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IWAFTIAT Chapter 48: The Prodigal Son

This group of soldiers was led by an eighth-rank lieutenant, who was about 20 years old and had two scars on his face, making him look particularly bandit-like. He blocked the road with his men and stared at the horses and donkeys of the caravan.

Qian Dongjia cursed in his heart, but he had to smile, “My lord, you have worked hard on the journey. I will give you this money to have some tea.”

The captain took the silver and felt the weight of the bag, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face. He took the token and a hint of regret flashed in his eyes, but he was unwilling to let them leave like this.

Qian Dongjia took out the token and said, “This is the token given by Guo Pingzhou. Please check it, sir.”

The captain checked the token carefully and returned it without saying a word or moving away, his eyes still fixed on the horses and donkeys. Horses were hard to find now, and he was looking for some horses to give to his superiors for promotion. The opportunity was right in front of him, and his eyes flickered.

Zhou Yu came over worriedly and noticed that the captain looked strange. His heart was in his throat and he said with a sad face: “We are lucky to meet the captain. Please help us. We were robbed and killed by the mob yesterday. Nearly a hundred people died.”

After a pause, he continued crying, “You can see the extra horses because they have no masters. We have finally found someone who can make the decision after escaping from the dangerous situation.”

Qian Dongjia reacted quickly, suppressed his frightened feelings, and quickly replied, “Sir, please help us. These horses without owners are our brothers’ hard-earned money. Please avenge us.”

The captain counted the horses, then looked at the remaining 300-odd men, and suppressed his thoughts of getting up again, cursing, “Damn the rioters, wait till I kill them.”

After cursing for a while, he said, “It’s not easy for us brothers to patrol and sleep in the open air. I won’t be polite to the boss.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers who didn’t have horses quickly went to get the horses and also took a few donkeys with them. Everyone in the caravan was furious, and some of them simply closed their eyes, thinking out of sight, out of mind.

The officers and soldiers came and went quickly, and the caravan became even more silent.

Qian Dongjia patted Zhou Yu on the shoulder and said, “Thank goodness you came.”

Zhou Yu looked at the soldiers going away and said, “Even if I hadn’t come, the boss would have given them the horses.”

Qian Dongjia sighed, “Let’s go quickly and leave Bozhou as soon as possible.”

He had aged more than ten years these days, and he would have to rest well when he returned to his family.

The caravan set off again, at a much faster speed. With so many deaths in the caravan, Qian Dongjia had no intention of finding a safe place for the ten children.

The caravan continued on its journey and finally arrived at the border of Bozhou three days later.

No one dared to block the road during these three days, as they were all frightened by the murderous aura of the caravan guards. The caravan guards took out their hatred of the rioters and directed it at the people of Bozhou as a whole, and they never let go of the knives in their hands.

The closer the caravan got to the border, the fewer civilians they saw.
Nine out of ten houses in the border villages were empty. They were afraid of being robbed by the soldiers, so they fled with their families early.

The village was full of empty houses, making it convenient for the caravan to rest. It was a rare safe environment, and the caravan could no longer bear the continuous journey and needed to rest for a day.

The Zhou family and the Wu family lived in a small courtyard. There were six rooms in the farmyard, two main rooms and two on each side.

After getting off the carriage, Yang Xi really didn’t have the energy to cook. Zhou Xiaomei made dinner. Yang Xi touched her belly and was afraid. Without the pregnancy-preserving medicine, she couldn’t endure the three days of running around.

After dinner, both families left someone to keep watch, and the rest went to sleep.

The next day, when Yang Xi got up, it was already bright. She calculated that she had slept for nearly fourteen hours!

Zhou Yu had been watching, and when he saw his wife wake up, he said, “I’ll go get the porridge.”

Yang Xi sat up against the earth wall and waited for Zhou Yu to come in and look at the rice porridge. “This is the last bit of rice!”

Zhou Yu nodded, “We can leave Bozhou tomorrow. I’ve done it all.”

Yang Xi was very hungry and couldn’t wait for the porridge to cool down completely. She drank a few mouthfuls eagerly. Fortunately, the porridge was not very hot. She drank half a bowl in one breath. After her stomach felt better, she slowed down her eating.

Yang Xi didn’t see her son and asked, “Where’s Ziheng?”

Zhou Yu, “Third Yang wanted to walk around the village, so he took Ziheng with him.”

Yang Xi, “Where’s Yan Bing?”

