Family broken up
In the second year of Xuanhe in the Northern Song Dynasty, Liang Hongyu was 18 years old. In this year, her grandfather and father were defeated in the expedition against Fang La. Song Huizong beheaded her father and grandfather on the grounds that they had missed the opportunity to fight. Liang Hongyu still remembers that bloody scene vividly.
The cries of women and the wailing of children filled the entire city of Bianjing. The execution ground was surrounded by crowds of people, and most people gathered in the crowd to watch the excitement. Under the gleaming sword lay her grandfather and father. The moment the sword fell, their heads and bodies were instantly separated, and warm, scarlet blood splattered on the execution ground, hot and dazzling. Liang Hongyu suddenly felt a surge of blood in her heart, and the huge grief and anger made her eyes go black and she fainted.
When she woke up, she felt a sudden pain all over her body. Her throat felt like it had been cut by a knife, burning. She had lost both her grandfather and her father in the same day. The resentment within her was surging, but she could not find an outlet.
Before she could recover from the grief of losing her loved ones, her maid Jinxiu rushed in and said, "Miss, it's bad. People from the Imperial City Bureau have come to the mansion and they want to confiscate the property."
Liang Hongyu no longer cared about the pain in her body. She got up from the bed and said to Jinxiu, "Jinxiu, bring me my Fire Dragon Spear."
"Miss, you can't handle so many soldiers by yourself. I'd better send you out of the house quickly."
"Just bring it when I tell you to!" Liang Hongyu was so angry that she had no place to vent her anger, and someone just happened to come to her door.
Jinxiu had no choice but to give the Fire Dragon Spear stored in the armory to Liang Hongyu.
The officers and soldiers of the Imperial City Administration entered the Liang Mansion aggressively, but were stunned by the scene before them: they saw a young woman in red clothes, with loose black hair, holding a red spear, emitting a murderous aura, with red eyes, like a ghost from hell, standing in the center of the Liang Mansion.
The deputy envoy of the Imperial City Department was so frightened by this momentum that he trembled all over and had to bring out the imperial edict, "The emperor has ordered to raid your Liang Mansion. I hope you will cooperate. We are only following orders."
She was clearly a young girl, but her voice was as loud as a bell. "Get out of the Liang Mansion right now," she said with a fierce look in her eyes. "Otherwise, this spear of mine will kill gods and ghosts."
The Deputy Envoy of the Imperial City asked for the job from the Envoy of the Imperial City when he heard that there were only a group of women and children left in the Liang Mansion. However, he ran into a difficult boss and had to take the lead.
Suddenly, there were shouts of killing and flying spears. Liang Hongyu swept the spear across, tripping a large number of people. Several detectives were hit by the spear and fell heavily to the ground. Seeing that Liang Hongyu was a tough guy, the detectives surrounded her in a circle, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
The deputy envoy of the Imperial City Administration kicked out a police officer and cursed, "Come on, you little brat!"
Chazi, who was kicked, had to rush forward first. Before he could see the moves clearly, the knife in his hand was knocked to the ground by the spear.
"Let's go together."
The Chazi had no choice but to rush forward with their swords in hand. At this time, only the "swish swish swish" sound of the spears rubbing against the air and the collision of weapons could be heard echoing in the sky. Several Chazi were knocked to the ground, injured in different parts of their bodies, and wailed after falling to the ground.
The deputy envoy of the Imperial City Administration saw that things were not looking good. The woman drew her gun as fast as lightning and her movements were smooth as flowing water. If she continued like this, she would not be able to complete the task assigned by her superiors until dark. Fortunately, he brought a trap with him today.
He took out a wooden object shaped like a crossbow from his waist, and lightly pressed the button on it. A large net spread out over Liang Hongyu's head. The moment the net fell, she was trapped in someone else's trap and could not move.
"What a bunch of losers! I have to take action." The envoy gave an order, "Tie up everyone in the mansion and take them away. Confiscate all their belongings and search them thoroughly."
"Understood!"
