Famine and Chaos: Weaving Cloth in Exile to Escape the War

After an unknown amount of time, a hissing sound of someone gasping for air broke the deathly silence of the thatched hut.

Kyoto Haru suddenly opened her eyes, and a bone-chilling cold instantly enveloped her, making her shiver involuntarily.

She stared blankly at the drafty thatched roof above her, snowflakes drifting in through the holes and landing on her cheeks, the coolness bringing her back to her senses.

As she looked down, her pupils suddenly contracted again; there was a child lying in her arms!

The child, wrapped in a tattered quilt, was shivering in her arms. Her little face was so dirty that it was impossible to tell if she was male or female. Kyoto Haru was so frightened that she wanted to push the child away, but her whole body was so weak that she didn't have the strength to even lift her hand.

Just then, she caught a glimpse of her hand.

Those were hands as thin as chicken claws, with protruding knuckles, dry and cracked skin, covered with chilblains and calluses, completely unlike what she was familiar with!

Looking further down, she was wearing a coarse ancient costume covered in patches, and her abdomen... revealed a large, protruding belly.

Kyoto Haru poked at it in disbelief; she was pregnant!

! ! ! ! !

This sudden turn of events left Kyoto Haru's mind reeling, her vision went black, and she fainted again.

After another incense stick's time, Kyo no Haru opened her eyes again.

This time, she was no longer panicked; instead, she was filled with disbelief. Countless memories that did not belong to her surged into her mind like an electric current, piecing together a strange life.

After processing the memories in her mind, Kyoto Haru pinched herself hard; she wasn't dreaming.

This body is definitely not hers.

Based on her years of experience reading novels, she was certain that she had truly traveled through time.

Her body shares the same name as hers, also called Kyoto Haru.

She is the daughter of a disgraced official of the Great Zhou Dynasty, who did not exist in history, and the second daughter of Jing Ziming, the former Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

Jing Ziming's parents died when he was young. Later, when Jing Ziming was still a scholar, he met Cui Daya, who had been abandoned by her family during a famine. The two fell in love at first sight and got married.

Cui Daya was skillful and had exquisite embroidery skills. After the two got married, she saved money stitch by stitch to support Jing Ziming's journey to the capital for the imperial examinations.

Jing Ziming was an upright man with genuine talent and learning, and he was quickly favored by the late emperor. As a result, he rose through the ranks very quickly and became the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet before he was forty years old.

In this court where powerful families held sway behind the scenes, he, a commoner with no connections, became the most convenient and sharpest weapon in the late emperor's hands.

Four years ago, the Great Zhou Dynasty suffered from continuous natural disasters and rebellions in various places, leading to widespread suffering and a depleted national treasury.

The late emperor wanted officials backed by powerful families to donate to disaster relief, but he was wary of their influence and unwilling to get involved personally, fearing it would harm their interests and incur their resentment.

Thus, this task, which was destined to offend people, fell on Kyoko Akira's shoulders.

Jing Ziming was ordered to secretly investigate corruption and impeached several officials with powerful families backing them. Soon, a group of officials had their homes confiscated and were demoted.

As a result, a huge amount of embezzled funds were deposited into the national treasury to temporarily alleviate the urgent need for relief in the face of natural disasters.

However, this only solved the immediate problem; too many areas in the Great Zhou were affected by the disaster, and money was still needed.

Immediately, the late emperor turned his sword on his own son, the Prince of Zhou.

The concubine of the King of Zhou came from a wealthy and powerful family, the richest in the land.

The late emperor secretly instructed Jing Ziming to impeach the Prince of Zhou's mansion for its extravagant spending and for competing with the people for profit, thereby forcing it to provide relief to the disaster victims.

Of course, the Zhou king could not be truly punished; this action was merely a reprimand and warning from the emperor to his son.

King Zhou was forced to relinquish a huge sum of money and grain, and he harbored resentment towards Jing Ziming.

He naturally knew that Jing Ziming was his father's scapegoat, and that impeaching him was the emperor's intention.

