Chapter 254: Getting Kidnapped
Xing was taking a walk with Bai Li in the thick forest surrounding the Quingze River on the way back to the capital city. The carriage ride back didn’t agree with her as she felt nauseated and just in the second day of theri journey, she was completely spent and she asked for a break.
"Do you think the God of Water is somehow responsible for whatever is happening with me and the Emperor?", Xing asked Bai Li who was eying a rabbit he saw on the way. His concentration was entirely on catching the rabbit and Xing’s question went over his head.
Xing left Bai Li alone to have his alone time with the rabbit and went on her way to explore the forest some more. She didn’t want him to go for human livers out of his thirst for blood.
The trees here were different from the trees she was used to in the mountains and she could hear the flow of water nearby.
That should be the Quingze river, she thought. The God kept his promise and the river immediately started flowing the moment she agrees to his terms.
She could feel someone walking towards her and she saw little girl probably eight or nine years old in plain cloths waking towards her crying.
"Big sister", she wiped her face in her sleeves, "Did you see my mother somewhere? We came here to pick up firewood but my mother.... She’s gone... I’m scared... Big sister, please help me find my mother!", she started sobbing.
Xing knew that some poor parents will leave their kids in the forests just to get rid of them if they could not sell them but this little girl was entirely suspicious.
Xing has spent a large part of her life with poor people than nobles and she’d know their behaviours like the back of her hand. This child even though looked malnourished, was pale as if she hadn’t seen sunlight and her clothes were cleaner than it should be. No poor family would have their daughter kept protected inside their home and also would have such clean clothes and then dump her in the forest.
Also in her entire eighteen years of living , no one would dare to call someone nicely dressed than themselves as ’big sister’. That is a way of self-preservation those poor people often followed. Bowing and using respectful terms... That’s how they extend their lifespan in case the one they are addressing is a noble and found them disrespectful and send them to their deaths. This girl is old enough to differentiate people of her own class to those who are superior to her and yet she addressed her as big sister? Her wearing glaring red clothes with phoenix hairpin... A baby would identify her as the Empress!
Xing’s conclusion... This little girl is a bait and there is an ambush waiting ahead.
With the war, combined with the previous drought, Xing won’t be surprised if some people just resort to robbing to get their life going.