At the beginning of the winter of the fifth year of Mingde, the Xiongnu attacked, and the northern army was defeated, losing several cities in more than two months.

It was not until the end of the summer of the following year that the Xiongnu invasion finally stopped.

At the end of the autumn of the sixth year of Mingde, the Great Jin army drove all the Xiongnu tribes to the north of Yinshan.

The imperial court finally freed up its hands to thoroughly investigate the reasons for the defeat in the northern border during the year, and a large number of derelict civil and military officials fell one after another, including Yan Yuncai, the commander of the second rank.

The adult males of the Yan family were all assigned to the Liangzhou Frontier, and the rest of the people were not official slaves.

At that time, the old lady of the Qiao family took pity on the young daughter of her friend, so she ignored the risk and asked her newly married son Qiao Juncheng to take Yan Susu as a concubine before the Yan family was copied.

In the winter of this year, Qiao Juncheng's wife Mei gave birth to her eldest daughter, Qiao Anyi.

On the winter solstice of the following year, Yan Susu gave birth to dragon and phoenix twins.

On the same day, at the main gate of the Shu Wangfu in the capital, a barefoot Taoist priest shouted in the snow, saying that the eldest prince of the palace was the reincarnation of the true dragon emperor.

The king of Shu was furious, ordered the mad Taoist priest to be killed on the spot, and immediately went to the palace to ask Emperor Mingde for his guilt.

A month later, the king of Shu married his step-concubine, and took his wife and children to Shu in the spring of the next year.

In the tenth year of Mingde, Yan Yuncai's father and son made great contributions in Liangzhou, and at the same time, the imperial court found out that Yan Yuncai was framed for being involved in a corruption case.

In the autumn of the same year, Yan Yuncai was reinstated.

On the day of his arrival in Beijing, Yan Yuncai immediately wept blood and wrote a letter, grieving that his daughter was a concubine and disgraced the family, and begged the court to allow him to strangle his own daughter.

Emperor Mingde then issued an order and ordered Wupin Tongzhi Qiao Juncheng to take Yan Susu as his wife.

Only two months later, the Japanese raiders ransacked the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang on a large scale, and the Mei family of the Qiantang Wang clan was looted overnight, and the old and the young were tortured and killed.

When the news reached the capital, Mei, who had been depressed for many years, immediately fell ill.

On the day of the winter solstice, the Qiao family held a grand birthday banquet for the twins, and Mei died after giving birth to a stillborn baby in the evening.

On winter nights, thunder and rain poured down.

There were people coming and going in the backyard of Qiao's house, and the housemother Yan was crying with red eyes, but she still insisted on comforting her mother-in-law and husband, commanding and dispatching her subordinates, and methodically arranging Mrs. Mei's funeral the next day.

In the corner of the back street of Qiao's house, Qiao Anyi hid in Mama Mei's arms in horror, hugging her waist and refusing to let go.

The winter rain was cold, and Mama Mei, who had already dried her tears, ruthlessly tore off Qiao Anyi's hand and stuffed her into the arms of the man opposite and said:

"The eldest girl must be taken out of the capital before noon tomorrow, remember, you must be incognito, and never return to the capital."

The man holding Qiao Anyi choked and called "sister", he wanted to speak again, but Mama Mei couldn't wait, and hurriedly returned to the corner gate after pushing her brother away.

She didn't stay in the house, and the news of the eldest girl's disappearance would definitely not be hidden from dawn.

As long as she can hold on to the funeral until tomorrow afternoon, her little master may still have a way to live.

There was another flash of lightning and thunder, and Qiao Anyi, who was struggling hard in the man's arms, fainted.

In Fushoutang, Mrs. Qiao's face was like ashes, and when the next person rushed back and lay in her ear and hurriedly finished the report, the old lady burst into tears and exclaimed:

"I regret not being at the beginning, regretting not being at the beginning...... Yi'er, my Yi'er......"

In the summer of the eleventh year of Mingde, the old lady of the Qiao family, Yao, who had been ill for a long time, died of illness, and she refused to see her children and grandchildren before she died, and only left her last words to the mother's family who were serving by her side: Qiao Yao's family is ashamed of the ancestors of the Qiao family, and will never enter the Qiao family ancestral hall to be worshiped by incense after death.