Su Yi and Liu Huan embarked on their journey to the prefectural capital when Mianmian was a month old.
Liu Huan didn't want to leave Liu Huan, and similarly, Su Yi didn't want to be separated from her.
Many students traveled together. The autumn examinations are in August, so this is the perfect time to go. We all agreed to go together, but we were afraid that something might happen on the way.
Liu Huan gets carsick, so she kept a sour plum in her mouth, which was leftover from her sister-in-law's meal, and she brought it all with her.
One night, the caravan failed to reach the post station and had to spend the night in the wilderness. The first half of the night was fine, but in the second half, the sound of wolves was suddenly heard.
Liu Huan hid in Su Yi's arms in fear, "It's okay, don't be afraid."
The sound grew closer, and to prevent any accidents, the men instinctively formed a circle.
Some people organized women, children, and the elderly to ride in horse-drawn carriages in the middle, while the men brought up the rear.
Su Yi said, "Don't be afraid. Just follow the others. It will be dawn soon, and I will come to find you then."
Liu Huan felt uneasy, but she knew she couldn't be willful at this time, so she could only obediently nod: "Okay, be careful, I'll wait for you up ahead."
The coachman moved slowly forward with a torch, while the man following behind kept looking around warily, fearing that a pack of wolves might swarm them.
Fortunately, the wolf pack only approached briefly before retreating.
An older man said, "Those wolves are probably scared by the torches. Let's go too."
As Su Yi sat in the carriage, he began to feel uneasy. He didn't know why he felt this way, and he just wanted to catch up with Liu Huan as soon as possible.
But misfortune never comes singly; the wheels of their carriage got stuck in a large pit, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't lift it out.
"This is really bizarre today, how did a pit suddenly appear here?"
Their carriage was getting further and further away from the carriage in front, and they could no longer see the torches in front of them.
After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the carriage set off again. It was already broad daylight, and they quickly caught up with the carriage that had stopped ahead.
There was no one outside the carriages. They dismounted and found that the people inside the carriages were fast asleep, as if they had been drugged.
When they woke everyone up, they didn't know what had happened either.
Su Yi searched each carriage repeatedly, but couldn't find Liu Huan. His heart sank to the bottom.
He pulled a woman aside and asked, "Where is the little girl who was with you?"
The woman thought carefully, "That's right, weren't we just in the same carriage? How come we're not here now?"
Su Yi searched around the carriage but couldn't find Liu Huan.
Another woman also discovered her daughter was missing, crying out, "Niu Niu, where's my Niu Niu?"
The three girls and two women who had gone missing were also missing from the county.
An experienced man said, "No wonder we encountered a pack of wolves and our carriage got stuck in a ditch last night. It must have been the work of human traffickers."
Su Yi's mind went blank when he heard the words "human trafficker." When he came to his senses, he slapped himself twice, wondering why he had been so easily fooled.
Now that Huanhuan is lost, where will he find her? She's just a little girl, she's never been separated from him before, will she be abused, will she...?
Some bad thoughts flooded his mind, and the pain made it hard for him to breathe.
“Scholar Su, we’ve already gone halfway, we can’t turn back now. Even if the traffickers have captured someone, they’ll be taking them towards the prefectural capital. Let’s have someone report to the authorities first, and then we can continue searching along the way.”
Su Yi said in a hoarse voice, "Okay." Someone went to the nearest county to report to the authorities, but no one was found to be suspicious.
However, he met an old man on the road who said he saw a suspicious carriage and heard a child crying inside. It was heading in the direction of Suzhou Prefecture.
Su Yi did not travel with the caravan; he bought a horse at the post station, as he could not afford to waste any time.
Liu Huan didn't know what was wrong with her; she kept feeling sleepy. She opened her eyes groggily and found herself and two other girls tied to a carriage.
She was so frightened that she instantly came to her senses, but she couldn't move.
After traveling for an unknown amount of time, the carriage stopped, and Liu Huan heard someone outside say, "We brought three this time, one of them is a top-quality item, so you'd better be careful."
"I know, you can rest assured that we'll handle things."
Hearing footsteps approaching, she closed her eyes. Light streamed in, and she felt a strong gaze upon her.
"That's right, it's quite beautiful. It would definitely make a lot of money if sold to a brothel."
Liu Huan had only two words in her mind: It's over.
"Anyway, you can handle it as you see fit. I've brought the person to you; how you deal with them is up to you."
"The effects of the drug should have worn off by now, why isn't he awake yet?"
Another person said, "It's probably just that too much was released; it's nothing serious."
The two little girls next to me woke up and the first thing they did was burst into tears. The people outside lifted the curtain and said, "Oh, you're awake. Come and have something to eat."
Liu Huan could only open her eyes as well. The other two were clamoring for their mother, and one of them was slapped across the face. "If you keep arguing, believe me, I'll beat you to death."
The man looked fierce and menacing. He gave each of them a steamed bun and said, "Eat up, so you can get on your way faster."
The steamed bun had a different taste, probably from a sleeping potion. Liu Huan didn't dare eat it and just stuffed it into the corner of the carriage.
Sure enough, the other two fell asleep shortly after eating, and she could only pretend to be asleep as well.
"It's good that you're asleep. It's still more than ten days until we reach Fengzhou Prefecture. We can't afford any mistakes. Remember to leave at night. Someone will meet you at the city gate."
"yes"
They were heading to Fengzhou Prefecture, but their original destination was Suzhou Prefecture. Liu Huan didn't know how far the two prefectures were. If they couldn't escape danger in the next ten days or so, she estimated she would never see Shi Tou again in her life.
Because the effects of the drug hadn't worn off yet, she felt weak all over and fell asleep again.
She woke up again at night. The guard gave her a steamed bun, and she said, "Brother, I need to use the restroom."
The man glanced at her and said, "You can pee in the carriage, you can't get off."
Liu Huan looked like she needed to pee urgently: "No, I can't pee in the carriage. I'm thinking of going to the bushes over there."
Seeing that the man was still unwilling, she said again, "I really can't pee, and if I don't pee, I will get sick, and that will be a big problem."
The man was extremely impatient. He untied her hands and tied them together with his own, then led her to the edge of the bushes. He said fiercely, "Hurry up, or I'll beat you to death."
"It's inconvenient to use only one hand."
"Then just hold it in."
"No, no, no, uncle, remember to turn around." The rope was long, and the two were two or three meters apart. Liu Huan quickly finished and put on his pants before going back. "Uncle, I'm done."
Seeing that Liu Huan was really just using the restroom, the man snorted coldly, "You're smart to leave."
They tied her up again, and for several nights in a row, Liu Huan went to the toilet like this, and the man lowered his guard against her.
When Liu Huan went to the restroom again, he was completely unaware that the dagger at his waist was gone.
"Hurry up, we're leaving soon."
Liu Huan squatted down, cutting the rope with the knife in her hand. "Uncle, please wait a little longer, I'll be done soon."
"Fine, since you're good-looking, I'll give you a few more minutes."
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