Chapter 24
When they woke up the next day, they had to pack their bags and bedding immediately, as officials were already outside the yard asking them to gather and set off.
The officials in charge of the prisoners were given two meals a day, which did not include breakfast.
Gu Ran drank a bowl of bone soup as quickly as possible, filled a bamboo tube with hot water, and then took the vegetarian buns made by the woman. He immediately ate one, put one in his hand, and then packed up the rest and put them on the donkey cart together with his luggage and bedding.
By the time the officer handcuffed him, Gu Ran had already finished eating two vegetarian buns.
The vegetarian dish was also made with late turnip wrappers. The dough was very thick and there were some unkneaded dough lumps inside. It was better to eat it than to travel on an empty stomach.
Pei Liuniang only let the officers put her in the wooden shackle after she had finished the last bite of her bun. As for another serious criminal, Uncle Mai, who was following behind the team, he had been put in the wooden shackle a long time ago, but Aunt Mai was still feeding him mouthful by mouthful!
"Mother, these buns are delicious." Maidong, who was also eating a bun, squinted his already narrow eyes and looked extremely happy. "I haven't had hot buns in a long time."
"That's right, I didn't expect that we could still eat buns today." Uncle Mai also sighed, and then became sad, "What a pity Mai Wu!"
Mai Wu, who was said to be from the same village as them, was arrested and sentenced to exile for participating in a fight between two villages and injuring someone. He could not bear the hardship after setting out on the journey and had already suffered a serious illness. He had managed to survive until now, but he froze to death last night.
Just like if Gu Ran had not come through in time, the original owner would have been another template of Mai Wu.
When Aunt Mai and her family mentioned Mai Wu, they all fell silent.
After Uncle Mai ate two buns, Aunt Mai fed him again. He shook his head and looked at a young man with red eyes in front of them.
That’s Lao Wu’s younger brother, Mai Liu.
Aunt Mai curled her lips, but still stretched out her arm to touch Mai Liu.
Mai Liu had lost his brother and was feeling very sad. However, when he saw the buns handed to him by Aunt Mai, he immediately burst into laughter, and then quickly grabbed them and gobbled them up, forgetting even to cry.
We set out that day and arrived in Sui County after half an hour's journey.
Excluding the original owner's memory, this was the first time that Gu Ran saw this county town after the Great Sheng Dynasty with her own eyes. It was said to be a medium-sized county, and the outside was similar to the city she had lived in when she was a cultivator, with towering city walls and gates guarded by soldiers.
As she had guessed, Li Jieguan did not take them into the city, but only let them rest outside the city. He only took the two postmen who followed them from Qingyi into the city to go to the government office to register. After obtaining permission from the government office, he brought the postmen who temporarily acted as escort officials and the customs clearance documents back. Only then did this group of prisoners pass through Sui County, enter from the north gate, and then exit from the south gate.
It was still the New Year's Day, and it was also the wintering period for ordinary people. So after entering Sui County, there were no vendors, no open shops, and few pedestrians. They just glanced past and soon arrived at the South Gate. After showing the documents to the guards at the gate, they continued into the snowy and dry forest.
As you go south from Sui County, you will see fewer cities and even fewer villages.
For several nights, when we couldn't find a place to stay, we had to spend the night in the snow.
This is the time to test the prisoners' physical ability to withstand the cold and the warm clothing they carry.
When the officials could arrange accommodation for them, the prisoners were divided into male and female prisoners and camped outdoors. This was because the government only provided three tents for the prisoners. With seventeen people, one tent had to accommodate at least five people. However, the four female prisoners would definitely use up one tent, so the remaining thirteen male prisoners had to share six to one tent, or seven to one tent.
However, there were also people who had considered the possibility of camping during exile early on. Those who had the means specially prepared oilcloth tents. They could just fold them up as usual. When they needed them, they could take them out, unfold them, and use bamboo to support them to make a tent.
Among the prisoners, there was a man named Xu Langjun from a wealthy family who brought his own tent. However, he did not bring the tent himself, but had a servant who was not exiled but followed him all the way. Wherever he went, the servant would follow him.
The tent that Xu Langjun brought was spacious. He brought the three prisoners who had taken good care of him on the road and lived in his tent together. The tents for the male prisoners were now enough.
Gu Ran knew from the original owner's memory that this was not an isolated case.
