Chu Fengqing’s eyebrows jumped, and he frowned. That voice made him extremely uncomfortable and gave him a headache.
Ji Yujin’s reaction was not as big as his, but he also pursed his lips and looked intently towards the corner where the sound came from, but it was dark and difficult to see clearly.
He took a step back, holding Chu Fengqing in his arms. If he were alone, he would have already gone over to investigate.
The people waiting above heard the noise, and Qing Niao quickly came to the two of them and said, “Master, what happened?”
Ji Yujin lowered his eyes and found a relatively clean piece of land in this narrow space and put Chu Fengqing on it. “I’ll go take a look. Qing Niao, you stay with the Madam.”
Qing Niao: “Yes.”
As the torch lit up that corner, they saw three people huddled in a small corner, and several people were looking at them with horror in their eyes.
The voice came from the little girl, who was protected by two adults. Ji Yujin with the torch moved closer. The girl shrank back, stared at him, and shouted even louder, hysterically, until she was hoarse.
Ji Yujin frowned, blocked his ears with his fingers, and took a few steps back. Seeing him step back, the little girl slowly stopped.
But as long as Ji Yujin got a little closer, the scream would start. Ji Yujin was frightened and said from a distance, “Hiss, stop screaming.”
The room was silent for a moment, and then a hoarse male voice came from the other side. It seemed that he understood that they were not bandits, so he asked tentatively, “Who are you?”
Qing Niao: “People from the government, the bandits above have been tied up by us.”
As soon as he said this, there was a sound of clothes rubbing against each other, and the breathing of several people became much louder. It seemed that they did not believe it or were very exhausted. Their voices trembled a lot: “Are you telling the truth?”
“It’s the truth.”
Chu Fengqing thought for a moment and took out the token Ji Yujin had given him. The official seal on it should make them feel more at ease. He placed the token under the torch so that they could see it more clearly. “Here is the token.”
Ji Yujin raised his eyebrows when he saw the token, lowered his voice, and whispered in Chu Fengqing’s ear, “Do you carry it with you?”
Chu Fengqing tightened his grip on the token and looked straight ahead, pretending not to hear. However, his face turned red because he was too thin-skinned.
Fortunately, Ji Yujin did not insist on it any further. He is now an experienced man and knows that he cannot tease too much, as it may backfire easily.
“Wu…”
A low cry was heard from the corner, followed by a burst of crying. Ji Yujin moved the torch a little further away, but before he took this step, the little girl’s voice started again.
The three of them were obviously family: the wife, the child, and the husband. The little girl seemed to have her eyes fixed on them and whenever Ji Yujin moved, she would scream.
The woman was a little scared. She covered the little girl’s mouth with her hand and explained in a crying voice, “Sir, please spare our lives. It’s just that my daughter was frightened after being locked up here for 20 to 30 days. That’s why she is like this. Please bear with us.”
Ji Yujin was about to speak when he was stopped by Chu Fengqing. He looked at Chu Fengqing in confusion.
Chu Fengqing: “You scare people so much.”
Ji Yujin: “……”
?? He is scary? Apart from his identity, he is handsome and suave, as handsome as Pan An, how can he be scary?
Chu Fengqing took the torch from his hand and walked forward a few steps. Sure enough, the little girl didn’t make any more noise. When the torch shone on the little girl, he saw her big black eyes. The bright light made her feel uncomfortable. She squinted her eyes and reached out to rub them.
Chu Fengqing was quick to hold her hand and said, “Don’t rub your eyes. Your hands are dirty.”
Although the voice is cold, one can hear the softness in it.
He put the torch back and used his body to block out some of the light.
The little girl looked at him without blinking, she was very cute, she didn’t cry or make a fuss, it seemed like she didn’t understand what was going on.
Chu Fengqing was afraid of scaring her, so he curled his lips, released the little girl’s hand, and reached out to touch her head. “Be good, don’t be afraid.”
After a pause, he added, “That uncle over there is also a good man.”
Ji Yujin let out a “tsk”. Chu Fengqing always had a cold face. Why should the little girl be afraid of him but not Chu Fengqing? He turned his head to look at Qing Niao and frowned.”Do I look scary?”
Qing Niao: “……”
Why ask him such a question… Who is he and where is he…
Qing Niao pursed his lips and walked forward, treating that as sudden deafness. He had to ask a physician to check him out.
Ji Yujin felt a little jealous. Chu Fengqing was so kind to a stranger and never so gentle to him.
It was discovered that the people who were imprisoned in the dark were the original residents of the town, but these cellars were not dug recently but were left over from long ago. In those days, when wars were raging, their ancestors dug cellars in every household in order to find a place to hide and made the entrances extremely secretive.
