Before leaving, she had done everything she could to persuade her clansmen to finish the wild boar meat before leaving the ruined temple, only to be met with a chorus of ridicule.
Forget it.
When people were determined to bring about their own ruin, even the gods couldn’t save them.
She went to the bailiffs and said that her family had not received any wild boar meat and wanted to go out to gather wild greens.
Sure enough, Zhang Dapeng objected.
“You are all wanted criminals of the imperial court. Don’t even think about taking a single step away from the group.”
Cheng Yao pretended to be furious. “Then why did you allow so many people to go into the woods just now?”
Zhang Dapeng lifted his chin, his expression arrogant. “Because I like it. Because I say so!”
“You…” Cheng Yao’s delicate face flushed with anger. Clenching her little fists, she took several deep breaths.
Only after quite some time did she manage to calm herself. “What if we only look for wild greens nearby? Is that not allowed either?”
Zhang Dapeng opened his mouth to refuse, but one of his fellow bailiffs pulled him back. “Let them go. They’ll still be right under our noses. They can’t cause any trouble.”
“Everyone else has meat to eat. This family hasn’t had a single bite. We can’t just let them starve to death, can we?”
“The identity of this particular prisoner is special. If he truly falls ill from hunger, none of us will be able to answer for it.”
After several of the bailiffs urged him to relent, Zhang Dapeng glared viciously at Cheng Yao. “If you dare leave our sight, you’ll be beaten to death.”
Cheng Yao lowered her eyes, hiding the smile in them.
People were like this. First, you made a somewhat unreasonable request. Once the other party refused, you made a simpler one. More often than not, they would agree.
She thanked them, then waved for her entire family to follow her out of the ruined temple. Outside, they found an empty patch of ground and settled there.
“That little pig… They’re roasting it, and it smells so good.” Zhan Qingrou sniffed the air and secretly swallowed.
Cheng Yao deliberately said, “Go flatter Shao Yutong. She’ll definitely give you a couple pieces of meat.”
“I’m not going.” Zhan Qingrou shook her head. “She deliberately said those things to make everyone isolate you. She’s not a good person either. Besides, you’re my sister-in-law. I have to stand on your side.”
“Not bad. At least you can finally tell who’s family.” As she spoke, Cheng Yao opened her bundle and took out two flatbreads, handing them to her. “Eat.”
“Sister-in-law!” Zhan Qingrou’s eyes widened. Who would have thought that this limp, shriveled bundle really contained food?
But how had the flatbreads gotten there?
For the past two days, the group had either been hiding from the rain or hurrying along through it. Where had she gotten dry flatbreads?
“Young Master Wei gave them to me. Just eat. Don’t ask so many questions.”
Cheng Yao continued handing them out to the others, giving each person two. In total, she distributed sixteen flatbreads.
“Where did Young Master Wei get so many flatbreads? When did he give them to you?”
Madam Zhan’s gaze was probing.
Normally, no matter how many doubts she had about Cheng Yao, she never asked about them.
But she felt that Wei Qing’s attitude toward Cheng Yao was not quite right, and she couldn’t help worrying that Cheng Yao might be moved by his kindness.
Zhan Haoting spoke up. “Mother, I know about this. Eat without worry.”
He knew the flatbreads had come from “that place,” so he helped Cheng Yao smooth things over.
Zhan Haochen, who was starving, stuffed a piece into his mouth and mumbled indistinctly, “Mother, Little Sister, don’t worry about where the flatbreads came from. Sister-in-law wouldn’t hurt us. As for her affairs, we should ask fewer questions.”
Since both of her sons had spoken, Madam Zhan thought no more of it. Seeing that her eldest son had nothing in his hands, she hurriedly offered him one of her own flatbreads.
Cheng Yao pressed down on her hand. “Mother, you eat. I’ve prepared something for my husband.”
She crouched down, took out a bowl from the bundle, and set it on the ground. Then she brought out a clay pot and poured in a bowl of steaming meat paste. Its fragrance drifted away on the wind.
Everyone: “!!!”
Where had she gotten the meat?
And under such terrible conditions, how had she managed to grind it into a paste without anyone noticing?
Facing the dumbfounded members of his family, Zhan Haoting said calmly, “Someone prepared it.”
Hongxiu and the mother-and-daughter pair of Madam Zhan and Zhan Qingrou suddenly understood: the hidden guards!
Only Xiao Fu broke out in a cold sweat. Which hidden guard had acted on his own? How could he, of all people, have known nothing about it?
Cheng Yao placed a wooden spoon in the bowl and handed it to him. “Feed my husband. I’ll keep watch.”
