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

Upon smelling the aroma, the other guards immediately lost all interest in continuing their journey, wrinkling their noses and sniffing the air incessantly.

Chu Jinsheng, unable to bear it any longer, called over Xiao Wu, who was standing nearby.

"Send someone to the front to see who is eating."

Ji Yunshu is gone, so is there anyone else in the team with this kind of ability?

You can make something that smells so good, and instead of offering it to him, the eldest prince, you're just eating it all by yourself?!

Xiao Wu nodded and quickly walked forward. He also wanted to see who had the ability to make something to eat while traveling.

If someone in the team really had that ability, he now wanted to take advantage of the Crown Prince's influence to ask that person for some spare ribs.

There was no way around it; he was just too hungry and hadn't tasted meat in a long time.

The princess had prepared so many crocodiles, but the eldest prince just wouldn't give in, leaving the guards without even a taste of the meat.

Although the people from the capital brought some supplies, most of them were dry rations and no meat.

He kept walking with the group until he was almost at the front, but he still didn't notice anything unusual. Everyone was still on their way and no one was eating.

Xiao Wu looked puzzled. They were walking at the back and hadn't heard the previous discussion.

The villagers were extremely annoyed when they saw the eldest prince's men, so they naturally didn't talk to him much.

Xiao Wu had almost searched the entire group, but still couldn't find anything unusual. He was puzzled. The air smelled so good with pork ribs. Did they all have a problem with their noses?

He was puzzled. Since he hadn't found anything unusual, he planned to turn back and report the truth to the Crown Prince. However, as he walked past the people in the Prince's mansion, the smell of pork ribs in the air grew stronger and stronger.

He subconsciously looked at Xie Moyao on the cart, just as Xie Moyao looked at him. Their eyes met, and Xie Moyao's gaze was half-smiling, half-cold.

Is it...

Xiao Wu was so frightened that he jumped.

He was wrong, he must have been wrong. The princess wasn't in the group, and the prince's foot was injured. The other women in the palace wouldn't be able to find anything to eat.

Thinking this, he gave Xie Moyao an awkward smile and was about to leave when he bumped into the mistress walking towards him.

"Hey, Fifth Prince, what are you dawdling for? Didn't the First Prince tell you to come up here and find out who's eating ribs?!"

As she spoke, the mistress turned to the others and shouted loudly.

"Listen up, all of you! Whoever in the group is eating ribs, if the Crown Prince is hungry, quickly take out the ribs you have and offer them to him!"

The Crown Prince will not treat you unfairly. If anyone tries to be stingy and sneakily refuses to take out the ribs, don't blame us for taking them by force!

The eldest prince is the most distinguished person here. Naturally, any food we have should be offered to him first. Do you all understand?

After the mistress finished speaking, the surroundings fell silent.

The group continued on their way as usual, ignoring him completely and treating him as if he were invisible.

Everyone: ...

Ha, Your Highness, what a big face you have.

They ignored them before, but now they come looking for them just because they smelled something in the air. They're so shameless.

This was Xiao San's first time interacting with the villagers. As the eldest prince's guard, he felt superior. Seeing that no one was paying attention to what he said, he became somewhat annoyed and started pointing and cursing at the crowd.

"Don't think that just because you don't talk, I can't do anything to you. Once I find out, I will make that person vomit up everything they've eaten!"

"Remember this well, you are all citizens of the Eastern Ling Kingdom. In the entire Eastern Ling Kingdom, besides His Majesty, the First Prince is the most noble. No matter what, the First Prince must be given priority!"

He kept rambling on and on, but no one around him responded.

Xiao Wu stood not far from Xie Moyao. Seeing Xiao San getting closer and closer to them, Xiao Wu quickly stepped forward, came to Xiao San's side, and pulled him back.

"Hey, why are you arguing with them? They're just ordinary villagers. Besides, didn't you see? Everyone's on their way, they don't have time to prepare food."

We don't know where the smell in the air is coming from. Let's go back and look around. Ribs need to be stewed over a fire; who can stew ribs while walking?

As he spoke, he shoved the mistress back.

Xiao San didn't think much of it. Indeed, as Xiao Wu said, stewing pork ribs requires a fire, and the team was still on the move, which clearly didn't meet the requirements.

Either they smelled it wrong, or the smell was coming from something else in the surrounding area.

When the two returned, Chu Jinsheng was sitting impatiently in the carriage. Seeing that they had come back empty-handed, he was immediately furious.

"Where's what I told you to find? Why did you come back empty-handed!"

If one mistress is useless, then another mistress is also useless?

Or perhaps, the people under his command are all useless.

Xiao Wu didn't say anything and stood aside on his own. He was used to the First Prince scolding him every time things weren't done well.

He's used to it, but his mistress isn't.

The mistress stood before the eldest prince, her face serious.

"Your Highness, Xiao Wu and I just went to check ahead. The procession is still moving forward, and we didn't see anyone eating anything, let alone gnawing on ribs."

The smell in the air might be emanating from other things in the surroundings, creating an illusion for us.

He rambled on and on, but Chu Jinsheng was already in a bad mood and didn't want to listen to his nonsense. Before he could finish speaking, Chu Jinsheng slapped him across the face.

"Snapped!"

The mistress was a little confused, not knowing what she had said wrong.

Chu Jinsheng stared at him with a cold, gloomy expression.

"I sent you all to the front to look around, not to come here and spout this nonsense. I just want to know if you brought back any food?!"

The mistress was stunned by the beating. Hearing his words, she shook her head blankly and said, "No."

"Snapped!"

He had barely finished speaking when he received another solid slap on the other cheek, making him see stars.

"I, the prince, sent you to find me food. If you didn't find any, fine. Stop with the nonsense! You're utterly useless!"

Did your whole team even look at it? What do you mean by "it's emanating from other things around us"? Can't you all use your brains?

The forest is so big, and we've walked so far, but we didn't smell this scent. Yet, we smelled it right here.

"And didn't you notice the smell of ribs in the air getting fainter? That means the smell must have been coming from the front! You two idiots, you can't even handle something this simple!"

Standing to the side, Xiao Wu heard Chu Jinsheng's words and suddenly remembered the meaningful smile the prince gave him when he passed by the prince just now.