The jade pendant connects the past and present; the exiled crown prince's wife takes her entire

"Bah! You traitors colluding with barbarians think you can drink clean water? There are puddles everywhere, you'd better lie down and drink it!"

"Young general... he's burning up... he wants water, please, give him some clean water... I'll repay you like a slave..."

Jiang Jinning lowered her head, curled her shoulders, and trembled as she mustered her courage to protect the blood-soaked man behind her, speaking to the Yuan Jiechai in front of her at the top of her lungs.

Yuan Jiechai looked impatient, but suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he put his hand on his belt and smiled wickedly.

"You want water... that's not impossible. Come, please have our esteemed Prince Song open his mouth."

Jiang Jinning's eyes lit up with surprise. She really thought she had persuaded the escort, but when she saw him relieving himself and the other escorts laughing, she understood perfectly well what was going on.

She glared at him fiercely with her dark eyes, like an angry little beast.

"You bastards! You're all bastards who bullied the little general!"

"Young General? I thought he was the once-powerful heir of the Duke of Song's mansion, Song Qingyan! His father betrayed the country and died cleanly and neatly, but he's lucky to be alive. I despise traitors like him the most in my life, and I want to beat him up, I want to beat him up every single day!"

"I believe the general wouldn't betray Da Li! With me here, I won't let you hit the young general!"

Jiang Jinning spread her arms wide, clearly trembling with fear, yet still trying to protect Song Qingyan.

"Oh, you're quite the sentimental girl, I'm really touched. Actually... there's another way." Yuan Jiecha suddenly changed his tone, but his smile was quite lewd.

Jiang Jinning looked at him suspiciously, wondering why he had suddenly changed his mind.

"You spend one night with me, and I'll give him water to drink, how about it?"

Jiang Jinning's eyes widened in astonishment, then her pale face flushed red, and she clenched her fists, forcefully pushing away the approaching Yuan Jiecha.

Yuan Jiechai was surprised by the strength of the frail Jiang Jinning. He staggered before regaining his balance and was immediately enraged.

"You slut, how dare you push me! Don't think I don't know, you've been in cahoots with this traitor for a long time, even pushing your own sister into the water to steal his marriage. A woman like you, it's your good fortune that I even noticed you!"

Yuan Jiechai drew his whip and lashed it fiercely at her.

With just one lash, Jiang Jinning was knocked to the ground. The pebbles on the ground scraped her palms, and a tear appeared in the back of her prison uniform, revealing a bloody mark.

She was clearly in great pain, but she bit her lip tightly and didn't utter a word.

She couldn't cry out in pain; she couldn't let him laugh at her!

At this moment, the jade pendant she had hidden so well was knocked to the ground. It was a gift from the nanny in the mansion who had taken good care of her. She struggled to pick it up, but the Yuan Jiechai stomped hard on the back of her hand.

Yuan Jiechai lashed out with his whip again, picked up the jade pendant, which was already of very poor quality. Now it was crushed to pieces and stained with blood, making it look unlucky. He casually tossed it into the bushes.

Jiang Jinning's face turned ashen, her eyes bloodshot and filled with tears. She crawled on the ground and tried to pry open the guard's legs to get up and look for her jade pendant, but she couldn't do it no matter what she did.

Tears welled up in her eyes. The pain of losing the jade pendant made her disregard everything else. Suddenly, she burst out with strength and forced the Yuan Jiechai to retreat several steps.

"You bitch, you won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences! I'll beat you to death!"

The escort raised his whip and charged toward her.

Jiang Jinning struggled to hide, her blood flowing onto the ground, but suddenly disappeared into the soil.

No one noticed that a faint stream of light entered Jiang Jinning's palm, flickered, and disappeared.

At this moment, Yuan Jiechai harbored malicious intent and reached out to tear Jiang Jinning's clothes.

He wasn't interested in such a despicable woman, but rather in Song Qingyan's wife. It would be quite a spectacle if she were stripped naked in public.

But suddenly, the man behind her, who had been unconscious, bit her arm hard.

He was panting heavily, his mind was hazy, his handsome face was deathly pale, but his mouth was still forceful.

"So you're suddenly showing mercy to a beautiful woman? Fine, fine, I'll grant your wish today!"

