Two guards carried a thin middle-aged woman, and a guard walked over with an unconscious little girl in his arms.
The chest of the middle-aged woman who was carried over did not rise or fall. Because her figure was too thin, the patched clothes on her body looked a little empty.
Her cheeks had also been deeply gouged, showing a dead gray color, and her chapped lips were bloodless, looking very scary.
The little girl looked only thirteen or fourteen years old, her body was also thin, her eyes were closed, her lips were also pale and chapped, but there were two abnormal blushes on her cheeks.
Imperial Physician Xu supported the young apprentice Angelica, and walked over quickly.
He glanced at the middle-aged woman and the little girl, first looked at the middle-aged woman's eyelids, then pressed his pulse, then shook his head: "This one is already dead!"
He opened the little girl's eyelids again, took a look at her, grabbed her wrist, checked her pulse, and said, "This one can be saved! She is too weak, and she is suffering from dehydration..."
He began to direct people to rescue the little girl: "Who are you, give her some water to drink! Angelica, you go and get Rendan..."
A guard picked up his water bladder and fed the little girl water.
Danggui, a young apprentice of Imperial Physician Xu, rushed over to take Rendan. Doctor Xu himself began to give the little girl acupuncture.
After being busy for a while, the little girl finally opened her eyes slowly, looked at the strangers around in a daze, and asked with some horror: "You... who are you?"
Everyone looked at Feng Liao, waiting for Feng Liao to ask questions.
Feng Liao sighed softly, did not say her specific identity, but said: "We are from the imperial court. What's your name? Where are you from?"
"People from the imperial court?" The little girl murmured in confusion, as if she didn't quite understand what the words meant, so she ignored them.
She put her hands on the ground, struggled to sit up, and turned her head to look around. The pair of eyes that looked too big because of the too thin cheeks looked around anxiously: "Where's my mother?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she saw the body of the middle-aged woman next to her.
"Mother!" She yelled mournfully, crawled over on hands and feet, shook the middle-aged woman's body, and cried, "Mother, wake up soon! Mother..."
After calling twice, she raised her head again and looked at Feng Liao, Imperial Physician Xu and others.
Then, she took two steps to Feng Liao and kowtowed to Feng Liao repeatedly: "Master, please save my mother! Save her! I will be a cow and a horse for the young master all my life, and I will repay the young master's kindness. Master, save my mother!"
"Help her up!" Feng Liao ordered Xiao Linzi, then softened her voice, and said to the little girl, "I'm sorry, your mother is already dead!"
"Dead? How could my mother be dead? You lied to me!" The little girl glared at Feng Liao hatefully, then threw herself on the middle-aged woman's body, crying, shouting and shaking, "Mother, you Wake up! Mom... you don't want Alan anymore? Wow... "
She cried miserably and moved people to tears, and a bunch of big men around her showed unbearable expressions. There were two soft-hearted guards with tears in their eyes.
Yong Ruo looked at the expressions of the people around him, and seeing that Feng Liao seemed to be at a loss, he said softly: "My lord, this girl Alan is sad! Why don't we wait for her to cry for a while, and then we can ask questions slowly. "
"Alright!" Feng Liao looked helplessly at the crying little girl, and said to Xiao Linzi, "You stay with her here. When she calms down, bring her to see me."
He took Yong Ruo's hand, stepped aside, and sat with Yong Ruo on the stool brought by Jiao Zhu and others to rest.
He called Rob who found these two people over and asked, "Are these two women the only refugees you found?"
Rob bowed and replied: "No. There are five or six people waiting to be summoned. Those five or six people belong to the same family, but they don't know the two girls, so I didn't bring them here together."
Feng Liao asked for the five or six people to be brought here, and he asked questions.
Rob promised, walked quickly to the mountain road ahead, and came back after a while.
Behind him, tremblingly followed five or six men, women and children with haggard faces, chapped lips, and weak movements, supporting each other.
Most of the clothes on their bodies were patched, and there were some damages that hadn't been repaired in time; two or three people were still carrying simple packages... It looked like they were indeed refugees fleeing famine.
After these people followed Rob, they first glanced at the crying little girl, with a little pity in their eyes.
The leader was a skinny old man in his fifties, with gray hair in a mess, supported by a skinny young man in his early twenties.
The thin old man thought about where Feng Liao was standing, and knowing that Feng Liao was the leader, he knelt down in front of Feng Liao, and the others followed him.
"Grassman Sun Fusheng, pay your respects to your lord."
"Get up!" Facing a sophisticated adult, Feng Liao directly reported her identity very simply and neatly, "This king is the king of Hengjun appointed by the emperor himself, and he is ordered to inspect the disaster situation in southern Shandong."
"My lord?" The skinny old man named Sun Fusheng was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly paid respects, "The grass people pay homage to the lord!"
Feng Liao waved her hand: "There is no need to be too polite! Here in the wilderness, there are not so many rules. If you are tired, sit on the ground! Let's talk."
He then said to the surrounding guards: "Bring them some water and food!"
The guards handed over a water bag and distributed two pancakes to each of them—not because they were stingy, but because their supplies were not abundant.
Seeing his attitude, Sun Fusheng thanked his family again with tears of gratitude before taking the food and water.
After taking two sips of water cautiously and cherishingly, he handed the water to a seven or eight-year-old boy behind him.
