?

  Zhang Qi didn't know why, but despite knowing it was a nightmare, she couldn't shake off the feeling of unease in her heart. Recommendation [Jing An]: After tossing and turning for half the night, she finally fell into a deep sleep at dawn.

  She had not been asleep long when she was suddenly awakened by a loud shout. Accompanying the shout were the sound of horse hooves galloping in the city and the ground shaking.

  Zhang Qi hastily got up, but saw that outside the flames were soaring into the sky, with thick smoke accompanying the rolling flames rising in all directions. The momentum was such that it must have been a government building on fire. Accompanying the soaring flames, there were also the sounds of galloping horses and maniacal laughter. After a brief moment of quiet, suddenly, countless despairing cries echoed one after another, "The city has fallen——"

  "Run for your lives, the city has fallen!"

  But such a scream had hardly begun when a cry of despair followed!

  Listening and listening, Zhang Qi's face turned white and quickly stood up.

  It's terrible, the city has really fallen!

  In her panic, she hastily retreated, put on her shoes in a hurry, tied up her hair with a few quick strokes, and then reached down to the ground to grab a handful of mud and smear it all over her face.

  After subconsciously making this series of movements, Zhang Qi suddenly remembered that she was now the concubine of Yuwen Yong, and there were many people protecting her.

  As she thought about it, she rushed out hastily.

  Zhang Qi rushed out in a flurry, and as soon as she reached the door, she saw that Director Zhong was also in a state of chaos. She rushed to the door of Yuwen Yong's room, shouted "Your Majesty," and rushed in.

  The door was open, and the room was empty. Not only was Yuwen Yong gone, but his guards were also nowhere to be found.

  It's settled then, Yuwen Yong won't be sleeping here for these two nights. He won't sleep here!

  Zhang Qi panicked and hastily turned around.

  She bumped into an old nun.

  Seeing the old eunuch who had been serving by Yuwen Yong's side for many years, Zhang Gui hastily asked: "Where is Your Majesty?" She panted, "Has the Tujue people breached the city?"

  The old eunuch raised his turbid eyes, looked at Zhang Gui and said: "Something urgent has happened, Your Majesty has already withdrawn. Your Highness, you must take care of yourself." The old eunuch said: "If it's absolutely unavoidable to fall into their hands, don't panic, Your Highness. The Turks won't kill women. If you fall into their hands, His Majesty can still ransom you back with some cattle and horses."

  Zhang Qi understood what he meant.

  She took a step back and muttered: "Has Your Majesty retreated already?"

  "It was... a sudden event. No one expected the Turks to collude with the wealthy households inside the city, and they broke into the city from both inside and out. Your Majesty wanted to wake you up, but the ministers did not allow it, saying that the residence is too far away and inconvenient, and besides, there are too many people, which would make the target bigger, and you are a weak woman who cannot move around, and it would also implicate Your Majesty. Don't be sad, Your Majesty still misses you. And look, I was left behind to come and inform you of this matter."

  This old eunuch was indeed calm.

  His gaze at Zhang Qi contained a sympathetic pity for a fellow sufferer.

  Zhang Qi doesn't need his sympathy.

  She grabbed a knife and quickly pushed open the door, rushing out. As soon as she left the room, she returned to another room, put on a eunuch's robe, filled her arms with pastries scattered on one side, then Zhang Gui tied up her hair with the knife.

  After the green silk flew away, only shoulder-length hair was left. Zhang Gui quickly rushed into the garden. In the garden, everywhere were frightened maidservants fleeing in all directions, seeing Zhang Gui also escaping, they shrieked and panicked, a hint of despair flashed in their eyes.

  At this time, the killing sounds outside the courtyard were getting closer and closer, accompanied by screams, the Turkic people's mad laughter could be seen from time to time, and it was getting closer and closer.

