Confiscating property? A stunningly beautiful substitute bride empties the national treasury and is

"You ungrateful little thing, have you forgotten how your second uncle used to treat you so well?"

Lu Yunqi snorted coldly in anger, turning to look at Xiao Yu'er, only to find her clutching the apple tightly warily, saying:

"My third aunt said we can't give any to my second uncle, otherwise we'll all have nothing to eat!"

“You all listen to her, you’re all her lackeys, you have no conscience at all.”

Xiao Yu'er quickly shook her head and denied it, saying, "No, Third Aunt is the best person. Without her, we would have been starving long ago."

"Second Uncle, if you want to eat, you should behave better. Maybe Third Aunt will be kind-hearted and let you have some too."

"Hmph, I don't want her charity!"

Lu Yunqi said this, but he felt terrible inside. In the end, he quickly took a few bites of the coarse steamed bun and pushed Song Qingqian away.

He pouted and said coldly, "From now on, the third son is mine, and I'll push him around!"

"Sure, do as you please!"

Song Qingqian smiled and waved her hand, feeling much more relaxed with someone pushing her.

Lu Yunqi pushed it off for a while, and when he got really hungry, he would nibble on a couple of bites of coarse flour steamed buns, complaining to Lu Jingchuan as he ate:

"This is inedible! I've never eaten anything so awful in my entire life..."

Lu Jingchuan smiled faintly and comforted him: "What's a rough steamed bun? Having something to eat is better than going hungry. This is also a way to test your willpower."

"You make it sound so easy, as if you've eaten it yourself. In our Lu family, only I am so unlucky that I have to eat this stuff."

Lu Jingchuan's gaze unconsciously drifted into the distance; he was eating just as many coarse flour buns as these people.

In the past, when they were trapped in battle and supplies ran out, they ate anything to stave off hunger, not to mention coarse flour buns, they even ate weeds, leaves, and tree bark...

But what has he gained now? His brothers have been murdered, and his family has been exiled. If he could start his life over again, he would rather be like his second brother, living a mediocre life, so that the Lu family would not become too powerful and would not be destroyed.

"Third brother..."

"fine!"

Lu Jingchuan shook his head, and Lu Yunqi silently shut his mouth. He realized that he seemed to have touched on the painful past of the third brother, so he dared not say anything more.

At noon, the exile team happened to meet with Zhang He, who was returning on horseback.

Seeing that Sun Wuyin's condition was not optimistic, Zhang He quickly helped him onto his horse. Before riding away, he instructed Jiang Ce:

"It will be no more than half an hour before we enter the city. The post station that will meet the exiles is about 100 meters to the left as soon as you enter the city. I have already spoken to Manager Tong there. You can just take your men and go there directly."

"Okay, you can go without worry, I'll take care of things here!"

Jiang Ce spoke politely, but in his heart he had already cursed him several times. He was just showing off and taking credit. He wasn't even a deputy general, yet he really thought he was someone important. It was a pipe dream to think he could surpass him!

Zhang He nodded, mounted his horse, and quickly rode away.

The soldier who remained wisely offered his horse to Jiang Ce, who nodded approvingly, thinking him a smart man.

Although he could only move one arm, it didn't hinder his horsemanship at all. Jiang Ce rode directly to the very back of the exile procession and coldly rebuked them:

"Hurry up and move along! Look at you all, you're all weak and listless like starving ghosts. Let me tell you, you must enter the city within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, or don't blame me for not showing mercy with my whip!"

As he spoke, he ordered Pei Yi, who had given him a horse, to whip the last few men hard.

The men, having been whipped, did move faster. Just as Jiang Ce was feeling smug, several of them suddenly collapsed to the ground with a series of thuds.

The soldiers in front ran over and reported: "Lieutenant General, seven or eight of our men have fainted at the same time. What should we do? Should we take a break?"

Jiang Ce was somewhat surprised: "Our people? How could our people faint?"

The soldier was somewhat embarrassed, but seeing Jiang Ce's bad expression, he mustered up his courage and spoke up.

"They were the ones we helped back last night. They've been acting strangely. We all thought they were just scared and would be fine once they left that place, but today they were sweating profusely and trembling after just a few steps. Now they couldn't take it anymore and fainted."

"Damn it, this useless thing. Get the doctor to go and see what's wrong."

