usatvline Chapter 124 The Children Found
Chapter 124 The Children Found
The next day, the Dali Temple group bought a few sesame cakes on the road. The place they were going to today was even farther away. If they didn't ride horses, it would be dark when they got there.
It was almost like climbing over mountains and crossing rivers to reach the marked dot.
"Shaoqing, you are not going to be fooled by His Highness the Hostage, are you?" Zhao Huaiqing couldn't help asking after struggling for half a day to get to the place and hiding his horse soon after entering the mountain for fear of being exposed. He was walking in a daze at the moment.
"Shh - let's wait and see." Gu Qingyun stopped Zhao Huaiqing from muttering and pointed down.
Below is a very flat dam with a river outside the dam. It really looks like a small town where people can live and work in peace and contentment.
But below, apart from the dam and the river, there were not even any ruined buildings or man-made bricks or stones. It was so flat, as if someone came to clean it every day.
"Where is this uninhabited land? Although it is barren, the ground below is strangely flat." Wu Huanye said, and then looked around the flat ground, "This is probably a training ground. The grass around it has obvious traces. The grass is lush and green in places that have not been trampled. But there is no grass in the middle, not even grass roots."
"Let's go to the other side and take a look." Gu Qingyun pointed to the opposite side and motioned everyone to follow him and take a detour.
Unexpectedly, when I was halfway there, I heard a faint crying sound, like a kitten calling, a very subtle and pitiful whimpering sound.
“Don’t cry, shut up, or you won’t have any food today.” Although there was still some distance between them, the crying sound soon stopped, probably because the man’s voice was too loud.
Several people walked in the direction of the sound and suddenly saw several small wooden houses. Two ferocious-looking dogs were tied at the door, looking around with vigilance.
Perhaps the dog smelled a stranger and began to bare its teeth and speak in a low voice, which was a signal to drive away.
The noise of the dog attracted the people inside, "What's the noise?"
The dog continued to bar its teeth in the direction of Gu Qingyun and the others. The man reacted quickly, picked up the long knife beside him and walked forward.
"Who, which bastard, has the guts to come to my grandfather's territory?" The man deliberately raised his voice to give himself courage.
Gu Qingyun quietly retreated the moment he heard the dog barking. Now, seeing the tall and thin man in front of him, he stopped retreating.
He just hid aside to hide his figure, and waited for the man to slowly move forward. Gu Qingyun stepped forward and held the man down, squeezing his wrist. The man who originally had a fierce look on his face suddenly became ferocious, "Who are you!"
Gu Qingyun pried open his mouth, checked to see if there was any poison bag, and then stuffed a piece of cotton cloth into his mouth.
The man's eyes still held some ill intentions as he glanced at Gu Qingyun a few times. He wanted to speak but was blocked and couldn't take it off for a while.
Gu Qingyun carried him into the yard. The two dogs were still baring their teeth, but fortunately they were tied with ropes and did not pose any threat. He tied the man under a tree at the door, looked around, and after making sure there was no one there, Gu Qingyun pushed open the door.
The scene before him made Gu Qingyun feel angry all over. Boys and girls were mixed together, classified under four labels: A, B, C, and D.
Children in grade A are taller and better looking, while children in grade B are inferior.
They were all locked up with big iron chains, and each of them looked terrified, but once they looked into Gu Qingyun's eyes, they all became very pitiful.
Gu Qingyun asked a little girl, "How old are you?"
The little girl spoke timidly, "I am five years old. Hello, uncle. I am an orphan. Are you here to adopt me? Just give money to our father Zhou who raised us, and I can go home with you. When I grow up, I will be filial to you, uncle."
The little girl's tone was sincere and clear, as if she had practiced it thousands of times and was very familiar with it.
Gu Qingyun turned and walked out, kicked the man, and pulled the cloth out of his mouth. "Tell me, what's going on? Where did these children come from?"
The man smiled contemptuously, "Didn't you hear that girl say she was an orphan? You have found the wrong person. I am a good person. I raise so many children. Is it easy for me?" His eyes were full of disdain, and he seemed to care nothing about Gu Qingyun.
Gu Qingyun kicked him again, "Let me ask you again, where did they come from?"
The man still looked unmoved, so Gu Qingyun stuffed the cloth back into his mouth and said, "If you don't want to talk, shut up forever."
When Gu Qingyun returned, Wu Huan was holding the portraits for comparison. Half of the missing children were here. Gu Qingyun ordered everyone to break down the doors and windows to look for things and bring back everything useful.
The few small houses were soon ransacked, and nothing was written down except for the receipt of money and the condition and gender of the items sold.
"Where did you sell the remaining children?" Gu Qingyun asked again.
Even though his mouth was blocked, the man still had an indifferent smile on his face, his eyes full of disdain.
Gu Qingyun kicked him in annoyance, went into the house and threw off the chains on the children's feet. The older children were wary of Gu Qingyun and even avoided him.
Gu Qingyun whispered in the ear of one of the older children, "We are here to rescue you and bring you home."
The boy still didn't believe it and just waited obediently for Gu Qingyun to untie the rope. He wanted to run.
Gu Qingyun grabbed him and said, "Where are you going? You will die if you run out like this."
"Leave me alone, bah." The boy deliberately spoke rudely, trying to drive Gu Qingyun away.
He had to leave. In about half a quarter of an hour, many soldiers would come from below. By then, they would definitely untie Zhou Laizi's rope, and he would not be able to escape. The men who claimed to save them would also be captured.
The boy tried hard to break free from Gu Qingyun, but he had been locked up here for so long and had very little to eat and drink, so he really had no strength left.
Even if you try to break free, it's no use.
"Let me go, the soldiers will be here in less than half a quarter of an hour, and then it's either you, you, you, or all of you who will be unable to escape! Let me go, I want to live." In desperation, the boy still told the news that the soldiers were coming, his tone hurried and impatient.
"What? Soldiers?" Gu Qingyun pretended to be surprised.
"Yes, so let me go quickly. I will survive if I go into the mountains. It's too late now. You guys think about how to escape." The boy broke free from Gu Qingyun and was about to run, but was hugged by Shuangxi at the door.
Gu Qingyun calmed down, "We can't let the man at the door send a signal. We have to leave first and hide in the mountains with the children. Otherwise... not only the children, but we will also be killed. A few people against thousands of people, no matter how hard we try, we can't survive."
The double happiness and double fortunes instantly jumped out and tied the man into a ball. Gu Qingyun took out a rope and tied it around each child's wrist to prevent them from getting lost.
They quickly packed up everything and fled into the mountains.