mynovelweb Chapter 172 'May the Fairy Goddess bless me, my eldest sister Xiaobai has found me'
Chapter 172 'May the Fairy Goddess bless me, my eldest sister Xiaobai has found me'
The companion's voice was full of grievance, "How was I supposed to know that a young lady from a wealthy family would dress like this? She dressed like a vagrant and even mixed into the vagrant crowd. I thought she was fair-skinned and delicate, and that she could fetch a good price if sold to a brothel, so I made my move. Who knew she had such a powerful background?"
The voice cursed at first, then said, "I originally wanted to take advantage of the chaos to do a few more things, but once I go back to Jing'an Prefecture, I won't be able to come back. I'll stay in Zhannan for now."
His companion couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going to just leave that little girl behind?"
"There's no such rule. If we encounter an unusual child, they might remember what we look like. Since we've already brought them back, we can either kill them or sell them. It's more worthwhile to sell them for a good price than to kill them."
The two chatted for a few more minutes, and then all that could be heard was the rumble of the carriage and the strange, inexplicable chirping of birds in the night.
Meng Ali was still very young. He had just heard his mother say that he had gotten lost and there was nowhere to look for him. He had disappeared the moment he closed his eyes and opened them again. He was terrified and worried that his mother and sisters would really not be able to find him.
As he thought about it, he cried softly again, his eyes wide open and tears streaming down his face for a moment. He suppressed his fear and tried to recall the person he had seen before falling asleep in the darkness.
Someone patted him on the head, and he felt that the person was quite impolite—politeness was a word he had learned from his older sister.
As he turned to glare at the other person, he suddenly felt as limp and powerless as a gluten. The grip on his hand loosened, and he was quickly lifted up by that large hand. In the end, he only vaguely saw the backs of his mother and second sister.
Meng Ali's eyes lit up. He seemed to remember the face of the person who took his picture—it seemed that he was no ordinary child.
Meng Ali, who was trying to find joy even in hardship, never expected that Meng Fuqing and Xie Jin would seek out the Han family, the Sima of Qingzhou, for his sake.
After being informed by the servants, the two were not treated coldly and were warmly invited into the Han residence.
Just as I sat down, an elderly lady dressed in fine clothes rushed over, her eyes revealing her anxiety.
The two men rose to greet each other, and only sat down again after the host invited them to.
Madam Han then ordered a maid to serve tea. After the two men drank the tea, she asked, "May I ask if you two know the whereabouts of my little granddaughter?"
Xie Jin said, "Madam, the reason we have come to disturb you at this hour is precisely for this matter."
Meng Fuqing briefly recounted how Meng Ali had also gone missing, and concluded by saying, "Since such a commotion has been caused and we've searched all the places we could, we think that the group that kidnapped us might have already left the city."
I have a wolf under my command with an extremely keen sense of smell, skilled at finding people's tracks. However, that wolf cannot enter the city, and the city gates are currently closed. Those traveling with us were delayed in leaving the city because of the search, and the message cannot get out. We had no other choice but to seek help from the old lady's residence..."
Before Meng Fuqing could finish speaking, Old Madam Han immediately stood up and asked, "Can your wolf really find people's tracks?"
Meng Fuqing felt that this old lady Han possessed a kind of decisiveness that ordinary women lacked, and immediately gave a definite answer: "It's true."
"You two wait here, I'm going to find my son now."
After saying that, Madam Han left in a hurry.
Meng Fuqing and Xie Jin exchanged a glance and had no choice but to stay in the hall and wait patiently.
They came here to get Meng Bochang and the others out of the city, and also to use the Han family's manpower to find the people as soon as possible.
One of Madam Han's maids stayed behind. Seeing this, she smiled and came forward to serve the two of them tea.
"Please rest assured, my lady dotes on Miss Jiu. Besides, there were many other children who were kidnapped along with Miss Jiu. My lady is kind-hearted and will certainly not stand by and watch these children be separated from their families."
Upon hearing this, Meng Fuqing felt much more at ease.
After waiting a while, a servant brought news that the arrangements for leaving the city had been finalized, and the third young master of the Han family would lead a hundred servants out of the city to search for the person.
Meng Fuqing and Xie Jin immediately left the Han residence, returned to the inn, and rode out of Qingzhou City with Meng Bochang and the others.
Dan Qiyu's eyes were red as if they were dripping blood. She held Meng Ranran's hand and stood at the entrance of the inn, gazing at her for a long time, feeling extremely guilty. At the moment, all she could do was pray that everything would go smoothly.
Meng Ranran also hung her head, looking listless and weak.
If her younger brother hadn't been lost, today would have been the happiest day for them since they fled. But now her brother is starving somewhere, and her older sister is also busy.
If only she hadn't rushed to take the snacks, but had instead held her brother's hand.
"Auntie, it's cold outside, let's go back inside." Yan He said, somewhat reluctantly.
She stayed behind to look after the mother and daughter.
"Sigh, let's go back." Shan Qiyu forced a smile.
The three returned to the inn.
As Meng Ali, starving and drowsy, drifted off to sleep, he noticed that the carriage had stopped shaking and come to a complete stop.
Someone lifted the carriage curtain, and a torch in their hand dispelled the darkness inside the carriage.
Meng Ali opened his eyes and looked around. There were five other children in the carriage, their hands and feet bound like his, and their mouths gagged.
Three of them had cried themselves to sleep, like dead pigs, unaware that someone was coming. The unusual Meng Ali felt a bit disgusted with these three children.
Seeing that the man glanced around and was about to leave, Gu Yong immediately whimpered.
As soon as he spoke, the little girl sitting next to him made a move.
The two children sat side by side, trying to express their needs with one body.
The man stopped moving, turned around and warned menacingly, "Don't move, or I'll kill you all!"
Seeing that he was about to leave again, Meng Ali was furious. She exclaimed "Ah!"—good news, her mouth opened so wide that the tattered burlap stuffed in her mouth fell out; bad news, her jaw snapped and dislocated.
Tears streamed down his face from the pain, but he still mumbled incoherently, "I need to...I need to poop. If you won't let me, I'll poop right here..."
The man immediately looked disgusted. At this moment, someone urged him, so he ran over and discussed a few words with his companion. They felt that they had escaped in time, and the people in Qingzhou City might not be able to react in time. So they stopped the carriage in a place with dense trees for cover and took Meng Ali off the carriage.
Watching Meng Ali being taken away from her, Han Ling'er showed admiration and envy. She tried to open her mouth wide, but found that her mouth was not as big as Meng Ali's, and the tattered cloth could not fall out, so she could only continue to struggle.
He banged his head against the carriage, finally attracting someone's attention.
"What kind of trouble are you causing now?!"
A stern shout rang in their ears, startling all the children in the carriage awake, followed by another bout of sobbing.
Han Ling'er shrank back slightly, but still bent over to indicate that she also wanted to relieve herself. The people outside the carriage couldn't understand, so they had to pull out the rag that was used to gag her.
"My stomach hurts..." she stammered.
So Han Ling'er was also dragged out.
After being untied, Han Ling'er discovered that there were two carriages and three adults guarding them, two men and one woman.
Under the woman's gaze, she found Meng Ali squatting on the ground, seemingly doing nothing. When she noticed that their figures were obscured by the weeds, she whispered to Meng Ali from a distance, "Let's run away."
Meng Ali's mouth was still open, drooling uncontrollably. Tears welled in her eyes as she carefully gathered the crumbs of pastry from her palm and covered them under the fallen leaves, silently praying, "May the Fairy Goddess protect me, and may my elder sister and Little White find me quickly..."