However, he could not hate the emperor, otherwise it would be a great disrespect, so he could only hate Jing Ziming.

Not long after, the late emperor suddenly passed away.

The crown prince ascended the throne, but just one year later, he died in an accidental fall from his horse while hunting in the royal gardens.

The late emperor had only two legitimate sons: the crown prince and the Prince of Zhou.

With the death of the crown prince, King Zhou, supported by other forces, naturally ascended to the throne.

The first thing the new emperor did after ascending the throne was to purge the officials.

Those who were princelings or officials who had disrespected him were all targeted for purging.

Countless officials were dismissed or exiled.

Jing Ziming, a loyal minister of the late emperor, had severely humiliated the old officials of the new emperor, and was naturally the first to be targeted.

Subsequently, Jing Ziming was accused of embezzling a huge amount of disaster relief funds and sentenced to exile three thousand miles to the northwest.

Jing Ziming was a man of integrity and self-discipline throughout his life, and he could not bear to suffer such disgrace and humiliation.

At his last court assembly, in front of all the officials, he denounced the framing, and then resolutely crashed into the golden dragon pillar in the hall, his blood splattering on the jade steps, to prove his innocence with his death.

When the news reached the capital, Cui Daya was devastated. That very night, she drank the poisoned wine that had been prepared beforehand and followed her husband in death.

The once illustrious Kyo family was reduced to just three members in an instant.

Jingzhiqiu, the eldest daughter of the Crown Prince, has entered the Eastern Palace as a concubine of the Crown Prince.

The second daughter, Kyo no Haru, who is already married.

And there's Kyoko, the four-year-old adopted daughter of Kyoko Haru.

Speaking of Jing Zhichun and Shen Qingzhou's marriage, it was actually a carefully planned game by Jing Ziming from beginning to end.

Shen Qingzhou was a poor scholar from Jiangnan. His parents died early, and he was raised by his elder brother and sister-in-law.

He was intelligent, handsome, and, most importantly, a man of the Zhou king.

He was one of the future pawns that King Zhou had planted in the south long ago, waiting for the right time to let Shen Qingzhou enter officialdom through the imperial examination and become his power in the court.

Before his death, Jing Ziming somehow knew about Shen Qingzhou's identity long ago.

When Shen Qingzhou was still just a scholar, Jing Ziming began to offer him help in his time of need.

Kyoko knew perfectly well that no matter who succeeded to the throne in the future, she, a lone minister who had done all the dirty work for the late emperor and offended all the powerful families, would not escape the fate of being discarded like a dog after the rabbit is killed.

Therefore, he made plans early on.

Although the crown prince is known for his virtue, he is physically weak and suffers from a heart ailment, making his future uncertain.

If the crown prince is unfortunate, it will be almost certain that the Zhou king will ascend to the throne.

Therefore, in order to protect her two daughters, Kyoko Akira made two moves.

First, send the eldest daughter, Jing Zhi Qiu, to the Eastern Palace to become the Crown Prince's concubine, thus betting on the Crown Prince's legitimacy.

Secondly, he married his second daughter, Jing Zhichun, to Shen Qingzhou, the future confidant whom the Prince of Zhou was secretly cultivating.

Jing Ziming was betting that no matter whether the Crown Prince or the King of Zhou succeeded to the throne, the Jing family would be purged.

Then his two daughters will also be able to survive.

A year before the late emperor's death, Shen Qingzhou passed the imperial examination with top honors, becoming the third-ranked scholar in the capital.

For a time, his future seemed limitless.

Kyoko knew perfectly well that the time had come.

He invited Shen Qingzhou to his residence under the guise of holding a flower appreciation and poetry gathering. During the gathering, he devised a plan to have Jing Zhichun and Shen Qingzhou drink wine laced with drugs, and then locked them in the same room.

The next day, news that the second young lady of the capital was spending time in the same room with the scholar Shen spread throughout the capital.

Public opinion is powerful, and Shen Qingzhou had no choice but to marry Jing Zhichun.