"Actually," Ping'er looked back carefully, then lowered her voice and said to me: "Actually, there is a private boat that can cross the river."

"Private ship?"

"Yes, it's used by people in the black market here to deliver goods."

"oh……"

I raised an eyebrow.

I forgot that people always try every means to make profits. In such a situation where traffic is blocked, there will naturally be people who take risks for the sake of profit. The more harsh the environment, the more profit the risk will be. The ships traveling on the Yangtze River are blocked, but if there are private ships that can communicate back and forth, there will inevitably be high returns.

but--

I thought about it, looked at Ping'er and said, "How can I get on a private boat?"

Ping'er's face dimmed, and after a moment of silence, he said, "You need silver. Ten taels of silver to get someone."

"Ten taels of silver?"

When I heard this, I couldn't help but frown.

Although we know that those private ships transporting people to goods are for profit, it is too much to ask for ten taels of silver per person. You must know that for an ordinary family, ten taels of silver may be the income of the whole year.

Ping'er nodded and said in a little frustrated: "We don't have that much money at all."

“…”

He said, looking up at me, his eyes flashing with the light that was expected.

I also know what he meant. He hoped that I would have so much money, but I was only more embarrassed than him. I left the capital and was taken away from the prison by Qinghan, and I was penniless. Fortunately, Alan and the others took care of him along the way, and I was not short of food and clothing. I was not worried about money, but once I got separated from Alan, this problem was put in front of me.

Ping'er looked at my face for a while and understood: "You don't have money either?"

"……Um."

"Why……"

He sighed deeply, I didn't say anything, but just clenched my lower lip hard.

I have never been worried about money over the years, because I can’t talk about using money in the palace, but once I get to the people, these difficulties that are not enough to be present in the eyes of the Tian family and nobles are truly in front of me.

Everything is necessary to make efforts to get something for food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Maybe, it was not until this time that I really had the consciousness of leaving the palace and leaving the man's control.

But when I thought of leaving him, although there was still an Yangtze River in front of me, I felt it was not that difficult. At this time, I also remembered what Alan said to me after he sent me out of the city - they wanted to send me to Yangzhou, and if I wanted to cross the river, they would do it, but they would go back to find Qinghan to get money.

I didn't expect that one day, my relationship with him would fall into such a simple connection.

Gripping my teeth, I raised my head and said to Ping'er, "Can you do me a favor?"

“What’s the busy thing?”

"Help me find someone, maybe she can help me cross the river."

When Ping'er heard that she could cross the river, she immediately became excited: "Really? Who are you looking for?"

I said seriously: "I want to tell you the truth. I was actually poisoned when I was just now. Now I feel very uncomfortable - don't be afraid, listen to me. Someone can detoxify me, and she can also send me across the river, but now I'm separated from her, I know she will come to Yangzhou City to find me, so I want you to take me out and try your luck."

Ping'er was panicked when she heard that I was poisoned. After hearing this, his face was a little pale: "You, are you poisoned? Are you going to die?"

I smiled, although the pale lips made my smile look very weak: "I am still alive now. As long as I find her, I can live longer."

.

After resting in the house for a while, Ping'er found a scarf that Sister-in-law usually didn't use to help me carefully wrap it around my head, covering most of my face, and only a pair of eyes were exposed, and then she helped me out carefully.

Yangzhou City is not big, but not small. As soon as I went out to look at the bustling crowd, I lost consciousness for a while. I watched the people coming and going. Ping'er was holding me and asked carefully in my ear: "Where are we going?"

“…”

After a while of silence, I whispered: "Let's go anywhere."

"Yes." The child was also careful and helped me walk slowly along the long street, asking, "What do you think of that person? I'll help you see."

"Her name is Alan, she is a very beautiful woman in her thirties - in other people's words, she is as beautiful as a vixen."

"Well--"

"But she is a good person."

"oh."

I turned my head and looked at Ping'er's young face and simple eyes: "You think you are not a good person when you hear about vixen, right?"

He hesitated and said, "I heard from my mother that vixen is a bad woman. Although she is beautiful, but-"

"Then, has the vixen hurt those people, or, have you?"

"This, not."

