Chapter 23: Must Have Been Eaten by Wolves
Reminded by Yu Luo, Yu Haojie finally realized that they were still on the road to exile!
Indeed, they had been missing for such a long time that Wu Dahai might already be searching for them with the officers.
“Xiao Luo, once we get back up, release a wild boar. Let’s give it to the officers to improve their meals a bit. If Commander Wu asks why we were gone for so long, at least we’ll have something to report.”
Hearing this, Yu Luo raised an eyebrow, “Dad, you’re really something! Are you trying to bribe them?”
“Of course! With so many wild boars—at least twenty or thirty—I even lost count. You’ve already stored several. Giving them just one won’t hurt us. With all the supplies you’ve hoarded, we can afford to part with it. The road to exile is long; think of it as buying some peace.”
“Alright, I’ll go with what you say!”
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully completing the system task. Reward: 100 points. Current points: 400.]
Yu Luo quickly stored the wild boar carcasses on the ground and started climbing back up using the rope tied to the tree above.
Climbing up was naturally more difficult. From the tree to where Yu Luo had fallen was still quite a distance without a rope, so they had to rely entirely on arm strength and the surrounding weeds and roots.
Fortunately, Yu Haojie, the strongman, was behind her, occasionally lending a hand, which made things a lot easier for the exhausted Yu Luo.
Meanwhile, Ye Jiamai anxiously stretched her neck to look down.
Seeing the faint torchlight below, the tension she had been holding in finally broke, and tears streamed down her face!
She had been on edge the whole time, waiting for the father and daughter to come up. It was only when she was sure they were safe that she completely collapsed onto the ground.
No matter how fierce Ye Jiamai usually was, she was just a woman, especially with both her husband and daughter down the mountain. How could she not worry?
After a moment of weakness, she quickly grabbed a torch, crawled to the edge of the cliff, and reached out her arm toward Yu Luo. “Come on, let Mom pull you up.”
That single word, “Mom,” made Yu Luo’s heart warm. Just that one word showed how worried her mother must have been, to the point that she even forgot their transmigrated identities.
Finally, the father and daughter managed to climb up. Yu Luo immediately collapsed on the weed-covered ground, too tired to care about any potential dangers around her.
“My girl got some good stuff. Just now, she hunted dozens of wild boars down there, and also found a strange little creature. We’d better get back quickly, or else Wu Dahai and the others might think we ran away.”
As he spoke, Yu Haojie brought the cloth bag closer to Ye Jiamai, showing her the little creature hanging on his chest.
Ye Jiamai, still preoccupied, glanced at the thing in the bag but then quickly began examining Yu Luo for injuries.
Yu Luo did have some scratches on her hands and cheeks from branches, but compared to losing her life, they were nothing. Ye Jiamai let out a sigh of relief.
“Just now, I heard the officers calling for you from a distance. I responded, hoping they would come and help bring you two up, but it seems like they didn’t hear me. They must already be out looking for us.”
“Xiao Luo, get up. Let Mom help you. Just hang on a bit longer.”
“I’ll carry her. I still have the strength.”
With that, Yu Haojie crouched down in front of Yu Luo, ready to give her a piggyback ride.
Yu Luo had never felt so happy in her life. It was only after transmigrating that she truly began to appreciate this kind of family warmth.
In her previous life, her father was the president of the Agricultural Workers’ Association, managing multiple roles, and he even owned a construction company. Her mother was a surgeon. Their family rarely spent time together.
But this transmigration seemed to make up for all the regrets she had in the past.
“No need, I can walk.”
Even though her father was as strong as a bull, he was still flesh and blood. If she was exhausted, he must not be in much better shape.
Seeing this, the husband and wife supported Yu Luo on each side and started heading back to the camp.
Before reaching the camp, Yu Luo took out a wild boar and let Yu Haojie drag it along.
From a distance, the three of them heard the noisy commotion coming from the camp. It seemed that because they had been gone for too long, the legitimate members of the Yu family were once again complaining to the officers.
“Reporting to the commander, we searched everywhere but found no trace of them. However, we did come across several wolf carcasses. Upon inspection, those wolves seemed to have been killed not too long ago—the bodies were still warm.”
Hearing this report from afar, Yu Luo’s heart skipped a beat!
“Oh no! Those wolf carcasses are all full of crossbow bolts. Last time, when we encountered bandits, we also used crossbows. If they notice the bolts again, will they start to suspect us?”
Yu Luo was both anxious and uneasy. She didn’t want her secrets to be exposed so quickly. In this environment, the best way to survive was to keep a low profile.
“Silly girl, don’t worry. You don’t have to say a word later.”
“If that’s the case, then they must have either run away or been eaten by wolves. Commander Wu, I think you shouldn’t waste your men’s energy searching for them. In these mountains, if they tried to escape, it would only lead to a dead end.”
Old Madam Chen’s voice rang out with sarcasm. Hearing that there were wolf carcasses, she was secretly hoping that Yu Haojie’s family of three had been devoured by the wolves.
At least if the wolves were full, they wouldn’t be eyeing them at night.
She even deliberately ignored the officer’s mention of “all wolf carcasses.”
“Mother, don’t say that. If Second Brother’s family really got eaten by wolves, what good does that do for you? Save your breath.”
Yu Zhengqing, who was previously focused on court affairs and went to the battlefield with Yu Hui at seventeen, rarely dealt with family matters. When he was home, he knew that his mother and others targeted his half-brother’s family.
In the past, Yu Haojie was always timid in front of him, barely daring to breathe or look him in the eye when speaking. Such a useless younger brother naturally made Yu Zhengqing look down on him.
But now, with the fall of the Marquis’s estate, if they didn’t unite, they wouldn’t be able to survive in the barren land ahead.
Besides, Yu Haojie was no longer the same as before. His change both shocked Yu Zhengqing and made him start to value his brother’s capabilities.
“I think Grandma is right. They’ve probably been eaten by wolves. Father, you’re too biased towards them, to the point that even Grandma can’t speak the truth?”
Yu Yingying despised Yu Luo’s family from the bottom of her heart, especially after she was whipped because of them, and her two brothers were also injured. She hated that family even more.
But she would never admit that she was jealous of how much better Yu Luo’s family was doing on this journey of exile.
