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

Song Qingyan would never let his wife and mother get hurt because of him. He nimbly turned around, shielding them behind him, and swiftly grabbed Yuan Jiechai's whip.

He's been applying medicine these past few days, and while the wound on his back hasn't fully healed, it's mostly healed. He should be able to handle a mere whip-wielding Yuan Jiechai.

But even that brief glimpse was enough to arouse suspicion from Yuan Jiecha and those around him who echoed his sentiments.

His thoughts raced, his movements faltered, his body shifted slightly, and he released his grip on the whip. The whip lashed out instantly, causing him to groan in pain.

His face was already deathly pale. From a distance, the whip did indeed seem to have struck him, but if someone had come up for a closer look, they would have known that it had only hit his prison uniform.

Jiang Jinning and Zhao Shi, who were nearby, could naturally see some clues. Jiang Jinning was fine, but Zhao Shi had doubts in her heart. However, they cooperated extremely well. They only needed to look at each other to know what to do. So, the worried expressions on their faces did not disappear at all, and they acted out the situation even more sadly. Before long, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had red eyes and silently shed tears.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Jiecha's newly arising doubts vanished completely.

"You think you can leave without eating that cornbread?" Yuan Jiecha's face was full of undisguised malice. "Young Master Song, since you pity your wife so much, then you can eat this half of the cornbread."

As if he hadn't heard, Song Qingyan limped away with Zhao Shi and Jiang Jinning.

Ignored, Yuan Jie was about to lash out with his whip again, but this time Song Qingyan clearly dodged it.

"You dare to hide?"

"Officer Yuan, I am deeply grateful for your many considerations along the way, but if you continue to take care of me like this, my life will be in danger, which will not be a good thing for you either."

Yuan Jiechai paused, the man who had been furious just moments before strangely falling silent, staring intently at Song Qingyan, his pupils suddenly contracting.

"What do you know?"

A faint smile appeared on Song Qingyan's lips, his tone indifferent.

"What could I possibly know? I'm just a cripple who's so badly injured he needs women's help to even travel. But Yuan Jiechai certainly knows more than I do, doesn't he?"

Such a confident attitude made Yuan Jiechai slightly flustered.

"you!"

He was so angry that he choked on his breath and instinctively wanted to raise his whip to strike him, but was stopped by Chen Jiechai who had rushed over.

"A basket of cornbread won't be distributed in half a day, delaying our journey. I'll let you pass!"

Yuan Jiecha was similar to Chen Jiecha, and there was also a person in charge above them.

Even if he was unwilling to accept it, the exile team was not his personal fiefdom. He could only angrily retract his whip, glare at the other party, and turn away.

Chen Jiecha glanced at the three of them, his gaze lingering longer on Jiang Jinning, before he casually instructed his brothers to distribute the items.

The farce passed without serious incident.

Jiang Jinning naturally received cornbread and water afterward, and this time the cornbread was of good quality. Although it couldn't compare to the cornbread in the fairyland, it was much better than usual. She knew that it was Chen Jiechai who had taken care of her, perhaps because he had restored the sachet for her last time.

It seems that the sachet was indeed very important to Chen Jiechai.

But repairing the sachet that time was just a small favor, not worth thanking her repeatedly. In fact, she had even thought of using some seasoning to bribe Chen Jiechai.

Jiang Jinning suddenly felt that she was very selfish. In the end, she just wanted to use Chen Jiechai to mediate with Yuan Jiechai, but when she thought of the young general and the others, she had to continue to be selfish.

As the group returned to their group, Song Wanzhen came to greet them. Upon seeing Jiang Jinning, she instinctively said, "Why are you causing trouble again? You're always getting into trouble and dragging your brother down with you."

Jiang Jinning lowered her head in shame.

Song Qingyan said, "Song Wanzhen, weren't you the one who went to get the cornbread? Why did it change to Jinning instead?"