The sounds of sobs and cries filled Liang Hongyu's eardrums. She had no idea what fate awaited her. The day before, she had been a noble lady in the capital, but overnight, her family had been shattered, leaving her a prey to the chopping block, at the mercy of others.
"All the men in the mansion were sent to the frontier to do hard labor, and the women," the eunuch said, leaning close to Liang Hongyu's rosy face, "were all sent to Jingkou to be courtesans."
"You might as well kill me than let me, the daughter of a military commander, be a court prostitute." Liang Hongyu's scarlet almond eyes met Si Shi's.
The envoy glanced at Liang Hongyu. It was a pity that this girl was fair-skinned and pretty. "This is the emperor's order. Take her away!"
"What does the emperor mean?" Liang Hongyu sat in the prison van, a wave of sadness welling up in her heart. Since her grandfather, the Liang family had been fighting on the battlefield, guarding the frontier, and making great contributions to the Song Dynasty. She had never expected that her family would be destroyed because of the emperor's casual remark of "missing the opportunity to fight."
As the rumors had it, this Zhao emperor was only good at reciting poetry and painting. He favored corrupt ministers like Cai Jing and Tong Guan, causing widespread public outrage. This led to uprisings across the country. In the south, Fang La proclaimed himself emperor in the Jiangnan region, while in the north, Song Jiang, under the banner of "acting on behalf of Heaven," proclaimed himself king at Liangshan Marsh.
When Liang Hongyu was young, she often heard her grandfather say: "When the court is so corrupt, how can a general be a general, and how can a country be a country!"
Well, now that things have come to this, I can only take it one step at a time. Liang Hongyu suddenly felt extremely tired, her eyes were about to close, and at this moment, she heard a burst of sobbing in her ears.
In the narrow prison van, Jinxiu huddled in a corner, two big tears hanging on her chubby face. Liang Hongyu reached out and wiped away the tears from Jinxiu's face, comforting her: "Why are you crying? We have to live well."
"Girl, do you think we'll really become prostitutes to be played with by soldiers?"
"Don't worry, I'm here and won't let anyone bully you."
"Well, I believe you, young lady." Jinxiu's chubby bitter melon face finally forced out a smile, and Liang Hongyu closed her eyes.
After a long time, a loud noise came from her ears, waking Liang Hongyu from her deep sleep. She opened her eyes and looked around. At this time, the prison car had arrived in Yangzhou. The officers and soldiers were resting in a small forest, eating the dry food they brought with them. It was the officers and soldiers' laughter that she heard.
A police officer came over and threw a pancake into the prison car, saying, "This is your ration."
Jinxiu asked, "There are two of us, why is there only one pancake?"
Chazi glanced at Jinxiu and said impatiently, "Eat it or not, I thought you were a noble lady."
Two more tears as big as beans fell from Jinxiu's eyes. She pursed her lips and said, "Miss, you have never suffered such injustice before."
Liang Hongyu patted Jinxiu's shoulder and said, "When you live under someone's roof, you have to bow your head." As she spoke, she picked up the pancake that was still covered in dust in the corner of the prison car, blew away the dust, tore off half of the pancake and handed it to Jinxiu, "Here, eat it."
Liang Hongyu was just about to take a bite to fill her hungry stomach when a rough and dirty hand appeared in front of her. She looked up and saw a disheveled woman standing in front of her.
The woman pleaded, "Girl, please give Stutter something to eat. My child is starving to death."
Liang Hongyu followed the woman's gaze. Next to the soldiers were a group of refugees, resting in the woods in ragged clothing. Their faces were haggard, their eyes lifeless. Some gnawed on their black-faced steamed buns, while others leaned against a tree, sighing constantly. They formed a stark contrast to the soldiers drinking wine and eating pancakes beside them.
Jinxiu asked, "Auntie, don't you see we are prisoners now? Why don't you go ask the police next to you for food?"
At this time, an old man who was asking for food from the police was kicked away by a police, who was cursing, "Get out of here, you beggar!"
Liang Hongyu gave the only half pancake left in her hand to the lady in front of her.
