She had to save Xiao Feng, she absolutely had to get her child back.
However, she couldn't stand up and lay weakly on the ground.
Gritting her teeth, she crawled forward inch by inch with her hands.
Even though her fingers were scraped raw and left bloody marks, she paid no mind and didn't feel any pain.
Xiao Feng, Mama is coming, Mama will save you soon, just wait a little longer, just a little longer.
After crawling for an unknown amount of time, a pair of black men's shoes appeared in her line of sight.
Her movements paused, and before she could even look up to see what was happening, a man's hands placed the unconscious Xiao Feng in front of her.
"Thank you..." As she looked up to express her gratitude, the person had already flown far away.
"Xiao Feng!"
Tao Lengshuang hugged Xiao Feng tightly, trembling and weeping, "It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back."
"From now on, Mama will watch you carefully and won't give bad people any more chances."
As she sat on the ground to recover, waiting for Xiao Feng to wake up, she also pondered this incident.
Who would want to take Xiao Feng?
Was it related to Mo Lingxi?
It didn't seem like it, but it was possible.
Was it related to those who wanted to harm her?
This was possible.
Beyond that, it was difficult to say if there were any other possibilities for now.
Once she calmed down, Tao Lengshuang felt pain everywhere, as if her entire body had been torn apart. Her fingers throbbed with piercing pain, and she was parched.
She cautiously looked around, and as if from her sleeve, but actually from her spatial medicine garden, she took out wound medicine and sprinkled it on her fingers.
The pain almost brought tears to her eyes.
It hurt so much!
If she hadn't been preparing wound medicine these past two days, she would have had to spend money to buy medicinal herbs, which would have been such a waste! More importantly, she would have felt heartbroken.
By the time Tao Lengshuang had recovered, Xiao Feng also slowly woke up.
"Mama!"
His frightened cry pierced Tao Lengshuang's heart.
"It's alright, it's alright, the bad guys are gone."
Tao Lengshuang gently patted Xiao Feng, her voice softening as she comforted him, "This is Mama's fault this time. From now on, Mama will protect our Xiao Feng."
Feeling the familiar warm embrace, Xiao Feng, still shaken, nestled in her arms, his eyes teary, "Mama, Xiao Feng was so scared."
Tao Lengshuang's heart ached, and she hated her own helplessness even more, "Don't be scared, don't be scared, Mama is here."
She had to prepare more medicinal powder to guard against potential dangers and never let such a thing happen again.
The warm and secure embrace made Xiao Feng less afraid, but he still clung to his mother, "Mama, can we go back now?"
He didn't want to stay in town anymore, afraid that something like this would happen again.
Tao Lengshuang also wanted to return to the village immediately, but... "We have to wait for Aunt Shen Er and the others."
"How about this, Mama will take you to eat meat buns, okay?"
As she said this, she tried to stand up but found her body aching terribly.
"Mama, what's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Xiao Feng noticed something was wrong with Tao Lengshuang and, forgetting his own fear, asked with concern.
Tao Lengshuang said she was fine, knowing that this was the after-effect of extreme overexertion and that she would need some rest to recover.
She managed to stand up by leaning on the wall, took Xiao Feng's hand, looked around vigilantly, and walked forward slowly.
She kept reminding Xiao Feng to hold her hand tightly and not let go.
As she passed the unconscious masked man, Tao Lengshuang's eyes sharpened. She fiercely stepped on his right hand and ground it down.
"Ah!"
The intense pain jolted the masked man awake. He instinctively tried to protect his hand.
But Tao Lengshuang kicked him hard in the head.
Just then, the poison took effect, and the masked man writhed on the ground in pain, clutching his body, "It hurts, it hurts! Please, give me the antidote, give me the antidote!"
Tao Lengshuang pressed Xiao Feng to her chest and looked at him ferociously, "Who sent you to snatch my child?"
"If you tell the truth, I'll give you the antidote. Otherwise, you'll just wait to die in agony."
The masked man immediately stopped crying out in pain. If he revealed the madam, he and his family would not survive.
He couldn't speak.
Seeing this, Tao Lengshuang made a guess. She took out a packet of poison and threatened, "If you don't speak, then I'll have to poison you again."
"I just don't know if you'll survive this time intact."
The masked man still gritted his teeth and refused to speak.
"Fine, since you won't say anything, don't blame me."
Just as Tao Lengshuang was about to administer more poison, she heard an unfamiliar middle-aged woman's voice.
"Yes, it's them."
Tao Lengshuang looked up and saw an auntie leading two constables running towards them quickly.
Seeing the situation, she knew she couldn't force a confession anymore.
Afterward, Tao Lengshuang and her son were taken back to the county yamen by the constables.
By the time Tao Lengshuang and her son emerged from the county yamen, it was more than half an hour later.
The mother and son were so hungry their stomachs rumbled.
They found an ordinary, reasonably priced small restaurant, ordered one meat dish and one vegetable dish, and listened to the news while they ate.
"Did you hear? His Majesty intends to dismiss General Sheng. What do you think this is all about?"
"No way! General Sheng is the God of War of our Eastern Jin Dynasty. He not only deterred all directions but was also upright and strict, never bullying others with his power. He even did many good deeds for us common people."
"You don't know, Your Majesty listened to slander and felt that General Sheng threatened him. He not only stripped General Sheng of his military power but also ordered General Sheng to recuperate at home. Even though General Sheng was hiding at home, His Majesty still wouldn't let him go."
"Alas, who knows how long this kind of life will last. We common people are truly suffering."
"Speaking of General Sheng, we have to mention General Sheng's only child. I heard that after being married for several years, the Sheng family's daughter still hasn't had any children. It's said that she doesn't want to have them."
"Why? Filial piety is the most important virtue, and having no descendants is the greatest offense. No matter how much she is General Sheng's only child, she couldn't possibly not have children. Could it be that she can't have children?"
"It doesn't seem so. It's said that Miss Sheng likes to be beautiful, or something like that. These are matters of noble families; how could we common folk know?"
"That's right, we common folk should mind our own business. We are currently worried about the price of rice. It has risen by another two copper coins today. If it keeps rising like this, I'm afraid we won't be able to afford rice."
"I heard that some towns have nothing at all. We are still considered fortunate, but I'm planning to stock up on more rice."
"Don't do that. My neighbor's relative's friend, worried that the price of rice would rise too much, bought only ten pounds more rice and was arrested and imprisoned. I heard it would cost several taels of silver to bail them out."
"It seems to be some kind of tax. In the past two years, all sorts of taxes have appeared. For example, you have to pay money to get out of prison, pay money for weddings, and pay money for having children."
"Isn't that the case? Even the original taxes have increased by several times. If this continues, how can we common people live?"