Chapter 9 Human-Faced Dog: Zhizhi
They will carry us back.
At the street corner, a young woman in a green dress sat high on her horse. Her brocade skirt was exquisite, and her hair was adorned with pearls and jade. She had an arrogant demeanor. Although she had a face as beautiful as a peach blossom, her eyes were full of contempt and malice.
"Get away from me, you filthy thing!"
She raised her whip and lashed it hard at the skinny beggar girl with a "crack!" The little girl cried and curled up on the ground, her body almost pressed against the horse's hooves. If the horse lifted its foot, it could trample her to death on the spot.
The woman was about to pull out her weapon again when Tang Yu felt a lump in her throat and shouted, "Stop!"
Before she could think further, three short arrows flew out from her sleeve with a flick of her wrist. One arrow knocked the whip out of her hand, another shattered the hairpin in her hair, and the last arrow pierced the horse's neck with pinpoint accuracy.
The arrow was coated with a sedative, so it didn't kill the horse. It let out a whimper, its legs buckled, and it collapsed to the side. The woman, caught off guard, fell from the horse and tumbled into the still-wet muddy street. Her green dress was instantly stained, leaving her looking quite disheveled.
Wang Shanyue seized the opportunity to rescue the little girl and carried her to the side.
Ignoring the woman on the ground, Tang Yu slowly stepped forward, squatted down to check the little girl's injuries, and her eyes gradually turned cold.
The little girl had delicate skin, but the several bloody whip marks on her body were shocking.
Tang Yu could barely contain her anger. She looked up at the woman who had fallen into the mud with icy eyes, her voice low and chilling: "Who gave you the audacity to bully an innocent child?"
The woman, her face still smeared with mud, struggled to get up, her face a mixture of shame and anger. She screamed, "How dare you lay a hand on me! Do you know who I am? I am the daughter of the Prefect of Quzhou!"
As soon as she spoke, the crowd that had stopped to watch immediately retreated and dispersed in fear, not daring to say a word.
At this moment, several constables rushed over and were about to help her up, but she fiercely pushed them away, shouting, "Take him down! I'll tear him to pieces!"
Her voice was shrill, and her face was contorted as she glared at Tang Yu, showing none of the gentle grace of a woman from Jiangnan.
This appearance is utterly ridiculous.
Tang Yu didn't move an inch, only stared coldly at her, her hand already reaching for the sleeping potion in her sleeve.
Instead, Wang Shanyue's face darkened. "The people on this street can all testify that it was who couldn't distinguish right from wrong and abused the child. And now you still want to bully others by relying on your power?"
The woman's face flushed red, and she was about to shout again when she suddenly saw the constables step aside and a young man in a dark blue robe walk over quickly.
He stood tall and straight, his expression solemn. With a single glance, he silenced the remaining peeping crowd, who all looked away.
"Wanying, are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
Her younger sister was covered in dirty water, her hair was disheveled, and she looked nothing like her usual haughty and noble young lady.
He stepped forward, about to reprimand the other party, when he suddenly noticed a handsome young man standing behind Tang Yu, and his expression changed drastically.
Almost instantly, he put on a smiling face and strode forward: "Brother Xiao? It's an honor to meet you here."
His tone was extremely gentle and humble: "I wonder if Brother Xiao still remembers me, Li Mingzhi, son of the prefect of Quzhou. Two years ago at the Yujing Gathering, your poem amazed everyone present. You are truly a genius. I was fortunate enough to hear it, and I still remember it vividly."
Xiao Fangliang walked slowly to the little girl's side with a calm expression. He looked down at her for a moment before raising his eyes and smiling: "I didn't remember before, but I remember today."
Li Mingzhi's face turned deathly pale instantly. He felt a chill run down his spine, but he still maintained a smile on his face.
Li Wanying was stunned by what she saw. Her voice trembled as she called out in a wronged tone, "Brother..."
"How dare you be so rude!" Li Mingzhi rebuked sharply, then turned to Tang Yu and the others with a sincere expression, cupping his hands in a respectful bow: "My sister was very impetuous today and has offended me greatly. I apologize on her behalf and ask for your forgiveness."
