Don't mess with that Miao boy, he's sickly and perverted.

Winged monsters still circled above the city, swooping down again and again, trying to break through that hateful barrier.

With each impact, the house trembled violently. Carrying poles, hoes, and buckets rolled down from the base of the walls, clattering and crashing all over the street. Chai Xiaomi tripped over a fallen carrying pole.

She staggered and leaned against the edge of the well.

She was in an ancient well that had collapsed halfway. She had just recovered her senses when she suddenly saw a hand reaching out from the well.

The hand swayed weakly, hanging limply over the edge of the well, looking utterly eerie.

Chai Xiaomi was startled and hurriedly took a few steps back.

"Why is this well opening so narrow? Give me another push!"

A muffled shout came from the bottom of the well.

This was immediately followed by a synchronized chant: "Come on, sisters! One, two, three!"

The next second, the owner of that hand suddenly sprang out of the well, like a tightly sealed bottle cork finally being pulled out, and rolled with a thud in front of Chai Xiaomimian.

The two looked at each other and froze.

He opened his mouth in disbelief.

"......Millet?"

"...Zhu Yu?"

"Millet!"

"Zhu! Yu!"

Chai Xiaomi's eyes suddenly reddened, and she hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face.

"Waaaah—how did you get here?"

She thought these were friends she would never see again.

The book is almost finished, the story is almost over, and the people I finally met will forever remain on the pages.

All the lingering melancholy that I dared not dwell on finally erupted at this moment.

However, this was not the only wave of tear gas used.

"Millet?"

Several more surprised and trembling calls came from the wellhead.

Chai Xiaomi looked up blankly, her eyes blurred with tears.

One by one, people were crawling out of the well. They were dressed in coarse linen clothes, with headscarves wrapped around their heads, and their faces were deliberately smeared with mud and ash, making them look like village girls fleeing from disaster.

But when she looked closer, she realized they were all familiar faces.

Purple smoke, colorful clouds, delicate beauty, dream...

"Waaaaaahh ...

No one knows who cried out first, but the girls rushed over, surrounded her tightly, hugged her tightly, and cried their hearts out.

Just as she was crying her heart out, a violent impact came from above her head.

The group looked up in surprise and discovered that the giant monster circling in the sky was swooping down.

The girls were immediately terrified, their faces turning deathly pale.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid!" Chai Xiaomi quickly wiped away her tears and shielded them behind her. "There's a barrier; they can't get in for now!"

She composed herself, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar faces before her, her mind filled with questions:

"How did you all end up in Lucheng? And how did you all meet? And what's the story with this well?"

As she spoke, her gaze shifted between Zhu Yu and the girls.

Zhu Yu wiped away her tears and smiled, putting her arm around Zi Yan's shoulder: "These are all my buddies."

Ziyan nodded vigorously, her eyes red as she looked at Chai Xiaomi: "Xiaomi, ever since we used the silver notes you gave us to redeem ourselves from the Huan Yin Pavilion, we've realized how hard life has been. All these years, besides singing and dancing, we can't do anything else, we have no skills to rely on, and we've faced setbacks everywhere..."

She paused, her voice slightly choked.

"We looked for work in many places, but no one wanted to hire us. Later, we wandered around and ended up in Xunzhou. Thanks to Boss Zhu, we were able to stay. Boss Zhu gave us a way to make a living and taught us how to do business, manage accounts, and deal with people. She never thought we were stupid, nor did she make us sell smiles to please anyone anymore. She just said—"

Ziyan sniffed, forced a smile, and imitated Zhu Yu's carefree tone:

"Girls, let's earn our living with our skills, and hold our heads high!"

Chai Xiaomi looked at Zhu Yu, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zhu Yu felt embarrassed by the stare, turned her face away, wiped her eyes with her hand, and then turned back. "Right, let's get down to business."

"I was originally transporting a batch of goods to Liangya Prefecture, but I encountered many wealthy families fleeing with their families on the post road. That's when I learned that Liangya had been invaded by barbarians."

She gestured towards the girls behind her: "These girls are all from Liangya Prefecture. As soon as they heard about the trouble in their hometown, they were all as anxious as ants on a hot pan and insisted on coming with me."

"I heard that this battle was fierce, and the soldiers are trapped in Lucheng. So, I reckon the food won't last for more than a few days," Zhu Yu said, patting the dust off his clothes. "Although I'm not from Liangya, I traveled all over the country doing business in my younger days, and I received favors from people in Lucheng. A client once mentioned to me that there was a secret passage hidden in the city, so we came here."

"The grain is at the bottom of the well, several trailers away. This journey has exhausted these girls."

"etc."

Chai Xiaomi suddenly spoke up, her brows furrowing slightly as she noticed something amiss in her words.

