047, The Emperor is Wrathful
047, The Emperor is Wrathful
That night, the noise on Tongshu Street was heard by many people living in this alley. Some people secretly peeked out through the crack of the door, took a quick look, and then quickly hid back inside.
Knowing that something big had happened outside, these ordinary people had the instinct to seek profit and avoid harm. No one dared to go out at this time and cause trouble. It would be better to hide at home and wait for the danger to pass before going out to inquire about the news.
Therefore, every household in the alley seemed to be asleep, and no sound could be heard at night. In fact, the entire alley was quieter than ever before.
When Lord Chen, the prefect of Fengtian Prefecture, learned that Prince Ding was almost kidnapped by human traffickers and taken out of the city, he didn't even have the heart to attend the family dinner. He left his entire family behind and hurried to Tongshu Street to meet their prince.
He arrived at Tongshu Street and happened to see yamen officers escorting human traffickers out. After learning that the captured individuals were human traffickers, Lord Chen pointed at the culprits who had nearly cost him his job and said, "Throw all these people into jail. Keep an eye on them. I'll interrogate them thoroughly later when I get back!"
"Yes, sir." The leader responded.
Then Lord Chen asked them where Prince Ding was now, and then hurried forward.
When the leader at the back saw that their leader had left, he took his subordinates and escorted the human traffickers out of the alley.
"Sorry for disturbing you today. We will visit you another day." Zhao Lang also realized that if he continued to stay in the Lu family, he would cause trouble to others, so he went out under the persuasion of the housekeeper and prepared to return to the palace.
"No, don't disturb me." Liu Sanniang said nervously.
"You know we live here. If you want to come and play with me in the future, you can come here to find me. But we have to go out to do business in the morning, so I'm afraid we won't be home until the afternoon." Lu Mingfei followed to send the young master out, as if he was sending a good friend.
Despite the serious disparity in their status in this world, they had just experienced a life-or-death struggle, and he still considered this young master, whom he had met twice, one of his good friends in this world. To him, he had no class consciousness. Even if the other party was a young master, so what? He still had two eyes and a nose like him. Didn't the rich and powerful have two heads and four arms?
As for why the young master is one of his good friends in this world, it is because he also had some little playmates in his original village. Although he has not seen those little playmates since his family moved to Kyoto Prefecture.
Worried that the young master would have some negative psychological trauma because of what happened tonight, he comforted him when he reached the door: "Go back and have a good rest, get some sleep, and don't think about anything."
"Yeah." Zhao Lang turned his head to look at Lu Mingfei, then turned around and walked out.
As soon as the young master left, the housekeeper and guards who followed him also left.
After seeing the people off, Liu Sanniang came over and closed the gate of the yard, lowered the bolt, then squatted down and hugged her child. She was very glad that her child came back, "I am sorry for you. From now on, we will close the gate of the yard tightly, and I will never let strangers come into our yard at will." She had originally opened the door with good intentions to let the neighbors come into the yard to fetch water for their own use, but she almost killed her own child because of this.
"Mother, this is not your fault, it's the bad guys' fault." Lu Mingfei understood his mother's self-blame and guilt. He put his arms around his mother and patted her on the back twice.
There are only thieves who can steal for a thousand days, but there is no such thing as a thief who can guard against thieves for a thousand days. Who can know when they will be targeted by bad guys?
After Lu Mingfei comforted his mother, he realized it was getting late and they had to get up early tomorrow to prepare food for the morning sale. So he said to his mother, "Mother, I want to take a bath. Can you boil a pot of hot water for me?"
They couldn't skip setting up their stall tomorrow, as they had already bought the meat and vegetables they needed. Meat loses its flavor over time, so it was best to buy the meat the day before and braise it in the early hours of the next day. Leaving it for another day wouldn't work.
When the child said she wanted to take a bath, Liu Sanniang wiped the tears from her eyes and said to the child, "There is still hot water in the pot. Mother will go and see if it is still hot and pour it out for you to bathe."
When she came to the kitchen, she found that the water in the pot had been there for a long time and the temperature had cooled down. Liu Sanniang asked the child to sit by the side for a while, and she put another fire in, and soon the water was heated up.
Then she took a large wooden basin to the main room, poured the water in the pot into it, and let the child bathe alone in this room. She went out and continued to boil another pot of water.
When the child finished bathing and was about to go back to the house to sleep, Liu Sanniang asked the child with some concern: "Qilang, do you want to sleep with me tonight?"
"No need, Mom. I can sleep by myself." Lu Mingfei declined his mom's offer. He wasn't used to sleeping in the same room with his parents. Now that he finally had a room of his own, he still preferred living on his own.
Seeing that the child was unwilling to live in their house, Liu Sanniang had to respect the child's wishes. She personally sent the child back to the house, covered the child with bedding, and then went out and gently closed the door of the house.
