Did The Young Prince’s Kingdom Get Destroyed Today? Chapter 54

Chapter 54

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Zhuzi glanced at the group of children; there were enough of them to form a gang.

“Little Seven.”

Zhuzi, who used to be the leader among the kids, now felt like stepping back in favor of Ling Rui. He supported Little Seven’s idea: “Let’s give ourselves a name, like Green Dragon Gang or White Tiger Gang.”

“That way, when we go out to do big things, we can introduce ourselves with a name.”

Ling Rui, who hadn’t thought that far, suddenly realized: “We can have a name.”

Even his father’s guard team had a name, so they could have a cool name too.

This group of kids, the oldest being only six and a half, didn’t have high literacy levels. Especially the village kids, who had never been to school.

Coming up with a powerful name was quite a challenge for them.

Ling Rui thought hard, frowning. He tugged at his hair and asked, “Have you thought of anything?”

He couldn’t come up with anything.

Jiang Yan, who had attended school and read some books, stepped up to help: “I have an idea.”

All the kids turned their eyes to him.

Under their gaze, Jiang Yan swallowed and said, “How about we call ourselves the Boulder Gang? It sounds solid!”

Ling Rui: “…”

Ling Rui rubbed his little face, not liking the name much.

Ling Fu was more straightforward, rejecting it outright: “Your name isn’t as good as Green Dragon Gang.”

After much thought, Zhuzi asked Ling Rui: “Little Seven, do you have a nickname? We could use that.”

Ling Rui hesitated: “My nickname is Zaizai.”

Ah Wu said that the big name was important and should be given when he was older.

Until then, his nickname would be Zaizai.

“Let’s call ourselves the Zaizai Gang.”

After hearing the nickname, Zhuzi thought it sounded good.

In their village, children weren’t called by such endearing names; their names were often crude.

Their parents said crude names were easier to raise.

“Zaizai Gang.”

Ling Rui repeated the name, feeling a bit embarrassed: “Call it Zaizai?”

“Yes, I think it’s suitable. What do you all think?”

Although this group of children seemed random, with some from the village and some from the city, it was clear that they all paid the most attention to Little Seven.

So naturally, they agreed to use the name Zaizai Gang.

“Let’s call it that.”

Ling Fu decided, rubbing Ling Rui’s head: “I like the name.”

With the name settled, next was deciding what their gang would do.

With his face flushed, Ling Rui cleared his throat and spoke again, but this time his voice was soft, as if he was still a bit embarrassed: “What we need to do is catch the bad guys and stop them from doing bad things.”

Jiang Yan, who had read some books, quickly spoke up, adding, “Little Seven means that we need to help the weak and fight against the strong! Uphold justice! Rid the people of harm!”

Jiang Yan rattled off several idioms in one breath, but unfortunately, the little ones didn’t understand the first term.

However, they did understand the last two terms.

Ling Rui nodded his little head in agreement and echoed, “That’s right, we need to rid the people of harm.”

His mother and eldest brother had told him that even though he was a young prince and couldn’t do great things for the common people, he should at least refrain from doing bad things.

As a prince living a very good life, he was being supported by the entire nation and its people.

His mother and brother often told him that since he was still small, he just needed to grow up well.

His elder brother would handle the tasks of helping the people, but Ling Rui also wanted to do something.

Having decided to rid the people of harm, the other kids all expressed their support.

“Little Seven, shall we start by investigating today?”

Zhuzi, the oldest of the group, always took the lead no matter what they did. This time was no different. He led the group of children and began investigating the village.

Zhuzi and the village kids knew quite a lot about what was happening in their village.

For instance, who had stolen someone else’s chicken, or who had secretly dug up a bit of land to take more for themselves.

The kids knew about these trivial matters.

After explaining the village affairs to Ling Rui, Zhuzi asked, “Shall we start by ridding our village of harm?”

Zhuzi then confessed, “My mother also stole corn from the Fourth family.”

After his confession, he hesitantly asked, “Little Seven, can we not punish my mother? She only stole corn once, and the Fourth who grows corn also stole peanuts from us.”

Ling Rui: “…”

Of course, Ling Rui wouldn’t punish Zhuzi’s mother just for stealing corn.

Standing at the entrance of the village, Ling Rui seriously explained to everyone, “Stealing a little corn isn’t the kind of bad guy we’re after.”

“We’re going after those who bully others.”

