Old Fifth blocked the door from behind and shot arrows outside when he got the chance. Even the soldiers outside were unable to do anything about it within a short period of time. Commander Sun instructed part of his men to attract the criminals' attention at the front while he led six of his loyal subordinates to the side and entered through a broken window. One of his subordinates fought Old Fifth while another unlocked the door, allowing the soldiers to flood into the house. The stubborn Old Fifth was killed on the spot!
Commander Sun checked the house and realized that the other two people had gone. It wasn't known when, but Yu Xiaocao squeezed her way into the house and pointed towards the inner room, "There must be an underground tunnel inside!" She immediately rushed in.
"Be careful!" Commander Sun was so shocked that he was covered in cold sweat. If there was an ambush set up inside, this little girl would die! He rushed after her into the inner room, but there was no one in there, only Yu Xiaocao looking for something at a corner.
[Idiot! The kang bed!] The little divine stone reminded. Little White also found his way inside and jumped onto the kang bed, using his little paws to claw at it.
Yu Xiaocao took the opportunity to shout, "There's a problem with the kang bed!"
Commander Sun immediately removed the mat and the planks on top of the kang bed to reveal a dark tunnel. Without hesitation, Little White rushed into it, and Yu Xiaocao wanted to follow, but she was held back by Commander Sun who had a firm grip on her arm.
"Little girl, where did you get your guts? What would you do if there was an ambush set up by the criminals?" Commander Sun glared at her, then took the lead by jumping into the tunnel first. Yu Xiaocao followed closely behind him into the dark tunnel.
A few steps in, Yu Xiaocao hit her nose on the jade belt Commander Sun wore around his waist, and the pain made her tear up. Commander Sun lit a flare, then turned around to look at her, sighing, "Be careful, and follow behind me closely!"
The two of them moved forward deeper into the tunnel with only the dim light guiding their way. Footsteps echoed from behind them, indicating that Commander Sun's subordinates had also followed them into the tunnel.
The end of the tunnel was in the next alley. Boss Yin and "Scholar" were in a hurry, so they didn't even fill back the bricks that were supposed to be covering the ground. The alley connected everywhere, and the two child traffickers were already long gone, so which direction should they pursue? Commander Sun felt so frustrated.
"Awoo~" a young howl attracted Yu Xiaocao's attention. "Follow me!" she told Commander Sun, then ran towards the source of the howl. Resignedly, Commander Sun trailed after her.
It wasn't long before Yu Xiaocao saw Little White's figure. He turned his head to look at his little master before turning to run in another direction. Yu Xiaocao, Commander Sun and all of his subordinates followed from behind.
In their escape, those two child traffickers had to constantly be on alert to avoid running into the the bailiffs patrolling on the streets, while also being wary of the soldiers on their tail. They took twists and turns in the alleys, hoping to shake off their pursuers, but they could have never expected that the pursuing soldiers would have the help of a little wolf that was as good as a police dog. So, no matter how they turned, they still could not escape from the fate of being chased down.
Night fell quietly. It was a moonless night as Tanggu Town slowly became enveloped in darkness. Two dark figures cautiously climbed out of Tanggu Town through a gap in the town wall.
'Scholar' peered behind him, whispering, "Big brother, we took so many turns and ran so many circles in town, so we should've lost them, right?"
Furrowing his brows, Boss Yin said, "Better to be careful! Let's go to the port!"
'Scholar' sighed, "We've already lost the 'goods', how are we going to explain ourselves to the buyer? Damn it! Who could've thought that there was a commander's son among them? This is just too unlucky!"
Boss Yin said, "There is hope as long as we're alive. We'll follow the merchant's ship to the south and seclude there for some time while we plan our next course of action."
"You can't run anymore! Surrender yourself!" Commander Sun and his subordinates surrounded the two people in a circle, and told his vice commander, "Bring a group of soldiers with you to the docks and arrest everyone involved!"
Yu Xiaocao, seeing that the two child traffickers had already been tightly surrounded, moved into the side of the wall with Little White while attentively watching the scene.
Although the two child traffickers put up a good fight, they were still no match for the soldiers, and were quickly apprehended. Just as Yu Xiaocao breathed a sigh of relief, she felt a stranger's presence behind her. Inwardly, she shouted, 'shoot!', but she wasn't able to dodge away before a large hand picked her up from the ground and held a cold knife at her throat.
"Stop! Let go of my boss, or else I'll have her life!" The croaky voice from behind Yu Xiaocao seemed to strain in the darkness.
Damn it! How was there a person who was left out? It must be one of the people who were waiting out of town. Sigh, if she had known earlier, she would not have followed them here, now she had become a burden for them. Yu Xiaocao was filled with regret.
Commander Sun furrowed his brows, his fierce gaze seemingly piercing in the darkness, "Put the child down, and I'll let you live, or else…"
"Free my boss and 'Scholar', or else I'll bring someone down with me even in death!" The criminal holding Yu Xiaocao decided to burn his bridges—if he died, the child would die together with him!
