Chapter 5: Madam Yang in Critical Condition

The group chat messages started scrolling rapidly:

[Vice Monitor: @Jiang Lili, did you transmigrate too?]

[Class Monitor: Did you transmigrate too?]

[Disciplinary Committee: Did you transmigrate too?]

[Hou Xiaoxiao: Did you too?]

In the class group chat, students from Class 447 began joining the conversation one after another, their responses perfectly aligned!

It turned out that everyone was still alive! They had all transmigrated!

Jiang Lili almost burst into tears from joy!

At first, she had been frantic and anxious, alone in her transmigrating experience. But seeing her classmates join in on the adventure, she suddenly felt at ease!

Other students felt the same way. Being thrown into a strange, unfamiliar world with no help seemed overwhelming at first, but discovering that they were not alone helped ease their anxiety.

[Vice Monitor: Good news, everyone: I’m not dead, I’ve transmigrated. Bad news: I became the emperor’s personal eunuch! Might as well have stayed dead!]

The Vice Monitor posted a selfie in the group, showing himself with a delicate posture, holding the standard eunuch’s brush.

[Class Monitor: I heard you were a “sea king” in college, juggling five relationships at once. To think you’ve ended up like this—karma really does work!]

[Jiang Lili: So, did our entire class transmigrated to ancient times?]

After sending this message, the group chat interface kept scrolling, as one by one, students popped up, revealing their identities. Jiang Lili was both surprised and delighted!

[Zhang Xiaopang: I think I managed to escape a disaster by being late?]

[Class Monitor: You’re really lucky! I’m over here, preparing for the imperial examination in ancient times, and I still have to focus on studying even after transmigrating?]

[Hou Xiaoxiao: Transmigrated as the main wife in a royal household, with concubines everywhere. My major in human resources management is finally coming in handy.]

[Yan Chaoyue: I’ve turned into a brave and skilled khan of the grasslands. In two weeks, I’m supposed to lead an army into battle. Can someone help me??? I’m a veterinary student, not a martial artist!]

Jiang Lili nearly laughed out loud when she read Yan Chaoyue’s message!

Yan Chaoyue was the group leader of the “Tian” group, the weakest student in the class. He would pass out after running just a 1,000-meter race. He always stood with the girls who were on their period during physical education class and had the infamous nickname of “Kidney-deficient Young Master,” known throughout the school.

The classmates all called him “Young Master Yan.”

But as Jiang Lili read through the messages, she couldn’t laugh anymore.

It seemed like everyone else who transmigrated had either a noble or powerful identity, while she alone was the unfortunate exiled one. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of unfairness.

[Class Monitor: Everyone, please update your contact names with the format: Name + Identity. If you see this, reply with 1.]

[Guan Yue (Mountain Bandit Leader): Brothers and sisters, everyone’s doing great, and here I am, the bandit queen in a mountain cave? The scenery and wild game are good, and my subordinates are obedient. I even have a handsome husband, but there’s no phone, so it’s super boring (lighting a cigarette).]

The group discussed for a while and finally figured out that they were communicating via brainwaves now.

[Jiang Lili: Yueyue, you’re at least the leader, so why am I the only one who’s an exiled criminal? I’m going to make a scene! I nearly got bitten by a wolf just now!]

Upon hearing about Jiang Lili’s situation, everyone quickly started giving her advice. After all, Jiang Lili was the class favorite of 447, the one who had saved everyone’s lives. Now that their life-saver was in trouble, the classmates were all worried for her.

[Class Monitor: Lili, send your location. Maybe someone nearby can come help right away.]

Jiang Lili opened the chat toolbar and clicked on “Send Location.”

[Guan Yue (Mountain Bandit Leader): !!! I’m nearby! My bandit lair is on the main route you exiles are traveling, I’ll come to help!]

When Jiang Lili saw this message, she felt a sense of relief—this was the best news she had heard since transmigrating!

However—

“The wife of the Marquis, Madam Yang, doesn’t have many days left!”

The murmurs of the officers brought Jiang Lili back to reality. She was startled and quickly walked over to Xin Che.

