The madam fell heavily to the ground, coughing up blood, and rolled a long way away. She raised her hand to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, staring at Xiao Ling with a sinister expression.
"How dare you come here and cause trouble! You're asking for death! Men, tie this arrogant bastard up! He dares to cause trouble on my turf, I'll make sure he comes in upright and leaves horizontally!"
The girls inside the house were so frightened by this sudden scene that they screamed and ran out the door.
Hearing the commotion, the thugs from Zuichunlou rushed over. Xiao Ling darted in front of the two dumbfounded little girls, picked one up in each hand, and leaped out of the half-open window.
The madam's furious voice came from behind.
"Chase after him! Find him alive or dead!"
Holding the two little girls, Xiao Ling jumped from the third floor of Zuixianlou to the second floor, lightly touching the eaves with his toes before landing steadily on the ground.
He had barely landed when he heard a mocking voice behind him.
"Is your injury fully healed? Why are you in such a hurry to visit a brothel?"
Xiao Ling turned around, and a familiar figure emerged from the shadows where the candlelight couldn't illuminate. A girl in a light blue dress raised an eyebrow at him with a teasing look.
When Xiao Ling saw that the person who came was Shen Yuan, he quickly put down the two little girls he was holding under his arm.
The little girl had just jumped from such a tall building and was terrified. Now that her feet had touched the ground, she couldn't stop sobbing.
Shen Yuan looked at the two little girls, wanting to ask what was going on, but Xiao Ling didn't give her a chance to ask. He simply stuffed one of the little girls into her arms, then carried the other little girl on his back and ran forward quickly.
Almost as soon as he lifted his foot, a group of thugs wielding machetes rushed out of Zuichunlou.
Shen Yuan instinctively pulled the little girl beside her into her arms and hid in the shadows.
"He went that way! Chase after him!" The thugs from Zuichunlou saw Xiao Ling's back and gave chase without saying a word.
Shen Yuan tightly covered the little girl's mouth until the group chased Xiao Ling far away. Only then did she peek out from behind a shelf on the street and drag the little girl along as they ran.
She dared not stop, leading the little girl through several streets until she was sure the thugs wouldn't notice them, before Shen Yuan finally stopped.
She led the girl to an alley not far from the pharmacy, caught her breath, and asked, "What's your name? Why were those people chasing you?"
"My name is Li Luoxue, cough cough cough..."
Because she had run too fast, Li Luoxue was panting heavily after she stopped, and it took her a long time to finish a sentence.
“My cousin and I are not from here. Our families are both in Nanjing. Two months ago, we secretly ran away from home without our parents’ knowledge to go to the temple fair. We were knocked unconscious and when we woke up, we were in Zuichunlou.”
"Tonight, my cousin and I were taken to work as prostitutes. We were both terrified. We thought..."
At this point, Li Luoxue paused. By now, she had already realized that Xiao Ling was not a patron visiting a brothel, but someone she was looking for.
Although neither she nor his cousin seemed to be the people he was looking for, he still saved them.
Li Luoxue looked at Shen Yuan with deep gratitude, "It was you and my older brother who saved me! I thought I was going to be trapped in that awful place forever and never see my father and mother again! I never thought I would escape this day! Big sister, you are truly my savior!"
As Li Luoxue spoke, she was about to kneel down and kowtow to Shen Yuan.
While keeping an eye on the commotion outside the alley, Shen Yuan raised her hand to stop Li Luoxue from kneeling down.
"It's too early to say thank you now."
With such a huge mess at Zuichunlou tonight, their manager will definitely report it to the authorities.
This little girl was abducted and has no household registration or indenture. Zuichunlou probably wouldn't dare to report the two little girls to the authorities, but they would definitely report Xiao Ling to the authorities, since Xiao Ling injured someone.
Seeing that there was no one outside the alley, Shen Yuan pulled Li Luoxue into the courtyard through the back door of the pharmacy.
She hadn't dared to bring Li Luoxue in earlier because she didn't know her identity, but now that she knew the whole story, Shen Yuan took Li Luoxue back to the pharmacy without any hesitation.
Call her overly kind or a saint, but she simply couldn't stand by and watch an eight-year-old girl end up in a brothel.
If they hadn't met Xiao Ling today, they might have been forced by the madam to serve customers.
They're only eight years old!
How could Shen Yuan remain unmoved?
Not long after Shen Yuan brought Li Luoxue back to the pharmacy, she heard a noise at the back door. Through the crack in the door, she saw Xiao Ling put Li Luoxue's cousin, Jiang Wanzhu, on the ground.
He seemed to know that Shen Yuan had returned ahead of time, and he gently knocked on the door from outside the courtyard.
Shen Yuan was so angry she almost laughed. She had just witnessed his lightness skill at Zui Chun Lou. The courtyard wall of the pharmacy was only two people high, so it was easy for Xiao Ling to climb over it.
But he stood obediently outside the door, as if he wouldn't bring Jiang Wanzhu inside without her permission.
He displayed impeccable manners.
Shen Yuan let out a soft breath, as if the pent-up frustration in her chest had been swept away. She went over and opened the door for Xiao Ling, letting him lead Jiang Wanzhu into the pharmacy.
Upon seeing Jiang Wanzhu, Li Luoxue immediately rushed over, and the two sisters embraced tightly, their faces filled with the joy of surviving a disaster.
Shen Yuan temporarily settled the two children in the woodshed, then pulled Xiao Ling into the courtyard.
"I may not ask about your background, nor delve into why you went to Zuichunlou tonight. But you must make arrangements for the two young girls you rescued tonight. My house is too small to feed so many mouths!"
Xiao Ling picked up a twig and wrote two words on the ground.
After reading it, Shen Yuan said, "You want to send them home? Fine! They are both from Jinling, your hometown. In that case, you can take them back to Jinling first thing tomorrow morning."
After a pause, Shen Yuan's voice deepened: "Go back to where you belong."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Ling abruptly lifted his eyelids, staring intently at Shen Yuan. He wanted the two little girls to go home on their own; when did he say he would take them home?
Xiao Ling remained silent for a long time before finally nodding.
He understood that Shen Yuan meant to send him away.
He broke into Zuichunlou tonight and injured someone. If he continues to stay here, he might bring disaster upon Shen Yuan. He really should leave!
The next day, before dawn, Shen Yuan's carriage had already stopped outside the backyard of the pharmacy.
Shen Yuan handed the prepared pastries to Li Luoxue, saying, "It will take at least three days to get from Jian'an to Jinling. Take these pastries with you on the road. Once you return to Jinling, forget about Zuichunlou and never mention anything about what happened in Jian'an! Remember, don't say a single word! Even if your own parents ask, don't mention it!"
"Why is that?" Jiang Wanzhu asked, puzzled. If she could see her mother, she would definitely be unable to stop herself from crying and recounting the grievances she had suffered these past few days.
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