With Ling Rui setting the priorities, Zhuzi slapped his forehead, remembering something: “There’s a little fool in the neighboring village who gets bullied a lot. I heard that he’s treated quite pitifully.”

Zhuzi elaborated, “The bullies strip his clothes and once even shoved mud into his mouth.”

After Zhuzi finished describing how the little fool was bullied, Jiang Yan couldn’t contain his anger, rolling up his sleeves: “Bullying a fool is too despicable!”

“Zhuzi, let’s go! Today, our gang will rid the little fool of harm!”

Ling Rui’s face was tense as he listened to Zhuzi’s story, feeling a tug at his heartstrings.

Zhuzi looked at them and eventually led them to the neighboring village.

These villages were all quite poor, and the neighboring village was even poorer than theirs.

On the way, Zhuzi told Ling Rui about the little fool’s background. The little fool only had a mother and no father.

The little fool’s mother was very beautiful, but no one knew who his father was.

Possibly because he had no father, the other villagers loved to bully the little fool. Though his mother protected him, she couldn’t watch over him all the time since she had to work.

Ling Rui listened to the story all the way, and by the time they reached the neighboring village, his eyes were red.

“Sixth Brother, the little fool is so pitiful.”

“Yes, he is very pitiful.”

Ling Fu held his hand and walked forward, comforting him as they went: “Little Seven, don’t be sad. We’re here now, and from now on, we’ll protect this little fool so no one dares to bully him.”

“Mm!”

Ling Rui nodded vigorously. The hand that wasn’t held by his sixth brother was clenched into a small fist.

At that moment, he felt that his little gang suddenly had a purpose.

After reaching the neighboring village, Zhuzi scouted around.

Soon, they found the little fool. He was surrounded by a group of kids throwing stones at him.

Ling Rui didn’t see the little fool’s face clearly. Upon seeing the kids throwing stones, he launched himself like a little cannonball.

“Sixth Brother, throw them!”

The stones that the kids had been using to hit the little fool were now picked up by Ling Rui’s gang and thrown back at them.

A scuffle broke out between the two groups.

Despite his small size, Ling Rui was quick at dodging stones. He only got hit a few times, but he hit a lot of others!

The fight ended when the adults arrived.

The village adults naturally defended their own children, but Ling Rui was there to protect the little fool.

He spread his small arms to shield the little fool behind him.

“It was your kids who started it! They are the bad ones!”

Even though Ling Rui was small, he was very imposing as he argued with the adults, his little face raised defiantly.

While he argued in front, Ling Fu, Jiang Yan, and the young master from the Li household stood behind him.

These young masters, from head to toe, radiated an aura of wealth.

Especially the fourth young master of the Li family, who was the favored youngest son. His clothes and accessories were all lavish.

He wore a solid gold necklace and gold bracelets on both hands. This richly dressed child left the villagers speechless.

Ling Rui was also dressed well.

However, most of his accessories were jade, and a single piece of jade on him could be worth a fortune.

The villagers knew gold but didn’t recognize the value of jade.

They looked at the gold-laden young master from the Li family and then at the little prince being protected by him, and their argument lost momentum: “What our kids do has nothing to do with you! They didn’t hit you, so why are you meddling?”

“We are the Zaizai Gang, and we take care of everyone’s business!”

Facing adults much older than him, Ling Rui wasn’t scared at all. “If your bad kids bully others again, I’ll hit them back!”

“If you dare to hit me, I’ll tell my dad.”

After sending the bad guy Old Qian to jail, the little rascals naturally learned to rely on their parents’ influence.

Ling Rui brought up his father, not specifying his father’s identity, but his demeanor made the adults realize—

This kid’s father is not someone to mess with.

The kids who threw stones and bullied others ended up being scolded and taken home by their parents, crying.

The Zaizai Gang had a great victory.

Watching the bad kids being taken away by their parents, Ling Rui stood at the back and continued to threaten loudly, “If you do bad things again, I’ll make you cry again!”

The bad kids cried even louder as they were taken away.

After they were gone, Ling Rui turned to look at the little fool.

The little fool had delicate features but was too skinny.

Ling Fu touched his arm and said, “No problem, I can make him chubby.”

Ling Fu loved to feed others, especially to make them chubby. He was confident he could fatten up the skinny little fool.

The little fool was dirty, covered in mud.

He softly said to the little children, “Thank you.”

Ling Rui: “…”

Ling Rui was stunned.

He didn’t expect the little fool to say thank you.

