Spoiled and mad critic of powerful ministers

Wen Xiujie stood up. "You now have two choices."

Shen Qiongju raised her head, her eyes vacant.

"The first option." Wen Xiujie held up one finger.

"Make Old Man Pei write a letter of divorce to his dead eldest grandson, and divorce you out of the Pei family."

"Then, you will obediently enter my Wen family mansion and become my concubine."

Shen Qiongju's gaze grew colder, and she remained silent.

"The second option." Wen Xiujie held up another finger.

"You will continue to be Mrs. Pei, go to prison with the Pei family, and then be exiled to Dabao Village on the border to perform forced labor."

"As for forced labor, the men built the Great Wall, and the women washed military uniforms. That place was extremely harsh; out of ten people who went, it was considered good if three came back alive."

He paused, his smile growing increasingly cruel.

Shen Qiongju didn't even think before she was about to speak—

"etc."

Wen Xiujie suddenly interrupted her, a meaningful smile appearing on his face.

There's one more thing I forgot to tell you.

A sense of foreboding welled up in Shen Qiongju's heart.

"Your brother-in-law, Pei Zhihui," Wen Xiujie said slowly, as if admiring her expression, "encountered bandits on his way to the prefectural city."

"The carriage has fallen off a cliff."

Shen Qiongju's face instantly turned ugly.

"What...what did you say?"

.

One day earlier, on the official road outside Liangzhou city.

A horse-drawn carriage moved slowly, its wheels splashing up muddy water as they rolled over the muddy road.

Inside the carriage, Pei Zhihui leaned against the wall, coughed a few times, and took out a handkerchief from his pocket to cover his mouth.

"Second Young Master, are you alright?" the old servant driving the carriage asked, turning around.

"It's alright." Pei Zhihui put away the handkerchief, his voice indifferent. He lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside.

The sky was heavily overcast, and the distant mountain shadows were blurred.

The carriage suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Pei Zhihui asked.

The old servant trembled and couldn't answer.

Pei Zhihui lifted the carriage curtain and looked ahead. Ahead, more than a dozen masked men were blocking the middle of the road, the leader of whom was carrying a machete.

"Get down." The man's voice was rough, but tinged with amusement.

The old servant's face turned deathly pale. "Second...Young Master, it's...it's a bandit..."

Before he could finish speaking, an arrow pierced through the air and went straight through his chest.

The old servant's eyes widened, and he leaned back, falling off the cart.

Pei Zhihui's eyes turned cold.

He lifted the carriage curtain and jumped down.

The moment his foot touched the ground, a machete came hurtling towards him.

He sidestepped, grabbed the man's wrist, and twisted it forcefully.

With a snap, his wrist broke.

The man screamed and dropped his knife.

Pei Zhihui picked up the knife and swung it with his backhand.

A flash of light, and the man clutched his neck and fell to the ground.

Blood splattered all over him.

"You've got some skill." The leader laughed. "No wonder Commander Wen warned us to be careful."

Pei Zhihui paused, then looked up at the man.

The man felt a chill run down his spine from his gaze and took a step back.

"What are you standing there for? Attack!"

A dozen or so masked men rushed forward.

Pei Zhihui gripped his knife tightly, killing as he fled.

Swords flashed and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

Before long, his wounds were layered upon layered, and every swing of the knife aggravated the wounds, causing him to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

However, he could not hold on for long before he was forced back to the edge of the cliff. Exhausted, he collapsed to his knees and coughed up a pool of blood.

The knife in his hand was broken in half, and he was covered in blood, it was impossible to tell whether it was his own or someone else's.

Scholars are not skilled in martial arts, and he eventually lost consciousness and rolled down the hillside.

During his fall, his body hit rocks and tree branches. Finally, he grabbed a vine and wedged his foot into a crevice between the rocks.

He looked up and vaguely heard several masked men talking.

"They fell."

"Is he dead?"

"It's so high, and he's injured. He'll definitely die if he falls."

"Let's go back and report." The footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

Pei Zhihui gritted his teeth, his fingers gripping the thin vine tightly, which could break at any moment.

He looked up and saw that the mountain walls were too steep to climb, and looked down and saw a bottomless abyss.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Then, he started to move to the side.

Inch by inch, they moved slowly until they finally touched a recessed area, which turned out to be a cave.

He used his last bit of strength to flip himself into the cave. As soon as he landed, he could no longer hold on and fainted.

.

"I choose the second one."

Shen Qiongju's voice was soft, yet resolute.

Wen Xiujie's smile froze.

He seemed not to have heard clearly, turning his head slightly. "What did you say?"

