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

Jiang Jinning had never felt so panicked before. She used to be able to laugh even when she ate spoiled food or wore patched old clothes, but now that the magical item she had obtained had disappeared, she was utterly at a loss.

She wanted to cry.

The silk flowers are gone, the food is gone, and the medicine is gone.

She's so useless.

"Are you... alright...?"

A gentle voice reached her ears. Jiang Jinning looked up with red eyes and realized that Song Qingyan had woken up at some point and was looking at her with worried eyes.

What kind of eyes were those? She had only ever seen them in the eyes of Granny Qian, who had treated her so well. But Granny Qian had been driven out of the mansion, and no one had ever looked at her with such eyes since. But now, the young general was looking at her with such caring eyes.

Jiang Jinning suddenly felt extremely wronged.

"Young general, the milk-flavored steamed buns are gone, the medicine is gone, and my silver notes are gone too."

The voice was choked with sobs, very soft, but Song Qingyan heard it clearly.

He remained calm on the surface, but his heart was in turmoil.

Thinking back to the unusually sweet steamed buns and spring water from last night, as well as the changes in her just now, an extremely absurd idea arose in his mind.

Did the little girl, as the storybooks say, go somewhere else and exchange the last of her belongings for food?

He didn't believe in ghosts or gods, but he respected every destiny in this world. She must have had such a wonderful experience because she was kind-hearted and heaven took pity on her. He was truly lucky to have been blessed with such good fortune.

Song Qingyan quickly suppressed the turmoil in his heart, stretched out a hand with difficulty, paused, and then patted the little girl's head.

"It's alright, having yesterday's cornbread and water is already very good. One shouldn't be greedy."

"But... there's the medicine I exchanged there... the one I got in exchange for silk flowers, for the young general's wounds."

How much is a silk flower worth, and what kind of medicine can it be exchanged for? Song Qingyan shook his head, not refuting, but only admonishing in a slightly serious tone: "Jinning, you must not say these things to anyone else, not even Wanzhen or Mother."

Jiang Jinning looked at him with clear eyes, as if she didn't know why he said that.

In her view, they were already a family, and family members shouldn't hide anything from each other.

Since the young general had said so, she did as he said, and so she nodded with tears in her eyes.

Song Qingyan was over twenty years old. Although he was young, he had seen a lot of darkness. This was the first time he had seen such innocent and naive eyes. How could someone with such a personality survive in this world?

Never mind, I'll just have to take better care of it myself.

That night, Jiang Jinning didn't sleep well. She was determined to go to the fairyland again, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't succeed. Discouraged, she had no energy. Already timid, she became even more timid and kept her head down.

Even though she was not in good spirits, she did her best to take care of Song Qingyan. Even though Song Wanzhen drove her away repeatedly, she still stayed at a distance, stubbornly wanting to protect Song Qingyan.

Zhao felt a slight sense of relief, but she only glanced at it before coldly withdrawing her gaze and going to collect her daily cornbread.

"The original text is missing, and the steamed buns seem a bit lacking..."

In Zhao's hand was only a cold, hard, spoiled cornbread, the edges of which had been gnawed on and were covered in dust. It was so small that it could be swallowed in one bite.

"This is your share, take it or leave!" Yuan Jiechai stood up, drew his whip, and swung it viciously. "Traitor, do you think you can get a full meal? If you keep arguing, I'll whip you to death!"

Zhao was pushed to the ground, and the already dirty cornbread was now covered with a layer of ash.

Yuan Jiecha chuckled and stomped on the steamed bun with his foot, crushing it to pieces.

"Didn't you think it wasn't enough? Now that it's covered with pebbles, there's plenty more. Duchess, please take it back to our precious young master. I can't bear the responsibility of letting him go hungry."

As she finished speaking, laughter erupted all around, and Zhao's ashen face grew even paler.

Although she came from a humble background, she was from a scholarly family and was always treated with respect when she went out. But now, she was being mocked by a mere escort, and she couldn't help but feel a deep sadness.

If it weren't for her children to take care of, she would have loved to go with the general.

She suppressed the urge to cry and bent down to pick up the cornbread mixed with pebbles on the ground, but Yuan Jiechai stepped on the back of her hand, making her cry out in pain.

"You think you can get the steamed buns like that?" Yuan Jiecha spread his legs and pointed to his crotch.

"Lady Duchess, if you crawl over here, I'll let you go today, how about it?"

Zhao's eyes widened in disbelief.

"How could you...?"

"You traitor, you think I'd fawn over you?!"

The constant accusations of treason brought the Zhao family to the brink of collapse.

She believed in the general, but after hearing his words so many times, she began to waver.

"Get over there, or you'll all go hungry today!"

Zhao was proud and did not want to suffer such humiliation, but she still had two children. Her eldest daughter had already passed away, and she could not afford to lose either of them.

It's just a little humiliation, but you can eat a cornbread afterward. It's no big deal.

Zhao's body slumped completely, and the beliefs in her heart seemed to be gradually collapsing.

She lay on the ground, taking her first step, then her second, then her third… but on her last step, she was pulled back by a pair of small, well-defined hands.

"We are not traitors!"

Zhao looked up in surprise and saw Jiang Jinning, who was enveloped in light, blocking her way with her thin body. Her pale face stubbornly argued.

"It's you again, you bitch! What, wasn't the lesson you learned the other day enough? You're asking for another beating? I was going to give you some steamed buns, but since you're causing trouble, I'm not giving them to you!"

Yuan Jiecha lashed out twice with his whip, and the wound on Jiang Jinning's back, which had not been treated with medicine, was now inflicted with new pain, making her feel dizzy.

But she bit her lip tightly, stubbornly and firmly standing in front of Zhao.

"Alright, if someone really dies, we won't be able to explain it to the boss."

The speaker was Chen Jiechai, and the two were of equal rank.

But Yuan Jiecha felt he was being ordered around. He glared at him coldly, put away his whip, and left.

Jiang Jinning and Zhao looked at Chen Jiechai gratefully, but he did not look at them.

The two squatted on the ground and carefully collected the leftover cornbread crumbs and took them away.

On the way, they met Song Yanxi, who was also on her way back from picking up cornbread. Unlike their disheveled state, she had not been harassed by the guards, nor had her cornbread been taken from her. In fact, the cornbread was still edible, although it was cold and hard, but at least it wasn't spoiled. For them, who had been eating spoiled cornbread every day, this was truly a delicacy.

"Auntie? Are you alright?"

While he spoke words of concern, he couldn't hide his schadenfreude.

She glanced at Jiang Jinning sideways, a look of disgust on her face.

"Aunt, Grandmother is waiting for me, so I won't chat with you any longer."

As Zhao watched Song Yanxi's departing figure, she clearly saw the extra half of a cornbread in her hand. For some reason, she recalled the scene of herself humbly begging for a cornbread the day before.

She couldn't blame others for not helping, after all, it was indeed because of the eldest son's family that the clan had been implicated. Besides, the food on the road to exile was expensive, so who could help whom?

"It's okay, I... I can... tonight..."

Jiang Jinning wanted to offer some words of comfort, suggesting that perhaps she could bring back some food, but remembering the young general's instructions, she immediately fell silent.

Zhao glanced at her only once before looking away.

The little girl had protected her earlier, but she still couldn't let go of her resentment. After all, he was her own brother who had confiscated the Duke's mansion.

Zhao hardened her heart, shook off his hand, and left alone, leaving Jiang Jinning helplessly twisting her fingers, feeling uneasy.

It was all because she offended the guards, causing everyone to go hungry.

If I could go to Wonderland again, I would definitely bring back steamed buns for my family to eat.