Chapter 29: You Have Thirty-Six Stratagems? I Counter Every Move!

Sheng Nanxi glanced sideways and saw Sheng Dehai, disheveled and covered in filth, shouting at the top of his lungs.

Sheng Dehai’s face was flushed red. Everything that had happened since last night had nearly driven him to his breaking point.

First, some unknown scoundrel robbed him clean and even doused him in slop water.

He had planned to finish the task assigned by the Imperial Uncle as soon as possible and then find a place to wash up.

Who would have thought that not only would he fail the mission, but he would also be sentenced to exile? After a thorough body search, he was stripped of his belongings, dressed in prison garb, and sent on his way.

Now, he was sticky, stinking, and miserable. The slop water that hadn’t dried had turned into frozen shards in his messy hair due to the cold wind.

He was cold, exhausted, and starving.

What infuriated him even more was that the main branch of the Sheng family, the very people responsible for his exile, were receiving preferential treatment from the guards along the journey, enjoying every advantage.

As the old saying goes, people don’t fear having little, but they fear inequality.

While Sheng Dehai shivered in the wind, gnawing on a rock-hard black bun, he saw the main branch warming themselves by the fire, eating large, soft white buns.

The resentment and indignation that had been building up inside him finally exploded, completely erasing his last shred of reason. He immediately started shouting, demanding that the guards treat them the same as the main branch.

When he saw that the guards were too busy eating their rations to pay him any mind, he turned his ire toward the main branch, berating them for their heartlessness.

“Li Zhenyi! The Sheng family hasn’t officially split yet! How could you treat our second branch like this?! Do you really have the heart to let us freeze out here?!”

“They say the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother! Is this how you act as one?! Hogging the warmest spot while feasting, and leaving us out here to starve and freeze?!”

“……”

“Sheng Yichen! You little bastard! Your bundle is full of food, yet you only feed that wretched girl, Sheng Nanxi! What about your elders?!”

“She’s just a little girl, she doesn’t need food to keep up with the journey! Give her a few sips of soup—just enough to keep her from starving! Does she really need to eat such good food?! Hurry up and share your rations with us, unless you want others to call you an unfilial, heartless wretch!”

“……”

Sheng Dehai kept ranting and raving, thinking he could pressure the main branch into handing over some food.

However, the main branch had long seen through his schemes and completely ignored him.

But the old scoundrel only became more aggressive, eventually resorting to cursing Sheng Nanxi outright.

At that moment, the entire main branch was enraged. Sheng Yichen rolled up his sleeves, ready to “reason” with him with his fists.

But someone was even faster!

“Crack—!”

A crisp whip crack echoed through the valley.

Immediately after, the furious voice of Vice Guard Captain Liu Tang rang out:

“You damn old coot! We were ignoring you out of laziness, but you just won’t shut up! In this exile convoy, we decide who gets special treatment! Who do you think you are to boss us around?!”

“Crack—Crack—Crack—!”

Liu Tang, clearly enraged, lashed Sheng Dehai several more times.

“And you have the nerve to call the main branch unfilial and unjust?!”

“I heard everything! You’ve been cursing them the entire way!”

“Slandering the Third Young Master, blaming him for your exile—wishing death upon the main branch as if it’s your right—”

“They haven’t dealt with you yet, and that’s their kindness! If I were them, I’d have beaten you long ago! And you still expect them to share food with you?!”

“Crack—Crack—Crack—!”

Liu Tang, full of righteous fury, struck even harder with each lash.

“Wuu wuu… Officer… Officer, I was wrong… Please, have mercy… I won’t do it again…!”

Each strike of the barbed whip tore through flesh, sending blood flying.

Sheng Dehai’s old wounds hadn’t even scabbed over before new ones were carved into his flesh.

The unbearable pain made him clutch his head, wailing and scrambling to dodge the blows.

Liu Tang sneered coldly, but instead of stopping, he put even more force into his strikes.

