CH 3

Qiao Zhao had already thought about this scenario for a very long time. There must have been many women who liked Chi Can and secretly told their feelings to him. If not for how young she was, she might have been seen as a woman with ulterior motives.

Well, calling him ‘Uncle’ should put him at ease, right?

Qiao Zhao, who thought he was considerate, spoke quickly and talked about the ins and outs of the matter; “I’m the daughter of Li Xiuzhuan in the capital. I was abducted by traffickers during the Huachao Festival. I beg uncle to please save me.”

“Uncle…”

This word made Chi Can’s mouth twitch, and a few puffs of laughter busted out. He didn’t have to think much about it to know that it made him want to reach out and stop the little girl from speaking.

He was obviously just a few years older than this little girl, so how can he be called an uncle? It would have been better if she had called him big brother.

But… if a girl rushed out in broad daylight and called him big brother, I’m afraid his first reaction would not have been so light-heartedly.

Thinking of this, Chi Can’s eyes deepened, and then he gave Qiao Zhao a serious look.

The little girl had a slender figure which could be described as delicate, like a white magnolia that was about to bloom but still very susceptible to the influence of the wind and rain.

‘This was a very smart little girl’. Chi Can thought to himself.

“Nini, come back quickly, don’t bump into the nobles!” The man, who had finally gotten rid of the restaurant staff, rushed over and stretched out his hand to drag Qiao Zhao.

Qiao Zhao, slipping out of his grip, hid behind Chi Can.

The man seeing what she was doing became anxious and angry and tried to explain the situation; “Master, this is my daughter. She was disobedient and now I am angry at her. Don’t listen to her nonsense.”

“Uh… are you his daughter?” Chi Can turned sideways and looked at Qiao Zhao with a smile.

With deviation from her delicate appearance, the girl’s tone was extraordinarily firm and she calmly spat out the word; “No.”

“She said no.” Chi Can said as he looked back at the man.

Seeing that things weren’t going his way, the man immediately put on an honest expression, and replied; “Young master doesn’t know what’s really going on. This girl had been coaxed by a stinking boy to run away with him. I managed to catch them and bring her back. Now, she’s angry at me and refusing to recognize me as her father.”

Now turning to Qiao Zhao, he continued; “But, you don’t have to tell everyone that I’m a trafficker just to find that boy.”

The man was certain that as long as he said this, everyone else would mind their own business. The last time this little girl escaped, he had used the same reason.

He couldn’t help but send a hint of warning at Qiao Zhao with his hateful stare.

‘Damn girl, wait till this clears over, I’ll clean you up!’ he thought to himself.

Qiao Zhao looked at him calmly and replied with a smile.

Then, the little girl, Li Zhao, asked the crowd for help. Although there were a lot of people, her chance of escaping was still minimal, as long as the person gave a plausible reason. Those people were not related to them, so they ignored and dispersed.

But now, she was asking for help from a specific person, and that person would have a sense of responsibility and would not just blindly follow the man’s explanation.

What’s more, he was Chi Can. If he doesn’t even have the ability to distinguish a truth from a lie, how can he deal with the royal family and nobles who have tortuous thoughts?

“Little girl, have you really eloped with someone?” Chi Can leaned slightly, smiling but with a very serious expression, clearly watching how Qiao Zhao would react.

Qiao Zhao asked earnestly; “Uncle, if your daughter eloped with someone, would you shout out like this without caring about her reputation?”

Of course not!

Chi Can immediately wanted to answer this, but hurriedly held himself back.

Chi Can silently took a step back, and out of the corner of his eyes, swept the crowd that was gradually approaching. He didn’t want to get entangled with the man and said lightly; “What you both said is very valid…”

“How can you listen to a child’s nonsense? Besides, this is a father and daughter family issue!”

Chi Can answered the man with a calm smile.

“Don’t worry about this sir; I’m not a nosy person.”

The man had secretly breathed a sigh of relief at this and let out a smile, listening to the handsome and unparalleled man continue slowly; “So let’s go to an official and let the Baoling County magistrate decide what is right and what is wrong.”

Facing the stunned man, he comforted him with a gentle voice: “Don’t worry. If what you say is true, the three of us will personally escort you to Yamen gate and we will never interfere in your business again.”

“You, you…” The man was speechless for a while when he had finally met someone who didn’t believe his story.