Yu Xiaocao really wanted to bravely say 'Don't worry about me!' but she wasn't filming a movie. The knife on her throat had a high probability of cutting a major artery, and with the medical level of this time, she'd definitely be dead!
Commander Sun tried to divert the criminal's attention in order to find an opportunity to rescue the hostage, "You're too ambitious! What made you think one hostage could be exchanged for three lives? There is so much to lose in this deal. Tell you what, if you let the hostage go, I'll let one of you roam free!"
The man behind Yu Xiaocao pondered for a few moments, then said, "Boss saved my life; if there was no Boss, I would not be here today! Let my boss go!"
"Sanzi!" Touched, Boss Yin looked at the blurry figure standing in the darkness, sniffling.
Commander Sun, however, began to negotiate, "Let your Boss go? Sure! But how would I know you will keep to your word once I let him go? Let go of the little girl first, she's innocent!"
The criminal holding Yu Xiaocao laughed coldly, "Innocent? I doubt it. She must be your accomplice—why else would a little girl appear here in the middle of the night? Stop spouting nonsense and quickly free my boss!"
Commander Sun took two steps forward and opened his mouth to say something, but the criminal turned the knife towards him and shouted, "Stop! Or do you not care about her life?"
Just as he finished speaking, a white figure rushed over and ruthlessly bit the wrist that was holding the knife. The criminal screamed as he let go of the knife, and Yu Xiaocao took the opportunity to elbow him in the weak spot in between his legs. The criminal let out a scream that was even more piercing than the first.
Commander Sun sped forward and he couldn't help but shed a tear of sympathy for the criminal once he saw clearly what had occured. The little girl's small, white dog was still biting on to his wrist while his other hand covered his important part. The criminal was in so much pain he curled his body like a prawn and couldn't even stand steadily, so he was easily taken into custody by Commander Sun.
"Little White, come over here!" Seeing that the criminal had already been apprehended, Yu Xiaocao backed away to the side and called over Little White that was still fervently holding on to the criminal. The criminal's wrist was so badly injured his hand would definitely be incapacitated.
"Good job, Little White!" Yu Xiaocao took out a piece of jerky from her pouch and offered it to Little White as a reward. Little White sniffed at it with his nose, then turned his head away in disdain, as though saying, "It's wolf meat—so stinky! I won't eat it!"
Yu Xiaocao remembered that he was very particular, just like his dad who disdained the meat of their own kind. They had never refused the wild boar and hare meat that was slaughtered at home. She was rearing such a group of gluttons that the meat at home was barely enough. Fortunately Big Gray would occasionally go hunting in the mountain and he definitely brought back some game every time, so the store of meat at home was still sustainable.
Commander Sun gave Little White a thumbs up, "Little miss, where did you get this small, white dog? It's quite wonderful! With a little bit of training, it could be put to great use! Offer me a price, I'll buy the dog off you!"
"I won't sell it to you no matter how much you offer!" Yu Xiaocao ran her hand through Little White's soft fur, trying to comfort the raging pup that was growling at Commander Sun.
Commander Sun could tell that they were close, but couldn't help himself from teasing them, "I'll give you 100 taels, what about it? 100 taels is more than enough for you to buy a few dozen dogs—enough for you to buy even a Pekingese that comes from the West!"
Yu Xiaocao and Little White headed towards the town gate, saying, "You're better off keeping your money to buy a Pekingese for your precious son to play with! Our Little White and Little Black are from the bloodline of wolves—I won't sell them no matter the price!"
Of course, Commander Sun did not intend to own Little White by all means. He brought his subordinates to open the town gate and led the detained criminals to the county yamen. Inside, Yu Hai, Liu Hu and a few other children were anxiously awaiting their return.
All of a sudden, Little Black ran out of the county yamen and rushed madly into the dark night. Little Shitou happily exclaimed, "It must be Second Sister coming back!" All the people in the county yamen were suddenly very spirited.
County Magistrate Zhao, who had been patrolling with his bailiffs for the entire day, was worried when he had initially heard that the second miss of the Yu Family had followed the soldiers out. There was no need to even mention the fact that she caught the eye of Royal Prince Yang—it was already enough on his plate if she had gotten hurt simply just by the fact that she was General Zhaoyong's goddaughter.
Sigh! Indeed it was like father, like daughter. If the little missies of other families met with this incident, they'd definitely be so scared they hid away. Where would you find one that was like her—someone who would rush to the front? Knives and swords had no eyes, if she was hurt, what would he do?
All the people of the yamen breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the small figure trail behind Commander Sun. Yu Hai quickly walked over and hugged his daughter, examining her from head to toe, "Cao'er, are you hurt? Let me see…"
Little Shitou sharply noticed that there were fine, red marks on Xiaocao's neck, and he screamed, "Second Sister, you're hurt?"
His scream made a lot of people worry. County Magistrate Zhao also came down, asking concernedly, "Where were you hurt? Hurry, let Doctor Sun inspect!"