Neither did Zhuzi.

“You don’t seem very foolish after all?” Zhuzi said directly, without any tact.

The little fool smiled at them and said nothing.

Ling Rui reached out his small hand to wipe the dirt off the little fool’s face. After cleaning his face, he took the little fool to wash up.

They spent a long time with the little fool that day.

The little fool was cleaned up, and his clothes were washed too.

They caught little fish and crabs, picked fruits, dug sweet potatoes from the bad kids’ fields, and shared their food.

The little fool’s belly was full.

Ling Rui’s belly was full too.

Among the little rascals, only these two were truly full; the others were only partially satisfied.

The little fool was pitiful, and Ling Rui was young.

The Zaizai gang took care of the two of them without saying anything, acting with great mutual understanding.

After returning that day, Ling Rui held the little fool’s hand, reluctant to let go. “Shuishui, we’ll come again tomorrow.”

“Yes, come,” the little fool Shuishui smiled and nodded.

Ling Rui let go of his hand and returned to the palace before dark.

For the next two days, Ling Rui kept visiting the little fool.

The Zaizai Gang kept their promise to protect the little fool, and they really did.

Shuishui was happy playing with them for those two days.

“Little Seven, eat this.”

“This is poisonous.”

During their time together, Ling Rui discovered that Shuishui knew many plants. He knew which grasses were poisonous and which were sweet and could reduce inflammation.

“Mother taught me,” Shuishui said under Ling Rui’s amazed gaze. “Mother knows a lot, she’s better than Shuishui.”

“Shuishui, where is your dad? Will he come back?” Ling Rui couldn’t help but ask Shuishui.

He wanted to know where Shuishui’s dad was.

Why wasn’t his dad around when Shuishui was being bullied?

“Dad will come back,” Shuishui’s face lit up with more smiles. “Dad is also amazing.”

In Shuishui’s eyes, both his parents were amazing.

Ling Rui listened to his answer, feeling stuffy inside.

Shuishui liked his dad so much, but his dad wasn’t around.

Thinking about Shuishui’s life made Ling Rui feel heavy-hearted.

After protecting Shuishui, the Zaizai Gang gradually took on other tasks.

They were constantly busy, and somehow, the Zaizai Gang became known.

People in the villages and towns started talking about a group of little rascals who would step up whenever they saw someone doing bad things.

This group of rascals had an unknown origin, but each one had a strong sense of justice.

The Zaizai Gang’s reputation spread, but the little rascals themselves were unaware. They were too busy to realize they had become famous.

Emperor Ling heard some rumors and called for the little rascals.

Coincidentally, when the little rascals were called, they had just returned from seeing Shuishui.

Shuishui’s life had improved significantly, but today, Ling Rui saw some new wounds on Shuishui.

Ling Rui knew these wounds were from being bullied.

The other rascals said that if a village had a fool, that fool would usually be bullied. This was common; everyone disliked fools.

Hearing this, Ling Rui couldn’t help but think of himself.

If he were a fool, would he be treated the same?

Would his parents, siblings, and Ah Wu still like him?

The more Ling Rui thought, the sadder he became.

When he returned to the palace, his beautiful eyes were filled with tears, and his little face looked pitiful.

Noble Consort Yi was startled by his appearance. “What’s wrong? What happened outside?”

“Mother,” Ling Rui let Noble Consort Yi pick him up. He pressed his tear-streaked face against her and choked out, “If I become a fool, would you still love me?”

Without hesitation, Noble Consort Yi nodded. “Of course.”

She wiped the little boy’s tears and comforted him, “No matter what you become, Mother will always love you.”

Ling Rui pressed his face against hers, his small hands wrapped tightly around her neck.

Before Noble Consort Yi could finish soothing him, Emperor Ling took the little boy away.

Ling Rui didn’t know the boy was upset at this moment; if he had known, he probably wouldn’t have come to take him away.

“Father.”

Emperor Ling, who had chosen the wrong time to pick up his son, was faced with the boy’s tearful question: “If I become a little fool, will Father still want me?”

Emperor Ling: “…”

Emperor Ling hesitated for just a moment, and the little boy almost cried, “Father doesn’t want Zaizai?”

Originally, Emperor Ling had called him over to discuss something serious, but seeing his son in tears, he found himself from a position of authority to one of passivity.

He could no longer focus on what he had intended to discuss. Lowering his head, he said helplessly, “When did I ever say I didn’t want you?”

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