bestfiction Chapter 173 Children
Chapter 173 Children
Xu Shu and a group of children had moved into the city a long time ago and lived in Jinchengfang, a slightly remote area in the west of the city.
Lu Xuan only chatted with him for a few rounds before the carriage arrived at Chenshui Lane outside Xu Shu's house.
There were no pedestrians in the empty alley, and the sound of horse hooves echoing in the silence added an unsettling quietness.
Lu Xuan's carriage moved towards the house step by step. In front of a house with yellow lanterns hanging on it, Xu Shu stopped the coachman.
"That's it."
The carriage stopped and the sound of horses' hooves stopped.
"Woooo..."
"I want to go out, I want to go out and avenge Brother Tong..."
"Shh, stop crying. Aunt Xu said the more you cry, the less safe you will be!"
"I don't want to be locked up. I don't want to watch them die..."
The sound of horse hooves died down, and the suppressed sobs of children could be heard from inside the house, causing Lu Xuan's heart to twist along with the sobs.
It's her fault. If she hadn't insisted on asking Xu Shu to take the children to spread the news, these children wouldn't have died!
Her heart was lingering on the edge of struggle and torment, and even her steps were extremely heavy.
Those cries were like transparent ice walls that she had to use all her strength to push down, step forward and cross.
The more I take a step forward, the deeper the guilt I feel.
"Sister Xu." Lu Xuan's throat was choked with pain, his eyes were red, and his knuckles were white with clenched fists. "Tell me, do they hate me? It was me who caused those children's deaths..."
Xu Shu wasn't feeling much better. He sniffed, holding back the tears that were about to burst forth, and shook his head feebly. "If there's anything I did wrong, I did too. I saved them, I raised them, I should have protected them..."
She wiped away the tears that overflowed unconsciously, and carefully looked at Lu Xuan's expression to make sure there was no trace of sadness. Then she whispered, "Go in first!"
Lu Xuan nodded silently, trying hard to hide his emotions.
They are here to protect the children, not to cry.
She took a moment to adjust her expression, making sure that she had a full smile on her face, before following Xu Shu inside.
"Squeak-"
When they heard the sound of the door opening, more than a dozen pairs of eyes instantly focused on the door.
"Aunt Xu!"
"You're back, Aunt Xu..."
"Aunt Xu, I was very obedient. I only started crying just now. I didn't cry before..."
A dozen children aged between five and six to ten years old rushed towards Xu Shu.
Where they stood before leaving, there were the bodies of three children.
Lu Xuan felt that the white color was too dazzling, and she couldn't help but want to look away, for example, at the faces of these children.
"This is Princess Jin. You can just call her Princess. She's here to protect us. Remember to behave well. Don't mess around or cause any trouble. Got it?"
Xu Shu's voice was exceptionally harsh, but in his eyes as he looked at the children, there was clearly only love and care.
"Greetings to the Princess!"
An older child inside took the lead and bowed obediently to Lu Xuan.
All the other children followed suit and saluted her.
"Princess, all is well."
"Hello, Princess."
"..."
Lu Xuan patted the heads of several cute children, squatted down and forced a smile: "Don't call me Princess, my name is Lu Xuan, just call me Sister Lu, the title of Princess is too eye-catching."
The children all looked at Xu Shu, and after seeing her nod slightly, they called out again, "Hello, Sister Lu!"
Two or three little girls who looked only five or six years old stood in front of her and held her hands.
Seeing that she didn't reject it, he immediately took her to the three corpses.
"Hey!"
Xu Shu was afraid that they would talk nonsense in front of Lu Xuan and get into trouble, so he called out to them hurriedly.
Lu Xuan gave her a look that suggested "don't worry".
Lu Xuan let them lead him and stopped beside the corpse.
"Sister Lu, look, this is Brother Tong, this is Sister Tiantian, and this is Brother Rui'er. Aren't there many people who listen to you? Can you avenge them?"
A little girl with a round face and two buns on her head looked up and pointed at the three corpses.
The originally bright red, round eyes suddenly became watery again, and the little mouth also pursed, and it seemed that the tears in the eyes were about to fall again.
Another girl in a light yellow dress hurriedly followed up, saying, "Sister Lu, they are all very good people. They wanted to protect us, so they would rather be killed than come back..."
She sniffed and said, "They didn't do anything bad. They only helped good people. Why did those people kill them..."
As she spoke, the little girl also started crying.
Lu Xuan's eyes turned red again. She turned to look at Xu Shu, who was busy comforting the other children in the distance, and replied in a nasal voice, "Don't worry, Sister Lu will definitely help the three of them get revenge."
She wiped the tears from the girls' eyes and said, "But you must promise Sister Lu that you must protect yourself and not wander around randomly."
Several little girls with red eyes nodded heavily.
Seeing that the bodies of the three children were lying in the yard, it was a mess. It was summer, and they would soon rot. So Sang Luo discussed with Lu Xuan, "Princess, we can't just leave those children's bodies in the yard like this forever. How about I go find some funeral workers, make some coffins, and bury them?"
"No." Lu Xuan looked at the corpses, frowning and thinking, "We haven't figured out the killer's motive yet. If we go out and look for the funeral shop now, and if they're coming for me, they'll find our house. By then, I'm afraid the other children won't be safe either."
Lu Xuan called out towards the courtyard wall, "Qing Yuan!"
A green figure jumped down from the wall: "Princess!"
"Is Qingdai back?"
An hour ago, Lu Xuan ordered Qing Dai to find out the specific information about who the Ji family killer had killed.
In this way, we can know whether the Ji family is killing people in a targeted manner, or whether Xu Shu's children just happen to be within their range.
At this moment, Qingdai's nimble figure suddenly jumped down from a big tree on the wall.
"princess!"
Lu Xuan frowned and looked at her worriedly: "How is it?"
"Besides us children, two others died. One was an old bachelor who was slick and swearing outside the Ji family's house, and the other was a beggar we knew. No one else was killed!"
Lu Xuan stared at the front with resentment, his eyes looking as if he wanted to drill a hole in the wall: "Looks like they're coming for me after all!"
Her eyes were filled with extreme indifference due to intense hatred, and her voice was chilling and chilling: "It's okay, I'm right here, waiting for them!"
Qing Yuan had no idea of the danger this time and thought it was just the same ordinary protection as before.
Now that he knew the truth, his heart was already hanging in the air: "Princess, you are a precious body. Today, I and Qingdai will deal with the killer here. Please return to the palace first!"
Lu Xuan raised his hand to stop her from saying the next thing: "These children died because of me, I really don't want more people to die because of me. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
She turned back to look at the children who were reading and learning to read in an orderly manner and said, "But today I really need you to stay here and help me protect these children."
Qing Yuan immediately clasped his fists and said, "This is my duty. I am willing to do your bidding!"
Xu Shu originally thought that the killers were all near the Ji family and mainly killed those who gossiped.
Initially, Lu Xuan and Sang Luo were called over as a precaution.
I didn't expect that there would actually be a killer coming to the door on this day, and I didn't expect that Lu Xuan would do such a thing.