NOVPUBThe order was to only allow children to come and collect.
"Mantou!"
The crowd suddenly stirred, and the queue got somewhat disorderly.
Fortunately, the female warrior maintained order, and before long, poor children, one by one, holding dustpans filled with black charcoal, came to collect the mantou.
Princess Wen Zhu did not shun the task, personally distributing food with her well-cared-for hands.
The common people, unaware of her identity, thought she was a woman from a philanthropic lord's family in the city, murmuring auspicious phrases like "May the lady be blessed, live a hundred years."
Her gaze was tender, and when she saw a skinny little girl about waist-high, only five or six years old, struggling to lift a dustpan that held charcoal, unable to reach, she had to look up steadily and approach the table under the awning.
Princess Wen Zhu's brow furrowed slightly, puzzled as to why such a small child was out alone, when a Yu servant next to her explained in a hushed voice:
"This child's mother has fallen ill; there's no one else at home. They've said she hasn't had anything to burn for some days and has constantly been out collecting donkey dung to burn..."
A wave of sorrow washed over Princess Wen Zhu, her delicate, creamy hands tenderly wiped the little girl's filthy face, but this startled the girl, who retreated several steps, almost dropping her dustpan.
"Ah," Princess Wen Zhu sighed, grabbing a few extra mantou to put into the dustpan, and secretly stuffed some coins into the charcoal.
She watched as the hungry little girl clutched the mantou to her chest and ran home.
This beautiful woman, revered in the Western Regions as the "Holy Daughter," "Divine Mother," felt a pang of sadness and handed over the distribution work to someone else. She stepped out and called for a few of her personal attendants.
"Princess, are we heading back?" the warrior woman asked.
Princess Wen Zhu shook her head and said, "Let's go buy some cold medicine from the nearby pharmacy."
The warrior woman and her entourage of guards looked up to her with reverence, protecting the princess esteemed by them as they walked toward a shop two streets away.
However, not long after they set out, cries of yelling and pleading, along with begging, came from an alley!
"What's happening?"
Princess Wen Zhu felt uneasy, and with a delicate step, drew closer to the alley, where her view suddenly cleared.
In the main street alley, several gang-looking roughs had set up an ambush, seemingly out of nowhere.
Intercepting those who had collected relief aid and were on their way back.
These ruffians were not like ordinary thugs—they wore similar blue cotton clothes, with a red flower embroidered on their shoulders, barrel-chested and carrying clubs, with ruddy complexions and vicious expressions.
They were unmistakably members of the Red Flower Society, the largest gang in the Capital.
At that moment, under the lead thug's command, the gang was beating and robbing the poor citizens of their charcoal and mantou.
Weak women and old men curled up after being punched and wailed, pleading again and again.
The five or six-year-old girl tried to slip away through the corner, but a large ruffian kicked her hard with a big boot; she exclaimed "Ah" as she was kicked flying a distance, and her dustpan dropped.
The now slightly cold mantou rolled all over the ground, the black charcoal scattering onto the snow-white earth.
"Ha ha, you little brat think you can run? Did you not understand when grandpa told you to hand it over?"
That large ruffian sneered, looking at the mantou on the ground, picked one up, took a bite, and laughed:
"It's still warm."
Another skinny, tall ruffian, with a keen eye, picked up a string of coins from the ground in surprise:
"Mr. Wen, there's money in this kid's dustpan!"
The leading ruffian, sitting with arms crossed, his eyes lit up, and he turned to look at the little girl who was trying to get up:
"It must have been given by those foreigners giving out coal; search her, see if she's hiding more!"
The dirt-covered, emaciated little girl struggled to get up, with a blank look on her face, as if she had been scared silly, her eyes fixated on the mantou, and a low cry coming from her mouth.
The ruffian coming towards her, trying to rummage through her clothes for money, didn't seem to see her at all.
"Princess! These people deserve to be killed!"
The tall female warrior, having caught sight of this scene from afar, became uncontrollably angry; her right hand had already reached below the hem of her robe, grasping the hilt of a curved sword.
Yet another warrior held her back, urgently whispering at a low volume: "We're in Yu Country!" 𝓃𝓸𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
The implication was that, as members of the Western Regions Mission, brandishing weapons in Yu Country's Capital, even against a few thugs, could easily escalate into an "international incident."
And could be greatly exploited by certain people.
However, Princess Wen Zhu had already spoken: "Drive away these..."
But before she could finish her sentence, everyone suddenly heard the shrill sound of something slicing through the air!
Almost instinctively, the warriors ready to lunge into action immediately switched to defense, surrounding the princess in a protective circle!
Then, they noticed that an egg-sized stone, whizzing from another direction down the street, flew straight into the alley like a cannonball.
In a flash, it struck the chest of the large thug.
"Ah!!"
Unsurprisingly, the man bent over like a shrimp, his facial features twisting ferociously, with spit flying as he fell backward, head hitting the hard ground, knocked out, with blood spurting from his chest, and the stone embedded in his flesh!
"Swish!"
"Swish, swish!"
Then, following this, two more figures dove into the alley, unmistakably Hou Renmeng and Shen Juan dressed as house servants!
The two Cultivation Martial Artists, without using their powers, relying solely on their fists and kicks, quickly knocked a group of gang members to the ground.
"Ah... We are from the Red Flower..."
The gang leader "Mr. Wen" had just come to his senses, stuttering half a sentence when, from nearby in the alley, an unknown young master arrived and indifferently said: "Slap him."
"Yes, young master!"
Hou Renmeng sneered, delivering a resounding slap.
