The Gilded Cage - Chapter 191

One Year Old (2) This chapter is all about the cousin! (5)

After sitting for a long time, she put down her teacup and walked around among the crowd, stopping to shout and curse from time to time.

But walking in front of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old lady, she just paused without saying anything and left with a frown.

The little lady’s surname was Chu, and she was the only daughter of the grand chancellor who was beheaded in the street not long ago.

Although no matter what one’s status was, once they entered here, they were all relatives of criminal officials. But this little lady Chu was different. Even if her father died, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the East Palace still came to give special instructions.

Difficult.

Madam Hu has been here for a long time, so she naturally knows how to behave.

She snorted softly, turned around, and pushed an elderly woman surnamed Chen on the other side, pushing that woman almost into the dye vat.

“Be quicker!”

Standing by her dyeing vat, Chu Ning subconsciously raised his eyelids when he heard the movement, and wanted to go up to help Madam Chen, but she just stood still and only accelerated the movement of stirring the fabric in the dyeing vat with his hands.

She understood that she was no longer the noble girl who was pampered and cared for in the past but became a humble slave with both parents dead.

“My Lady, let this slave do it.” Cuihe had already finished the work in her hand, and while Madam Hu was not paying attention, she quietly came to her side and whispered.

Chu Ning shook her head, wiped the fine sweat from her forehead, and continued to stir with her hands, “No, you go and rest. This is my job.”

She had never done such a rough job, and she still couldn’t get used to it after being here for nearly ten days. But she understood that most of the ladies here have fallen down like this, and there would always be a day when they got used to it.

Cuihe was silent for a moment, did not go far, but first went to Madam Hu to get the meal, and then went back to sit beside her and waited.

Waited for another half an hour.

It was completely dark, and Chu Ning was so tired that her head was dizzy. She sat on the stone steps beside her for a long time before she recovered.

“My Lady, let’s eat.” Cuihe handed the food to her.

Chu Ning looked down at the bread that had become dry and hard, took it silently, numbly put it into her mouth, and chewed.

The dry and hard taste spread and made her mouth hurt.

Looking up at the quiet night sky, she took a deep breath of the cold air in early winter, and only then did she feel her mind clear up.

The dilapidated and crowded houses were behind her, but she didn’t want to go back at all. She only felt that her heart was barren. After living here for ten days, she seemed to have almost forgotten how to cry.

“My Lady, don’t be sad. His Royal Highness will always save us.” Cuihe sat beside her and comforted her in a low voice, shaking out a very simple cotton cloak to cover the two of them.

Chu Ning struggled to finish the bread in her hand and drank the water that had already cooled down. She neither affirmed nor denied this but rather said, “I wish.”

Xiao Yu was the only one who still sent messages to her now, and the cotton cloak on her body is sent by the people around him.

She knew that she should be grateful to Xiao Yu. She was overwhelmed, but for some reason, all she could think of was her father.

What was said before the accident? There were endless contradictions.

“The Prince is weak and overthinking. I’m afraid it won’t last long.”

She had a marriage contract with the crown prince, but her father kept refusing it, probably because of his own reasons.

Now that she was isolated and helpless, she had no time to be too sad and painful for her father’s death. The daily hard work before her eyes and the upcoming unknown life of slavery had firmly occupied her mind.

In five days, she would be taken to sell. If someone bought her, she would be a slave to her master from now on. Or dispatched to the south.

The Crown Prince said that she will be taken away from here. Did she really want to grab this last straw?

…

Five days later, in the outskirts of Changan, Xiao Kezhi was hidden among the high mountains and forests, looking down at the mountain road below.

Behind them were more than 30 young men, all of whom were dressed in coarse linen, with black cloth heads, holding sticks and axes. At first glance, they looked like bandits in the mountains. If you look closely, you will find them to be more imposing and well-trained than ordinary bandits.

“Your Highness, do we really want to do this?” Jin Jiang stood beside him, feeling very anxious.

Today was the day when Chu’s only daughter was brought back to Changan from the outskirts to be sold. The mountain road they were on was the only way for the Ministry of Criminal Justice to escort people back to Changan.

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