The sobbing stopped instantly, and the alley fell silent.
Lin Zao looked at the pile of garbage at the end of the alley, walked over quietly, and heard a gurgling sound. She reached out and lifted a rotten bamboo basket.
A little boy, about 5 or 6 years old, was sitting on his knees in the pile of garbage, his head buried tightly between his legs, too afraid to look up.
Knowing they had been discovered, they dared not utter a sound, their whole bodies trembling with fear.
Lin Zao stared blankly at the child in front of her, never expecting that it was actually a child!
The child was chubby with a small bun on his round head. Although he was only wearing a thin undergarment, the quality of the garment was not bad, and he did not look like a beggar at all.
"Young master, what's wrong? How did you get here? Did you get separated from your family?"
Lin Zao asked softly, afraid of frightening the child.
Perhaps sensing the kindness in Lin Zao's voice, the boy finally slowly raised his head to look at Lin Zao.
Her innocent eyes were filled with tears. Her round face, though patchy with dark and light skin, revealed fair and rosy skin, suggesting she was a pampered child.
"Auntie~ Save Xiaobao! Bad guys are kidnapping Xiaobao! Waaah~"
As Xiao Bao spoke, he pounced on Lin Zao and hugged her leg, whimpering incessantly.
"Little Bao, don't be afraid. Tell your auntie how you got here, where are your parents? And where are the bad guys?"
Lin Zao caught Xiao Bao and picked him up without hesitation.
"Xiao Bao secretly ran away from the bad guys! They were chasing me, so I hid here. Xiao Bao hasn't seen his parents for a long time!"
Through Xiao Bao's intermittent supplements, Lin Zao roughly understood the truth of the matter. Xiao Bao had probably encountered robbers, and there might have been some scheming within the family that led to this.
Xiao Bao remembers that he was playing at home when one of the servants tricked him into going out to buy some delicious food. Unexpectedly, he was knocked unconscious as soon as he stepped outside.
When he woke up, he found out that he had been kidnapped. He had traveled for a long time by carriage to get here, and every day he was given a dark cornbread.
Today I heard those bad guys say that someone in the prefect's family was poisoned and that they're going to punish a group of people, which is the perfect opportunity to make their move.
Some of them discussed taking advantage of the situation to bring the child out and send him to Yizhou City.
Only two people were left watching Xiaobao. Xiaobao was clever and took advantage of one of them going to buy food to pretend to have a stomachache and want to have diarrhea.
He fooled the last person guarding him, ran out in any direction, and in his panic, hid in a garbage dump.
It wasn't safe to stay here any longer. Although Lin Zao wasn't afraid of trouble, she didn't want to get into any. She planned to take the child back first, before those people came looking for her.
If she were alone, it would be fine, but she also has patients and children with her, so she can't help but consider their needs.
"Don't be afraid, Xiaobao. Auntie will take you back to Auntie's house first. There are two younger brothers and sisters at Auntie's house who can play with you. After the bad guys leave, Auntie will take you to the yamen and then let them go home, okay?"
Xiao Bao didn't say anything, but just hugged Lin Zao's neck tightly. Seeing this, Lin Zao wrapped Xiao Bao in her large clothes.
Even with only his head sticking out, he was still held in his arms. After observing him for a while and finding nothing amiss, he hurriedly headed back.
After confirming that no one was following him, Lin Zao returned to the small courtyard where he was temporarily renting a place.
Tiger Head and Ya Ya were playing with the building blocks Lin Zao had given them at home when they saw their mother suddenly bring back a brother. They both ran to Lin Zao in a panic.
"Mommy~ Who is this brother?" Ya Ya asked nervously.
"This little boy has been kidnapped by bad guys and can't find his dad and mom. Mom will bring him back first. Ya Ya and Hu Tou, why don't you two play with little Bao for a while?"
"Okay~ Brother, quickly bring the candy to Xiaobao so we can eat it together, okay~"
When Ya Ya heard that it wasn't someone trying to take her mother away, she was relieved. When she learned that her brother Xiao Bao had been kidnapped by bad guys, she immediately felt sorry for Xiao Bao and was even willing to share their favorite candy with him.
Although Tiger Head was jealous that his mother and sister cared about others, he didn't refuse his sister's request and went to his room to get some candy.
Seeing that the two children did not resist Xiaobao, Lin Zao felt relieved and put Xiaobao down to play with the two children.
Xiao Bao probably felt safe, and his previously vigilant heart relaxed, instantly becoming lively and cheerful.
Curious, she looked left and right, and when she saw the brightly colored building blocks, she was eager to try them out, but she didn't touch them without permission. Instead, she looked at Yaya expectantly.
When Xiao Bao saw the candy that Hu Tou took out, his round eyes widened, and he swallowed hard, wanting to eat it so badly!
Lin Zao found it amusing; it seemed he was quite the chubby little glutton, no wonder the servant had tricked him with food.
Seeing that the children were playing together instantly, Lin Zao went to the room to explain the situation to Tang's mother and then went out again.
She thought of what Xiao Bao had mentioned about the prefect's house. She wondered who those people had gone to the prefect's house to arrest. Now that she knew, she couldn't just ignore it. Lin Zao disguised herself again, inquired about the direction of the prefect's house, and headed there.
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