“Ah Wu is the best!”
The little cub held the birdcage, his eyes curved with joy, as he threw himself into Ah Wu’s arms and nuzzled against him.
Ah Wu let him snuggle for a while before leading him to dinner.
During dinner, the little cub kept his eyes on the birdcage. “Ah Wu, how did you catch it?”
“I saw a bird’s nest and brought it along.”
While both were looking for bird nests, Ah Wu easily caught the bird the little cub wanted, whereas Zhai Bai ended up with a swarm of bees chasing him.
The contrast between their experiences couldn’t have been more stark.
After dinner, the little cub wanted to deliver the bird. He looked at Ah Wu, waiting and waiting, but Ah Wu showed no signs of leaving.
In the past, Ah Wu would always have something to do at this time.
“Ah Wu, aren’t you busy?”
“Not busy.”
Ah Wu knew what the little cub wanted to do, but he sat steadily on the chair, not intending to leave.
The little cub, seeing that Ah Wu wasn’t leaving, said reluctantly, “Okay then.”
He decided not to deliver the bird today.
With the bird undelivered, the little cub seemed to be carrying a burden on his small face, glancing outside every now and then.
Seeing his little cub like this, Ah Wu sat for a while longer before getting up to leave.
“I just remembered that I have some unfinished business.”
Ah Wu patted the little cub’s head and told him, “Be good and wait for me here. I’ll be back later.”
“Okay!”
The little one, seeing Ah Wu about to leave, perked up.
As soon as Ah Wu left, the little one grabbed the birdcage, humming a tune he made up, and headed towards the Chief Examiner’s house.
“Our little treasure is so happy today~ so happy, so happy~”
The tune the little one hummed was so off-key it flew off into the sky, but he didn’t realize it and sang it joyfully.
On his way, the little one ran into Zhai Bai.
Zhai Bai was soaking wet, looking like he had just crawled out of the water. His face was frighteningly dark, and there was a swollen bump on his forehead, as if he had been bitten by something.
The sight of the bedraggled Zhai Bai left the little one in shock.
“Little Bai!”
The little one put down the birdcage and ran over to Zhai Bai.
“What happened to you?”
As the little one asked, he took out a handkerchief with a little rabbit embroidered on it from his pocket and handed it to Zhai Bai to wipe his face.
Zhai Bai, looking at the handkerchief, took it and wiped his face without intending to return it.
The little one didn’t ask for it back.
The little one just anxiously asked him, “Did you fall into the river while fishing?”
“No, I jumped into the river myself.”
Zhai Bai couldn’t help but defend himself. He wasn’t dumb enough to fall into the river while fishing.
The bees had been chasing him relentlessly, and he had no choice but to jump into the water.
Even though he escaped by jumping into the water, he still got stung a few times.
These bees had a particularly nasty sting, and the welts from their stings would probably take a few days to go away.
Thinking about this made Zhai Bai grind his teeth in anger towards Qin Wu.
He was seething with anger towards Qin Wu but had no such feelings towards the little one.
Holding the little one’s handkerchief, Zhai Bai gave him a self-mocking smile. “I heard you wanted a bird, so I went to catch one for you. Someone told me there was a bird’s nest in a tree, so I climbed up.”
“But there was no bird’s nest, only a beehive.”
Zhai Bai didn’t hold back at all; he told the little one exactly how he ended up with those swollen bumps.
When the little one found out, he felt a bit embarrassed.
“You… You should be more careful next time.”
The little one searched all his pockets but couldn’t find anything useful. He leaned closer to inspect Zhai Bai’s swollen bumps and said, “You should find some medicine and apply it. It’ll help a lot.”
“I don’t have any medicine. But it’s fine, it won’t kill me.”
As Zhai Bai said this, he added, “Little bun, you’d better stay away from me. It seems like someone doesn’t want us to be friends. This time someone tricked me into thinking there was a bird’s nest, but it was actually a beehive. Next time, who knows, they might trick you too.”
Zhai Bai finished speaking, looking quite dejected.
Although he never mentioned Qin Wu by name, it was clear from his words that he blamed Qin Wu for his current state.
Seeing his gloomy expression, the little one furrowed his brows.
“Wait here.”
The little one wandered around for a while, found some herbs that could reduce swelling, and handed them to Zhai Bai. “Crush these and apply them to the bumps. It won’t hurt as much.”
Zhai Bai accepted the herbs and nodded.
They chatted a bit more before the little one waved goodbye, picked up his birdcage, and continued on his way.
“Sigh.”
As he walked, the little one let out a small sigh.
Zhai Bai seemed a bit pitiful.
If the Chief Examiner rejected him again, it would be even sadder.
“What does the big boss like?” the little one started to doubt if the bird he brought would be enough.
As he was talking to himself, someone unexpectedly answered his question.
