radicalducati Chapter 9: Having accomplished his task, he left without a trace and distributed a large sum of mone
Chapter 9: Having accomplished his task, he left without a trace and distributed a large sum of mone
Three points of golden light, accompanied by two points of pale red, silently entered Li Xin's body.
He paused, then abruptly turned to look at the corner of the wall.
There were four girls and two boys tied up, their mouths stuffed with coarse cloth, sobbing and crying, tears mixed with dust streaming down their faces, but their eyes shone with the light of relief after surviving a disaster.
Only one girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, with disheveled hair like withered grass and five red finger marks on her left cheek, somehow managed to shake off the gag in her mouth.
His lips trembled, a mixture of crying and laughing, and his throat was choked with emotion, preventing him from uttering a complete sentence.
Li Xin glanced at her a couple more times.
Of the three points of golden light just now, two came from the elder brother Li Cheng and the younger sister Li Xiaoyue beside him, and the last one came from this girl.
The two pale red dots belonged to an eleven or twelve-year-old boy and a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, respectively.
The remaining three were completely devoid of light: one looked blank, as if his soul had not yet returned; another was full of vigilance, like a frightened little beast; and the third kept his head down, not daring to even glance in their direction, his thoughts unknown.
Fortunately, these children did not appear to have suffered serious injuries, and all of them had normal appearances.
The girl was beautiful and delicate, with lovely eyes and brows; the boy was also handsome and refined.
Li Xin thought of his younger sister Xiaoyue's appearance and a thought struck him: Could it be that these human traffickers are selective about who they kidnap based on appearance?
"Don't be afraid, you are all saved."
He picked up a small knife from the corner of the wall and used it to cut the rope.
From the perspective of [psychic communication], the group was surrounded by harmless white arcs of light, and there were no disguised enemies, which finally put his mind at ease.
Li Xin was young, but the fierce and ruthless manner he displayed during the battle had already intimidated these children.
Furthermore, his tone was gentle and composed, unlike that of a teenager. As soon as the ropes were untied, the children could no longer hold back and burst into loud cries.
Only the girl who contributed the golden light calmed down the fastest...
She wiped away her tears, curtsied, and said timidly, "My surname is Zhuang, and my given name is Hongxiu. Thank you for saving my life, young master."
Li Xin paused for a moment, glancing down at his own patched and tattered clothes, thinking to himself: This girl is not simple; she is polite and must be literate.
He wanted to ask a few more questions, but his keen hearing had already picked up on the commotion coming from outside...
The gunshots and fighting just now must have alerted the surrounding area.
Perhaps before long, some idle people will muster up the courage to come and watch the excitement, and it might even attract the attention of the police.
Without delay, he quickly instructed, "Hongxiu, once you're out there, just shout and yell, attract as many people as you can. It would be best to get the constables involved, understand?"
"Understood," Zhuang Hongxiu nodded in agreement.
"Those with families should hurry and find their relatives; those without families should seek refuge with friends and relatives. If there is really no other way to go..." Before Li Xin could finish speaking, he caught a glimpse of his younger sister's little action out of the corner of his eye.
Six-year-old Xiaoyue had long since forgotten her fear of being kidnapped. She was squatting next to several corpses, carefully rummaging through their money bags, just like picking mushrooms on a mountain.
Seeing his serious expression, Li Xin felt both annoyed and amused.
Before he could speak, his elder brother Li Cheng turned and went out the door. A moment later, he returned with a smile on his face and his pockets bulging.
They had clearly searched the bodies outside the door as well.
Li Xin suppressed a smile and called out, "Xiaoyue, come here."
He opened the largest money bag.
It was found on the body of the thug with the sharp eyebrows; it contained a handful of copper coins and a pile of loose silver.
Without much thought, Li Xin grabbed a handful of money, including silver and copper, and distributed it to the children, instructing them, "Don't let outsiders see this money. If things really get desperate, it will last for a while and prevent them from starving to death. Let's get moving."
He didn't get much; each person only received a little over one tael of silver.
This is less than 10% of the loot collected.
But this amount is already a huge sum for the children; even if they were given more, they might not be able to keep it.
