Chapter 45: Catching Thieves or Saving People

  Qin Yang rushed out of the store and stood on the road in front of the door, searching around.

  The restaurant was located at the intersection of Cross Street in the center of town, and the main street that ran east-west and north-south was right outside the door. The street was bustling with people coming and going, and it was very lively. If not for the little Taoist's clothes being particularly eye-catching, Qin Yang would have had a hard time finding him in the crowd.

  Hongyi followed Qin Yang out of the store, searching for the little Taoist on the street while asking Qin Yang, "Did you see that despicable little thief?"

  "There!" Qin Yang pointed down the street to the right.

  The red-clad figure followed the direction of his finger and saw that little Taoist priest swimming through the crowd like a fish, turning around the corner of the street on the west side and disappearing.

  "Chase!"

  Everyone dispersed into the crowd and chased after him.

  The little Taoist was walking ahead at a steady pace, probably thinking that his acting skills were good enough. He estimated that Qin Yang and the others wouldn't discover it so quickly, so he wasn't in a hurry. Instead, he walked while looking around casually, humming some unknown tune to himself.

  As the little Taoist walked west towards Zhongguan Town, the road became increasingly narrow, and the houses on both sides became more and more dilapidated. The roadsides were piled high with garbage like small mountains, flies shuttling back and forth between them, buzzing out a noise that was annoying to hear. Before even arriving, a sour stench could be smelled, making one want to vomit. It seemed this was the slum area of Zhongguan Town.

  Entering the slum, the number of pedestrians on the road has decreased significantly. Except for some people who come and go to dump garbage, most are beggars in tattered clothes, leaning lazily against the wall, closing their eyes to bask in the sun, and some take off their worn-out cotton-padded jackets to carefully pick lice.

  Hongyi and Gangqing looked at the scene in front of them with furrowed brows, the girl was more fastidious and felt a strong aversion to such an environment.

  Qin Yang noticed their expressions and told them to wait here while he went in alone.

  Here, with more people following, it's actually inconvenient. The red-clothed ones are all dressed up, and such people basically won't come to the poor alleys in the west of town. If they rashly rush in like this, they may arouse others' suspicion. No one knows if this little Taoist priest has accomplices hiding around.

  The red-clothed ones also knew the situation, so they all agreed to stay at the crossroads and wait for Qin Yang, letting him go by himself. After all, compared to the red-clothed ones, Qin Yang was wearing a coarse linen robe, which looked slightly better than the locals, but not too eye-catching.

  A little Taoist priest slipped into a small alley, Qin Yang walked over carefully, first scanning the beggars leaning against the wall with a listless expression, seeing that they didn't seem suspicious. Only then did he walk into the alley with ease.

  The alley is not long, standing at the entrance of the alley, Qin Yang can see the other end of the alley at a glance. At the end of the alley is a small door, the gatehouse has collapsed halfway, leaving only half a broken door hanging alone on the door frame.

  The little Taoist priest slipped in from the side without a door panel.

  "It seems that his old nest is here!" Qin Yang thought, quickly stepping to the front of the door and hiding outside the doorway to peek inside.

  Inside the gate was a small courtyard, overgrown with weeds. In the center of the courtyard stood a Chinese parasol tree, its dense branches still bare and not yet sprouted. The thick trunk had rough, bare branches stretching towards the sky. Directly opposite the entrance were three main rooms, all built from green bricks. However, possibly due to the passage of time, the walls had become somewhat weathered, with the exposed parts of the bricks having been eroded into powder and fallen off, forming a thick layer at the base of the wall.

  The windows of the house, including the window frames, have all disappeared, and only a few broken wooden boards are nailed up crookedly to barely withstand the biting wind and cold in winter. Standing in Qin Yang's position, you can see that more than half of the roof of the house has collapsed, and only the main room still has one side that is barely supporting it, but it looks like it could collapse at any time.

  The house emitted the sound of people talking.

  Qin Yang walked in through the open door and crept quietly to the outside of the hall, sticking close to the wall and holding his breath as he listened.

  The person speaking in the house is none other than that little Taoist priest, and all he does is talk while taking things out of his body, presumably the money stolen from Qin Yang and the others.

  "Look at what I got today?" The sound of silver coins falling on the ground came from inside the house.

  Then there were cries of surprise in the house, which sounded like they came from little kids.

  "A tender voice came: 'Brother, you're stealing again!'"

  "What's called stealing, this is called borrowing. Now I've borrowed from them, and in the future, I will definitely pay it back!" The young man said with decreasing confidence, he also knew that relying on himself, he would probably find it very difficult to earn enough money in his lifetime.

  "Brother, don't steal things again, okay?" The tender voice of the little girl sounded again, as if persuading the young Taoist.

  "Brother doesn't want to either, but Niu Niu's illness can't be treated without money, and also, Xiao Si's shoes haven't been returned yet and he's still barefoot!" The little Taoist's voice seemed somewhat helpless.

