The old lady had someone bring some food for the woman, and let her tidy herself up a bit before the woman knelt before the old lady.
"Oh, Grandmother, look, she's so beautiful!"
Even after enduring so much hardship in the well, this woman's features were still as beautiful as a painting.
Moreover, her deep-set eyes and high nose bridge reminded Song Chaoyu of Rui Ji from before, making her feel as though she wasn't from Da Yue.
Although her clothes were ragged and her face bore the marks of time, her feminine grace and vivacity seemed etched into her very bones, commanding admiration.
"What is your name? Are you from Da Yue?"
The old lady gestured with her chin towards the woman, "How did you end up in that dry well?"
The woman's Da Yue dialect wasn't fluent, but it was understandable enough.
She looked up, casting a timid glance at the old lady, "My name is Ti Le. I am not from Da Yue, I am from the Southern Kingdom. No... I am not exactly from the Southern Kingdom. My father was from the Southern Kingdom, and my mother was from the Hu tribe."
"Ti Le?"
This name caused the old lady's brows to furrow deeply, "This is a name only used by women of the Southern Kingdom's royal family. Are you a member of the Southern royal family?"
Yes, the princess who came for the marriage alliance was also named Ti Ya, wasn't she?
Their names were so similar, but why was she found in the Song family's residence in Jiangzhou?
Song Chaoyu was full of questions, but Ti Le looked at the old lady with surprise and admiration, then nodded, "Children of the Hu tribe are slaves in the Southern Kingdom. Even if my father was a prince of the Southern Kingdom, I was still just a slave."
Ti Le was twenty-five years old this year.
She had left the Southern Kingdom seven years ago and come to Da Yue.
Although she was of royal blood, her mother was from the Hu tribe, so she was considered a slave in the Southern Kingdom.
Her father intended to give her to a minister of the Southern Kingdom, which she did not want, and thus she fled the Southern Kingdom.
To get further away from the Southern Kingdom, she came to Jiangzhou.
She hadn't intended to stay in Jiangzhou for long, but fate was not kind.
The day after arriving in Jiangzhou, she was knocked unconscious on a pleasure boat, then bound, and from then on, the nightmare began!
Ti Le had been raised in the deep palace of the Southern Kingdom. Although she was a slave, she had been well-provided for.
Therefore, she was unaware of the wickedness of the outside world, nor did she know that as soon as she entered Jiangzhou, someone had already set their sights on her beauty and exotic charm.
When Ti Le woke up, she found herself thrown into a brothel in Jiangzhou.
A man was haggling with the brothel's madam.
They treated Ti Le as nothing more than an object. The man even spread her legs while demanding money, showing her to the heavily made-up madam, "Look at this top-quality merchandise! She's still a virgin! I can sell her anywhere without worry! A thousand taels, that's not too much, is it? If you train her well, she'll make you a lot of money!"
The madam, known as "Mama Jin," although she fancied Ti Le, still said to the man, "Where did you, Liu San, find someone so beautiful? Don't think I don't know! Who knows how much trouble she'll cause later. Eight hundred taels is the most I can give. Otherwise, sell her elsewhere, my establishment doesn't need her!"
In the end, they settled on a price of nine hundred taels.
Ti Le remained in the brothel, but because she hadn't yet mastered the Da Yue dialect, she couldn't explain her identity.
At first, she thought she might have encountered good people.
The brothel treated her well with food and drink, and didn't let her go out to entertain guests.
Until half a month later, she was suddenly sent to the Jiangzhou post station!
There was a high official there, said to have come from the capital.
And Mama Jin, in order to curry favor with the high official, sent Ti Le to him.
That night, Ti Le endured terrible torment until she fainted.
However, the next day, instead of rest, Ti Le found that the high official had actually bestowed her upon one of his subordinates!
That man was the current grain administrator of Jiangzhou, and his torment of Ti Le made her life unbearable.
He treated Ti Le as a plaything, not only enjoying her himself but also frequently inviting his cronies over.
Unable to bear the humiliation, Ti Le finally found an opportunity and threw herself against a pillar, barely alive—
But heaven seemed unwilling to let Ti Le go. She was eventually saved by that man.
These bleak days lasted for about half a year.
One day, Song Chaozong appeared before Ti Le.
He had come to curry favor with the grain administrator of Jiangzhou for the sake of the Song family's business, but he was immediately smitten with Ti Le.
He poured all his wealth into it, sold his fertile land, and used two thousand taels and fifty mu of paddy fields to exchange Ti Le from the grain administrator.
By then, Ti Le could speak the Da Yue dialect. She saw that Song Chaozong was different from those who had tormented her.
So she revealed her identity to Song Chaozong and pleaded with him to send her back to the Southern Kingdom. She vowed to repay Song Chaozong a thousandfold, only asking to return to the Southern Kingdom.
Ti Le said that at first, Song Chaozong had agreed.
But Song Chaozong told her that he was just a small merchant, and the Song family had already fallen into decline in Jiangzhou. It wasn't easy to send her back to the Southern Kingdom, and he asked her to serve him well, and when the time was right, he would naturally send her back.
So for those years, Ti Le complied with all of Song Chaozong's requests. Song Chaozong would even send Ti Le to entertain his business associates or some officials to please them.
As time went on, Ti Le became numb.
She had only one thought in her heart: to return to the Southern Kingdom, to return to her mother's side!
Thus, Ti Le spent nearly four years with the Song family.
Because of her special status, she had no name or title, and Song Chaozong kept her hidden in this courtyard.
Until the arrival of that child—everything was shattered.
Ti Le was pregnant.
This should have been a happy event, and Ti Le thought it was a reward from heaven.
She even considered the possibility of keeping the child, staying with the Song family, and living a good life with her child.
However, that morning, when Song Chaozong's wife, Madam Ning, stormed into the courtyard and slapped her to the ground, she knew that everything was over!
Madam Ning had never liked her, always calling her a temptress.
Now, knowing she was pregnant, she had the servants beat her violently.
Madam Ning, while beating her, revealed a cruel truth.
That Song Chaozong had never intended to send her back to the Southern Kingdom; he had only treated Ti Le as a plaything. And now, neither of them knew whose child Ti Le was carrying.
Song Chaozong was a man who feared trouble, so he let Madam Ning handle everything.
And Madam Ning?
Her solution was to beat Ti Le and her unborn child to death, then throw them into the dry well in the backyard, as if this person had never existed.