When Little Black saw Yu Xiaocao, he rushed madly to her as if he had just seen his own mother. Yu Xiaocao squatted down and gently stroked his head. There was a sense of wetness on her palm when she touched his neck. With a closer look, it seemed like the little fellow had struggled too hard and gotten injured by the rope.
Yu Xiaocao slowly stood up, and rage flickered in her eyes as she glared coldly at the culprit. The young boy also felt somewhat bewildered as he scratched the back of his head and muttered, "I… I thought that the puppy didn"t have an owner, so… I didn"t intend on hurting it. I just thought that it was cute and wanted to keep it…"
When the hot-tempered Yu Xiaolian saw Little Black bleeding, she put her hands on her hip and hollered at the young boy, "Are you blind! There"s a rope tied around his neck, so how can it be ownerless? You didn"t want to hurt it? Then where did the wound around his neck come from?"
The young boy"s friends were unhappy and wanted to argue with Yu Xiaolian, but the young boy stopped them. Based on the way he behaved and dressed, it was apparent that the young boy was a child from a well-off family. Looking apologetic, he sincerely said, "I was at fault for this matter. My house is nearby, so I"ll go get some medicine for the puppy to apply on his wound…"
Yu Xiaocao looked in the direction that the young boy pointed at and saw a familiar signboard—Tongren Medicine Hall. Was this young boy the child of one of the workers at the pharmacy? Seeing that Xiaolian wanted to say something, she quickly interjected, "Xiaolian, saving people is more urgent!"
Xiaocao untied the rope around Little Black"s neck and cleansed his wound with a handkerchief soaked in mystic-stone water, and then said in a soft voice, "Little Black, do you know where Little s.h.i.+tou is? Quickly bring us over!"
Little Black nodded, and then dashed towards that road that he came from. Yu Xiaocao and her sister quickly followed him. With a puzzled expression, the young boy wondered why the two young girls suddenly ran off. After a brief hesitation, he quietly followed behind them.
While Little Black and his two little masters shuttled through the intersecting alleys, the children, who were locked in an abandoned house by the human traffickers, woke up one after another. Seeing that they were in an unfamiliar environment, they all started crying and screaming.
Boss Yin, who was drinking wine and eating meat next door, heard the commotion. With a chicken drumstick in one hand, he kicked the door open and scolded fiercely inside, "Stop crying!! I"ll break the worthless legs of those who disobey me!!"
The twenty or so children in the room were so frightened by his ferocious expression that they stopped crying, and then they began to sob in low voices. Boss Yin was very satisfied with his own deterrence. He locked the door again, and went back to the room next door to drink and eat meat.
A chubby boy, who they had just abducted today, started wailing again, "Father… Mother… Quickly come save me. I"m very scared…"
A slightly older girl hastily covered the little fatty"s mouth, looked at the door with fear, and then finally felt relieved when she noticed that there wasn"t any movement. She whispered to the chubby boy, who was hiccupping, "Don"t cry! If you continue to cry, they will really beat you! Do you see that unconscious boy over there? After being kicked by them, he spitted out blood and hadn"t woken up for nearly a day!"
The chubby boy"s complexion turned pale with fright. He covered his mouth hard, and tears flowed down his face. He hiccupped as he cried, "Hiccup… Father, Mother… I don"t want to die… hiccup… Father, Mother… someone come save me. I won"t only think about playing anymore…"
Sun Yaoyang, who was wearing an azure brocade robe, wrinkled his small face and looked at the snot and tears on the chubby boy"s face with disgust. He snapped, "Stop crying! What"s the use of crying? Will you be able to escape by crying?"
As the chubby boy hiccupped, he wiped his nose with his sleeve, sniffled, and then said, "I don"t want to cry either, but I can"t stop my tears! I"m scared. I miss my parents… I"m hungry…"
It was already afternoon, and from time to time, the smell of roasted chicken and roasted duck would drift over from next door. The chubby boy sniffed hard and covered his tummy pitifully.
Little s.h.i.+tou felt speechless. They were already in this situation, yet he still had the energy to think about eating… He still had some dried meat hidden in his sleeves, but he wouldn"t be so kind-hearted as to share them with others. Second Sister said that one should hold back a trick or two in critical moments!
The chubby boy sniffled his nose and moved closer to him. He sniffed him like a dog, and pointed at him with an aggrieved expression, saying, "There"s the smell of food on you…"
Little s.h.i.+tou was seriously dumbfounded. Was he a dog? He took out his hand, waved it in front of the chubby boy, and said with a sigh, "Perhaps it was because I was eating jerky when I was abducted?"
The chubby boy sniffed his hand, swallowed his saliva and said, "It smells so good! Do you have any more jerky?"
Little s.h.i.+tou shook his head and said, "No, I haven"t finished eating the piece of jerky. I don"t know where I dropped it!" The chubby boy had a look of despair on his face.
Sun Yaoyang, the commander"s precious son, felt very speechless. Was this the time to discuss eating? He glared angrily at the two, stood up, walked to the door, and tried pulling on it. Just now he had quietly observed that all the windows had been nailed down with wood. There was a gap in the door. Was it possible to…
The slightly older girl shook her head at him and said in a low voice, "It"s no use. Even the youngest and thinnest Hou Xiaoxiao couldn"t get out, so you don"t even need to think about it. Be careful not to let those bad guys find out——the one over there was beaten because he wanted to escape!"
