That’s right.
The Lord Left Envoy, who had so terrified Xu the Good Samaritan, had also been lying low in the Great Han Country for many years.
He had been wandering far and wide, sometimes posing as a traveling scholar, other times as a refugee from disaster-stricken areas.
He was searching for the fabled person of Great Fortune, and for the forty-nine boys and girls needed to match the number required for the Celestial Dao’s auspicious day sacrifice.
"Have all those children been brought here?"
The Lord Left Envoy approached the group. He ripped off the Central Plains attire he wore, revealing the Nanjiang clothes underneath.
Lord Hexi hurriedly handed him a hat.
At this moment, the Lord Left Envoy and the decrepit old man from before looked like two completely different people.
The little girl, whose mouth was tightly covered by Ji Laoliu, hid in a distant tree, completely stunned by what she saw.
If Ji Laoliu hadn’t constantly warned her, "Don’t make a sound. If they discover us, your eldest maternal uncle and aunt will be in danger," she would have immediately jumped down and asked that old man how he’d done it. Did he, like her sixth maternal uncle, also wear a human-skin mask?
"Don’t fidget, little girl. If you keep moving around, we both might end up dead here."
Ji Youlin was regretting it terribly. He must have had nothing better to do! Why on earth had he given this little girl such a human-skin mask? If he’d worn a normal mask, wouldn’t he be drinking tea with his mother right now? Ji Youlin felt like dying.
Xiaosuisui stared wide-eyed at the distant altar. The patterns on it seemed somewhat familiar. Thinking carefully, she realized the rules governing those lines seemed like something she had seen in books her second maternal aunt read.
Several horse-drawn carriages stopped below the altar. Nanjiang soldiers, brandishing their sabers, herded the children out of the carriages.
Once out of the carriages, the children burst into tears at the sight of the armed soldiers.
"Stand still and hurry up! Stop dawdling, or I’ll kill you!"
A soldier raised his saber, threatening the children. The children had already suffered many frights these past few days; some could only cry, while others were too scared to make a sound.
Because these men had indeed killed people right in front of them as a warning.
The Lord Left Envoy walked before the children lined up, and his brows furrowed with a quick glance.
"Are all the children here?"
The soldier hurriedly replied, "Reporting to the Lord Left Envoy, they are all here."
The Lord Left Envoy shook his head. "No. There’s one child from Lower Ling Village, the one I gave a red string to—why isn’t she among them?"
Hearing this, the soldier quickly went to the very edge of the line, grabbed Zhou Yanchen, and pointed to him as he said, "Lord Left Envoy, is this the child you’re referring to? From Upper Ling Village, we captured three children. He’s the one among them with a red string!"
Held by the soldier, Zhou Yanchen trembled with fear.
"No!
Not him.
It’s another child.
About four years old, a girl!"
Zhou Yanchen’s eyes widened involuntarily; he suddenly remembered Xiaosuisui. Xiaosuisui, like him, had also received a red string.
"No such child, Lord Left Envoy! Among the children we captured, there are no girls from Lower Ling Village, only three boys. He’s the only one with a red string!"
"No, no, you’re mistaken. In Lower Ling Village, on the eastern side of the village, there’s a household with a girl about four years old. One look at that girl’s features tells you she’s a person of great fortune."