It was summer at this time, yet for Zhu Su, the night breeze was freezing like a winter blizzard. His imperial robes had been forcibly removed by the soldiers, replaced by thin, torn, and tattered clothes. Apart from the three of them, there were also other unrecognizable people being dragged to the same place, and would undergo a kind of punishment which was more or less the same as theirs. But he knew nothing about what had caused them to be punished that way. Nobody had the guts to talk, and silence became their only companion while walking through this long journey.
The freezing fog wrapped around Zhu Su like a vast blanket, made his view blur. He had stumbled rocks and almost fell down for many times. Thanked goodness, he did not fall. The soldiers treated him inhumanly, dragged him as if he was an animal to be slaughtered. The ropes bound his hands so tightly it felt excruciating, as if it could slice through his flesh.
The situation he was facing now was entirely different from his departure to Yunnan for the first time. If in the past he could sit relaxedly on a cart, this time he was forced to walk on foot. The journey from Kaifeng to Yunnan was miles away, since they had to cross through three other provinces - Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou. They must go through this very long journey by foot, this exhausting journey needed almost a month to go through. The break time was very short. Before they could definitely relieve their fatigue, the soldiers had pulled them cruelly to walk again. The victuals were also strictly limited, perhaps they deliberately arranged so as to torture the captives. Maybe by doing this, they then managed to make someone die in this journey.
Caught by the corner of Zhu Su's eyes, Feng Ruina was hobbling, her face was bloodless and haggard. The Wang Fei's hands were also bound tightly, just like his. If he himself had been already exhausted, then Feng Ruina, who never tasted the hardships of life, was surely far more tormented.
The Ming authorities treated them the same way they treated top-shelf rebels. Totally had no mercy for them.
"Walk faster!" The soldier who was in charge of taking Zhu Youdun's binding pulled him ruthlessly as the young prince's step slowed down. That rude soldier's pull soon made Zhu Youdun grimace in pain.
Fu Huang, do I and Youdun still have Zhu as our surnames? Are we still your descendants? But why are in this country you've founded we being treated as lowly as animals? Why does Ming instead become hell for us?
If Zhu Su's physical condition had been severely tortured, then his mind was injured even more grievously. He experienced this ordeal, was all due to the cruelty of his nephew and his own son. Those who were still of the same blood as him, his own kindreds. Not someone else he did not recognize, it was his own family who did all of this! It was, what actually hurt him so much.
Then, why should he have a family?
It would be better not to have a family for sure!
On top of everything, was his son! Yes! That was true, who hurt him the most was his own son Zhu Youxun. Remembering Zhu Youxun, Zhu Su felt his heart was being sliced into pieces. What a big regret for him to have such a boy as his own son. If he could have turned back time, he would have arranged Feng Ruina to immediately abort that cursed son, so that the boy would soon die and thus would not make his heart be such excruciating. He would not see him, would not meet him face-to-face... and he did not need to suffer this sorrowful regret. Because every time he took a step, his mind would show that imagination; where Zhu Youxun and Zhu Yunwen were laughing happily, and Zhu Youxun was now sitting offhand on the throne of Kaifeng Palace, laughing with satisfaction as he could finally achieve what he yearned for.
Such a disgusting imagination.
That ungrateful child doesn't even care if he has made his father, mother, and brother get miserable. It doesn't matter for him even though his family gets slaughtered. All he cares is only the throne!... What kind of sin do Ruina and I have, so Heaven let us have such a son?!
"Mu Fei, watch out for the rocks!" Zhu Youdun called out to remind his mother, but it was too late. Feng Ruina had stumbled a rock, and quickly fell with face down on the ground.
"Mu Fei!" Zhu Youdun was about to help his mother get up, but his ropes were pulled harshly by the soldier.
"Please let me stop for a minute! I want to help Mu Fei to get up!" Zhu Youdun pleaded in a pitiful voice to the soldier who was pulling his ropes.
The soldier was about to refuse Zhu Youdun's begging, when the general who led them gazed sharply. He himself, now helped Feng Ruina to stand up.
"Thank you very much, Sir General, thank you!" Zhu Youdun repeatedly thanked the general. Yet the general ignored him, and returned to lead the way in silence.