yue.
Because the Zhenbei Palace had few descendants, the family had never been divided. Although the family had occasional frictions after living together for a long time, the relationship was still good.
"You all left, and I don't want to stay in the capital."
"How can you be so willful!" Li Jialan slapped her daughter in anger after hearing what she said. "You are a member of the Zhou family, yes, but you are also the wife of the King of Wei, you, you..."
"Mother, the Zhou family has fallen. Do you think I will have a good ending if I stay in the Prince of Wei's Mansion?"
Zhou Yunshu looked at her family, whom she had never seen since her exile in her previous life, and said, "Rather than dying in the treacherous backyard of the palace, I would rather be with you."
Even if the final outcome is still death, she wants to die with her family.
After Zhou Yunshu finished speaking, Li Jialan hugged her daughter and burst into tears.
She knew that her father-in-law had fallen, her husband was dead, and her eldest son was gone. How could those snobs let her daughter go?
The other female members of the Zhou family were also wiping their tears, and Wu Yue was crying uncontrollably.
Zhou Yunshu is the eldest daughter of the first wife who was raised by her mother-in-law. She suffered so much grievance when she married the King of Wei. But Yunxia from their family married to Tongzhou, and her parents' family fell into ruin. How much grievance must her daughter have suffered in the Ma family!
Thinking of the possible torture her daughter might suffer because of her parents' family, and her husband and son who might be killed in battle, Wu Yue almost cried until her eyes went blind.
When Chunque and his men arrived in three mule carts, they saw the Zhou family crying together.
"Miss." Chunque looked at the driver who jumped off the carriage and left, then walked to Zhou Yunshu and said, "The carriage has been bought."
Zhou Yunshu wiped the tears from her mother's face and said, "Okay."
"Miss, I bought forty meat pancakes, five roast chickens, and the cakes that you and the young master like best. In addition, I also asked for twenty water bags, all of which were filled with water."
Her daughter said that the people at home must not have eaten, so she bought some cooked food.
"Well done."
After saying this, Zhou Yunshu looked at the women and children of the Zhou family and said, "We're about to embark on a long journey, so we need to prepare some food, clothing, and daily necessities in advance."
The women and children of the Zhou family looked at Zhou Yunshu and nodded.
Before Zhou Yunshu got married, she was the head of the Zhenbei Palace. They were very accustomed to Zhou Yunshu's arrangements, not to mention that they had encountered a sudden disaster and had no time to think about anything else.
"Sister-in-law, you accompany Mother, Second Aunt, and the children to the South City Gate to wait for Grandmother. Second Sister-in-law, Fifth Brother's wife, and I..."
Before Zhou Yunshu could finish her words, she heard her fifth brother's wife, Liu Aifang, who had always been invisible, say, "I, I want to go home."
As soon as Liu Aifang said this, Wu Yue, who had been crying, suddenly stopped crying.
She raised her red and swollen eyes and looked at her second daughter-in-law, "What did you say?"
Liu Aifang avoided looking at him, but still said, "Zhou Yunkun and I have been married for less than a year and we don't have any children yet."
Facing the gazes of the Zhou family members around her, she gritted her teeth and continued, "Now that he's dead, I want to go back to my mother's home. I hope mother will agree."
Liu Aifang pursed her lips and looked at Wu Yue. The Zhou family had no future, but she still had one.
Because the Great Zhou Dynasty once had a female emperor, even though the current social customs are not as open as when the female emperor was in power, divorce and remarriage, as well as widow remarriage, are still common occurrences.
This is also the reason why Liu Aifang dared to ask to go home. If she did not go home, as the daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, she could only follow the Zhou family to the wild land in the south; but if she left the Zhou family and returned to her own home, she could still remarry and live a good life.
Wu Yue looked at Liu Aifang deeply for a few times, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again, she said coldly, "Go away."
Liu Aifang breathed a sigh of relief. She bowed deeply to Wu Yue and said, "Thank you, Madam Zhou Er."
When Wu Yue heard the words "Mrs. Zhou Er", a sarcastic smile appeared on her lips. This was her favorite daughter-in-law.
After Liu Aifang left impatiently, Wu Yue and Li Jialan looked at each other and let out a breath.
She looked at her eldest daughter-in-law and said, "If you still want to leave the Zhou family, you can leave now. Otherwise, once you leave the gate of the capital, you don't know when you can come back."
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