Detective Ghost Empress

"Ack!"

"Let us go! Ahhh!"

"We don't dare, we really don't dare to steal from you heroine,"

"We are kids! We are kids!"

Screams of pain echoed in the street, however, none of the street vendors came to stop Liu Hui Ying. The reason was simple they had suffered enough because of these thieves, these kids would steal either bread or money from their pockets, it was a good thing that someone had caught them and was teaching them a lesson.

"Please...Please wait," however soon a young man wearing a white patched robe came running. He stopped in front of Liu Hui Ying and bowed his head before saying, "Forgive them, my lord. They are just kids and they do not know anything better. It was hunger that caused them to make such poor decisions, I...I will teach them better."

Liu Hui Ying turned to look at the poor man who was beseeching on account of the kids. She turned to him and then deliberately said, "What do you mean by hunger? The imperial family gave enough money to County Magistrate Su to open stalls for food and water to be distributed among the villagers as the crops' yield was not good. How dare you lie!"

The poor man opened his mouth to defend himself but he was stopped by the boy with a scar at the corner of his mouth.

He glared at Liu Hui Ying and then said, "You nobles don't know anything! That man doesn't hand us any food and the crops' yield was good as well, he just——"

"Zhihao!" The poor man stopped Chang Zhihao from speaking too much. This entire village was the territory of Su Tai. If anyone heard them speaking or talking bad about that man, they would be the ones who would be in danger.

Chang Zhihao pursed his lips and stopped speaking but his eyes were red as he felt upset. Why were the nobles like this? Why could they hit and be them as they wished even when it was not their fault?

And it was because of nobles like these that they had to steal like this!

Liu Hui Ying however caught what Cheng Zhihao said, she raised a brow and turned to look at Zhai Tianyu who glanced at her and then turned his gaze back to the little boy. He took out a gold tael from his pouch and then said to the boy, "What were you saying again?"

Cheng Zhihao's eyes lit up when he saw the gold tael, however, the distrust for nobles was so deeply embedded in his bones that he did not trust Zhai Tianyu immediately. Instead, he warily eyed the gold tael and then questioned, "What…what do you want?"

Zhai Tianyu did not respond, instead, he looked at the poor young man who seemed to be the caretaker of the kids and said to him, "It seems like you are hungry. There is a nice restaurant at the end of the street, do you want to come with me?"

He did not wait for the poor young man and the kids to respond. Instead, he turned on his heels and walked away to the other side of the street.

Liu Hui Ying followed after him.

Neither of them looked back at the kids to make sure whether or not they were following them or not. It was because they knew that the kids would follow them eventually.

After all, there was no threat bigger than hunger.

The poor man looked at Cheng Zhihao who looked back at his big brother. The two of them did not know why the nobleman asked them to follow after him or why he wanted to even talk to them, but when they thought about their stomachs that were sticking to their backs, the kids decided to follow Zhai Tianyu.

"Brother Jinxiao, let's follow that nobleman," one of the kids spoke with a gulp. His eyes were shining as he clutched to the robes of his elder brother. "I am so hungry."

Lin Jinxiao looked at the boy who asked him to follow the nobleman and pursed his lips. He said, "We cannot do that, that man…we don't even know that man, how can we just follow him, Feng Feng?"

"But I am hungry——"

"Ah, Feng——"

"Let's go, Brother Jinxiao," Cheng Zhihao said to the man in his twenties. "What's the worst that can happen? We will be killed, but if we don't eat then we are going to die anyway!"

They had eaten a few bowls of rice a week ago, ever since then, they did not even get a chance to sniff stale rice much less eat it. If this went on, then they were going to starve to death anyway. So, wasn't it better for them to take a risk? Even if that man killed them after feeding them, it would be better than dying on an empty stomach.

Lin Jinxiao's eyes turned red. He was the one who took responsibility for these children but he ended up causing them trouble like this, he couldn't even lead them to live a proper life and they had to suffer because of him.

"I am sorry because of me.." Lin Jinxiao was s scholar and once ran a school in the village. However, unfortunately for him, Su Tai also enrolled his stubborn and spoiled son, in Lin Jinxiao's school. Since the teachers of the academies in the town were aware of what kind of person, Su Tai and his son were, they refused to give admission to Su Tai's son.

As they were big academies, Su Tai couldn't make a fuss with them, Lin Jinxiao however did not have the backing time to refuse Su Tai's son. He could only accept his fate and start teaching Su Tai's son in his school.

But he underestimated the cruelty of Su Tai's son. That boy killed one of the villager's sons and then Su Tai blamed it on Lin Jixiao to suppress the matter that it was his son who killed the child. Su Tai even closed his school and took away his land to be used as compensation for the child's parents who lost their son.

Of course, no one said a word against this injustice, the child's parents were happy to get free land and the others were worried about being targeted by Su Tai, they all kept their mouths shut and watched Lin Jinxiao lose everything.

"Brother Lin it is not your fault," Cheng Zhihao said to Lin Jinxiao, his tiny fists clenched as he looked at his big brother. He said with determination etched on his face, "It is not Brother Jinxiao who should apologize, it's that bad man. He ruined everything, Brother Jinxiao is nice he helped us."

Cheng Zhihao and the others were the children of the villagers who were killed by Su Tai or ended up dying indirectly because of Su Tai. Lin Jinxiao sympathised with these kids and brought them next to him. He only did it to give these children a chance at survival but he ended up catching the eyes of Su Tai.

It only made that man target him even more.

Lin Jinxiao smiled with tears in his eyes. He patted Cheng Zhihao and then said, "Let us go, we will hear what that nobleman wants to say to us. It's not like he can kill us."

After all, they were in public, even if the nobleman wanted to kill them he had to think of a way to do it. And if so many people died at once, then that nobleman would have to suffer as well.

What was more Lin Jinxiao had decided that if that nobleman tried to harm the children, then he would fight him to death!

Even if it meant getting killed.

Lin Jinxiao took the children with him to the restaurant where Zhai Tianyu was waiting for them.

He bowed to Zhai Tianyu and then tentatively took a seat. His cheeks burned with embarrassment when he saw the guests of the restaurant looking at them. He was clad in robes that were covered with patches, while the others were well dressed.

The children also seemed a bit dirty and underdressed. In fact, Lin Jinxiao was sure that if they had come to this restaurant alone then, no one would have allowed them to sit inside.

Even the guests would have clamoured to the staff for them to be thrown out. The only reason they were withstanding their presence was because of the man in front of them.

"My lord…what do you want from us?" Lin Jinxiao asked nervously. He hoped that this man who sat in front of him was not involved with human trafficking, if that was the case then it would explain why this man invited them to sit down and eat.

Was he trying to fatten them up and take the kids away? As thin kids wouldn't sell for a better sum of money? Stay connected with empire

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