Yuan Jiechai forcefully flung Song Qingyan away, raised his whip, and lashed it all out at him.

The whip struck Song Qingyan fiercely, causing him, who was already severely injured, to completely lose consciousness.

"Big brother!"

"Qing Yan!"

When Zhao and Song Wanzhen returned with the steamed buns, they saw this scene and immediately knelt on the ground, crying and begging.

"Stop hitting him! Please stop!"

The sight of the once high-ranking noble ladies and daughters pleading and crying greatly satisfied the vanity of the Yuan Jiechai. He stood high above them and spoke as if he were showing great mercy.

"Alright, for your sake, I'll let this woman go today. However, you're out of your share of steamed buns tonight. Teach her some manners later, so she doesn't cause trouble all the time!"

Having said that, he shamelessly snatched their steamed buns, held his head high, and swaggered away.

Ignoring her own injuries, Jiang Jinning forced herself to get up and check on Song Qingyan's injuries. The young general had been whipped several times by the guards while protecting her, and his injuries must have worsened!

But Song Wanzhen pushed her away.

"Get out of here! Your good brother ransacked the Duke's mansion, and now you've caused your elder brother to be beaten. You jinx, stay away from my brother!"

Jiang Jinning lowered her head helplessly, her face turning even paler.

She tried to explain, her voice stammering, "No, that person and I aren't siblings... I just wanted some clean water, it was the escort..."

"Zhen'er."

Zhao interrupted Jiang Jinning directly, and stopped Song Wanzhen who was about to lash out. She glanced at Jiang Jinning out of the corner of her eye, her eyes darkening.

The Song family had been loyal and virtuous for generations, and their prosperity only increased with the generation of the general. Their eldest daughter was even made empress, but on the day of Qingyan's wedding, letters of treason were found on her, making her a shameless traitor in the eyes of the world. Poor girl, in order to protect her clan, she was willing to commit suicide, which saved their clan's lives and exiled them to Lingnan.

The woman who should have married Qing Yan was Jiang Baoyu, a talented woman from Luojing, but in the end, she became the unknown Jiang Jinning. Even her younger brother led the way in confiscating her property, completely disregarding his elder sister. Jiang Jinning was nothing but a discarded pawn, and she knew that. But even knowing that the other party was innocent and pitiful, she still couldn't help but feel resentful.

"Qingyan's health is of utmost importance. He was already punished with a beating, and now he has suffered additional injuries. We will need to take good care of him tonight and avoid any arguments."

There wasn't a single question, yet his attitude was unusually indifferent.

Jiang Jinning felt extremely sad and guilty.

She knew they didn't like her, and perhaps finding food would change their opinion of her?

In the middle of the night, Zhao and her children leaned against a tree, far away from Jiang Jinning.

No one knew that a cluster of light flashed in Jiang Jinning's palm. The light was extremely fast and quickly returned to normal. Then, Jiang Jinning's whole body glowed, as if something rushed out of her body.

Jiang Jinning slept very restlessly; the burning heat in her palms forced her to wearily open her eyes.

She was terrified when she opened her eyes.

Where is she?

There was no sign of the dilapidated remains of the place of refuge, and the guards and the other exiled criminals had also vanished without a trace.

Looking up, towering buildings stretch into the sky, seemingly endless.

Looking down, she saw metal-bodied vehicles speeding past on four wheels, their speed astonishing. They were driven by no horses and required no drivers to urge them on.

Most of the people passing by were wearing short-sleeved shirts and shorts, exposing their arms and legs, and some even had their feet exposed.

Jiang Jinning quickly closed her eyes, not daring to look anymore, and the thought "How could this be so indecent?" popped into her mind.

But clearly, apart from her, no one thought anything was wrong; on the contrary, she seemed out of place.

They were holding a shiny brick in their hands, talking to it, and some were even looking down at it. Jiang Jinning opened her eyes and glanced at it, almost scared out of her wits.

There's someone inside that brick!

Where am I? Why is everything so strange?

Jiang Jinning unconsciously blurted out what was on her mind.

"You're quite the character, little girl. Judging by your outfit, are you here to film a movie? Or are you doing some cosplay? This is flea market, isn't it?"