Chapter 73: Arriving at Jiuzhong Mountain
“Keep your voice down, don’t let them hear us. We need to make sure she suffers in silence. Let’s see how long old hag Chen’s mouth can stay tough. A few more times, and she’ll definitely spill the beans about my biological grandmother.”
“Yu Luo, you’re so cruel! You actually took advantage of the chaos to shoot at Grandmother!”
Before anyone else could realize who was behind the attack, Yu Meiyao’s voice rang out among the group of frightened prisoners.
Yu Luo quickly stashed the crossbow into the system, pretending to hide it inside her clothes.
“I was dealing with the bandits. How would I have the time to go after your grandmother for revenge? She must have panicked and run into one of my arrows herself. Stop throwing accusations around without proof.”
Yu Luo made no effort to conceal her hatred for Old Madam Chen, but admitting she had done it on purpose was out of the question!
Though she wouldn’t mind going head-to-head with them, Yu Haojie and his sons were still needed at the front line. If they ran into skilled bandits, they might actually need their help.
More importantly, whether or not the court would overturn the verdict depended on Yu Zhengqing. It was a matter of their freedom, so there was no point in blowing things out of proportion unnecessarily.
Seeing Yu Luo refusing to admit it, Yu Meiyao glared at her hatefully before rushing to support Old Madam Chen.
“Did you really not do it on purpose?”
Yu Zhengqing approached with his two sons, his expression dark and unreadable. The eyes of his brothers behind him were practically shooting daggers, as if they wanted to beat Yu Luo to a pulp right then and there.
Ever since their exile, Yu Luo’s family had become cold and indifferent. They admitted that they hadn’t treated them well before, so they accepted it.
But if Yu Luo had really shot at Old Madam Chen on purpose, then things would be serious!
“What do you think? My aim is pretty accurate, you know. If I really wanted Old Madam Chen dead, she’d be lying among those bandits as a corpse by now. What’s there to doubt?”
Yu Luo’s calm and reasonable response, paired with her open and direct gaze, made even Yu Xiaoran and Yu Xiaoxuan slowly ease up on their hostility.
Yu Zhengqing nodded. “I believe you’re not that vicious. After all, she’s your elder…”
“Stop, stop, stop! Don’t keep calling her my elder, okay? If you’re talking about Old Man Yu, I’ll admit there’s some blood relation there. But as for Old Madam Chen, I don’t acknowledge her at all. She’s your mother, your grandmother. You go ahead and honor and respect her all you want, but don’t try to guilt-trip me or my parents. By the way, you’re supposed to be acting as the head of the guards now, right? Shouldn’t you be dealing with those bandit corpses, or checking if they have any supplies on them? A few of them got away just now. Aren’t you worried they’ll bring back reinforcements to surround us and avenge their fallen brothers?”
Watching Yu Luo’s sharp tongue move without pause, leaving him no room to retort, Yu Zhengqing was at a rare loss for words.
“You guys, come with me. Anyone who needs warmer clothes, come help strip them off the bandits. You’ve got no more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. We need to move quickly before the remaining bandits return with reinforcements!”
At Yu Zhengqing’s command, the Bai family, Zhang family, and Liu family immediately sprang into action. They couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity to gather supplies.
Unlike the Yu family, who still had wealthy relatives despite their downfall, the other families had no one to rely on. Most of their kin were exiled alongside them, and any distant relatives wouldn’t dare send them a single coin.
So when Yu Zhengqing gave the order, Bai You, Zhang Yuan, and Liu Wenzhe—despite their former statuses as governor, general, and magistrate—led their families to scavenge the bandits’ corpses for anything useful.
If they could find even a few taels of silver, they might be able to buy some provisions along the way, or else they risked freezing or starving to death even if they reached the frontier.
The tea-time passed quickly. Yu Zhengqing’s attempt to pin blame on Yu Luo had failed, so the rest of the Yu family’s legitimate children also gave up on wasting time.
Yu Xiaoran swiftly pulled out the arrow from Old Madam Chen’s arm and bandaged her up before they continued on their way.
Knowing Old Madam Chen would slow them down, Yu Luo had aimed for her arm instead of a fatal spot. Otherwise, someone would have to carry her, leaving them with one less person to protect the group.
Old Madam Chen wailed about the pain the entire way, but with no one to pay her any mind, she had no choice but to grit her teeth and keep moving.
Seeing that even Yu Zhengqing didn’t bother standing up for her, Old Madam Chen, despite her fury, had to temporarily swallow her anger and focus on fleeing for her life.
They marched on for another hour and a half. It was winter, and darkness fell early. Being in the mountains made it even gloomier.
Everyone was exhausted, and despite the fear of more bandits, the elderly and children in the group eventually couldn’t go any further.
The demands to stop for the night grew louder and louder. With no other choice, Yu Zhengqing led the men to find a safe, open area to set up camp.
“We’ve now entered Jiu Zhong Mountain. They say it’s the most bandit-infested place around. The bandits here either raid the frontier regions or ambush exiled prisoners along the way. We have twenty men disguised as guards and fifty able-bodied men, but we’ll need to rotate shifts to keep watch. We have to stay vigilant. Besides the bandits, these deep mountains are also crawling with wild beasts.”
“Got it! We’ll follow your lead!”
At Yu Zhengqing’s instructions, the men responded eagerly, lifting his spirits but also deepening his concern.
“I’ve looked into Jiu Zhong Mountain before. It gets its name from being formed by nine interconnected mountains. There are no official roads here, just mountain paths. Although it’s still within Lan Yue’s borders, it’s sparsely populated. Most of the locals either moved away or turned to banditry themselves. So we have no choice but to find our way through these mountains. Who knows how long that will take? Stay alert, everyone. Even without the bandits, the wild beasts alone are enough of a threat.”
