Chapter 5
Very Well, and Good Luck to You
Not only did Su Ying keep going, but she also deliberately put her hand on his waist. Oh, his abs were quite solid.
Xiao Jin’s body stiffened, and a hint of killing intent flashed in his eyes. While Su Ying was still in a daze, he abruptly grabbed her wrist and strangled her neck with his other hand.
Su Ying was caught off guard and stumbled onto the tree trunk behind her. She looked up and saw Xiao Jin’s fierce face.
“Su Ying, you’re seeking death.”
Because of the injuries in his legs, Xiao Jin couldn’t stand. This position made him put almost all his weight on Su Ying.
“Uh, uh.” Su Ying let out a muffled groan. She was furious as she looked at Xiao Jin’s face, which was close to hers.
“Xiao Jin, you don’t know what is good for you. If you are able, then leave on your own accord.” Su Ying grabbed Xiao Jin’s hand, surprised that he had managed more strength than she expected.
Xiao Jin tightened his grip more on her. He stung her coldly. “Do not touch me.” With that, he loosened his grip.
Su Ying snorted and was not angry. “Very well, and good luck.”
After saying that, she pushed Xiao Jin away and came to Ji. She picked him up from the ground and held him in front of her with a cloth sling.
“Father…” Ling was so frightened by the confrontation between the two that she almost dropped the food in her hands.
Xiao Jin listened to Ling’s tender voice. He took a deep breath and bent down to pick up two arm-think branches from the ground to support himself. The simple movements made his back wet with sweat.
“Ling, you follow daddy.”
Ling made a sound of acknowledgment. She stepped forward with her short legs and sensibly supported Xiao Jin, although she couldn’t help much with her puny strength.
Su Ying glanced at Xiao Jin. She said nothing when she saw that Xiao Jin had used most of his strength on his hands. “Arrogant pig, let’s see how long you will last.’
The exiled prisoners had no right to walk on the official road in case they offended passing nobles. Hence they had taken the fields all the way along.
As Su Ying walked among the group, she noticed very few familiar faces.
Prince Qi had committed treason, and the Emperor’s fury was like thunder. He had initially wanted to execute Prince Qi’s entire family, only saved by the Empress who cried and pleaded. In the end, Emperor changed the sentence to exile.
All of the one hundred or so people in Prince Qi’s residence would be exiled to the northern wilderness. However, only a few faces familiar to Su Ying were now in the group.
Because the body’s original owner didn’t care about the life and death of others in the Prince Qi residence, she only vaguely remembered that they gradually disappeared, but had no recall of the specific situations. After all, it wasn’t rare for prisoners to die on the road to exile.
Su Ying frowned slightly. Those people didn’t plan on letting Xiao Jin off so lightly.
In her memory, the capital was thousands of miles away from the northern wilderness. It would take at least a few months to walk there. By the time they reached the end, it would be winter. She had the interspace, yes. But apart from medical supplies, there was a limited amount of other resources.
She had little knowledge about the situation in the northern wilderness, so she had to take the opportunity to collect more needed supplies along the way.
Su Ying had two meals of food from the interspace and had also drunk some supplements. Although weak, she was much better than when she had just woken up. However, the prisoners who had not had any food the night before were not so lucky.
They had been starved all the way and didn’t even have a single bite to eat last night. The group walked more and more slowly.
“What are you doing? What are you all doing? If you dawdle any longer, there won’t be any food tonight, either. Hurry up and walk!
“Ah!”
Under the beating of the bailiffs, some exhausted prisoners fell. But the bailiffs didn’t care about their lives at all. In Chu, as long as one was exiled to the northern wilderness, they were no longer a citizen of the country once they left the border. It was impossible for them to turn the situation around. Hence the bailiffs were so unscrupulous.
“Father, father… Are you OK?”
Ling’s sobbing voice suddenly came from behind Su Ying. She turned around and saw that Xiao Jin had fallen to the ground.
Seeing this, a bailiff walked towards Xiao Jin with a whip in his hand.
By the time the bailiff reached Xiao Jin, Su Ying had already walked over.
The bailiff, with a raised whip, met Su Ying’s cold eyes. He subconsciously shrank back and glared at Xiao Jin before walking to the back.
“Father, father…” Ling cried, squatting in front of Xiao Jin. Her two small hands tried hard to help Xiao Jin up from the ground. However, no matter how hard she tried, she could not move Xiao Jin a bit.
Su Ying snorted. She had examined Xiao Jin’s legs. A bit of blood had seeped through the bandage. Thankfully, it wasn’t serious. He had fainted purely from exhaustion.
She was surprised that he had managed to walk so far.
While no one was looking, Su Ying quickly stuffed a ginseng pill into his mouth, then carried him on her back.
Although Xiao Jin was so thin that he didn’t look human, he wasn’t light at all. Fortunately, Su Ying had auxiliary devices in her space. Otherwise, she really wouldn’t be able to carry him.
“Ling, don’t cry. Daddy is too tired and has fallen asleep. I’ll carry him, and we’ll continue the journey.”
Ling stopped crying after hearing that Xiao Jin had only fallen asleep.
Su Ying used some rattan she had picked to tie Xiao Jin to her body so that he wouldn’t fall. However, she had no free third hand to hold Ling.
With her back to the crowd, she took out a palm-sized water bottle and brought it to Ling’s lips. She said in a low voice: “Drink some water first. Then, hold onto big brother’s leg and don’t let go, OK?”
Xiao Jin had fainted, and her brother was seriously injured. Ling had no one to rely on. At this moment, she could only choose to trust Su Ying.
“I, I won’t run around. I’ll be good and hold on to big brother.”
Su Ying’s heart ached more for the child. She patted her head gently and followed the group.
Su Ying was a petite woman. But she was able to carry a man and a child on her and walk fast without turning red or panting. Everyone was shocked to see that, and they were even more confident that she was quite weird and not to be trifled with.
The sun was high in the sky, scorching harder and harder. People were getting dizzy and could not open their eyes under the heat.
Xiao Jin woke up in a wave of heat. When he opened his eyes, he saw Su Ying’s skin, which was covered in black dirt marks from sweating.
His eyes darkened, and he realized that she was carrying him on her back.
Xiao Jin frowned deeply. Although sweat covered Su Ying’s head, she didn’t seem to have any trouble walking, carrying him and Ji. This was impossible for Su Ying in the past.
If she had not hidden her true self sufficiently, there was only one possibility.
She was not Su Ying.
Xiao Jin’s gaze lowered to Su Ying’s neck. She hadn’t bathed for more than a month, and her neck was black, but the black mole on her nape remained obvious.
The mole wasn’t big, and even Su Ying didn’t know its existence. But Xiao Jin did.
She was Su Ying.