After several sighs, the little one was released by Shui Shui.
Shui Shui squatted by the roadside and pulled out a stalk of long, thin grass. He stripped off the leaves, leaving only the stem: “Here, eat.”
Ling Rui: “…”
Ling Rui was momentarily stunned.
Seeing him not taking it, Shui Shui directly brought the stem to his mouth.
Ling Rui instinctively bit it and chewed.
It was sweet, not as sweet as candy but with a refreshing sweetness that tasted even better than candy.
Jiang Yan and Chen Zhou, walking behind Ling Rui, saw him eat the grass stalk without hesitation. They wanted to stop him but were too late.
This randomly plucked grass hadn’t been washed.
Holding hands with Ling Rui, Ling Fu didn’t mind the unwashed grass and extended his hand to Shui Shui, asking, “Can I have some too?”
Shui Shui looked at him and went to pluck another handful.
After Ling Fu asked, the other kids also wanted some.
Shui Shui kept pulling up the edible grass. Looking at the group of kids waiting to eat the grass, he felt like he was feeding little calves.
He really enjoyed feeding calves.
But since his family didn’t own any, he could only secretly feed the calves belonging to other families in the village. Now, looking at this group of kids waiting with their mouths open for sweet grass, he was getting his fill of feeding calves.
The group of kids clustered together, and their happiness seemed contagious.
They ate the grass, chased each other, and their little faces were all smiling.
Seeing the little kids laughing beside him, Shui Shui breathed a small sigh of relief.
Time passed bit by bit.
They walked and stopped, stopping to eat when they were tired.
Ling Fu carried a bag filled with food.
Ling Rui also brought food, but Chen Zhou was carrying it for him.
By noon, they still hadn’t reached their destination.
“Let’s rest for a while and continue later.”
“Okay.”
“Sounds good.”
The suggestion to rest was unanimously agreed upon by all the kids. They sat in the shade, eating and drinking water.
Zhuzi and the village kids also brought dry food. They had cornbread, which looked dry and unappetizing.
But Ling Rui still exchanged his rice cakes for their cornbread.
Zhuzi initially didn’t want to trade: “Little Seven, mine isn’t tasty, you should eat yours.”
“I haven’t tried it before.”
Ling Rui looked at his cornbread, insisting on the trade: “I want to try it.”
He insisted on eating the cornbread and didn’t want Zhuzi to break it for him.
With no other choice, Zhuzi finally traded with him.
The sweet and glutinous rice cakes were nutritious and delicious, while the cornbread’s texture and taste were quite poor.
Ling Rui took small bites of the cornbread, chewing and swallowing with effort. As he ate, he asked Zhuzi, “Do the village kids all eat this?”
“Most of them do, but some rich families eat white buns.”
Zhuzi said this while licking his lips, clearly craving white buns.
Seeing the little kid looking at him, he smiled and said, “Being able to eat cornbread is actually quite good. I heard from the adults that in other places, disasters have left many people starving.”
“They don’t even have cornbread to eat. My parents can make me cornbread, and I’m quite content with that.”
Zhuzi had a positive outlook. He knew that half of these kids came from well-off families and lived good lives.
But thinking of his own parents, he felt satisfied.
His parents hadn’t made much money, but they provided for him, never letting him go hungry or cold.
They weren’t educated and often scolded, but they were good parents to him.
“My daddy has money, I’ll ask him to get us some.”
Ling Rui said while eating the cornbread, “Brother Zhuzi, next time I’ll treat you to white buns.”
“Then I’ll thank you in advance.”
Zhuzi ruffled Ling Rui’s hair, smiling: “Little Seven, you’re so nice, be careful not to get tricked.”
Ling Rui nodded seriously: “I’m smart, I won’t be tricked.”
He wasn’t easy to fool!
The village kids ate the lunch given by the young masters. If it were in the past, the young masters of the Li family wouldn’t have played with the village kids.
But because of the two princes, Little Six and Little Seven, they got to know these kids.
Through this interaction, they found that the village kids weren’t as bad as they once thought.
Now that the Zaizai Gang was formed, the young masters of the Li family treated the gang members as their own. They were always generous to their own.
Ling Rui ate all the difficult-to-swallow cornbread, not wasting any.
Ling Fu, curious, also asked for a piece. After eating, his face scrunched up, but he didn’t spit it out.
Ling Rui knew that anything his sixth brother ate, whether delicious or not, he would finish it.
Consort Ru said that when his sixth brother was sick and refused to take medicine, she mixed the medicine with his favorite snacks. Even though he tasted the medicine, he still finished the snack.
Ling Rui had always admired him for that.
After eating, the kids slept on the grass for a while. Once they were well-rested, they continued their journey.
It must be said, even without adults around, these kids were doing quite well.