He glanced at Song Yanxi, who was craning her neck to look from a distance, and understood what was going on.

"I tolerated so much from you, thinking you were just being childish, but I never imagined you harbored such malicious thoughts."

"Brother, I didn't, I just..."

"Young General, she didn't mean that..." Jiang Jinning quickly explained.

"You don't need to plead for her."

"Zhen'er, you were wrong this time."

Hearing her elder brother and mother siding with Jiang Jinning and coming to criticize her, Song Wanzhen, who had initially felt somewhat guilty, became furious. She pushed Jiang Jinning away, her eyes red, and said fiercely, "Don't pretend to be kind! Get out of my way."

After saying that, she ran away crying.

This time, Jiang Jinning ignored Song Qingyan's advice and chased after them.

Song Wanzhen was much taller and had longer legs than her, and her short legs couldn't keep up with her at all, making her run in a strangely funny way.

Suddenly, Song Wanzhen thought of the tortoise in the storybook she used to read, the one that desperately tried to keep up with the little rabbit.

She stopped crying and started laughing, a pang of guilt rising in her heart, but she said aloud, "You little short legs are so slow, I had to wait for you!"

"for you."

Jiang Jinning handed over a small wildflower whose name she didn't know.

The wildflowers shone brightly, just like Jiang Jinning herself, always beaming with a smile.

Song Wanzhen's sarcastic remarks were halfway through when Jiang Jinning's move completely stunned her.

She used to be the most pampered young lady in the Duke's mansion, and had received many expensive gifts, but she found this flower to be much more pleasing to the eye than those deliberately flattering headpieces.

"Sending me flowers won't help; I just can't stand you!"

Jiang Jinning seemed not to have heard what she said. Her expression was sincere and innocent. She took Song Wanzhen's hand and pulled her back.

"We need to hurry on our way; we can't go too far."

Song Wanzhen carefully held a wildflower in one hand, while the other hand was being pulled. For a moment, she forgot what she was going to say, but the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up, without even realizing it herself.

Jiang Jinning didn't pay much attention to Yuan Jiechai all day, but later heard that he seemed to have been punished by his boss.

When she heard the news, she couldn't wait to earn money and buy some fried chicken to celebrate.

Tonight, it was Officer Chen and his men who distributed the steamed buns.

Jiang Jinning held the barbecue seasoning in her sleeve, which dangled at the very back, her eyes darting around.

Jiang Jinning, having received her steamed buns, did not leave. Chen Jiecha thought she was being greedy and wanted more, so his expression darkened slightly.

"Officer Chen, I have a way to make cornbread taste better. Would you like to try it?"

Chen Jiechai had guessed the other party's purpose incorrectly, and felt somewhat embarrassed, so he coughed lightly and awkwardly.

"How can cornbread taste good? Don't try to fool me. Go back now."

"I really can make it taste good, believe me!"

Chen Jiechai's suspicious gaze fell on Jiang Jinning, but she didn't care. Instead, she took out the remaining half of a cornbread from the basket, picked up a twig, cleaned it a bit, skewered the cornbread on it, and then ran to the fire, seemingly to roast it.

"It's just a test, how delicious can it be? You can't possibly taste the meat in it, can you?"

Some of the escorts scoffed at this.

But somehow, not long after, the aroma of meat actually wafted out.

Jiang Jinning quickly brought the cornbread to Chen Jiechai, gesturing for him to try it.

He glanced at the cornbread. There was no moon tonight, and by the firelight, he seemed to see some unusual spots on the cornbread, wondering if they were stained with ash.

Chen Jiechai stared intently at her, trying to discern something from her face, but her eyes were crystal clear, as if all his suspicions were merely the petty thoughts of a villain.

"Eat up, it's delicious."

Chen Jiechai stared at it for a while, pondered for a moment, and then opened his mouth to take a bite.

With just one bite, his eyes widened.

"It really...tastes like meat?"