Just as she was at a loss, someone suddenly tugged at her body and dragged her away from the crowd.
Su Wanyan, still shaken, turned around and her eyes lit up: "Little beggar!"
"Your Highness!" The little beggar was also very happy and took Su Wanyan's hand: "Come with me quickly!"
Su Wanyan had no suspicions and followed closely behind the little beggar.
Before leaving, she glanced back at the crowd, but the two maids were nowhere to be seen.
Su Wanyan followed the little beggar into the alley. Only when they were far away from the market did the little beggar stop and turn around: "Your Highness, are you alright?"
Su Wanyan took a breath: "Why don't you just call me sister instead of Your Majesty?"
Where in the world is there such a down-on-her-luck empress? Not only is she being hunted down, but she also has to go to great lengths to hide and evade capture just to leave her residence.
Calling her "sister" is much better; it sounds nice and makes her seem younger. The original owner was only thirteen years old, not much older than a little beggar. Calling her "Your Majesty" sounds so old-fashioned!
However, her words startled the little beggar, who stared at Su Wanyan as if she had lost her soul.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Su Wanyan asked curiously.
But in the blink of an eye, the little beggar hurriedly lowered his head: "N-nothing."
Seeing her like this, Su Wanyan chuckled and ruffled her hair: "Are you shy? Oh, don't be shy. It's my blessing to have such a cute little girl as my sister. Come on, call me 'older sister'."
The little beggar suddenly looked up, opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't utter a word.
Seeing her like this, Su Wanyan assumed that she had some unspeakable trouble: "Alright, if you don't want to call me, that's fine, don't worry about it."
Judging from her tattered clothes, she probably has a difficult past, or perhaps she has some scars that she doesn't want to reveal.
"No, no!" the little beggar quickly shook his head, raising his big eyes and calling out, "Sister!"
When the little beggar called out "sister," tears welled up in her eyes, brimming with moisture in her round pupils, making her both pitiful and lovable.
Su Wanyan exclaimed inwardly, "Wow! My goodness! So cute, so cute!"
Although she was dirty, you could tell from her features that she would definitely grow up to be a great beauty!
If the situation weren't so urgent, she would have liked to hug her and give her a good rub.
Su Wanyan composed herself: "What are you doing here? Did you cause the chaos on the street earlier?"
The little beggar nodded: "After my sister entered the palace yesterday, I waited at the palace gate until I saw you return safely to your residence before I went back. This morning I was thinking of going to the Prince's residence to find you, but I saw that there were more guards outside the Prince's residence than yesterday. I wondered if my sister's troubles had not been resolved yet, so I didn't dare to disturb you rashly and waited for you to come out outside the Prince's residence."
Su Wanyan couldn't help but give her a thumbs up: "Wow! You're so smart!"
The little beggar's heart trembled slightly. She was embarrassed by her praise, and her face flushed. "Then I saw you come out with two maids. I wanted to call you on the street, but you didn't seem very happy, and you didn't tell the two maids to carry anything. I wondered if you didn't like them."
“Just now in the alley, my sister was clearly happy to see me, but she didn’t come over to talk to me. I was sure that my sister was being blackmailed by those two maids, which is why she threw money in the street to cause a commotion.”
She didn't know the cause and effect of the matter, but recalling Su Wanyan's drumming and pleading for justice in front of the palace gate yesterday, her sense of vigilance, which she had developed since childhood, told her that things were not simple.
After listening, Su Wanyan gave two thumbs up: "Great! Awesome! Amazing!"
"However..." The little beggar looked at Su Wanyan cautiously, as if he had done something wrong, "That money was all exchanged with the silver my sister gave me, sister, I'm sorry..."
"Don't apologize. Money is just an external thing; you can earn it back. The most important thing is that you helped me escape from the jaws of death. How can you not even be willing to pay this small price?"
“But I didn’t use it all! I still have a lot left!” Without being blamed, the little beggar’s eyes lit up again, and he pulled the silver bag from his waist.
Su Wanyan quickly waved her hand: "This is for you, so it is for you. I'm curious why you didn't leave. I told you this money is enough for you to live on for the rest of your life, and you won't have to steal food anymore."
The little beggar opened his innocent big eyes, opened his mouth speechlessly, and finally shook his head without saying anything.
Su Wanyan didn't hesitate: "Fine! I said if I could get out of the palace, I would take you in. You can follow me from now on. As long as I have food to eat, you will never be short of food."
The little beggar nodded vigorously with delight upon hearing this.
"But now you have to do me a favor." Su Wanyan leaned closer to the little beggar and lowered her voice: "Do you know where Gonglin Street is in the West Market of the capital?"
The little beggar nodded repeatedly, but then frowned: "But the West Market is a bit far from here on foot. If you want to go, it would be faster to take a carriage."
How long will it take?
"It takes half an hour to walk, but a carriage can get there in a quarter of an hour if it's fast."
Su Wanyan glanced at the sky; it probably wasn't even an hour left.
Do you know where I can rent a horse-drawn carriage?
The little beggar nodded: "I know, sister, come with me!"
Hearing her call her "sister" repeatedly, Su Wanyan's heart almost melted.
In modern times, she is an only child with no siblings. Whenever she sees other families with close sisterly bonds, she feels extremely envious.
Now that the little beggar calls her "sister," she feels so happy; she's a sister now!
Oh, by the way, the little beggar said she doesn't have a name yet, so she needs to give her a proper name.
The little beggar led her into a stable, which was someone else's backyard, where several horse-drawn carriages were parked.
The stable keeper was about to chase the little beggar away as soon as he saw her, but when he saw her holding up a tael of silver, his attitude changed completely, and he happily rented the carriage to them.
Today, because of the market, there were many pedestrians on the street. They rented a small horse-drawn carriage, which could travel through some of the slightly larger alleys, which saved Su Wanyan a lot of time.
Gonglin Street in Xishi is a street along the river.
This street is right next to the main road, but there are very few people walking on it and it is very quiet.
The entire street stretches from the east bank of the river to the west bank, just as Su Wanyan had imagined; there really are many alleys.
Su Wanyan was at a loss. With a try-it-out mentality, she lowered her voice and asked, "Sister, do you know if there is a blacksmith shop here called 'Iron King Zhang'?"
The little beggar looked up abruptly, startled by the title "little sister." Though startled, she was also delighted, and nodded excitedly, "I know."
Su Wanyan was startled: "No way? You really know?"
"Okay, sister, come with me." With that, she darted into the alley.
Su Wanyan hurriedly followed, asking, "How did you know?"
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