After Duchess An disembarked, she crouched by the shore and began vomiting. It took quite some time after she finished before she finally recovered.
Her maid helped her slowly to her feet. Her face was deathly pale, and she looked extremely weak.
She had never traveled by boat before and suffered badly from seasickness. If not for her son’s impaired legs, which made a carriage both cramped and unbearably bumpy, they would certainly have traveled by land. The days spent on the water had been pure torture for her.
Bai Ruoshu was faring somewhat better, though her son had cried and fussed incessantly on the boat, giving her a splitting headache.
She frowned at Duchess An. “Mother, perhaps we should take the land route from here on? Your health is more important.”
Tan Chuxia shook her head. “No. Wen Liang’s legs are inconvenient. A carriage would be cramped, and the roads are too bumpy. Traveling by water is easier on him.”
Xi Daniu sat in his wheelchair with a dark expression and said nothing. Ever since his legs had been crippled, he had never looked cheerful.
He did not care much about his mother’s discomfort. All he could think about was how to get his wicked daughters to heal his legs.
Bai Ruoshu glanced at him and Duchess An, then said no more. One was her husband’s father and the other her husband; neither of them was willing to speak up, so what could a daughter-in-law do?
Besides, it was Tan Chuxia herself who had refused.
After the family disembarked, none of them looked well. Duke Anguo walked ahead with a grim expression. He had already sent his guards to gather information. Soon, they would know whether Xi Qingyue and her sister had passed through this place and when they had left.
Standing by the shore and watching the crowds go by, he felt deeply relieved. Thankfully, the Bai family had not been robbed. At a critical moment, they had proved to be a tremendous help.
Their journey south had only been possible because Bai Ruoshu’s maternal family had given them money. Otherwise, how could they have afforded such a large boat? And how could they have quickly gathered information about Xi Qingyue and her sister at every stop? All of that required money.
Not far from their boat, the Bearded Man and his companions sat on the stone steps, gazing into the distance with faces full of worry and regret.
A young man chewed idly on a willow twig. Suddenly, he turned toward the Bearded Man and could not help saying, “Boss, the Commandery Princess has already been gone for half an hour. There’s no point in sitting here. If you ask me, we should have shamelessly gone over and asked whether the Commandery Princess still needed guards. We brothers could have helped her sell things too. If we followed her and worked for her, we’d never have to worry about food or drink again.”
The Bearded Man smacked him on the head. “Dazhuang, has a donkey kicked your brains out? We nearly robbed the Commandery Princess. We’re lucky they didn’t kill us. Why would they ever hire us?”
After saying that, he sighed. Of all the robberies they could have committed, how had their one attempt ended with them targeting two Commandery Princesses?
Over the past few days, they had run into Xi Qingyue several times. Of course, those encounters had been deliberately arranged by him.
Fortunately, Xi Qingyue had merely glanced at them and walked away without pursuing the matter of their failed robbery. Unfortunately, she had not spoken to them either, much less asked them to work for her.
Dazhuang rubbed his head, looking unconvinced. “Boss, we only tried to rob them once, and we didn’t even succeed. We haven’t done any other wicked deeds. Why won’t they take us? We’re much better at selling things than those guards. The Commandery Princess stopped holding a grudge against us long ago. If she really wanted revenge, the four of us would already be dead.”
The Bearded Man sighed again. “It’s a pity they’ve already left. Even if we wanted to find them now, we couldn’t. We don’t have a boat, and we don’t have the money to pay for passage and chase after them.”
Just as the group began sighing together, one of Duke Anguo’s guards approached them with a portrait in hand.
The guard unrolled the portrait and held it out before them, asking in a condescending tone, “Have you seen these two children?”
The Bearded Man and his companions turned their heads at the same time. They first glanced at the guard, then looked at the portrait.
The moment they saw it, their hearts jolted. The two children were none other than Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan, whom they had just been discussing.
The portrait no longer showed Xi Qingyue as she had looked three years ago. Instead, it depicted her as she looked now. Eight-year-old Xi Qingyue held the hand of three-year-old Xi Weilan, and the two girls walked merrily forward with smiles on their faces. The image was remarkably lifelike.
The Bearded Man immediately became wary. He tested the guard with a question. “Do you have a grudge against them?”
The guard pointed proudly toward Duke Anguo and the others. “See those people over there? That’s our Duke. The two girls in the portrait are the daughters of Duke Anguo, and they are also Commandery Princesses personally appointed by His Majesty. Our Duke and his heir came here to find them. If you can provide information about their whereabouts, this silver will be yours.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a silver ingot and waved it before them.
The Bearded Man’s eyes lit up when he heard that they were Xi Qingyue’s family. This was exactly what they needed, delivered right to their doorstep.
He immediately smiled and nodded. “We’ve seen them. They stayed in Yongfu City for quite a while and did many good deeds for the people there. Everyone still remembers their kindness.”
The guard shoved the silver into his hand. “Take it and come with me. You can tell our Duke and the heir everything you know about them.”
The moment the Bearded Man received the silver, he tucked it into his clothing. Grinning from ear to ear, he followed the guard toward Duke Anguo.
Dazhuang scratched his head, puzzled. The Commandery Princess had already left, so why hadn’t his boss said so? Still, he kept quiet and obediently followed along with the others.
When Duke Anguo saw the guard bringing the men over, he knew the silver had done its job. Wherever they went, they could always find people willing to sell information for a little money.
“My lord, these men know something about the Commandery Princesses,” the guard reported, pointing at the Bearded Man and his companions.
The Bearded Man wore an ecstatic smile. He had come along because he now knew these men were Xi Qingyue’s family. His plan was to travel with them, find Xi Qingyue, and become her guard.
He intended to tell them that the Commandery Princesses had already left and urge them to hurry after them. That way, he could even offer to guide them.
But before he could say anything, Xi Daniu snorted coldly. “Hmph. Those two wicked girls think they’re Commandery Princesses now? They’re unfilial daughters who won’t even heal their own father’s legs.”
The Bearded Man’s words caught in his throat. He immediately understood that these people might indeed be Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan’s family, but they were not necessarily family who wished them well. Otherwise, they would not speak of them in such a tone.
Duke Anguo glared at Xi Daniu. “Wen Liang, watch your words. No matter what, they are still your daughters and Song Qian’s older sisters. With that attitude, even if you truly find them, they will never heal your legs. Be patient. Whatever you have to say can wait until after your legs are healed.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Song Qian began shouting, “I don’t want them to be my sisters! They hurt me so badly last time. I don’t want them!”
He burst into tears. Tan Chuxia and Bai Ruoshu hurriedly picked him up and carried him away, trying to soothe him.
The Bearded Man lowered his head, his eyes darting back and forth. Even the slow-witted Dazhuang sensed that something was wrong.
Duke Anguo waved a hand and had the guards push Xi Daniu away as well, leaving only himself behind to question them.
He looked sternly at the Bearded Man and the others. “Now you may speak. Tell me everything you know. I want to hear about every matter concerning the sisters during their time here.”
The Bearded Man lowered his head and acknowledged the order. Then he began recounting everything with animated gestures.