Chi Can frowned suddenly, turning his head to the man in blue, he said; “Zizhe, The Baoling County magistrate served in Jiaf County three years ago, right?”

Qiao Zhao took the opportunity to quietly glance at the man in blue.

Grandfather had a close friend who was a world-renowned doctor. When she was eight years old, her grandfather fell ill. Under the advice of Li Shenyi, her grandfather and her grandmother returned to Jiafeng to live their life peacefully.

Li Shenyi would occasionally come to Jiafeng every year to stay for some time and to take care of her grandfather’s body. She read medical books widely in her free days, and whenever Li Shenyi came around, she took the opportunity to ask him for his medical knowledge and advice, and after ten years, she was considered to be one of Li Shenyi’s disciples.

When she was eighteen years old, she was dragged back to the capital by her seriously ill grandfather to marry the second son of Hou Jing’an.

On their wedding day, her newlywed husband was ordered to set off for an expedition before he could even pick up the Xipa, and not long after that, her grandfather passed away, so she seldom saw outsiders during her time in Jing’an Houfu. Right now, among the three, she only knew Chi Can and their place of acquaintance was still in Jiafeng.

The man in blue didn’t notice Qiao Zhao’s scrutiny, and replied; “This is not the capital. How can I know which county the magistrate served in? Shi Xi, if I remember correctly, you went to Jiafeng three years ago?”

Chi Can nodded; “Well, I had tea with the magistrate of Jiaf at that time. But when I went to visit him again, I heard that he had been transferred to Baoling.”

As soon as the man heard that Chi Can actually knew the County magistrate, he did not dare to entangle any further with him and decided to run away instead while he was talking.

The man, Tsing Yi, who had rarely spoken, kicked the man to the ground as he was fleeing and said coldly; “It seems that this man is really a trafficker.”

Qiao Zhao said loudly; “You can’t spare him! This trafficker has a sincere and honest face. I don’t know how many other daughters have been kidnapped by him. I am lucky to have been rescued; the other girls may have long been gone.”

Hearing her words, the crowd became furious and shouted; “The kidnapper is the worst, kill him!”

Chi Can and the others took Qiao Zhao to the side very cleverly, to make way for the angry crowd, and soon they heard the screams of the man.

Turning to another street with a few pedestrians, the three looked at the little girl who was following them, and looked at each other.

“How do we do this?” Chi Can asked.

The two men exchanged glances and both looked at Chi Can.

“Whoever causes trouble solves it.”

Chi Can, raising his eyebrows, sighed and turned to Qiao Zhao; “Little…”

He wanted to call her ‘little girl’, but when he thought about her calling him uncle, his tongue suddenly became knotted.

Qiao Zhao was quick witted with his plight and hurriedly said; “Uncle can call me Li-San.”

“Li-San…” Chi Can’s mouth twitched and twitched and finally he couldn’t help but say; “Actually, you can call me Big Brother Chi.”

“Brother Chi.” Qiao Zhao said.

“Ai.” Chi Can finally stopped his twitching mouth and asked with a smile; “Do you live in the capital?”

Seeing Qiao Zhao nodding, he shook his head and said; “That’s unfortunate. We still have to go to Jiafeng and it won’t be convenient to take you with us. Why don’t we do it like this? I’ll hire a carriage to take you back to Beijing.”

“Jiafeng?”

Qiao Zhao’s heart jumped a few times.

Li Zhao’s home was in the capital, while hers has always been in Jiafeng.

She hadn’t gone to her grandfather’s grave in kowtow in a while, and she didn’t know how her grandmother and the others were now.

“Uncle, uh… no, Brother Chi, I want to be with you.” Before the three of them could speak, Qiao Zhao quickly explained, “Brother Chi has a good heart, hire a car to take me back to Beijing. What should I do if the coachman is mean to me throughout the journey?”

She found Chi Can at first, and at that moment it was natural to see if Chi Can agreed with what she said.

Seeing that he was still hesitating, Qiao Zhao blinked and said; “I can repay Big Brother Chi for saving my life…”

Chi Can immediately became vigilant.

‘Shouldn’t this little girl say that she can only tell her parents to repay them?’

“If Big Brother Chi takes me home, my parents will definitely thank you.”

This was different from what he had thought, and suddenly he felt very uncomfortable.

The other two men both began to laugh at the same time.