Free Web NovelChapter 21: Chapter 21: Bad Luck
Ye Lingyue woke up not long after her bleeding stopped. After a few hours passed, strangely, she was back to health.
Except for her right foot that was still a little painful, she didn’t feel any weakness at all. Her odd reaction must have something to do with Shen Wuqing’s body...
And now that the body was buried, she should be fine, right?
However, because of her strange state yesterday, Shen Jingyi forbade her from walking with others. The moment she followed her twin brother outside like a little tail, she was stuffed back into the carriage by her mother.
At this moment, she was inside the carriage when she listened to the curses of the common people.
"Is it them who plotted to kill the Grand General’s daughter?!"
"A bunch of wicked people with black hearts! How can they be so cruel?"
"The eldest son of the Ye family is delusional, thinking every noble girl in the Capital likes him!"
Ye Lingyue couldn’t help but cringed when she heard their words, especially the last one...
The feeling of being defended was indeed nice, but now that she was on the wicked people’s side, it didn’t feel great anymore.
The common people rushed over, carrying some rotten vegetables, eggs, or food and began to throw them to the exile party. The Ye family members who were walking outside were instantly smacked with some smelly rotten things.
"Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be punished!" The imperial guards shouted at the common people.
Seeing the imposing figures of the guards, the people immediately cowered, shrinking back. Some ran away as though they had done nothing.
"The Grand General’s reputation is really great," Ye Lanxi commented as he wiped the rotten vegetable stain from his face.
A moment later...
"Hiss, what is it again?!" He complained, nearly vomiting because of the smell.
Ye Lingyue could feel her twin brother nudging her. She put on an innocent look and looked away from him. Because she wasn’t allowed to walk, she dragged him inside.
No one saw her throwing that rotten vegetable to Ye Lanxi’s direction, right? Well, except for Ye Lingrui. Ye Zhiqiu was sleeping while Ye Lanxi previously had his face down.
The twins from the third branch wouldn’t tattle on her...
Even though they were from the third branch, she had just found out that these cute children were quite likable. She just gave them a few sweets in secret and they were already sticking to her. So easy to be bribed.
However, it also seemed that Pei Cuiyun didn’t care about them much.
Although the third branch had gotten their own carriage—one which they snatched from the servants—they still didn’t take these two with them.
They ended up in the second branch’s care.
Their father, Ye Yaoting, also never went to check on them.
Ye Lanxi clicked his tongue in disgust and a hint of despair. "Does this mean I have to stay with this smelly face until we find a water source?"
It wasn’t just him, almost most members of the Ye family weren’t spared from the rotten things thrown to them.
Zheng Huizhen was full of complaints, and the pair of mother and daughter from the third branch were crying.
Even the ones who luckily had avoided the rotten things still had to endure the smell because they were sticking to the carriages and ox carts.
"So smelly!" Zheng Huizhen scrunched her face in disgust, wiping her hand. She had requested the imperial guards to stop by to find a water source, but her request was denied.
She could only stomach her grievance.
After the exile party passed by the market road, a disaster suddenly happened.
Two of the imperial guards’ horses were triggered by something and went wild, nearly throwing the imperial guards off their backs.
Other imperial guards immediately went to save their companions, trying to control the horse by grabbing the reins.
They spurred their own horse to chase after the wild horses, while the few imperial guards nearby hurriedly grabbed other people from the wild horses’ way.
After a while, they could finally stop the horses. One imperial guard was thrown off the horse’s back and suffered some injuries while the other only received some scratches from colliding with tree branches.
"Commander," Lin Su called to Leng Hai, his face was filled with some kind of urgency. "How about we stop here for a while? The horses might have suffered from heatstroke."
It was noon and the sun was shining hot.
Leng Hai considered it for a while. He finally raised his hand. "Halt. We rest here temporarily."
They all pulled their carriages and carts to the side of the road so that they didn’t block the way.
Everyone was quite apprehensive after what happened. Meanwhile, some people began to speculate.
A few female servants, drenched in sweat and tired, gathered amongst themselves and started to chat with each other.
"Are we plagued with bad luck? After all, we just encountered a funeral procession yesterday..." A female servant whispered.
"Don’t jinx it!" Her friend immediately slapped her lightly. "What if your words really come true."
They all had worried look on their faces. If the servants could think that way, others naturally shared similar thoughts.
"It must have been because of the funeral procession..." Zheng Huizhen muttered anxiously. "It’s not the first time it happened that the horses suddenly went wild."
Last night, they also caught a few thieves trying to steal from their exile party. Unfortunately, some of them managed to run away.
Pei Cuiyun was crying all night, complaining something was stolen. When the imperial guard tried to confirm with her what it was, she stayed silent.
"Commander, why did we stop?" Yan Luo, one of the captains went to ask Leng Hai. He narrowed his eyes unhappily when he saw Lin Su beside the commander.
"Other horses will riot if we continue under such a hot sun," Leng Hai explained. He gave a look of approval to the few imperial guards taking care of the horses. "We need to rest for a while."
"Commander," Yan Luo called out to Leng Hai. Hesitation crossed his face. "Did you believe what they are talking about... that we are cursed?"
Leng Hai frowned. "Captain Yan, our task is to escort the Ye family to their exile destination safely. We should focus on that mission alone."
"Understand, Commander!" Yan Luo lowered his eyes, hiding the inscrutable glint in them.
The second branch also went out of the carriage for some fresh air. Ye Lanxi immediately perched on a tree with dark expression on his face.
He didn’t even mind the slightly stinging pain on his chest, desperately wanted to catch a few whiff of the air outside. Staying inside the carriage for a few days was suffocating enough.
His eyes caught the sight of Ye Lingrui teaching his twin sister to speak, and he snorted. Both of them were huddling together, writing something on the ground.
"Third Brother, I have something to ask you." Ye Lingyue muttered in a low voice that only her twin brother could hear.
This matter had been bugging her for a while.
"Did this... I mean did I know the Second Prince before?" She asked.
Out of everyone present, why did he looked straight into her instead?
