Chapter 432: Arrival in the Town
As expected, Song Tingchen arrived at the city gate early before three quarters past the hour of Mao the next day and was waiting.
This time, Song Tingchen did not bring Song Xiao with him.
Instead, he handed Song Xiao over to the care of the elders of the Song family.
But unexpectedly, Su Tan and Lu Zhiheng did not bring Sui Sui with them.
Lu Zhiheng was a little surprised and subconsciously asked, "Why don't you see the princess today?"
Su Tan looked at him coldly.
"The journey ahead is fraught with difficulties and dangers. We still don't know if the culprit behind this is an evil creature or a human. They particularly like to target children around the princess's age. So, General Song, do you think that both I and His Royal Highness the Prince of Chen despise the princess's lifespan?"
Her tone was too cold.
Looking at it now, it even looks like there's a knife hidden inside.
Song Tingchen's face was a little pale.
In the eyes of others, perhaps Su Tan's tone was a little too sharp.
But Song Tingchen immediately knew why she was like that.
His face turned pale. He wanted to say something, but he swallowed the words back.
He knew that Su Tan was just thinking of Changle.
If Changle were still alive, she would be Suisui's age now.
Suisui just happened to look somewhat similar to Changle, so Su Tan couldn't help but think of Changle when he looked at her.
Song Tingchen knew best how Changle died.
Song Tingchen closed his eyes and bowed to Su Tan to apologize.
"I made a mistake. I didn't mean to curse the princess. It's just that the princess has great magical powers."
Su Tan looked indifferent.
"No matter how powerful the princess is, she is only a child. This trip will bring an uncertain future and be filled with dangers. Neither I nor His Royal Highness Prince Chen will take such risks as taking a child."
It took her and Lu Zhiheng a lot of effort to convince Sui Sui.
You have to know that Suisui is not an ordinary child.
Maybe it’s because he has been with her for a long time, or maybe it’s because there is a remnant soul of Changle in Suisui’s body.
Therefore, some of Sui Sui's personality traits are actually similar to hers.
For example, once you decide on something, you will never look back. You must do it to perfection and at least give yourself an explanation.
Su Tan and Lu Zhiheng spent a lot of effort to persuade him to stay in the capital. In the end, they persuaded the child to stay by saying that he needed to keep an eye on the capital every year and notify them with sound transmission notes at any time if he found any unusual movements.
So the capital city is not necessarily safe.
But Cui Wan has returned.
Tomorrow, Su Tan's master will also come back.
With Cui Wan and Master protecting Sui Sui, Su Tan feels more at ease.
Seeing Song Tingchen like this, Su Tan felt annoyed. She turned her head and rode to the front, unwilling to talk to Song Tingchen anymore.
When you are with someone like Song Tingchen, saying a few more words is redundant.
Song Tingchen felt a dull pain in his heart as he watched her whip and ride away.
But what could he say at this moment? What position did he have to speak?
Su Tan's attitude towards him was not like this in the past. Now that he has ended up like this, it is only his own fault and he deserves it.
But Song Tingchen was so angry that he couldn't help but think back to the past days.
He couldn't help but think that if he hadn't brought Liu Qingyin back, perhaps everything would have been different.
But it has been so long since the incident happened, there is no point in saying more.
He could only focus on the important matters, numb himself and stop himself from thinking about trivial things.
Su Tan didn't want to pay attention to him, so he stopped trying to get closer and instead calmly asked Lu Zhiheng beside him.
"Your Highness, are we leaving the city today to investigate the disappearance of those baby girls?"
Because Song Tingchen noticed that there was a carriage behind.
And the people sitting in the carriage were the people who came to Beijing to seek help.
This was not the first time Song Tingchen had seen them.
When he first met them, there was still a glimmer of hope in the eyes of these people. They always thought that perhaps their children still had a chance to survive, and that the real culprit could be caught soon.
The people always have illusions about the imperial power, and always think that if the emperor knows about many things, he will definitely not sit idly by.
