Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 42

“Madam, don’t dwell on those things anymore. There isn’t a single man left in the legitimate branch now—only the elderly, women, and children. They’re all waiting for you to take charge!”

Those words finally pulled Madam Zhao back to her senses. She raised her eyes and looked at the others around her.

Everyone wore the same frightened, bewildered expression. Some were even looking at her with envy.

Madam Zhao tightened her grip on the bundle Zhao Die had given her.

“My sister and I prepared extra luggage. We’ll distribute it among everyone in a moment. That way, it won’t draw as much attention.

“The cotton-padded coats in the bundles are old, but rest assured, they were all carefully taken apart and washed. The colors are subdued too.”

With that, Zhao Die looked at Zhao Miaoling.

“As for Miaoling’s face, you should do something about it.”

Zhao Miaoling looked puzzled.

She had only just come out of prison. What could she possibly do to make herself presentable?

Before she could figure it out, Zhao Die scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and smeared it across her face.

“!!!???”

Madam Zhao understood at once. She grabbed some dirt herself and began rubbing it onto her skin.

“Madam, it isn’t only my mother making this journey. Everyone left from the Zhao Mansion is here. You must hold on. No matter how bitter things become, no matter how desperate, think of Miaoling!

“She is still such a young girl. If anything happens to you, there truly won’t be anyone left to protect her.

“A friend once told me that unity is strength! A pile of loose sand can’t endure!

“These are all the people our Zhao Mansion has left. As long as everyone unites, you can start over once you reach the Northern Frontier!

“As long as you’re alive, there’s a chance! Once a person is gone, there really is nothing left!”

Zhao Die had not forgiven Madam Zhao for the harsh treatment she had inflicted on their mother and the two sisters over all those years.

But she also knew that their mother could never make it to the Northern Frontier on her own.

Even though they had delivered supplies today, no one would listen to Lady Li.

Along the road, and after they reached the Northern Frontier, they would need these people to lend a hand if anything happened.

In that case, she had to bind them together into one rope.

Madam Zhao and the ladies seated nearby all gained a flicker of light in their eyes.

“In short, no matter what happens, there is hope as long as you survive! I’ll have to trouble you to look after my mother from now on!”

With that, Zhao Die lowered herself from a crouch to her knees and gave Madam Zhao a proper kowtow.

“Please continue getting ready, Madam. I’m going to deliver supplies to the others!”

She turned and headed back toward the carriage.

Before she had gone halfway, the young woman with the scrape on her chin—the one who had driven the carriage—saw her returning and came toward her with another round-faced girl from the carriage. Both carried armfuls of bundles. Even the little bald monk had a large bundle strapped to his back and was struggling to keep up.

Only the young woman with the arm in a sling remained behind, leaning nearby as she watched the carriage.

Zhao Die tucked several more bundles under her own arms. Wherever their group went, they left bundles behind.

Zhao Die would step forward and exchange a few words with their former relatives. From time to time, the young woman with the scraped chin added a sentence or two.

By the time they moved on, the prisoners they had visited seemed to have rediscovered some hope for the future.

Watching Zhao Die, Madam Zhao and Zhao Miaoling finally felt that something truly had changed.

When they delivered supplies to several clan elders from collateral branches, Zhao Die repeated what she had just said.

The white-haired elders burst into tears. They praised her for her filial devotion and declared that she would surely accomplish great things in the future.

Zhao Die secretly curled her lip at Xia Heng.

You people never even spared a thought for Mother and us before. You always had your noses higher in the air than anyone.

You probably don’t even know our names.

And now you’re saying I’ll accomplish great things…

Xia Heng pulled a face at Zhao Die and motioned for her to look toward Lady Li.

Many people were thanking Lady Li, praising her for raising two such fine daughters.

Only when disaster struck could one truly see the difference between people.

After spreading warmth all around, Zhao Die took the last bundle from Chuqing. The group, Little Baldie in tow, walked toward the leader of the escorting officers.

“Sir.”

“There’s no need for such formality.”

These officers were long accustomed to this kind of work. Since the new emperor took the throne, a group of people fell from favor every few days.

They had traveled this road at least eight times, if not ten.

They had no complaints. This was how they earned their living.

Besides, every group of exiles brought plenty of gifts and bribes with it.

