The Thief Prince

The carriage was so bumpy that Li Zheng was awakened several times.

In a daze, he seemed to see a boy and a girl, both around ten years old, looking at him with wary and panicked eyes in the carriage.

"Water...water..."

The younger girl tried to step forward, but was pulled back by the slightly older boy next to her.

After a while, Li Zheng felt a cool sensation on his lips, and his dry, sore throat was relieved.

Before he could even say thank you, exhaustion caused him to faint again.

When I woke up again, sunlight streamed through the cracks in the car window and shone on my face.

Li Zheng felt a splitting headache, and with difficulty straightened up, he looked at the two children.

The boy looked about twelve or thirteen years old, with furrowed brows and a tense body.

The girl, who looked about seven or eight years old, looked at him timidly.

Seeing that look in his eyes, Li Zheng felt a strange sense of familiarity.

She looks almost exactly like the children in the orphanage from her previous life.

Recalling the appearance of the two men from before, Li Zheng had a guess in his mind.

Did we encounter human traffickers?

Li Zheng did not despair because of this; instead, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Although human traffickers are utterly depraved, most of them are driven by greed and the desire to ensure their own safety for a short period of time.

It's at least safer than staying in the capital.

Li Zheng checked his physical condition and found that apart from a slight pain in his neck, there were no obvious external injuries.

I don't know what the principle behind time travel is. After being suspended for so long, my cervical spine must have been broken, yet I was able to recover.

Now that he was temporarily safe, Li Zheng began to sort through the original owner's memories.

This world is much the same as the previous one; everyone speaks Chinese and there were dynasties such as Qin, Han, and Tang.

The problem arose during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was not the Zhao Song dynasty that ended the chaos, but the current Zhou dynasty.

Li Zheng dropped out of high school, but he had studied history and knew that there was a powerful ruler named Chai Rong during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

As for the famous figures from the Song Dynasty in the memory, such as Zhao Pu, Wang Anshi, and Fan Zhongyan, the original owner did not have any memories of them.

If the Zhao family is so ruthless towards him, then his nominal father, who is the emperor, must not be safe either.

Li Zheng had no intention of rescuing the emperor; he had no feelings for the emperor whatsoever.

He was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage, where family was a completely foreign concept to him.

I'm just a little worried about the children at the welfare home. The director and the others are getting old, and they'll inevitably be bullied after I'm gone.

The most important thing now is to survive.

Aside from fighting and collecting debts, it seems like I can't do anything else.

In a different world, can one still survive by fighting and collecting debts?

Thinking of this, Li Zheng pinched his brow in frustration, just in time to see the curious look in the eyes of the girl opposite him.

Although the girl was nicer to him, Li Zheng didn't choose to talk to her, as that would make the boy more wary of him.

"Is this your sister?"

The boy paused for a moment, then shook his head.

Just as Li Zheng was about to ask more questions about the human traffickers, the curtain was suddenly pulled open, revealing a hideous face with a knife scar.

"Oh, you're awake?" The scarred man sized Li Zheng up. "Whose son are you?"

Li Zheng did not answer.

Although he didn't consider himself a good person, he still felt a strong aversion and contempt for human traffickers.

Scarface drew a dagger from his waist, gently pinching the tip with one hand, and asked himself a question:

"What we found on you was inlaid with jewels and stained with human blood."

"Also, the fabric of your clothes isn't cheap; it must have some kind of expensive backing, right?"

Faced with Scarface's questioning, Li Zheng remained silent, resorting to passive-aggressive tactics.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it." The scarred man grinned maliciously. "No matter who you were before, you can forget about ever returning to the capital in this lifetime."

"We don't need to explain what we do. Just be honest and don't cause trouble."

Li Zheng spoke his first question: "Where are you taking us?"

Scarface raised an eyebrow: "They already have a buyer. As for you... with your delicate skin and literacy, the gentlemen in the south are just missing a page like you."

Upon hearing this, Li Zheng breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Being a pageboy? That would solve his identity problem, so it's a pretty good start.

I remember reading novels in my past life, and many male protagonists started out as pageboys or servants, but that didn't stop them from marrying princesses and unifying the world.

But... why did this person's eyes fill with mockery and malice when he mentioned the pageboy?

Seeing that Li Zheng remained silent, Scarface snorted coldly, lowered the curtain, and went out.

The carriage returned to calm.

"Are you alright?" the boy suddenly asked. "Being a page at least ensures your safety. Don't do anything rash."

Li Zheng looked at the boy in front of him in surprise: "Why do you say that?"

The boy suddenly realized: "You don't know what a pageboy does, do you?"

Li Zheng replied, "Serving tea and water, grinding ink and spreading paper."

The boy retorted, "Can't the maids do these chores? Why do we need a page?"

Li Zheng thought of something and felt a chill run down his spine.

But the boy continued, "Besides what you've said, the pageboy also has to warm the beds and blankets for the gentlemen, relieve their worries and boredom, and help them vent their anger when they get irritable."

Li Zheng understood completely, and his eyes gradually widened.

Die! Human traffickers must die!

Starting with a pageboy is absolutely out of the question!

He lowered his voice involuntarily: "Do you know who these people outside are? Where are they taking us?"

The boy shook his head: "Those two people had southern accents and led us all the way south."

"Now that we have entered Xuzhou territory, we are probably heading towards Yangzhou."

"Wait a minute," Li Zheng interrupted, "How can you get from the capital to Xuzhou in just one night?"

The boy looked at him in surprise: "Three days and three nights have passed since you got on the bus."

Li Zheng was slightly startled. He had been unconscious for so long. The capital must be in complete chaos by now.

Once Zhao Jiateng makes his move, even if he, as a remnant of the royal family, is not caught, he will be unable to move an inch because he has no official status.

I have to find a way to escape and hide somewhere!

Thinking of this, Li Zheng said softly, "We need to find a way to escape. You don't want to just sit here and wait to die, do you?"

The boy looked at him silently.

Li Zheng introduced himself: "My name is Li Zheng."

The boy replied, "Yan Yun, from Hebei."

Li Zheng was somewhat surprised: "A good name."

Like the Song Dynasty in its previous life, the Great Zhou Dynasty never managed to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun.

The fact that his elders gave him this name shows that their previous judgment was correct; Yan Yun was no ordinary farmer's son.

Li Zheng looked at the girl again.

Yan Yun spoke up for her, saying, "This child cannot speak. She was abducted from Daming Prefecture by those two bandits. I don't know her background either."

Li Zheng suddenly realized why the girl hadn't spoken; she was mute. He felt a pang of pity for her.

Having exchanged names, a preliminary cooperation has been reached. Although immediate trust is impossible, they are no longer strangers.

Li Zheng relaxed his guard slightly and began to close his eyes to rest and recover his strength.

I'm too weak right now; I don't even have the strength to speak, let alone fight.

Seeing that Li Zheng was resting, the two children stopped talking, and the carriage returned to silence.

Just then, shouts and curses came from outside the carriage, which then began to slow down gradually.

Li Zheng immediately stood up and leaned against the car door, while Yan Yun also alertly shielded the girl behind him.

Looking out through the crack in the door, one could see a huge log blocking the dirt road in front of the carriage.

The two human traffickers had already walked over, looking around in terror.

A short while later, a loud shout came from the woods beside the road:

"Gentlemen, you are the heroes of Dangshan! If you know how, leave some money to pay your toll, or we'll take your lives!"

Then I saw figures moving along the roadside, and footsteps echoing from all directions.