Hua Manman quickly shot back, "If we’re not ordinary people, why would we need to snatch your child? Are we really that desperate for the money we’d get from selling a kid?"
The woman was struck speechless.
She started to dodge the question.
"How should I know?
Maybe you’re planning to use my child for so shady business.
I don’t know about any of that. I just want my child back.
Please, I’m begging you, just give back my child."
The noodle shop owner felt that everyone was making a good point. He was caught in the middle, not knowing who to believe.
The onlookers nearby felt much the sa.
The woman grew increasingly anxious.
She had taken advantage of a mont when the child’s family wasn’t looking, luring the kid to a secluded spot before knocking him out with a drug and carrying him away.
Judging by the ti, the child’s family must have already realized he was missing.
If they found their way here, she would be in great danger.
Weighing her options, the woman decided that her own safety was the most important thing.
So, while continuing to cry and wail about getting her child back, she began to inch backward inconspicuously.
Just then, a shout ca from the mouth of the alley.
Soone was crying out desperately.
"My baby! My baby’s gone!!"
Everyone in the alley instinctively turned toward the sound.
The woman’s heart seized. She turned and bolted for the alley’s entrance.
Just as Li Ji was about to order his trusted aides, hidden in the night, to give chase, a figure erged at the entrance to the alley.
Seeing the woman rushing toward him, the person didn’t dodge or flinch. He simply lifted his leg and kicked her hard in the knee.
The woman cried out in pain—"AIIEE!"—and fell heavily to the ground.
At this point, the noodle shop owner snapped back to his senses and shouted at the woman.
"Hey, why are you running if you’ve done nothing wrong? Is this child really not yours? Then where did he co from?"
The woman was now filled with terror and panic. How could she possibly be in the mood to answer the noodle shop owner’s barrage of questions?
With an injured arm and leg, she couldn’t even crawl, and the pain had her drenched in a cold sweat.
Hua Manman and Li Ji walked to the mouth of the alley and were surprised to see that the person who had kicked the woman down was an acquaintance.
It was the Fourth Prince, Li Ying.
Li Ying must have left the palace in disguise today, as he was dressed in commoner’s clothes.
His fair complexion made his eyes seem exceptionally dark and deep.
He clearly hadn’t expected to run into Prince Zhao here either. He froze for a mont before speaking slowly.
"Had I known Prince Zhao was here, I wouldn’t have ddled."
Li Ji smiled. "I never took the Fourth Prince for such a good Samaritan."
His words sounded like a complint, but they were tinged with sarcasm.
It was common knowledge that the Fourth Prince, Li Ying, was a quiet and solitary person. Words like "kind," "brave," or "righteous" seed to have nothing to do with him.
Yet just now, he had taken the initiative to stop a child snatcher.
This was completely contrary to his usual low-profile deanor.
Li Ying acted as if he didn’t detect the probing nature of Prince Zhao’s words.
He gave a slight nod, then turned and left without hesitation.
Hua Manman also found the Fourth Prince’s appearance here strange.
But she didn’t have ti to dwell on it.
Because the child’s family had arrived.
The mont they saw the child in Hua Manman’s arms, they were overco with emotion.
After confirming their identities and making sure they were indeed the child’s family, Hua Manman finally returned the boy to them.
The family was moved to tears with gratitude toward Hua Manman and Prince Zhao. They repeatedly asked for their nas and address, wanting to pay a visit on another day to thank them properly.
Hua Manman waved her hand, indicating it wasn’t necessary.
She said with a smile, "If you truly wish to thank us, please donate so money, food, or clothing to the Charity Hall. Good deeds bring good fortune."
The family hastily nodded and agreed.
Seeing that it was already very late and feeling tired, Hua Manman and Prince Zhao got into their carriage and returned to the Prince Mansion.
anwhile, the Fourth Prince, Li Ying, had not yet returned to the palace.
He was wandering aimlessly through the lantern market.
His guards didn’t dare get too close, so they could only follow the Fourth Prince from a distance, protecting him in secret.
Though they were guards in na, they had all been won over by the Fourth Prince and now followed his every command.
Every year, Li Ying would co to stroll through the Lantern Festival.
Not to admire the lanterns, but to find soone.
When he was a child, he had once left the palace with his elder brothers to see the lanterns. During the festival, he accidentally got separated from them and was captured by child snatchers.
He had thought he would never be able to go back.
He knew that his imperial father despised his origins, and his elder brothers all looked down on him.
Even if he were abducted and sold, no one would care.
While he was being trafficked, Li Ying t a little girl.
The little girl was panicked at first, crying nonstop. After being threatened by the child snatchers, she was too scared to cry anymore and could only huddle beside Li Ying, trembling.
Perhaps out of shared misery, Li Ying offered her a few words of comfort, telling her not to be afraid.
The little girl, already in a state of terror, was soothed by his words and imdiately began to see him as her pillar of support, sticking to his side and refusing to leave.
Li Ying’s feelings at that mont were complicated.
From the day he was born, he had never been needed.
Everyone who looked at him did so with disgust and indifference.
No one had ever relied on him from the bottom of their heart like that little girl did.
That intense feeling of being needed was new to Li Ying, and it made him a little happy.
On a strange impulse, he took the Buddha Beads from his neck, pressed them into the little girl’s hand, and whispered to her.
"This was left to by my mother. It can keep you safe. If you wear it, you’ll be alright."
The little girl accepted the Buddha Beads with both hands as if they were a priceless treasure, clutching them tightly and not daring to let go.
Li Ying had given gifts to others before, but they had always been thrown away like trash.
Only this little girl in front of him was willing to cherish his gift like a treasure.
He didn’t know if it was the Buddha Beads working their magic or not.
The next morning, they were found.
Seeing that they were about to be separated, Li Ying felt a surprising reluctance to part.
However, before he could ask for her na and identity, the little girl was whisked away by her family, who had rushed to the scene.
Perhaps because they were in such a hurry, no one noticed when the little girl’s purse fell to the ground.
Li Ying picked up the small purse, thinking that he would return it to her when they t again.
However, that wait turned into more than ten years.
Every year, he would co to the Lantern Festival to see if he could find the little girl he had t just once.
But sadly, he returned disappointed every ti.
Because he had been abducted as a child, Li Ying loathed child snatchers, which was why he had suddenly intervened to stop the kidnapper earlier.
It was almost the hour for the palace gates to close. Li Ying knew this year would be another fruitless search, and he was quite disappointed.
He was about to turn and head back when he saw a young woman standing on the side of the street, staring at him in a daze.
Beneath the lanterns, the woman’s eyes shimred.
The mont felt poetic, like turning back to find the one you seek standing in the fading lamplight.
Li Ying’s heart stirred, and he walked toward her involuntarily.
...
Two Chapters for now, the remaining one will be posted later.
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