Yu Miaoqi and Lin Shi have been trekking on the road for two months, and they will reach Shuocheng in half a month. Except for a simple city, Shuocheng is only left with endless high slopes of loess. Whether viewed from the ground or from the air, it is just a barren landscape. If men want to survive here, they can only bury their heads in the wasteland and grow enough food for their own living; women can only rely on men. And because the land is barren and the climate is harsh, how can a man support his wife if he can't even support himself? Therefore, women are mostly regarded as a burden, and besides having children, they can only be used to vent their resentment or desire.
There is no man in Shuocheng who does not like to beat his wife. Under long-term hard work and abuse, women in Shuocheng usually have a very short life span, and very few people can live past forty.
Yu Miaoqi had been inquiring about Shuocheng's situation all the way, and the more she heard, the colder she felt. On this day, the exile team stopped at a deserted inn, everyone picked up an empty seat and sat down, took out the dry food in the package and gnawed.
At this time, the moon was on the tip of the tip, and the extremely emaciated faces were covered with a layer of pale white by the moonlight, which looked very scary. Yu Miaoqi suddenly felt a thorn in her back, and turned her head to find that it was a jailer. While chewing beef jerky, the other party stared at him with bloodshot eyes, and the dark pupils were full of tyranny and desire.
Among all the female prisoners, only Yu Miaoqi was a young girl who had not left the court, and she had a beautiful appearance. Although she had been tainted with dust all the way, she looked very eye-catching against a group of gray-headed old ladies. The jailer held back for a long time, and couldn't hold back any longer. After chewing the beef jerky, he strode over and dragged Yu Miaoqi into the bushes beside him.
"What are you doing? Help, mother, save me!" Yu Miaoqi screamed.
Lin rushed over but was kicked over by the jailer, clutching her chest and unable to get up for a long time.
"What's the hurry, it's your turn after sex is over!" The other party's grinning voice startled the birds in the treetops.
"I'm Duke Yu's younger sister, if you touch me, Duke Yu will definitely tear you apart!" Yu Miaoqi shouted hoarsely, and Lin quickly echoed, trying to make the jailer retreat.
The jailer hesitated, but still pinched the back of Yu Miaoqi's neck, and turned to look at the leading guard.
"She is indeed Yu Guogong's younger sister, just don't kill her. I promised Old Madam Yu to send them to Shuo City alive." The guard waved his hands casually.
"Really, really? Really as long as you don't kill him?" The jailer doubted his ears. He is not from the capital city, because he offended Shangfeng, he was temporarily sent over during the supply on the way, and he has only heard a little about the injustice case of the Yu Mansion, which has caused a lot of trouble, but has no inside information.
The guard smiled sarcastically, "In order to help King Li fight for the throne, she put fabricated evidence into Duke Yu's study to frame Duke Yu and the crown prince for treason. A pot of dirty water kept pouring, not to mention the direct brothers and sisters, even killing the father and the enemy is nothing more than that. If Duke Yu hadn't survived and defeated Xiyi by chance, I don't know how far the direct branch of the Yu family would have been killed by her .Old Madam Yu told me that as long as people are alive, they don’t care about anything else, just do what you want, and don’t go too far.”
"My mother, there is such a vicious woman in the world, it can be regarded as answering the sentence-green bamboo snake mouth, hornet tail needle, neither of them is poisonous, the most poisonous woman's heart!" The jailer was speechless, looking at Yu Miaoqi's eyes became even more fierce, and she pinched her neck and pushed her behind a tree, followed by the sound of clothes being torn and the woman's howling.
Lin wanted to go there but was held back by the guards, and warned, "He has been holding back for two months, and now he is a hungry wolf. After eating that, no matter how full he is, he will take you to fill his stomach. You can go there after you think about it."
Lin froze immediately, knelt for a while, and finally retreated slowly into the crowd, buried her face in the package and sobbed.