Zhou Yu, “Resting in the house.”

Yang Xi finished her porridge, ate half a pancake, and drank two bowls of hot water before she felt full. She got up, changed her clothes, and washed up. Then she went to the next room and saw her mother-in-law sleeping soundly. She made sure that she was fine before carefully leaving the room.

Zhou Yu had already finished washing the dishes, “Shall we go out for a walk too?”

Yang Xi didn’t really want to move but also wanted to chat with Zhou Yu, so she nodded and said, “Let’s go to the river at the entrance of the village and take a look.”

The two of them walked slowly towards the entrance of the village. The whole village was not big and was full of people from the caravan. They met several groups of guards who went up the mountain to hunt.

The two arrived at the river. Yang Xi stared at the river’s surface. She wanted to drink fish soup.

Because they were about to leave Bozhou, Yang Xi and the other people relaxed their tense nerves and became much calmer.

The two had never discussed Yan Bing, but today they had the chance. Yang Xi said, “I have been thinking about Yan Bing these days. Yan Bing hates King Jing. So the question is, if he is King Jing’s subordinate, he should understand the consequences of failure.”

Zhou Yu, “Yan Bing reacted strongly to King Jing, he has a relationship with King Jing.”

Yang Xi said leisurely: “Do you think that King Jing was really schemed by King Jiang?”

Zhou Yu also thought about it repeatedly, “You mean King Jing and King Jiang have joined forces.”

Yang Xi laughed, “So far, they have only captured the family of King Jing’s legitimate son. What about the other descendants? What about King Jing? How did King Jing escape from the capital so smoothly? If you think about it carefully, there are big problems!”

As for why the legitimate son was caught and committed suicide by taking poison, if one wanted to achieve hegemony, what does one offspring matter? Only by sacrificing the legitimate son could one explain the capital. After all, the legitimate son was different.

Although it was just her guess, Yan Bing’s existence constantly reminded her that King Jing’s rebellion was not as it seemed.

Zhou Yu’s eyes deepened, “The water here is very deep”

The couple looked at each other and stopped discussing. They just wanted to make sure Yan Bing didn’t bring any trouble to the Zhou family. They didn’t want to worry about anything else.

When the couple returned to the yard, Third Yang had already returned. Yang San said happily, “Brother, sister-in-law, I found some food.”

Zhou Yu frowned, “Have you told Qian Dongjia?”

Third Yang, “I haven’t told anyone, brother, let’s wait until tonight and move some back?”

Zhou Yu shook his head. “The food was hidden by the people. Bozhou is short of food now. The food you found was life-saving food for the people. We have enough food to leave Bozhou, but the people’s food cannot be touched.”

Third Yang didn’t want to move everything away. “I just want to bring back some fine grains. Our family needs nutrition.”

He was really worried about his sister-in-law and aunt. The rice they left behind had been cooked this morning, so he wanted to look for it everywhere.

Yang Xi smiled and said, “I know you are doing this for us. Sister-in-law thanks you.”

Third Yang felt a little embarrassed. “Then when my sister-in-law can eat meat, I will go hunting more often and we can have chicken soup for every meal.”

Zhou Yu said in a sad tone, “Your bow and arrow are broken.”

Third Yang, “.”

Ah, his bow and arrow, he wanted to cry!

Yang Xi laughed and pinched Zhou Yu’s hand. Although Third Yang called Zhou Yu brother, he actually treated her as a sister.

Zhou Yu hummed in his heart, he must raise his wife to be plump and white!

The next day, the caravan rested well, and after half a day’s journey, they arrived at the Bozhou checkpoint. As long as they passed the checkpoint, they would be completely safe.

The general guarding the border personally checked the token and confirmed that it was the Qian family. He then checked the household registration and carriage one by one.

There were ten unregistered children in the caravan. The general frowned and Qian Dongjia told him about the origins of the children.

The general was old and had children and grandchildren. He couldn’t let people without household registration leave, so he let his guards take the children back to the general’s mansion. After the investigation was clear, the ten children would stay in the general’s mansion, which was a good destination.

The ten children looked very happy, and it was obvious that they were also satisfied with the future arrangements.

The caravan left Bozhou and passed the checkpoint and the silent team, after confirming that they had arrived in Jiazhou, burst into cheers, finally safe!


T/N Sorry for not posting so long. As said before, my son’s board exam is going on and I have been busy with that. It is ending on 1st April, so expect regular updates from now on.

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