Chapter 291 I'm Pregnant with the Yun Family's Child
"Will the capital really be breached?" Old Liao was skeptical.
He didn't believe the capital would fall before, but there were precedents from previous dynasties where the emperor fled six times, and the situation of the Great Zhou was more severe than that of the previous dynasty.
The fighting strength of the Great Zhou soldiers is now far inferior to that of the Great Jing, which may indeed be true.
"Seeking peace unconditionally will not bring peace; the weaker you are, the more others will bully you." Yun Zhaoxue did not say for sure, giving an ambiguous answer.
"I wish you a safe journey, Mr. Liao."
Old Liao clasped his hands in thanks, "Yes, thank you for informing me. Please take care of yourselves as well."
...
The housing arrangements at the city defense camp were very haphazard, with each family sharing a room.
The thatched houses in the countryside are small, and some families with dozens of people are all crammed together. They protested, "There are so many of us in one house, it's not enough to live in. Please give us two more houses."
"Exactly, we have enough rooms, what's wrong with giving us a couple more?"
Jia Quan sternly reprimanded, "Shut up! Be grateful that you have a place to live and land to cultivate. If you want to live in a big house, you can't just talk your way out of it..."
"Then what should we do?"
The surrounding soldiers shouted in unison, "We need more money!"
Someone else mocked, "He doesn't even know these basic rules, and he's supposed to be a high-ranking official from the capital? He has no sense of propriety at all. No wonder he was demoted to this barren place. Bah!"
"Hahaha!!!"
The convicts' money was confiscated several times, and half of them were truly penniless, surviving on the cornbread distributed by the guards.
"We are convicts, where would we get money?"
"I don't care where you come from, you can borrow, steal, or rob as you please. Whoever gives me money, I'll arrange a big and nice house for them."
Some families felt that their thatched huts were too small to fit even when stacked up, so they had no choice but to use their savings to bribe their way into being given a larger house.
Jia Quan accepted the silver, his eyes narrowing into slits. "I knew even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. You should have handed it over a long time ago."
"Pay up and stand over here."
Then several more families paid bribes.
Wang Youcai was a wealthy merchant who had no shortage of money. He paid a share of the money for the Xiao family and asked them to join the line of people paying.
Zhao Xuan gave the most money and was given the largest courtyard. The others were assigned rooms according to the amount of money they paid, while those who did not pay were given small, dilapidated rooms.
After arranging the house, some rules for working were announced: "Except for children under seven years old who do not need to work in the fields, everyone else who is able to move must work in the fields, and will be given two meals a day."
Xiao Xuance stepped forward and cupped his hands, saying, "My lord, my wife is six months pregnant. Could you exempt her from her labor service?"
Jia Quan glared at him, "So what if I'm six months pregnant? Does the imperial court have regulations that pregnant women can't work?"
His men chimed in, "No, sir. The pregnant women in the village were still working in the fields the day before they gave birth."
“Sir, we have six adults in our family who can work in the fields. If we work an extra half hour, it will be equivalent to my daughter-in-law’s work. Would that be alright?” Madam Yang said, handing over five taels of silver.
Jia Quan agreed for the sake of the money. "That's more like it. She's almost due, and she looks delicate and doesn't look like someone who does manual labor. She'll only be a hindrance in the fields. But once she gives birth and finishes her postpartum period, she has to work. Don't even think about slacking off."
Xiao Xuance still didn't want Yun Zhaoxue to suffer, not even after she gave birth; she shouldn't do such rough work.
He added, "My wife is not in good health, and the baby will need someone to take care of it after it is born. I can do the work of two people by myself."
“No way! The higher-ups exiled you here so you wouldn’t have to enjoy yourself. If you slack off, I’ll have a hard time, you know?” Jia Quan twirled his thumb and forefinger, glancing sideways at Xiao Xuance.
They have absolutely no sense of propriety; they're not even as good as that old woman, who at least took out five taels of silver.
Xiao Xuance clenched his fists, his face filled with anger, wishing he could rush over right now and give that greedy official a good beating.
Yun Zhaoxue grasped his arm and patted it twice, signaling him not to act rashly.
They've just arrived and will have to stay here for a while. Besides, she's still a few months away from giving birth, so they'll take it one step at a time and there's no rush to get rid of the labor service.
The Xiao family was accommodated in a house that was neither too big nor too small.
Pushing open the mottled wooden door, eroded by years of rain, one sees spiderwebs swaying in the wind under the eaves, and waist-high weeds growing in the yard.
