A voice suddenly sounded. Chu Qiao looked in the direction of the crowd and saw a child who looked like a book boy speaking arrogantly. Not far away, a tall and graceful young man in a dark green dragon robe stood in front of the screen wall in the front garden with his back to the crowd, followed by four followers.
Zhu Shun was startled, and quickly turned around, bent his waist to his crotch, and said humbly, "Prince Yan, it is really that the servant did not listen to the discipline. I am sorry to make you laugh."
"Is it more important for you to discipline the servants, or for my son? Zhu Shun, I think you are out of your mind!"
Zhu Shun was shocked and knocked his head to the ground, and said quickly: "I dare not, I dare not, I know I am wrong."
The little book boy snorted coldly: "You know you are wrong, but you are still standing here?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Shun immediately stood up and ran towards Zhuge Huai's study as if his butt was on fire. The servants of Zhuge Mansion quickly stepped aside, and one of them said carefully: "Please ask Prince Yan to go into the flower hall and wait."
The young man in brocade robe nodded and turned around slowly. His eyes were as black as ink. He glanced around and narrowed them slightly when he saw Chu Qiao. He seemed to remember something and walked straight forward.
Chu Qiao's eyes were calm and she took two cautious steps back. When Yan Xun saw her retreat, he stopped and thought for a while, then took out a white porcelain bottle from his sleeve pocket. The bottle was carved with orchid patterns and looked very delicate. The young man handed it over and nodded slightly, motioning her to take it.
Chu Qiao looked Yan Xun up and down. The scene at the hunting ground that day flashed before her eyes again. She cautiously did not move forward.
Yan Xun was stunned for a moment, then he raised the corners of his mouth, smiled faintly, bent down and gently placed the porcelain vase on the ground, turned around and walked into the flower hall with his entourage.
"Ugh..." A slight moan sounded behind him. Xiao Qi vaguely saw Chu Qiao's face. His voice was as thin as a mosquito, and with unspeakable fear, he cried, "Sister Yue'er... Xiao Qi... Xiao Qi is going to die?"
Chu Qiao squatted down and held the porcelain bottle tightly in her hand. Her small body was tense. She looked towards the main house of Zhuge Mansion with gloomy eyes and said slowly but firmly: "Xiao Qi, I promise you, you will be fine."
Chu Qiao ran back to the chores' backyard carrying Xiao Qi on her back, quickly went into the room, and cleaned, applied medicine and bandaged her. Yan Xun's medicine was very effective. It not only stopped bleeding but also had a mild anesthetic effect. Xiao Qi only groaned a few times before falling into a deep sleep.
Xiao Ba, who had been sick, woke up and was barely able to get out of bed. The child had been frightened a while ago, and hadn't spoken a word since waking up. He just stared blankly at Chu Qiao busying herself with boiling water and taking care of Xiao Qi, like a fool.
As the sky gradually darkened, Chu Qiao wiped the sweat from her forehead. The wound on her shoulder was burning with pain. She leaned against the wall, listening to Xiao Qi's slight cries of pain in his sleep. Her heart seemed to be tightly grasped by someone, then decisively taken out and thrown into the snow. Closing her eyes, Lin Xi's face once again echoed in her mind, the boy with the handsome face and innocent smile, the boy who always said he would protect her, the boy who was beaten to a bloody mess and his face could no longer be recognized.
A line of clear tears slowly flowed from her tightly closed eyes, spread over her pointed chin, and dripped onto her coarse cloth shoes.
Suddenly, a panicked voice sounded outside the door. Chu Qiao opened the door and walked out, only to see a little girl of about twelve or thirteen standing in the yard. When she saw Chu Qiao, she immediately ran up to her as if she had found a life-saving straw, crying, "Yue'er, Zhixiang and your Jing family's children have been captured by the people sent by Butler Zhu."
Chu Qiao frowned upon hearing this and said in a deep voice, "Captured? When did it happen?"
"He left early in the morning. I only found Lin Xi and asked him to go to the Fourth Young Master to plead for mercy, but a whole day has passed and there is still no news. What should I do?"
"Did you say what you were going to do?"
The girl wiped her tears and cried, "Yes, they said they sent it to the old master's other courtyard in the outer mansion."
"What?" Chu Qiao exclaimed, as if she was hit by a thunderbolt on her head. The rumors she had heard from Lin Xi these days about the old man's beastly hobbies swept through her mind like a tornado, and her face suddenly turned pale.
Xiao Ba was standing at the door. Upon hearing this, he walked forward stupidly, tugged at the corner of Chu Qiao's clothes, and asked in a small voice, like a wounded little animal, "Sister Yue'er, where are Sister Zhixiang and the others? Where did they go?"
Chu Qiao reacted, turned around and ran out the door.
"Yue'er!" The girl called out from behind. Chu Qiao did not look back. An ominous premonition quickly filled her heart. She didn't know if it was too late, and she didn't know if there was still a chance to rescue those children. She could only run forward as quickly as she could, not daring to stop for a moment.
After passing Qingshan Courtyard, the stables, and the back garden, and further ahead, there was a five-curve corridor leading to the front garden. At this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded, and Chu Qiao stopped cautiously.
"Sister Yue'er?" A small voice sounded behind her. Chu Qiao was startled and turned around to see Xiao Ba standing behind her in a loose shirt, looking pitiful. He didn't even have shoes on. She asked stupidly, "Where did Sister Zhixiang and the others go?"
