"Thief!"

"Don't run..."

"Quickly, grab him!"

At this moment, Lu Yuan, who had been drawn by the shouts, snapped out of his daze and looked up straight ahead.

On the ten-mile-long street beneath their feet, a man was approaching from afar.

He sprinted swiftly through the crowds in the bustling city, deftly dodging wave after wave of people around him.

As the man ran, he shouted urgently, "Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

The shouts of "Catch the thief!" that were coming from behind him were clearly coming from behind him.

Clearly, no one around dared to stop this desperate man, fearing for their own safety.

Just as the man was passing by Lu Yuan, about to brush past him...

Lu Yuan suddenly stretched out a leg, and the man was instantly tripped and fell hard into a garbage bin on the side of the street, getting a mouthful of rotten vegetable leaves.

"who?"

"Who tripped me?"

"Are you out of your mind?"

After the man fell to the ground, he spat out the filth in his mouth with extreme disgust, and then began to curse.

In an instant, it attracted a large crowd of onlookers.

Once the man realized he was surrounded and unable to escape, people started pointing and whispering about him.

He immediately became enraged and pulled out a sharp dagger from his body, stood up and started shouting.

"Get out here right now!"

"Who on earth is so bold as to ruin my plans?"

"You have the guts to do it, but not the guts to admit it, is that it?"

"Come out quickly!"

"If you don't come out soon, I'm going to start a massacre!"

As he spoke, his gaze suddenly locked onto a little girl, about three years old, who was being led by the hand of a woman in front of him.

He quickly grabbed the person and pulled them tightly to his front, continuing to shout at the crowd.

I'll say it again.

"Who tripped me up?"

"If you don't come out and face your death, I'll stab this little girl to death first."

In an instant, everyone in the surrounding crowd stared wide-eyed in horror at what was happening before their eyes.

The woman was already frantic with worry. Terrified, she knelt on the ground, crying and kowtowing repeatedly, pleading, "It wasn't us, it has nothing to do with us. Please let go of my daughter, let her go. I beg you, I beg you."

The little girl, tightly bound, clutched a candied hawthorn skewer in her hand, already sobbing on the spot, repeatedly calling out, "Mother, Mother..."

But the man completely ignored the woman's pleas and shouted into the crowd once more, "Now I'm asking you one last time, what is it...?"

"Let go of that child!"

Finally, a voice came from the crowd, interrupting all the rest of the conversation.

Everyone turned to look at him.

Lu Yuan stepped forward and said, "It's me!"

The man looked at him in surprise, seemingly taken aback by his extraordinary demeanor. He scrutinized him carefully while scolding him.

"you……"

Who are you?

Why meddle in other people's business?

Lu Yuan was slightly surprised and slowly said, "I never expected that in the vast Qin Chuan region, right under the emperor's nose, on the ten-mile-long street, in full view of everyone, there would be a desperado like you."

He paused, then continued, "I tripped you just now. If you want to do something, come at me. Let that girl go."

"Release her?" The man repeated Lu Yuan's words, then let out a mocking laugh.

He thought to himself, "This man is obviously rich and powerful. How could I possibly be his match? If I lose my hostage now, I'm afraid I'll have a hard time escaping today."

Just as the man hesitated, a ragged old man caught up with him, panting heavily.

Upon seeing that the man was holding a little girl hostage, he trembled with fear.

After a moment's thought, he decided to compromise and began to earnestly advise him.

“Shunzi, I watched you grow up. Although you’re not my child, you’re closer to me than my own. Listen to your uncle, never hurt her. If you hurt her, there will be no going back.”

As she spoke, she seemed to suddenly remember something and said anxiously again, "Oh right, I don't want those silver coins anymore. I'll give them all to you. You can use them to pay off your gambling debts, as long as you promise not to hurt that little girl."

Even so, the man still said angrily, "You stinking driver, if you had done this earlier, none of this would have happened! Your sick husband is all healed, what are you keeping this money for? I only took a little money from you, is it worth risking my life for me? This isn't gold, I'll pay you back double when I make my money back."

The old man said bitterly, "Shunzi, you don't understand. It's not that I don't want to give it to you, it's just that this silver is not mine. One day, I will have to return it to someone else."

The man said, "You only met that woman once. You might never see her again before you die. Since she gave you all that money, why are you so upset? Or do you want to keep it and take it to your grave?"

The old man explained, "Shunzi, it's not like that. Although we are poor, we must know that a person should keep their word..."

At this moment, more and more people gathered around to watch the spectacle.

The man seemed to have lost his patience as well, and interrupted the old man.