“I know what he likes.”
The little one: “!”
The little one was startled and looked up to see a man sitting in a tree.
The man looked young, with naturally curly hair tied up. He was leaning against a thick branch, looking down at the little one with a curious gaze.
The little one craned his neck to look at him.
“Hello!”
The little one, who was naturally friendly, greeted the man in the tree. After greeting him, he got straight to the point: “Were you just talking to me?”
The man nodded.
The man was good-looking, with a young, baby-faced appearance. He smiled at the little one, and his smile was quite infectious.
The little one had never seen this man before.
He looked at the tree, then at his birdcage, and finally put the birdcage down and quickly climbed up the tree.
“Uncle.”
Once he was up in the tree, the little one sat next to the man and softly asked, “Do you know what the Big Boss likes?”
The man smiled and answered, “Yes.”
The little one pressed on, “What does he like?”
The man kept smiling, “He likes peace and quiet, not being disturbed by anyone.”
The little one: “…”
The little one: “Huh? That’s no good.”
He hadn’t finished delivering his gift yet; he definitely needed to disturb the Chief a little longer.
“I… I still need to disturb the Chief a bit more, maybe twice.”
The little one honestly admitted, “I’m giving him a gift. If he doesn’t like the bird, I’ll have to bring something else.”
The man looked at the birdcage and knew what little one was planning.
“I like birds too.”
The man spoke to the little one, “No one has ever given me a bird before.”
The little one: “…”
Now the little one was in a dilemma.
He only had one bird. If he gave it to this uncle, he wouldn’t have anything left for the Chief.
“Uncle, would you like a little fish instead? A little fish that blows bubbles.”
The little one patted the man’s hand, trying to distract him like he was coaxing a child.
But this strange uncle was very stubborn.
He didn’t like little fish, little bunnies, or wooden horses; he only liked the little one’s bird.
In the end, the little one was almost on the verge of tears, his little face about to crumple.
He sniffed, pretending to chirp like a little bird, hoping the uncle would want “Zai Zai Bird” instead of the real one in the cage.
Seeing that the little one was about to cry, the baby-faced uncle finally relented.
“Alright.”
He pinched little one’s chubby cheeks, finding the “Zai Zai Bird” just as delightful, squishy, and fun to pinch.
“Since you kept me company for so long, I’ll give you a piece of information.”
“You definitely can’t give the Chief Examiner what he really wants, but you can stick to him more.”
“He likes being clung to, but he just won’t admit it.”
“Okay, off you go, little clingy bundle.”
The man patted the little one on the back, sending him off to do what he needed to do.
“Goodbye, Uncle!”
Bidding farewell to this hard-to-please uncle, the little one ran off without looking back.
He ran for a while until he finally reached the Chief Examiner’s house.
“Big Boss, Big Boss, I’m here again!”
“I brought you a little bird.”
Standing at the door, the little one shouted loudly, afraid the person inside wouldn’t hear him.
The Chief Examiner heard him but didn’t come to the door.
“Not interested. Go back.”
The Chief Examiner didn’t open the door, but his voice echoed out, startling the little one.
He looked around and asked, “Big Boss, where are you?”
The Chief Examiner didn’t respond.
The little one stood at the door, and it wasn’t until this moment that he suddenly remembered—
The Big Boss’s house is haunted!
Instantly, he tensed up, gripping the birdcage tightly. He faced the door and said again, “Big Boss, I… I have something important to tell you.”
Chief Examiner: “Not interested.”
The little one grew anxious, his little face tensing up as he vowed, “It really is important, I’m not lying to you.”
He wanted to tell the Big Boss about the house being haunted!
This kind of haunted house was no place to live.
Before, while playing with Zhuzi and the other kids, the little one had heard many ghost stories from the village children.
They said that when a ghost enters a house, it loves to come out at night and might even harm people!
Those ghost stories had scared the little one so much that he didn’t dare to sleep when he got home.
In the end, it was Emperor Ling sleeping on his left, and Noble Consort Yi on his right, with him sandwiched in the middle, holding onto both of their hands tightly. Surrounded by the adults’ presence, he finally fell asleep.
But even in his sleep, he had nightmares.
In short, the little one was very afraid of this.
With little one’s serious oath, the Chief Examiner, who had been inside the house, finally came out.
He opened the door and looked down at the little one, who frequently came to visit. His expression was cold, and his voice was frosty, “Speak, what’s this important matter?”
The little one beckoned him closer with a little finger.
Chief Examiner: “…”
The Chief Examiner, with some patience, bent down and leaned in, wanting to hear what this important matter could be.
As they got close, the little one whispered into his ear, his voice small, “Big Boss, let me tell you, your house is haunted! You can’t stay here any longer—”
“I know.”
