Chapter 52
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Ling Rui and Ling Fu were given the task of standing guard. They stood at the spot the leader designated, their small bodies standing straight.
“If anyone comes, give us a warning.”
With that, the leader led the group into the orchard.
It was noon, the sun was high, and there was no one in the orchard.
After standing for a while, Ling Fu grew restless.
Though they stood under a large tree, providing some shade, they were still hot, with their faces flushed.
The weather in Luocheng was warm year-round, but it had been unusually warm lately.
Ling Fu sat down on the ground, while Ling Rui remained standing, wiping the sweat from his face.
“Sixth Brother, don’t you think something feels off?”
Despite being overheated, Ling Rui’s little head suddenly realized something.
Brother Zhuzi asked them to stand guard, but why was that necessary for picking fruits?
Ling Fu, plumper and more heat-sensitive, didn’t really catch what he was saying.
Ling Rui looked at Sixth Brother on the ground and voiced his doubt, “Sixth Brother, whose orchard is this?”
“Why do we need to stand guard while Brother Zhuzi picks fruits?”
Ling Fu, finally understanding his question, answered weakly due to the heat, “The orchard belongs to someone else. Zhuzi is leading them to steal fruits.”
Because they were stealing, they needed someone to stand guard.
Never having stolen anything before, Ling Rui was stunned, “Sixth Brother, stealing is bad.”
The tutor had mentioned this in class.
A gentleman does not engage in theft.
They were to be gentlemen and shouldn’t steal.
Ling Fu, lacking the gentleman’s integrity, sat firmly on the ground without budging.
“Little Seven, I heard Zhuzi say the owner of this orchard is a bad person. Stealing a few fruits from him is doing a good deed.”
Ling Fu didn’t know how bad the owner was, but he believed Zhuzi must be right.
“Don’t just stand there, sit and wait with me.”
Ling Fu sat in the shade, and since he wasn’t moving much, he didn’t feel as hot.
He caught a grasshopper and handed it to Ling Rui to play with.
One stood and one sat, both guarding the orchard’s entrance.
After some time, Ling Fu dozed off against the tree.
Ling Rui, though distracted by the grasshopper, also felt sleepy from not having taken a nap.
Just as he was dozing off, he heard footsteps in the distance, carried by the wind.
The drowsy little boy instantly woke up.
“Sixth Brother, someone is coming!”
Panicked from doing something wrong, Ling Rui started pacing, “What do we do? How do we alert Brother Zhuzi?”
Ling Fu: “…”
Ling Fu finally woke up, pointing to the tree they were leaning against, his face serious, “Climb the tree! We must hide.”
“Okay!”
Ling Rui hugged the tree, using all his strength, but he couldn’t climb up.
Seeing that Ling Rui couldn’t climb, and people were approaching, Ling Fu pulled him and they ran into the orchard.
Running on their short legs, Ling Rui also loudly imitated animal sounds to warn the others, using frog croaks and other animal noises.
Originally planning to imitate birds, he found the chirping too quiet.
In his urgency, his little face turning red, Ling Rui chose to imitate Ah Wu’s sound, howling loudly, “Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!”
Ling Fu nearly stumbled from his unique warning sounds.
The children in the orchard heard the strange noises, and Zhuzi, having picked many fruits, realized something was wrong after a few seconds of listening.
“Retreat!”
Under Zhuzi’s lead, the group of children ran off with the fruits.
Ling Rui, done with his howling, and Ling Fu, ran deeper into the orchard, eventually stumbling into a small house within the orchard.
In the forest, there are quite a few small houses like this one, some for the workers and some for the masters.
Sometimes, when the masters feel like coming over for a visit, they naturally need a place to rest.
The small house that Ling Rui and Ling Fu ran into was just one of these resting places for the masters. They hid under the bed and stayed still after running inside.
The house was not locked.
But the people who came later locked the house.
Three people entered, seemingly one master and two servants, as two of them called one person “Master”: “Master, I just heard children shouting wildly. It’s probably the children from Tangjia Village stealing fruits again.”