The man was upright and spoke sincerely, so even though Tang Yu still harbored some anger, she couldn't lash out at him at this moment.
“Young Master Li,” Xiao Fangliang said calmly, but his words were sharp: “Your sister has such an arrogant temper. Today she bullied the weak. She was lucky to run into us. If she causes trouble again in the future, I'm afraid even you won’t be able to protect her.”
"Yes, yes, I understand." Li Mingzhi nodded hurriedly, understanding the warning in his words, feeling both angry and afraid.
He hurriedly added, "Don't worry, Young Master Xiao, when we get back today, we'll make sure she reflects on her actions behind closed doors and learns a lesson."
Li Wanying was extremely ashamed and indignant, but dared not say anything more, only glaring fiercely at Tang Yu.
Tang Yu snorted and rolled her eyes at him, which made her face flush with anger.
The storm subsided, and the crowd gradually dispersed.
Wang Shanyue sighed, "It's despicable to bully the weak by taking advantage of one's status. I feel sorry for this little girl... We really owe Brother Su a lot for his help today."
"I just did what I was supposed to do." Tang Yu interrupted him, turned around and gently picked up the trembling little girl. "Let's go, take her back to the inn first."
The two turned and left.
Xiao Fangliang stood there, watching their backs as they entered the inn, before slowly walking to the side of the horse.
He took out a silk handkerchief, bent down and pulled out the short arrow. After examining it for a moment, he smiled slightly and put it into his sleeve.
*
Inside the room, Tang Yu was squatting by the bed, carefully applying medicine to the little girl.
In her hand was a secret external medicine made by the Tang family. She applied it to the bloodstains, which hurt a little. The little girl trembled slightly, but she bit her lip to hold back her tears, only staring at her with her big, dark, clear eyes.
Her features were delicate and lovely; looking at her now, she was quite beautiful. It's a mystery why she ended up as a beggar.
Tang Yu's tone softened further: "Does it hurt?"
She nodded, then quickly shook her head, as if afraid of worrying her.
"What's your name? Where are you from?" Tang Yu asked gently, trying to divert her attention.
The little girl hesitated slightly, her small voice as light as a breeze blowing through thin paper: "My name is Zhizhi... My home is in Huaiyang, and now I live in a dilapidated temple in the western suburbs."
Tang Yu paused, finding her statement somewhat strange.
"Your home is in Huaiyang? Has something happened?"
“…I don’t know.” Zhizhi shook her head, her eyes blank. “I just got separated from my parents.”
These words sounded strange. Tang Yu and Wang Shanyue exchanged a glance, both of them becoming more wary.
Wang Shanyue frowned: "Huaiyang is in the western suburbs of Zhongjing, which is two days' journey from here according to our walking distance. Even if a seven or eight-year-old child got lost, how could he possibly walk all the way to Quzhou alone?"
Tang Yu also had doubts, so she lowered her voice and gently guided her: "Zhizhi, do you remember how you came to Quzhou? And who you came with?"
Zhizhi lowered her head, trying hard to recall, and after a moment slowly said, "That day, I got lost from my parents. A sister in red said she would take me to find my mother... Later, I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in a dark place and couldn't see anything."
Clearly, Zhizhi's memory of the first half was somewhat hazy, but it gradually became clear when she talked about the "escape" part.
"Later, it was Sister Bing'er who led us to escape. After arriving in Quzhou, she said that we should wait until our parents found us, and then... we could go home."
Tang Yu's heart tightened.
These words sound like the child is too young to know what happened to him, and that he followed the older child who was also abducted to this place, and never had any thought of going back.
Tang Yu continued to ask, her tone still gentle: "Why do you have to wait for your parents to find you before you can go home? Why don't you go back on your own?"
"Because Sister Bing'er said that if we leave Quzhou, we will encounter human-faced dogs, and they will carry us back." As she said this, Zhizhi's voice trembled, and her eyes were filled with fear and terror.
"...A human-faced dog?" Tang Yu repeated in a low voice, her brows furrowed slightly.
