"You used to work at the brothel?" Although it was a question, Song Tantan spoke with certainty.
Zhu Yu and Liu Mei's expressions stiffened, but the former quickly recovered and smiled gently: "We used to be in Cuihonglou, not Hongyuan. I was the top courtesan, and Liu Mei was also the top courtesan. But that was a year ago. After the chaos in the capital, Cuihonglou could no longer stay open. The rebel army robbed and killed our sisters. We suffered a lot before we escaped."
The fact that they managed to escape and are still alive shows that these two are quite resourceful and intelligent. No wonder they became top courtesans and leading ladies. You know, beauty alone, without a bit of cunning, would only make one a plaything.
"Whose men are these 'rebel troops'?" Song Tantan inquired intentionally.
"We have both, but we're not entirely sure. It's said that people from the Duke's mansion and General Du's men secretly infiltrated the capital, and there are also Hu people mixed in. Since the palace wasn't easy to storm, they came to harass the people. Businesses couldn't operate anymore, and everyone fled with their remaining possessions." Zhu Yu spoke in a coquettish voice, her voice full of emotion, her eyes brimming with tears.
But Song Tantan couldn't see her tears, only focusing on the content of the conversation. Song Tantan frowned, "So many people have already stormed into the capital, and the Crown Prince hasn't been wiped out yet?"
"It was the timely arrival of the reinforcements from Prince Duan and Prince Xian that executed the rebel troops in the capital. Alas, in the end, it was the common people who suffered, and the common people died the most." Otherwise, she and Liu Mei would not have been able to escape all the way and almost lost their lives.
"Aren't the Crown Prince, Prince Duan, and Prince Xian enemies?" Why would Prince Duan and Prince Xian help the Crown Prince and let the rebel army kill him? Wouldn't that reduce their rivals?
"Prince Xian is a kind and gentle man, and he probably has no intention of vying for the throne. Prince Duan, on the other hand, has always been dishonest. He probably doesn't want to help the Crown Prince. However, Prince Xian has more troops than him, so he's pressuring him to go to the capital together to drive away the rebel army. Otherwise, if the Crown Prince dies, Prince Xian will attack Prince Duan."
At that time, Prince Duan was still wary of Prince Xian. However, just over two months ago, a major flood struck Jiangnan, where Prince Xian's fiefdom was located. Countless people died and were injured, suffering heavy losses. Prince Xian was severely weakened, and Prince Duan even took the opportunity to launch a sneak attack. Now, no one knows whether Prince Xian is alive or dead.
What's even more infuriating is that the Crown Prince disregarded the life or death of the Prince of Xian, refusing to send reinforcements, contribute money, or exert any effort. He clearly wanted the Prince of Duan and the Prince of Xian to fight to the death so that he could reap the benefits. Zhu Yu spoke until her throat was dry, and her voice was no longer as sweet.
"How do you know so much?" Song Tantan's round eyes were full of curiosity.
Zhu Yu choked on her words, gave a slightly guilty laugh, and Liu Mei, who had been silent until now, spoke up. Her voice was somewhat soft and charming, "These are our own guesses and what we heard from others along the way. These messages are half true and half false, but most of them are still credible."
Song Tantan nodded her little head with a serious expression. She turned around, took two steps, and then stopped. She slowly turned back, rummaged in her pocket with her short little hands, pulled out an oil paper package, and tossed it to Zhuyu.
Zhu Yu opened the package and saw that it was a pancake. She was delighted and swallowed hard before taking a bite. Song Tantan immediately said, "We'll share it. Don't eat it all by yourself."
"Oh, I forgot for a moment, Xiaomei, here's half for you." Zhuyu didn't feel embarrassed and tore off half of the bowl-sized pancake and handed it to Liumei.
Liu Mei glanced at her with a half-smile, said nothing, and took the pancake to eat.
"What news did you find out?" Song Zhuiyan asked the little dumpling sitting next to her as she added firewood.
"Yes, nowhere is safe. We don't know when this period of fleeing will end. Those two used to make a living as prostitutes, but they stopped doing business a long time ago. Like everyone else, they are fleeing everywhere." They don't even know where to flee to. There is no place in the Great Jin Dynasty that is peaceful.
Sigh, Song Zhuiyan didn't know what to say except to sigh.
"Waaaaah..." A baby's cry pierced the sky.
“Zhang Qingyu’s little brother is crying again. He’s been drinking rice porridge every day and must be starving. Why don’t we bring him over?” Song Tantan couldn’t bear it and wanted to secretly feed the baby milk.
There are many baby formulas in the supermarket, but unfortunately you can't just take them out. She had secretly fed that baby before, always having her aunt bring him over at night and then secretly feeding him with a bottle when no one was looking.
The little guy must be craving milk right now, so he's crying louder and louder. Song Tantan wasn't in a good mood today, so she pretended not to hear the little guy's sobs, but she can't keep up the act anymore.
"Let me hold you for a while," Song Zhuiyan said calmly as she walked up to the Zhang family.
Zhang Qingyu quickly handed her younger brother over. She didn't know what was wrong, but her little brother would cry every night, and no one could comfort him except Miss Song. She had noticed a few times that Miss Song would feed her little brother something, and he would eat it with relish.
She could always be coaxed to sleep by Miss Song and her niece, and when she brought her little brother back, he still had a faint milky scent on him. If she didn't know that Miss Song was still a virgin, she would have suspected that the other party was breastfeeding him.
Song Zhuiyan was speechless. She was feeding him formula. Don't overthink it; not everyone has breast milk.
When Song Zhuiyan brought the baby over, Song Tantan ran back from a distance, already having prepared the formula. The bottle was well concealed in a tattered package. Ye Moxun followed behind her, always keeping watch for her. However, he didn't do it for nothing; Song Tantan also had to pour formula into his water bag every time.
After boiling the water and pouring it into the water bag, you can drink it after shaking it. Although the milk powder often clumps up because the water temperature is too high, Ye Moxun doesn't dare to complain about it in this situation. As long as there is something to drink, that's fine.
Song Tantan also drinks it herself, but she prepares it in her space with water at a suitable temperature. When she wants to drink it, she wraps it in a rag and takes it out to drink secretly. No one except Ye Moxun and her aunt will find out.
Every time Zhang Shen finished drinking his milk, he would fall asleep instantly. Song Tantan would take out a handkerchief to wipe the snot from the corner of his mouth, and after a while, she would let Song Zhuiyan carry him back to the Zhang family.
Tonight, Zhong Qingyi was on guard duty for the first half of the night. At first, everything was calm, but around 1:45 AM, they suddenly heard the faint sound of horses' hooves in the distance, followed by the sounds of fighting. Judging from the sound, there were quite a few people involved, and it seemed that two teams were fighting.
"Everyone, wake up! Wake up! Pack your things and get out of here!" Zhong Qingyi shouted gravely. "Miss Song, wake up! Miss Zhang..."
"What happened?" Song Zhuiyan leaped up quickly, her knife already in her hand.
"It's probably a battle between two armies, but we don't know whose forces they are. We'd better leave here as soon as possible." Zhong Qingyi helped Ye Moxun up and held him protectively by her side.
"The younger ones, get on the carriage; the rest of you, go ahead." Song Zhuiyan carried Song Tantan onto the carriage, giving instructions methodically.
"Miss Song, you and Sister Zhu drive the carriage, I'll walk behind." Zhong Qingyi helped Ye Moxun onto the carriage as well, and instructed Song Tantan to take good care of Moxun.
Ye Moxun actually knew a thing or two, but his physique was too weak. He would lose strength after using his strength a few times and ended up needing someone to protect him.
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