The roof tiles of the main hall are sparse, with only the tiles at the four corners still embedded in the roof. There is only a crossbeam in the middle, and two broken stools are leaning on the moss-covered brick floor.
The main hall is flanked by east and west wing rooms, the roofs of which are almost openwork. The floor of the east wing room is overgrown with weeds, while the west wing room is filled with rainwater from last night.
Connecting the east and west wing rooms are four side rooms: one small room for living, one a bathroom, one a woodshed, and one a kitchen. The kitchen only has half a crooked stove left, and it is even more dilapidated than the ruined temple they stayed in on the road.
A gust of wind blew by, its sound like a mournful wail echoing through the cracks of the thatched hut, chilling the heart to the bone.
“The conditions here are terrible. We can make do, but Xue’er is pregnant. It rains a lot in the south, it rains every five or ten days. There’s also a lot of fog at night and mosquitoes. What are we going to do?”
"Ce'er, think of a way to get Xue'er to stay in town."
“Mother, it’s alright. I’ve prepared a tent. We’ll stay in the tent tonight so we won’t get wet in the rain or get bitten by mosquitoes. We’ll stay in the tent for the next few days, and once we’ve tidied up the house and repaired the roof, it will be ready to live in.”
"I'm sorry to have troubled you. Please sit down and rest for a while, have some water, and we'll go tidy up the house."
The whole family pitched in to weed and clean the house, and in just two hours they had the house spotless.
Behind the village was a small hill. Xiao Mingshu and Xiao Xuanwu went to collect firewood to cook.
After cooking, we realized there was no table, so the whole family squatted to eat. After a long day of work, we were exhausted and hungry, so the hot food tasted incredibly delicious.
The whole family wore satisfied smiles.
As they were eating, they heard arguing coming from next door.
"If you're not going to do any work, why are you taking away the house we cleaned? If you want to live here, clean it yourself! You want to just take what's there without lifting a finger? No way!"
Li Yuying, hands on her hips, declared confidently, "The eldest branch of the Yun family is in charge. My father-in-law and mother-in-law are dead, so my husband is in charge. I am his wife, and we should decide how to allocate this house!"
"Pah! Who do you think you are, mistress of the house? Do you even know how husband and wife treat each other or how you consummate your marriage? Has our Yun family even acknowledged you as our daughter-in-law? You're surnamed Li, you're not a member of the Yun family. Go back to your Li family and stop pointing fingers here. If you don't leave, we'll beat you up."
Li Yuying leaned forward, knowing she wouldn't dare hit her. "You dare! My maternal grandfather was the former prime minister, and my uncle is the Prime Minister of Qin. If you dare disobey me, don't even think about returning to the capital!"
"Go back to the capital? Your aunt has tricked us countless times, do you think we'd be stupid enough to fall for it again?"
"What if I said I was pregnant with the Yun family's child?"
"When are you two going to consummate your marriage? You can still have sex on the way to exile?"
They caused quite a commotion in the inn's private room, but the people in the second and third rooms, who lived in the woodshed in the backyard, were unaware of it.
Aunt Yun looked her up and down, her gaze settling on her nephew. "Ze'er, are you sure this child is yours?"
"Shut up! Since our marriage, my body and soul have belonged to my husband. What right do you have to slander my innocence?" Li Yuying, her temper flaring up, slapped Aunt Yun across the face. "Smack!"
"Hey, you little slut, how dare you hit me! I'll beat you to death!" Aunt Yun pounced on her and started wrestling.
Others rushed over to help, shouting, "You dare hit my mother? I'll beat you to death..."
Yun Yanzhe felt a chill run through him. He rushed over, pushed people aside, and dragged Li Yuying outside.
He almost gritted his teeth as he asked, "Li Yuying, we've only been together for a short time... how could you possibly be pregnant with my child?"
"Why is it impossible? We've been husband and wife. The child I'm carrying is yours. You have to take responsibility, or I'll jump into the river with the child."
Yun Yanzhe suspects the child is not his.
A hint of guilt flashed in Li Yuying's eyes as she fiercely wiped away her tears. "Child, don't blame your mother. Blame your father for disowning you and us."
Having said that, he strode away.
Yun Yanzhe grabbed her. "Stop! Where are you going?"
Li Yuying struggled, "Let go! If you doubt that the child isn't yours, then I'll take the child and die with you, okay?"
"Calm down, the child is innocent."
Li Yuying threw herself into his arms, hugging his waist. "Yunlang, you're finally willing to acknowledge my child and me! You heartless, unfaithful man! I, Li Yuying, am still young and beautiful. If I weren't pregnant with your child, why would I be eating chaff and wild vegetables with you? Waaah..."
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