After the little boy took a few sips unceremoniously, he handed the water to a woman who was holding him, and then picked up the bread and started to eat it.
Grand Physician Xu watched this scene from the side, and couldn't help saying: "Let him eat half a cake first! People who have been hungry for a long time should not eat too much at one time, otherwise the stomach will be overwhelmed."
Feng Liao then introduced the identity of Imperial Physician Xu to Sun Fusheng: "This is Imperial Physician Xu from the imperial hospital, with extremely high medical skills."
The woman who was holding the little boy snatched the cake from the little boy's hand with a stern expression, tore off half and kept it, leaving only half for the little boy.
The little boy only cared about eating the cake, and he didn't care about protesting.
Although Sun Fusheng's stomach was also growling with hunger, he endured the hunger and asked Feng Liao very respectfully and politely: "Your Highness called Cao Min here, but do you have something to ask?"
Feng Liao nodded, and raised her chin to the little girl who had gradually stopped crying: "You don't know them, how did you get together with them?"
Sun Fusheng glanced at the little girl, sighed, and said, "My lord, I met you on the road yesterday. At that time, the girl was crying on the side of the road. Her mother was already unconscious and had only one breath left.
"Caomin thought, if this girl and her mother were left there, they would have a dead end. They were all fleeing famine, so they helped if they could, so they pulled her mother into the cart.
"If the grass-roots people can bring them to the county seat, this girl will sell herself to a rich family, or find someone to marry, no matter whether her mother can be saved or not, at least she will have a way to survive."
"The old man has a kind heart." Feng Liao curled her lips and praised Sun Fusheng.
Sun Fusheng said a few words modestly, with a slightly uncomfortable expression on his face.
Yongruo thought to himself: It is indeed a kind act for Sun Fusheng to bring Alan's mother and daughter; but she would not believe that he had no selfish intentions.
The thin young man supporting Sun Fusheng kept his eyes on the little girl named Alan.
Of course, this is not too bad. Just like what Sun Fusheng said, if that girl finds someone to marry, it is also a way to survive.
When survival is a problem, a helpless little girl has no conditions to consider such issues as "whom she likes" and "whom she will marry to be happy". They are already very lucky if they can have a way to survive and not fall into prostitution.
Feng Liao chatted with Sun Fusheng for a while, asking where their family was from, how the disaster situation was, and where they planned to go.
Sun Fusheng answered them one by one. It is said that their home is located on a relatively high ground, and there is a shortage of water around them. Now even the water in the well has dried up. The family can't survive, so they come out to flee famine.
Xiao Linzi walked over with Alan, saying that Alan wanted to thank him.
She has calmed down, but her eyes are still a little red and swollen.
She knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Feng Liao: "My daughter, Alan, thank you for saving my life, my lord."
Summer clothes are thin. When she kowtowed, her tight clothes showed the lines of her back.
Yongruo could vaguely see Alan's protruding shoulder blades and lumbar vertebrae...
This kind of thinness is really scary.
No matter how rational and defensive she was, she couldn't help feeling pity for Alan at this moment.
A person who is so thin is really a refugee, right? Shouldn't be a problem, right
During this time, she has been secretly thinking about a question: If she is the one who wants to murder Feng Liao, how will she do it
But before making the move, there is another question that is not less difficult than this: how to get close to Feng Liao
Feng Liao went to Lunan this time with more than two hundred guards. Except for the original full-time guards of the palace, the others are all elites drawn from the army, and there are more than 20 very professional military scouts—that is, scouts.
As they walked along the way, there were scouts who led the way, soldiers who led the way, and guards who surrounded them. Ordinary strangers couldn't even see Feng Liao's shadow, so where could they find a chance to strike
The most effective way she could think of was to take advantage of Feng Liao's need to patrol the disaster situation and contact the victims, pretend to be the old and weak women and children affected by the disaster, enter their team as a gesture of seeking protection and help, and then slowly approach Feng Liao.
The old, the weak, women and children are naturally not easy to arouse people's defense; if their experience is more miserable, it is easy for people to sympathize and lower their defenses.
Like now: she herself felt sympathy for Alan.
But because of this, this Alan made Yong Ruo even more defensive.
Is it a coincidence that this Alan fits the assassin's design so well, or did he guess it
Although Alan cried heart-rendingly for the death of the middle-aged woman; although from waking up to coming to thank you, Alan's every move was logical.
But this doesn't mean anything!
Because the middle-aged woman never said a word to Alan or to the Sun family from the beginning to the end.
This unfortunate woman may have been just a "prop" to deceive people from the beginning to the end. In the wasteland, it is easy to find such a "prop".
Her existence does not prove Alan's "innocence" and truthfulness.
Yong Ruo had to think: If this Alan is really an assassin, then her acting skills are too outstanding, because she can't see the slightest flaw...
In future generations, it will definitely be at the level of a movie queen!
If she is really an assassin, how did she develop such acting skills at such a young age? Or... Is it because I am too suspicious and think too much
Yong Ruo couldn't make a judgment now, so he had to wait and see what happened.
It's just a little girl. If I don't have evidence to prove that she is malicious, I can't do anything to her.
What's more, if Alan is really an assassin, his plan of turning against the assassin may fall on this little girl.