The bailiffs glanced over from time to time. With the grass blocking their view, they couldn’t clearly see what the family was doing. If someone could shield their line of sight, it would be even better.
Xiao Fu was just about to take the bowl when he heard Zhan Haoting cough. His hand trembled, and he nearly dropped it.
“Madam, after being soaked in the rain for two days, my rheumatism has flared up. This old man’s hands are too unsteady to hold the bowl. Perhaps you could…”
Madam Zhan reached out to take it. “I’ll feed Ting’er.”
“Uncle Xiao, then keep watch for us. Mother, hurry and eat your flatbread. Don’t let the bailiffs see.”
Cheng Yao took the bowl, scooped up a spoonful of meat paste, and brought it to Zhan Haoting’s lips.
His Adam’s apple moved, but he did not open his mouth. He only looked at her, his expression complicated.
Her exquisite little face was pale, and a few strands of hair, tousled by the cold wind, clung to her cheek. Bloodshot threads veined her bright eyes. She looked haggard, frail, and heartbreakingly vulnerable.
During these days of exile, she had been able to enter “that place” to wash and eat, and thus suffered less than the others in the group. But the hardships she had endured while traveling with them through wind and rain were real enough.
Her soles, once fair and tender, were covered in blisters. They split, healed, and broke again, becoming raw and bloody countless times. That alone had been more than enough suffering.
“How come you’re not eating?” Cheng Yao’s voice was gentle, carrying a hint of coaxing. “The meat was freshly hunted, and I added some seasoning. I tasted it already. It isn’t gamey.”
Zhan Haoting’s gaze fell to her hand.
She had once possessed a pair of beautiful hands, with slender fingers as fair as snow and tender as fresh green shoots. Now, from caring for him, they had grown somewhat rough. Two cuts had appeared on the back of her left hand and across the web between her thumb and forefinger, the wounds red and inflamed. Yet she had no time to worry about them.
She was the wife he had married with a lavish dowry and a grand wedding procession. Because of him, she had now become a lowly exile with the most wretched status imaginable.
Pain stabbed through Zhan Haoting’s heart. His throat tightened, and he spoke hoarsely. “Have you eaten?”
As he spoke, he frowned. The wound in his chest pulled painfully, and cold sweat seeped across his brow.
He wanted to raise his hand and take the bowl himself, but his arm did not even have the strength to lift. He had managed to reclaim his life, yet he was still as helpless as a cripple, able to do nothing except rely on her support.
“I can eat whenever I want.” Cheng Yao moved the bowl closer to his lips.
When the meat paste slipped down his throat, its fragrance lingered between his teeth and cheeks. Warmth spread through his stomach, and his eyes grew hot.
He looked at her focused, beautiful features and suddenly felt that the pain in his chest had eased—or perhaps grown heavier.
What weighed on him was not his injury, but the depth of her devotion and refusal to abandon him.
He had once believed that the thing he should be proudest of in this life was reclaiming lost territory and guarding the borderlands.
Only now did he realize that the person he most needed to protect was the one before him.
“Yao’er…” he murmured, his voice low and hoarse. “Once we make it past this place of exile, I…”
He did not finish before Cheng Yao interrupted him.
She scooped up a second spoonful of meat paste and brought it to him. There was a hint of a smile in her eyes, along with unwavering determination.
“Let’s focus on healing your injuries first. Wherever you are, I’ll be there too.”
Zhan Haoting gazed at the tenderness in her eyes as his own gradually reddened.
When the emperor had falsely accused him, when he had been beaten to the brink of death, and when his entire family had been sentenced to exile because of him, he had not shed a tear.
But now, he suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to sob aloud.
He parted his lips, swallowing back the ache rising in his throat along with the words that remained unsaid, and took the minced meat into his mouth.
He ate very slowly, wanting to remember this moment—to carve this warmth, along with her affection, into his very bones.
“That’s a good boy.” Cheng Yao’s eyes were filled with approval.
Zhan Haoting paused, the corners of his lips curving into the faintest, almost imperceptible smile.
“Wow, you look so handsome when you smile.”
Cheng Yao tilted her head as she gazed at him, her eyes filled with adoration, glittering like countless tiny stars.
A soft chuckle escaped Zhan Haoting’s throat, clear and crisp as ice chips clinking together.
He turned his head away, refusing to look at her, but a faint blush quietly spread across the tips of his ears. His delight was impossible to hide, yet he still insisted on maintaining an air of indifference.
With that adorably awkward little expression of his, he was simply too cute.
Cheng Yao stared at his lips and secretly swallowed.
Damn, his beauty is downright seductive. I want to kiss him!
