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Wei Yunlan paused for a moment. Following Bai Si’s gaze, she saw the rabbit standing a foot away from her, staring intently with its two front paws raised.
This rabbit… It seems completely unafraid of her?
Wei Yunlan felt a vague unease rise in her heart. Before she could examine it further, a stone flying from behind startled the wild rabbit, causing it to flee.
Wei Mingxuan and Wang Gui ran over. “What a pity, we didn’t catch it again!”
“Then let it go. You two arrived just in time; help dig up these wild vegetables.” With two more pairs of hands, it didn’t take long for Wei Yunlan’s bamboo basket to be filled again.
This time, she divided half of it and gave it to Bai Si, who didn’t refuse.
The remaining half, Wei Yunlan, took back to her home. She combined it with the vegetables from the earlier basket that were left over for soup, and with the mule cart’s cover, she secretly tucked a small portion into her space.
She had the distinct feeling that the items previously placed along the edge of the space seemed to have moved slightly toward the center.
Of course, it could also be that in the past couple of days, she had been taking things out of it, creating more empty space, which gave her that illusion.
“Lan’er, come drink a bowl of hot soup!”
Hearing Madam Gao’s call, Wei Yunlan pushed aside the odd feeling in her heart and quickly walked over.
The group had a short rest at midday. After the sun reached its peak, the officer in charge announced it was time to set off.
The journey was headed north, and the weather should have been cooling down, but these past few days had been dry and scorching. The ground felt like an oven, and not long into the journey, everyone began to sweat profusely.
At that moment, Wei Yunlan was very glad she had bought a few bottles of topical ointment from the old doctor. The ointment was cool and refreshing; when applied to the skin, it not only relieved fatigue but also had a magical effect in cooling down the body.
Wei Maolin and Madam Gao were both born and raised in the capital, and Wei Yunlan had never left the capital either. However, her companion Suihe had come to the capital with her family many years ago, fleeing from the north. Her family had originally been from Suizhou, located to the northwest of Liangzhou.
“The servant remembers that in previous years, by this time, we should have already put away the summer shirts and switched to the small coats. This year is truly unusual,” Madam Gao said with a sigh.
Wei Yunlan, hearing this, couldn’t help but feel a little surprised. Her mother had hit the mark!
She remembered that in her past life, it was around this time when the poor harvest and increased taxes caused a large number of displaced refugees to appear in places like Suizhou and Hanzhou. Her younger brother got separated from the family during the journey of exile, and they never heard from him again, all because they encountered a group of refugees.
This time, the route for exile had not changed, and, barring any unforeseen events, the group would still encounter that same band of refugees.
She would need to make plans early!
As the sun began to set, they still had quite a distance to cover before reaching the next inn.
Noticing the rising smoke from a nearby village, the officer sent two of his subordinates to investigate. Soon after, it was decided that they would rest for the night in the nearby Liwang Village.
When the group reached the village entrance, they were met by a group of elderly farmers holding hoes, their faces full of wariness.
Only when the officer presented the official documents and orders to the village head did the villagers slowly disperse. However, they continued to glance over their shoulders from time to time, their eyes still filled with caution.
The officer and his subordinates temporarily stayed at the village head’s house, while the rest of the group could either pay a small sum to stay in the villagers’ homes or camp in the wasteland behind the village head’s house. The officer didn’t mind as long as they stayed near the village entrance.
The Wei family spent twenty copper coins to rent a place in a home at the far end of the village, where only a widowed mother and her three young children lived.
The house was not small, with many vacant rooms, clearly showing signs of having been in better condition in the past.
“Sister-in-law Li said that at first, the villagers thought we were here to recruit labor, which is why they were so wary,” Tingxue remarked while she boiled several pots of hot water in the kitchen, picking up a lot of information from the widow in the process.
Liwang Village had been formed by the merging of two large families, and nearly every household either bore the surname Wang or Li. Sister-in-law Li’s husband was the only carpenter in the village, and her brother-in-law, who had considerable strength, could handle the work of two men, which meant that despite the early death of her parents-in-law, their family had fared relatively well.
Unfortunately, last year, the family had been conscripted twice for labor, and both her husband and brother-in-law were called away. With young children at home, all the work fell on her shoulders. Soon after, news arrived that her husband had died, and the government hadn’t even sent the promised compensation, leading to the family’s decline.
“Miss, when we were at the village entrance, all the farmers holding hoes were elderly. That’s because most of the younger, stronger villagers were conscripted,” Tingxue added.
“That’s reckless!” Wei Maolin exclaimed angrily, slapping his thigh and wincing at the pain in his neck. He hissed as he inhaled sharply.
Madam Gao quickly pressed him back into his seat, “Calm down. Hurry and apply the medicine to your wound so it can heal. Otherwise, if you keep straining it on the road tomorrow, you’ll regret it later!”
Though Wei Maolin stopped moving, his mouth continued to run.
“It’s already a bad year, and now they’re conscripting the young and strong. Who will farm the remaining land?” Wei Maolin lamented. “Ah, the Emperor is really foolish!”
Madam Gao subconsciously glanced toward the door. Seeing only her family members in the yard, she let out a quiet sigh of relief. However, she still shot a pointed look at her husband.
“You should say less. If it weren’t for your mouth causing trouble, would our family be in this situation?”
Although Madam Gao spoke harshly, she didn’t truly blame her husband. After instructing Tingxue to close the door, she sighed softly. “There are many things the Emperor has done wrong, not just this. If only the late Emperor had directly passed the throne to the Crown Prince.”
This was a far bolder statement than anything Wei Maolin had said.
“Wife, you’re the one telling me to say less…” Wei Maolin’s words hung in the air, her tone sharp.
“Don’t you think the same?” Madam Gao countered, effectively silencing Wei Maolin.
The “Crown Prince” Madam Gao referred to was the current heir.
The late Emperor had been a wise ruler, reigning for over forty years. He had driven out the northern barbarians, pacified the western regions, and expanded trade in the south, ensuring prosperity and peace for his people. The Crown Prince, who had been raised personally by the Emperor since the age of two, was talented both in literature and martial arts. As a young boy, he was already capable of giving insightful political opinions in the court.
In contrast, the current Emperor appeared to fall short by comparison.
Had the late Emperor not passed away so suddenly, and the Crown Prince not been so young, the current Emperor might never have ascended to the throne.
“Grandfather once predicted that the Crown Prince is destined to be a star of great fortune, the Ziwei Star. As long as the Crown Prince reigns, the dayong dynasty could prosper for another hundred years,” Madam Gao said, recalling the prophecy.
Wei Yunlan knew that her great-grandfather, a famous diviner during the reign of the late Emperor, was renowned for his ability to read the heavens and observe the stars. Despite his great powers, he never sought immortality or divine wisdom, but he did predict calamities with great accuracy, earning the late Emperor’s trust. After the Emperor’s sudden death and the ascension of the current Emperor, her great-grandfather passed away, leaving only her mother, an outsider by marriage, behind. The diviner’s house was rarely mentioned in the capital anymore.
From a young age, Wei Yunlan had heard many stories about her great-grandfather from her mother and knew that he was indeed a person of great ability.
However, she doubted even her great-grandfather could have predicted that the Ziwei Star would fall so unexpectedly early.