"Stop arguing with me. It was all because of your chasing and shouting that I got to this point. Now look what happened, everyone on the street saw it. How am I supposed to get away unscathed? How am I supposed to face people after this? And the soldiers might be here any minute now."

The more the man thought about it, the more anxious he became, and the more anxious he became, the more flustered and at a loss he felt.

He looked around at the densely packed crowd with trepidation: "Today, even if I die, I will take someone down with me. All of this is your fault."

"Excuse me."

"Move aside."

Where is he/she?

Just as the two were talking, the soldiers who had heard the news also arrived.

Seeing this, the man flew into a rage and raised the dagger he was holding high, intending to stab the little girl: "Die!"

At this critical moment, Lu Yuan carefully took out a piece of silver from his body.

In an instant, there was a loud clang, and the dagger fell to the floor in front of the little girl.

The man suddenly felt a tingling sensation in the arm holding the dagger, and instinctively reached out with his other hand to steady it.

At that moment, two soldiers rushed forward and subdued the man in an instant.

The woman seized the opportunity to quickly step forward, scoop her daughter up, and hold her tightly in her arms, comforting her.

"Niu Niu, don't be afraid."

"It's alright, it's alright."

She then turned to Lu Yuan's side, curtsied to him, and repeatedly expressed her gratitude: "Thanks to your help today, young master, otherwise Niu Niu would probably be in grave danger."

Lu Yuan replied, "Sister-in-law, you don't need to be so polite. Niu Niu has been frightened; please take her home quickly."

"Thank you, young master!"

After the woman finished speaking, she hurriedly left with her child in her arms.

The man was also taken away by the soldiers.

In an instant, applause erupted from all around.

The crowd dispersed.

The old man stared intently at the money pouch that had returned to his hand, and sighed with a wry smile, "Life is full of joys and sorrows, and isn't it all caused by money!"

Once he came to his senses, he quickly thanked Lu Yuan beside him: "Thank you so much, young master. If it weren't for your help, I'm afraid my life would have been ruined if a serious mistake had been made."

Lu Yuan politely replied, "It was nothing, sir, you don't need to be so polite."

The old man then seemed to realize something: "Judging from your appearance and accent, young master, could you be from Western Qin?"

Lu Yuan smiled and said, "Old man, you have a good eye. I am indeed not from Xiqin. I came to Xiqin only to find someone."

The old man asked, "Then... young master, have you found the person you are looking for?"

Lu Yuan shook his head, somewhat helplessly: "We haven't found it yet."

The old man thought for a moment and said, "Young master, you may not know this, but I am an old coachman. I see the most people every day. Why don't you tell me what kind of person you are looking for? Perhaps I can help you."

Thinking about it, Lu Yuan suddenly remembered something.

He quickly pulled a portrait of a woman from his pocket.

This portrait was finally completed by Lu Yuan himself, relying on his memories of the days he spent with Yi Shangyun, after a lot of effort.

Sure enough, the old man immediately recognized the woman in the portrait that Lu Yuan had handed him.

He asked in utter astonishment, "How...how do you know this girl?"

He had only intended to give it a try, but seeing this result, Lu Yuanyi was immediately stunned: "Uncle, do you really know the person in the portrait?"

The old man looked down at the money bag in his hand and said, "Young master, you don't know this, but this silver was given to me by the young lady in the portrait a few months ago."

Looking back, the old driver still seems to have a deep affection for it.

"That day, a sudden downpour struck Xiqin City, as if the sky were about to collapse and the entire imperial city was about to be submerged. The girl seemed to have encountered some urgent matter and insisted that I take her to the grasslands. She was very kind. On the way, the road was too rugged to continue, and knowing that I had a sick wife waiting for me at home, she gave me this silver to return home alone."

...

After hearing everything the coachman said, Lu Yuan couldn't help but marvel at how much had happened to Yi Shangyun all by herself here.

So he finally spoke, asking the old man for confirmation: "Old man, do you know what that woman's name is?"

The old man hurriedly tried to recall.

"Call……"

"Oh, by the way, the girl said her name is Yi Shangyun."

Lu Yuan was immediately stunned.

"Is she really a princess?"

"Is the princess really still alive?"

So he quickly asked him again to confirm: "Uncle, you mean this girl went to the grassland?"

Whenever he thinks of her, the old man still feels unbearable pain in his heart: "It's such a tragedy. That girl was so pregnant, and her husband didn't care about her at all, letting her travel alone over mountains and valleys to such a far place."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yuan exclaimed in surprise, "What? You're saying she's pregnant?"