None of the Qins minded Peng Wang's attitude, and they all nodded in agreement and said that Qin Yichen would not be given any food for the time being.
Although Qin Yichen was awake, he still had to maintain his original posture lying on the carriage, and when Peng Wang saw that things had been dealt with, he ordered them to continue on their way.
In the August heat, because it had not rained for so long, the vast sun scorched the earth, and the people walking felt suffocating.
In the convoy, the prisoners were moaning continuously.
Some could not stand it and knelt to beg the officers to find a shadier place to rest.
The Qins' faces were also flushed red from the heat.
Seeing everyone's condition, Li Xinyue began to worry.
If this continued, preventing people from suffering heat stroke would be hard.
As she thought about how to prevent it, she suddenly heard someone crying out from the back of the convoy.
"Your Excellency, please help my child find a doctor. The child is innocent..."
Li Xinyue looked in the direction the voice came from and saw it was from the Xie Family's convoy.
Sister-in-law Two also noticed this and immediately ran over.
Considering the Xie Family was Sister-in-law Two's parental home, Li Xinyue felt she could not just stand by and watch them die.
So she followed closely behind Sister-in-law Two to take a look.
At this time, all the Xie family members were gathered around Xie Lin, wiping away tears.
Xie Lin was being held in the arms of a young woman while the others desperately shouted his name.
"Big brother, what's wrong with Lin'er?" Sister-in-law Two pushed through the crowd and asked anxiously.
Xie Chao's eyes were red.
"Lin'er was fine when he got up early, but after walking for a while, he couldn't go on."
Sister-in-law Two momentarily panicked, then hurriedly said, "My family's Ninth Youngest Sister understands medicine. I'll go get her right away."
"Sister-in-law Two, I'm here. Let me take a look at the child first." Li Xinyue said, already arriving in front of Xie Lin.
Although the Xie family had heard Xie Fang's explanation, they still had not reconciled with the Qins.
Therefore, when they found out that Xie Lin was unwell, they waited to ask Li Xinyue to come and see him.
Now that she had taken the initiative to come over, the Xie family was worried about Xie Lin's life, and they struggled internally for a moment.
However, they instinctively did not try to stop Li Xinyue.
Xie Lin was already unconscious, his face flushed his limbs hot, which were clear symptoms of heat stroke.
Moreover, the child's symptoms were not minor, judging by Xie Lin's current condition. If he could not be treated in time, his life would likely be endangered.
Seeing Li Xinyue finish her examination, Sister-in-law Two pulled her aside and asked, "Ninth Youngest Sister, how is Lin'er's condition?"
"Sister-in-law Two, the child has suffered from heat stroke," Li Xinyue said, already walking towards the crowd.
Seeing Li Xinyue leave, the Xie family became anxious again. She was the only hope left to save Lin'er.
The old patriarch Xie Tianhai was the first to swallow his pride and took the initiative to chase after her.
"Madam, please wait. I beg you to save my grandson's life."
Li Xinyue did not stop walking.
"Your grandson's situation is dangerous. He must be treated immediately. Do you want to delay the time I need to fetch medicine?"
Hearing this, Xie Tianhai realised he had misunderstood her intentions.
"Alright, alright, I'll leave it to you then."
Although he now understood Li Xinyue's purpose, Xie Tianhai followed behind her as if wanting to express something but not knowing where to start.
Li Xinyue knew he was following her.
"We're all exiled prisoners. According to my relationship with Sister-in-law Two, you're also my elder. In the future, just calling me Lady He or Li Xinyue is fine."
All that "Madam" business made her uncomfortable. A simple form of address sounded more pleasant.
"Alright, from now on, I'll call you Lady He," Xie Tianhai said.
Li Xinyue had already walked near the Qins' convoy as the two spoke.
Among the medicinal herbs they had picked yesterday, several could treat heat stroke, and the sisters-in-law managed each one.
Li Xinyue took the necessary herbs from the sisters-in-law and looked at Xie Tianhai without wasting time.
"Uncle Xie, to decoct the medicine, we'll have to talk to the officers."
They had no containers, so they would have to negotiate nicely with the officers to get them to stop so they could decoct the medicine.
"Alright, I'll go talk to the officers right away."
Peng Wang was not far away, and he could hear their conversation.
He was also unbearably hot, and because of the snake venom, his body's heat tolerance was extremely poor.
Seeing Xie Tianhai about to turn around to ask his subordinates, Peng Wang hurriedly called out,
"There's a small river up ahead, and the trees on the bank can provide shade. Let's rest there for a while."
Hearing Peng Wang's words, Xie Tianhai thanked him profusely.
After walking out about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, they finally saw a small river ahead.
The officers arranged for the exiled prisoners to rest separately and sought out shady places to take shelter from the heat.
Li Xinyue borrowed a pot from Old Eighth Zhou, and Sister-in-law Two volunteered to donate medicine to her nephew.
To prevent her family from suffering heat stroke, Li Xinyue specifically had Sister-in-law Two decoct a large pot of herbal medicine, not just for Xie Lin to drink, but also to have the family members all drink some as a preventive measure.
When Li Xinyue was examining Xie Lin earlier, she could already confirm the child was in the acute stage of heat stroke and was already unconscious. With just these herbs alone, the effect likely wouldn't be excellent.
So, when Sister-in-law Two wasn't paying attention, she secretly took some mint cooling water from her storage space and added it in.
After getting the decoction arranged, Li Xinyue finally felt some relief.
Looking at the clear river beside her, with fish swimming to and fro,
Li Xinyue casually found a thick tree branch on the ground and then went to stand in front of The Eighth Old Zhou.
"Officer Zhou, may I borrow your sabre for a moment?" There were cleavers and daggers in her storage space, but with so many people around, she could not openly take them out, so she could only ask the officer for help.
When The Eighth Old Zhou heard she wanted to borrow his sabre, he immediately became vigilant.
"What are you going to use the knife for?"
Li Xinyue shrugged, holding up the tree branch.
"I want to sharpen this branch. We can add some meat to our lunch."
The Eighth Old Zhou did not bother guessing what the so-called meat was. He thought she was just a young woman. She wouldn't dare lie to him.
So, somewhat reluctantly, he removed his sabre and gave it to Li Xinyue.
In front of The Eighth Old Zhou, Li Xinyue sharpened the branch.
After returning the knife, she turned and went back towards the riverbank.
Under everyone's gaze, she removed her embroidered shoes, rolled up her pants, and then waded into the river.
Seeing Li Xinyue's series of actions, the Qin women all crowded around.
"Lady He, what are you doing?" Lady Qin anxiously asked. She was about to wade into the river to pull her back.
"Yes, Ninth Youngest Sister, what are you doing?"
Li Xinyue turned back and gestured for them to be quiet, then continued walking towards the middle of the river.
The water was shallow. Li Xinyue had to walk several meters out before it barely reached her knees.
Li Xinyue stood still, targeted, and then fiercely stabbed the sharpened end of the branch into the water's surface.