The Princess of the Substitute Bride Strikes Back

Watching the younger daughter-in-law comforting the older daughter-in-law, and thinking of her own poor eldest son, Luo Huijuan felt heartbroken.

When she first heard the imperial edict, her heart felt like broken porcelain. Even though her youngest son had told her in advance, when the moment finally came, the heartache still came over her like a tide.

But she couldn't fall down. She had elderly parents and young children to take care of, and her eldest daughter-in-law was pregnant. She had to stand up strong and protect them.

Mu Yibai was watching his sister-in-law in the next cell. Seeing that she was getting better with Fu Yunxi's persuasion, he gave her a grateful look and said in a deep voice, "It's been hard on the road, so I ask you to take care of my sister-in-law. The road to exile is bumpy, so take care of yourself. If you have the energy to spare, please look after my sister-in-law."

All the events of his past life flashed through his mind, and in countless midnight dreams he hated his own incompetence for failing to protect his family.

Although he had made sufficient preparations in this life, he was still worried about his elderly grandmother, his frail mother, his pregnant sister-in-law, Aunt Jiang's family and his younger sister.

Without even realizing it, he began to trust Fu Yunxi and believed that she would protect his family.

Fu Yunxi smiled slightly, her teeth were like woven shells, which was very touching. "Your family is my family. I will do my best to protect them."

She did not lie, she firmly believed that hard work would be rewarded, so in this life, she would treat them as her own family!

This remark made Mu Yibai look away uncomfortably, and he sighed in his heart, wondering why he would say such words to her for no reason, and what kind of person was she?

"Come and get your dinner, or it will be gone if you're late!"

The jailer's shouting brought everyone back to their senses. They realized that it was already evening. The wedding banquet had caused a big fuss and no one had eaten a single drop of water. Their stomachs were already empty.

The people in the big house had some food in advance, but after a few hours, they were also very hungry.

When they came forward to take a look, they saw only dozens of coarse flour steamed buns in the bucket and a jar of clean water next to it. The eldest grandson of the second house, Mu Yuanzhang, was the first to rush over. When he saw the steamed buns, he burst into tears!

"Woo woo woo, I don't want to eat steamed bread, I want to eat meat, I want to eat fish and shrimp..."

Seeing her grandson crying so sadly, Cai felt so distressed that she quickly ran to the railing, took Mu Yuanzhang's hand, and comforted him, "My dear grandson, don't cry. Grandma will find you something delicious, my sweetheart!"

"Mu Yiguo, hurry up and get something to eat for Zhang'er. What will happen if my grandson starves?" Cai yelled at Mu Yiguo while coaxing Mu Yuanzhang.

"What are you yelling about, you crazy woman? Do you think you are the Second Madam Mu? Just accept your fate!" The jailer at the side saw Cai yelling and scolded her.

"Sir, please be kind and give the child something delicious. The adults are fine, but the child is still growing and can't eat these!"

Mu Yiguo tried to negotiate with the jailer to get some better food.

"Didn't you hear what I said? You have been reduced to refugees, and you are still dreaming. If you want to eat good food, then use your money to buy it."

"Sir, please be kind. We just want to eat something edible."

Mu Yiguo took out a five-liang silver note from his pocket and, using the cover of his sleeve, handed it over the railing to the jailer.

The jailer opened it and saw that there was only five taels, so he asked again: "Are you asking for food for just one person, or for all of you?"

Mu Yiguo understood that the jailer was dissatisfied because the money was too little. You know, five taels of silver could buy a full meal in a restaurant, but now they were prisoners and could only do whatever they wanted.

Although he was dissatisfied, he was now a prisoner. No matter how dissatisfied he was, he could do nothing. He had no choice but to take out another twenty taels of silver from his other pocket and handed it over. "We don't ask for much, as long as we can fill our stomachs. Thank you for your help, sir."

The jailer took the banknote and left.

Upon seeing this, Fu Yunxi ignored the people from the second room, and went to the bucket with Mu Yibai's sister Jiaojiao to get a steamed bun for each person in the first room and poured a bowl of water.

Seeing this, Mu Yibai in the next cell pushed his wheelchair to the door and picked up a steamed bun, and his half-brother Mu Yiheng also took one.

"Oh, you people from the first house are really flexible. You can even eat coarse flour steamed bread. It seems that you are not noble people!" The eighth concubine from the second house made a sarcastic remark.

She knew that she was now in exile, the Mu family was no longer prosperous, and she could no longer enjoy a life of luxury, but she could rely on Mu Yiguo to make her life easier in exile.

After all, Mu Yiguo has money, and she knows how to please him!

As expected, when Mu Yiguo heard what the Eighth Aunt said, he straightened his back and said proudly, "Yes, Yibai, my second uncle gave the jailer 20 taels of silver notes, and dinner will be here soon, so why are you still eating steamed bread?"

Mu Yibai laughed secretly in his heart. There were many places where money was needed during the exile. He spent twenty taels just for this dinner. He really didn't face the reality. It was ridiculous!

But he didn't show it on the surface, and said: "Thank you for your kindness, second uncle. I'm afraid we will have to eat like this during our exile. It's better for us to get used to it in advance. After all, we don't have that much money to bribe the jailer."

In fact, ordinary prisoners and exiles should eat rotten noodles, and the water they are given cannot be so clean. He only found out about this on the way to exile in his previous life that the Fourth Prince Zhao Hengzhi had arranged with the jailers and soldiers in advance to replace the rotten food with steamed corn bread.

At this critical moment, the emperor has always been paying attention to the Mu family. To act in this way, he must have done his best.

The fourth prince Zhao Hengzhi and Mu Yibai grew up together and were as close as brothers. In his previous life, he did help the Mu family, but after he ascended the throne, misunderstandings arose between the two.

Mu Yibai was determined to protect the people on the border for his father and brother, but Zhao Hengzhi was already an emperor. How could he tolerate a prestigious general dominating the border, even if he was a disabled general? Since then, a series of misunderstandings followed, which eventually led to the two men turning their swords against each other.

Living his life over again, he didn't want to repeat the same mistakes. If he couldn't escape the life-and-death duel in the end, it would be better to forget each other. Maybe the feelings would fade and the obsession wouldn't be so deep.

However, he currently has no time to think so far ahead and only wants to protect his family and ensure they complete their exile safely.