When the three of them went to bed, the sound of the second watch clapper was heard outside.
At this time, Zhao Lang got on the carriage that came to pick him up and returned to Prince Ding's mansion. He took off his clothes and threw them on the ground. He said directly to the maidservant, "Take these clothes out and burn them."
"Yes, master." The maids saw that their master's clothes were stained with a lot of human blood. Even if their master didn't tell them, they would not let their master wear this kind of clothes again.
After hearing their master's words, the maid immediately asked someone to take their master's clothes outside for disposal.
***
After sending Prince Ding away, Lord Chen, the prefect of Fengtian Prefecture, went to the palace overnight and informed the emperor that Prince Ding was almost abducted.
"Investigate, investigate thoroughly, who is it that wants to murder Lang'er!" When the emperor heard that his nephew, who had just arrived in Kyoto Prefecture not long ago, was almost kidnapped, he was shocked and then furious.
"Yes, I obey your order!" After receiving the emperor's order, Lord Chen left the palace to investigate the criminals caught today.
The emperor in the palace was still worried, so he ordered the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to cooperate with the Fengtian Prefecture government in investigating the case.
That night, the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court personally led people to the Fengtian Prefecture government office and interrogated the prisoners in the jail together with the Fengtian Prefecture Governor.
These human traffickers never dreamed that they would be put on trial by the highest officials of the three major yamen. It was also at this time that they found out that one of the children they abducted was a prince.
When the Minister of Justice and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court went to the Fengtian government office, many officials and high-ranking officials in Kyoto Prefecture knew that Prince Ding was almost kidnapped.
When these officials heard the news, they were shocked and angry. What shocked them was naturally the fact that Prince Ding was almost kidnapped, because they all knew that if something happened to Prince Ding in Beijing, there would definitely be a rift between Prince Ding and the court. They were also afraid that it would cause suspicion among other princes towards the court. After all, the legitimate sons of those princes had just recently arrived in Beijing to "study".
What made him furious was that such a thing could happen right under the feet of the emperor! Who among their families didn't have a grandchild? Even the prince of Ding could be abducted. What if one day it was their grandchild that was abducted?!
It was unknown who was behind this incident, intending to cause conflict between Prince Ding and the court, or was it simply an accident? These officials almost all leaned towards the former, and no one believed that the near abduction of Prince Ding was an accident.
***
"Boom!—Boom! Boom!"
"At three o'clock in the morning, the gong was sounded to inform everyone that everything was safe and sound."
The sound of a gong, one slow and two fast, and the sound of a clapperboard rang out one after another, coming from far away and then from near to far.
Hearing the sound of the night watchman outside, Liu Sanniang threw off the quilt and got up. She said to her husband who was also awake, "You sleep for a while. I'll get up and work first."
Lu Youtian supported himself on the bed with one hand, half-lifted up his body, looked at his wife who had already gotten up and dressed, and said, "You should take a day off tomorrow and relax."
That night, neither of them could sleep, mainly because they couldn't fall asleep. Lu Youtian realized that his wife was hiding something from him, and after repeated questioning, his wife finally told him about the child being kidnapped that night. He was also shocked when he heard this.
"There's no time to rest when doing business. It's not a windy or rainy day. Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll sell things in the morning and come back in the afternoon. I'll leave Qilang at home with you today and won't take him out." Liu Sanniang was also a little scared. She was afraid to take the child out again. If something happened to the child, she would find it hard to forgive herself.
Lu Youtian's leg was not healed yet, so he couldn't get up to help. He could only watch his wife push the door and leave by herself.
Lu Mingfei woke up a little late that morning, having been awakened by the aroma of cooking meat. His mind was still a little hazy, but he knew his mother was up and cooking. So after waking up, he lay in bed for a while to regain his composure, then got up, dressed, and went out.
Liu Sanniang, who was in the kitchen, heard footsteps and came out to see that it was her own child who had just gotten up. She said to the child, "Qilang, why are you up too?"
"Go back to sleep. Today, Mom will go sell things by herself. You don't have to go out with Mom."
Liu Sanniang came over and touched the child's face and hands. The weather was getting colder day by day, especially the temperature difference between morning and night. She was worried that the child would get cold if he didn't wear enough clothes. "Are you cold?"
"Mom, I'm not cold. I'm wearing the cotton vest you made for me." Lu Mingfei asked his mother to see what he was wearing. This cotton vest was made for him by his mother two days ago.
The weather was not cold enough to require a cotton-padded jacket, so he suggested that his mother make him a detachable piece of clothing, with a vest and sleeves that were separate but could be buttoned together to make it a cotton-padded jacket.
If it’s not cold now, wear a vest first. When the weather gets colder, you can button up your sleeves and wear a cotton coat.
As for his mother telling him not to go out with her to sell things, he did not listen to her because he knew that she was too busy to handle it alone, so he insisted on going with her.
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