Jiang Ce cursed and gave the order. The soldiers nodded and ran off quickly, forcing the exile procession to stop.

Under the scorching sun, Song Qingqian felt like she was about to be roasted alive. After drinking several mouthfuls of spring water, she finally felt a little better.

With no shade, she quickly unfolded the floor mat and handed it to Lu Jingchuan so he could use it for support. He wasn't tired since he was in a wheelchair, and this way everyone would have a shady spot.

Zhan'er asked curiously, "Third Aunt, this cushion seems to blow air; it's quite cool."

Lu Lanyue reached out and touched it, then exclaimed in surprise, "There really is wind!"

"Maybe the wind blew by!"

Song Qingqian smiled and brushed it off, saying, "Of course it can be blown around; I bought it for a lot of money."

Just then, Hu Guo rushed to Jiang Ce's side, his face pale, and shouted:

"It's all over, it's all over..."

"Tell me what happened in detail."

Jiang Ce, mounted on his horse, spoke arrogantly, showing no intention of dismounting or going over to take a look.

Hu Guo said with a chill, "I didn't notice anything because it was dark last night. I thought it was just a normal allergy. I didn't expect that after walking around all morning, all of them had ulcers. When they took off their pants, there was a strong stench of decay..."

"What? It's broken..."

Jiang Ce was shocked; this was the first time he had ever heard of sleeping with a woman causing that thing to break...

He quickly pressed, "Is there any hope of saving him?"

Hu Guo shook his head sheepishly: "Deputy General, this is the first time I've seen this kind of disease. I really don't know what to do. Maybe we should quickly go into the city to find other doctors. The person won't die; the worst outcome is... well, that's it..."

"This is unbelievable!"

After Jiang Ce finished his speechless complaint, he suddenly thought of the two people who had turned into blood last night, and he was immediately horrified. Without delay, he ordered the soldiers to carry the people and set off quickly.

Song Qingqian hadn't even settled into her seat before being forced to get up and continue her journey. She felt particularly resentful. Why were the lives of the soldiers so precious, but their lives weren't?

It wasn't even half an incense stick's time in total. As she got up, she deliberately picked up a few small pebbles and played with them in her hand.

As Jiang Ce rode past, he flicked his head mercilessly at the back of Jiang Ce's head.

Jiang Ce cried out in pain and turned around, followed by a group of exiles with their heads down, looking like lifeless zombies.

Unable to find the culprit, Jiang Ce assumed that a stone kicked up by the horse's hind leg had accidentally hit him, and reluctantly continued riding forward.

Song Qingqian felt incredibly pleased looking at the lump on the back of his head; he deserved it.

Then, with a mischievous grin, she flicked a small pebble straight at the horse's rump. However, wanting to get into the city quickly, she didn't intend to cause too much trouble, so she used much less force.

The horse suddenly raised its head and neighed, then galloped forward. Jiang Ce was only holding on with one hand and wasn't sitting very steadily, so as the horse galloped forward, he was jolted and fell headfirst to the ground.

Jiang Ce was thrown over, and when he reached out to touch his hair, he found it covered in sticky blood. He was so frightened that he fainted immediately.

Song Qingqian raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Oh! How can she be so fragile, like a paper doll..."

Suddenly noticing someone watching her, Song Qingqian looked up warily and met Lu Jingchuan's indifferent gaze.

Song Qingqian felt a little guilty. He found out? Wasn't he in front of her? How could he have found out?

However, even if Lu Jingchuan found out, he definitely wouldn't report her. After feeling guilty, Song Qingqian became somewhat fearless.

She glared back at Lu Jingchuan without any restraint and muttered under her breath, "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a beautiful woman before?"

Lu Jingchuan smiled and nodded. He had indeed never seen her before. Song Qingqian was the most beautiful and spirited woman he had ever met.

From the first moment he saw her, he thought so. As for why he wanted to keep her, putting everything else aside, he also had his own selfish reasons…

"Why are you being so mean to the third brother for no reason? It's weird..."

Lu Yunqi coldly reminded them that their third son was the pride of the Lu family, so why was he disliked by Song Qingqian no matter what?

They didn't even mind that she was an illegitimate daughter, yet she was so picky and even mean to the third son. Lu Yunqi truly felt that marrying such a wife was a recipe for a miserable life.