"I said," Shen Qiongju raised her head, her red and swollen eyes revealing a resolute determination, "I choose to serve on the border with the Pei family."

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

The next second, Wen Xiujie suddenly burst out laughing.

He laughed so hard his shoulders were shaking, as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world.

"Shen Qiongju, have you gone mad?" He leaned down, staring intently into her eyes. "Do you know what kind of place Dabao Village is? It's a harsh, desolate border region. If ten people go there, three might come back alive!"

"You, a pampered merchant's daughter, would die within six months if you went there!"

Shen Qiongju didn't speak, but simply turned her face away from him.

Of course she knew what Dabao Village was.

In their previous life, the Pei family was exiled there. Pei Shoulian died on the way, and Pei Junlan died of headaches less than three months after arriving in Dabao Village. Only Pei Zhihui and a few young clansmen survived.

She bet that Pei Zhihui was not dead.

How could someone who started plotting at the age of sixteen and climbed step by step to the pinnacle of power die so easily in a carriage falling off a cliff?

As long as he lives, he will definitely be able to rescue the Pei family.

As for herself...

If I don't go to Dabao Village to serve now, I will definitely be taken back to the Wen residence by Wen Xiujie, which is absolutely unacceptable.

Shen Qiongju lowered her eyelashes.

Besides, this is something she owes Pei Zhichao, so going to Dabao Village to take care of the Pei family can be considered a form of atonement.

She would suffer for less than a year. Next year, the Crown Prince would be born, and the Emperor would be overjoyed and grant a general amnesty. Even if Pei Zhihui really died outside, she and the Pei family would still be granted a general amnesty.

"Fine, very well." Wen Xiujie's voice turned cold. He straightened up and looked down at her. "Since you're courting death, don't blame me for being impolite."

"Someone come here!"

Two soldiers entered in response.

"Take her to the county jail and send her out in exile tomorrow morning along with the Pei family!"

.

The county jail was cold and damp.

Shen Qiongju was pushed into a cell where female members of the Pei family were already imprisoned.

Pei Junlan sat against the wall, her face pale and her forehead covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, clearly suffering from a headache.

Liu held her youngest child, Pei Zhichun, who was crying so hard her voice was hoarse, snuggling in her mother's arms.

There were also two wives from the Pei family's neighboring houses, huddled in a corner with empty eyes.

As soon as Shen Qiongju entered, everyone's eyes swept over her.

Those gazes contained resentment, disgust, and even naked hatred.

"You dare come here again?" Liu suddenly stood up, finally finding an outlet for her pent-up emotions, and pointed at her nose, crying, "You culprit!"

"If it weren't for you, how could our Pei family have fallen to this state!"

"You stole the blueprints for the Pei family's mechanisms, caused Zhi Chao's death, and now you've implicated our entire family, resulting in their exile!"

"Why don't you just die!"

Shen Qiongju trembled slightly from the scolding, but did not defend herself.

Because she had nothing to say, it was indeed she who stole the blueprints, she caused Pei Zhichao's death, and she implicated the Pei family.

On the surface, these are all facts.

"That's enough," Pei Junlan's weak voice rang out.

She struggled to open her eyes, glanced at Shen Qiongju, and then closed them again.

"What's the point of cursing her? Things have come to this point, will cursing her get us out of here?"

Liu wanted to say something more, but Pei Junlan stopped her with a look.

The prison cell fell silent once more.

Shen Qiongju chose a clean straw nest in the corner to sit down. No one wanted to sit with her, but she had plenty of room to herself.

Late at night.

Pei Zhichun's cries echoed from the cell. The little girl was cold and hungry, and her cries were heart-wrenching.

Shen Qiongju looked at the small figure curled up in the adult's arms and felt a pang of sadness.

She stood up and walked to Liu.

"Sister-in-law, there are two more pieces of pear syrup candy here. Would Ah Chun like some?" she said softly.

Liu looked at her warily. "What do you want to do?"

"Let the child have a piece of candy," Shen Qiongju said. "Even adults can't stand being hungry, let alone children."

Liu hesitated for a moment. She had just complained to the person, and it would be difficult for her to ask for candy now.

But seeing the hopeful look in Xiaozhichun's eyes, she finally accepted the candy.

After eating the candy, Xiao Zhichun's mood improved a lot, but she still didn't want to sleep. She shook her head and secretly peeked at her in the adult's arms.

Shen Qiongju looked at her with a smile and hummed a lullaby from the North, a lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was a child.

The gentle melody echoed in the cold prison cell, surprisingly warming one's heart.

Pei Zhichun gradually stopped fussing and eventually fell asleep in the adults' arms.

Pei Junlan opened her eyes, glanced at her, and a complex emotion flashed in her eyes.