A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

Chapter 9 We Must Escape

Wutong nodded seriously, secretly pinching her thigh with her fingers: "Pull!"

Yinling bit her lip, mustered all the courage and strength she had ever had, gripped the golden hairpin with both hands, and pulled it out with all her might.

Wutong didn't scream; she was just covered in cold sweat, and her thighs were bruised and black from pinching herself.

The scab that had finally formed was torn off, and the wound hurt as if someone had splashed salt water on it. For a moment, she even thought that if she just died from the pain, it might be a little better.

But she persevered, and the joy of regaining her freedom sustained her as she continued to move forward.

Wiping the sweat from her brow with her sleeve, she said weakly, "Let's eat."

After the meal, Yinling unusually took the initiative to bring water to wash her face and even helped her wash her face as well. When it was time to sleep, she specially gave up her bed for Yinling and went to sleep on a makeshift bed on the floor herself.

Wutong didn't refuse. If given the choice, who wouldn't want to live a better life? Besides, she was already numb with pain and had no desire to be polite anymore.

After extinguishing the oil lamp, the two lay awake in the darkness, imagining the starry sky beyond the wall.

"Do you think... we can still escape?" Yinling's voice was very soft, like a mosquito's hum: "I really miss Brother Fufeng."

Wutong said expressionlessly, "It's definitely possible."

It was either escape or death, so she had to escape.

Yinling sighed and said, "The people of Dongqi are really terrifying. Back when I was alive, they were a vassal state of the Great Western Dynasty. They would send tribute to us every year. My favorite pair of wool gloves was a gift from Dongqi."

She spoke with great melancholy, but Wutong could sense her familiarity with Dongqi from her words and seized the opportunity to ask, "Then do you know where we are now?"

Yinling nodded: "I know, Tomsk, the main city of Dongqi."

Wutong asked, "How far is it from here to the Southern Frontier?"

"At least two thousand miles."

More than two thousand miles... that's almost half the size of a country. Even if they were lucky enough to escape from here, by the time they got back to the southern border, they'd probably be two savages.

Wutong was already somewhat frustrated, and hearing this made her even more disappointed, feeling that escaping would be difficult.

Yinling was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "Actually, Brother Fufeng won't come to save me either..."

Wutong was slightly surprised and asked, "Why do you say that?"

Yinling murmured, "I wasn't kidnapped by Meng Baobao. I had a fight with Brother Fufeng and ran away from home. I encountered the Eastern Qi army on the way, so... Brother Fufeng is probably still angry with me and hates me. Why would he come looking for me?"

Wutong didn't know the extent of their relationship. She had only met Duan Fufeng, the King of Southern Xinjiang, once by chance and knew nothing about his personality.

However, seeing how heartbroken Yinling was, she still comforted her, "No, since you two are engaged, he certainly won't disregard your feelings."

Yinling chuckled self-deprecatingly: "The engagement, hehe... The engagement was arranged before we were even born. No one takes it seriously except me, not even Brother Fufeng."

She paused, then said sadly, "I've always known that he doesn't like me, I just didn't want to admit it."

Wutong asked, "Then who does he like?"

Yinling was stunned for a long time, then shook her head and remained silent.

Matters of the heart are the most difficult to handle, because after adulthood, everyone learns to say one thing and mean another.

Wutong has little experience in dating, but from a modern perspective, unrequited love is clearly not worth doing; it's an investment with no return.

Therefore, she advised, "Since he treats you badly, you don't need to be so attached to him. You are a princess; finding a suitable husband is a very easy thing, isn't it?"

Yinling shook her head anxiously: "No... he wasn't mean to me... it's just that I was wrong."

Wutong gazed at her for a long time, and felt that this girl was hopelessly in love.

The next day, when they woke up, the two sat in chairs looking at each other, both feeling somewhat bored.

The idea of ​​using the ceiling was no longer viable, and the room was so dark and gloomy, without even a window, it was practically a tomb.

With Yinling's help, Wutong applied medicine to both hands, stretched out her arms and leaned on the table, feeling a little flustered.

She and Yinling are completely incapacitated right now. If those guards come again like last time, she really has no way to deal with them.

Fortunately, they seem to have been forgotten by those people.

Unfortunately, they also seem to have been forgotten by the people who deliver food and water.

All day long, the door remained quiet, without the slightest sound.

"Wutong, I'm so hungry..." Yinling said, her hand covering her stomach, accompanied by a series of rumbling sounds.

Wutong was at a loss; the room contained only tables, chairs, and a wooden bed, which couldn't be used to fill their stomachs.

Having grown up in the spring breeze of freedom and democracy, she would never do something like feeding her husband with her own flesh.

"It must have been Tuotuo'er who sent people to do it!" Yinling suddenly realized something and said through gritted teeth, "Tuotuo'er kept encouraging Meng Baobao, saying that I was useless and that we should take me to the Central Plains and the Southern Frontier to exchange for grain. Exchange for grain, my ass! Am I their cattle or sheep?"

Upon hearing the words "cattle" and "sheep," Wutong couldn't help but think of the fragrant, sizzling roasted whole lamb and beef steak, and felt her mouth water even more.

Because they were so hungry, the two of them had no interest in sleeping at night. They lay on the table, barely surviving, one on each side. Yinling even stuck out her tongue and licked the tabletop because there was some soup that had leaked out earlier and still smelled nice.

The hunger lasted for three days, and for them, every second felt like an eternity.

Wutong had experienced hunger once before, and the thought of possibly starving to death again made her stomach clench uncontrollably.

She thought she would lose all patience and fight them to the death, but in reality, she was already too tired to even move a finger.

At first, Yinling kept cursing at Tuotuo'er and Mengbaobao, calling them ungrateful wretches. But in the next two days, she began to pray that Mengbaobao would send someone to summon her.

Insults are not intolerable, but hunger is. No matter how tough a man is, he cannot withstand being locked in a room and starving to death.

"I want to see Meng Baobao! Take me to see Meng Baobao!"

She climbed to the door, pounded on it, and shouted. After about an afternoon, someone finally came to open the door.

The guard's gaze swept over the two women. Because they hadn't seen the sun for a long time, their skin was as pale as paper, without a trace of blood.

"Get up, the king wants to see you."

Yinling had no strength left. She struggled on the ground for a long time, barely managing to prop herself up with one hand, but collapsed again in less than three seconds.

Finally, the guards grabbed her arms and carried her out the door.

The moment they left, Wutong rushed over and, while the guards were locking the door, slipped a piece of wood, less than a finger's thickness, under the door.

She had been pulling this off the bed while sleeping these past two days, waiting for this moment!

End of this chapter