She had thought that Madam Yang’s condition was merely due to emotional stress, but she didn’t expect it to be this serious.

Marquis Xin Chong looked at Xin Che with concern. “Che’er, take a look, what exactly is happening?”

Having spent five years on the frontier with poor medical conditions, Xin Che knew a little about medicine.

He had already deduced the cause of Madam Yang’s collapse. His mother had always been frail, and the hardships of the journey, along with insufficient food, had taken a toll. Many exiles lost their lives like this on the road.

His voice was heavy. “She’s physically weak, overexerted, and her body is failing.”

His younger brother, Xin Cheng, asked anxiously, “How can we treat her?”

Xin Che lowered his gaze to Madam Yang’s waxen face. “She needs to rest in bed for a few days, and she must take nourishing tonics to recover.”

Everyone in the Marquis’ household fell silent. If they were still in their previous situation, having Madam Yang rest in bed and recuperate wouldn’t have been considered a problem at all.

But now, as exiles, that was simply impossible.

Every day, they had to march fifty miles. How could they stop to rest and recuperate? They could barely get enough to eat, let alone afford nourishing supplements.

It was an impossible situation.

Wang Zifu sneered. “You’re here to serve your punishment. Rest and recovery? What a joke.”

“Let her wait to die—it saves me from having to look after another burden!”

With a flick of his whip, he barked, “Enough! Get back to sleep, all of you! It’s the middle of the night!”

“And if anyone causes trouble again, don’t blame me if my whip doesn’t spare you!”

He pointed at Xin Che and Jiang Lili. “As for you two, breaking the rules? Your punishment is two days without food!”

With that, Wang Zifu stormed back to his tent, clearly in a hurry.

Nearby, some of the officers looked surprised. Wang Zifu was infamous for his ruthlessness, yet tonight, he didn’t thoroughly punish Xin Che and Jiang Lili. Though puzzled, they didn’t dwell on it. Their attention quickly turned to the wolf carcass Xin Che had dragged back.

“Look at this wolf’s coat—so sleek and shiny. Skin it, and it’ll fetch a good price.”

“The meat’s edible too, though a bit tough.”

The officers wasted no time divvying up the wolf carcass.

The other exiles, realizing there was no more spectacle to watch, returned to their places. Death on the exile route was too common to warrant much reaction. As for the wolf meat? They didn’t even entertain the thought. It was far beyond their reach.

The members of the Marquis household gathered around Madam Yang in silence, the atmosphere heavy with dread.

From the capital to Yan Prefecture, they had only completed a fifth of their journey into exile. Yet, four exiles in the group had already perished—worn down and consumed by the harsh conditions.

Xin Cheng clutched Madam Yang’s frail hand, his eyes reddened despite being a proud man of seven feet.

“Our Marquis household fought valiantly in war, serving the empire with utmost loyalty. How did we end up like this?”

“My sister, my mother… one after another, slipping away beyond our reach.”

Xin Cheng’s wife, Sister-in-law Chen, looked sorrowfully at the unconscious Madam Yang. Even in her fainted state, Madam Yang had turned on her side, facing the northwest. Sister-in-law Chen’s tears fell uncontrollably, like a broken string of pearls.

“Mother can’t even rest peacefully. She faces the northwest even in her sleep… I wonder if Third Sister has safely arrived at the grassland tribe.”

Marquis Xin Chong gazed at his wife lying on the ground, then turned his weary eyes toward the northwest. His expression was etched with age and despair.

“The khan of that grassland tribe is known for his cruelty. Her journey there is fraught with danger.”

Unable to contain the bitterness swelling in his chest, he exclaimed, “I, Xin Chong, am a founding hero of this empire! I spent half my life in the service of Great Sheng, fighting on the battlefield—and yet, my only daughter was sent to the frontier as a marriage alliance pawn by the emperor!”

<< _ >>

**TN

King of Zhao – more like Duke of Zhao.

MC gained the title Princess Consort but it’s different from actual princess. It’s the same in Japan where there is Hime (Princess) but it’s different from the actual princess which is Oujo.

Seven-foot tall man – his aura not his height

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