My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

That night at the Liu family's villa, although a doctor eventually treated her, the doctor was only responsible for saving her life. As for whether there would be scars or whether her bones could heal properly, he couldn't control that, nor did he have the ability to do so.

After the wound on his forehead completely healed, a centipede-like scar crawled diagonally from his brow to his hairline.

The fleshy red scar was crisscrossed with fine lines, the skin and flesh were contracted and clenched together, pulling the left eyebrow upward in an unnatural arc.

Without her beautiful face, no wealthy merchant was willing to spend even half a copper coin on Shu Jingwei anymore. She had no choice but to beg.

However, who among the common people of the capital didn't know her?

Who doesn't know that the woman with broken arms and legs and a long scar on her forehead is the former Empress Shu Jingwei?

Walking down the street, the street sweeper would kick his dustpan at her, sending dust flying and hitting her face. She coughed and struggled to hop on one leg to avoid it.

Those who passed by were considered polite if they didn't beat her a few times or spit on her, let alone give her any charity.

She could only rummage through garbage dumps to find tattered clothes that others had thrown away. Most of those clothes were taken from the bodies of the dead.

I managed to find a few wearable jackets, but they were all torn in several places, with clumps of cotton wadding floating out.

If you get hungry, you can only eat grass.

Fortunately, spring has arrived, and new grass shoots are sprouting everywhere, from the cracks in the roadside stones to the base of walls.

These grass sprouts look fresh and tender, but when you chew them, they only taste muddy and bitter. They scrape your throat when you swallow them, and it's no different from swallowing a handful of sand.

It doesn't keep you hungry at all; before long, Shu Jingwei will be starving again, with acid churning in her stomach.

Later, even the beggars in the capital began to ostracize her.

During the day, I cursed her for being unlucky and told her to get lost.

They would urinate on her while she was asleep at night, and whenever out-of-towners took pity on her and were about to give her some money, someone would always jump out and shout at the top of their lungs:

"That's Empress Shu Jingwei from the previous dynasty! That tyrannical and vicious woman!"

Upon hearing this, the outsider's expression immediately changed. He quickly withdrew his hand as if he had seen something dirty, and shoved the copper coins he had already taken out back into his cloth bag with a "clatter".

Before leaving, he glanced at her one last time, his eyes filled with disdain and wariness.

Shu Jingwei could no longer stay in the capital. She had no choice but to drag her crippled leg step by step toward the outskirts of the city.

Because of poor recovery, every movement of the bent part of my left knee feels like there are bone fragments poking at my muscles, grinding and creaking.

But she couldn't stop. If she stayed here, there would be no other outcome than starving to death.

Shu Jingwei walked from dawn till dusk, from sunrise to sunset, until finally, she arrived in Ancheng.

She actually wanted to go further, to a place where no one knew her. But her body wouldn't cooperate; she had to rest after only a few steps.

She dragged her feet for almost ten days before finally managing to reach Ancheng.

Ancheng was much smaller than the capital and was located in a more remote area. There were not many merchants or travelers coming and going, so few people inquired about gossip in the capital.

What's even more remarkable is that she wasn't the only beggar in the city with missing limbs.

She blended in among them, her face obscured by a layer of straw-like hair, which covered most of her face, and the scar on her forehead was hidden in the shadows, not noticeable at all.

I'll never be recognized like I was in the capital again.

Shu Jingwei thus managed to survive, albeit with many stumbles and setbacks, in Ancheng.

Sometimes, if you're lucky, you might get two coins a day to buy a coarse rice bun, or very occasionally you might encounter a wealthy family in Ancheng bringing out some millet porridge to give as alms.

The millet didn't taste much better than the rice she used to eat, but she thought it tasted even better than imperial cuisine, and tears welled up in her eyes as she chewed it.

Tears mingled with the thin porridge she swallowed; it was salty and astringent, terribly unpalatable, but she couldn't bear to vomit it up.

Shu Rou was thrown into Ancheng three days after she arrived.

She remembered that it was an evening.

A fiery sunset painted the sky, and orange-red light peeked through the gaps in the clouds, painting the low rooftops of Ancheng with a warm, honey-colored hue, even gilding the moss at the base of the walls.

Shu Jingwei was squatting under a bridge arch, gnawing on half a piece of bread she had picked up. The bread, which had been dried out for who knows how long, was making a "crunching" sound as she chewed it, almost breaking her teeth.

Suddenly there was a noise in front of her, and she looked up alertly—

She saw a burly man stride towards her, and before she could move away, he was already right in front of her.

Then, with a muffled thud, a small, thin figure was thrown onto the muddy ground in front of her, limbs outstretched and motionless, its fate unknown.

The person threw it away and left, leaving Shu Jingwei staring blankly at the lump in front of her.

She first stuffed all the bread into her stomach, then took a few steps forward and turned the person over, seeing that face—

It's Shu Rou.

Shu Jingwei paused, not expecting to see Shu Rou again. She guessed it was Wang Meng's men who brought her here; it seemed they weren't going to be separated...

She gave a bitter smile, knowing that she had no power to resist and had no choice but to accept it.

They reluctantly became companions after that.

Shu Rou has gone through so much in the past that she now looks exactly like a proper beggar.

His body was tattered and torn, and his face was so dirty that it was almost unrecognizable, with mud and grass juice covering his head.

And those eyes, those eyes that once still held a hint of childlike innocence—

It was now frighteningly gloomy, with a cold and ruthless light surging in its dark pupils.

Like a wild dog cornered in a corner, its fur stood on end, as if it were ready to pounce and tear at any moment.

She no longer calls her "mother," and instead just says "feed" or "you." Shu Jingwei has become numb to it; whatever she's called, it's all the same.

However, the combination of a child and a disabled person resulted in them receiving slightly more money.

Passersby who see a woman with a crippled leg squatting by the roadside with a three- or four-year-old girl, holding a broken bowl, will inevitably feel a little more compassion.

Sometimes, the copper coins in the broken earthenware bowl could be enough to buy two steamed buns, which they would each sit by the wall and gnaw on.

Shu Rou would always wolf down her own piece first, then stare at the one in Shu Jingwei's hand with a restless look in her eyes.

Seeing this, Shu Jingwei had to eat faster, and she would often choke and roll her eyes.

As a disabled and small beggar duo, they inevitably encounter robbery and those who beat them to vent their anger.

These kinds of people always choose to appear at night. Drunkards reeking of alcohol stagger out of the alley, kick the beggars huddled under the wall, and after beating them, they don't forget to pick up the few coins scattered on the ground.

They had encountered this problem several times before because they chose the wrong sleeping spot.

Every time, Shu Rou would take advantage of her small size to hide behind her, watch herself get beaten to the point of near death, and then come out from behind her and continue sleeping as if nothing had happened.

Forget about feeling sorry for her and shedding tears for her; she should be thanking her lucky stars if they didn't take the opportunity to search her for the few coins she had hidden.

But now, Lin Ye only had a leg cramp, he didn't even fall or get injured, and Xiao Douzi is so nervous and worried...

They're both her daughters, so why is there such a big difference between them...?