Before confiscating their property, they emptied the imperial city and exiled them!

While Song Huai'an remained silent in astonishment, Song Wenjing cracked his whip again, ready to continue on his way.

However, Lu Hu loudly stopped him in his tracks.

Lu Hu walked over with eyes blazing with fury: "Everyone, stop your journey. I lost something important at this post station, so I need to check you all."

Lin Xiaoxiao knew that he had discovered his treasure chest was missing, but he was too slow-witted to notice until now.

In fact, Lu Hu had just woken up. If it weren't for the fact that they were about to travel, his men wouldn't have dared to go upstairs to call him.

The group didn't know what Lu Hu had lost, but they still cooperated fully and allowed them to check.

Fortunately, they didn't have much stuff, so it was easy to check.

When they arrived at Lin Xiaoxiao's place, they took a quick look around the carriage and left immediately.

Because in the eyes of those yamen runners, Lin Xiaoxiao, who had received ten thousand taels of gold, didn't care about Lu Hu's meager possessions at all.

When Lu Hu saw his men return empty-handed, he was instantly furious.

The treasure chest contained all his belongings; along the way, he had only been able to squeeze some money out of these convicts at the very beginning.

He was still relying on that money to bribe officials when he returned to the capital, hoping to secure a good job for himself.

Lu Hu said angrily, "No, my things were lost here. If we can't find them, we'll stop and continue our journey."

He was in charge of everything here, so no one voiced their opinions.

Following his instructions, everyone returned to the post station.

This time, however, Lin Xiaoxiao only booked rooms for herself and the women of the Song family; she didn't care about anyone else.

Although Song Huai'an was in the wrong first, it was common for women to have multiple wives and concubines in ancient times. Besides, what daughter-in-law would dare to be so domineering and arrogant?

So Song Huaiting stepped forward and started lecturing Lin Xiaoxiao.

"Xiaoxiao, what do you mean by this?"

Lin Xiaoxiao looked at him apologetically and said, "I don't want to either, but there are always new additions to the family."

Even if there's a lot of money, we still need to be frugal in the future.

Looking at Lin Xiaoxiao's lack of manners, Song Huaiting felt somewhat disappointed: "Then why don't you save money for yourself? What kind of daughter-in-law is as unfilial as you?"

Song Wenjing grabbed Lin Xiaoxiao's hand and stood in front of her, saying, "Don't you have someone to take care of you? Why keep doing this for Xiaoxiao?"

Song Huaiting said angrily, "Wen Jing, you are a grown man, yet you defend her so indiscriminately. It's a waste of all the effort I put into teaching you."

He had barely finished speaking when he got kicked in the butt.

Song Huaiting turned around angrily, only to find that it was Chen who had hit him.

His face immediately changed to a docile expression: "Mother, why did you hit me?"

Chen looked at him with disappointment: "You don't even know why I hit you. It seems you really deserved it."

Then Chen walked up to Song Huai'an and gave him a deep look.

"Send them back!"

Song Huai'an was also unhappy with Lin Xiaoxiao's childish behavior and said angrily, "Mother, she's threatening us!"

"That's enough, Huai'an, I know your temperament."

But look around you, at the families who are affected by your decision.

Are you really going to keep going?

After Chen finished speaking, she took out a jade pendant that she kept close to her body and handed it to the innkeeper.

After glancing at it, the shopkeeper said with a hint of disdain, "Madam, your jade pendant isn't worth much!"

Madam Chen glanced at him and said, "Although the jade pendant isn't valuable, it's enough to cover your room fee for two days."

The shopkeeper weighed the item in his hand for a moment, and was about to put it away when someone took it.

Then some loose silver was stuffed into his hand.

Lin Xiaoxiao said calmly, "Add two more rooms!"

When Chen tried to refuse, Lin Xiaoxiao affectionately took her arm: "Grandmother, you don't need to say anything more, Xiaoxiao understands."

Looking at her obedient granddaughter-in-law, Mrs. Chen felt a deep sense of guilt.

Thankfully, thankfully none of this has happened yet.

The son can be educated gradually by himself.

Lu Hu wasted two days at the inn without finding any clues to his treasure chest.

He would not have left if the exile had not been time-limited.

Before leaving, the innkeeper kindly reminded Lu Hu: "If you go any further, be careful. There is a mountain called Longhu Mountain ahead, and a group of bandits are entrenched on it."

They were exceptionally ruthless; anyone who passed by, whether a merchant or a high-ranking official, would be skinned alive.

Lu Hu waved his hand dismissively: "They're just a bunch of bandits, what's there to be afraid of? I'm short on silver anyway, if they dare to mess with me..."

I just need to replenish the warehouse.

Seeing his confidence, the innkeeper didn't say anything more.

Lin Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, was a little excited. It was finally time, and her gold and silver should be returned to their rightful owners.

Speaking of the caravan, Lu Hu noticed the group of people following behind him.

He walked up to them with a grin and recounted, embellishing what the innkeeper had just said.

The other party understood his meaning and obediently took out silver to buy a layer of protection from Lu Hu.

Lin Xiaoxiao called Song Wanning and Song Yetong to her carriage, then took out a deck of cards and taught them how to play Dou Dizhu (a popular Chinese card game).

They looked at the unusual item in Lin Xiaoxiao's hand and knew that she had bought it from that traveling merchant.

Fortunately, they were clever, and Lin Xiaoxiao understood the rules after explaining them only a few times.

Song Wenjing didn't know what they were doing, but she could always hear Song Wanning's voice filled with regret.

And Song Yetong's smug laughter.

Laughter from the girls echoed continuously from inside the carriage.

Sitting next to Su Shi, Song Wanqing would occasionally lift the sedan curtain to check on her.

Madam Su grabbed her hand: "Why don't I tell your sister-in-law, and you can go join the fun with them too!"

Song Wanqing gently shook her head: "No need, I'll just stay here with my mother and grandmother."

Xie Yurou, who wanted to marry Song Wenjing, was arranged by Song Huai'an to ride in their carriage.

She sat down affectionately next to Song Wanqing and said sweetly, "It's okay, I'm here with you, sister!"

Song Wanqing was not used to her enthusiasm and withdrew her hand without leaving a trace.

She was naturally aloof, but she was also very innocent. She recalled her experience of being disliked by Chu Junze.

In the end, she felt a pang of sympathy for Xie Yurou, who was being ignored by her younger brother.

She smiled slightly and said, "If you're ever bored in the future, just talk to me more often!"

"Alright, Rou'er will have to trouble Sister Wanqing more often from now on."

Looking at Xie Yurou, Madam Chen said, "Yurou is so thoughtful, your grandmother should be worrying about finding you a good marriage."

But now that our Song family is in dire straits, we're afraid we'll be powerless to help in the future.

Xie Yurou seemed not to understand the subtle hint in Chen's words, and still smiled brightly as she said, "Grandmother, you don't need to worry about me. It is my good fortune to marry Brother Wenjing."

Chen and Su exchanged a glance, sighed, and fell silent.