At the first moment of the first lunar month, there was still silence, but the lights were brightly lit in the Jiang family mansion. On the lintel of the door hung with bright red lanterns, more than a dozen servants were silent, watching helplessly as their eldest son beat a little girl with a wooden stick until she was covered in blood. .
"Steal, keep stealing."
Jiang Ru was panting, stopped moving for a moment, looked at the dying little girl in front of him, and sneered: "You are so brave to steal things from me."
The little girl's hands were bloody, but she still clenched her fists tightly, and her eyes stared at Jiang Ru stubbornly.
"Do you think I really dare not beat you to death?"
An extremely dull sound suddenly sounded on the street in the early morning, and the wind suddenly whimpered. The servants all looked pale and looked at the half-length wooden stick soaked in blood.
A blow to the head with a stick would kill the person.
My young master killed another person!
Jiang Ru didn't care, casually threw away half of the wooden stick in his hand, glanced at it, and said sarcastically: "Son of a bitch."
After Jiang Ru returned to the house, the servants were busy as usual, preparing to destroy the body and eliminate traces. After a while, Jiang Ru returned for some reason, sat on the threshold, and said with a smile: "If you die, die, what's the matter?" Easy to deal with? She's just an orphan, is there anyone stupid enough to stand up for her? "
The servants looked at each other and returned to the house one after another.
Jiang Ru was sitting on the high steps with a pot of wine, looking up at the moon.
Thinking of what happened with Li Zixin yesterday, he took a sip of wine and smiled coldly.
Unless you, Li Zixin, have the ability to climb over eaves and walls, you won't be able to get out of Shuanghua City no matter what.
If you want to be the chief examiner of Chunwei, if you want to open a dragon gate for the poor people in the world, if you want to change the current system of the court, if you want to eliminate the influence of the big shots, there is only one end.
Death without a burial place!
The current Dajing Dynasty is pretty good, right?
Jiang Ru muttered to himself and returned to the house drunk.
At dawn, Frost Flower City was as usual, but a layer of depressive atmosphere was invisible.
Because many people saw a long trail of blood.
And at the gate of Jiang's house, the little girl who was supposed to have expired disappeared, leaving only a pool of sticky blood.
Wang Sizhi got up early to buy breakfast for Gui Liu. Naturally, he also heard the news and didn't take it seriously.
In the inn room, she was packing her clothes because she was leaving Shuanghua City today. After the morning practice, Gui Liu felt refreshed and put on clean clothes. As expected, he stayed close to Wang Sizhi again.
The man's very high body temperature made Wang Sizhi feel a little hot. She couldn't get away several times. She was slightly dissatisfied and said: "Hurry up and eat, why are you pestering me?"
Guiliu didn't listen and hugged her for a while before letting go with satisfaction.
The steamed buns stuffed with beef are not as good as the royal dishes in the palace, but they are full of flavor and this is where the folk fun lies.
After packing up and saluting, Wang Sizhi sat down next to him and said softly: "I heard that there seemed to be a death at the door of the Jiang family's mansion. The body was probably dragged away last night. There was a blood trail extending towards the brothel you went to yesterday. .”
Guiliu remained silent, secretly cursing in his heart, "I have to emphasize that this is the brothel I have been to. This woman is really petty."
"That is to say, Shuanghua City is not at peace now, and people are in panic." Guiliu put down his chopsticks and stretched.
Wang Sizhi hummed indifferently and stopped talking.
After breakfast, Geiliu went straight to the brothel without wasting time to redeem the oiran's body.
The atmosphere along the way was obviously not good, and the fear among people under the sun was particularly dazzling. During the day, there were only a few people in the brothel. There were no lights in the building, so it was a bit dim.
The rule is that the redemption of an oiran requires three hundred taels of gold. Of course, it is impossible to bring that much money when the oiran goes out, so he does not intend to redeem it, but just rob it.
There was a commotion in the building.
Decorative paintings fell off, porcelain was shattered, and more than a dozen building guard dogs fell to the ground, wailing incessantly.
The corners of Guiliu's lips curled up, and he walked leisurely to the oiran's room. After knocking on the door lightly, there was no answer. He immediately felt nervous and pushed the door open and barged in unceremoniously.
Seeing that the woman was just sitting quietly, absent-minded, Guiliu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Come with me."
The woman remained motionless and just said blankly: "Did you see it?"
Guiliu frowned slightly, "What did you see?"
"Blood stains outside the building."
The woman lowered her head and loosened her clenched hands. The blood-stained silver ingot was even warmer because of her body temperature. Spreading her hands for Guiliu to see, she said softly: "This morning, I saw a dying little girl behind the building. She was obviously speechless, but she must give me what she had in her hands, which were these two coins. Silver ingots.”
Guiliu's tone was slightly cold, "What then?"
The implication could not be clearer.
The woman lowered her head and whispered: "She didn't want me to save her. I wanted to hold her back, but she struggled desperately. She was seriously injured, and I was afraid of her..."
Guiliu sat down and said: "Even if you bring her back, can you save her on your own? You are just a poor woman with a humble background. Even protecting yourself is a problem."
Guiliu suddenly stared into her eyes, "When you are powerless, when you can only stand by and watch, but as long as you have compassion, you have kind thoughts."
Guiliu suddenly stood up, walked to the window, and said softly: "In fact, life is probably like this. In this life, we can witness a lot of suffering, but we rarely have the ability to help."
