Chapter Fifty-Seven: Carried Away
“Little Bunny, Be Good”—Fu Bao hugged her rabbit and with a hop found herself on the bustling main street. She wasn’t about to let herself be sent back; this place was so much fun, and the county town’s streets were lively indeed.
“Shen Shen, should we go find Brother Li?” she asked.
“Shen Shen? Oh, where did you go?” Fu Bao spun around and realized the little ginseng was nowhere to be seen.
Fu Bao was baffled. Where could he have gone?
At that moment, the little ginseng was darting around the streets with all his might, chased by a gang of men with fierce, twisted faces—hunters, every one of them.
Do hunters enjoy shopping, too?
Never mind that; after finally escaping from that troublesome Gu Yun, he’d barely caught his breath before five or six ugly brutes had set their sights on him!
Gu Sheng had originally brought his gang out to find a place to enjoy a few drinks. He’d had enough of Gu Yun’s antics lately—vanishing every night, and three years ago, he’d had to drag him down from the family’s wall in Linjia Village. After a stern scolding, he’d behaved for a few days, only to vanish again. So today, Gu Sheng thought he’d come out for a bit—
But who could have imagined he’d stumble upon such a treasure!
Chaos erupted on the street—chickens and dogs scattered, Fu Bao was pushed and squeezed by the crowd, crying out “Oh no! Oh no!” Suddenly, someone swooped in and stuffed her, rabbit and all, into a sack and carried her off!
The rabbit—why am I in here too?
Meanwhile, the little ginseng was tied up tight by several men, shoved into a small sack with only his head poking out, his braids flickering as he struggled.
These siblings shared both fortune and misfortune.
“Uncle, where are you taking me? You smell so bad, I feel sick,” Fu Bao protested, slung over the shoulder of a sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked little man. Oh—this uncle is so unhygienic.
A smelly man…
“Uncle, are you sick? Is that why you smell so bad? Don’t worry, we have nice perfumes at home,” Fu Bao rambled on.
A smelly man…
“Uncle, if you don’t answer, I must be right! You are sick! Let me tell you, at home—”
“Damn it! Shut up! If you say one more word, I’ll sell you!” The sharp-faced man couldn’t take it anymore, veins bulging.
“Uncle, my mother says it’s wrong to curse. Children who do that can’t get married,” Fu Bao pouted inside the sack. This uncle had no manners at all.
An ill-mannered man…
After a while—“Uncle, are you married?”
The sharp-faced man was speechless. Whose child was this?
On the other side, Meng Yun was enjoying a rare lull; business at the shop had been slow lately. She squinted at the store across the street—the Deng family seemed bent on courting disaster.
Just as she was pondering how to deal with them, the shop assistant Xiao Hong rushed in from the backyard, breathless.
She reported that Fu Bao was missing!
Chaos erupted once more—a flurry of panic and confusion. After a joint search by the Meng and Gu families, Gu Li finally learned from a vegetable vendor that a chubby girl and a plump, glossy rabbit had been carried off in a sack by a sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked, creepy little man.
As for where they went, she couldn’t say.
Upon confirmation, the chubby girl was indeed Fu Bao—they’d encountered a child trafficker!
Old Meng was furious. How dare someone snatch his granddaughter? He wasn’t one to act rashly, but once he did, he meant business—he showered the county magistrate with a thousand taels of silver, demanding his granddaughter be found!
The county magistrate moved with unprecedented speed, immediately dispatching his men to investigate.
While everyone was at a loss, Meng Yun stood at her shop window, tears streaming down her face. Just as she wept in despair, she glimpsed, in the distance, a chubby girl hopping toward her, rabbit in arms, bouncing with joy!
Meng Yun: Oh—