Chapter 69 – With That Tigress Jiang Wan Around, Would You Dare?

“Even though there’s no issue right now, your body is just too weak.”

As Jiang Wan said this, she couldn’t help glancing at Chen Ce, then added, “She hasn’t stabilized her pregnancy yet. It’s really not suitable for her to travel so intensively.”

But they were exiles—no one had a say in their fate.

Upon hearing this, Chen Ce’s face turned grim. His five fingers clenched tighter around the handcart, and his appearance was rather intimidating.

Madam Chen’s eyes were filled with sorrow. “Thank you, Madam Song. My child is strong. She will definitely hold on.”

She was afraid that if she spoke too late, her husband would give up on the baby again.

“Madam Song.”

Chen Ce pondered for a few seconds, then looked pleadingly at Song Jiuyuan. “My wife is weak. Can she ride in your cart with our Wenhao?”

After speaking, he feared Jiang Wan would get upset and quickly added, “Don’t worry—I’ll take over pulling the cart from now on. I can handle it!”

His wife was stubborn, and he had no other choice. Though he had strength, he couldn’t carry both his wife and child at the same time.

After all, Wenhao was still so young. There’s no way he could walk that far.

Song Jiuyuan didn’t respond immediately. His gaze shifted to Jiang Wan to seek her opinion.

Now, Jiang Wan was the one making decisions in their household—plus, she was the one who had bought the cart from a fellow townsman.

“I don’t mind. What do you think, Jiuchi?”

Jiang Wan did want to help the Chen family, but she also respected Song Jiuchi’s opinion.

After all, he was the one pushing the cart every day. Adding two more people would obviously increase the load.

Seeing the hesitation on Song Jiuchi’s face, Chen Ce quickly said, “Brother, don’t worry. I’ll be the one pushing the cart from now on.

You just switch with me from time to time, how about that?”

Mainly, he didn’t have any money to buy a cart. Even if he did, he had no ties with the officials.

Those people might turn a blind eye for Jiang Wan, but they might not do the same for his family.

Chen Ce understood this very well, so this was his last resort.

“Alright then.”

Song Jiuchi softened when he met the pure, pleading gaze of little Chen Wenhao and agreed.

“Thank you! Thank you both!”

Madam Chen wiped her tears, gratefully saying, “Our Chen family will never forget your great kindness!”

“No need to be so polite.”

Jiang Wan smiled. “But let me say this upfront—you’ll have to handle your own food supply, okay?”

“Of course! I’ll go find food myself!”

Chen Ce responded hurriedly. These people were kind, but he knew not to overstep.

This harmonious scene didn’t go unnoticed by the Song family not far away. Third Madam Song couldn’t help but sneer.

“Second Sister-in-law, look how good they are to outsiders. And our mother’s in that condition—she hasn’t even touched the cart.”

Since her husband passed away, Third Madam Song had grown increasingly bitter in speech.

Second Madam Song glanced at the always-whining, “I’m-in-pain” Old Second Song, then at the bound and gagged Old Madam, and said with sorrow:

“How did our days end up like this…”

“Don’t you want that cart too?”

Third Madam Song coaxed, “Yang’er can’t walk anymore. Wouldn’t it be great if Mom and Yang’er could ride the cart?”

Upon hearing that, Song Yang immediately began whining, “I want to ride the cart! Mom, I want to ride the cart!”

“Keep your voice down!”

Third Madam Song quickly covered his mouth, terrified that Jiang Wan’s group might overhear.

“Who wouldn’t want to ride?”

Second Madam Song rolled her eyes. “But with that tigress Jiang Wan around, would you dare?

If you dare, then go ahead. But I’m not messing with her anymore.”

That single sentence made Third Madam Song recall the scene of being beaten by Jiang Wan. Her front tooth still whistled when she spoke.

She instantly sobered up and smacked Song Yang on the head.

“What are you yelling about? Your mom’s useless. She couldn’t get the cart, so you’ll just have to keep walking.”

“But Mom—waaah…”

Song Yang burst into tears. Just then, a fierce-looking official appeared in front of him, scaring him into silence.

Jiang Wan naturally heard their muttering, but since they didn’t come start trouble directly, she couldn’t be bothered to care. Her gaze fell on Song Jiuyuan.

He was sitting on the cart with his eyes closed, but he wasn’t asleep. Jiang Wan could sense a faint flow of internal energy around them.

Seems like this guy wasn’t following her orders and was trying to secretly circulate his energy to recover.

“Song Jiuyuan, if you want to recover sooner, then listen to me.”

Jiang Wan walked to the side of the cart and looked at Song Jiuyuan deeply. He suddenly opened his eyes, wearing a caught-red-handed expression.

“I… just wanted to try.”

His expression was awkward. Damn, he actually felt a bit scared of her.

“If you mess around, I won’t help you anymore.”

Jiang Wan snorted lightly. “I hate disobedient patients the most.”

As she said this, her indifferent gaze swept toward the carriage behind them. Lin Tingyu happened to hear that line.

So… she hated him?

Lin Tingyu’s fingers, resting on his knee, trembled slightly. His heart ached. He only wanted to escort them a bit further, that’s all.

Song Jiuyuan heard her words and his lips curled slightly. “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

“Remember to take your medicine on time.”

Jiang Wan instructed him sternly, then walked over to gather some mushrooms nearby.

“Big Sister-in-law, are these mushrooms poisonous?”

After the last incident where the Song family was tormented by poisonous mushrooms, Song Jiuli had become much more cautious.

She glanced at the golden chanterelles in Jiang Wan’s hand, and her eyes curved into a smile.

“Not only are they edible, they’re delicious.”

“Mom, I want to pick mushrooms too.”

Little Chen Wenhao quietly said to Madam Chen, his eyes full of envy as he looked at Jiang Wan and Song Jiuli.

“Silly child, you don’t even recognize mushrooms.”

Madam Chen patted his little head. Besides, those were found by Madam Song and Miss Song. How could they just take them?

“Wenhao, come here.”

Jiang Wan smiled and lifted him off the cart. “You can pick some too. Li’er and I can’t gather them all. Otherwise, we’ll fall behind.”

“Thank you, Auntie!”

Excited, Chen Wenhao gathered a dozen or so mushrooms in his shirt. From inside the carriage, Lin Tingyu watched this scene and couldn’t help but smile faintly.

His gentle smile happened to catch Hua Xiao’s eyes, making her yank the reins in anger.

It’s just a few mushrooms!

What’s he smiling so happily for?

“Big Sister-in-law, hurry. We’re about to fall behind.”

Song Jiuli reminded her, quickly placing the mushrooms in her basket and jogging ahead.

Jiang Wan scooped up Chen Wenhao with one hand and grabbed the basket with the other, then rushed to catch up. After placing Chen Wenhao back in the cart, she panted and said to Song Jiuli:

“That’s enough for lunch. Let’s take a break from foraging.”

“Okay.”

Song Jiuli obeyed, cheerfully helping Old Madam Song along. As they walked, Jiang Wan noticed a crowd gathered up ahead.

The group seemed to be wearing uniforms from a certain noble household. They were a bit far, so Jiang Wan couldn’t see what was happening clearly.

She figured that cautious old fox Ren Bang would probably avoid the group.

To her surprise, he didn’t. It looked like he knew those people and was chatting with them.

Everyone stopped to rest. Jiang Wan, who had sharp hearing, seemed to catch someone asking Ren Bang:

“Is there a doctor in your group?”