"In the winter when I was six years old, I met a beggar who was about to freeze to death in a small alley in Beijing. I cried and begged my mother to save him. My mother told me in her first words without hesitation that he could not be saved. But I didn’t believe it. Finally, my mother had someone carry him to the palace, found the best doctor, and used the best medicine. He woke up that night and drank a big bowl of steaming mutton soup. I thought he He was saved, but he died the next day.”
"My mother told me that all his organs were frozen. His energetic appearance that night was just a reflection of his past."
"A lonely winter." Gui Liu's eyes were in a trance.
"We may be able to devote everything we have to helping those who are dying to dispel the cold, but we cannot save them."
"Because it is destiny and no one can change it."
"We can only save ourselves. None of us can help anyone else."
Guiliu slowly turned around, looked at the woman, and said with a smile: "Okay, I'm done. Can you go? I'm in a hurry."
The woman nodded and stood up.
Seeing that she was motionless, Geiliu asked doubtfully: "Is there anything you want to take away?"
The woman shook her head, "I came here with nothing. Which thing here is mine?"
"At least those two silver ingots must be kept well. Even if they are like floating water, it is still excellent."
Guiliu left first, followed by the woman.
When she went down to the first floor and saw the mess on the ground and the wailing people, she realized that she was not redeemed, but robbed.
On the way back to the inn, Guiliu asked: "That little girl handed you the silver ingot and then left?"
The woman trembled and said, "She crawled away. Her legs were bloody and bloody, and she could no longer stand up."
Guiliu said nothing and kept walking in front. The woman bit her red lips tightly. After some hesitation, she suddenly grabbed his arm from behind and forced him to stop.
With a trembling voice that almost made her cry, the woman burst into tears, "Please, help her! I can do anything you ask me to do!"
"What reason do you have to help her, just because of the two silver ingots in your hand?"
The woman retorted loudly, "Isn't that enough?!"
Guiliu sneered and said, "The prince will reward you with a thousand taels of gold. Not only in this life, but in the next life, you will continue to repay me. How about that?"
"You don't want to save yourself, do you think your heart is made of flesh?!" the woman almost screamed.
"My life is like duckweed, I am as humble as grass, I can't save her. What about you? You are the prince! It is said that a person can witness a lot of suffering in his life, but rarely has the ability to help. It's really a good saying. What a ridiculous thing! If you don’t save me, I would rather not go back, I would rather die here forever!"
Guiliu said coldly: "Are you threatening me?"
A blow from his hand knocked the woman unconscious, and he carried her on his body, bowed like a shrimp, and ran wildly with long strides.
So many people watching on the street saw this scene. A white-haired man stretched his bow like a bully, carrying a beautiful woman as he ran all the way.
Even the innkeeper couldn't help but be stunned when he saw this scene. Is this a robbery of a civilian girl in broad daylight? Will the government not come to raid the building soon?
After entering the room, he threw the woman heavily on the bed. He didn't see Wang Sizhi. He wanted to drink tea and wait, but suddenly he felt uneasy.
"Since the person who died in the Jiang family mansion was still a child, could it be that Jiang Ru used ruthless tactics to force Li Zixin to show up?"
If you take action yourself, you can certainly help Li Zixin leave Shuanghua City alive, but it will also mean further deteriorating the relationship between the Jiang family and the emperor's family. The army under the banner of Jiang has more than 200,000 people, which is enough to be called the army of tigers and wolves. There have long been secret reports that the Jiang family has signs of treason and defecting to the Dafeng Dynasty. I wonder what my mother and father have planned. If they act rashly, will it ruin the planned chess game?
If one thing affects the whole body, if it causes a series of problems, it will undoubtedly be seriously inappropriate.
But that little girl...
Thinking of this, Guiliu fell silent.
He knew very well that what the oiran said was not entirely correct, but it was not entirely wrong either. The Jiang family wanted to sacrifice the life of a little girl to force Li Zixin to show up, but the reason why he chose not to save her was actually because he wanted to sacrifice the life of a little girl to ensure that everything would be safe.
But is this really right?
If you sacrifice a young life to play a game with the Jiang family, what's the difference? They are just the same bunch of enemies.
At that moment, a childish face suddenly appeared in Guiliu's mind, a little girl from the tea merchant Bai family.
Guiliu didn't dare to think any more, but stood up suddenly.
But he did think that way.
No one should be sacrificed, let alone children.
He pinched his chin with his fingers and tore off the mask of disguise, revealing the true appearance of His Highness the Crown Prince.
Guiliu strode out.
At the other end of the street where the inn is located, people are watching and talking.
A long trail of blood extended from the feet of the onlookers to the center.
The little girl was a bloody little girl, her red hair was stuck together, and the wounds on her head were horrific.
She tried hard to open her eyes, but she could only see blurry black shadows through a crack of light.
Where do people go when they die?
My mother said that dead people will become stars in the sky, silently watching and protecting their living relatives.
The stars are twinkling, that’s when tears are shed.
So death is actually not scary at all.
The little girl smiled happily, closed her eyes, and thought of the two silver ingots given out this morning and the woman's face.
Mom, goodbye.
If you want your daughter, just look at the starry sky. The brightest and twinkling star is me, my daughter.
She closed her eyes and couldn't hear someone screaming over and over again, "It's dead! It's dead!"
This winter, it looks like another person didn't make it through.