Still, they had to look stern. They could not let people think they were openly asking for money.

Faced with the officer’s cold expression, Zhao Die’s mind went blank.

She was a sheltered young woman who had hardly ever spoken to an unrelated man.

Even when she tried to seduce Cang Chuli, she had barely managed to speak to him properly.

The officer before her carried a saber, and his brow was furrowed deeply enough to crush a mosquito.

All the courage she had found while speaking to the clan elders vanished at once.

“Please don’t take offense, sir. It’s freezing out here, yet you still have to make this long journey. We truly feel terrible for troubling you.

“This is only a small token of our regard. Please don’t disdain it!”

Seeing Zhao Die frozen on the spot, Xia Heng immediately took over.

At the same time, she nudged Zhao Die with an elbow, prompting her to hand over the bundle.

It was their largest bundle, so full it could barely be tied shut. The officer hefted it in his arms and nodded inwardly in satisfaction.

“Rest assured, we understand the rules.

“You’ve already been exceptionally generous in allowing us to give our family things they can use on the road. We would never make trouble for you. It’s all clothing, shoes, food, and the like.

“There isn’t a single forbidden item inside!

“We’re only ordinary people. These are dried vegetables, sugar, salt, tobacco leaves from Qian’s, and a few jars of good wine. You gentlemen can use them to warm yourselves along the road!”

“Also…”

Xia Heng stepped sideways and gave her raised sleeve a flick. A purse dropped neatly into a gap in the bundle.

“Lady Li is this young lady’s birth mother. She doesn’t need special treatment. We only ask that if something happens, you help keep an eye on her.”

The chief officer put the bundle in his own carriage and squeezed the purse in his hand. There were probably a dozen or so taels of silver inside.

Normally, that amount would have been a little low, but this young woman truly knew how to make her words pleasant to hear.

More importantly, they were the first people to bring the officers supplies, and everything they had given was valuable on the road.

Never mind the tobacco and wine. Salt and sugar alone were indispensable on a journey like this. Sometimes they could even be used as medicine.

And there were dried vegetables! Heaven only knew how miserable it was trying to relieve oneself after eating flatbread for a month straight and getting badly constipated.

They were nothing like the other families who said:

“Take good care of so-and-so. If they lose so much as a hair, I’ll hold you responsible!”

“The child is still young and growing. They need refined grain.”

Then they would dump all the food meant for their own relatives onto the officers’ cart, taking up the officers’ own space.

The chief officer would not have wanted to help people like that even if they paid him.

He glanced at the character *Cang* emblazoned on their carriage.

“Are you ladies from the General’s Mansion?”

“Brother Officer, you have sharp eyes.”

“The general is truly righteous! Since you come from the residence of the General of the Northern Pacification, naturally we must show you some consideration.”

The escorting officers knew why the Zhao Mansion had been sentenced to exile.

They simply had not expected anyone connected to the Zhao family to be living in the General’s Mansion.

And that person had even come openly to see her relatives off.

Perhaps this was the difference between a great general and insignificant men like themselves.

It seemed the rumors claiming the General of the Northern Pacification was cold-blooded and devoid of human feeling were not entirely true.

“Don’t worry, ladies. His Majesty has already shown mercy by sentencing them only to exile. We make our living from this work, so of course we’ll deliver them to their destination.

“Your mother has it hard as a woman on her own. We’ll keep a closer eye on her.”

“Thank you, Brother Officer!”

Zhao Die finally found her voice and thanked him with complete sincerity.

“My master says anyone who protects others is a hero, and that we should pray for people like that! Wude will go back today and recite the *Heart Sutra* to pray for all of you!”

The little fellow’s speech made everyone laugh. The officer, in a rare show of warmth, reached out and rubbed the child’s bald head.

“Then thank you, Little Master!”

Who would not want a favorable omen?

By the time Zhao Die returned to her mother, Zhao Siyan was already gesticulating excitedly as she explained how to use the oilcloth and rope.

When she saw Zhao Die return, Lady Li pulled both daughters to her side, wrapped an arm around them, and stroked their hair.

“My little girls have grown up. You even know how to take care of your mother now.”

Zhao Die and Zhao Siyan bit their lips hard to keep themselves from sobbing.

Their mother was about to leave. They could not make her worry about them anymore.

