But to everyone's surprise, Ti Le survived in this dry well.
She had lost her child, lost everything she had or had never possessed, yet she had kept her life.
At first, Ti Le couldn't understand why heaven would torment her so cruelly.
She thought she would be freed, she thought it would be good to die beneath this dry well!
As she lay dying, Ti Le had considered giving up this wretched life! Let her starve and die of thirst here, rather than drag this scarred body through such a difficult world.
However, heaven did not give her that opportunity.
Just as Ti Le had lost track of how long it had been since she last drank water, feeling her life slowly ebbing away, a torrential downpour suddenly occurred!
The rain fell into the bottom of the well, and onto Ti Le's dry, cracked lips.
In her daze, the instinct for survival made Ti Le involuntarily open her mouth and drink the rainwater bestowed by heaven.
No one knew how long the rain outside lasted before it stopped, and Ti Le, because of this rain, had once again "lived."
She was surprised to find that although her body was covered in scars, those people seemed not to have injured her bones or tendons.
Even though her child was gone, the blood that had flowed from her for a day eventually stopped, and even the abdominal pain was less pronounced.
She was starving. In the well, she found some small mushrooms.
She thought: If these are poisonous mushrooms, then it is heaven's will. If these mushrooms do not poison me to death, I will find a way to live.
So she swallowed the mushrooms without hesitation, and they saved her life. She lived. On a morning no one knew, she sat at the bottom of the well and wept bitterly.
She thought, if heaven let her live under such circumstances, it must have its reasons.
But boundless fear also arose in her heart: this was still the Song manor. If anyone discovered she was not dead, Madam Ning would never let her go!
So she hid in the well, coming out only at night, becoming a ghost-like presence.
As she hid, time flew by.
Hearing this, the Old Madam also asked her, "Do you know how long you hid here? You could have left the Song manor in the dead of night, why didn't you leave?"
Ti Le shook her head, "It must have been two or three years."
Thinking of leaving the Song manor, a great deal of confusion appeared in Ti Le's eyes: "Of course, I thought about leaving the Song manor. If Song Chaozong hadn't deceived me, perhaps I would have left the Song manor long ago. Why would I have to endure so much torment? But... I don't know how many times, in the quiet of the night, I walked to the back door of the Song manor, yet I could never take that step. I don't know what's wrong with me."
She lowered her head, seeming to resent her own cowardice: "I always think, what can a person like me do if I leave the Song manor? No one will acknowledge my identity. Even if I return to the Southern Kingdom to barely survive, will my father still tolerate me like this? Wouldn't I disgrace my mother even more, making her unable to hold her head up in front of everyone?"
Her eyes were timid, weathered, and sad: "If I want to stay in Da Yue, I have no identity. Will my beauty continue to be exploited by men as it is now, to be tormented by them?"
Ti Le gave a bitter smile and slowly unbuttoned her upper garment, allowing the Old Madam to see the mottled scars on her body: "I am not young anymore, and with such a broken body, how can I live in this world?"
She hated herself and the Song family: "And by staying in the Song family... at least I can find food and drink. I can live in the well of this neglected courtyard, and I can have my own freedom. What if I have to hide from the Song family forever? Perhaps one night, I will personally kill Song Chaozong! At that time, it will be my complete liberation. I am staying here, perhaps for this reason?"
Seeing her desolate expression, Song Chaoyu actually understood her feelings somewhat.
Her life, in fact, had ended when she arrived in the Da Yue Dynasty.
As she said, where could she go if she left the Song family?
Although it was dilapidated, it at least allowed her to live peacefully.
If they hadn't moved in and discovered her presence, perhaps even until her death, no one would have bothered to look down into that dry well.
Hearing this, the Old Madam also sighed: "Now that we have found you, how do you want us to deal with you?"
Ti Le shook her head: "I don't know. You can hand me over to the Song family, or you can let me go. I... I don't know."
Years of living in the dark well had likely eroded any other thoughts in her mind.
The Old Madam gently tapped a nearby chair with her hand, then looked at the First Madam: "What do you think?"
The First Madam also frowned: "I think... we should just stay out of this matter, shouldn't we? That Song Chaozong is too outrageous! But this is the Song family of Jiangzhou after all. If we pretend not to know, wouldn't that be fine?"
The Old Madam glanced at the First Madam, clearly displeased with this answer.
She then looked at Song Chaoyu: "Fourth girl, what do you say?"
In fact, Song Chaoyu also felt that the current situation was not as simple as the First Madam thought: "The Song family has done such a thing, it is likely not good for them either. Moreover, this woman's identity is special, and I don't think it's good to let her keep hiding in the Song family like this."
The Old Madam thought for a moment before asking Ti Le, "Are you... close with Princess Ti Ya? Do you know Prince Chang?"
Ti Le was stunned, not expecting the Old Madam to mention these two people: "You... know Ti Ya and Prince Chang? We grew up together, and they call me 'sister.' But we haven't seen each other for many years."
A hint of nostalgia appeared in her eyes.
The Old Madam also had an idea: "Then this time, you will return to the capital with us. Stay by Fourth girl's side, and I will take you to see them."
"Mother, this is not appropriate!"
The Old Madam's decision startled the First Madam: "With her identity, if we get entangled with her, and if she is truly sent back to the Southern Kingdom, will she let us off?"
"No, madam, please believe me!"
Ti Le seemed to have a long-lost hope in her eyes at this moment: "You saved me, you are my benefactors! We Southern people distinguish between kindness and enmity! I know you are here as guests, and although I don't know who you are, I will not hold you accountable. Moreover, my status in the Southern Kingdom is not noble. I just want to find a place to go, and I will never implicate you!"