Because of the original owner's husband's family, after Prime Minister Qin died for his remonstration, many families who usually had contact with the Qin family cut off contact because they were worried that the Qin family would be involved in a major treason case. However, there were also several students under Prime Minister Qin who secretly bribed the officials. Although the Qin family had a hard time on the road of exile, their situation was much easier than that of other prisoners.
As for why the original owner ended up in such a miserable end, it was because she was just the daughter-in-law of a concubine's son and was not valued in the Qin Mansion. Also, because she was just an adopted daughter of the Marquis' Mansion, they looked down on the original owner's identity.
In addition, the original owner was used to being a noble lady in a marquis's mansion. After her status changed drastically, her temperament could not be changed for a while. She was domineering and arrogant, as well as twisted and entangled. Naturally, she was not popular among the people in the Qin Mansion. Due to various reasons, the original owner was disliked by the female members of the Qin Mansion.
At this time, Gu Ran was lying in the tent shared by four female prisoners. She never thought that soon after, the group of exiles she had just joined would be able to catch up with the Qin family who should have been ahead long ago.
After trekking for seven or eight days, they arrived at a mountain forest in another jurisdiction. Following the route taken by Li Jie Guan, they stopped when they were about to cross several snow-capped mountains.
The reason was that he was at the end of the queue, and Gu Ran also saw it.
There was a large snow-capped mountain in front of us, half of which had collapsed, revealing the dark cliffs.
Avalanche?
Gu Ran reacted immediately. If there was an avalanche, it would be dangerous near the mountain and the passage might be blocked. It would be best not to go there rashly.
As expected, Li Jieguan ordered the team to stop, and then asked Li Si to stay where he was, while he took an official to explore the way.
"Oh my! This snow mountain collapsed. How did it collapse?" Aunt Mai was also shocked and kept yelling.
"Is it the weather getting warmer?"
"How can it be warm? It's not even the end of January and it's still freezing!"
"It seems like today is the Lantern Festival, Mother. This is the first time our family has celebrated it outside!" Mai Dong said, "I wonder if the moon is beautiful tonight?"
"Hey, why bother worrying about whether the moon is beautiful or not? You'd better think about where we're going to sleep tonight and whether the officer can show mercy and give us something good to eat."
Gu Ran listened to Aunt Mai's family shouting. He was originally glancing at the rolling snow-capped mountains in the distance. When he heard that it would be better later, he couldn't help licking his cracked lips.
We have been rushing on the road for the past few days without stopping on the way. If we can't move forward today and Li Jieguan doesn't change the route, I'm afraid we will have to stay around here for a few days.
Sure enough, after Li Jieguan came back after finding out the road conditions, he asked them to rest for a while, asked Li Si to look after them, and then took two officers into the snow forest.
"What is Lord Li doing?"
"There's a group of officials escorting prisoners ahead. They've been staying here for two days. It's said they were caught in an avalanche while passing through, killing many officials. Officer Li Jie is looking for our people to go over and help!"
After Li Si finished explaining to the remaining officers, he shouted to the group of prisoners, "Follow carefully, let's go this way."
Gu Ran followed the team into the forest ahead. Not long after walking, he saw several tents set up on the snow and several bonfires. People in prison uniforms and black clothes were walking around from time to time, and occasional crying and groaning could be heard.
These are what Li Jie officially said about the team of officials and exiles who encountered the avalanche.
At first, Gu Ran didn't know that this was the exile queue where the original owner was originally from. After all, it was not the original owner. Even though she had seen the Qin family in her memory, she had never seen them in person. She would hardly recognize them if she met them in person.
When Li Si, on behalf of Li Jie, had greeted the officers in charge and told them to set up camp, the four female prisoners had chosen a spot and taken out their tents. A woman who was boiling some medicinal herbs in front of the campfire looked at Gu Ran with a pale face in shock: "You, you are the second mother of the Gu family?"
Gu Ran never thought that another female prisoner exiled from another team would recognize him. Then he immediately realized that the person who was also exiled and knew the original owner might be from the Qin family?
After searching through the original owner's memories, he matched the woman with her name: "Are you Qin Sanniang?"
Qin Sanniang's face changed immediately. Without even bothering to watch the fire, she stood up and ran towards one of the tents. On the way, she stumbled due to the iron chain tied to her feet and almost fell on the snow. She kept running while shouting anxiously: "Brother, brother, that Gu Erniang is really not dead. She has caught up with us."
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