“Oh? Now you know you were wrong? Too late!”

“In our exile convoy, the rule is clear: Disrupt the order, get twenty lashes! Don’t want to be beaten? Pay up!”

“Wuuu… wuuu…!”

Sheng Dehai had already been robbed clean before the exile. Where would he find money now?!

All he could do was beg for mercy while desperately twisting his body to dodge.

But Liu Tang’s whip seemed to have eyes. No matter how Sheng Dehai dodged, every strike landed squarely on him.

His screams echoed through the air, filled with agony.

Yet, his dozen concubines all acted like this had nothing to do with them.

They had only ever followed Sheng Dehai for personal gain. Now that they knew he was useless, each one was scheming for their own survival. Even those who had hidden some private money refused to spend a single coin to save him.

Zhang Shi, his legal wife, sat even farther away.

Ever since she was caught in an affair last night and was supposed to be divorced and sent home, she had thought her life had already hit rock bottom.

But after the exile sentence, Sheng Dehai claimed that divorcing her would be letting her off too easily and refused to let her go. Because of him, she was forced to follow this family into exile!

Now that Sheng Dehai had also discovered that her two sons and daughter were not his biological children, he had completely turned his back on them.

Zhang Shi couldn’t be bothered to waste her breath. She simply took her children and sat far away from the rest of the second branch.

At this moment, watching Sheng Dehai being beaten, she felt immense satisfaction. Why would she care whether he lived or died?!

“Crack—Crack—Crack—!”

“Aiyoo! Officer, please… please… wuuu…!”

Knowing Sheng Dehai had no money to pay, Liu Tang showed no mercy and delivered a full twenty lashes before finally stopping and returning to where the other guards rested.

Sheng Dehai was left lying half-dead in the snow, covered in blood.

Seeing this accomplice in their family’s exile get what he deserved, Sheng Nanxi felt a deep sense of satisfaction. However, she couldn’t help but furrow her delicate brows.

According to the original plot, the lead guard of the exile convoy, Leng Feihu, was a relatively upright man. From start to finish, he had never made things difficult for the main Sheng family branch.

But this Liu Tang… he was a variable that only appeared after she altered the course of events.

Although he had provided the main branch with several benefits along the journey, something about it all felt off to Sheng Nanxi.

Take this incident with her second uncle, for example.

While the trouble seemed to have died down, the other exiles were now looking at the main branch with jealousy and resentment.

Liu Tang’s actions didn’t seem like he was truly helping them. Instead, it felt like he was putting them on a pedestal—drawing attention, envy, and eventually, hostility from everyone around them.

He was setting them up to be hated by all the exiles.

If things escalated, the entire exile convoy could turn against them!

Then another question arose: Sheng Dehai was obviously a pawn of the Imperial Uncle.

It was obvious even without thinking—sending the second branch into exile wasn’t just a punishment for his failure but also a way to keep tabs on the main branch.

Yet Liu Tang was clearly not working with Sheng Dehai.

That meant that aside from the Imperial Uncle and the young emperor, there was another force at play—someone had embedded an agent in the exile convoy to ensure the destruction of the Sheng family’s main branch!

Sheng Nanxi’s little brain worked frantically, but she couldn’t figure it out just yet.

At that moment, Liu Tang’s voice suddenly rang out above her, with a tone that was almost ingratiating:

“Old Madam, Madam, Young Masters, I’ve always admired the great Qin King’s name, so I just can’t help but lend you all a hand.”

“You’ve all been traveling for so long. The further north we go, the heavier the snow will be, and it will become even harder to walk—especially since you have to push a wheelchair.”

“As it happens, we have a donkey cart with some space left. When we continue on, why don’t you take turns riding it to rest for a while?”

As Liu Tang approached with a familiar ease, he reached out, seemingly intending to help carry their luggage.

Sheng Nanxi’s small hands clenched tightly, and her heart suddenly tensed.