After a few people drank tea for a while, Shen Qingqing watched the snow stop, and hurriedly beckoned Lin Zhong to leave.

When Zhen Qian stood up and wanted to send the two of them away, a subordinate ran to Zhen Qian's ear and said something, Zhen Qian's hands were shaking, and he grabbed the subordinate and asked, "What are you talking about?" ”

"What's wrong?" Lin Zhong and Shen Qingqing were also shocked and turned their heads to ask.

This Zhen Qian seemed to have something very important, and he didn't care about the two of them, but shouted to his subordinates: "What were you talking about just now?" ”

The man was so frightened that he stammered, knelt on the ground and whispered, "Boss, let's ...... Some of the money for the glutinous rice pastry...... He was robbed. Now the person who goes to the checkout now does not get the money. ”

"What? That's a whole face of two thousand taels of silver, all of which were robbed by someone? ”

The subordinate could only keep kowtowing on the ground, and his voice was full of fear: "Yes, I didn't keep a penny, and all of them were robbed by the bandits." ”

"How so? How so? Zhen Qian sat on the chair, and his whole body was paralyzed.

When Shen Qingqing heard this, he knew that the two of them couldn't leave, and when Zhen Qian calmed down a bit, Shen Qingqing asked, "What happened to Boss Zhen?" ”

Zhen Qian drank a cup of tea and another cup of tea, as if he wanted to reduce the sorrow in his heart, when he looked up at Shen Qingqing, his eyes suddenly became a little more old: "Qingqing girl is not good, we did business with other counties and sent those glutinous rice cakes, and when the people sent the money over, they were robbed by bandits on the way, and the whole two thousand taels of silver have not fallen into our pockets now." ”

Shen Qingqing's eyes also widened, she wanted to speak but couldn't say a word, just now she sighed that her life was so prosperous, but the stone of fate had already fallen on her shoulders.

This Zhen Qian did business with people from other counties, in order to win their trust, so it took three full months to settle the payment, and today when it came to settle the payment, two thousand taels were intercepted by bandits, which means that Zhen Qian lost two thousand taels of silver.

Shen Qingqing cooperated with Zhen Qian, if Zhen Qian had no running water in her hands, she would not be able to get the payment.

"These bandits can even rob the money of the imperial court, let alone those of us who do small business."

Shen Qingqing and Zhen Qian didn't speak, after all, the word money was already out of breath in their hearts.

After a long time, Zhen Qian looked at Shen Qingqing very embarrassed: "Sister Qingqing, I'm afraid your glutinous rice dumplings this time ...... money."

"You don't have to say it." Before he finished speaking, Shen Qingqing hurriedly waved his hand. "You don't have to give us the money this time, and I will send it to you as usual in the future, and you will give me the silver when you have it."

Zhen Qian was moved and happy for a while, and hurriedly held Shen Qingqing's hand: "Sister Qingqing, thank you so much, thank you so much." ”

When Shen Qingqing was in trouble before, he lent her the flowing water in the restaurant without saying a word, but now it is just a little salary, which Shen Qingqing can still cover.

Anyway, she has a lot of money in her hand, and it is not a difficult task to pay the women in the factory out of her own pocket.

A few people chatted for a while, looking at Zhen Qian was really worried, Shen Qingqing and the others didn't bother him anymore, got into the carriage and prepared to return to the village.

Although Shen Qingqing treated Zhen Qian with a righteous face just now, she sighed when she was alone with Lin Zhong: "I always thought that the two of us had a very prosperous life, but I didn't expect others to have such a difficult time." ”

"That's right, there will be another flood this year, and I think there will be a snow disaster in this continuous snow, in case the Lin Kingdom invades at this time, then my Nanjiang Country is really in internal and external troubles." Lin Zhong sighed, unlike Shen Qingqing, who cared about the things in his family, Lin Zhong cared about the whole country.

When the fate of a nation and a family are interconnected, no one can be immune to it.

When he was about to say something while holding Lin Zhong's hand, he suddenly turned his head and shouted to the coachman: "Coachman, stop." ”

"What's wrong?"

Shen Qingqing didn't answer his words, pulled Lin Zhong down from the carriage, and slowly walked her into a small alley.

