Guan Yan walked carefully through the narrow alley, observing the surroundings with sharp eyes as he walked.

He knew that although Meng Liang was a habitual thief, he was not a bad person by nature. He was just forced to take this path by life.

Meng Liang and Guan Yan grew up together in a drama troupe. They are of similar age and have similar experiences.

Back then, Guanyan was often beaten by the boss, locked up in the woodshed, and even deprived of food.

Meng Liang, on the other hand, was much smarter and knew how to read people's expressions. He always won the favor of the boss and was occasionally rewarded with a piece of meat at the dinner table.

Then he was taken all the way from Guanyan to the capital, and after being resold several times, he knew nothing about the troupe.

Ever since Guan Yan left the Xingyuan Marquis Mansion and followed the grain truck to the orphanage, he chose to stay here and start a new life.

The two months he spent in the orphanage were peaceful and tranquil, until he ran into Meng Liang in the alley, who was almost starving to death.

At that time, Meng Liang was starving to death, so Guan Yan took him back to the orphanage, gave him food, and helped him treat his wounds.

During that time, Meng Liang behaved unusually docilely and even took the initiative to help take care of the children in the orphanage, as if he was repaying Guan Yan for saving his life.

Later, Meng Liang told Guanyan that since the troupe owner sold him, he also sold several other children who were learning opera.

Some of them were sent to wealthy families to do odd jobs, while others were sold to other opera troupes.

In short, these children cannot escape the miserable fate of being displaced.

Meng Liang said that in the end he was the only one left with the class leader.

He once thought of becoming the boss's son and taking care of him in his old age, but fate would not let him have it so easy.

In order to avoid the frequent banditry, a passing farm family could not bear to see their only son being captured and forced to join the army, so they came up with the idea of ​​buying Meng Liang and having him replace their son to join the army.

Later, Meng Liang seized the opportunity, escaped from the farmer's house, and returned to Xiguan Town.

However, apart from singing opera, he had no other skills and could only live a life of hunger and cold. Over time, he also developed the bad habit of stealing.

It was not until he met Guanyan that his life began to improve. He could often go to the orphanage to have a meal, which made his life a little better.

However, the good times did not last long, Meng Liang's habit of stealing had not been completely changed. Just a few days ago, he was caught stealing again, beaten, and disappeared.

Guanyan was worried about his injuries and even more worried that he would go astray again, so he had been looking for him everywhere these days.

But the reason why Guanyan was looking for Meng Liang everywhere today was because of something that made him even more frightened and terrifying when he thought about it carefully.

Last night, two back rooms in the south courtyard of the orphanage caught fire in the dead of night. Fortunately, soldiers from the town's military camp came to the rescue and put out the fire.

The children in the orphanage lived in the farther north room and were therefore spared.

But Guanyan clearly saw Meng Liang's figure at the foot of the south wall. He had not been seen for several days, but he appeared at the fire place in the middle of the night and did not show up to put out the fire. No one knew what the reason was.

"Meng Liang, where are you?" Guan Yan muttered to himself, his eyes revealing a hint of anxiety and helplessness.

At this moment, a familiar figure suddenly walked out of a dilapidated house.

Guan Yan looked closely and saw that it was Meng Liang!

He heaved a sigh of relief and quickly stepped forward. "Meng Liang, you finally showed up! Where have you been these past few days? It took me so long to find you!"

However, before Meng Liang could answer, Guan Yan heard the sounds of shaking dice and shuffling Pai Gow. It seemed that the two inconspicuous brick houses in front were probably gambling houses.

"Come on, let's talk outside." When Meng Liang saw Guan Yan, he was stunned at first, then he showed an awkward smile, and then pushed Guan Yan out of the alley.

However, at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly came from a distance.

The two men looked back and saw several yamen runners in official uniforms running towards them.

Guan Yan secretly thought that something was wrong. He wondered if Meng Liang’s theft a few days ago had been exposed, and these yamen runners might have come to arrest Meng Liang.

So he quickly grabbed Meng Liang's hand and whispered, "Run!"

Meng Liang also realized the seriousness of the situation. He did not dare to delay and followed Guan Yan's footsteps and ran deep into the alley.

The two men were thin and agile, moving quickly through the narrow alleys, but they were ultimately unable to escape the pursuit of the yamen runners.

At a corner, Guan Yan and Meng Liang were surrounded by several yamen runners.

One of the yamen runners stepped forward and asked sternly, "Which of you two is Meng Liang?"

Guan Yan and Meng Liang looked at each other, knowing in their hearts that they could no longer escape.

Meng Liang didn't want to shift the blame to Guan Yan, so he took a deep breath and stepped forward, saying, "I'm Meng Liang."

The yamen runner looked Meng Liang up and down, with a satisfied smile on his face: "Very good, come with us." As he said that, he reached out to grab Meng Liang's arm.

Guan Yan saw this and became anxious. He quickly stood in front of his friend and said, "Wait a minute! Gentlemen, although Meng Liang was wrong, please give him a chance to reform."

The yamen runner frowned upon hearing this: "Who are you? How dare you stop the official from doing his job?"

Guan Yan's heart trembled, but he still mustered up the courage to say, "My name is Guan Yan, and I'm an old acquaintance of Meng Liang. I'm a servant of the Xingyuan Marquisate who works at the orphanage. I'm willing to vouch for him and will strictly discipline him in the future and will never let him commit the same offense again."

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