A ragged cub at the beginning

The moon was at its zenith, and the whole world fell into a deep sleep. A flash of fire suddenly lit up, and a woman's sharp cry pierced the night sky, "Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"

The night watchman had just walked near Zhu's house, still shouting incoherently, "It's dry in autumn, be careful of fire." He was frightened by the shout, and looking at the sparks spreading from Zhu's house, he quickly struck the gong, "Fire, fire! Someone come and put out the fire! Zhu's house is on fire!"

Zhu Wuqing had just fallen asleep contentedly when he was startled by the noise. He grabbed a piece of clothing and rushed out. The servants in the mansion screamed and ran out. He grabbed a servant and said, "Go! Go and wake up the young master!"

Zhu Tou hadn't slept yet. He had taken some medicine and was in high spirits. A naked woman was lying numbly on the bed, her hands and feet tied to the four bedposts. Her body was covered with wounds, and there was hardly a piece of healthy flesh left.

The servant outside was dozing against a pillar. When he heard the fire, he rushed in, "Master, hurry up! There's a fire!"

Zhu Tou's mind was completely confused, and he couldn't hear the servant's words at all. He was holding a burning candle in his hand, dripping it on the woman on the bed, and making a twisted laugh.

Seeing that the man was indifferent, the servant tore off his clothes to wrap Zhu Tou, then dragged him out.

The woman on the bed turned her head and looked at the fire outside, with a smile on her lips. It's good that it's on fire, it's good that it's on fire, let the fire burn her clean.

She closed her eyes, her face peaceful.

"Get up and put on your clothes!" Tang Ling cut the rope on her and threw a piece of clothing on her.

She opened her eyes and looked at Tang Ling, shaking her head, "Thank you, I don't want to live anymore, I'm so tired."

Tang Ling didn't want to care about her, but she was a little annoyed when she saw her hopeless look. Thinking of Tang Xu's mumbling before leaving, he dragged the woman up angrily, put some clothes on her, and climbed over the wall with her.

There was a carriage parked there, with five or six half-dressed women in it. Tang Xu sat outside the carriage, pulled the woman he had just rescued, and stuffed her into the carriage.

Tang Ling continued to rescue people without saying a word. The fire she set was mainly concentrated in the master's courtyard, and the fire in other places was not big. She was not too anxious to save people, but seeing Tang Xu's frowning face, she turned around and went into Zhu's house.

If she were to do it, she could just kill the two Zhu family members. Why would she go to all that trouble?

She actually didn't want to get involved in this matter, maybe because the food cooked by the dead girl was too delicious.

When they heard the fire, all the nearby residents ran out. After checking that it was not their own house, some took buckets and some took basins to put out the fire. But when they saw that it was Zhu's house, they all became a little lazy. Except for those who sincerely helped to put out the fire, the others were very slow and perfunctory in getting some water to pour on Zhu's house, mainly because they were afraid that their own house would be burned.

Some people even pour it directly on the ground and pretend that they have put out the fire.

Jiang Ping was waving his empty basin in boredom, and even wanted to go home to sleep. Suddenly, he found a roll of quilt on the ground, which was humming and moving.

He tiptoed over and used a basin to push aside the quilt. Inside was a naked and bruised child! He looked no more than four or five years old! His face and body were covered with teeth marks and bite marks, some of which were still bleeding.

Who did this? Jiang Ping threw away the basin and picked up the child. "Is there a doctor? Help! There's a child here! Doctor! Doctor!"

There were four other people who found children like Jiang Ping. The injuries of these five children were similar, especially on their genitals, which were simply horrific to look at.

Hearing that something was not right, many people who were pretending to put out the fire but were actually just watching the fun came over.

Among them was a woman who lingered outside the Zhu family every day. She told everyone she met that the Zhu family had stolen her child, but no one believed her. After Tang Xu made a big fuss about the matter in the past few days, the news gradually spread.

At this time, the woman heard that there was a child crying for help, and she rushed over like crazy. After seeing one of the children, she let out a scream that was not something a human could make, and the pain contained in that sound almost shocked everyone around her.

"My son! My son! Mingming! Wake up! Wake up! Look at your mother, doctor, doctor, someone come, someone come to save him, help! My Mingming! Ah ah..." The woman hugged the child tightly, and her crying and shouting stimulated the emotions of everyone present.

The old doctor had just finished examining the other child and saw the woman desperately shaking the child. He immediately shouted, "Stop shaking him! Put the child down!"

