Xu Qinyu noticed this abnormality. She looked at the surrounding mountains and terrain, and her face became solemn.
The mountains in the southwest are composed of peaks. After passing this peak, the terrain becomes flat, but there is another peak not far ahead.
Although there were some pine trees on the mountain where they rested, they were few and sparse compared to the pine trees on other mountains. Most of the exposed areas on the hillside were rocks and sand. Coupled with such heavy rain, mudslides were very likely to form on this kind of mountain.
Xu Qinyu couldn't be sure whether a mudslide would occur, but it's better to be safe than sorry, and no one is willing to gamble with their life.
No, she had to quickly inform the manager to prevent everyone from being buried in such a place together.
Xu Qinyu looked around. It should be the hour of Wei, around two or three in the afternoon. Everyone was very tired after traveling for several hours and was resting. Wen was holding her little son and granddaughter in her arms, Pei Jianing was snuggling up to her mother, and even Pei Weixuan had fallen asleep. He had carried her all the way during the day and was already weak. He couldn't hold on in the wind and rain and fell asleep.
Not far away were the officers and soldiers escorting them.
Xu Qinyu stood up and walked up to the officers and soldiers without disturbing the Pei family and said, "My lords, may I ask where Deputy Captain Chen is? I have something to tell Deputy Captain Chen." Deputy Captain Chen was the superior of these officers and soldiers.
She was shivering with cold, and the rain was hitting her eyes so hard that she could hardly open them.
The officer looked Xu Qinyu up and down and said impatiently, "What do you want with our leader?"
Xu Qinyu wiped the rain from her face. "General, it's raining too hard. This hillside is covered in sand and rocks. Add to that the heavy rain, and it's easy for it to cause a landslide. We'll all be buried in the mudslide, so we came here to find Deputy Captain Chen. We can't stay here for long. It's best to continue on our journey. After passing this section of the mountain road, the road ahead will be flat, and we can rest properly."
"What do you know, little girl?" The officer sneered, not taking Xu Qinyu's words seriously at all. He began to reach out to drive Xu Qinyu away, "Go, go, go back to your team quickly. If you continue to make trouble, don't blame me for being rude."
"Ma Liu, what are you doing!" A majestic scolding came from behind. Xu Qinyu turned around and saw that it was Deputy Captain Chen. Deputy Captain Chen was eight feet tall and sturdy. He looked to be about forty years old and had a beard. He was intimidating without being angry. He was a decent person and never beat or scolded the exiled prisoners on the road.
Ma Liu immediately put away his impatience and turned back to report to Deputy Captain Chen, "Boss, this young lady said there's going to be a mudslide here, so she told us to keep going."
Upon hearing this, Deputy Captain Chen looked at Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu didn't say much. She walked to the hillside in the pouring rain. She casually reached out and pulled the soil on the hillside, and the soil mixed with rain water flowed down.
Lieutenant Chen's face changed slightly. He was a military officer who was specifically responsible for escorting exiles. He had traveled extensively for twenty years and was very experienced. Naturally, he could tell that the soft soil was not right. He immediately signaled Ma Liu beside him to blow the horn, asking everyone to continue on their way.
After giving Ma Liu his instructions, Deputy Captain Chen turned to Xu Qinyu and said, "Thank you, young lady, for telling me."
Xu Qinyu nodded, said nothing more, and returned to the team.
By now, everyone had been woken up by the sound of the horn and was looking forward. Some people even complained quietly, "We've been walking all day, can't we take a break? We haven't even had half an hour to rest. Are we going to be exhausted to death?"
In addition to Pei Weixuan's lineage, the exiled team also included Wen's maternal family, the Wen family, who was once the Duke of Anping and was now demoted to a commoner.
There are also some other serious criminals.
These prisoners were all handcuffed and shackled. These serious criminals were spared the death penalty because the new emperor issued a general amnesty upon his ascension to the throne, but they would be exiled to the frontier to continue serving and do very hard labor.
When the Wen family went to the place of exile, they became commoners. Except that they could not enter the capital and take the imperial examinations, they were just like ordinary commoners and could only live their own lives.
Xu Qinyu returned to the team and continued on their journey. The Wen and Pei family members woke up.
Pei Weixuan also opened his eyes. His pupils were very light, and his eyebrows and eyes were handsome, with long eyebrows reaching his temples. However, after more than a month of long journey, he was hungry and cold, and had no food to eat. He was also skinny, and his body and face were covered with mud. When he heard the horn, he had no expression, but just glanced at Xu Qinyu.
