My name is Zhao Liushi, and my hometown is Jeju.

Today, I am a refugee who has just obtained the status of a citizen of Youzhou. Due to the detailed inquiries required during registration, I recall a memory that has been dusty for a long time.

I am a poor woman who has experienced misery for twenty years.

…

In fact, I was not originally from Jeju, but a lady from Jiangnan. At that time, I was still a soft-spoken little girl, and I would never call myself "I" when speaking.

When he was sixteen years old, his father wanted to be an official in Shandong, so the whole family set out from the south of the Yangtze River and came to Qilu, the land known as the hometown of the saint.

However, it was precisely because of my father's appointment that my destiny took a major turn, and I suffered countless hardships and tortures. It was as if God suddenly closed its eyes and could not see the misery of a little girl.

It was twenty years ago during the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty. My father and we had just arrived in Jeju, but before we could take office as officials, we encountered robbers outside the city.

Those robbers are so cruel.

With just one blow, he cut off his father's head.

Not only the father was killed, but also all the men in the family, even the male servants who followed him to his post, could not escape from being stabbed in the head.

They all fell in a pool of blood.

My mother, I, several aunts, and seven or eight maids all fell into the hands of thieves.

I can still clearly remember that I was hiding in the carriage and shivering. After a robber with a fierce face killed someone, he walked directly to the carriage with a knife.

At that moment, I was paralyzed with fear.

I saw the robber using a knife to open the car curtain, and then he laughed wildly with great excitement.

"Hahahaha, I didn't expect that there is a little girl!"

"The carriages just now were all filled with women who had passed by, so we complained a few times, feeling that we didn't get any good stuff this time. Unexpectedly, God opened his eyes and specially prepared a girl for us.

"

He laughed wildly.

He said God has opened his eyes.

However, for the slave family, God closed his eyes from that moment on.

I saw the robber jump directly onto the carriage, his big knife pointed at my chest, and then he asked with a wicked smile: "Girl, are you Chu'er?"

Are you a chick?

I have no idea what this question means.

However, it was precisely because I didn't understand that the robber suddenly became excited. He laughed wildly again, and suddenly rushed into the carriage, saying: "It turns out he is really a baby."

…

I was taken to the cottage by the robbers.

My mother and several aunts could not escape this fate.

Originally, I thought that in this life I might just be a woman in a village. Although my life was miserable, I was still alive.

However, I never imagined how difficult that era would be.

The world is in chaos, the people are in dire straits, and the entire territory of Jeju is infested with bandits, and passers-by are being robbed every day.

At the beginning, the robbers were only robbing, but as the chaos became more and more serious, they gradually began to kill and attack each other.

I heard a scholar in the village say that this kind of thing has happened in the past dynasties. Whenever troubled times come, bandits will inevitably arise. When these bandits begin to attack each other, it means that they have integrated into the world.

General strife.

If a certain copycat force is lucky enough, it can even become the master of a new dynasty. If that is the case, it will become the founding royal family.

Unfortunately, this kind of good luck is not available to every copycat.

…

The stronghold was breached and many men were killed.

As for those who were not killed, they all joined the other side's forces.

And we women who were robbed have become the property of a new group of bandits. The man who occupied me at the beginning has already died under the knife of others. Since I come from an official family, the robbers all want to take advantage of it.

So, I became a little boss woman again.

In that time of war and chaos, it's good to have a little boss to protect me. At least, I won't be abused by many men at the same time.

For me, this may be regarded as a kind of ‘protection’.

However, this protection was too short-lived.

It didn't take long for this group of bandits to be wiped out by another more powerful group. The ordinary thieves joined each other as usual, and the leaders were killed directly to avoid future troubles.

So, I changed men again.

At this time, I was no longer fresh, so even the little boss didn't like me, so I could only be occupied by an ordinary thief.

However, an ordinary thief can't protect me at all. The most important thing is that he doesn't treat me as his wife at all.

He just treats it as property.

Because I was born as an official lady, my experience was even more miserable. Those thieves often exchanged women with each other, and I was the one who was exchanged most often... They all wanted to try what it was like to be an official lady.

That period of time is really unbearable to look back on. Whenever I think of it, I will tremble all over.

In the days that followed, this suffering seemed to have no end in sight.

The thieves and thieves attack each other, one is destroyed today and the other rises tomorrow, and we poor women are just like duckweeds drifting with the tide.

Whoever wins gets the right to use us.

…

Finally one day, it seemed that things had changed.

It was an extremely powerful force that directly swept away all the bandits in Jeju. Moreover, after winning the battle, this force was not like the previous bandits. They did not steal money, and they did not occupy women.

Instead, he collected all the money he gained and then sent it somewhere.

And for the first time, those of us women who had been robbed and robbed could live a life without being robbed again. We were temporarily placed in a military camp, where thousands of women who were robbed and robbed gathered together.

Only then did we learn that the chaos in the world was over, a new dynasty had been established, and they began to send out large armies to clear out the bandits.

Government offices that had been abandoned for a long time began to be established in various places.

The officials who arrived seemed to have a heavy responsibility. They actually went into the fields to talk to the people, and often began to urge people to open up wasteland for farming before even talking for a few words.

In addition to urging people to open up wasteland, they also pay attention to us women who were robbed during the war.

That day, an official walked into the military camp. He asked us one by one for our hometown address, and his kind tone reminded me of my father.

I couldn't help but burst into tears.

How long has it been since you were treated with a smile?

…

I remember that the official smiled and asked me, "Sister-in-law, where do you come from? I heard that your accent sounds like that of the Jiangnan generation. Could it be that you are a poor person from the south who fell here?"

After I timidly answered the question, I saw him sigh softly.

He was obviously very sympathetic, his tone became sad, and he murmured to himself: "It turned out to be a noble family, it turned out to be an official lady, this is troubled times, these are troubled times, men are like grass and grass, and women are like duckweed. If it is

In a prosperous age, you should stay away from the spring water. You should read in the boudoir and embroider in the garden... It is a pity that you have fallen into troubled times."

He murmured and sighed for a long time, then took out a book and registered me. After registration, I would be considered a good citizen.

He even thoughtfully consulted me and asked me if I wanted to go back to my hometown in the south of the Yangtze River. If I was willing to go, he would report my situation to the higher authorities, and then the court would organize a special migration to keep us away from our homeland.

people can go home.

But, where do I still have a home?

My father was killed by bandits, and all the boys in the family were also killed. Although my mother and aunts were still alive, they were separated from each other as the bandits continued to fight.

The most important thing is that I had already become a woman at that time. During the years when I was abused by thieves, I didn’t know which thieves’ child I was pregnant with.

I became a mother of two children.

Although I don’t know who the child’s father is, and he still occupies me, the children are innocent and they are the sustenance of my life.

I have become a mother, and all my thoughts are devoted to my children. If I choose to return to my hometown, I am worried that I will not be able to take care of my children along the way... The reason is simple: I am poor and have no money to eat. Both my children and I may starve to death on the road.

.

Situations like mine are common in our large camp for women and children.

Apparently the officer had seen too much.

Seeing that I was unwilling to return to my hometown, he incorporated me into the household registration of Jeju Prefecture, and together with my two children, we all became citizens of Jeju Prefecture.

The moment I got my household registration, I realized that the new dynasty was called the Tang Dynasty, and my two children and I were citizens of the Tang Dynasty from then on.

…

The darkest period of time is finally over.
To be continued...