Because of the suffocation, the first time was over quickly, the jailer took a short break and went on again, tossing Yu Miaoqi upside down for half an hour. When she came out, she was pulling up her trousers and whistling, feeling comfortable all over. Yu Miaoqi was just the opposite, her clothes had already been torn to pieces, her face was still covered with staggered tears, her legs trembled slightly when she walked towards Mrs Lin, and she could hardly stand up.
She avoided the sympathetic, numb or gloating eyes of the female prisoners, took out a robe to wrap herself, and wept silently. She never imagined that her innocent body would be snatched away by such a lowly person. It wasn't until the other party continued to insult her while piercing her body that she really realized that she was no longer the daughter of a wealthy family, but a prisoner, a migrant, an existence more unbearable than a slave.
Before arriving in Shuocheng, she has already fallen into such a situation where life is worse than death. How will she live the next day? In endless despair, Yu Miaoqi finally walked into this city standing on the desolate slope.
However, she had some luck after all. Because of her clean appearance, she was asked to be a maid by the housekeeper of the City Lord's Mansion. Lin Shi was also selected to be a rough envoy, responsible for starching and washing the master's clothes every day.
On this day, the monthly money was issued, and Yu Miaoqi bought a box of rouge to smear on the mirror. She was not a cheerful person, and now that the corners of her eyes were drooping, she looked even more gloomy, and there seemed to be a layer of lingering blackness between her brows, making her look very creepy. Mrs. Lin didn't like to approach her more and more. Seeing that she had changed into rather tacky clothes after putting on makeup, she had to ask vigilantly, "What are you going to do?"
"Do what makes us live well."
"Don't act like a demon! Madam is powerful, let her catch you and it will be over!"
"As long as I get the favor of the city lord and become pregnant with the city lord's heir, what can she do to me as a hen that can't lay eggs?" Yu Miaoqi didn't care, and went out with her waist swaying. Losing her innocence, she simply broke the pot and broke it. As long as she can live a prosperous and stable life again, she is willing to do anything.
Lin stared at her back for a long time, speechless, and finally could only sigh.
How clever is Yu Miaoqi? After going out three or two times, the city lord's fascination was captivated, and half a year later she successfully conceived a child. The city owner's wife had a lot of blisters on her mouth anxiously, racking her brains to kill the vixen. Her natal cousin was a businessman and was the most well-informed. He quickly found out the details of Yu Miaoqi and Lin's and sent someone to report to his cousin.
The wife of the city lord was overjoyed, she went to the study and said to the city lord, "It's just such an ungrateful and vicious thing, you dare to get it on the bed, and you are not afraid that she will stab you to death after giving birth to a child and occupy your hard-earned family property. You Don't think that if you treat her well, Duke Yu will win your favor, and don't think about what kind of cold-blooded person Yu Guogong is. The purpose of sending Yu Miaoqi here is only to make her suffer so much that life would be worse than death. You are good, but you sent her away. The place is rich and honorable. Although our Shuo City is desolate, it is considered an important border town, every three years the emperor will send the Duke of Guo to patrol the border, let him know the good deeds you have done, and you will definitely not be spared!"
The city lord was sweating coldly when he heard this, and hurriedly apologized to his wife, begging her to deal with Yu Miaoqi and Lin's quietly. The wife of the city lord waited for his words, and sold the mother and daughter into the biggest kiln in Shuocheng when they returned home.
Unable to bear the hard work, Mrs. Lin's face is rapidly aging. She is only in her thirties, but she looks like an old lady who is over sixty years old. This has also become her greatest luck. After entering the kiln, she is still responsible for starching and washing the girls in the building, which is no different from staying in the city lord's mansion.
Yu Miaoqi was not the case. The city lord's wife aborted the child in her stomach, and the bustard forced her to pick up guests as soon as she recovered. Every time, when she thought she was about to make it through, fate would deal her a fatal blow, making her struggle on the verge of despair over and over again.
