Song Wanru heard about this poem from a sister she had adopted. When the emperor came to Tokyo, the city was obviously becoming more prosperous. But this prosperity had little to do with Song Wanru. She needed clothes and food, so she had to stay alive.

What can a helpless young woman do if she wants to live? Bai Juyi's two lines of poetry sum up the story beautifully: one is that young men in Wuling compete to tie their hair, and they don't know how many red silks they have; the other is that there are few horses and saddles in front of the door, and the eldest daughter marries a merchant.

What's wrong with that? Can it be worse than the dead bodies of people starving to death on the streets of Bianjing? Can it be worse than the women in the city who were offered up by the Jin people? Rather than being deceived and sold by someone unknown one day, it's better for her to sell herself and get a good price.

The sister was also from Kaifeng. Her father and father were old acquaintances in the government. The whole family lived through the Jingkang period in fear, but after the emperor ascended the throne in the first year of Jianyan, she was forcibly "searched" and became a "laundress". I don't know if the emperor was frightened by the Jin people and had no interest in her, but she was given a position in the imperial guard when she arrived at the Mingdao Palace. On the 15th day of the first lunar month, the emperor returned to Beijing, and the next day Song Wanru met her who went shopping in person.

According to the law, all prostitutes must register with the government. Song Wanru went to register.

The elder sister gave the lyrics to Song Wanru and asked her with a complicated expression: "Can you sing it?"

Of course. Dongjing City no longer has as many women who are good at singing, dancing and beautiful as in the past, and those who can appreciate poetry are even rarer. Song Wanru's hands were covered with scars and calluses, and the frost had not yet healed. She picked up the bamboo flute that her sister lent her again.

"A connoisseur of music knows how to play music, and is good at composing it. The strings are delicate and sad, and the air is clear and fragrant. The Zheng and Chu are flowing, and the Shang and Gong are moving. It touches the heart and the ears, and is beautiful and unforgettable."

Several scholars in the newly opened Zhengdian Restaurant in the east of the city who were originally inattentive looked over there absentmindedly, and the leader among them asked her name.

Name. The father and son of Liu Da who had not found the body only knew that her surname was Song and she was the eldest of the family. The elder sister who recognized her had long forgotten her name and only remembered her surname. Song Wanru had never thought that she would be asked "your name" politely again in such a situation. She moved her lips, but could not utter the word "Song".

"He Yixi." she said.

Dew on leek, how can it change to dawn? Dew and dawn will fall again tomorrow, when will people return after they die?

But she did not become famous because of this. She was unwilling and could not let go. She was afraid that when she saw the old people who came back to Beijing, she would loudly call out "Mrs. Song". Fortunately, the official store she relied on did not force her - why force her? Even the store owner did not know how many days it could be open. In the third year of Jianyan, how long had it been since the Jingkang Rebellion? When did the Jin people go south? Would Tokyo be besieged again? Would the tragic situation in the past happen again? No one knew. Everyone Song Wanru met seemed to be panicking and subconsciously avoiding this matter.

Half a year later, after the Mid-Autumn Festival in the third year of Jianyan, the capital and the provincial government advised civilians, women and children, that if they could find refuge in the south, they could leave Beijing, but that young and strong military personnel could not leave without the approval of Kaifeng Prefecture; the Privy Council announced that the city's property would be put under military control that day, and that if there were military needs, houses would be demolished or requisitioned, no one could disobey, and the city's young and strong personnel would be registered for possible deployment.

Song Wanru had nowhere to go, and nowhere to seek refuge. The words of the emperor in the talent selection ceremony had long been spread out - Song and Jin were going to go to war. It was an extraordinary period, and no one paid attention to the few registered court ladies. But she didn't want to find refuge hastily. Who could she rely on? Who knew if she would be sold to others for food or to curry favor with the Jin people in the end? All she had was this little bit of freedom that seemed to allow her to decide for herself.

However, perhaps because there were too many women leaving Beijing, Song Wanru was actually recruited to be a cook. The official's wife, Mrs. Wu, led a few palace maids to boil water and cook for people on the river bank.

Song Wanru recalled that when the Jin army besieged the city a few years ago, the emperor who had been on a hunting expedition to the north had also worn armor and helmet to inspect the city, and even gave the soldiers the food prepared by the imperial kitchen for the emperor. The style was almost the same, but she saw that the river was getting wider and the city walls were getting thicker. She wondered blankly, this time, even if the emperor wanted to leave Beijing, he should take a little longer, right? After all, it was said that this emperor had defeated the Jin army before.

But she didn't wait for the Jin army. In November, the government of Tokyo was still reluctant to say that it was half open, but the people in the city suddenly became lively as if they had been suppressed for a long time. The next few years seemed like a dream, with news of victory after victory. Even in the restaurant, there were scholars who imitated Wang Jinggong's blunt words after drinking, saying that the Jin army was not to be feared, so the government was not to be followed, and the two saints were not to be pitied.

But she didn't have anyone whose safety was worth worrying about.

The former emperor was good at poetry, and the current emperor is even better at poetry; the former emperor had countless beauties in his harem, all of whom were abducted, and the current emperor also had countless beauties when he was King Kang, as if they were all taken away by the Jin people; the former emperor's surname was Zhao, and he abandoned his subjects, and the current emperor is his son and brother, who also abandoned the capital and the two rivers and fled south; the former emperor had been known as "frivolous" for the past twenty years, and the current emperor has also been criticized by many scholars as "frivolous".

However, she didn't know why this official, who had so many similarities, could make the Jin army retreat and fail again and again. Just as she didn't know why fate was so fickle, the days in Tokyo seemed to be getting better and better, but her father, mother, elder brother, weaker brother, and even the lover she chose after compromise could never see this increasingly better world. Everyone slowly sank into it, and their hearts were at peace. No one wanted to repeat the events of Jingkang, and everyone was struggling to realize the glorious old dream of prosperity. It seemed that only in this way, those sufferings, those nightmares, and those piles of bones that could not be buried could really be thrown behind the mind like a dream and blown away by the wind, and could be completely treated as if they had never happened, and calmly accept the so-called increasingly better and more comfortable life.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!