Chu Qiao grabbed Xiao Ba, turned around and squatted in the flowers nearby. It is already winter and all the flowers have withered long ago. Fortunately, it is night and the lights here are sparse, so it is difficult to be discovered without careful observation.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Four people were pushing a cart over together, one person pushing it and three people supporting it on the side. The road Chu Qiao was walking on was very remote. Apart from the cleaning servants, few people passed by. She pulled Xiao Ba and squatted in the flowers, quietly waiting for these people to leave.
The few people walked up to Chu Qiao and the other person and suddenly stopped. Xiao Ba was obviously very scared, his body was shaking a little, and he grabbed Chu Qiao's clothes tightly, not daring to move.
One of the men said in a gruff voice, "Come on, guys, take a break. We've walked such a long way without a break. Let me at least have a cigarette."
The other people laughed and said, "Old Liu is craving for a cigarette." Then they lit up their cigarettes and started smoking.
Chu Qiao was anxious and frowned. A cold wind blew, and Xiao Ba, whose clothes were thin, shivered even more violently. Suddenly, the north wind grew stronger, overturning the straw mat on the car with a swish. The mat spun several times in the air and fell to the ground with a plop. The yellow straw mat turned dark red, and was filled with dark red blood.
Chu Qiao and Xiao Ba looked towards the car together, and were suddenly struck by lightning. Chu Qiao reached out her hand and tightly covered Xiao Ba's mouth!
The moon penetrated the clouds, casting a pale moonlight down. On the small cart, there were piles of young children's bodies, like a pile of lifeless cabbages and radishes. Zhixiang's skinny and dry body was naked, with bruises all over it, his eyes were wide open, with dark blood clots in the corners of his eyes, his lower body was a mess, his hands and feet were still tied with hemp ropes, in a weird posture, and placed on top in the most humiliating way.
Chu Qiao covered Xiao Ba's mouth tightly and held her tightly with her other hand. The child seemed to be crazy, trying desperately to push her away and rush out. Big drops of hot tears fell and hit Chu Qiao's arm. His teeth bit down mercilessly. Blood flowed out and slowly flowed down Chu Qiao's white wrist and dripped into the dark soil. The moonlight shone through the sparse flower trees onto the two of them, with mottled light and shadows, as bleak as frost.
I don't know how long it took, the cart gradually went away, and there was dead silence all around. Chu Qiao slowly loosened her hand, the flesh on her palm flipped up and blood was dripping. Xiao Ba seemed to have gone stupid, staring blankly and unable to speak. Chu Qiao reached out and patted the child's face, and called her name softly and carefully in a hoarse voice, like a ghost crying.
The cold wind was howling, the dead trees were swaying, and in the silent night, the noisy sounds of stringed instruments from the main residence in the front garden seemed to come slowly from another world.
"Kill them..." the six-year-old child suddenly muttered with his eyes wide open, "Go... go... kill them!"
The child's eyes were red, and she was looking around, as if looking for something. Suddenly, she grabbed a stone from the flowers, stood up and was about to rush out. Chu Qiao was quick to grab the child and hold her tightly in her arms.
"Kill them! Kill them!" The child could no longer hold back and screamed loudly. His little face was filled with crazy hatred and despair. Tears streamed down his face and he was almost on the verge of collapse.
Chu Qiao felt heartbroken, she hugged the crazy child tightly in her arms, and tears finally burst out.
These beasts, these wild animals, these scums whose sins cannot be washed away even if they die ten thousand times.
She had never hated as much as she did at this moment, and had never wanted to kill as much as she did at this moment. The overwhelming hatred seemed to sweep her whole body. She hated so much, hated the cruelty of those people, hated this evil world, and hated her own weakness, hated her own powerlessness, hated that she could only watch and do nothing.
The almost collapsed cry of the child in her arms was like a knife, cutting her heart and lungs again and again. If she had a submachine gun in her hand at this moment, she would definitely rush into the Qianyuan Lord's Mansion without hesitation and kill all those scums.
Unfortunately she didn't, she had nothing. Without money, power, background, good skills or sophisticated weapons, she was just a ghost from another world trapped in Jing Yue'er's small body. Although she had knowledge and brains that were thousands of years beyond this era, at this moment, she could only squat in the flowers and hide carefully. She didn't even have the courage to see them for the last time.
Chu Qiao slowly raised her head, the cold moonlight shining on her face. She secretly swore to herself that this would be the only time, she would never want it a second time, she would never want to live like this with nothing again, she would never want to survive like this without the ability to protect herself again, never again!
The moon was cold and as bright as water. In the huge Zhuge mansion, two weak and low-level slaves squatted in the flowers in the back garden, like two cowering puppies, huddled together tightly, but what was churning in their hearts was hatred that was enough to destroy the world.
It was already late at night when I returned to the backyard of the errand house. Before I even entered the courtyard, I found that the door was wide open. Chu Qiao's heart suddenly turned cold, she let go of Xiao Ba's hand and ran inside quickly.
The room was in a mess, the bedding on the kang was covered in blood, and there were many adult footprints on the ground, but there was no trace of Xiaoqi.
"Yue'er, you're back!" The girl from before suddenly came out from under the firewood pile in the corner.
Chu Qiao hurried forward, grabbed her and asked in a deep voice: "Where is Xiao Qi? Where did Xiao Qi go?"
The girl cried and said, "Butler Zhu brought people and said Xiao Qi's arm was broken and he couldn't work anymore. He asked people to carry Xiao Qi and threw him into Ting Lake to feed the crocodiles."