She wanted to escape, but she was caught every time, and then she was tortured inhumanely. After tossing and tossing a few times, she learned how to behave. She gritted her teeth and lay flat on the bed, allowing people to make troubles over and over again. After a long time, she finally polished off her shame and became the most popular courtesan in Shuocheng.
Three years later, her net worth had already doubled, and even Mrs. Lin was sent to serve her, so she no longer had to wash a large tub of clothes in the cold.
"Hurry up and dress up, there is a distinguished guest coming tonight!" The old bustard pushed the door open and entered, bringing a scent of intoxicating fragrance.
"Who is it?" Yu Miaoqi raised her eyebrows.
"It's the imperial envoy who was ordered to patrol the border. Even the city lord said that the other party is powerful. If you win him over, you will naturally enjoy endless glory and wealth in the future. The time is coming, comb your hair quickly, change your clothes and go out "The bustard came and went in a hurry.
Yu Miaoqi immediately became attached and urged Lin to comb her hair. Which mother in the world would just watch her daughter go out for sale? Which mother would frame her parent-child? Lin felt that she was no longer worthy of being a human being, and the reason why she lived was to forgive her sins.
She picked up the comb to comb her daughter's hair, with the usual numb expression on her aging face.
Yu Miaoqi walked to the banquet living room with graceful small steps, and saw clearly the handsome and cold man in the main seat, as if struck by a lightning strike, even her mind was torn apart.
"Brother?!" she exclaimed.
Only then did the city lord remember Yu Miaoqi's life experience. Duke Yu's younger sister was actually working as a prostitute in Shuo City, so she slapped the other party's face brightly. If Duke Yu gets angry, he doesn't have to live.
The city lord broke out in a cold sweat and was racking his brains to figure out what to do when he saw Duke Yu put down his wine glass and said calmly, "Pretending to be an official is a capital crime of disrespect, don't you want to live?"
Only then did Yu Miaoqi realize that she had already severed ties with the Yu family, she knelt down and begged for mercy, her head was extremely low, she did not dare to look at Yu Pinyan at all.
"Go down." Yu Pinyan waved his sleeves and said to the city lord, "I don't need to be waited on by others. I just need a pot of fine wine to drink by myself. You can do whatever you want."
Seeing his contemptuous attitude, the city lord immediately dissipated his anger at his wife's inappropriate handling of things, and wanted to persuade him to use one or two beauties, but he heard Yu Guogong's confidant and beloved general tease, "You don't know, the duke is afraid." Wife, even if you are far away at the border, you don't dare to mess around at all, and you are determined to guard your wife like a jade."
Yu Pinyan smiled slightly, and actually admitted it in front of the officials of Shuocheng, "That's right." Worry comes from love, fear comes from love, fear of his wife is also a manifestation of loving his wife.
Of course, he will never say these words to these mediocre people, and he doesn't need others to understand, he just sticks to his bottom line.
The city lord didn't dare to say any more, seeing that Duke Yu's followers were very happy to invite prostitutes to drink and have fun, he slowly let go. After Yu Miaoqi exited the door, she stood frozen for a long time, and only staggered away when the guards guarding the aisle rushed forward.
"I saw my eldest brother, he is in the banquet hall, why don't you go and take a look?" She grabbed Lin, her eyes bursting with hope. Yu Pinyan can ignore himself, but can he ignore his own mother
Lin was stunned for a long time before slowly returning to her senses, and said with a wry smile, "What are you looking at? I have already severed the mother-child relationship with him. Just stay here honestly, and don't think about anything else. We are here to forgive your sins. Yes, you must never leave Shuocheng in this life!"
She grabbed her daughter's shoulders and pressed her against the embroidered pier with all her strength, her eyes full of determination. Yu Miaoqi struggled twice, and finally lowered her head dejectedly, with endless regret welling up in her heart. If he didn't want to compare with Yu Xiang at the beginning, if he followed the old lady's arrangement to marry, if he...
But she can never go back to the beginning.