I said with a little smile: "You are still young, but you should behave properly when it comes to doing things. Don't just follow the crowd. In that case, you will be just a vocal worm."

Ping'er turned her head and looked at me, and said blankly: "No one has ever told me these..."

I was also a little surprised, not knowing why I suddenly told him this. Perhaps it was because I saw the shadow of a person's past in him, and those years that seemed to be able to return to in a dream, and I hope that he could think of that person, well and embark on a better road.

only……

I smiled and said, "I'll just say it."

After saying that, he stopped and lowered his head to walk slowly. Ping'er was silent for a while, then turned to look at me: "Why do I think you don't seem to be an ordinary person? You--"

Before he could finish his words, he suddenly heard a chaotic voice behind him.

Before I could turn around, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves coming from the street behind. Several people screamed one after another. Ping'er was smart. When she turned around, she looked wrong and immediately grabbed me and took several steps back. My feet were soft and almost fell to the point. He still supported me hard, and saw a group of horses running over from behind me.

I was still a little overwhelmed. At this time, I looked up and barely saw a group of soldiers riding over, with people coming and going here, and they didn't stop and almost overturned the street stall.

Ping'er pouted and said, "I don't know what to hurry."

I barely stood up straight, and he said with concern: "Are you okay? Have you bumped into you?"

"It's okay." I shook my head, looked back at the smoke and dust raised by the horse team. The people had already walked away. I turned around and looked at Ping'er, and heard him murmuring, "So many people come here every day, can't we let us go?"

I heard this wrong: "Pinger, who are those people?"

Ping'er said: "They are soldiers from the south bank."

"What?"

"It's the people on the south bank of the Yangtze River. But they rarely cross the river in normal times. Recently, several military ships have already docked, and we have seen many military troops coming."

"The soldiers on the south bank?"

I was shocked and subconsciously turned to look again. The people walked very quickly and had disappeared at the end of the long street. When I looked up again, I saw only the North City Gate, which was lingering in the winter fog.

Now when I see the towering city wall, I can't help but feel a little moved. I once dreamed of the city gate, but now looking at the towering city gate makes me feel a little strange.

The disobedient forces on the South Bank were actually increasing their troops to Yangzhou. It can be said that they were increasing troops, but they didn't look like they were going to attack anyone. So what exactly were they going to do?

I turned around and asked Ping'er: "You said they often have many soldiers crossing the river recently. What exactly are they going to do?"

Ping'er shook her head: "I don't know, I didn't see them doing anything. It's just that those people are outside the city. It looks like they are looking for someone."

"Look for someone?"

I couldn't help but frown.

Somehow, the strange feeling in my heart became even more serious.

.

In the following time, Ping'er took me back and forth on several streets, but there was no news about Alan. Seeing that it was getting late and my body became weaker, he helped me back home and promised to accompany me out the next day.

But the next day, I could no longer leave the door.

After just a while, my sister-in-law and Erya went out, I vomited again. This time it was even worse than yesterday. Not only did I emptied my stomach, but I fainted when my eyes turned dark. Even in a coma, the feeling of being as uncomfortable as if the internal organs were torn up was still tormenting me.

I didn't know when I opened my eyes, but I saw Ping'er standing by the bed with anxiety on his face. When I saw me open my eyes, I immediately rushed up in surprise: "Are you awake?"

"..." I opened my mouth, feeling my throat was burning so hard that I couldn't speak.

He hurriedly brought me warm water and drank some of it. Only then did I feel better. He said weakly: "What's wrong with me?"

"You fainted. It's so scary."

“…”

"You, you won't, are you going to die?"

There is really no taboo for this child.

I heard a bitter smile, raised my head to look at him, but I also understood the panic in his heart. He was still young and was very careful to save a strange and ugly woman at home. If I really died and cut off his dream of crossing the river, it might even cause trouble for their already weak family.

I lowered my head and twisted my fingers to calculate, and smiled and said, "It's not time yet."

"ah?"

"I'm not dead yet, don't be afraid."

Alan made it clear when she took the poison. If it didn't detoxify in a month, it would take my life. Now, it's less than half a month since she was separated from her.

It's not the time for me to despair.
To be continued...