However, their slow pace made Shui Shui sigh: “Little Seven, we’re so slow, it will be dark.”
Ling Rui: “Huh?”
Ling Rui didn’t quite understand what Shui Shui meant.
It wasn’t until they reached the place Shui Shui mentioned, and the sky had turned dark, that Ling Rui realized Shui Shui meant they would reach their destination at night.
“Little Seven, let’s go home.”
As soon as they arrived, Shui Shui wanted to take Ling Rui’s hand and go home.
Ling Rui and the kids looked at the mountain before them, then at the deserted surroundings. Honestly, the scene was a bit scary, but they didn’t want to leave.
“The moon is so bright, I think we can see.”
The third young master of the Li family, unwilling to leave, said, “We can look for a while and see if we can find the herb with eight leaves. We worked so hard to get here, maybe we’ll find it quickly.”
Hearing this, Shui Shui looked at the third young master and slowly said, “No.”
There was no guarantee that hard work would result in finding the herb. If it didn’t grow here, no amount of effort would help.
Ling Rui looked at the kids who didn’t want to leave, then at Shui Shui who wanted to go home. He felt torn between wanting to leave and not wanting to leave.
If they didn’t leave soon, his parents would start to worry, and he might even get scolded.
But if they left now, all the walking they did during the day would have been for nothing.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Ling Rui decided, “Let’s search for another half hour. After that, we’ll head back.”
Since it was already dark, another half hour wouldn’t make much difference.
Hearing Ling Rui’s decision, Shui Shui hesitated but then nodded.
He pointed to a strangely shaped tree not far away and raised his voice, though his tone was still slow, “Don’t go past the tree. It’s dangerous.”
Shui Shui said this in his loudest voice.
Ling Rui nodded to show he understood.
On the way here, Shui Shui had slowly emphasized several times that there were no people living here, the mountain had many medicinal herbs but also many wild animals.
Besides wild animals, there might also be wild men here.
Although Shui Shui mentioned these things, the kids only remembered that there were many herbs here.
Their little heads didn’t think about why, if there were so many herbs, no one came to collect them.
After all, herbs could be sold for money.
Even though the kids were smart, the oldest was no more than seven years old, and they couldn’t think too deeply.
While the kids were searching for herbs, one of the guards following them had already returned to report to Emperor Ling and Noble Consort Yi about the kids’ whereabouts.
“The two princes are looking for herbs and refuse to come back.”
After delivering the message, the guard lowered his head, not daring to look at Emperor Ling and Noble Consort Yi. Though he didn’t look up, he could sense the tension in the air.
“It’s so late, and they still haven’t returned. I think he needs some discipline,” Noble Consort Yi said, frowning, and glanced at Emperor Ling. “Have you found tutors for Little Six and Little Seven?”
She felt they had been given too much freedom.
Although the children in their general’s mansion had always been wild, and her father said it was better for children to play outside than to be confined in the mansion all day, she felt it wasn’t good to be too wild.
“I’ve already found them,” Emperor Ling said, sensing Noble Consort Yi’s rising anger. “The school and tutors are ready. Little Six and Little Seven can start anytime.”
Hearing this, Noble Consort Yi restrained her temper.
She looked at the guard on the ground and ordered, “Bring Little Six and Little Seven back. If they refuse, carry them back.”
“Yes.”
The guard received the order and left.
Meanwhile, the kids, still searching for herbs, were engrossed and didn’t want to go home.
“Shui Shui, is this valuable?”
“I don’t know.”
“Shui Shui, is this a good herb?”
“Yes.”
“Shui Shui, what about this one? What is it? What does it treat?”
“It can reduce fever.”
One by one, the kids showed Shui Shui the herbs they dug up, while the village kids packed up the herbs.
These useful herbs could be taken home, used by their families, or sold to pharmacies, which was a good option.
They found a lot of useful herbs, but not the one with eight leaves.
Half an hour later.
Ling Rui looked at his dirty hands, disappointed that he hadn’t found anything despite his efforts.
“We’ll come back next time.”
Shui Shui didn’t mind his dirty little hands and held his hand to go home.
Ling Rui shook his head, gathering his energy.
“Yes! Let’s go home, we’ll come back tomorrow.”
Ling Rui said and then started walking. He held Shui Shui’s hand and counted the kids.
Suddenly, his face showed surprise, “One, one is missing.”
The missing one was the third young master of the Li family.
He called out, but there was no response.
The kids tried to remember, and finally, one found a silk handkerchief used by the third young master during the day near the tree Shui Shui had pointed out.
“Did he go past the tree? Let’s go find him.”
The fourth young master of the Li family picked up the handkerchief, looking worried, “If we can’t find third brother, I won’t go back.”
Shui Shui frowned deeply, looking at the tree.
He had said not to go past the tree.
His mother said it was dangerous beyond the tree.