Sun Yaoyang tried, and then resolutely gave up on the idea of crawling out of the crack in the door. He checked all of the windows again and noticed that they were all nailed down securely. It would be difficult to pry them open without any tools. Fortunately, he always carried a dagger that his father gave him for his birthday. Sun Yaoyang took out a small dagger from his boots, picked a window that wasn"t as tightly nailed down, and carefully pried it open.
Some of the children in the room were huddled together, trembling. Some of them looked at him with hope, while others had a blank expression…
Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps outside the door. Sun Yaoyang alertly put away his dagger. He swiftly walked over to sit beside Little s.h.i.+tou, and like everyone else, he hugged his knees with his head lowered.
The person who opened the door had come to deliver food. This group of human traffickers were relying on this "batch of goods" to make a lot of money, so they naturally wouldn"t let them starve. However, it was just to ensure that they wouldn"t starve to death. They definitely wouldn"t serve them with good food.
As soon as the guy who came to deliver food entered the room, he carefully looked around the room and noticed that there was something wrong with the atmosphere. With a frown, he pointed at a child with a terrified expression and shouted, "What"s going on? Are you guys trying to escape? If you don"t tell the truth, I"ll beat you to death!"
The child"s face turned green with fright, and he shrunk himself into a smaller ball. He s.h.i.+vered and screamed hysterically, "It wasn"t me! It wasn"t me!! It was him. He was the one who wanted to pry open the window and escape!!"
Little s.h.i.+tou was alarmed in his heart and thought, "This is bad! Sure enough, Second Sister was right. One shouldn"t be afraid of an excellent opponent, but one should be afraid of having a pig-like teammate instead!" The child"s finger was pointing at Sun Yaoyang.
The child trafficker, who came to deliver food, keenly noticed that half of the nails on one of the windows had been pried off. He inwardly broke out in cold sweat! If the kid really broke the window, not to mention that this deal would be wrecked, but their whole business would be completely ruined…
"Monkey, what"s going on?" The commotion attracted the attention of the people next door. Boss Yin came over impatiently and shouted at the guy, who was responsible for delivering food.
"Boss, this kid wants to escape! Half of the window has been pried open!!" Monkey lifted Sun Yaoyang and threw him in front of Boss Yin.
Boss Yin bent down and clasped Sun Yaoyang"s chin, forcing him to look at his eyes. With a grim voice, he said, "Kid, no goods have ever escaped from the hands of me, Boss Yin! Tell me honestly, what did you use to pry open the window?"
Sun Yaoyang spitted at him, and then turned his head to the side. Boss Yin tilted his head and avoided it. With his large, palm leaf-like hands, he brutally slapped Sun Yaoyang twice. Sun Yaoyang instantly felt a moment of dizziness and his ears started buzzing. There was a burning sensation on his cheeks, and a b.l.o.o.d.y taste within his mouth.
"Are you going to say it? Where"s the tool that you used to pry open the window?" Boss Yin pulled him forward, lifted him off the ground, and shook him hard. Sun Yaoyang gritted his teeth and continued to turn his head to the side.
Boss Yin raised his hand and wanted to hit him again, but he was stopped by Old Fifth, "Boss Yin, this is a high-quality good. If his face is injured, you won"t be able to sell him for a good price!"
Old Fifth turned towards the kid who betrayed Sun Yaoyang at the beginning, and hollered at him with a fierce expression, "You! Yes, you! Say it, where did he hide the tool??"
Without waiting for Old Fifth to walk over, the coward broke down and shouted, "Don"t hit me!! I"ll say it. There"s a dagger hidden in his boots!!"
Sun Yaoyang glared ferociously at the youth who sold him out. The kid cried, "What are you looking at? It was you who wanted to escape, so why do we have to take the risk with you? If I don"t say it, then they will beat me to death!! I don"t want to die. I want to go home…"
Smack!
His cry came to an abrupt stop, and there were five clear fingerprints on his face. Old Fifth spat phlegm on him and said with disdain, "What are you shouting for? Coward, if you shout again, I"ll hang you up and beat you!!"
The coward didn"t dare to even make a squeak. He hid his head between his legs like an ostrich, and his body quivered incessantly.
Boss Yin found the dagger from Sun Yaoyang"s boots. He told Old Fifth to get a rope, tie Sun Yaoyang"s hands, and hang him on the beam. After that, he threatened the other children, "If anyone wants to run away again, I"ll cut him alive!! Kid, aren"t you really tough? I"ll let you have a taste of what it"s like to go against me!"
The weight of his entire body was concentrated on the rope that was tied around his wrist, and the rope deeply penetrated into his flesh. It was quite easy to imagine the feeling of being hung on the beam.
Boss Yin said to the twenty or so frightened children, "Since you guys still have the energy to think about escaping, it seems like I, Boss Yin, have been too benevolent. Monkey, only send them one meal a day in the future. It"s fine as long as they don"t starve to death! We don"t have to worry about them causing trouble after filling their stomachs!!"
Monkey replied in a.s.sent and took away the blackened steamed bread that he brought in.