CHAPTER 14: CHAPTER 14: IF THEY’RE ELIMINATED, ALL THEIR SUPPLIES WILL BE OURS

Ruan Mian let out a cold laugh, giving her a single word: "Get lost."

The Liu Family was furious. At this moment, she had backing and immediately raised her voice: "Alright, you just wait you wretch, so shameless, I want to see how long you can stay safe!"

At this moment, a commotion came from the back of the team. They looked in that direction and saw a group of riders appeared from the corner.

The Liu Family was overjoyed: "Nanfeng! That’s Nanfeng sitting on the horse!! It’s that spirited young man of my family!"

She eagerly ran towards him, her usual old cold legs moving swiftly.

But as she got closer, her expression changed slightly. The person on the horse was not Qi Nanfeng, but a government officer with a face full of authority.

Following behind were several soldiers, and upon looking around, there was only the person inside the prison carriage left.

The person was wearing prison clothes, full of wounds, their hair disheveled, covering most of their face, weakly lying motionless on the prison carriage, like a lost dog.

The Liu Family had a bad premonition, carefully holding her clothes, she called out: "Nan...Nanfeng?"

The people in the team also looked eagerly, only to see the imprisoned prisoner slowly raise their head.

Qi Nanfeng’s familiar yet now wretched face appeared abruptly.

The Liu Family, upon seeing this, simply shut her eyes tight, pretending to faint!!

Heavenly Bodhisattva! This is not coming to take them back to the mansion, but to shatter their hope of returning!

The people around, seeing Qi Nanfeng being imprisoned like a convict and beaten nearly to death, couldn’t help but mock.

The Liu Family, what a thick-skinned person!

Ruan Mian spread her hands, telling her brother to be at ease.

"It seems the Princess didn’t intend to save him."

With Qi Nanfeng around, the days of exile wouldn’t be so lonely and boring, after all... she had just come here and was about to be divorced by him!

The original owner in the Qi Mansion suffered so much injustice, even keeping widowhood for three years for him, only to find nothing in the end.

The rest of the Ruan Family finally felt relief, Qi Nanfeng and the other Qi Family males were thrown to the back of the team, shackled tightly on their feet and hands.

To the government officers, it was just a few more burdens, and just thinking about it made them scowl.

When it was time for lunch, they didn’t bother finding a proper spot and simply rested by the roadside.

They didn’t even cook properly, just boiled a pot of leaf soup for them to drink, tasteless and not filling.

The crowd was indignant but dared not speak out, only able to gather some wild fruits and leaves nearby.

But the government officer also warned: "Anyone who dares to escape, I’ll take the heads of their entire family!!"

Without citizenship, shackled, surrounded by barren mountains and wilderness, escaping was no different than death.

No one had the guts.

Ruan Mian set up a pot and stove, cooked some salty porridge with dried meat, and ate it with the pickles she brought from the Qi Mansion’s kitchen, it tasted quite good.

She deliberately brought a few bowls, inviting Cui Zhu and elder sister over, and sent them to the government officers.

Elder sister was a bit reluctant: "Sister, it’s not like they don’t have food, why take them some! We barely have enough to eat ourselves!"

"We’re out on the road, always need to be thoughtful, if you don’t appease the Lords, what if they shackle your feet?"

Ruan Qing quickly nodded: "Understood."

Cui Zhu smiled and explained: "Miss, this is called winning people over!"

Ruan Mian brought the salty porridge to Guo Yong, and Guo Yong only felt that she was perceptive, so naturally, his attitude was courteous.

Ruan Mian took the opportunity to ask: "Lord, with the men of the Qi Family now with our team, does it mean we won’t take the official road later?"

In the original novel, Ruan Mian vaguely remembered an exile plot, just because the prison carriage was in the team, too many people, taking the official road was risky, so on some specific roads they could only take small paths.

So she kept a cautious eye.

The answer was as she expected: "Miss Ruan is observant, from here to the next post station, the commercial road and official road are together, our exile team should avoid them.

Once we set off later, we should take the small path to the east."

Following Guo Yong’s gaze, Ruan Mian glanced eastward, the roads there were sparsely trodden, with more weeds.

Having a plan in her mind, she returned to the team, using the excuse to relieve herself, she took out some tools from the space.

Most were some simple tools she had taken from the Qi Mansion’s armory before.

After putting them into her luggage, she distributed them to the people in the Ruan Mansion, almost everyone had a dagger for self-defense.

When she handed the dagger to her brother Ruan Qingsong, Ruan Qingsong furrowed his brows, looking at his sister with some disbelief.

"Mian’er, I didn’t expect you to be so thoughtful, even bringing these. I never knew you were such a meticulous person. It’s all my fault, I should have been more careful back then, seen through the Qi Family sooner to stop you and..."

"Brother, the path of exile is treacherous, previously an adult took care of us, allowing us to bring these things, it’s never wrong to be more prepared. As for past events, they are in the past, now the family’s safety is most important."

There were many unknowns on the small path, not to mention the sudden addition of Qi Nanfeng, Ruan Mian always felt he would stir things up, it did no harm to be on guard.

At this moment, Liu Family was holding that bowl of vegetable soup, tearfully attending to Qi Nanfeng to drink it.

He was beaten to immobility, his legs were also injured.

Starved for several days, he drank several bowls of the leaf soup.

Seeing him like this, Liu Family cried hysterically: "Nanfeng, what should we do, why doesn’t the Princess plead for you, just watching you fall to this state! Didn’t she like you!"

Qi Lin, having had enough of Liu Family’s crying, shouted irritably: "Cry, cry, cry! All you know is crying! Can crying solve problems? Will crying get brother out?!"

"Can I not even cry?!"

Liu Family, worried about her daughter, was yelled at like this, felt even more wronged, wishing she could just bash her head to end it all.

Qi Nanfeng, also getting a headache from her crying, had to endure the discomfort and raspily said: "Stop crying, the people of the Ruan Family, won’t be pleased for long."

Hearing this, Liu Family immediately quieted: "Nanfeng, you...do you have a plan?"

Qi Nanfeng took a deep breath, turned his body aside, and lowered his voice.

"When it’s night, go below my prison carriage, open the hidden compartment inside, there are some provisions and money. Also, to the east on the small path, there are my people."

Liu Family’s eyes widened, covering her own mouth.

Daring not to let others see her expression at this moment: "Nanfeng, you were prepared?!"

Qi Nanfeng let out a cold snort, weakly saying: "Only by getting rid of the Ruan Family, can I truly vent my anger."

Getting rid of the Ruan Family, this wasn’t only what Qi Nanfeng wanted, but also what Liu Family and her daughter were eager for!

The Ruan Family carried so many resources, getting rid of them meant those resources would be theirs.

Eat well, dress well, even that ox-cart would belong to them, and then they wouldn’t have to walk!

Thinking of this, the Liu Family’s face cleared of gloom, a smile appeared, she was full of energy, her legs didn’t hurt at all.

When setting off again, the ox-cart had to be unloaded, only usable when they reached the main road.