Xu Qinyu understood what he meant and quickly waved her hand, "Fourth brother, there's no need to carry me. I'm feeling much better now. I'm not dizzy anymore. I can walk on my own."
Although the two got married, the original body never called him husband, and Xu Qinyu couldn't call a strange man husband, so she followed Pei Jianing and called him fourth brother.
Pei Weixuan nodded and picked up the two three or four-year-old children in Wen's arms.
Of these two children, the girl is the only bloodline left by elder brother Pei Weixuan, and the other little boy is the youngest son of the Wen family. He is mentally retarded and is also a mute. He has never spoken since birth.
Pei Weixuan took the two children and they continued to sleep on his thin shoulders.
The team moved forward slowly. Lieutenant Chen gave a few instructions to the officers and soldiers under him, and the officers and soldiers began to urge everyone to move faster.
They walked like this for more than half an hour. Everyone was in great pain and could hardly move. Finally, the officers and soldiers blew the horn and asked everyone to stop and rest.
Xu Qinyu looked around. The terrain here was flat. They had already passed the mountain peak, so there was no possibility of landslides here.
Finally we could take a break, and everyone found a place to rest.
Xu Qinyu and Anping Gong's family were at the front of the team, while the serious criminals were at the back.
Xu Qinyu found a tilted boulder. There was a dry spot under the boulder that was not wet by the rain. She quickly ran to the spot under the boulder and took it. She waved to Pei Weixuan to come over with the two children.
Before Pei Weixuan could carry the two children over, a girl wearing a long, double-breasted jacket with a light yellow trim and a dark pattern, a straw raincoat, and holding an oil-oil umbrella, ran to the bottom of the boulder. Without even glancing at Xu Qinyu, she waved and called out to the nearby area, "Grandpa and grandma, come sit over here. There's a boulder here that can shelter you from the rain."
This girl is the granddaughter of Lord Anping and the niece of the Wen family, Wen Yunling.
At that time, the Wen family was just the small Anping Earl, with an ordinary family background and no real power. It was no exaggeration to say that it was a poor earl's house. Wen was not the legitimate daughter of Anping Earl, but a concubine's daughter. Her concubine was a maidservant of Anping Earl's wife. Because Anping Earl was infatuated with another beautiful concubine at that time, Anping Earl's wife promoted the maidservant to be her concubine in order to consolidate her position.
When Wen was born, she was taught by her stepmother to be timid and weak in character.
Later, when Emperor Shengjing was choosing a concubine, all third-rank officials and dukes and earls had to send one of their daughters to the palace. Lady Anping wanted to send her legitimate daughter to the palace to enjoy wealth and glory, but her own daughter had already been secretly engaged to someone else. Lady Anping dared not send such a daughter to the palace to choose a concubine. In desperation, she said that the legitimate daughter was sick and she could only send the concubine's daughter to the palace, thinking that the concubine's daughter was petty and would definitely not be favored.
Unexpectedly, Wen was favored by Emperor Sheng Jing.
Wen's appearance was not stunning, but she was pretty and gentle.
Wen was also lucky. Not long after entering the palace, she was favored by Emperor Sheng Jing and became pregnant. Her first child was the emperor's eldest son.
Before, Emperor Sheng Jing had a queen. The queen died in childbirth, and the queen's throne had been vacant ever since. Emperor Sheng Jing had several princesses at that time, but no prince. Because Wen gave birth to the eldest prince, her concubine rank was promoted from talented woman to the ninth concubine. After that, Wen stayed in the palace for decades and gave birth to four princes and six princesses. In addition, Emperor Sheng Jing did not like powerful relatives, and the Wen family was just a poor earl's mansion. At that time, Wen was already one of the four concubines. The court officials called for the establishment of a queen. Emperor Sheng Jing canonized Wen as queen, and the Anping Earl's mansion was also given a higher title, becoming a first-class duke.
I'm afraid even the Wen family couldn't have imagined that this concubine's daughter who was sent to the palace because they didn't think highly of her would become the queen and the mother of the country.
It’s a pity that looking at flowers in the mirror is just an illusion.
When Wen became the queen, the Wen family was delighted to take advantage of her power and influence, and she was so powerful that she was flattered by the powerful and influential people.
When Wen was demoted and his family was exiled with him, they hated her so much that they never treated her well from the beginning of the exile.
At this moment, Wen Yunling naturally didn't take Xu Qinyu seriously.
Like Wen Yunling, the Wen family members ignored Xu Qinyu and gathered under the boulder, intending to let the old man and the old lady take shelter from the rain and rest under the boulder.