The people around her seemed to have just woken up from their dreams. Several women comforted her and persuaded her to put the child down. But she seemed to be deaf and only cried for help. The child was shaken like this, and his eyes, which were swollen like walnuts, barely opened a crack. When he saw the person in front of him, tears flowed from the corners of his eyes. He opened his mouth and said, "Mom, it hurts, ah..."

The sound was as soft as a mosquito's whisper, but it made the mad woman stop. She seemed to finally wake up, stopped crying, lowered her head carefully, and whispered softly: "Mingming..."

The women who were comforting him also noticed that the child had woken up, and they all quieted down and looked at the child closely.

"Mom, it hurts..." the child said again.

The woman's tears were like gushing spring water. She bit her lips tightly, as if she was worried that her loud voice would scare him, or as if she was afraid that this was a dream. Perhaps because she was too hard, blood flowed from her mouth. She kissed the child's forehead with her bloody mouth, "Don't be afraid, Mingming, mother is here."

"Put the child down! Let me see!" The old doctor finally finished taking care of another child and came over to check Mingming's pulse. All the children had similar injuries, with only some minor injuries and some serious injuries, but fortunately none of them were in immediate danger of life.

"Where did these kids come from?"

"Is it because the Zhu family was on fire?"

"Is it really the Zhu family?"

"What did they... do to the child?"

As soon as these words came out, the scene was silent. What did they do? No one could tell. But at this moment, they could not describe the people of the Zhu family in words.

"Kill Zhu Wuqing! Kill Zhu Tou!" a man shouted with red eyes, picked up a basin and rushed towards Zhu Wuqing and his son who were hiding across the street.

The father and son didn't know what was happening over there, and were waiting in panic for the servant who had gone to book the inn to come back. When they saw someone rushing over with a basin of water, Zhu Tou cursed, "Idiot, the fire is over there!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the sturdy wooden basin hit him on the forehead. Blood immediately flowed down his broken head, and Zhu Tou screamed and rolled on the ground in pain.

Zhu Wuqing roared angrily and was about to speak when he was hit.

The screams of the father and son woke up the others, and the brave men rushed over carrying wooden basins and buckets.

Tang Xu led a carriage of women to a small courtyard he had rented temporarily. There were many women's clothes in the courtyard, some newly bought and some she didn't wear often. There was no other way, she couldn't buy so many, so she had to use her own clothes to make up the number.

"Get off the carriage, go into the house and take a shower and change clothes. The food is in the kitchen, you can heat it up and eat it yourself." Tang Xu opened the carriage curtain, and the women inside all looked at her. "What are you looking at? Come down quickly, I have something else to do."

"Benefactor, we..." A bolder woman just started to speak, but was interrupted by Tang Xu. "Let's talk about it tomorrow. Hurry up and pack up, eat a meal and have a good sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow. There is nothing in this world that cannot be overcome. As long as you let go of yourself, other people's opinions are nothing. I tell you, if there is one less person tomorrow, I don't care if they run away. If you have somewhere to go, go wherever you want. If anyone dares to commit suicide, I will strip her body and hang it outside the door. Death is easy, living is the hardest. Hey, if you are not afraid of the shame of death, try it."

After saying that, Tang Xu drove the carriage back to his home. This carriage was very expensive to rent and he couldn't lose it.

July slept at Fang's house tonight. The little guy was crying and shouting that he didn't want to go, but after his brother Dandan coaxed him for an hour, he finally gave in.

As soon as Zhu Xiaoting arrived at Zhu Wuqing's house, he heard a voice saying that the mayor was coming! The crowd dispersed in a swarm. Only a dozen women were left standing there, and no one knew what they were doing. Zhu Xiaoting cleared his throat and asked sternly, "What happened here?"

No one answered him. The women were so focused on their children that they didn't hear him at all.

This was the first time Zhu Xiaoting was ignored like this. Just as he was about to step forward, the servant next to him pulled his sleeve. With a trembling hand, he pointed at the bloody mess across the street, "Mayor, look at what that is?"

It was indeed hard to tell what it was. Zhu Xiaoting thought it was a dead wild dog, but when he got closer, he found that it was actually two people! The two were beaten beyond recognition and could not be seen at all! He squinted and recognized Zhu Wuqing from his shoes. He was immediately shocked, frightened and angry, "Who did it! Who!"

Zhu Xiaoting panted heavily, walked a few steps to the group of women, and pulled one of them to ask. But he saw a familiar child out of the corner of his eye, and immediately took two steps back. The woman who was pulled turned around and revealed the child in front of her. The child turned his head and saw Zhu Xiaoting, and suddenly struggled violently, and his throat emitted a hoarse scream, "Ah! Ah! Go away! Help! Ah! Ah!"

