“Who’s there?!” Constable Wang immediately gripped the saber at his waist, and the other runners also went on alert.
The two figures drew closer. Once everyone could see their faces clearly, they were stunned—they were Hongxiu and Xiao Fu!
“General! Madam!” Hongxiu cried out excitedly when she saw Cheng Yao and Zhan Haoting, tears welling up in her eyes at once. Xiao Fu’s eyes were red as well.
Everyone was astonished. Hadn’t the two of them been driven out of the group? How had they appeared here?
At their feet sat two enormous wooden barrels, filled with crystal-clear drinking water!
They were also carrying a huge, bulging bundle.
“Constable,” Xiao Fu stepped forward and bowed to Constable Wang. “After Hongxiu and I left the group, we were fortunate enough to receive help from an old friend. We haven’t forgotten our roots, so we prepared some clean water and food to bring here. It’s only a modest offering, but we hope you’ll allow us to distribute it so everyone can temporarily ease their hunger and thirst.”
As he spoke, he and Hongxiu opened the two large bundles. Inside were mounds of plump, white steamed buns!
The simple, hearty aroma of grain instantly filled everyone’s noses. The famished people stared at the food, their throats working involuntarily as they swallowed.
“This… this…” Constable Wang looked at the two barrels of water and the mountain of steamed buns, then at the haggard faces and hopeful eyes of the people. His heart was a tangled mess.
This was life-saving food. It could keep this exhausted, barely surviving group alive.
But if he made an exception this time, it would be even harder to refuse them next time.
They were Zhan Haoting’s people. If he kept feeding the group, they would eventually come under Zhan Haoting’s influence!
Constable Wang was caught in a dilemma. Zhang Dapeng was just about to speak when Cheng Yao interrupted him.
“Constable Wang, everyone really can’t hold out much longer. Could we distribute one steamed bun per person first, according to the number of people? We can decide how to distribute the rest based on the situation.”
Constable Wang glanced toward Zhan Haoting.
The man’s back was ramrod straight. Even though both his legs were disabled, his imposing presence had not diminished in the slightest. He was like a vicious dragon coiled upon a throne!
With the imperial court’s situation unclear and the world in turmoil, they could not afford to offend him!
Constable Wang drew a deep breath and nodded firmly. “We’ll do as Madam Cheng says! Everyone, line up! One steamed bun per person! Anyone who tries to snatch one will be dealt with under military law!”
The instant he finished speaking, the people, already so hungry they were seeing stars, hurriedly formed a line. Their longing for those plump white buns overwhelmed everything else.
When the warm, soft, sweet steamed buns were placed in their hands and stuffed into their mouths, many people could no longer hold back their tears. They spilled forth like a burst dam.
“Wuwu… Mother, we have food!”
“Steamed buns made from white flour! Real white-flour steamed buns!”
“Thank you, Hao Ting’s wife! Thank you, Uncle Xiao and Hongxiu…”
Suppressed sobs spread throughout the group.
Those tears contained far too much—the humiliation, hardship, fear, and despair they had endured since being exiled, as well as the basic human dignity and warmth awakened by the simplest of foods at that very moment.
They wolfed down the hard-won buns while wiping away their tears messily with their sleeves. The scene was heartrending, yet touched with the relief of having survived a disaster.
Watching them, Cheng Yao was deeply moved as well.
She walked over to several elderly people, women, and children who were crying especially hard. Softening her voice, she comforted them, “Don’t cry. Fill your stomachs first. Heaven never seals off every road. As long as you’re alive, there’s always hope.”
Her voice was not loud, yet it possessed a power that calmed people’s hearts.
Many people raised their heads and looked at her with even deeper gratitude and trust.
Hongxiu and Xiao Fu’s timely aid in their hour of need was naturally linked to her in everyone’s minds.
She had a strong backbone and was not someone who compromised easily. When Hongxiu and Xiao Fu were driven from the group, she must have agreed only because she had already devised a better way to provide for everyone.
And now, hadn’t she arranged for the two of them to wait here and distribute white-flour steamed buns to everyone?
This woman, once a fool who knew only how to chase after the Second Prince, was now an exiled convict’s wife. In her own way, she was slowly uniting this group that stood on the brink of collapse.
Seeing everyone’s reaction, Cheng Yao realized they had misunderstood. Feeling guilty, she touched the tip of her nose and instinctively looked toward Zhan Haoting.
Zhan Haoting was looking at her too. The corners of his lips slowly curved upward, his deep eyes filled with indulgence.
Cheng Yao stepped closer and nudged him with her elbow, teasing, “I’ve stolen the credit for your good deed. Aren’t you angry?”
He gently took her cool hand, his fingertips caressing her palm as though tracing a priceless treasure that had been lost and found again. His smile deepened, and his voice was low and tender.
“Silly.”
“I belong entirely to you—from the tips of my hair to the soles of my feet. Even this heart of mine has long since become your private possession. What are a little empty reputation and a bit of credit compared to that?”
“What’s mine isn’t yours as well?”
Cheng Yao froze. Looking at the clear reflection of herself in his eyes, she felt as though a feather had brushed across her heart. Softness and sweetness surged through her in a warm tide, leaving her momentarily speechless.
…
Night gradually deepened, and the road ahead remained unknown.
But at least for that moment, because of a few white-flour steamed buns and two barrels of clean water, the group saw a faint spark of light illuminating the path ahead.
And Cheng Yao knew that this spark had to be protected with the utmost care, because it illuminated not only the road ahead, but also the hearts of the people.
After eating the steamed buns, the group was able to keep limping onward.
Under Constable Wang’s hoarse, desperate urging, no one dared to stop for even a moment. Dragging legs that felt as heavy as lead, they trudged along the rugged mountain roads, treading through the cold night dew and pressing forward day and night beneath the stars.
People continued to collapse along the way. Some were supported by their relatives, others carried on the backs of members of their clans. Those who truly could not walk any farther were mercilessly lashed by the runners, forcing them onward.
Cheng Yao and her family took turns pushing the single-wheeled cart carrying Zhan Haoting. They were just as exhausted, able to continue only by gritting their teeth and persevering.
In truth, the person Cheng Yao admired most was Zhan Qingrou. She had been raised in luxury and normally would make a huge fuss over the slightest scrape, yet on this brutal journey into exile, she endured injury, hunger, and exhaustion without uttering a single complaint. Her willpower was truly astonishing.
The group kept moving until noon the next day.
With the sun blazing overhead and the heat unbearable, more and more people began fainting. Only when Constable Wang saw that they truly could not go on did he finally rasp out an order to stop and rest temporarily in a relatively shaded ravine.
Everyone collapsed onto the ground like lumps of mud. Even breathing felt exhausting. Many people’s lips were cracked and peeling, their eyes vacant, as though their souls had already left their bodies.
The brief rest brought no relief—only a deeper fatigue.
They were so exhausted that they could not eat anything. All they wanted was water, endlessly drinking it.
Cheng Yao had just been about to suggest that they go look for water when dense, orderly footsteps suddenly sounded outside the ravine, accompanied by the sharp clinking of armor!
A local force of roughly fifty soldiers quickly surrounded them, led by a man in official robes riding a horse. Their swords were drawn, and their faces were grim.
“No one is allowed to move!”
The officer drew up on the reins and swept his sharp gaze over the convicts sprawled in disarray across the ground before finally fixing it on Constable Wang. “Are you the group of exiles that came along the eastern highway?”