Lady Li studied her daughters’ faces with care, as though she wanted to carve their appearances into her memory.

“Was sending you away the only good deed your father ever did in his life?”

The mother and daughters laughed softly.

“Your daughter thinks so too,” Zhao Siyan replied through her tears.

Lady Li looked toward the carriage they had arrived in.

“Are those my girls’ new friends?”

In the distance, Xia Heng and Qiulin were fighting over the horsewhip. Even with both hands, Xia Heng could not wrest it away from Qiulin’s one good hand.

Chuqing pulled a walnut cake from inside her robe and split it with Little Wude.

The two of them crouched nearby, eating as they watched the contest.

Lady Li turned back and smiled at her daughters.

“They all seem like good children.”

Her daughters had never had playmates growing up. The Zhao Family drew a strict line between legitimate and concubine-born children.

Not only would the legitimate children refuse to play with “a concubine’s daughters,” they constantly looked down on the sisters, both openly and in secret.

When the girls were small, Lady Li could still coax them out of their tears. Once they grew older, she often saw them hiding somewhere to cry in secret.

Later, they grew up—though they had barely been grown for long.

Madam Zhao then assigned several instructors to teach them music and dance…

Lady Li did not know whether those lessons were meant to give her daughters a better future. But she knew that the girls had something weighing on their hearts.

They had been holding their breath, desperate to do something.

That was a mother’s instinct.

Before she could ask them about it, that accursed Zhao Fan had given her daughters away.

He had sent them to one of the capital’s twin terrors—

Cang Chuli.

And as concubines, no less.

She had cried. She had begged. She did not want her daughters to repeat her fate.

Even becoming proper wives in ordinary households would have been better than becoming concubines.

But that day, her daughters came to her and said… they were willing.

She had not known how to persuade them. It had seemed that persuasion would be useless anyway. She did not know what her daughters were thinking.

Then, the very next day, they were gone…

But seeing them today, Lady Li felt as though her little girls had finally broken through the clouds.

There was light in their eyes, and they were capable of accomplishing so much.

Her younger daughter had just secretly told her that the cotton-padded coat prepared for her alone had silver hairpins hidden in the lining, while the inner pocket contained sugar and salt.

That girl Die’er had always had the softest heart hidden behind the hardest mouth.

Did she think her mother had not noticed her secretly supporting the bundles carried by that young woman with the scraped chin several times?

Now she was watching the young woman fight over the horsewhip while pretending to be annoyed. Lady Li needed only a glance to know how much her daughter liked her.

“Mm. The moment they leave the house, they stop looking very clever!”

Zhao Die curled her lip as she watched the others, sounding dissatisfied.

“But they’re all wonderful people,” Zhao Siyan added with a bright smile.

“Mother, don’t worry. We’re maids at the General’s Mansion now. We get to eat our fill every day, and we even receive wages every month!

“Once you reach the Northern Frontier, write to us. You can draw pictures too!”

“We can ask a clan uncle to write for you. I already spoke to them about it!” Zhao Die added.

“We’re learning to write now! We can read simple things already! By the time you reach the Northern Frontier, we’ll know even more characters!

“Xia Heng said anything is possible!

“Maybe you’ll be able to return in another two years. When that happens, we’ll come pick you up!”

Lady Li listened with a smile, nodding at every sentence.

“Xia Heng is the one who scraped her chin. I think what she said makes sense!

“Who knows what will happen in the future? So, Mother, you must take good care of yourself!”

As soon as she finished speaking, the officers in the distance began ordering the prisoners to set out.

“All right. Mother understands! You two must take care of yourselves too!”

When Lady Li turned away, she gave Xia Heng one long, deep look.

Thank you, young lady! With Xiaodie and Siyan beside you, I can leave without worry!

The Zhao sisters said goodbye to their mother. The officers began assembling the column and ordered all unrelated people to move away, leaving them to watch from a distance.

The sisters watched their mother’s back as she walked farther and farther away beneath the weight of her bundle…

They nearly cried themselves into two puddles of tears.

Xia Heng and the others waited beside the carriage without urging them. Even Little Wude obediently gnawed on his walnut cake without asking questions.

Only after the sisters had composed themselves did the group climb back into the carriage.

Amid a noisy commotion, they set off for home.