244, Suspicion (3 more)
Xie Zhinuan chuckled lightly and hugged both it and Routuan together.
She gently exhaled a breath.
“Yuanbao, let’s go into this farmhouse and take a look!”
“Yes!”
Yuanbao scaled the courtyard wall to enter. It was eerily quiet inside. He called out, “Is anyone there?”
No one answered.
Yuanbao checked every room, but still, no one was there.
Not even a single animal was present; the whole courtyard was silent.
“…”
He was about to leave when he heard a thump.
“?” Yuanbao stopped in his tracks and walked towards a room, calling out at the door, “Is anyone there?”
“Thud thud thud”
Noises were coming from underground, sounding like something was being struck.
He spotted a cellar lid, lifted it, and a foul stench wafted out.
“Wuu wuu wuu wuu!”
Yuanbao let out a breath before leaping down and pulling out the person inside.
Of a family of nine, only a little girl was still alive, which included a toddler of about two or three years old.
“Wuu wuu wuu!”
The little girl knelt on the side, crying her heart out.
Yuanbao went back to report, “Master, only one is still alive, the rest have been suffocated to death!”
“…”
Li Hengyi furrowed his brow.
Xie Zhinuan, accompanied by a grey wolf and Routuan, got off the carriage.
She looked towards where the bodies of the men in black lay, took a deep breath, and then entered the courtyard. The three of them followed closely behind her, never leaving her side.
The little girl was covered in a foul stench, weeping inconsolably.
“…”
Xie Zhinuan stood to one side, silent.
She did not know whether these men in black had come to kill Li Hengyi or to kill her.
But they had suffocated an entire innocent family.
“…”
Xie Zhinuan suddenly thought of something. If everyone had been suffocated, why was this little girl still alive?
Was she just extremely lucky?
No, that couldn’t be. If they were all locked in the cellar together, where oxygen was scarce and carbon dioxide, breathed out, dominated, and considering Yuanbao’s description, her mouth had been covered, the chance of her survival was nearly zero.
If all clues broke off, then this little girl…
Xie Zhinuan offered her a handkerchief.
The little girl looked up, her eyes red and swollen, her mouth a bit inflamed, but not severely. Yet, it was evident that she had a not so ordinary appearance.
Looking at her skin, it was not snow-white but certainly not dark and sallow.
“Thank you, sister!” The little girl reached out to take the handkerchief.
Xie Zhinuan saw a callus on her right hand, similar to the ones on Li Hengyi and Yuanbao.
“…”
In an instant, she was certain this little girl was in league with the men in black.
“Grieve appropriately. I will go to the kitchen to boil some water for you, so you can wash up and then think about how to handle your family’s affairs,”
Xie Zhinuan said softly.
She got up to fetch water from the kitchen, wash pots, and build a fire to boil water.
Li Hengyi stood at the doorway, Yuanbao had already sent a signal, and they were just waiting for Duobao to arrive with men.
“What do you plan to do?” Li Hengyi asked.
Xie Zhinuan thought for a moment before saying, “Seeing her in such a pitiable state, and since we’re not lacking food, let’s take her with us.”
Just as Li Hengyi was about to express his doubts, Xie Zhinuan quickly tugged on his clothing, “Your Highness, I think she is truly pitiable. Now that she has no relatives left, if we leave her here, she will probably have no other choice but death!”
As Xie Zhinuan spoke, she took Li Hengyi’s hand and wrote on his palm, “She, has a problem!”
Li Hengyi looked at Xie Zhinuan and suddenly smiled, his eyes bright and filled with tenderness.
However, he said, “You, with your soft heart, even if we should take her with us, we must ask her whether she is willing or not, don’t you think?”
“Mhm!”
The two quickly reached an agreement.
Xie Zhinuan continued to boil water, while Li Hengyi stood to one side.
Chapter 245