This is an ordinary residential area in the outer city of the capital.

The low houses, the small courtyards close together, occasionally sticking out of the courtyard with one or two branches of the jujube tree that have lost their leaves, are indistinguishable from thousands of houses in the outer city.

Although it was the middle of winter, the sun was excellent today, the blue sky was endless and cloudless, and many people came out of the house to sit under the wall and bask in the warm air.

Bang bang

The dense and swift sound of horses' hooves sounded outside the alleyway, and a flock of white doves that landed on the roof fluttered and flew into the sky.

Several sleepy old men who were sunburned squinted their cloudy old eyes and looked at the mouth of the alley.

Like a tide, a large number of catchers poured into the mouth of the roadway in an instant.

Most of them galloped under their feet, their clothes fluttering, and the rest rode behind them.

Some of them held killing rods, some held chains, and some of them held large swords and long swords, menacing.

The idlers who were basking in the warm were suddenly shocked.

It's been a long time since they've seen the yamen do things in such a big way, could it be that something big has happened to the place where they live.

Before these people could react, the group of officials had already pounced on a private house in the depths of the alley, slammed open the gate like wolves, and rushed in.

Leave the frightened ordinary people and stay where they are and whisper.

"I remember those yards were uninhabited." An old man spoke in a daze.

"It's that no one lives. The previous owner seems to be surnamed Hai, who opened a pharmacy and placed some apprentices in it. At the beginning of spring last year, all the people who fled came back, but I didn't hear that anyone from the Hai family returned. A middle-aged man who had been living here before said.

"It seems that the Hai family has been burned down a long time ago, and no one has survived."

"Then what are these officers and soldiers going to look for?"

"I don't know, let's see."

Xu is idle in winter, knowing that the search of those officers and soldiers does not do their own business, as soon as the fear is gone, people naturally want to see the excitement. It's a pity that the wall of the Haijiayuan is built high, and the other side is still attached to the city wall, so it is difficult to see the situation inside.

If it weren't for the fear of those officials with knives and sticks, maybe they would have had the audacity to follow up and see what was going on.

At this moment, in the old house of the Hai family, which people had always thought was an empty courtyard, there were bursts of fighting and roars. Especially those who roared, wild, and the ears of those who listened to them hurt.

Among the people standing not far from the old courtyard of the Hai family waiting to see the excitement, there were many timid people, and their faces turned white with fright.

"Let's all go back, let's disperse." One of them hit the head, holding his legs that were soft into noodles, and hurriedly retreated, ran towards the house, slammed the door shut, locked it inside, and never came out again.

The rest of the people, you look at me, I look at you, with this person to take the lead, suddenly scattered, and went back one by one to close the door. Only a few were still unwilling, secretly opening the door and keeping an eye on the movement outside.

In the old courtyard of the Nahai family, it took more than an hour to quiet down. But strangely enough, not a single person came out of it, including the forty or fifty officials, and even the men and horses were gone.

At dusk, a woman went out tremblingly, holding a bowl of yellow rice in one hand and a long incense stick in the other, setting up the direction of the old courtyard of the Hai family, inserting the lit incense on the yellow rice, kowtowing a few times, chattering in her mouth, and then hurried back to her home.

There is more than one woman who thinks like this. After a while, several families followed suit, and some even took out the leftover yellow paper used in the grave on October 11 and burned it in the old courtyard of the Hai family.

Everyone unanimously felt that the courtyard of the Hai family was afraid that it was haunted.

After burning the paper, a reckless man looked around and said, "I'll go to the official office." Those officials are watching something happen in front of our eyes, and if we don't report it, someone will come to find trouble at that time. ”

This person's face was full of sorrow, and he raised his feet and walked out, his steps were slightly fluttering, obviously afraid that he would be troubled and be entangled by the ghosts in the old courtyard of the Hai family.

Many people looked at the back of this man going out, and they wanted to stop talking.

Almost a quarter of an hour later, a shout of joy came from the mouth of the alley: "It's not that it's a haunt, it's someone who keeps a barbarian in that courtyard, and it's been raided by officers and soldiers." Now that it's spread all over the outside, we don't know yet. ”

"What are you talking about, why don't the officials come out?" Someone poked his head out and said in surprise.

"A secret passage was dug out of the courtyard to the outside of the city. The officials searched all the way out from the secret passage and returned to the city from outside the city, so they didn't come out of here. This reckless man was the most daring of the residents here, and he waved his hand happily: "If any of you want to go with me to see the excitement, come quickly." ”

In the early morning of the next day, a terrifying rumor was circulating in the streets and alleys of the entire capital.

I heard that someone dug a tunnel in a house near the city wall somewhere in the capital, which went straight to the outside of the city, and took the barbarian children who were found out of nowhere, some of them cut off their hands and feet, and some of them gouged out their eyes and tongues, and they became disabled, and then they were heavily poisoned, so that they could not make a sound, and transported them through the secret passage and kept them in that house.

It is said that when they were discovered, the officials who went to search were shocked on the spot, but the most hateful thing was that the guards of these barbarian children turned out to be barbarians.