"Young master... I don't know how to address you?" Zhuang Hongxiu suddenly called out to him, a hint of panic flashing across her face, which she quickly suppressed, and she mustered her courage to ask.
"Just call me Third Prince," Li Xin replied casually, his eyes flashing slightly, before turning and walking out.
He took a couple of steps and then stopped, adding, "Remember to make a big fuss. If there are any foreign reporters on the street, just shout in front of them."
After saying that, he gave Li Cheng a wink, and the three siblings dashed out of the alley, turning left and right before disappearing into the crowd.
After walking for quite a while, a cacophony of noise finally came from behind.
There were screams, cries, and the chaotic sounds of people running.
Li Xin looked back and saw the constables hurrying towards the alley. Sure enough, there were several foreigners with high noses and deep-set eyes watching the commotion.
"Second brother, are they... really safe and sound?" Li Cheng gazed in that direction and remained silent for a long time before finally asking.
"I don't know, maybe." Li Xin shook his head gently.
He himself is now in a predicament...
The capital city was vast, yet there was nowhere for them to hide; the wanted posters hung like a guillotine over their heads, and if they were not careful and were reported, it would attract the attention of the constables or foreigners, which would cause them a lot of trouble.
I can't be fighting all the time. I'm fairly confident I can escape, but what about my older brother and younger sister...?
It's quite dangerous for them to walk on the street.
In this world, the life and death of ordinary people are entirely in the hands of fate; no one knows whether tomorrow or an accident will come first.
"Let's go, let's find an inn first, wash up and change into some new clothes."
Li Xin looked down at his clothes and shook his head.
He was filthy and smelly, dressed in tattered clothes, looking even more wretched than a beggar, and he was too conspicuous to walk on the street.
The most urgent task is to change my appearance, especially to get a decent set of clothes.
As the ancients aptly put it, "Speak respectfully to gentlemen, and dress tame petty men." The underlying logic of this world has never changed; it is nothing more than praising the powerful and belittling the weak.
Dressing presentably can save you a lot of trouble.
"New clothes? How much will that cost..." Li Cheng hesitated, his honest face full of heartache.
People who are used to being poor will try to stretch every penny in half.
Even though he had just amassed a considerable fortune, Li Cheng still couldn't shake his frugal nature.
Li Xin knew that this was just a consequence of being terrified of poverty.
Things will get better once we have enough to eat and wear.
Xiaoyue, on the other hand, was more enthusiastic than anyone else when it came to looting corpses and searching for money, looking like a little money-grubber.
When distributing silver to the children, he didn't hesitate to spend a single penny, much more generous than his elder brother.
"Didn't you have money? How much did you search just now?" Li Xin asked, both amused and exasperated.
"I have eighty-three taels and five hundred and twenty cash here, and my elder brother has thirty-two taels and three hundred and thirty-two cash. Can we buy it..." Xiaoyue hid in the basket on her back, wrinkling her little nose, counting rapidly with her little fingers, her eyelashes fluttering, her mind already burning with calculations.
"So many?" Li Xin was somewhat surprised and turned to look at his elder brother.
Li Cheng scratched his head, looking embarrassed.
He couldn't count, and when he was searching for money, he wanted to pluck out every single hair. As for how much he had taken, he had no idea.
"My little sister is really bright," Li Xin said softly, stroking Xiaoyue's dry, sparse hair. "When she grows up, she'll help me manage the money."
"Okay, okay!" Xiaoyue immediately raised her head, her eyes sparkling. "Second Brother, you'd better earn more money, otherwise it won't be enough!"
"Okay, make more money, I'll make you calculate every day, and you're not allowed to eat until you finish." Li Xin was amused by her.
"No way!" the little girl said confidently.
Although she was young, she could already tell who was good to her and who was bad to her, and she could also tell the truth from falsehood in words.
This precocious talent conceals a wealth of hardships that many of her peers do not experience.
Li Xin sighed softly to himself and said nothing more.
Li Cheng, however, who had been frowning the whole time, suddenly said regretfully, "What a pity, we didn't find any boxing manuals on that old guy."
……