The “wildly shouting” Ling Rui: “…”
The little guy blushed under the bed.
He wasn’t shouting wildly earlier; he was trying hard to signal.
“Send someone to look for them. Next time you see those wild kids, don’t report to me. Just break their legs. I get annoyed just seeing those wild kids.”
“Yes, sir.”
After talking about the wild kids, the servant continued, “Master, if you like Xiang Er, I can bring her to the mansion for you. There’s no need for you to come here personally in this hot weather.”
“A wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as a stolen one. What do you know?”
The master’s voice sounded aged. He poured a cup of tea and sipped it lightly, while instructing one of the servants to bring Xiang Er over.
After the servant left, the master and the remaining servant started talking about business: “How’s that batch of grain?”
“Master, according to your instructions, our grain stores in the disaster-stricken county towns are selling at ten times the usual price. Even at that high price, people are still buying. The relief grain recently dispatched by the court, most of it went to Lord Zhu, and the rest is in our warehouse.”
“In my opinion, this is not a year of great disaster; for you, master, this is a year of great profit.”
The servant’s mouth was full of flattery. Under the bed, the two little ones, with Ling Fu’s eyes wide open, had already understood.
The master in the room was a big bad guy!
Ling Rui, a bit slower, also understood the conversation between the master and the servant.
He too widened his eyes and looked at his sixth brother.
Ling Fu, afraid that he would make a sound, reached out to cover his mouth: “Shh.”
Ling Fu might be slow in his studies, but living in the palace as a prince had heightened his sense of danger.
Especially since he had experienced being protected by his younger brother last time.
He was no longer the timid, chubby, and weak little boy he used to be.
Covering his Little Seventh brother’s mouth, he signaled with his eyes for him not to speak or be afraid. As long as they stayed hidden here, they wouldn’t be discovered!
Sweat beaded on both their foreheads.
They kept their mouths tightly shut, not making a sound.
After a while, the door opened again. The servant who had left returned with someone: “Master, I’ve brought Xiang Er.”
As soon as Xiang Er arrived, the master waved his hand, signaling the two servants to leave.
He seemed to feel that this was his territory, where there was no danger. He even specifically instructed: “You don’t need to wait at the door. Go farther away and check if there are any wild kids in the forest.”
“Yes, master.”
“And no matter what sounds you hear, don’t come in,” the master added.
This last instruction made both Ling Rui and Ling Fu more alert. They exchanged glances, understanding each other.
Soon, the door closed, and the footsteps of the two servants faded away.
Ling Rui carefully moved a bit under the bed, peeking outside. He saw an old man with a beard, holding a young girl by the shoulder.
The girl was trembling and crying: “Master, my family is arranging a marriage for me. Please, let me go.”
“Your entire family’s life contracts are in my hands. Without my permission, who would dare marry you?”
The master showed no pity for the girl’s sobs. His hand on her shoulder, his voice flat but chilling: “If you behave and please me, I’ll arrange an easier job for your parents. When you still want to marry, I’ll find you a servant boy.”
The master’s words made the girl sob even harder.
But she didn’t dare move.
Her entire family were the master’s slaves. Her parents were bought by him, and she was born into slavery.
The girl’s pleas had no effect.
Ling Rui clenched his little fists tightly as he listened.
Ling Fu, positioned slightly behind him, was getting anxious.
Ling Rui peeked out his small head again, assessing the old master’s age.
After seeing the master’s face, Ling Rui retreated to the center of the bed and whispered in Ling Fu’s ear: “Thin, old man.”
Ling Fu caught the key information, his eyes growing determined.
Their palace lessons had taught them some self-defense techniques.
Ling Rui was still too young and hadn’t mastered them.
But Ling Fu had learned a few moves!
“Little Seven, don’t get close. Just throw things.”
“Let Sixth Brother handle it.”
“Okay.” Ling Rui covered his mouth and whispered back.
Both little ones peeked out together.
What they saw made them furious—the old man was about to kiss the girl, who was crying and dodging.
As the girl dodged, her gaze fell upon them.
She saw the little ones under the bed.
