Chapter 8: The North is in Chaos

Just as they emerged from the woods, the groups of older brothers from both families came to meet them. Yan Jinzhao glanced at the smear of oil remaining on his sixth sister’s lips, his mouth twitching a few times. Needless to say, it must have been that woman with the strange strength taking his sister out for a snack again.

Although he disliked his sister being with that woman, he also secretly blamed himself for being as weak as a chicken.

He pulled Yan Huan in front of him and roughly wiped her face with his sleeve. It looked like he was helping her wipe sweat, but in reality, he also wiped away the oil stains.

After all, they were on the road of exile, and they couldn’t be too conspicuous.

The Jiang family could hunt wild game, but other families might not have that ability. For example, their Yan family had no one who could do it.

In the past two days, some families might still have some leftover food, so eating well wasn’t too noticeable. But today, many people had started gnawing on vegetable buns. If they continued to live too comfortably, it would arouse bad intentions in others.

“Look at you, you’ve made yourself look like a painted cat.”

After wiping her face, he glanced meaningfully at Jiang Duo’er and said in a clear voice, “Don’t you learn from some people, acting crazy and not like a woman all day long.”

Jiang Duo’er knew he was subtly mocking her as soon as she heard it. She raised her eyebrows and scanned Yan Jinzhao, saying with a half-smile, “Right, you’re not crazy, you’re refined, you have a womanly demeanor, and you even have a womanly charm.”

Yan Huan didn’t know why Jiang Duo’er and her fourth brother were at odds. She quickly separated them and dragged her fourth brother towards their own family.

Mama Jiang took the vegetable basket from Yan Huan’s hand and couldn’t help but exclaim when she found a chicken under the wild vegetables.

“Miss, where did this chicken come from?”
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the chicken, and they turned to look at Yan Huan.

It had only been a few days since they set off. It wasn’t that the Yan family was particularly craving it, but who who was used to eating meat would enjoy gnawing on grass every day?

Yan Huan pointed to the Jiang family next to them and whispered, “Don’t look at me, I don’t have that ability. Duo’er caught it. Keep your voice down, or Jiang Cen will hear and start yelling at us for eating their food.”

When the Yan brothers heard that Jiang Duo’er had caught it, the expressions on their faces immediately became rich and varied.

Yan Jinzhao curled his lip, not feeling surprised at all. Not to mention a chicken, he wouldn’t even be surprised if that woman with the strange strength hunted a dragon.

He had been beaten by that crazy girl quite a few times when he was little. Thinking of this, Yan Jinzhao’s teeth itched with hatred, and even the chicken in front of him didn’t smell good anymore.

Most of the servants in the family had been dismissed, leaving only a few family-born servants selected by Mama Jiang. Even these few were only allowed to stay because someone had given face to the Yu family. The officials didn’t care about the food for these people.

Therefore, even if ordinary families had connections, few would bring servants with them at this time. On the road of exile, it was uncertain whether they could even survive themselves, and no one wanted to bring a group of people to compete for their food.

As for the inconvenience of life later, that would depend on whether they could survive first. If Yan Huan didn’t have her space, she wouldn’t have dared to keep people.

With so many people, one chicken wouldn’t give each person more than a few bites.

Those who could still stay were all loyal people. Madam Xu’s intention was to have everyone eat together, but Mama Jiang insisted on setting up two pots.

One pot was for the Yan family, used to stew chicken soup.

The other pot cooked some vegetable porridge, paired with the dry rations distributed to the Yan family by the officials, which was enough for the servants.

The aroma of the chicken soup was rich and quickly spread, but because the Jiang family also cooked chicken soup, it wasn’t too conspicuous.

The eyes of the escorting officials in the distance occasionally swept over in their direction.

Thinking that their comfortable journey so far was due to the care of these people, Yan Huan nudged Madam Xu, who was sitting beside her, with her elbow. “Mother, when the chicken soup is ready, let’s send a bowl to the officials over there.”

Madam Xu widened her eyes and said, “Why? There isn’t even enough for our own family.”

Good heavens, she was stumped by that question.

Yan Huan was momentarily speechless. Thinking that her mother had always been detached from worldly affairs and didn’t care about such things, she felt that she had been rash. She shouldn’t have bothered her mother with such mundane matters.

She turned to look at her father.

Yan Qingyi seemed to empathize with his daughter’s helplessness. Without waiting for her to ask again, he nodded and said, “You are indeed more thoughtful. You should personally deliver it later.”

This group had several hundred people, and the officials had also assigned tasks. The officials responsible for the Yan family were three in number, and these three were responsible for guarding about five or six other families, totaling around a hundred people.

When Yan Huan went over with the bowl, she also encountered Jiang Duo’er, who was also delivering soup.

Although the food for the escorting officials was better than theirs, they were still in the wilderness after all. Even with ingredients, a group of rough men couldn’t make anything delicious. This hot chicken soup was too tempting.

Seeing Yan Huan and Jiang Duo’er bringing delicious food over, the leader Zhao Song’s face lit up with a smile.

“You two little girls still have some conscience. However, you do have some skills. Among this group, I’m afraid only your Yan family and Jiang family can still eat meat.”

They had also gone into the woods to hunt, but they had returned empty-handed. Hunting wasn’t that easy.

Yan Huan smiled and said, “If it weren’t for the official’s understanding, how could we have found this living creature? How could we not understand this bit of courtesy?” If they wanted to freely leave the group to find food in the future, these few people in front of them were key. Yan Huan naturally said the nicest things. At this time, putting on airs would only be to their own detriment.

Zhao Song naturally enjoyed hearing these words, but for some reason, his face also took on a somewhat solemn expression. “However, eat more these few days while you can. If you can hunt more game, store as much as you can. I’m afraid the days ahead won’t be so comfortable.”

Hearing this, Yan Huan felt something was wrong and quickly asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Yu Song glanced meaningfully at Jiang Duo’er before slowly saying, “You noble young ladies usually don’t go out, so naturally you don’t know. The north has already fallen into chaos. Ganzhou, where we are going, is in the north. Once we leave the capital, I’m afraid the road ahead won’t be easy.”

The north is in chaos. What did that mean?

Right, wasn’t Duo’er’s eldest brother Jiang Lingqi in the north?

She glanced at Jiang Duo’er beside her and saw a hint of worry on her face, her mood also becoming somewhat heavy.

She wanted to ask the officials for more information, but Yu Song refused to reveal anything further.

The two of them bid farewell to the officials and returned to their own camp with gloomy expressions.

Upon returning home, they immediately told their father and brothers the news. Father Yan and his brothers didn’t show any surprise, presumably they had known about it for a long time but didn’t want them to worry too much, so they hadn’t mentioned it.

Previously, Yan Huan had thought that when they arrived in Ganzhou, with the help of her space, she would have a good life. But now it seemed that it might not necessarily be the case.

Ganzhou was located on the border between the Tianxin Kingdom and the northern Majin Kingdom. If the two countries really went to war, it would be impossible to be stable.

Although there was chicken soup, Yan Huan didn’t find this meal delicious at all.

As expected, the days that followed became increasingly difficult, just as the officials had said.

Within the territory of the capital, the official roads were very flat. They weren’t traveling too fast, and their food wasn’t lacking. They could grit their teeth and endure it. But once they left the capital, Yan Huan noticed that the speed of the group’s progress had clearly slowed down.