The air fell silent for a moment. The two looked at each other, a strange unease rising in their hearts.
So, what exactly is it?
*
The medicine had been administered, and after the little girl had eaten and drunk her fill, night quietly fell.
According to Zhizhi, they decided to send her back to the dilapidated temple in the western suburbs.
The dilapidated temple, hidden deep in the forest, was clearly in disrepair from afar. Half-collapsed brick walls and tangled withered vines surrounded it, suggesting it might collapse at any moment. The temple door was broken and drafty.
The paper was haphazardly pasted on and couldn't be closed securely; it would blow open with the slightest touch, letting in drafts everywhere.
But within this dilapidated temple, a few faint, delicate children's voices could be heard.
The three exchanged a glance, and Tang Yu was the first to push open the door and enter.
The room was dimly lit and damp. In the corner, several tattered mats were laid out, and four or five thin, frail children huddled among them, their clothes ragged and their expressions filled with fear.
One of the older girls stood up alertly, pulled out a wooden stick, and nervously blocked the crowd with a fierce look in her eyes.
She was about to shoo the people away when she saw Zhizhi behind them, and her expression froze.
"Sister Bing'er!" Zhizhi rushed over excitedly, a relieved smile on her face.
Bing'er's expression changed, and she immediately pulled her behind her, lowering her voice to question, "How can you bring people back so casually?"
"They are good people. They saved me and even helped me apply medicine," Zhizhi explained in her childish voice, her tone filled with the trust unique to children.
Bing'er looked at Zhizhi with pity, then at the three of them. Although she remained wary, she did not drive them away, but simply gripped the wooden stick in her hand even tighter.
Tang Yu spread her hands to indicate that she meant no harm, then slowly stepped forward, squatted down, and said softly, "Are you... all lost children?"
Several children nodded timidly, their eyes red-rimmed, some clutching their worn-out toys tightly, looking both frightened and aggrieved.
"Where did you come from?" Tang Yu asked, trying to keep her voice down, afraid of scaring the children in front of her.
Bing'er pursed her lips, clearly hesitant and unwilling to answer. The younger children, however, were more innocent and started talking amongst themselves:
“I’m from Yuyang… My mother owns a cloth shop.”
"My family and Zhizhi's family are from neighboring villages..."
"I got lost the day I went to the temple to burn incense with my father."
Upon hearing this, Tang Yu and the other two's expressions darkened. Although these children seemed to come from different places, almost all of them were from the area surrounding Zhongjing.
If it's not a coincidence, it could only be an organized kidnapping.
After a moment of silence, Bing'er finally spoke in a low voice: "I...I am from Zhongjing."
Wang Shanyue immediately roared in anger, "These bastards dare to be so brazen even under the emperor's nose! They are simply lawless!"
Xiao Fangliang lowered his gaze, gently touched him, and whispered, "Don't frighten the child."
He turned to Bing'er, his tone gentle: "Then why don't you report it to the authorities and have them send you back?"
Bing'er sneered upon hearing this, her voice turning cold: "You think we haven't tried?"
She raised her eyes and stared straight at the group, a hint of irony and weariness beyond her years in her gaze: "The prefect of Quzhou only does things after he takes money. When I first brought them here, how could I not have begged the government for help? Ironically, he said that if we wanted to go home, we could, but we had to pay for our own travel expenses first."
She paused, her tone cold and desperate: "We can't even get enough to eat, where would we get the money? If it weren't for that, why would I teach them to beg!"
The three then realized that the flattering words used by the street children, such as "a gentleman is like jade" and "a beauty is like a painting," were actually taught to them by Bing'er herself, so that they could earn more money and quickly save up enough "money to go home."
The air suddenly became heavy.
Tang Yu lowered her eyes for a long time before asking again, "Then do you still remember who kidnapped you?"
Bing'er bit her lip and shook her head. "They drugged us. When we woke up, our heads were covered with black cloths...we couldn't see anything."
Tang Yu nodded slightly, then asked, "Then... what about the human-faced dog?"
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