Chapter 557 - The Relatives Have Come

Needless to say, the people who lived on Minshun Boulevard were definitely influential bigwigs.

As the neighbors of the marquis’s estate were most likely high officials of the royal court, the entire estate’s standing was immediately boosted.

The crown prince’s carriage exited unimpeded from the northernmost Huabei Gate. They would arrive at Minshun Boulevard after making a turn off Anshun Boulevard, which was located on the central axis.

This showed just how excellent Minshun Boulevard’s location was. Only high officials’ and nobles’ carriages would come to and fro this area, and few commoners dared to set up stalls or cause trouble here.

This time around, the crown prince travelled low-key and didn’t bring too many people with him. He had only brought twenty royal guards, under He Tian’s lead, for protection.

At present, He Tian had been promoted by exception from a small centurion to become the royal guard’s deputy commander.

This of course was also because of the crown prince’s trust. Reportedly, his father He Qizheng should probably also get promoted within this year. As long as nothing strange happened, the position of the Minister of Works was basically his.

Just as Qiao Mu was going back with a certain crown prince to the Marquis of Jiayuan’s Estate while feeling unsettled, a beat-up donkey cart showed up at the Mo Kingdom capital’s western city gate. It carried six to seven fatigued people and lined up at the end of the queue to enter the city.

A family of three, clothed in rags and so emaciated that they barely looked human, also followed behind the donkey cart.

Because a level-four zombie had appeared in the Qin Estate, the Mo Kingdom capital was currently under a complete lockdown and had shut the northern and southern city gates.

Hence, people could only enter and exit from the western and eastern city gates.

However, according to the regulations, commoners, small merchants, and peddlers could only use the western city gate. Thus, the queue to enter the city was still very long even at this time when it was nearing high noon.

In consideration for the commoners, people didn’t need to pay a fee to enter or exit the Mo Kingdom capital, but the special circumstances these two days resulted in an extraordinarily slow inspection speed.

The Mo Kingdom capital was Northern Mo’s largest city. The city guards’ integrity was extremely high, and nothing unpleasant had occurred. Although the queue was long, it was very orderly.

The people on the donkey cart had been constantly peering towards the city gate entrance, their eyes filled with longing.

They were all messy-haired and dirty-faced, not much better off than the family of three in rags behind them.

“Aunt Niu, is what you said true? I can find Mother-in-law and the rest in the Mo Kingdom capital?” The small woman who spoke had a weathered and dark face. She had a very skinny figure and was holding on to her scrawny twelve-year-old son, whose face was so gaunt that his cheeks had sunken in.

“Aiyo, you’re still not believing what I tell you. I’m telling you, Xu Jiao, your mother-in-law and the eldest branch are living fabulously! Previously, they had already gotten along prosperously in Xijiu City, but they had suddenly moved out two years ago without a word. I had spent much time and energy before hearing that they had come to the Mo Kingdom capital.” The old woman that spoke had envy in her eyes. Her mouth stuck out and her old, dark face had the protruding chin of an ape’s. She revealed a mouth of crude and black teeth whenever she opened her mouth.

Xu Jiao was precisely the old Qiao Family’s daughter-in-law. From the day the zombie outbreak happened, the Qiao Family’s third branch, this family of three, started out on the path of utter misfortune.

When they didn’t manage to ride on the eldest branch’s coattails that day, they were left behind in the village and had to flee for their lives.

If not for her family’s Qiao Zhongheng erupting with a superpower at the critical moment, how would the mother and son have been able to escape from the tiger’s den? Perhaps they would have long been fed to the humongous pile of zombies.

Because they had left in a rush, they had practically left everything behind. The Qiao Family of three didn’t want to look back on their past misery at all.