Later, after the bandits occupied this land, they discovered these cellars. They were worried about what to do with them, so they just locked the people down there. They would stay there for twenty to thirty days, eating, drinking, defecating, and urinating down there, so there was such a foul stench.
Chu Fengqing took the pulse of the three people, and fortunately, apart from being a little weak, he found no other problems.
After rescuing the people, Ji Yujin asked the servants to search the basements room by room and rescue the people from the basement. They were all skinny and weak.
Some of the older ones who were less fortunate have already passed away in the basement.
Chu Fengqing frowned and asked the servants to gather everyone together. He ran among the crowd in a green robe, treating everyone. Only one person was a little overwhelmed, so Ji Yujin assigned all the people to him.
Ji Yujin looked at the chaos and narrowed his eyes. People who are familiar with him would understand that he was really angry at this moment.
This place is only two days’ journey from the capital, yet it is so ridiculous.
It was already the third watch (3am) when people came out, and it might be the fourth watch (4am) now. Ji Yujin urged Chu Fengqing to go and rest, he urged him several times.
Chu Fengqing just said, “I’ll go after I finish checking this one. This girl doesn’t look good.”
He urges again.
And again: “I’m afraid this old man has injured his foundation. I’ll write this prescription so they can get the medicine as soon as possible.”
Over and over again.
“The last one……”
Ji Yujin was angry and called out his name lightly: “Chu Fengqing.”
Chu Fengqing: “……”
When the sky was turning pale, Ji Yujin could no longer bear to see Chu Fengqing’s pale face, and he took him to the room by force.
Seeing that he was angry, Chu Fengqing did not dare to mention the matter of checking the illness again. Seeing Ji Yujin staring at him, he pursed his lips and took out the “motto”, “I was wrong.” again.
Ji Yujin: “……”
“You are so presumptuous just because you think I dare not touch you.”
Chu Fengqing: “I don’t want to sleep.”
“You have to sleep even if you don’t want to.” Ji Yujin said nothing else, hugged the person and pressed him down, and shouted, “Close your eyes.”
Chu Fengqing: “……”
Ji Yujin met his eyes and was defeated again. He could only say in a gentle voice, “I have to leave early in the morning. I will leave a few people for you. Wait for me for three days. After three days, I will accompany you to Jiangnan, alright?”
Chu Fengqing pursed his lips. He wanted to say that it was alright for him to go alone, but when he thought about what happened this time, he felt that his words did not seem convincing. He was worried about his father and wanted to get the token as soon as possible, but he also did not want to reject Ji Yujin’s kindness.
Very contradictory.
Ji Yujin seemed to understand his concerns. “As for Chu Daren, I promise that he will live better than us, not worse. There is no need to rush for a day or two.”
Chu Fengqing broke free from his arms. They were too close to each other. It seemed like it was always like this lately. There were no boundaries or sense of propriety. He rubbed his temple, not knowing whether this was good or bad. But now, looking at the dark circles under Ji Yujin’s eyes, he nodded for some reason.
When he realized what was going on, he felt that this wasn’t right again.
Ji Yujin didn’t care about that. He embraced him again, put him into his arms, and tied them up tightly with the thin quilt. “Now, be good and sleep with me for a while.”
Ji Yujin seemed extremely tired, and after a moment his breathing became steady.
Chu Fengqing sighed lightly, realizing that he had lost his sense of propriety and ended up like this again.
However, he didn’t want to do anything to disturb the other party’ sweet dreams, so he closed his eyes. He always felt cold when he slept alone, but he felt much warmer when he was leaning against Ji Yujin. The faint scent of agarwood in his nose made him feel sleepy quickly.
A vague thought flashed through his mind—agarwood has the effects of promoting qi and relieving pain, warming and stopping vomiting, and relieving asthma. It seems that now he should add the effect of calming the mind and promoting sleep too.
He had a good night’s sleep. When he woke up the next day, Ji Yujin was no longer beside him. He reached out his hand and felt that place. It was ice cold. It seemed that he had left a long time ago.
Chu Fengqing sat there dazed, and there was still some scent of Ji Yujin’s agarwood on the quilt.
Ji Yujin still has orders to follow and cannot stay here for too long.
After he had tidied his appearance and went out, he saw a group of officials waiting outside who were sorting out the bandits who were tied up on the ground. There was also a man in an official uniform who was talking to Qing Niao anxiously. He should be the local county magistrate. Ji Yujin had sent someone to notify him yesterday.
Qing Niao had a cold face and didn’t really listen. He caught a glimpse of Chu Fengqing from the corner of his eye, and then he came over and saluted him, “Young Master, the Master is going to catch the criminal and asked you to wait here.”
Chu Fengqing nodded to show that he understood.
The county magistrate saw that Qing Niao was so respectful to Chu Fengqing, he asked, “Who is this?”