  It won't be long before this courtyard is breached. Zhang Qi slipped into the garden and soon found one of the three wells in the yard used for drinking water. After wrapping the rope with a wooden bucket around it several times, she hung the bucket over the well mouth.

  Then she stood in the wooden bucket. As soon as she pulled the rope, the wooden bucket with her weight quickly sank down, and before long, it fell to the water surface with a loud splash, and Zhang Gui and the wooden bucket landed on the water together.

  Sitting well in the bucket, Zhang Qi raised her head to look up, took a deep breath, and cut the rope with the knife. Then she grabbed the broken rope that was swaying in front of her, threw it out with force, and swung the rope out of the well with a whooshing sound.

  Then she let out a long sigh and leaned weakly against the edge of the bucket.

  She raised her head and looked up at the sky, where a red glow was spreading from the well mouth. Between heaven and earth, there was only one person, hiding in this dark and deep well.

  When Zhang Gui shrunk back, a loud shout erupted outside, the ground shook violently, and it was the Turks who had broken in!

  In the midst of the sound of horseshoes, accompanied by the Turkic people's crazy laughter, every burst of laughter would be followed by a miserable cry.

  In the chaos of war, Zhang Gui heard a Turk speaking in the accent of Zhou's land say: "Where is the Emperor of Zhou? Where is your emperor?"

  In the midst of that man's repeated questioning, another Turk shouted: "Don't kill him, ask him, where is the Emperor, where is the beauty beside the Emperor?"

  The third Turk burst out laughing and said: "Quickly, where is that beauty? The Great Khan says that if you present that beauty, you can get a thousand sheep."

  The last word was spoken, and all the Turks suddenly burst into a frenzy of shouting.

  In this cacophony of screams and wails, the voices of the onlookers grew fainter and fainter.

  After a while, Zhang Gui heard the sound of footsteps coming in her direction. In the footsteps, she heard the trembling voice of the old eunuch, "Your Majesty has left, really left, but the princess hasn't left, I saw her escaping in this direction."

  The old eunuch pointed randomly for a while, and Zhang Gui heard a Turk shouting loudly: "Disperse and go! Whoever finds the beauty will be rewarded with ten taels of gold!"

  "Wah ha——" Almost as soon as the roar was heard, a burst of cheers shook the sky and earth.

  Before long, Zhang Gui felt that there were footsteps by the well. Along with the footsteps came the murmurs of those Turks discussing something in hushed tones.

  Zhang Gui shrunk into a wooden bucket, stiffening her body.

  She lowered her head, tightly closing her eyes, knowing that she was hiding so deeply that her breathing wouldn't be heard by others, but she just didn't dare to breathe.

  Perhaps it was too stiff, she felt that the wooden barrel under her body, because her body was not relaxed enough, gently swayed open in the well water. When the barrel broke through the surface of the water, the sound was very small in the chaos, but it reached her ears and was amplified countless times, countless times...

  Zhang Qi closed her eyes, biting her lip, and unknowingly, her lip had already been bitten through.

  In the darkness, she tightly grasped the knife.

  She has always been timid, she knows that if she dares to ruin this face, she could have gotten the peace she wanted long ago. But she loves beauty, loves it so much, and can't bear to destroy it until she's at her wit's end.

  She also knew that if she really wasn't afraid of death, it would be falling into the hands of the Turks, and at worst, seeking death was not necessary, there was no need to be so tense. *But she couldn't, she was just afraid of death, she had a moment of peace and quiet, and she indulged in that moment...

  In the boundless darkness, because her eyes were closed, she felt frightened. Several times she almost took a deep breath.

  Gritting her teeth, Zhang Qi slowly opened her eyes.

  She opened her eyes wide and stared blankly at the well wall.

  For some reason, at this time, in such a helpless situation, when the next moment would face an unimaginable fate, Zhang Qi suddenly thought of someone.

  A person she had sworn never to think of again.

  She thought he was bad in a thousand ways, but when it came down to life and death, he shouldn't have abandoned her. Escaping alone...