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Doctor? Doctor!" The woman hugged the child in panic, not knowing what had happened.

The old doctor came over hurriedly, holding a silver needle in his hand, "Hold him down!"

The woman was at a loss and shed tears, but the woman next to her reacted and helped to hold the needle. After one injection, the child fell asleep.

Zhu Xiaoting clenched his fists tightly. He didn't expect that these children were still alive and could come out alive.

Was it a coincidence? Did he really run away because of the fire? Why was the child's mother also here? How did the fire start? Was it arson?

No, they can't live. He never thought these children would survive, they all recognized his face. He couldn't be exposed. If he was exposed, he would not only lose his job as mayor, but also lose his reputation and maybe even go to jail. No, no, Zhu Xiaoting took a few steps back, turned around and told his subordinates to kill them to silence them. There was another sound of fire in the distance, and looking at the direction, it was his house!

It’s over.

Tang Xu knocked on the door of the clinic and said there was a fire in the distance, hurry up and save people. The doctor had heard the noise a long time ago, packed up the medicine box and was about to go. When he opened the door, the person knocking on the door had already run away.

Seeing the doctor rushing to the mayor's house, Tang Xu went to the next house. An old man opened the door. He took his grandson to see the Lantern Festival lanterns at the beginning of the year, but the child was kidnapped. His daughter-in-law got very angry at home and ran back to her parents' home. His son still doesn't talk to him, and even his wife blames him. He squinted his eyes and found a masked man in black clothes, "What's the matter?"

"Your grandson is at the door of the mayor's house, go quickly." Tang Xu's voice was hoarse and it was difficult to distinguish between male and female.

"What did you say?" The old man's eyes widened. Just as he was about to catch her and ask her for clarification, she had already run away. He didn't dare to delay. Even if he was deceived, he had to go and take a look.

In the past few days, Tang Xu went around asking people whose children were missing, and then speculated what the children looked like based on the appearance of their parents. Tang Ling took the portraits and confirmed the living children one by one. After going in and out of Zhu's house several times, Tang Ling discovered that Zhu Wuqing was secretly communicating with the mayor and even exchanged the imprisoned children.

After hearing this, Tang Xu asked Dong Wanwan about the mayor. He learned that the mayor's surname was also Zhu, so he guessed that the two might be relatives. With the mayor's protection and the two of them being like-minded, the lost child would naturally not be able to come back. No wonder Zhu Wuqing was so unscrupulous! No wonder Zhu Tou was so domineering!

Tang Xu pondered the plan for tonight for a long time. He considered the timing and order of setting the fire for a long time, and finally decided to burn Zhu Wuqing first, lure out Zhu Xiaoting, and then burn Zhu Xiaoting's house.

Tang Ling was in charge of setting the fire and then placing the child at the gate, while Tang Xu was in charge of notifying the families whose children were still alive and asking them to pick up their children.

As for the girls that Zhu Tou had harmed, Tang Xu hesitated again and again, but still chose to bring them all into the yard she rented. People's words were scary, and even if they had done nothing wrong, they could not show up and be seen by others.

If their families are willing to accept them, she will naturally send them home. If their families cannot accept them, or they themselves do not want to go back, Tang Xu has not yet figured out how to arrange for them in the future.

Time was very tight and she was afraid that if she delayed too long, another child would be tortured to death.

The same thing happened at Zhu Xiaoting's house as at Zhu Wuqing's house, except that the people who put out the fire here were all sincere in helping. Zhu Xiaoting usually disguised himself well, and everyone respected this mayor.

But before they found the children, they simply couldn't believe that the usually kind mayor was such a person. Those who came to look for the children were almost going crazy, and the wounds on the children's bodies revealed everything.

Zhu Xiaoting secretly ran back home, hoping for a lucky break, and found that only his yard was the worst burned. He suspected that someone had set the fire, so he took out the key to the warehouse he had brought with him, grabbed a large box of silver and prepared to run away. However, he ran into his wife, who he had locked up. He frowned and asked, "Why did you come out?"

"They ran away, but I came out." Fang Xiwan was wearing a middle-aged shirt, and her red eyes revealed madness. "You want to run away?"

"Get out of here, don't you want to know where your son is buried?" Zhu Xiaoting pushed her to the ground with a palm, and just as he was about to leave, his calf was grabbed. He raised his foot to kick, but Fang Xiwan opened her mouth and bit his calf tightly, revealing the pleasure of revenge in her red and swollen eyes.

"Ah!!" Zhu Xiaoting screamed, and the money box in his arms almost fell. His eyes turned cold, and he lifted the box and smashed it down despite the pain in his legs.