Chapter 1 I Don't Want to Live Anymore
The southern wilderness in June is hot and humid, with mosquitoes rampant.
Gu Xiyue slapped her right cheek, and when her hand left, a flower-legged mosquito fell out. It was nearly twice as big as any she had ever seen.
The mosquito bites are painful and itchy, and a swollen bump will appear after the bite. There are already several bumps on both sides of her cheeks and the back of her hands. Because she is afraid of scratching the skin, she pinched the cross mark on the bumps to suppress the pain and itching.
If it weren't for the ancient skirt she was wearing, her arms and legs would attract even more mosquitoes.
She angrily put down the sackcloth covering her head, trying to block the mosquito bites, but at this moment, her personal maid Meixiang hurried back from outside, shouting as she ran.
"Miss, hurry up! They are here to watch the fun again."
Gu Xiyue tore off the linen cloth and ran to close the door. She had already seen the ragged group of people behind Meixiang, all with strange excitement on their faces walking towards them.
Meixiang came in, and the two of them lowered the bolt, leaned their backs against the door, and then they breathed a sigh of relief.
Meixiang frowned and panted, "It's been three days, and they still come to watch. What's so good about it? It's just that you fell down, miss. Does your butt still hurt?"
Gu Xiyue touched his nose guiltily, "Much better."
After saying that, he looked at Meixiang's body and saw that her skirt was wet. He asked her, "Where's the bucket?"
Meixiang pouted and said with a look of grievance, "I finally brought back a bucket of water. I was almost at the door when I saw them coming this way. I ran back in a hurry, but I slipped and almost fell. The bucket fell to the ground, and my clothes got soaked. I didn't have time to get the bucket, so I ran back first..."
At this point, Meixiang asked worriedly, "Miss, will someone take our bucket?"
The people outside knew how poor their conditions were just by looking at their clothes. Buckets were a necessity for every household, so if someone was really interested, it was not impossible for them to pick them up and take them for themselves.
"It's okay. If someone picks it up, we can just buy another one. As long as you don't get hurt, it's fine."
This is the worst place in Yu Dynasty. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea on one side. The mountains are so barren that there is not even a decent big tree. The land by the sea is a salt marsh. Crops cannot grow here, but weeds are lush.
The common people living here were basically exiles. The only fields were on the hillside, which they slowly cultivated after arriving here.
Year after year, the population increased to five or six hundred, and the fields were almost open, but the crops they grew were not enough to fill their stomachs.
Thatched-roof adobe houses stretched out in a semicircle from east to west along the foot of the mountain. King Xian and Gu Xiyue lived in the three westernmost houses.
The title of "Wise King" was given to the deposed Crown Prince Xiao Heng when he was exiled to the Southern Wilderness by order of the Emperor. It sounds like a good title, but it is actually full of irony.
It was because the Crown Prince submitted a memorial in the hall asking the country to pay attention to commerce and military affairs, but he was criticized by a group of scholars and officials, especially the conservatives headed by the second prince. They brought all the civil and military officials to their knees and shouted that if commerce and military affairs were emphasized, it would cause chaos in the court and that the Crown Prince was committing treason.
The emperor pondered again and again, then with a cold face ordered the dethronement of the prince, the enthronement of the virtuous king, and exile to the southern wilderness, and not allowed to return to the capital without being summoned.
Before the deposed Crown Prince and the deposed Crown Princess left, the Emperor allowed them to each take one attendant with them, and the rest of the maids and servants were sold and confiscated.
Being exiled to the Southern Wilderness means that she will never have the chance to return to Beijing in this lifetime. The deposed Crown Princess Gu Xiyue was heartbroken on the way here. After arriving here, someone brought her news that her mother was beaten to death by her father's order. Gu Xiyue fainted on the spot after hearing it.
After waking up, she looked at the dusty adobe house, the bumpy mud ground, and the wise king who ignored her. She also thought that her mother was dead and she would have to live in this desolate place for the rest of her life. She made up her mind, sent the maid away, and ended her life with a white silk.
Gu Xiyue is the eldest daughter of Duke Gu's family, but she is born out of wedlock. Her mother was the Duke's maid. After the Duke's wife came into the family, she made her mother a concubine because she gave birth to a daughter.
Over the years, her mother had been looked down upon, and Gu Xiyue had seen it all. When her sister Gu Xiyun became engaged to the prince, she became more and more anxious. Once Gu Xiyun became the crown princess, she didn't know how her mother would be treated in the Duke's Mansion. So, on the day of the wedding, she drugged her sister's tea, hid her, put on her wedding dress, and covered her head with a veil as she was helped into the wedding sedan.
By the time the Eastern Palace and the Duke's Mansion realized that it was the eldest daughter, not the second daughter, who was getting married, the ceremony had already been completed and there was no room for maneuver.
Crown Prince Xiao Heng was kind-hearted. In order to protect the Duke, he suppressed the matter and told the Emperor that he had originally fallen in love with the eldest daughter of the Duke's Mansion. He was criticized and let the matter go.
