"Someone from Prince Kang's Mansion just found a child."
"That child escaped!"
The streets became noisy like a pot of boiling water, and passers-by spontaneously spread the good news.
Although I don’t know what happened to the other children, it’s at least a good sign now.
At the end of the street, a thin man in blue clothes rushed out of an alley holding a little girl in a blue flowered jacket. The man's steps were stumbling and his figure was staggering.
Not far behind him followed two tall and muscular guards with long swords on their waists, in a protective posture.
"Girl, isn't this the scholar Zhang from before?" Juanbi looked out the window, squinting at the scholar in green who was at least eight or nine feet away from them.
The person who rushed out holding the child was indeed Zhang Shusheng.
At this moment, Zhang Shusheng no longer held the treasured portrait in his hands. He held the little girl tightly in his arms, looking excited and excited, with tear marks all over his face, as if he was afraid that someone would snatch the child away from his arms.
Juanbi was quite far away and could only vaguely see that the girl's face was dirty, her body was covered with wounds, and her jacket was stained with glaring blood. The girl's thin body huddled uneasily in Zhang Shusheng's arms.
The two guards settled them at the tea stall and left, saying that they would go back to report to the prince.
The enthusiastic people around them quickly surrounded Zhang Shusheng and his daughter. Some asked them to sit down at the tea stall on the street, some brought them tea, some volunteered to go to the nearby clinic to ask for a doctor, and some rushed forward to ask the girl all sorts of questions:
"Little girl, have you seen my baby? He has a big mole on his right eyebrow."
"And my grandson, he has a big round head, so he's easy to recognize!"
"My daughter has a birthmark on the back of her right hand..."
“…”
Those whose children were missing were all extremely anxious and wanted to pry open the girl's mouth and make her tell them everything she knew.
A group of people surrounded Zhang Shusheng and his daughter, creating an invisible sense of oppression.
The girl trembled like a frightened rabbit, buried her little face in her father's chest, and was unable to speak.
Zhang Shusheng frowned, his face was full of anger, his eyes were burning with rage, and he gritted his teeth and said, "My daughter escaped from the palace!"
"The eldest princess in the palace is seriously ill and needs the blood of a child to make a heart pill to cure her illness."
"They kidnapped many children and brought them into the palace. My daughter escaped after going through untold hardships. Fortunately, she was found in time by the guards of Prince Kang's palace."
The more Zhang Shusheng spoke, the more frightened he became. His arms, which were holding his daughter, kept shaking, and his face remained pale.
If King Kang's guards had not found his daughter in time, how far could such a weak child have escaped? She would have been captured by the evil people in the palace long ago.
Zhang Shusheng's words were like a thunderclap in the sky, shaking everyone and making them tremble and stare with their eyes wide in disbelief.
"Shangqing Zhenren..." The little girl in Zhang Shusheng's arms raised her head tremblingly, her voice trembling, "It's Shangqing Zhenren."
The girl’s face was as pale as paper and she burst into tears, howling loudly.
Everyone was even more shocked and couldn't help but gasp, their faces all changed.
The one who treated the eldest princess and made the Heart Pill for her was actually Shangqing Zhenren! In other words, the story of taking blood from a child's heart was true? !
Juan Bi was also shocked when she heard this. She pointed to her chest and said to Gu Yanfei: "Miss, this blood in my heart could be..."
"Make a hole in the heart and take a bowl of the hot blood." Gu Yanfei said lightly, and pretended to cut Juanbi's heart with a knife.
Gu Yanfei said nothing more and drank his tea slowly.
Juanbi just felt a chill in his heart.
In the tea shed below, an old man said hesitantly: "The emperor is a benevolent monarch, and he has always been kind to his people."
“This is impossible!”
There were also a few people around who looked hesitant, either frowning or stroking their beards.
To Zhang Shusheng, who was filled with righteous indignation, this question was like someone pointing at his nose and saying that he was talking nonsense and making up stories.
Zhang Shusheng felt that he had been greatly insulted. His slightly sallow face turned red and he said angrily, "Every word I said is true! If I lie, I will be struck by lightning!"
After Zhang Shusheng said this, most people believed it now, even if they had some doubts before.
Those who lost their children were so frightened that their legs went weak and they knelt on the ground. Some wailed like they had lost their parents, some pounded the ground repeatedly with sorrowful expressions, and some shouted their children's names in despair.
If their child was really captured to make elixir for the eldest princess, what else could they do? They couldn't just rush to the palace to demand his child.
The common people present were all infected with this sad emotion. Just imagine, if their own children were captured by the nobles in the palace and had their blood dug out, they would also feel heartbroken, resentful, and unwilling.
The streets were becoming noisier and more boisterous.
A middle-aged woman who had been pounding the ground and crying suddenly wiped her tears, got up from the ground, and said angrily, "No, I want to go find my Shuanzi, who is my only child that I carried for ten months with great difficulty."
"I will go and beg the Emperor, even if it means sacrificing my life for my Shuanzi's!"
When she said this, everyone couldn't help but be moved and sigh.
This is truly the love of all parents in the world.
Zhang Shusheng felt the same way. In order to get his daughter back, he was willing to sacrifice his life.
There is so much lawlessness under the emperor's feet! Zhang Shusheng gritted his teeth and said, "I will go to the right gate of Chang'an to file a complaint. I want to ask the emperor, is it because of saving the eldest princess that all the other children should die? Do the children of us common people deserve to be used as medicine for the nobleman?!"
"I'm going to beat the Dengwen drum!"
"Nannan, Daddy will take you to beat the drum to seek justice for you!"
Emperor Taizu set up a drum for reporting grievances at the right gate of Chang'an. Anyone who had a grievance could beat the drum to appeal, but the person who beat the drum had to be beaten with thirty sticks before the case could be accepted and heard by the emperor.
Zhang Shusheng looked at his daughter with red eyes, his chest surging with anger.
The little girl clutched Zhang Shusheng's clothes tightly and sobbed and cried. Her unstoppable tears wet her father's clothes.
The middle-aged woman wiped her tears with her sleeves again and said firmly: "I will go with you!"
Zhang Shusheng stood up holding his petite and embarrassed daughter in his arms, and strode towards the palace with an indomitable determination.
The people looked at each other in confusion and there was a commotion.
Some hesitated, some were angry, some were at a loss, and more people caught up with Zhang Shusheng...
(End of this chapter)
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