books44 Chapter 26 Rescue (1)
Chapter 26 Rescue (1)
The carriage moved forward with a "clattering" sound, and Lin Ziping felt that there were more and more people around him, and he could no longer hear the sound of horses on both sides.
He wanted to lift the curtain to call for help, but then he thought, what if the people outside were all ordinary people, or there were human traffickers' accomplices in the crowd, or what if others just ignored him?
Xiao Fuzi and the other six children clutched the stones in their hands. Xiao Fuzi threw the handkerchief soaked in black oil out of the car, hoping someone would notice something was wrong.
But people on the street are in a hurry, who would notice an ordinary handkerchief?
The carriage maintained its speed, and the city gate was not far away. Several children were already in tears, their eyes devoid of light. If they were taken out of the city gate today, their future would be bleak.
How to do?
Lin Ziping secretly regretted not having unparalleled martial arts skills. Why hadn't he learned more about wilderness survival skills before, and why hadn't he prepared more self-defense weapons in this world? He also hoped that Magistrate Ji and Lin Zhong would descend from the sky and rescue them at this moment!
Calm down, you must calm down!
Xiao Fuzi weakly lowered the carriage curtain, and Lin Ziping saw something walk past the carriage.
Lin Ziping lifted the carriage curtain and saw a donkey cart loaded with straw walk past the horse-drawn carriage. Without thinking much, Lin Ziping took out a tinderbox, wrapped it in a cloth soaked in black oil, tied it to a stone, and threw it at the donkey cart.
He prayed silently that the donkey cart would catch fire and stop their horse-drawn carriage.
Perhaps heaven heard Lin Ziping's prayers, or perhaps Lin Ziping, as a time traveler, had a bit of a protagonist's halo, because soon the sounds of "Fire!" and "Quickly put out the fire!" came from outside the carriage.
"It was this carriage. I saw something thrown out from the back, and then the straw caught fire."
Criticisms came from outside.
Lin Ziping suddenly lifted the carriage curtain: "Help! They're kidnappers!"
Xiao Fuzi and the others also lifted the carriage curtain and shouted for help.
A group of people followed behind the carriage. Upon hearing Lin Ziping and his companions' cries for help, they were silent for a moment, then suddenly erupted into chaos.
"They're actually kidnappers! Catch them!"
People stepped forward and forced the carriage to stop.
The carriage was approaching the city gate when, as the donkey cart was being lit, some yamen runners came over. Hearing Lin Ziping shout "Beat the beggars!", they rushed over, surrounded the carriage, and grabbed the driver.
Xiao Fuzi pointed at several people in the crowd and shouted to the constables, "Arrest them! They're all together!"
Looking at them, Lin Ziping noticed that the group of people resembled the men who escorted them from the foot of the mountain.
Upon hearing this, several officers and soldiers rushed forward and seized the men.
"Go find Ji Xun quickly, they're in another carriage," Lin Ziping said, tugging at a soldier's sleeve.
"The horse is brown, and it has a white patch on its head," a child quickly added.
The officers nodded, gave a few instructions to the people next to them, and led their men into the crowd.
Seeing this, Lin Ziping breathed a sigh of relief; they were saved.
By this time, it was completely dark, and torches were lit all around. Lin Ziping saw that Xiao Fuzi's hands were stained red, and there were also some bloodstains on the carriage curtain.
"Sir, his hand is injured and needs to be bandaged," Lin Ziping said to a constable beside him, pointing to Xiao Fuzi.
The yamen runner looked at Xiao Fuzi, then at the other children in the carriage, and said to the yamen runner beside him, "Take them to the county yamen."
Lin Ziping was worried about what might happen on the way to the county government office, so after a moment's thought, he decided to wait here: "Sir, we will wait here for Magistrate Ji to arrive."
“Yes, we’re not going anywhere, we’ll just wait here.” The other children echoed Lin Ziping.
The constables looked at each other in bewilderment. After a while, one of them said, "Then you should go back to the carriage and wait here."
He then asked the people around him, "Is there a doctor here who can take a look at this young man's injury?"
The people around also spread the word about the constable.
A moment later, an old man walked out shakily and said, "Sir, I know a little about Huangqi techniques and can take a look at this young man."
As Xiao Fuzi stepped out of the carriage, the old man took his hand, examined it, and said, "If you had waited any longer, your hand might have been ruined. It hurts a bit, but bear with it." He then took his medicine box and began cleaning and bandaging Xiao Fuzi's hand.
Seeing this, Lin Ziping also led the other children out of the carriage and surrounded Xiao Fuzi and the old doctor.
After treating Xiao Fuzi's hand, the old doctor looked up and saw Lin Ziping's face. He sighed, took a bottle of medicine from his medicine box, and gave it to Lin Ziping: "Wipe this on your face."
Lin Ziping paused for a moment, then extended his dark hand, took the gift, and whispered his thanks.
"Have a steamed bun." A steamed bun wrapped in oil paper was stuffed into Lin Ziping's arms, as if some kind of switch had been turned on.
Some brought two thick coats, some brought some hot water, and some handed over hot water bottles...
"Thank you," Lin Ziping and the others kept thanking the people around them for the things they were given to them.
"No need to thank me, it's cold, let's get back to the carriage."
"Are you hungry? Go and eat something to fill your stomach."
"Drink some hot water to warm yourself up."
Lin Ziping and the others, carrying food given to them by people in the neighborhood, holding hot water bottles, and wearing their clothes, returned to the carriage.
After an unknown amount of time, a commotion arose outside the carriage. Lin Ziping cautiously lifted the curtain and saw a group of people carrying torches walking towards the carriage, illuminating both sides of the street.
Lin Ziping squinted at the light.
It's Butler Tao and Granny Liao!
Lin Ziping breathed a sigh of relief as his heart, which had been hanging in suspense for many days, finally settled down.
The other children in the carriage also leaned out and shouted loudly into the distance, "Mother!" and "Father!"
"Young Master." Granny Liao wiped away her tears and helped Lin Ziping down from the carriage.
With tears welling up in his eyes, Steward Tao said from the side, "It's good that you're back. Let's hurry to the county government office. The master is waiting over there."
Granny Liao put Lin Ziping down on the ground and looked at his swollen face: "Young master, hang in there. We'll go to the county office and then come home in a little while."
Lin Ziping nodded, and saw that the parents of the other six children had also arrived, creating a heartwarming scene.
Wait, six?
Lin Ziping looked towards the children reunited with their parents and realized that Xiao Fuzi was nowhere to be seen.
Perhaps he had been picked up by his family. Lin Ziping didn't think much of it and followed Granny Liao and Steward Tao toward the county government office.
Inside the Lin family carriage, Granny Liao washed Lin Ziping's hands clean and gently applied a layer of ointment to his face.
"Granny, what kind of medicine is this?" Lin Ziping pointed to the ointment on his face: "It feels cool."
Granny Liao held Lin Ziping's hand: "Don't move around, you'll get a scar if you scratch it. It'll be fine in a couple of days."
Lin Ziping nodded, then, remembering the donkey cart he had just set on fire, said, "Granny, I set the donkey cart on fire. Can you compensate me for it?"
Upon hearing this, Granny Liao went to the front of the carriage and told Steward Tao what had happened. The carriage stopped for a moment and then continued forward.
"Young master, don't worry, Butler Tao will handle it."