But because of this, from the day Gu Xiyue became the Crown Princess, the Crown Prince separated from her and treated her coldly. Although she was sad, she also thought that she was the Crown Princess after all, the Crown Prince's legitimate wife. After the Crown Prince ascended the throne, she would be the Queen. Her identity was unquestionable, and her mother would also be honored because of her.
She had planned everything, but she had not expected that less than ten days after becoming the Crown Princess, the Crown Prince angered the Emperor in the court, was deposed on the spot, and was exiled to the Southern Wilderness.
After receiving the imperial edict, the prince asked the emperor to agree to his divorce and he could be exiled alone, but the emperor rejected his request.
On the surface, Xiao Heng didn't want to implicate innocent people, but only Gu Xiyue herself knew that even if he was exiled, he would not be willing to be with her.
After arriving at the Southern Wilderness, the military officer in charge showed them three rooms. Xiao Heng and his entourage chose the east room, Gu Xiyue and the maid chose the west room, and the middle room was left empty.
Before Gu Xiyue, who had the same name and surname, traveled through time, he was on his way to the family company to take over the company, but he had a car accident. When he woke up, he found himself in this unknown ancient country.
The moment she opened her eyes, she was struggling to grab the white silk with both hands, trying to put it over her head, and the wooden stool under her feet was shaking.
She was so scared that she let go immediately. Her hand lost its grip and the stool under her feet was unstable. She fell backwards and her butt hit the ground hard. She screamed in pain.
At that moment, she felt that her buttocks were already broken into pieces. She was not hanged to death, but she almost fell to death.
After her fall, she became famous in the Southern Wilderness in a short time. People were living a hard life and had almost no entertainment. When they heard that the young lady who had just been exiled was threatening to commit suicide, they immediately came to watch the fun.
"She actually dared to commit suicide! Did she not care about the lives of her family?"
"She must not have looked closely at the sign at the entrance!"
"Yes, if she commits suicide, her family will be implicated as well."
"Alas! I let you come here to make your life worse than death. If I wanted you to die, I wouldn't have let you come here!"
“…”
Three days have passed, and every day these people come to see if she is still alive.
Gu Xiyue leaned against the door hard, her butt still hurt, but she could only grit her teeth and bear it. It was not that she was afraid of them, but seeing how poor they were, she was really afraid that they would rush in and eat her alive. It is said that the poor are extremely vicious, but another meaning is that some people will do terrible things when they are poor to a certain extent.
She didn't dare to risk approaching them, at least not without knowing more about them.
"Miss, are they sick? What does it have to do with them whether you commit suicide or not? Why are they so excited? They come to see you every day and say all sorts of weird things."
On the way to exile, Xiao Heng asked Meixiang to change her words and call her Miss Gu Xiyue from now on. He also said that she would be free from now on and could marry anyone she could find if she found another man in the Southern Wilderness.
Just as the words fell, an old voice trembled outside and said, "Young lady, if you want to die, hurry up. If the emperor doesn't punish your family after you die, then I will die too. If I hadn't cared about my children's lives, I wouldn't have lived this long."
"I've had enough of living! I've had enough!"
The old man started crying by the end of his speech, his voice full of vicissitudes of life.
Gu Xiyue was shocked and slowly raised his head to think carefully.
She just happened to come across the book and glanced at it for a few seconds. If her current body didn't carry the memories of her original body, she would have been completely clueless.
However, she seemed to remember that there was a plot about the original body's sister later, which meant that the original body's suicide did not affect the Duke's Mansion.
After the old man finished speaking, the others began to agree.
"Yes, my dear, if suicide is not a crime, I don't want to live anymore."
"My wife and I haven't had a full stomach for two years."
"My child dreams about eating meat at night."
“Life is so tiring!”
“…”
Gu Xiyue was speechless, and her heart suddenly became heavy. She slowly stood up and looked at Meixiang.
Meixiang saw her intention, frowned and whispered: "Miss, are you really going out?"
She hoped the young lady would not go out, as those people outside still looked scary!
Because there are too many people!
Gu Xiyue nodded, "Yes, open the door."
The two heavy wooden doors slowly opened, and Gu Xiyue walked over the threshold with Meixiang's support.
The small courtyard was crowded with half-naked people, men and women, young and old. Although they were of different genders and ages, the colors on their faces were almost the same. They looked haggard and their eyes were full of confusion.
Gu Xiyue finally understood why there was such strange excitement on their faces when they came.
That is their desire for death and their longing for relief from suffering.
After realizing this, their slightly morbid thoughts deeply pierced Gu Xiyue's heart.
In her dictionary, there is no such thing as suicide.
There is no such thing as waiting to die.
Under everyone's gaze, she smiled and replied, "Hello! My name is Gu Xiyue. I don't want to die. I want to live a good life."
"But you were clearly going to hang yourself a few days ago. Why did you decide to survive?"
Gu Xiyue paused and stared blankly at the old woman who asked her the question.
She is the old woman who tries hard to survive in order to protect the lives of her daughters.
Her eyes were full of disappointment now.
Gu Xiyue felt anxious and looked at the row of adobe houses to the west, wondering how to get rid of them.
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