Su Xiaoning felt a pang of sorrow at Xiao Dao's tragic situation. However, there were still many people in the woodshed, so she could not act rashly. She could only suppress her restless heart and observe the situation.
There were no other children in the woodshed, only Xiao Dao; the rest were rough, uncouth men. The men paid no attention to Xiao Dao; they drank, ate, and laughed.
"I just went to the Ninth Prince's mansion to demand the person back. What are the Ninth Prince and Su Xiaoning anyway? They were so stubborn before, but as soon as I said I would report them to the authorities, they obediently handed the person over!"
"That little brat is a real money pit. He doesn't earn much money every day, and this time he was even taken away by someone else. We'd better keep a close eye on him!"
"Let's send this kid to beg on North Street tomorrow, but his appearance isn't quite right. Should we cripple his hands or feet?"
...
The men laughed and talked about what was most cruel to Xiao Dao.
Hearing them say they wanted to cripple Xiaodao, Su Xiaoning turned pale with anger and could no longer hold back.
She picked up a pebble from the ground, aimed it, and threw it at the men in the house.
The pebble knocked a bump on the head of the man who had taken the knife, and he fell to the ground with a "thud".
"Ouch! Who hit me?!"
The man, Zhan, stood up and shouted loudly, glancing suspiciously at his drinking buddies. The men looked at each other blankly, seemingly unaware of the situation.
"This is really strange..." Unable to find the culprit, the man muttered curses and sat down again, continuing to ramble on and on.
Before he could say more than a few words, a sudden pain shot through the back of his head as small pebbles began to hit him repeatedly. With a bump on his head, he slammed his fist on the table and stood up.
"Will this ever end?!"
There was a moment of silence in the air, then suddenly another small pebble flew in, and everyone could clearly see that it had come from outside the house.
"Damn it! Let's go see who's behind this!" The man's anger flared, and without a word, he grabbed a knife and rushed out the door. The other men reacted quickly, grabbing their own swords and following him.
Su Xiaoning and Su Qingcai hid in the woods not far away. Seeing the group of men rushing towards the woods, Su Qingcai directly pulled Su Xiaoning, and with light touches of their toes, they moved silently to the vicinity of the woodshed.
Although she didn't see any other children, she couldn't leave Xiaodao alone here. Time was of the essence, so Su Xiaoning ran straight into the house and carried out Xiaodao, who had fainted from the cold.
She had just stepped out of the woodshed when the man seemed to sense something and turned back with murderous eyes.
"Run!"
Su Qingcai called out in a low voice, quickly pulled Su Xiaoning over, and hid her behind a thick tree near the woodshed.
The man's suspicious gaze swept over them, and Su Xiaoning's forehead was covered in cold sweat. She dared not make a sound and could only stick close to Su Qingcai to avoid revealing their figures.
Feeling Su Xiaoning's slightly trembling body, Su Qingcai pulled her into his arms and stroked her soft hair, calming her restless heart inexplicably.
In front of the towering tree stood a group of vicious desperados, while behind it, a man and woman huddled together, too afraid to utter a sound, cradling a frail child in their arms. Though separated by mere inches, the atmosphere was drastically different.
The man stared for a long time but couldn't figure out anything, so he gave up. He withdrew his gaze and continued searching in the woods. Su Xiaoning and Su Qingcai, who were behind the trees, breathed a sigh of relief and fled with their knives.
...
The three returned to the Prince's mansion, only to find the courtyard in a mess, with Ding Yi and Bing Er both injured to varying degrees.
"what happens?"
Su Qingcai spoke, frowning as he glanced at the messy courtyard. Had someone sneaked into the Prince's mansion at night?
Ding Yi's expression was solemn. After exchanging a glance with Bing Er, he stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, someone sneaked into the mansion just now, but we discovered them. They outnumbered us and we were almost defeated. We left this behind when they fled."
He handed a small wooden plaque to Su Qingcai, which he had found while cleaning earlier.
Su Qingcai picked up the wooden plaque and saw a small "seven" written in the lower right corner. He immediately guessed that it was probably someone sent by the Seventh Prince's Mansion.
"He's quite capable, daring to openly oppose me like this." Su Qingcai sneered, tossing the wooden sign aside like trash. "Strengthen security. If it happens again, kill him without mercy."
A cold smile played on his lips. Although he didn't know Su Qinghe's purpose, he wasn't going to let himself be slaughtered like this. He had to show some intimidation.
Ding Yi and Bing Er accepted the order and worked through the night to create a new duty roster. Su Qingcai and Su Xiaoning took the little beggar to Bai Hua for treatment, and the matter was thus resolved.
Meanwhile, things were not peaceful inside the Seventh Prince's mansion.
Qin Yunyun paced anxiously in the room when someone came to report that the night raid on the Ninth Prince's mansion had failed. Not only had they failed to see Su Xiaoning, but they hadn't even seen Su Qingcai.
"How could this happen!" Qin Yunyun stomped her foot in anger and slammed her hand on the table.
She turned to look at Fu Ruo behind her: "You'd better think of something!"
Fu Ruo sat quietly by the bed, not even lifting her eyelids, and said indifferently, "I asked you to get rid of Su Xiaoning, but you can't even do such a simple thing well. You failed last time, and this time you went to the Ninth Prince's mansion to cause trouble. How do you expect me to help you?"
"I..." Qin Yunyun seemed to choke, unable to speak for a moment.
She hung her head dejectedly, a bad feeling creeping into her heart: "If I can't get rid of her, then my dream..."
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