Tiger poison does not eat children, they are also barbarians, but they can do this kind of poison to their own young sons of the same clan, most of the Great Zhou people can't imagine how that person's heart grows.

Yan Qingge also didn't understand how these barbarians could do this to those children.

In the three vacated houses, five langzhong and more than a dozen maids are carefully taking care of more than 20 children.

Of these children, 18 are boys and 7 are girls.

Aside from the shocking mutilations of their limbs, it is clear that these children are very beautiful. Even more than half of them can be seen to have Great Zhou blood, and they should be a mixture of Great Zhou and barbarians.

Lifting the curtain, Yan Qingge looked at a little girl lying by the door.

She had hair that seemed to be the color of gold, a mess of rust, and she hadn't taken care of it for an unknown amount of time.

Her face is a standard melon seed face, with a pointed chin, a high nose bridge, a small mouth is ruddy and small, and her skin is as white and delicate as goat's milk. The eyebrows and eyelashes are also brilliant gold. But her light amber eyes were blank and hollow, without a bit of focus.

The child's pupils had been pierced with a thin needle, and he had been ruined into blindness.

The boy on the small bed next to her, his facial features are more inclined to the Da Zhou people, with black hair and black eyes, but his clear facial features can still be seen to have barbarian blood, and he has a heroic mixed-race style.

Judging from his long legs curled up in pain, the child should grow up to be a beautiful man with long limbs, but his two arms were cut off at the elbow, and the wounded area was already scarred, revealing a layer of jagged pink flesh.

Such a tragic situation can be seen in every small bed in the whole room.

But the most painful thing is the numbness on the faces of these children, who have been frightened, and even if they are rescued, they still do not make a sound, like the walking dead.

From time to time, there is a smell of fishy shame, it is a child who is incontinent again.

Incontinence is nothing, when they were locked up in that small courtyard of the Hai family, not only did they never dare to speak up, but they also lost most of their ability to be human beings, such as not being able to walk, not be able to speak, and not be able to communicate with people.

When a Lang Zhong saw Yan Qingge coming in, he hurriedly invited her to the outside room, isolated her from this hellish scene on earth, and reported to Yan Qingge: "Niangniang, most of these children's injuries can't be cured anymore. Now that the weather is cold, and their bodies are too weak to be washed, you have called for someone to save them, and you have done your best, and you do not have to come in person, for it will not be well after you are sick. ”

Yan Qingge closed his eyes slightly, his mind was full of the scene he had seen at that glimpse just now.

Although these children have been rescued, and she knows what happened to her, there is no proper evidence to move these wolf-hearted people.

Those people, some are princes, some are princesses, some are princes, and even one is a barbarian himself.

In front of Yan Qingge's eyes, the faces of the four princes, Yan Shuyu, Shui Mu and Hai Nazhu flashed.

Originally, she just asked someone to follow up and check those barbarians who wanted to frame Yan Ji Xiuzhuang by order, but she didn't expect that the subordinates of Yanwang Mansion unexpectedly found that these people ordered food in the restaurant and went out of the city, followed all the way, accidentally found the secret passage, and found the secret of the Hai family's courtyard.

Rubbing his eyebrows, Yan Qingge stood up and said, "Come on, call out to the people who have good work at hand, come with me to the Four Princes' Residence." ”

Danhe didn't know what to do, but listening to Yan Qingge's tone, it seemed that he was going to the Four Princes' Mansion to find trouble, and he persuaded with some worry: "Niangniang, you want to go to the Four Princes' Mansion, it's better to wait for the little prince to come back." Moreover, there is no evidence to prove that this matter was done by the four princes. ”

Yan Qingge smiled coldly, his eyes swept over Danhe like electricity.

Of the four big girls around her now, Brother Parrot is a beautiful vase, who is inflexible and useless. Xue Yan is smart enough, but she is still a little small, a childish mass, and it will take a few years to be useful. Another painting warbler has a warbler in its name, and other maids always jokingly call her Sister Ying'er, and always ask Yan Qingge to think of Aunt Ying'er for no reason, so it is useless.

It's Danhe, who is smart and beautiful, but she is too wide.

Yan Qingge couldn't help but miss the days when Ruyi was by his side.

Danhe showed Yan Qingge a look, and quickly lowered his head, knowing that he had said the wrong thing, and felt a burst of regret in his heart. No matter what the princess does on weekdays, the little prince has never said a word, but she talks a lot.

Danhe's face was hot, and he hurriedly went out backwards, preparing people and horses for Yan Qingge, because she had the intention of atoning for her sins, she did it very carefully.

With a vast crowd of nearly 100 people, Yan Qingge went straight to the house that the four princes had set up for Hai Nazhu to live in the inner city.

She can't afford to offend others, Hai Nazhu is a concubine from a barbarian, even if she catches it and kills her, at most she will make amends to the four princes afterwards, how can the four princes not succeed Yan Qingge can be sure that as long as she catches Hai Nazhu in the palm of her hand, the four princes and Yan Shuyu will naturally be anxious.

She was sure that Henna-joo would never know less about them. She wanted to see what these cruel people looked like, dog-eat-dog.

...

(Tianjin)