  She thought, he was stubborn and self-righteous, too proud and confident, never willing to face his own shortcomings. However, if it really came down to it, for the sake of wealth and glory, he would rather die than sacrifice his woman...

  In this boundless darkness, amidst the hustle and bustle of searching above, Zhang Qi secretly thought to herself: Although he was unwilling to give her dignity and status, unwilling to marry her as his wife, yet at this moment, she still only thought of him.

  It's just a thought, just a thought... Once awake, once faced, she and he, born in different dust, died in different holes, after all, still strangers on the road, forever, can only be strangers on the road.

  The sound of footsteps is getting louder and more frequent.

  The footsteps were accompanied by an increasing number of shrill and piercing laughter.

  Zhang Qi's breathing became more rapid and urgent.

  She knew that as long as she could get through this ordeal, she would be able to breathe a sigh of relief. These Turkic people had entered the city for the purpose of plundering, and if they couldn't find what they were looking for after a prolonged search, they themselves would become impatient.

  Just as he was thinking this way, a voice suddenly came from the wellhead, "This rope is broken."

  He's talking about the rope for drawing well water!

  Zhang Qi's heart was suddenly suspended in her throat, and both hands were tightly grasping the knife handle.

  At this time, another person said: "Let me see." Next, I don't know what the man said, but he held a torch and came to the wellhead.

  As she stared at the flames burning at the wellhead, Zhang Qi's lips were unknowingly bitten and a bloody smell filled her nostrils.

  Right after that, a messy bearded face appeared at the wellhead. The face looked into the well and then swung the water ladle in its hand into the well.

  Sweat drops as big as beans began to roll down Zhang Qi's cheeks, one by one, seeping into her lips and stinging her eyes.

  Just as she held her breath and stiffened with numb hands and feet, the man stood up and said, "It's too deep, can't see clearly."

  "Come on."

  Then, Zhang Qi suddenly felt a darkness in front of her eyes, and it was those two people who left with torches.

  At this point, Zhang Gui let out a sigh of relief, she closed her eyes and leaned heavily against the side of the bucket. As she did so, the well water splashed loudly.

  The quiet darkness was pierced by this ringing sound, fortunately the outside noise drowned it out, and no one heard it.

  After those two left, the Turkic people who were searching seemed to have lost interest. Gradually, the light from the torches above Zhang Gui became dimmer and dimmer.

  However, accompanied by the dim light of the torches, there were pairs of heavy footsteps. Amidst the footsteps, someone was shouting, "Put down the heavy ones and take what you can carry."

  Another cursed and said: "Damn it, these Central Plains people are boring. With money, why bother with solid wood and heavy iron? Why not exchange them all for gold, silver, and jewels, isn't that more convenient?"

  In the midst of curses, suddenly, an object fell from the well mouth with a loud crash, hitting Zhang Qi's forehead squarely, and instantly, it made her bleed profusely.

  She stuffed her hand into her mouth to stifle the pained hum that was about to escape, and Zhang Qi hastily wiped away the blood that had flowed into her eyes. She reached out and felt for the object. It turned out to be a finely carved wooden paperweight. In the darkness, she couldn't tell what kind of wood it was, but it was so heavy that it had smashed against her wound, causing the blood to flow profusely, and no matter how hard she tried to cover it up, she couldn't stop it.

  In agony, Zhang Qi tightly covered her forehead, waiting for time to pass, one breath at a time.

  ###￥￥

  I never understood why Shi Chong, the Jin Dynasty's infamous figure who would behead beauties to persuade guests to drink, could win over a beauty like Green Pearl to die for him after his death. Green Pearl was just a favored concubine by his side, without any official status or position. Shi Chong himself was still such a ruthless and cruel person, viewing human life as worthless. What was the point of Green Pearl's jump from the tower back then?

  When I was writing this book, I often thought about this question.