The towering city walls of the capital stood majestic and imposing, like a giant guarding the land.
Yu Xi's face lit up with joy as she gazed at the city walls. Having fled from the countryside, she had been walking for half a month, enduring hunger and cold, and suffering untold hardships. Finally, she was about to return home.
From atop the wall, a guard watched as Yu Xi banged on the city gate with all her strength. He shouted sternly, "Get lost! If you don't leave now, don't blame me for being ruthless!" The gates of the capital had been closed a month ago, and no one was allowed to enter or leave without official documentation.
Yu Xi looked up and shouted, "I'm not a refugee! I am a daughter of the Han Guogong family. Please open the gate and let me in!"
The guards found this amusing. In desperate times, people would say anything to survive. One guard sneered, "Why not just say you're the Empress's sister?" He wasn't exactly mocking her—the current Empress was indeed from the Han Guogong family. If this woman claimed to be a daughter of the Han household, that would make her the Empress's sister.
Yu Xi immediately responded, "The Empress truly is my sister!" She was, in fact, the Empress's half-sister.
Her words drew a round of laughter from the guards. They didn't bother wasting words on her anymore. One of them reached for his bow, intending to scare her off. However, another soldier with a thick beard stopped him, saying coldly, "Put the bow down. Attacking an unarmed woman—don't you feel ashamed?" Unable to deal with bandits and thieves, but picking on defenseless women—what kind of hero would that be?
The younger soldier hesitated, then lowered his bow.
The bearded soldier called down to Yu Xi, "There's a refugee camp to the west. If you want to survive, go there." He felt he had done her a kindness by pointing her in the right direction.
As the sky darkened, the wind grew colder, and Yu Xi shivered uncontrollably. Left with no choice, she leaned on her wooden staff and trudged step by step toward the refugee camp.
The capital was overwhelmed by refugees, and the court feared unrest if they were not properly managed. So, they designated an area to the west as a refugee camp and provided two meals of porridge daily to keep the people alive and maintain order.
The camp had many wooden huts, but these windproof and rain-resistant shelters were not for Yu Xi. A woman in the camp led her to a makeshift hut built with branches and leaves, saying, "This hut was vacated this morning. The person who lived here died. You can stay here now."
Yu Xi's already pale face turned even whiter. After struggling for a long time, she managed to say one word: "Thank you."
The woman glanced at Yu Xi, noticing her refined demeanor, which hinted at her noble background. However, the woman was too preoccupied with her own survival to concern herself with Yu Xi's plight. Without expression, she said, "Don't go out at night; it's dangerous."
Over the past half-month, Yu Xi had faced numerous terrors. To avoid danger, she had smeared her face with dirt and applied a foul-smelling herb to her body. This repugnant odor had kept her safe and allowed her to reach the city gate unharmed.
Yu Xi crawled into the hut, only to be overwhelmed by its stench. Combined with the smell of her own body, the air was nearly unbearable. She gritted her teeth and endured it. Having such a shelter to block the wind was already a blessing.
After walking all day, Yu Xi was utterly exhausted and soon fell asleep. In the middle of the night, hunger woke her up. She dared not go outside and instead clutched her stomach, enduring the pain until dawn.
The refugee camp provided porridge twice a day. By noon, Yu Xi was so weak with hunger that her head spun. Finally, the camp began distributing porridge. She found a cracked wooden bowl—more a hollowed piece of wood than a proper bowl—from the hut.
The camp was orderly, and there was no fighting over food. After downing a bowl of porridge, Yu Xi's stomach felt much better. Instead of returning to her hut, she asked one of the volunteers distributing food, "Brother, is this food sent from the capital?"
When she learned that the provisions came from the capital, she began planning to send a message to the Han Guogong household. Luck was on her side; by evening, she spotted a group of people delivering supplies.
The smell of her body caused most of the delivery men to cover their noses. One square-faced man stepped forward and asked, "What do you want?"
Yu Xi quickly replied, "I am a daughter of the Han Guogong family. I wish to ask you to deliver a message to the household and have them send someone to fetch me."
The man looked at her with suspicion. A daughter of the Han Guogong family in a refugee camp? That seemed highly improbable. "Which daughter of the Han family are you?" he asked.
Yu Xi's face froze. After a moment, she answered with difficulty, "I am the fourth daughter of the Han Guogong family." Besides being the fourth daughter, she was also the wife of Jiang Hongjin, the son of the Minister of Personnel. However, she loathed Jiang Hongjin and the entire Jiang family, so she refused to identify herself as one of them.
Her words drew a derisive laugh from a man dressed in green. "Of all the identities you could claim, you chose to impersonate someone dead. The eldest madam of the Jiang family was reportedly killed by bandits on an estate half a month ago. The obituary has already been issued, and the coffin was buried days ago." He knew of the matter because Jiang Hongjin was famous as the youngest top scholar of the Zhou dynasty.
Yu Xi trembled all over when she heard this. She had not expected the Jiang family to be so cruel as to declare her dead and bury an empty coffin without even recovering her body. "I am not dead! I escaped from the estate!" she cried.
The man sneered, "Those bandits are ruthless and leave no survivors. Not even the strongest men can escape, let alone you."
Yu Xi gritted her teeth and said, "When the bandits attacked the estate, I was in the back hills picking flowers. That's how I managed to escape." She had seen the estate engulfed in flames and dared not return. Instead, she fled through the hills.
The square-faced man stared at her and asked, "Where are your maids and servants? A noblewoman like you should have plenty of attendants."
Yu Xi clenched her fists tightly and said slowly, "I only had one maid with me. Her husband and children were on the estate. When trouble broke out, she abandoned me and ran back to find her family. I am not lying. I truly am the fourth daughter of the Han Guogong family." Having traded all her valuables for food during her escape, she had no token to prove her identity. She could only plead with the man, "Please, help me deliver a message to the madam of the Han household. Once she knows I am alive, she will surely send someone to fetch me. I will reward you handsomely once I return."
The square-faced man looked at her sympathetically but said, "Even if I deliver the message, no one will come for you."
"Impossible!" Yu Xi shook her head. "Once my aunt knows I am alive, she will definitely send someone for me. Please, just deliver the message."
The man sighed and said bluntly, "Even if you are truly the fourth daughter of the Han family, you've been missing for half a month. There will be no place for you back home." A woman missing for so long could no longer maintain her reputation. That was why the Jiang family had declared her dead. Likewise, the Han Guogong family would not risk their reputation for her. If she returned, she would face nothing but death.