There are no bad emperors or evil emperors in this world.
Even if there is, it is only because they have been deceived by the evil concubine and treacherous ministers.
Or maybe, even if something happened below, there were people who knew about it but did not report it, and the emperor was kept in the dark.
The people were so accommodating, and even Song Tingchen thought so.
Seeing Song Tingchen ask this, Lu Zhiheng nodded slightly and said "hmm" softly.
"Why, General Song, are you suddenly unable to bear it, or did the Emperor give you instructions on what to do?"
In the past, Lu Zhiheng and Emperor Qinglong seemed to be able to maintain the mask of a loving father and a filial son.
But now Lu Zhiheng seems not to even want to act or pretend anymore.
Even in front of Song Tingchen, the most trusted favorite of Emperor Qinglong, Lu Zhiheng had a cold look in his eyes and an ambiguous attitude.
Song Tingchen frowned. He always felt that Lu Zhiheng's attitude towards Emperor Qinglong was a little subtle at the moment. When mentioning Emperor Qinglong again, Lu Zhiheng should not be like this.
But at the moment, Song Tingchen himself couldn't figure out what was so strange about it, so he didn't say much.
He just frowned and said, "Your Majesty has always been concerned about the people of Dawn."
Lu Zhiheng seemed to smile after hearing this, but the smile was somewhat sarcastic.
But he quickly faded away and said something inexplicably meaningful: "Yes, Father is most concerned about his people of Dawn. I think Father must feel the same way about these people losing their children."
"It's just that neither I nor Princess Jiayi can, even though we stay by the emperor's side all day, we can't see how heartbroken he is. Since General Song has seen it, why don't you tell us about it?"
"Well, it'll open our eyes."
Lu Zhiheng's words were extremely sarcastic, but Song Tingchen had no idea where his resentment came from.
But Lu Zhiheng has always been a moody person, and when he is unhappy, he doesn't give face to anyone.
Even in front of Emperor Qinglong, Lu Zhiheng still looked dead, not to mention that Song Tingchen was just a minister of Emperor Qinglong. Therefore, Song Tingchen was used to Lu Zhiheng's attitude. Facing the other party's sarcasm, he didn't say anything.
But he didn't mention it to Lu Zhiheng anymore.
The people who were traveling with them also felt this lowest air pressure, but they didn't understand where this low pressure came from. They could only silently shrink their necks and tuck their tails between their legs and behave themselves, not daring to speak easily.
The group continued on their journey like this, and nothing happened along the way.
After riding at full speed all the way, they finally arrived at a small town where a large number of children had disappeared seven days later.
As soon as he arrived in the town, Song Tingchen was the first to feel that the atmosphere in the town was a bit depressing and gloomy.
Everyone felt it too.
The villagers of the small town looked eagerly at the large number of unfamiliar faces. When they finally found a few familiar people, their eyes turned red and they rushed over immediately.
"how's it going!"
"His aunt, how is your Xiaohua?"
"Did you find it?"
Not all villagers who have lost their children have the time to climb mountains and wade through water to seek justice for their children.
Some have to endure the pain of losing their children while still struggling to make a living.
At this moment, seeing familiar people, they finally couldn't help but shed tears.
From time to time, he looked back, trying to see a few small figures running towards him.
Instead of waiting for the children to run towards them with smiles on their faces, they heard the same suppressed and painful cries as theirs.
"Our little flower..."
"Our little flower—"
The aunt's voice trembled, her legs went weak, and she finally collapsed to the ground.
"Our Xiaohua is dead. Her hands were broken when she died, and her eyeballs were never found. Not even a complete body was left!"
"Our little Hua didn't even leave a complete body!"
The aunt who was speaking was shaking violently and couldn't help wiping away her tears.
"I also saw your Qiulan. Your Qiulan also...she also..."
The painful cries resounded throughout the sky.
What else?
But just like her daughter Xiaohua, they were both pitiful people, and neither of them left behind an intact body!
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