In that moment, she felt as if a current of electricity had passed through her body.
Previously too scared to resist, the girl suddenly broke free under the watchful eyes of the two clean and innocent children.
She did not expose the two little ones.
On the contrary, she did not want the children to witness such a dirty scene.
The girl’s struggle displeased the master greatly.
He stared at the girl coldly, intending to threaten her with words.
However, before he could say much, a vase placed on the bedside table suddenly smashed against his back with a “bang”.
Pain surged through him, and as he turned to the side to avoid the blow, he saw the two little angry faces.
“Little Seven, hit him! Hit him hard!”
After giving the order, Sixth Brother charged forward.
Initially, the master was furious when he saw the two kids, but he didn’t think they could pose a real threat.
It wasn’t until he tried to kick the charging child and failed.
The weight of the chubby little one was beyond what he could handle.
Using his weight, the plump child knocked the master over, while Ling Rui found a kettle.
He lifted the kettle and resolutely struck the master with it.
One child pressed down while the other hit, subduing the old man who had been pampered for many years.
They had the upper hand.
But their advantage was short-lived. The old man soon unleashed the ferocity of an adult, throwing Ling Fu off him.
He grabbed the other child, who was still searching for things to hit him with, by the scruff of the neck.
“You little brats, you must have a death wish!”
The master, who hadn’t been beaten like this in years, was enraged, his eyes red with fury, ready to deal a fatal blow to the two children.
At the critical moment, the girl, who had been hiding nearby, picked up a chair and struck the master from behind.
The strength of two children couldn’t match that of an adult, but the girl was strong enough. She had worked hard for many years and had considerable strength.
With one blow from the chair, the master’s knees gave way, and he fell to the ground.
The girl snatched the child from his grip and called to the plump child on the floor: “Run, follow me.”
She picked up the child, urged the plump one to follow, and ran out the door.
The master, lying on the ground, called for help after a moment: “Someone, come quickly!”
“Go after Xiang Er and those two little brats, bring them back!”
In the forest, people were just about to start work after lunch.
The master had brought servants, who, along with the forest guards, wasted no time and quickly chased after Xiang Er.
Meanwhile.
After receiving the signal from the little ones, the group that had left in time found that the two lookouts were missing.
Zhuzi was stunned: “Where are Little Six and Little Seven?”
Jiang Yan, Chen Zhou, and the sixth prince’s study companion were also puzzled: “Where is our highness?”
“Brother Zhuzi, I just heard some croaking sounds from the forest…”
One child with good hearing spoke weakly: “It seems Little Six and Little Seven went into the forest too.”
Upon hearing this, Zhuzi’s face darkened.
They had already been discovered.
The people in the forest would definitely look for them, and if Little Six and Little Seven didn’t get out, they might be caught.
Jiang Yan and the sixth prince’s study companion exchanged a glance, and the next second, they decisively rallied the group.
For the past few days, their highnesses had been playing without revealing their true identities.
Otherwise, Zhuzi and the others wouldn’t have dared to call them Little Six and Little Seven. Zhuzi only knew they were a group of wealthy kids, but he didn’t know their exact identities.
“Chen Zhou, take the others. Li Si, Li Wu, we’re going in!”
Jiang Yan’s words made it clear to the fourth and fifth young masters of the Li family what he meant.
They were going in to save the little ones!
“Let’s go!”
The young masters of the Li family were also scared. If they lost the two princes, they wouldn’t be able to go back today.
They could directly die to apologize!
Chen Zhou and the sixth prince’s study companion went to rally their guards, who were nearby but had been dismissed earlier.
Led by Jiang Yan, they and the young masters of the Li family headed back into the forest, leaving Zhuzi bewildered.
They ran into the forest, while Xiang Er, carrying the two little ones, ran out.
As they ran, they collided.
At the same time, Xiang Er and the two little ones were blocked by the master’s servants who had taken a shortcut.
Ling Rui, sitting in Xiang Er’s arms, was a bit scared at the sight of the servants’ sticks.
But as soon as he saw his group, his fear vanished.
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