Chapter 48: You Are Not In Exile You Are Clearly Traveling!
Chapter 48: Secrets
As Kuang Wei spoke, the others' faces changed, filled with fear. How did she know their secrets?
At this moment, they all understood that this was a threat. If they didn't agree, their secrets would likely be exposed to everyone.
With this in mind, they all looked towards Kuang Wei.
Kuang Wei looked helpless and nodded to the others, indicating that they had no choice but to accept, otherwise, the consequences would be severe...
Everyone shivered with fear. In the end, they lowered their heads. After all, it wasn't as humiliating as shouting "I am a pig" in front of everyone; it was just apologizing.
Soon, they walked towards Chen Xue.
Xu Tian, seeing them discussing for a while before approaching, became alert. "What are you up to?"
Even the nearby prisoners were curious. A group of bailiffs was intimidating enough from a distance.
So, they were very curious if the Chen family had once again provoked these bailiffs. Some jealous individuals began to gloat.
Some showed sympathy.
Of course, there were also those who looked worried.
Kuang Wei glanced at Xu Tian but didn't pay him any attention.
The group approached Chen Xue, took a deep breath, and then lowered their heads. "Sorry for our impudence earlier. Please forgive us, Miss!"
The bailiffs bowed their heads and apologized to Chen Xue. This scene not only shocked Xu Tian but also amazed the surrounding prisoners.
They thought this group of bailiffs was here to settle the score with the Chen family and were ready to enjoy the show, but who would have known...
What a surprise!
These bailiffs actually bowed their heads to the Chen family. It was simply unbelievable.
They had witnessed the ugly faces of these bailiffs over the past few days—constantly wielding whips, cursing, and even extorting. Which prisoner didn't detest these bailiffs?
They had never seen these bailiffs smile or bow their heads before; they always acted arrogantly.
But today, they saw something extraordinary—bailiffs bowing to the Chen family.
Although the Chen family used to be high-ranking officials in the capital, they were now just prisoners. Why would these bailiffs bow to them?
People couldn't understand, especially considering Xu Tian's previous kindness towards the Chen family and Zhao Guang's recent attempts to ingratiate himself with them. Now, even these bailiffs were bowing to the Chen family. Could it be...
Could it be that the Chen family was making a comeback?
Impossible!
They had just been exiled!
Although many among them knew that Chen Yuan had been framed, after all, when they were embezzling, how could they not know who was behind the "filial piety"?
Anyway, the Chen family and they were not "on the same side."
Now, seeing the attitude of these bailiffs, something was clearly wrong.
Bowing to the Chen family... There was only one explanation for this—they couldn't afford to offend the Chen family, and the Chen family was now a group of prisoners. What could they possibly do to offend them?
The most likely explanation was that Chen Yuan might be able to clear his name and return to power. Only then could these bailiffs bow to the Chen family.
For a moment, people felt complex emotions—some were envious, some resentful. Why should the Chen family be different from everyone else? Although they were innocent, some people still felt resentful.
But they were very clear that if things were really as they suspected, they couldn't afford to offend the Chen family. On the contrary, they had to try to please them as much as possible.
At this moment, they felt fortunate that they had not mocked the Chen family before, but instead remained silent.
However, they heard that the Zhang family had offended the Chen family severely. They wondered if they would regret it.
No one knew whether the Zhang family regretted it, but at this moment, they were in trouble themselves. After leaving the post station last time, Zhang Yiquan fell ill and nearly died.
Zhang Yiquan's illness caused panic in the Zhang family. After all, Zhang Yiquan was the backbone of the Zhang family.
However, there were no doctors in the exiled team, and the bailiffs couldn't let them leave to find a doctor, let alone help them find one.
If it hadn't been for Zhang Yiquan's mother's knowledge of some folk remedies, he would probably have been the first prisoner to die in the exiled team.
Of course, this was also thanks to the sudden rule that required the collection of medicinal herbs in the exiled team, which gave them the opportunity to search for herbs in the forest and save Zhang Yiquan.
Although Zhang Yiquan had recovered from his illness, his body was still weak. Therefore, he hadn't had the time to trouble the Chen family and didn't know what the Chen family was up to now.
Back to the main topic.
While everyone was shocked by the behavior of the bailiffs, the bailiffs were nervously awaiting Chen Xue's response.
"Do you think this compensation is enough? Although my Miss has fallen from grace, she is not someone you can bully."
A dissatisfied voice came from beside Chen Xue, expressing her inner thoughts.
Chen Xue turned her head to see Xiao Die, who had appeared out of nowhere. She was surprised. "Xiao Die? How did you get here? When did you come?"
"I've been here for a while. Because the young lady and master haven't come back for so long, the madam was worried, so she sent me over to take a look."
With that, Xiao Die patted her chest proudly. "Miss, rest assured, with me here, no one will bully you."
Chen Xue felt both touched and amused. Xiao Die, this girl, was younger than her, yet she was so protective. Who was protecting whom?
However, her arrival was timely. There were some things she couldn't say herself, but Xiao Die could.
No wonder so many people wished for a loyal and clever subordinate. Sometimes, it really saved a lot of trouble.
Xiao Die's words made Kuang Wei and the others' faces change, but the next moment, her words chilled everyone's hearts.
"Don't think we don't know you still have a lot of silver on you. You're just trying to get away with giving us this little compensation!"
Kuang Wei and the others sank in their hearts. Thinking that Chen Xue knew their secrets and how much silver they had on them was quite normal.
While they were hesitating, they saw Chen Xue raise her hand as if to snap her fingers, and Kuang Wei and the others' faces changed instantly.
Forget it, forget it. Let's just spend money to dispel disaster!
So, they took out all the silver they had on them and handed it over. "We were wrong. Please forgive us, Miss Chen!"
Without Chen Xue having to speak, clever Xiao Die stepped forward to collect their silver. Then, she quickly ran back to Chen Xue's side and handed the silver over to her.
Chen Xue weighed it and found that there were several hundred taels. They must have extorted quite a bit over these days, but now it was cheap for her.
"Alright, let's end it here. If you..."
Before Chen Xue could finish her threatening words, Kuang Wei and the others hurriedly said, "No, absolutely not, Miss Chen, please rest assured, we will definitely be honest from now on."
"Get lost!"
"Alright!"
Kuang Wei and the others had been waiting for this moment. At these words, they turned around and ran as fast as rabbits.
"Are you letting them off so easily?" Xu Tian walked over, feeling somewhat unwilling. Letting Kuang Wei and the others leave like this was too cheap for them.
As for Chen Xue demanding compensation for their losses and taking so much silver from them, Xu Tian didn't envy her; he felt it was only natural.
"What else can we do? We can't just kill them!" Chen Xue shrugged, "Do you really think they would honor the bet? If we push them too hard, what if they choose to take us down with them?"
Xu Tian was speechless.
Chen Xue rubbed her nose. That was just to fool Xu Tian. The real reason was almost the same, but she wanted to hold Kuang Wei and the others' handle so that they wouldn't cause trouble for them in the future, just like Zhao Guang.
By then, even the bailiffs of the entire exiled team wouldn't dare to lay a hand on them, and they might even protect them. Then they wouldn't have to hide anymore and could be exiled freely.
"They've already been let off lightly enough." Chen Yuan sneered.
Xu Tian's heart skipped a beat. He knew that Master Chen had expressed his intention to get rid of Kuang Wei several times. If he had really done it, they would have been too lenient on them now.
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