Chapter 23: Are You Still Eyeing My Husband?

Madam Song glared angrily at Second Madam Song. “There’s nothing going on. Wanwan is just tired.”

“Big sister-in-law, why are you so angry?”

Second Madam Song had a smug expression, as if she’d finally caught Jiang Wan in a scandal. “I’m just kindly reminding you all for your own good.”

“Exactly. This exile is no small matter. What if she loses the child? That would be terrible.”

Third Madam Song added mockingly. She’d been beaten badly by Jiang Wan not long ago, and now when she spoke, her front teeth still whistled from the gap.

Jiang Wan: “…”

She was a proper, unmarried young lady, yet now she was being accused of being pregnant?

Completely speechless!

“If you keep spouting nonsense, I’ll tear your mouth apart!”

Madam Song’s tone became stern. Although they were now exiles, the reputation of her son and daughter-in-law was not to be slandered.

“Only Jiang Wan knows if it’s nonsense or not.”

Shen Qian deliberately tried to provoke Jiang Wan. Last time, Ren Bang said it was self-defense. But if Jiang Wan struck first this time…

Let’s see if he’ll still take her side!

As soon as those words left her mouth, everyone turned to look at Jiang Wan—even Song Jiuchi and Song Jiuli had suspicion in their eyes.

They had only spent a few days with Jiang Wan. Though they knew she’d changed for the better, a pregnancy would have happened before that.

Who could say…

Jiang Wan didn’t care about their attitudes. She simply glanced at Song Jiuyuan. His expression was calm and unreadable.

“You know better than I do whether I’m pregnant? Were you crouching by the wall before or something?”

Jiang Wan rolled her eyes beautifully, and her words instantly made Shen Qian’s face turn pale with rage.

“You’re the one with no morals. Why drag me into this?”

“Who said I don’t have morals?”

Jiang Wan snorted. With a light flick of her sleeve, she revealed the bright red “virgin’s mark” on her wrist.

No one knew this, but although the original Jiang Wan had been rebellious and even drugged Song Jiuyuan once, she was still a clean and untouched maiden to this day.

Everyone’s eyes widened, staring in shock at the red mark on Jiang Wan’s wrist. That red dot looked especially seductive and glaring.

It made Shen Qian’s eyes sting. She muttered, “Im… impossible…”

With Jiang Wan’s unruly behavior, constantly flirting with Song Jiuyuan before they married, how could she still be a virgin?

“What’s so impossible about it?”

Jiang Wan tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and said calmly, without blushing, “Unlike you all, I actually had a peaceful wedding night.

My husband was summoned to the palace in the middle of the night. We didn’t even have time for a wedding chamber. What’s so strange about that?”

This was the kind of topic women usually found hard to speak about, but Jiang Wan addressed it openly and confidently. It made Song Jiuyuan feel a little embarrassed.

A blush quietly crept up the tips of his ears, though Jiang Wan didn’t notice—she was too focused on rebutting Shen Qian.

“You care so much about us. Don’t tell me… you’re still eyeing my husband?”

Everyone knew Shen Qian used to like Song Jiuyuan. Song Chen’s gaze immediately turned cold as he looked at her.

“I…”

Shen Qian was thrown off by Jiang Wan’s words. Her eyes flickered with guilt, and before she could say more, Second Madam Song slapped her hard across the face.

“Useless troublemaker!”

She’d embarrassed them again. Now that Shen Qian had no money, the Song family’s attitude toward her had changed.

And yet she still jumped in to cause trouble and shame Song Chen. No wonder she was getting slapped.

Shen Qian’s head buzzed from the blow. She wanted to turn to Song Chen for help, but he was already disgusted with her and was now holding Concubine Duan’s hand, gently asking after her well-being.

Suddenly, Shen Qian felt cold to her core. Despite the blazing summer heat, she felt chilled from her scalp to her toes.

Jiang Wan coldly watched Shen Qian get scolded and quietly took out a heatstroke medicine pill from her space. When no one was looking, she swallowed it.

Heatstroke wasn’t a serious illness, just an uncomfortable one. She wanted to recover quickly.

Luckily, the pill was effective. After about half an hour, Jiang Wan’s dizziness subsided, and she no longer felt weak or unsteady.

She even started to feel a bit hungry. Falling to the back of the group, she discreetly took out some pastries she had saved from the imperial kitchen.

She had to admit, the royal chef’s skills were excellent. The taste was amazing. Jiang Wan regretted not having grabbed a few more dishes.

Due to the heatstroke, when she saw some huòxiāng (patchouli) by the roadside, she picked some and stuffed it into her basket.

Song Jiuli didn’t understand anything, but whatever Jiang Wan picked, she picked too. This time, Shen Qian didn’t dare imitate Jiang Wan, afraid she’d get tricked.

After all, she didn’t know which herbs were edible and which weren’t. Better to pretend she saw nothing.

They were walking a mountain path today, and it was uphill. There were no other travelers—just their group.

These pampered people couldn’t handle such intense marching. At this point, everyone was silently enduring with clenched teeth.

“Mother!”

Song Jiuli supported the staggering Madam Song. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her legs were trembling.

“Mother, are you okay?”

Song Jiuchi also rushed over. Madam Song’s face looked terrible, and her head was spinning.

Not only her—several people in the group looked unwell. Jiang Wan placed her fingers on Madam Song’s wrist, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“Everyone wait!”

She jogged ahead, checking people’s expressions as she went, and caught up to Ren Bang.

“Sir, everyone looks unwell. I think the heat is making them sick.

Why not let us stop and rest a bit? I can make something cooling for everyone to drink. That way we might travel faster.”

Of course, her main goal was to let Madam Song rest. She seemed to have a more serious case of heatstroke.

Jiang Wan also noticed a child from the Chen family was sweating heavily while being held. He probably had a fever.

She had already taken some of the Chen family’s supplies—helping them a little more wasn’t a big deal.

As for the medicine pills from her space, she had no intention of using them here. There were too many people, and she didn’t want to invite trouble.

Ren Bang looked back. Everyone did look pale and worn out. Because Jiang Wan dared to speak up, many now looked at her with gratitude.

Not just the exiles—some of the officers didn’t look good either. Especially old Zhang, who was getting on in years—his lips were already cracking.

“We’ll rest here!”

Ren Bang finally made a decision. If everyone fell ill, the delay would be even worse.

So he accepted Jiang Wan’s suggestion and even gave her the official pot and stove to use.

Jiang Wan had picked a lot of patchouli. She planned to boil it and give everyone a bowl. It would help.

“Sister Jiang, I’ll wash them.”

Young Deng volunteered to rinse the herbs, while the pale-faced Old Zhang brought over firewood to start the fire. With a few free moments, Jiang Wan said to Ren Bang:

“Sir, my mother-in-law is about to faint. Can I take her behind that big tree to rest? I want to give her a scraping treatment.”

When heatstroke is severe, scraping therapy works quickly. Since they were in exile, Jiang Wan worried Madam Song wouldn’t hold up much longer.