The fourth young master stood by the tree, about to cry, “If you don’t help me find him, I’ll go alone. You can leave.”
Hearing this, the kids couldn’t let him go alone.
Ling Rui looked at Shui Shui, who didn’t want to go, then at the determined fourth young master. He ran back and called out, “Guard brothers, save us!”
Moments later, a group of guards appeared before him.
As it was dark, the guards focused on the two princes and didn’t notice that the third young master had sneaked past the tree.
Ling Rui grabbed a guard, pleading, “One of the kids is missing. We’re too small to search alone, we might get lost.”
After getting lost once, Ling Rui had become very cautious when going out.
Although he dared to run far with the kids, he knew that his father had arranged for guards to secretly watch over him.
The guards would only come out if he called for them. Otherwise, even if he fell, they wouldn’t come to help him up.
Ling Rui understood this very well.
He didn’t let the kids go look for the lost Third Young Master Li but instead sent the guards: “They’re adults; they won’t get lost while looking for him.”
Ling Rui watched as the guards went in to search. He stood there, smelling the other kids.
As they waited, the kids went from standing to sitting.
Fourth Young Master Li kept wiping his tears, saying, “I should have watched over Third Brother. When he was looking for herbs earlier, I felt something was wrong.”
“He cares a lot about my cousin’s arm. My cousin taught him to ride a pony before.”
Seeing Fourth Young Master Li cry, Ling Rui also felt a bit guilty.
He was the leader of the kids, but this time he failed to look after everyone: “Don’t cry, we will find your third brother.”
Seeing that Fourth Young Master Li was still crying, Ling Rui put his hand on his arm, thinking he might use his foresight.
Third Young Master Li and Fourth Young Master Li were brothers.
If he could see Third Young Master Li in Fourth Young Master Li’s future, it meant they could find him tonight.
Thinking this, Ling Rui closed his eyes.
He activated his foresight.
However, as soon as he did, he saw a very bad scene.
In the scene, inside the mountain next to them, it was much deeper than it appeared.
In the forest inside the mountain, Third and Fourth Young Masters Li had both fallen.
Their small bodies lay in a pool of blood, and in front of them were many adults.
Besides the adults, there was a flag on the clearing with the word “Zhou” on it.
Ling Rui heard the voices in the scene, saying Emperor Ling was incompetent and should be replaced by Emperor Zhou.
They also talked about assassination.
Ling Rui’s little mind worked hard, and he spoke to Ah Wu at this moment.
“Ah, Ah Wu.”
Ling Rui described his foresight to Ah Wu. His little voice trembled: “There are bad people in the mountain.”
“Don’t be afraid, little one, it’s just a group of rebels.”
During the recent disasters in Qi Dynasty, a rebel army secretly formed among the people. The assassination attempt on Emperor Ling on the ship last time was also the work of this rebel group.
Ah Wu had found this rebel group but had not located their base. Unexpectedly, they were close to Emperor Ling.
“Little one, you still have guards with you, right?”
“Yes.”
“Now let the guards take you home, take everyone back.”
Ah Wu’s tone was calm: “Go back and bring more people, remember to keep an eye on Fourth Young Master Li.”
Seeing Fourth Young Master Li’s future where he lay in a pool of blood meant he secretly ran into the mountain to look for Third Young Master Li.
In the end, he found Third Young Master Li but also got caught.
“Ah Wu, how do I bring more people in?”
Ling Rui knew there were many people in the mountain, but he couldn’t tell his father directly.
Without telling his father directly, just using the excuse of looking for Third Young Master Li wouldn’t bring enough people at once.
Ah Wu thought for a moment.
After a moment, Ling Rui listened to him, looking at the guards watching over him.
Without warning, he started running into the mountain. When the guards caught up, he collapsed to the ground.
Guard: “…”
The guard was startled and picked him up.
“Little prince, what happened?!”
“I, I was attacked by bad people.”
The little one laid weakly in the guard’s arms, saying, “There are bad people.”
His words about being attacked by bad people carried a lot of weight.
That night, Emperor Ling sent people into the mountain to look for the bad people.
Even while lying in the guard’s arms, Ling Rui didn’t forget to hold onto Fourth Young Master Li’s hand.
He wouldn’t let Fourth Young Master Li go.
He kept using his foresight. After Emperor Ling’s people entered the mountain, the future scenes for Fourth Young Master Li finally changed.
He continued to use his foresight, meaning he could keep talking to Ah Wu.
“Ah Wu, Third Young Master Li is safe this time.”
“Ah Wu, Third Young Master Li is alive.”
“Ah Wu, I couldn’t see how many days it took to find Third Young Master Li.”
“Ah Wu, what are you doing?”
“Taking a bath.”
Ling Rui: “…”
Okay, it turns out Ah Wu would patiently talk to him even while taking a bath.
