The concubine escaped and cried when she met the prince again

Shen Ruolan looked at Mu Jinxuan's receding figure and couldn't help but curl her lips. It was a rare opportunity to come across a small town, so she naturally had to stop and have a good rest. As for outside the town gate, she let him wait there slowly.

Shen Ruolan walked slowly to the town gate, stood behind everyone, and waited quietly to queue up to enter the town.

However, she heard the heartbreaking cries of children in front of the town gate, which made her feel irritated. She asked the aunt in front of her: "Auntie, why are there children crying in front of us?"

After hearing what Shen Ruolan said, the woman sighed and said, "Those who don't have money to enter the town can exchange a child for their whole family to enter the town."

"Trade the child in exchange for admission to the town?" Shen Ruolan was shocked when she heard this. This was just a small town. Who gave the officials here the power to exploit ordinary people like this?

When the woman heard Shen Ruolan's loud voice, she quickly shushed her and said, "Young man, keep your voice down. If the people in front hear you, you'll be in trouble."

Shen Ruolan nodded gratefully to the auntie and asked in a low voice: "Auntie, what do they want children for? There are other big cities that don't charge money to enter the city, why is their small town so special?"

After the woman heard Shen Ruolan's question, she glanced around and whispered to her, "I don't know the details, but this place is very close to King Rui's fiefdom."

Although the woman only revealed it briefly, Shen Ruolan understood it. Collecting money and children was probably because King Rui wanted to build up his own power.

However, none of this is Shen Ruolan's business. Since there are King Rui's men here, she has to be more careful.

After figuring out the whole story, Shen Ruolan suppressed her irritation and stopped covering her ears to listen to the children's crying. After all, she was just a weakling and could not save herself, so she could not take care of anyone else.

Besides, the parents who exchanged them for their parents didn’t feel sorry, so why should she, an outsider, feel bad?

However, when Shen Ruolan arrived at the front, she was shocked by the forced buying and selling in front of her. Many refugees hugged their children tightly and begged the soldiers guarding the gate: "Sir, we will not enter the town. Please let my son go."

"Sir, please let my child go." The refugees cried and begged the gatekeeper one after another.

The soldier guarding the gate looked at the refugees and shouted impatiently, "If you don't enter the town now, you won't be able to enter again later."

The refugees whose children had been taken away had no choice but to tearfully tell their children, “Children, no matter where you are, remember to live well.”

After the refugees finished speaking, they left with heavy hearts.

"Dad, Mom..." The captured children burst into tears when they saw their parents leaving.

The soldiers saw this and whipped the children, cursing, "Be quiet, you bastards! If you keep making noise, I'll break your legs."

“Ahhh…” The children screamed in pain after being beaten and no longer dared to call out for their parents. They could only watch their parents’ backs gradually disappear into the distance with tears and helplessness on their faces.

Shen Ruolan looked at the miserable scene in front of her and her heart could not calm down for a long time. The experience of being a concubine for more than three months told her that being a concubine of someone else did not have any freedom or dignity.

Her original experience told her that being the son of a concubine would not have a good ending.

After wandering outside for a month, reality told her that being an ordinary citizen at the bottom of society who abides by the rules is still miserable.

If you want to live a truly good life, you must be strong, so strong that no one dares to bully you.

When Shen Ruolan thought of this, she suddenly looked back at the huge team, and a bold idea suddenly came to her mind.

If she brought this group of people to that lawless area and used them for her own purposes, then even if she confronted Jiang Dichen one day, wouldn't her chances of winning be greater?

Shen Ruolan had an idea in her mind, and she slowly planned it in her mind. Although it would be difficult to put it into action, she might as well give it a try. Even if it failed, she would not lose anything.

"What are you thinking about? It's your turn." Suddenly a scolding voice interrupted Shen Ruolan's thoughts. She looked up at the person who yelled at her, handed the pass she had just bought to the soldier who yelled at her and said, "Sir, this is my pass."

The soldier took Shen Ruolan's pass and looked at it, then looked her up and down, and said with disdain, "You really are from that poor mountain valley, you are so ugly."

After hearing what the soldiers said, Shen Ruolan quickly lowered her head, pretending to be humble, and did not dare to look at them.

Shen Ruolan's obedient look made the soldiers very satisfied. He stretched out his hand to her and said, "Here are the thirty coins."

Shen Ruolan asked for thirty coins. She said to the soldier with a bitter face, "Sir, wasn't it twenty coins just now? Why did it suddenly increase to thirty coins?"

The soldier shouted at her, "You are too ugly. I am not happy with you. I want thirty cents."

Shen Ruolan continued to cry poor, "But, I only have thirty cents left, you have to leave me some money for food!"

Unexpectedly, the soldier said indifferently: "How much you have left is none of our business. If you can't afford it, get out of here."

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his leg to kick Shen Ruolan.

Seeing this, Shen Ruolan quickly hid aside, took out thirty copper coins from her bosom, handed them to them and said, "Sir, this is for you."

The soldier took her copper coins and snorted at her, saying, "Wouldn't it be better if you took it out earlier? You're delaying my work."

After saying that, he stepped aside and said to Shen Ruolan, "Get in quickly."

Seeing that she could leave, Shen Ruolan hurried in.

Shen Ruolan came to the streets of the small town. She didn't know if it was because of the robbery at the gate of the town, but this town was much richer than the several towns she had passed by before.

She found a restaurant and sat down, and said to the restaurant owner: "Boss, please give me one meat dish and one vegetable dish, plus two bowls of rice."

The restaurant owner saw that the business was coming, and he responded in a good mood: "Okay, sir, a total of one tael of silver."

When Shen Ruolan heard that two dishes and two bowls of rice would cost one tael of silver, she was so shocked that she stood up and asked, "Boss, are the meals here made of gold?"

When she was shopping with Jiang Dichen in the capital, she went to a famous noodle restaurant in the capital to eat a bowl of noodles. Not only was the portion large, but there were both meat and vegetarian options, and a bowl only cost fifty cents.

In this shabby little town, they dare to ask for one or two taels of silver for a piece of meat and a vegetable dish. Aren't they afraid of offending them?

The restaurant owner had expected Shen Ruolan to react like this. He rubbed his head and said to Shen Ruolan helplessly, "Brother, we have no choice. Not only are food prices rising rapidly, but we can't buy them most of the time. That's why the food is so expensive."