Compared with the Pei family who had a difficult journey and were sick and weak, the Anping family, although dismissed from office and exiled, had enough time to sell all their property. Although they did not bring any boxes along the way, they had enough gold and silver on them. They could use the money to bribe the officers and soldiers to buy them food, drinks and other daily necessities. They did not lose much weight. It was raining now, and they all had umbrellas and straw raincoats.
When the two elders of the Wen family walked to the bottom of the boulder, Wen Yunling saw Xu Qinyu still standing there and frowned, "What's wrong with you? Why are you still blocking the way? Didn't you see my grandparents coming? Why don't you get out of the way?"
Xu Qinyu was so angry that she laughed when she saw the Wen family members acting so confidently. Even Mrs. Wen looked at her hesitantly, wanting her to give up her seat.
Pei Jianing gritted his teeth and glared at the Wen family like an angry little beast.
Only Pei Weixuan glanced at the Wen family with a cold gaze.
Without saying a word, Xu Qinyu walked to Pei Weixuan and took the two children out of his arms.
The two children were so light that even she, a patient who had just recovered from an illness, had difficulty holding them. This shows how thin the two children were.
Holding the two children, Xu Qinyu walked to the bottom of the boulder again and used her body to push out the two elders of the Wen family who had already come under the boulder.
Although the boulder was big, it was barely big enough for three adults to fit in. When Xu Qinyu squeezed it, the old man and the old lady of the Wen family were pushed out and exposed to the rain.
Wen Yunling's face changed, and she angrily said, "Are you blind? Didn't you see my grandparents hiding from the rain down there?"
"You're not the ones who are blind?" Xu Qinyu laughed. "Didn't you see I was under the boulder just now? Don't you understand the principle of first come, first served? Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er are only three or four years old. They've been soaked in the rain all the way, so they need shelter even more. What's going on? You're trying to take a child's place? Or do you want to drive these two children to death?"
Although they were all wearing straw raincoats, they were still quite wet after being in the rain all day.
Wen Yunling was so angry that his face turned pale.
Old Madam Wen had never been treated like this before. She was so angry that she was shaking all over and began to lecture Xu Qinyu, "I thought a daughter of a marquis's family should know etiquette, righteousness, integrity and respect for elders. I don't know how your mother taught you to be so disrespectful to your elders. You are really like your mother-in-law. We are all from the same family." If there were still servants there, the old lady would have wanted them to slap Xu Qinyu in the face.
Xu Qinyu didn't even look at the old lady and ignored her. She was hungry, tired and cold after walking all the way. She just wanted to rest for a while and was too lazy to talk to them.
She held the two children in her arms and called out to Pei Jianing, who was not far away: "Sister Ning, come over and rest for a while."
As for Wen, she didn't plan to ask. Wen was afraid of her natal family and looked like she was about to faint. Even if she was called, she wouldn't dare to come over to hide from the rain.
If Pei Weixuan were in this position, he would definitely give his seat to his sister and would not come in to hide from the rain.
Pei Jianing walked towards the bottom of the boulder without saying a word.
She is a princess, raised by the late emperor. She was not afraid of the Wen family members who were his subjects then, so naturally she is not afraid now.
Just as she was about to walk over, she was hugged by Wen. Wen looked at her daughter eagerly, her eyes full of pleading.
Pei Jianing said angrily: "Mom!"
Old Mrs. Wen was also very angry at this moment. She hit her chest twice and looked like she was about to faint. The Wen family was in chaos. They all shouted "Grandma, Old Lady" and rushed forward to support the person, some gave water, and some pinched the Ren Zhong acupoint. Wen Yunling even wanted to bring her brothers and sisters to teach Xu Qinyu a lesson.
Xu Qinyu looked at them coldly, then quietly picked up a sharp stone from the side and held it in her palm.
When it comes to fighting, she has been doing it since she was a child and has never been afraid of anyone. She also knows that kind people are often bullied. Her original body and the Wen family were bullied by the Wen family all the way. If she continues to be weak, she will be bullied by the Wen family in the future.
Wen Yunling and her brothers and sisters had just arrived when Deputy Captain Chen, having already seen the commotion, came over and scolded them, "No more trouble! Anyone who makes trouble will be flogged."
Wen Yunling then reluctantly took her brothers and sisters away.
After Deputy Captain Chen left, Old Lady Wen seemed to have calmed down, and the whole family found a place with many pine trees to sit down and rest, but they still glared at Xu Qinyu from time to time.
Xu Qinyu didn't care about them, nor did she care whether Ning Jie'er came over or not. She just fell asleep holding the two children.
After sleeping for a while, Xu Qinyu suddenly heard a loud rumbling sound coming from the distance.
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