The sun sets in the west.
Xingnong and his group settled in Tianan City.
There was also a long queue outside the city gate.
Xingnong and Xingqing stuck their heads out to take a look.
Xing Qing: "They are all caravans."
Xing Nong nodded: "Well, at the end of the year, caravans from all over the country are traveling frequently. Many caravans will come to the capital to get goods and sell them back. Everyone is willing to spend some money at the end of the year."
Xingnong had changed back into women's clothes and dressed up as the sister of a wealthy businessman. At this moment, she and Xingqing both covered their faces with thin scarves.
Xing Nong saw a woman who looked to be about fifty years old, wearing ragged clothes, with dark skin and a weathered face, holding a broken bowl, begging along the line, "Master, please be kind! Master, please be kind! Just give me something to eat! I don't want money... I just want a piece of dry food!... Please, good people will be rewarded..."
In the cold wind, the woman's thin pants were blown violently. She was barefoot and her feet were covered with yellow mud, but one could still see red blood oozing from many cracked toes, staining the mud around her toes red.
The guards of the caravan ahead began to drive them away before she got close.
The woman did not argue and kept walking along the team: "Sir/Miss, please can you give me something to eat? I don't want money, I just want a bite to eat. I've spent all my money to find my daughter, so I have no choice but to ask for a bite to eat..."
... ...
The woman soon came to Xingnong's caravan. The escort leader had been traveling all over the country for many years, and this was not the first time he had met this woman.
It’s just that the few times I saw her were in different cities.
He took out a silver ingot and was about to ask someone to bring her another bag of dry food when he heard Xing Nong's voice: "Auntie, I have some dry food here!"
Xingnong lifted the curtain of the carriage and waved to the woman.
Upon hearing this, the old lady hurried over, but she walked too fast and kicked a stone on the road. Her toenail was almost turned inside out and blood oozes out instantly.
But she seemed not to be afraid of the pain and quickly ran to Xingnong.
At this time, Xingnong had already got off the carriage with a bundle.
The bundle contained an old cloak, a pair of new shoes, a bag of dry food, and ten taels of silver.
Xing Nong was worried that she would fall and hurried forward and said, "Don't worry, Auntie!"
The woman came to stand in front of Xing Nong and bowed excitedly: "Thank you, young lady! Good people will be rewarded! You will be rich and powerful in the future!"
Xing Nong originally just wanted to get off the carriage and give her a bundle. After all, it was not polite to hand it to her in the carriage.
But Xing Nong looked down at her toenail that had been kicked off, which was halfway up and bleeding. "Auntie, get on the carriage first. You need to apply medicine on your foot."
The woman hurriedly said, "No, no! I'm dirty. It's okay, my feet are fine."
"It's okay. It's not impossible to wipe it clean even if it's dirty." Xingnong helped her.
The woman waved her hands vigorously: "No, no, ... Miss, just give me a bite of dry food! Really!"
How could she get on the carriage when she was so dirty
Xing Qing also lifted the curtain of the carriage at this time: "Auntie, don't be afraid! Come on up!"
When the woman saw Xingqing's eyes, tears burst out of her eyes: Chunhua, her baby daughter's eyes are so beautiful too!
Xing Nong and Xing Qing: “… ..”
What's going on
Xing Qing was so scared, how come the other person started crying just because she said a word
Did he think that they had bad intentions towards her and wanted to sell her out
She hurriedly comforted him, "Auntie, if you don't want to get on the carriage, don't get on! We have no ill intentions."
Xing Nong seemed to be thinking about something.
The woman shook her head, looked at Xing Qing, and wiped her tears: "No, I'm sorry, I just can't control myself! When I see you, it's like seeing my daughter. My daughter disappeared a year ago! I can't find her no matter how hard I try. Her eyes are very similar to yours."
Over the past year, she and her husband have been searching everywhere and waiting at the gates of major cities in the hope of finding their daughter.
At this moment, she was looking into Xingqing's eyes, and it seemed as if she was looking at other people through Xingqing's eyes.
The girl's eyes looked very similar to her daughter's, but she knew she was not her daughter.
Songbai sighed, pitifully stopping his parents' thoughts: "Auntie, didn't you report it to the police?"
Woman: "We did report it to the Shuntian Prefecture Governor, but the authorities have been looking for him for three months and couldn't find him. They said he might have been abducted and sold to another place. They will notify us when they find him."
But she knew that the government couldn't find them! There were several women in the capital. She had traveled to several cities this year and heard that some women or children were abducted by kidnappers and the government couldn't find them.
She just didn't want to give up and was willing to travel to the ends of the earth to find her daughter.
Now he has been begging all the way back to the capital, just to see if there is any news from the government, or whether his daughter has returned home.
After all, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and maybe my daughter will come home to celebrate the New Year this year.
Xingqing poured a cup of hot tea in the carriage and handed it to Xingnong.
Xing Nong handed her a cup of hot tea: "Auntie, drink some hot tea first."
"Thank you, young lady." The old lady said with gratitude.
At this time, the leading escort came over. It was their team's turn to go to the capital. He said, "Madam, please get on the truck at the back and go into the city with us!"
The woman quickly shook her head: "No, no, I don't want to take a carriage, I will go to the city by myself! Thank you."
Xing Nong thought that the escort who traveled all over the country would meet many people, so she said, "Madam, please get on the carriage! This is Brother Zhao, he travels all over the country, tell him what your daughter looks like, maybe we can meet her someday!"
Xingnong grew up in an orphanage and knew how difficult it was for children without parents or away from their parents.
She couldn't understand those parents who abandoned their own children, but at the same time she was moved by those parents who never gave up looking for their children.
The escort master nodded: "That's right, our escort agency has a lot of people, and we travel all over the four countries. You tell us! There is strength in numbers! From now on, I will ask the people in the escort agency to pay attention, including those from other escort agencies."
He also hates kidnappers the most!
How could the woman not be moved when she heard such words? She was so eager to find her daughter!
But she was too dirty to ride in Xingnong’s carriage, and the two girls were too beautifully dressed.
She went to the carriage at the back, and Xing Nong handed her a bundle and a bottle of medicine for her injuries. "There are dry food and an old piece of clothing in it. I was planning to throw away the clothing when I returned. I hope you don't mind."
Xingnong bought this old cloak from a second-hand clothing store in order to play various roles.
How could the woman be unwilling to take it? She thanked him again and again before getting on the freight carriage behind and sitting next to the driver.
Xingnong also returned to her own carriage and did not sit with Xingqing.
When entering the city, the inspection is very strict.
The household registration and travel permit were checked carefully.
Xingnong noticed that a soldier was looking at him very seriously. He was particularly attentive to the household registration and travel permits of the women and boys in their caravan and even asked questions.
The woman also had a household registration and a travel permit, but the soldiers recognized her when she was begging at the city gate just now, so they didn't check her again.
After entering the city, the woman saw her husband and son preparing to leave the city to find her, so she quickly called out.
Finally, the family followed the caravan to the backyard of the escort agency and settled down.
There is a Wu'an Escort Agency in every city in the entire Chu State, so there is no need to stay in an inn.
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