"You said you heard," Chai Xiaomi stared at her, "where did you hear that the soldiers are trapped in Lucheng?"

The news that Nie Family Army had captured Lucheng from the barbarians was not released at all. The outside world did not even know who was in control of the city, so how could they know that it was trapped?

Zhu Yu was taken aback by her question and scratched his head: "I met a soldier on the way here, and he told me about it. He seemed to be in a hurry, as if he was heading back to the capital to report and request reinforcements?"

Chai Xiaomi squinted: "That guy probably has triangular eyes, the kind that look really sleazy?"

"Yes, a little."

It really was that guy.

That beating wasn't enough; he actually ran away at the last minute!

She glanced at the well opening and knew without a doubt that the guy had slipped out from there.

What's with the talk of asking for reinforcements? With that damned monarch who only knows how to seek immortality and doesn't care about the lives of the people? It's already a miracle that he doesn't just open the city gates and surrender. Chai Xiaomi grinded her teeth.

Fortunately, Zhu Yu was a shrewd businessman and immediately guessed what the city was most in need of. All that was delivered were coarse wheat cakes, real goods that could fill one's stomach.

Chai Xiaomi asked the two soldiers guarding the children to help carry the grain out of the well in batches, and then settled the girls in the courtyard where the children were placed.

Seeing that its efforts were in vain and it could not break through the barrier, the monster finally flapped its wings and retreated, gradually disappearing into the gray sky.

Outside the high city walls, the originally ferocious beasts were also agitated by the surrounding scents, and they retreated with low growls.

*

Such attacks would come again the next day, and the cycle would repeat itself.

This continued until the third day.

Chai Xiaomi looked up at the temporarily quiet sky and silently clenched her fists.

If we can just hold on for two more days, Sister Yao's plan will work.

At that time, these beasts will turn their fangs around and bite the barbarians, killing each other.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out outside.

"The head coach is here!"

Chai Xiaomi looked in the direction of the sound and saw Song Yueyao in full military uniform striding towards them. Her armor gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and the sword at her waist swayed gently with each step.

Upon learning that someone had delivered grain, she came specifically to thank the righteous men who had risked their lives to enter the city.

However, when the rumored female general appeared before everyone, everyone was stunned.

Chai Xiaomi pursed her lips and observed everyone's astonished reaction.

Song Yueyao was already outstanding in appearance, with a natural heroic air between her brows and eyes. Now, wearing armor, she looked even more dashing and captivating.

Several young girls blushed quietly.

After a long while, someone finally stammered out:

"I...I didn't expect...that Miss Song is actually...the commander-in-chief of this battle..."

While everyone was still stunned, Chai Xiaomi quickly craned her neck to look behind her.

Song Yueyao was followed by several soldiers, all of them covered in dust from their journey, but she scanned them twice and still couldn't find that familiar, tall figure.

Several waves of monsters have already retreated, but he has not yet returned to the city.

"Sister Yao, where is he?"

Song Yueyao noticed that she was holding a coarse wheat cake in her hand and understood that she was worried that Wu Li was hungry.

"Wu Li is still on the city wall, reinforcing the barrier with talismans. Don't worry, someone's in charge of delivering food to the front lines." She smiled apologetically. "There are also quite a few archers whose bows need repair, and he's been helping them with that too. I'm so sorry, Xiaomi, I've been keeping your husband on these past few days, he hasn't even had a chance to sleep. I bet you're heartbroken."

Chai Xiaomi's gaze fell on Song Yueyao's face, where two dark circles under her eyes could not be hidden.

Even though she herself has never had a good night's sleep, she still thinks about others.

She is like a tree that will never fall.

Endure, show off, be strong, swallow all your fatigue.

"Sister Yao, we're friends, why are you apologizing to friends?" Chai Xiaomi's nose tingled, and she stepped forward, stuffing the pancake in her hand into Song Yueyao's hand. "I really regret not practicing archery with you back then, otherwise, I could at least be a decent player now. Don't just think about others, take care of yourself sometimes too."

Song Yueyao was stunned.

She lowered her head, looking at the coarse wheat cake in her hand, her throat tightening slightly.

After a long pause, she nodded vigorously and forced a smile: "Yes! You staying here to help take care of these children is already a huge help to me!"

Chai Xiaomi nodded, then suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Zhu Yu.

"By the way, Zhu Yu, it's not safe to stay in the city any longer. Could you take these children out through that secret passage?"

This idea coincided with Song Yueyao's.

The secret passage is located underground and leads to the neighboring city, so taking the children out shouldn't be difficult.

Zhu Yu agreed without hesitation.

Let alone taking these children out, with her current businesses, she could easily raise them all.