  "Brother, it's okay, I can go out and pick up trash, I can collect coal balls, save enough money and then buy one!" The little kid called Xiao Si said hastily.

  The little girl called Niu Niu started coughing and got worse and worse, all the children in the house were panicked and ran around chaotically.

  That little Daoist seemed to have made up his mind, saying: "Forget about all that, I'll carry Yaoyao, Xiao Si you take the money bag, let's go find a doctor, first get Yaoyao's illness treated and talk about other things later!"

  Qin Yang understood everything upon hearing this, he stood up from the wall and walked to the door.

  The door creaked open from the inside, and several people walked out. The leader was none other than the little Taoist priest, with a 12 or 13-year-old girl on his back, followed by several children aged 14 or 15, the youngest of whom looked only 7 or 8 years old.

  The children were all in tattered clothes, the shoes on their feet had long since split open, revealing their toes in front and their heels in back.

  A boy of about fifteen or sixteen followed closely behind the little Taoist priest, holding Qin Yang's money bag in his hand and wearing nothing on his feet. On such a cold day, his feet had already been frozen to the point where they were cracked open.

  Qin Yang looked at the little girl on the back of the young Taoist priest, seeing that she was thin and frail, her clothes were slightly better, but seemed not to be hers, hanging loosely on her body. She lay on the back of the young Taoist priest, coughing non-stop, her small face pale from exertion.

  "Ah!"

  The little Taoist had one foot out the door, looked up and saw Qin Yang standing in front of him, and was so startled that he almost threw the little girl to the ground. He stood there, momentarily forgetting whether he was going out or coming in.

  The several little kids behind him had never seen Qin Yang, and naturally didn't know that he was the owner of the money bag. They curiously stuck their heads out from behind the little Daoist's back, curiously sizing up Qin Yang.

  "You, how did you get here?" The little Taoist thought there would be trouble this time.

  After all, I stole someone else's money. Since the owner has found me, of course, they will want their money back. If not, I'll be beaten up or sent to the police station.

  He's not afraid of going to the police station, but what if he gets caught? Who will take care of these kids then?

  "Of course it was you who brought me here!" Qin Yang replied.

  The little Taoist saw that Qin Yang was blocking the door and knew he couldn't escape, let alone abandon the children behind him. He gritted his teeth and said: "This is my doing, it has nothing to do with them. If you want to catch someone, catch me!"

  Qin Yang smiled and walked up to the little Taoist priest, sizing up the little girl on his back.

  Their faces were flushed, their eyes were dark, their lips were dry and cracked, and their breathing seemed a bit rapid. They looked like they had a cold, but it wasn't anything serious. However, because they didn't have the money to see a doctor, they delayed treatment, and on top of that, this place was both cold and hungry, which made their condition worse.

  The children next to him obviously understood that Qin Yang was the owner of the lost item. Although they were not very old, they had already experienced the coldness and warmth of the world and understood everything.

  Xiao Si walked up and handed the money bag to Qin Yang, blinking her big eyes and pleading: "Uncle, let go of my brother, he's a good person, he did wrong for our sake, we'll return the money to you, please spare him!"

  Qin Yang didn't say a word, and the other kids also came over one after another, pleading for the little Taoist priest.

  Qin Yang looked at those frail bodies and listened to their tender voices, but his heart couldn't harden.

  "Follow me," Qin Yang said, taking the little girl from the small Daoist's back and carrying her horizontally in his arms as he walked towards the door.

  The little Taoist was stunned for a moment, and then a joyful expression appeared on his face. He didn't say anything, but followed Qin Yang out, with the children also following behind them.

  ……

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, Qingye reached out and gently touched the little girl's forehead, seeing that her fever had come down, she felt at ease. She took a hand towel from the water basin beside the bed and lightly applied it to the little girl's head.

  Qin Yang carried the little girl out of the alley and told Hong Yi and the others, who had no objections. So several people rushed to the doctor's house in the town, with Xiao Daoist and Xiao Si leading the way. They arrived at the doctor's house without much effort.

  Since it's just a cold, it's naturally a small matter for the doctor, who prescribed some medicine and told him to go back and take it.

  That broken house can't be returned to, Qin Yang and the others went back to the town center. Since the money bag was found, they first redeemed the jade pendant for Qing Ye at a restaurant, then found an inn.

  Qin Yang and Hong Yi took the little Taoist priests with them to take a bath, and also bought them some clothes. Qing Ye stayed behind to take care of the sick little girl Niu Niu.

  Looking at little girl Niu Niu, Qing Ye thought again that Qin Yang, although he looks cold on the surface, is actually a soft-hearted person, which she didn't expect.

  "A strong and kind-hearted man, with a perfect balance of firmness and gentleness, no wonder so many women like him!" Qing Ye thought to herself, unaware that she had started paying attention to Qin Yang without realizing it.

  Women, it's just like this, always involuntarily falling into emotions...

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  I'm not feeling well today, so this chapter is a bit late. I won't say more, hope you enjoy reading it, please collect and recommend more, thank you!

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