Chapter 162: Do You Regret It

Perhaps because he was young and had a good constitution, Xie Zhan’s injuries had mostly healed after about a month of recovery.

He was pondering the current situation. After all, they would be reaching Lingnan soon. The question of how the Xie and Zhao families would establish themselves after reaching Lingnan was a matter of urgency.

Thinking about these difficulties, Xie Zhan had a headache. Lingnan was too far south, the Xie family had rarely ventured into this land before, and there was no way to talk about strategy, so much so that now he found it difficult to rely on any past favors.

He heard someone approaching him, and when he looked up, he saw his wife Zhao Yutan bringing him a basin of water.

“Let me wash you?”

“Thank you, I’ll do it myself, you’re tired too.”

The words sounded like he was caring about her, but both of them knew that Xie Zhan’s words were actually very distant.

To be honest, Xie Zhan couldn’t tell what he felt about Zhao Yutan as his wife.

All the disasters they faced today stemmed from the changes in their four people’s marriages, she was the one who initially created the opportunity. Without this opportunity, he wouldn’t have followed suit and eventually broken off his engagement with Lu Songli.

Xie Zhan knew that the clan members were very dissatisfied with her, but he really didn’t have the energy to deal with it.

He wouldn’t blame her, but he didn’t really have that kind of pity for his wife.

Zhao Yutan looked at him, thinking to herself, does the mature, refined, considerate, and affectionate Zhanlang in her dreams really exist?

Because of this doubt, she blurted out a question, “Do you regret our marriage?”

Xie Zhan frowned, “Why are you asking that?”

His voice was as gentle as possible, but his heart was full of incomprehension and impatience. For something that has already been done and cannot be changed, why would you have to dwell on whether you regret it or not? Regret is the most worthless thing, it means you did something wrong.

Besides, Xie Zhan didn’t understand, didn’t she know what time it was?

The Xie and Zhao families were in such an obvious predicament, such a realistic problem, how could she ignore it? At this time, they should be pulling together, worrying about the future of both families, not worrying about their feelings.

In short, in the face of reality, who has time to worry about their emotions?

“I just want to know!” Zhao Yutan insisted.

“Then what kind of answer do you want to hear? Regret or no regret?” Xie Zhan asked her softly.

Before this question came up, he didn’t want to say regret. But now, he really had a headache. Lu Songli was still trying to bring down the Xie and Zhao families in prison. He didn’t ask her to be as powerful as Lu Songli, but at least don’t act so stupid, making him feel like he was blind back then, okay?

He really couldn’t help but feel that she might be the daughter of their Xie family’s enemy.

Zhao Yutan was speechless, she didn’t know what kind of answer she was expecting either.

The conversation eventually fizzled out.

On the other side of their campsite, two children from the Xie family were chasing and playing, they were quite young and didn’t understand anything yet. They were the kind of children who were quite mischievous and not very sensible.

The two children chased each other around, making a lot of noise.

As they ran past a certain spot, they were tripped by the young master, Zhao San, Zhao Liang, who had stuck out his foot.

The two children were startled and began to cry loudly. One of them even chipped a tooth, and blood flowed freely.

Their cries immediately attracted the attention of the adults.

Madam Luo was the first to notice, exclaiming, “Third, what are you doing?” Before anyone else could react, she pulled him away. “How did these two kids offend you? Do you know that you’re provoking a conflict between the Xie and Zhao families? Then your elder sister and brother-in-law will also have a hard time.”

The two families were exiled together, and there was a lot of friction between them, as there were only so many resources. In this situation, all the talk about standing together and supporting each other was just empty words.

Along the way, many elders and children from the Xie family had died, and now the remaining Xie children were precious. If the Xie family found out about Zhao Liang’s actions, they would definitely cause a scene.

Zhao Liang said indifferently, “These two kids are too noisy.” He had told them three times to stop running, three strikes and you’re out. Don’t blame him for being rude.

“As for my elder sister and brother-in-law, if they have a hard time, so be it. If they don’t have a hard time, it’s me who will suffer.”

Madam Luo was so angry that she slapped him twice. “If they find out later, you say you were careless, got it?!”

As dusk approached, Zhao Yutan unconsciously walked into Zhao family’s territory.

The Zhao family was having dinner at the moment. Each person had two hard, dry steamed buns. They were so hard that you could chip your teeth if you took a big bite. Each small piece needed to be chewed for a long time, and they were tasteless.

Zhao Erlang, Zhao Biao, was eating his bun when he suddenly lost his temper and threw it away. “Damn it, when will this miserable life end?!”

Zhao Dalang, Zhao Ming Lou, walked over and silently picked up the bun, stuffing it back into Zhao Biao’s hand. “Eat it, it will be better once we reach Lingnan.”

This time, Zhao Biao didn’t throw it away again. After all, if he didn’t eat, he would be starving by tonight.

When the Zhao family saw Zhao Yutan, they were also indifferent.

Madam Luo pulled her over and asked, “Have you eaten?”

Zhao Yutan hesitated for a moment, then nodded. The Xie family’s food was slightly better than the Zhao family’s. She had eaten mixed grain steamed buns for dinner.

“A Tan, why are you here?” Zhao Ming Lou asked. His sister’s state was clearly off; she was absentminded.

Actually, he didn’t want to bother with her, but the example of the fourth brother was still fresh in his mind. Zhao Ming Lou dared not ignore her.

Family and friends know you best, and their stabs hurt the most.

Zhao Yutan hesitated. She had been keeping the precognitive dreams she had been having to herself lately. She hadn’t even told her Zhao family. She wasn’t that stupid.

Every time she thought about the dream, she felt so much regret. If her family heard that Qin would eventually besiege Chang’an City and possibly seize the Song Dynasty’s throne, establishing a new dynasty, wouldn’t they go crazy?

Telling them wouldn’t benefit her at all, instead, it would only get her blamed. It was better to keep it to herself.

Zhao Wenkuan looked at her. He felt that her appearance was familiar. “Did you have another one of those precognitive dreams?” he asked.

Zhao Wenkuan thought his daughter’s dream was half true, half false, and unreliable. It felt like their Zhao family had jumped from one pit to another, only to end up with the fate of exile.

But he still asked, “Tell me, what did you dream about this time?”

The three Zhao Minglou brothers already knew that their sister, back then, had orchestrated everything—the annulment of the engagement with the Qin family and her marriage to Xie Zhan—all because of a prophetic dream. In that dream, the Qin family was exiled for their crimes, while the Xie family survived through two dynasties without falling.

But now it seemed that the dream wasn’t entirely accurate.

Zhao Yutan bit her lip, still not speaking.

The Zhao family members could see she was struggling, and they couldn’t help but think, if she was hesitating so much, could it be a bad dream?

“Go ahead and tell us,” Zhao Minglou was the first to urge. “If you say it, at least we’ll have some way to prepare.”

Even though they didn’t know what had gone wrong to cause both the Xie family and their Zhao family to be exiled, her prophetic dream still held some reference value.

“Our family is already in this situation, and you still want to keep it a secret?”

“If you don’t say anything, we won’t be able to prepare, and our entire family will be caught off guard. If what you dreamt comes true, the Zhao family will be in a dire situation.”

“Just say it. It can’t be worse than what you’ve dreamed.”

Facing her family’s relentless questioning, Zhao Yutan finally spoke up, “I dreamt that the Qin family rebelled. Qin Sheng became a revered young general, and Qin Heng marched westward, eventually bringing his troops to the gates of Chang’an.”

“What?!”

Before Zhao Yutan could finish, her words were interrupted by the shocked and furious outcries of the Zhao family men.