Chu Fengqing didn’t have any good impressions towards him. He didn’t want to discuss whether the county magistrate had received the news that a small town was occupied by bandits or not. Regardless of whether he received the news or not, it was his dereliction of duty as the county magistrate.
Chu Fengqing, who always attached great importance to etiquette, left with a cold face this time.
Qing Niao said, “This is not your business. You’d better think about how you are going to explain it to the Governor when he comes back.”
The county magistrate’s forehead twitched, and he smiled and flattered, “Yes, yes, yes, but the minister is really wrong. Hope My Lord helps me put in a good word in front of the Governor.”
Qing Niao snorted coldly and left, leaving the county magistrate with a bitter face. Everyone had heard of Ji Yujin’s methods. He touched his head, not knowing how long he could remain there.
It took them two days to settle all the people. Now, in addition to waiting for Ji Yujin, there was another more important thing. According to the proprietress and the waiter, they still had a big boss, and there was also a group of bandits on the mountain, who could attack at any time.
This required them to be extremely alert, and the county magistrate also sent people to keep a strict watch.
Fortunately, Ji Yujin rushed back on the third day. For some unknown reason, the bandits on the mountain did not come down.
Chu Fengqing cleared his time by seeing patients these days and spent the rest of his time in this inn. The three people he met in the basement before were the owners of this inn, and he was now familiar with the little girl.
On the day Ji Yujin came back, Chu Fengqing was sitting in the hall to rest. The little girl walked with her short legs, carrying a big bowl of milk soup, and staggered to Chu Fengqing. She stared at Chu Fengqing with her big black eyes without saying a word, but just smiled and handed it to him.
Chu Fengqing’s eyes curled, took the heavy bowl from her hand, and asked, “Is it for me?”
The little girl nodded heavily. “En, you eat it, it’s delicious.”
Chu Fengqing rubbed her little head and said with a smile, “Thank you, Xiao Meng.”
The little girl’s big eyes curled into a crescent, revealing a few small teeth. Her little face was red, and she seemed a little embarrassed.
“Yo, the eldest Young Master of the Chu family is living a carefree life these days.”
Chu Fengqing turned around and saw Ji Yujin, who looked exhausted. He was wearing a red robe and leaning against the door with his arms folded, smiling teasingly with his lips curled.
Chu Fengqing was slightly stunned. “You’re back.”
“If I still don’t come back, I’m afraid I’ll have another love rival.” Ji Yujin walked closer, glanced at the milk soup in Chu Fengqing’s bowl, and saw a few peanut crumbs floating on it. He frowned and pushed the bowl away.
Then he remembered that he used to care more about food and thought that he couldn’t eat this bowl of milk soup, so he said, “You can’t drink this, but I found a good candy store in front, how about I take you to buy some?”
Chu Fengqing: “……” He is not even a kid anymore, is there any need to coax him like this?
However, before Chu Fengqing could say anything, the little girl who had been standing aside suddenly threw herself into his arms and anxiously pulled at his clothes.
Chu Fengqing rubbed her little head and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Xiao Meng pointed her chubby finger at Ji Yujin and whispered into Chu Fengqing’s ear, “Child trafficker, he is a child trafficker.”
The voice was neither loud nor soft, but Ji Yujin heard it anyway. And because she pointed clearly, he also knew that the person she was talking about was him.
Child trafficker? A kidnapper?
Ji Yujin blinks. What was going on?
The little girl hid in Chu Fengqing’s arms and said in a childish voice with a cold face, “Mother said that the people who took you to buy candy are child traffickers and will sell you to others to become a beggar. You can’t go with him.”
Ji Yujin: “……”
“En, he is a child trafficker.” Chu Fengqing looked at Ji Yujin, his eyes sparkling with a smile on his face.
The ice and snow have melted, and spring seems to have arrived earlier this year.
Ji Yujin was stunned for a moment. It was rare to see such open emotions in Chu Fengqing.
When the little girl’s mother heard this, she ran over in a hurry, picked up the little girl, and apologized, “I’m so sorry, the child is young and doesn’t understand much. She can’t tell the difference.”
Ji Yujin seemed to be still a little dazed, and when he came to his senses, he shook his head and said, “It’s alright.”
After the little girl was taken away, a smile still remained on Chu Fengqing’s face, and there was clear mockery in his eyes, which was very vivid.
Ji Yujin also laughed. He didn’t seem to be very popular with children. He let out a “tsk”, “Still laughing? Is it really that funny?”
Chu Fengqing nodded. The dignified governor of the Xichang was defeated by a little kid, and there was no way he could reason with her.
“Well, a child trafficker, so be it.”
Ji Yujin curled his lips and said lazily, “I, this child trafficker, am going to kidnap you today…”
“Why don’t you do me a favor and take the bait?”