Jinxiu said angrily: "Miss, you haven't eaten for two days."
Liang Hongyu had lost her appetite since the incident at the Liang Mansion, and now she felt her stomach churning. But how could she bear to let a child starve to death? So she said to Jinxiu, "We won't die of starvation even if we skip a meal or two. Didn't you see that little boy in the grove is almost dead?"
Jinxiu looked in the direction of Liang Hongyu's finger. The woman lifted the boy lying on the ground and fed him pancakes. The boy seemed to be hanging on to his last breath and didn't even have the strength to eat.
Seeing this, Jinxiu stopped complaining. She tore off half of the cake in her hand and handed it to Liang Hongyu.
They were escorted to Jingkou, a place with numerous restaurants and shops. Although it was not as prosperous as Bianjing in the capital, it was still very lively, with many wine shops and teahouses alone.
The prison van stopped at a mansion with the words "Jiaofangsi" written in large letters on it.
After the official handed over all the female members of the Liang Mansion to the local madam, he escorted the men of the Liang Mansion in another direction.
The prison van slowly disappeared from Liang Hongyu's sight. It must have been a road full of thorns.
The madam ordered several strong men to escort them upstairs, and then began to lecture them: "From now on, you will call me Mama Yan. No matter if you were once rich ladies or nobles, you are now the lowest slaves here. If you serve the officials who come here well, maybe one of them will take a fancy to one of you and redeem you as a concubine."
After saying this, Mother Yan glanced at the group of women and said fiercely, "If anyone wants to escape from here, I advise you to give up. No matter where you flee to, your status as a courtesan cannot be changed..."
Liang Hongyu interrupted Mother Yan and said, "The women in our Liang Mansion only sell their skills, not their bodies."
Mother Yan looked at the person who was speaking. She was dressed in red, with red lips, white teeth and a rosy face. She was obviously a beautiful girl, but she exuded a heroic air.
She raised her eyebrows and said, "You are so arrogant, girl. Beat me!"
The two big men behind Mother Yan were about to attack after hearing the order, but one of them was tripped by Liang Hongyu and fell heavily to the ground. Seeing this, the other big man was about to swing his fist, but was kicked away by Liang Hongyu and hit the pillar next to him, screaming in pain.
Liang Hongyu grabbed one of Yan Mama's plump hands and pulled her into her arms. With her other hand, she took off her hairpin and pressed it against Yan Mama's throat. She said to the two men, "If you come any closer, I'll make her bleed to death right here and there."
Seeing this, the two big men didn't dare to move forward.
Mother Yan had never seen such a tough and down-and-out noblewoman before. She was so frightened that her face turned pale and she said in a trembling voice, "Okay, I'll do as you say."
Liang Hongyu then pushed Mother Yan away from her arms, and took the opportunity to tie up her hair that had been messed up by the fight and put on a hairpin.
Under pressure from Liang Hongyu's toughness, Mother Yan did not dare to embarrass the women in the Liang family anymore. After settling these women down, Mother Yan hired a tutor.
"One day to learn music, one day to learn singing and dancing. One year later there will be the Oiran Conference, and Zuixinlou will invite prominent families to participate, and they will be divided into two categories. In the first category, a few people will be selected to be concubines bought to princes and nobles in the future. These people don't need to receive customers and can just focus on learning other skills. The rest are all second-class people, who will stay in the brothel to receive customers and live a life of having one arm pillowed by thousands of people and having their lips tasted by thousands of people." Mother Yan said.
After saying this, Mother Yan turned and left. The teacher took them to a room full of musical instruments. There were countless instruments of various colors hanging on the walls of the room, which was really dazzling.
Liang Hongyu chose a pipa. Although she had temporarily persuaded Mother Yan to allow the women of the Liang family to sell only their art and not their bodies, without some skills, she would be relegated to second-rate status. Even if she could avoid selling her body, she would likely remain a laborer in Zuixinlou, never seeing the light of day. The moment she chose the pipa, she resolved to master her skills and become the top performer in Zuixinlou.
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