They haven't left the town yet, although there are not many people on the street, but there are also some pedestrians coming and going, there are some peasant women selling vegetables here, Shen Qingqing pulled the forest into the alley and looked left and right: "I just watched a child stealing money from the carriage, once the world is not good, there are more people who follow crooked ways, burning, killing and looting is the most common thing, but there are too many thieves today." ”

Lin Zhong couldn't help but be a little curious: "I met one in the restaurant, and now you can meet one when you walk on the street......"

"Don't talk about it yet." Shen Qingqing's eyes fixed on a certain place, and as she looked over, she saw that the thief was still a child about seven or eight years old.

His age is about the same as Xiao Douding, but Xiao Douding was raised to be white and fat, this child is ragged, yellow muscles, the muscles of the whole person are sunken without a little vitality, he is carrying something in his arms, his head is looking left and right, it seems to be very scared, but it seems to be very skilled.

"What? Are we going to arrest him and send him to the government uniform? Lin Zhong asked.

Shen Qingqing shook his head: "Looking at the appearance of a child, he should often steal money, but why should he come out to steal things when he has a father and a mother?" ”

"This man has a bad heart, maybe his father and mother instructed him." Lin Zhong was a little surprised by this.

Shen Qingqing scratched her head and looked at the child walking towards one place, and a strange feeling suddenly rose in her heart: "You see that this child is very timid and polite when he walks, why would he steal other people's things?" ”

When Shen Qingqing was talking, the child bumped into another person, obviously it was not the child's fault, but he quickly apologized, such a child is kind-hearted but goes to steal, how to say it is a little confusing.

Lin Zhong pinched Shen Qingqing's face: "Since you are so curious, why don't we go up and take a look?" ”

Anyway, they have been staying in Zhen Qian's restaurant for so long, and it is not a bad time, and she really feels sorry for this little child.

Lin Zhong said this, and the two of them slowly followed the child forward, and the child came to a broken temple when he left the city, Shen Qingqing saw that this broken temple could be regarded as her old acquaintance, wasn't it the broken temple that the group of kidnappers kidnapped Xiao Douding at the beginning.

It was in this ruined temple that Lin Zhong was stimulated and mobilized his internal force to kill four people in a row.

Revisiting the old place, the mood of both of them is extremely wonderful.

Lin Zhong and Shen Qingqing glanced at each other, and slowly followed the child to approach the broken temple.

The child entered the ruined temple and hurriedly closed the door, seemingly very cautious, and the two of them hid next to the window, through which they could see the scene inside, and the picture inside shocked both of them.

There were still seven or eight children in this ruined temple, and the person next to him was holding a stick in his hand, and when he saw the child coming in, he hurriedly shouted: "How is it, did you steal any money today?" ”

The child took out the silver in his arms, and spoke in a voice that was too low to speak: "I stole it, I stole it, I stole it......

The man took the child's money and counted it, and spat at it: "It's really a useless thing, so I stole this little thing." I don't know how much it costs to feed you. ”

As he spoke, the man picked up the stick and hit the child, who didn't know why he didn't dare to scream, and stood in a row behind him.

"The other kids seem to have been forced to steal as well." Shen Qingqing still just felt pitiful when he looked at it. "I said that these children were forced, and those people were really cruel enough to let children do these things."

"Qingqing...... "It seems that something different has been found in the forest." Do you think these people are familiar with something? ”

Shen Qingqing took a closer look and found that although these kidnappers looked different, the clothes they were wearing, especially the key and pattern, were exactly the same as the children who kidnapped Xiaodouding before.

"Could they be a gang?" Lin Zhong opened his mouth to ask, and before Shen Qingqing could answer, he saw a short-looking man in the room scolding with a bonfire. "How many of these kids haven't come back?"

A tall man replied, "There are two more, and if these two little bunnies steal less things, I won't beat them much." Now these days are getting more and more difficult for us, we can't make any money just by relying on these few children, how about we kidnap two or three more when we have time? ”

"Of course." The two of them are still like this for kidnapping, as if they were eating tea and drinking water.

Shen Qingqing couldn't listen to it anymore, those children in the broken temple were all timid and pitiful, and they also wanted to harm other children.

Shen Qingqing doesn't know, forget it, if he knows, he must not stand idly by: "We must not sit idly by." ”

"These people seem to have a lot of accomplices, and if we rush in, I'm afraid we will be hurt. Well, if you really want to help them, how about we go and report to the government? ”

"Report to the government?"

This is also a good way, firstly, there are only two of them now, and they don't know how many other people there are in this gang of kidnappers, and secondly, it is very difficult for these children to go out with the two of them, and it is the best choice to report to the government.