Chapter 4 — Kinh Thao

The river wind was cold, like it was stabbing me to the bone. I grabbed the railing and slowly returned to the boat. I don't know how much time had passed when the boat's body suddenly shook slightly. The sound of water pounding in my ears. I opened my eyes in surprise, only to discover that the small boat had left the dock. The old man rowing the boat at the end of the boat was also startled. "Oh my, miss! When did you get on the boat?" I quickly stood up. "Sir, I'm so sorry. I got lost last night, I must have gotten on the wrong boat." The old man stopped the oar, looked back at the dock, which was quite far away, then looked at the thin clothes on his body. "This is troublesome. The boat has gone downstream for a while, now turning back..." I raised my hand to my hair, took off the only jade hairpin and gave it to her. Mr. "It's okay if you don't come back. Consider using it to pay for the boat, sir, please take me to Man Chau, okay?" The old man took the brooch, used the moonlight to look at it for a while, his expression a bit uneasy. After a long hesitation, he still nodded. "This brooch of yours is enough money for me to row the boat for a whole year." "Don't worry, I will definitely take you safely to Man Chau." Having finished speaking, he sighed again. "It's just that I heard that Man Chau is not peaceful now." "It's very dangerous for a young lady like you to go alone." I paused. "Isn't it peaceful? Isn't it still a good year?" In the capital, Thai people sing and dance. jar. Because the harvest was bountiful and the world was peaceful, the great mandarins also wrote many poems praising their merits. When mentioning this matter, Tieu Hanh's voice was filled with pride. The old man rowed the boat and said in a deep voice: "In the north, the Yellow River changed course, submerging more than a dozen districts." "Fields were lost, houses were also lost, countless people had to run together to the south." "When we arrived in the south, we found out that the recent drought was met with heavy rain, life was even more miserable." "The court said there was food and relief money, but the people below waited for a long time and still did not see it." "There are places where officials are afraid of taking responsibility so they deliberately hide the natural situation." ear." "There are also places where the grain warehouse has long been empty, only sand and soil are used to line the bottom of the bag to deceive others." "Those things... how can noble people in the capital care?" I lowered my eyes and looked at the moonlight reflecting on the water, being crushed into silver pieces by the oar. Not long ago, the palace was still frantically building a palace to welcome the emperor's concubine into the palace. And under that same sky, there are people who can't wait even for a bowl of rice to save their lives. The old man continued to say: "I heard that in Man Chau, there were people fleeing from famine who had to steal food. There were also bandits and bandits mixed in to cause chaos. There were also people who couldn't survive so they rose up and rebelled." "The government couldn't handle it, even the merchant ships didn't dare to go alone." "This slender lady, with no one around to protect her, why did she insist on going there?" I gently tightened my sleeve. "I'm going to find my husband." "He's waiting for me." in Man Chau." The old man's expression softened a bit. "Then we really should go." "Husband and wife have been separated for a long time, it's time to reunite." I smiled. "That's right." "It's time to reunite."... Get off the boat and then change to the carriage. By the time I arrived in Man Chau, it was three months later. The day we entered the city, it was raining lightly. I was still wondering where to find Tieu Dat when I heard people on the street talking. "An Vuong is back!" "An Vuong and An Vuong Phi have returned to the palace!" A buzzing sound immediately rang out in my head. An Vuong Phi? We followed the flow of people walking forward. Finally saw him at the back of the crowd. After five years of not seeing him, he was much thinner than before. The middle of the eyebrows and corners of the eyes also add some calmness. He held in his arms a little boy about three or four years old. The child clung to the hem of his shirt and called in a childish voice: "Father." Next to him was a woman.

Young, calm and gentle. She raised her hand to adjust the collar of his shirt that had been wet by the rain, then received the towel from the maid's hand and gently wiped the remaining drops of water from his shoulders. Tieu Dat did not dodge, he just looked at the growing stream of refugees, frowned slightly, and in a low voice urged the Princess to quickly return to the palace. Standing in the middle of the crowd, I suddenly felt cold all over my body. Tieu Dat, His Highness An Vuong, younger brother of the reigning royal son. No one knows that he was originally my husband, and I was originally his wife. Five years. Enough for him to marry another wife. It is enough for a child who is still learning to speak to grow up and know how to call his father. Tieu Hanh did not lie to me. The second year I was imprisoned in the palace, he told me that Tieu Dat had married another princess and had children. At that time, An Vuong Palace in Man Chau sent good news to the capital. Tieu Hanh even threw that congratulatory newspaper down in front of me, forcing me to personally write him a letter of congratulations. I didn't cry, I just wrote down stroke by stroke: "Wishing An Vuong and Vuong Phi holding the iron peace, silver hair and old age." Tieu Hanh looked at that letter for a long time. Suddenly he tore it into pieces. He said that pretending to be calm is not like me at all. Now that I think about it, the wishes in that letter were not wrong at all. Through the misty rain, Tieu Dat seemed to sense something and suddenly turned his head to look towards me. Instinctively, we take a step back. Right at that moment, someone pushed forward, blocking his sight. I turned around and left. When I came to Man Chau this time, I originally came to find my husband. But my husband passed away five years ago. Tieu Dat is now someone else's husband, and also someone else's father. … I found a medical shop in the south of the city to stay. There are too many immigrants in the city and more and more sick people, so this medical shop is recruiting more people.