Exile? A mad, wicked woman empties the national treasury to escape famine.

Hearing the officials' voices, he looked up and saw Ji Yunshu disappear at the edge of the woods. His stomach growled loudly with hunger, so Ling Yun waved his hand and gave the order.

"Eat, eat, all you do is eat! Everyone else in the group has disappeared, and you're still busy eating!"

"Gurgle, gurgle..." Ling Yun had just finished speaking when his stomach started growling uncontrollably. Ling Yun became even more annoyed. After a whole night of tossing and turning, plus this morning, he was indeed hungry.

"Alright, let's split into two groups. Some of you will go and search for the Luo family members, whether they are alive or dead. The rest of you will come into the woods with me. We'll follow the princess and see if we can find some food. Whether the Luo family members are alive or dead, we need to have enough to eat."

As he spoke, he pointed to several of the officers and told them to look for the Luo family members along the riverbank they had just come from.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to say something to the other exiled prisoners.

"I told you before, you're on your own to feed yourselves. We're going to rest here for a while, so figure out how to eat. If you can't find anything, you'll starve to death!"

After saying that, he led some other officials and headed in the direction Ji Yunshu had left.

The entire Luo family has disappeared. Of the exiled prisoners, only Aunt Zhu, Minister Ji, and a few members of the Xie family's second branch remain.

The group looked at each other, their faces full of distress as they recalled Ling Yun's words. Along the way, they had mostly survived on the cold steamed buns that Ling Yun had given them. Although they were hard to eat, they managed to eat them and not starve to death. But now Ling Yun had said that he didn't care about them anymore!

Just ignore it!

If we leave them to find something to eat, where are they supposed to find it?

The group was at a loss for what to do. After all that trouble, Aunt Zhu was barely alive. She didn't even have the strength to walk if they asked her to find something to eat. She looked pitifully at Minister Ji.

Minister Ji had a cold face. He had had enough of this journey. Neither of his two daughters was useful!

Neither of them cared about his life or death. Ji Yunshu was one thing, as she had never been close to him since childhood. But Ji Yunyao, who had been living a life of luxury with the eldest prince all this time, hadn't even thought of her father at all!

Ungrateful wretch! Absolutely an ungrateful wretch!

He'd rather raise a beast than his two daughters!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He raised his hand and slapped Aunt Zhu across the face.

"You bitch, what are you doing looking like you're half-dead? Didn't you hear me? Figure out how to get food yourself. If you can't find any, see how I deal with you!"

"If it weren't for that useless daughter of yours, who only cares about her own pleasure, would I be in this state today!"

Aunt Zhu covered her face, not daring to breathe.

She was so hungry that she felt dizzy and weak, and she felt a little feverish, but she dared not let anyone notice.

If Ling Yun and Minister Ji found out that she had a fever, they would definitely suspect that she had also been infected with the plague and would not hesitate to throw her out of the group.

She forced a weak smile, her lips barely moving.

"My lord, please don't be angry. Before, Yao'er had just started dating the First Prince, and their relationship wasn't very deep yet. Now that Yao'er has been by the First Prince's side for so many days, I'm sure the First Prince still cares about Yao'er."

Look, when they were running away from the village before, didn't the First Prince have his men carry Yao'er away?

If he didn't care about Yao'er, he definitely wouldn't have gone to such lengths. Calm down, we'll go talk to Yao'er later and ask her to speak to the Crown Prince and ask him to share some of the food with us. In short, we shouldn't starve.

"Besides, you've watched Yao'er grow up since she was little. You should know her best. She wouldn't abandon me to my fate. She didn't care before because she was worried that the First Prince would dislike her, but it's different now. I believe the First Prince will definitely listen to Yao'er!"

Now that things have come to this, she has no other choice. She is a woman who is powerless to even kill a chicken. It would be strange if she could find food on her own in this desolate wilderness!

We have no choice but to try anything, even if it seems hopeless!

Ji Yunyao was, after all, her own daughter. She refused to believe that she could just stand by and watch her daughter, whom she had raised for so many years, starve to death.

Hearing these words, Minister Ji's expression softened slightly, but he still glared coldly at Aunt Zhu.

"Alright, you said it yourself. I'll make this clear from the start: if Ji Yunyao really doesn't care about our lives, from now on, I'll consider her as someone who doesn't have a daughter!"

Besides that, I don't care what method you use, you absolutely must get me some food, or I'll divorce you!

Aunt Zhu's face turned pale. She had been with Minister Ji for decades, and he had never mentioned divorcing her!

Now they're saying they want to divorce her?

This desolate mountain wilderness, the journey of exile is long and arduous. If she were truly divorced by Minister Ji, she feared no one would even claim her body after she died. Aunt Zhu shrank back slightly and hurriedly nodded.

"Yes, yes, don't worry, sir. No matter what, I will definitely get you some food. I think I just saw Yao'er wake up. Let's go and talk to her. After all, we are her parents. She won't abandon us."

As she spoke, she reached out and grabbed Minister Ji, preparing to head towards Ji Yunyao. Minister Ji, still furious, flung her away, smoothed his sleeves, and stormed off.

Aunt Zhu quickly got up from the ground and followed behind Minister Ji; the two left one after the other.

Only the second branch of the Xie family remained in the original location.

Xie Mohe was almost frantic with worry. She watched helplessly as Minister Ji and Aunt Zhu went to ask Ji Yunyao for food. What were they going to do?

She turned to look at her parents, and seeing them looking half-dead, Xie Mohe immediately flew into a rage.

"Father, Mother, what are we going to do? You have to think of something! The officials aren't giving us food. What are we going to eat for lunch today?!"

Xie Zhaoting and his wife looked weak, as if they were on the verge of death.

"Mohe, your mother and I really can't take it anymore. We're old and our bodies can't withstand the strain. You're young, so from now on, the responsibility of providing provisions will be yours!"

"Don't worry if you suffer a little on the journey. Once we reach our destination, your father and mother will definitely make it up to you many times over!"

Xie Mohe gritted her teeth in anger and stomped her feet on the ground a few times!

Why did you leave it to her?

She's someone who's never lifted a finger in the kitchen and has never worried about food, but now her father says he wants to entrust the responsibility of feeding the whole family to her!

What's going on?

She doesn't have that kind of ability to solve the problem of feeding a whole family!

This is so annoying! If I had known it would be like this, I would have been more careful with the food that Ji Yunshu gave them on the way after the family split up!

We didn't have much left to begin with, but the floodwaters rose while we were in the village, and we got soaked. We were so focused on escaping that we didn't even manage to save the last bit of food!

Now they're in trouble. They don't have a single grain of rice on them. If they don't hurry up and find something to eat, they'll go hungry!

She was so anxious she was almost in tears. She had never encountered anything like this before and didn't know what to do.