He Zhiran was always vigilant. No matter where she went, she would first observe her surroundings.
This observation was no big deal.
She realized that most of the prisoners looked at the Mohists with hostility.
To confirm that she was not seeing things, He Zhiran rubbed her eyebrows and observed again. It was still the same.
Some people could no longer restrain themselves and started cursing loudly at the Mohists.
"Mo Jiuye, you are a broom star who got your whole family executed. Now you've come to get us too."
"Mohists, I curse you all to suffer a terrible death."
"If it weren't for you, how could the He family suffer such an undeserved calamity?"
"... "
Hearing these people cursing with increasing excitement, while the officers made no attempt to stop them at all.
This made He Zhiran first think that having these people exiled with the Mohists must have been prearranged by the despotic emperor, with the intention of causing trouble for the Mohists.
However, no matter how she thought about it, she just could not figure out why these people were calling Mo Jiuye a broom star.
It looked like with these people around, the journey would not be boring...
Mo Jiuye listened to the cursing, trying hard to control his emotions to prevent lashing out at those people in excitement.
However, he still wanted to see who exactly was cursing him.
So he squinted through the fringe of his bangs to look in the direction of the voices.
He recognized some of these people, who were court officials.
No need to think further, those cursing must be the families of those officials.
What was puzzling was why they would curse him?
Mo Jiuye's mind raced as he considered whether he had any conflicts with these people.
Soon, he was certain of the answer.
One of them with the surname He used to be the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He was in charge of distributing rations when Mo Jiuye was fighting wars on the border.
As a result, He Zhiyuan embezzled rations for his own personal gain. Mo Jiuye submitted a memorial to Emperor Shunwu to thoroughly investigate the matter.
There was also Li Liang, who was a compiler in the Hanlin Academy. He had just returned to the capital when Li Liang took the initiative to ask Mo Jiuye to take his illegitimate daughter as a concubine. Mo Jiuye rejected him outright.
Other than that, he had no other dealings with Li Liang.
Looking at the ones cursing most fervently, it was Vice Minister Fang Chuanzhou of the Ministry of War.
Fang Chuanzhou used to be the vice minister of the Ministry of War and had no conflicts with Mo Jiuye.
He and He Zhiran shared the same confusion about why these people were calling him a broom star.
Could it be that when the emperor convicted them of crimes, he implicated Mo Jiuye as well?
Just as Mo Jiuye was utterly bewildered, Sister-in-law Xie Fang ran towards the cursers in tears.
"Father, Mother, Eldest Brother, Youngest Brother, how did you all get convicted too?"
No wonder her closest family members did not come to see her off.
Xie's father had a face full of worry. Facing his daughter, he squeezed out a smile uglier than crying.
"It was Father who did something wrong and was punished by His Majesty."
"Father, don't lie. The Xie family was clearly implicated by the Duke's residence. Why are you hiding this from my sister?" Xie Ming was full of resentment, glaring at Mo Jiuye who was lying on the wooden cart.
Just as Xie Fang was about to ask for details, Xie Father scolded Xie Ming.
"Xie Ming, shut your mouth. Is this a place for talking?"
Xie Ming resentfully glanced at his father, helplessly shutting his mouth.
Sister-in-law also understood these twists and turns. What's more, with so many people watching the Xie family, even if she was anxious to know the truth, she could not be impatient at this moment.
Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran saw Sister-in-law run to talk to her natal family, and they both pricked up their ears to listen carefully to the story, but Xie Father was prudent and the two listened in vain.
Just like Sister-in-law, they could only find another opportunity to understand what exactly had happened.
Mother Mo was steadfast. Seeing her in-laws, whether they were pleased to see her or not, she politely nodded her head in greeting.
The officers had finished the handover and then perfunctorily went to stop the cursing against the Mo family.
These people had not yet fully entered the role of criminals. Faced with the officers' rebukes, it could be said that they were neither obedient nor convinced.
They talked back to the officers one remark after another.
In the officers' eyes, these people were no different from dead men, so how could they indulge them?
Some immediately took whips from their waists and lashed the ones who were cursing most fervently.
"Looks like you're tired of living. Just say so if you don't want to make it alive to the northwest."
The whip lashes on their bodies instantly pulled back their sanity.
Looking down again at the coarse hemp clothes even worse than commoners' wear, they had no choice but to believe the facts of their family's seizure and their exile.
Looking again at the whips in the officers' hands, they no longer dared to bristle.
However, they still glared at the Mo family.
The Mo ladies, led by Mother Mo, didn't even look at their faces.
This gave those people the feeling of punching cotton.
An officer shouted, "While the day is still early, let's hit the road immediately."
Just as his voice fell, a carriage came from the direction of the capital.
"Wait a moment......Please stop......" the coachman shouted.
Including the officers, everyone squinted to look over.
The carriage soon stopped in front of the convoy.
The coachman immediately jumped down and lifted the curtain.
Two people with their heads wrapped up emerged from inside.
Judging by their figures, it was a man and a woman, both seemingly elderly.
As soon as they got off the carriage, their eyes searched among the crowd and finally landed on He Zhiran.
He Yuanming quickly walked over and took out a large silver ingot to hand to the lead officer.
He did not seem to want to reveal his identity, speaking to the officer very politely.
"Please do me a favor?"
The officer weighed the silver ingot in his hand.
"You have the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Be quick."
"Alright." He Yuanming responded and pulled Ling Xueyan to quickly walk towards He Zhiran.
When passing by Mother Mo, He Yuanming deliberately pulled down a bit of the scarf wrapped around his face.
Mother Mo recognized him and sensibly led the others away, leaving only He Zhiran.
Seeing her daughter in coarse hemp clothes, Ling Xueyan's tears fell like broken strands of pearls.
She hugged He Zhiran's slender body tightly and choked with sobs, "Ranran, it's Mother who wronged you...Woo...Mother shouldn't have worked with your father to force you to marry into the Mo family...Woo...It's Mother's fault..."
In her previous life, He Zhiran's parents divorced. From the time she could understand things, she was like a burden in her parents' eyes.
She had never felt the slightest bit of affection from them.
Now being held tightly in the original's mother's arms, this feeling was quite strange to her, but she did not reject it at all.
He Zhiran repeatedly raised and lowered her hand, eventually placing it on Ling Xueyan's back and patting lightly a few times.