The Chief Examiner had just stepped out of the house when he heard this. Looking at the nervous little one, he raised an eyebrow and suddenly lowered his voice, “Kid, I’m a ghost now. I’ve possessed this person’s body… If you come back again, I’ll come after you.”
The Chief Examiner’s tone was indeed different from before.
He added, “A plump little kid like you, I could eat two at once.”
The little one: “!!!”
The little one was so scared that he plopped down on the ground, looking at the Chief Examiner as if he were staring at a terrifying ghost.
“What… what did you do to the Big Boss?!”
“Your Big Boss is fine. I just borrowed his body, but if you don’t leave now, you’ll be in trouble.”
The Chief Examiner looked at the frightened child sitting on the ground, but didn’t offer a hand to help. After scaring him enough, he turned and went back into the house, shutting the door behind him.
The little one stared at the closed door, his expression one of utter devastation.
Too scary.
The Chief had been possessed by an evil ghost!
The little one’s eyes reddened, and he stared blankly at the door, too afraid to try and open it.
He sat there for a long time before getting up, rubbing his eyes with a sniffle, and running back to find Ah Wu.
He didn’t even take the birdcage with him.
The little one ran as fast as he could, while back in the house, the Chief Examiner thought about the scared little one. After a moment, he called for Sui An.
“Add another course for these children.”
“What kind of course?”
“A course on debunking superstitions. Just tell them there are no ghosts in this world.”
It was amusing to scare the little one, but if he got traumatized, that would be a problem.
After the Chief Examiner gave his instructions, Sui An nodded, indicating he understood.
“Big Boss, then I’ll leave now?”
“Mm.”
Sui An left, thinking about how to prepare for this new lesson.
In this Guan Shan Residence, about half of the people weren’t originally from this world.
They came from the future to this place.
The technology, ideas, and many other things they brought from the future didn’t exist in this world.
If they revealed everything they knew to the world, it would cause chaos.
So, they had always been cautious.
They slowly established this Guan Shan Residence as a place of refuge. Only after securing a place to live and survive could they plan their next steps.
Their plans didn’t include world domination.
They just hoped that the people here, the ordinary people, could live slightly better lives.
He hoped at least one of the children they had recruited would make something of themselves.
With these thoughts, Sui An quickened his pace.
He needed to prepare for his lesson.
Meanwhile, little one had returned from the Chief Examiner’s place and was clinging to Ah Wu’s neck, sobbing for quite a while.
“There is a ghost!”
The little one gestured to Ah Wu, saying, “The Big Boss’s voice changed all of a sudden—it’s a ghost!”
“Zai Zai, there are no ghosts in this world.”
“Yes, there are!”
The little one’s eyes filled with tears, and he was so scared that he reverted to his original fluffy form. He clung to Ah Wu with his little paws, insisting, “There are little auspicious beasts in this world, so why wouldn’t there be ghosts!”
Ah Wu: “…”
Ah Wu: “There are little auspicious beasts, but no ghosts.”
Seeing that Ah Wu didn’t believe him no matter what, the little one got even more upset, his sobs growing louder, “There are, there are! Zhuzi and the others said there are.”
“The storybooks say so too, there are lots in the storybooks!”
Thinking of the storybooks, a little light bulb went off in little one’s head, “The storybooks say how to get rid of ghosts.”
The little one wanted to drive the ghost out of the Chief Examiner’s body.
The ghost in the Big Boss’s body wanted to eat children—it was a bad ghost.
Ah Wu saw that little one had stopped crying, so he patted his belly. The little one sometimes got so worked up that even his belly would get upset.
“Zai Zai.”
After patting his belly, Ah Wu reverted to his fierce beast form. He pulled the snow-white little one closer with one paw and said in a low voice, “No more crying, let’s play for a while.”
“Aw, okay!”
With a plan forming in his head, the little one saw that Ah Wu wanted to play with him. Even though tears still lingered in his eyes, a smile began to spread across his face.
He pounced, his little paws grabbing Ah Wu’s mouth, trying to bite the tail.
This seemingly playful activity actually helps train the little guy’s hunting skills.
Ah Wu often plays along with him.
Seeing the little cub enthusiastically grabbing his tail, Ah Wu had a thought and decided to test his reaction skills.
Without making a sound, Ah Wu lifted his tail and gave it a little shake.
The fluffy white tail had barely swayed in front of the cub when the little guy swiftly snatched it with his paws and, without hesitation, bit down on it.
Ah Wu: “…”
The little one: “…”
The little one had bitten the wrong tail and hurt his own, and this time, there was no consoling him as he cried uncontrollably.
They made quite a fuss in the room for a while until someone knocked on the door: “Open up! Why’s the door locked?!”
Ah Wu had locked the door earlier when the little one transformed back into a little ball. No one could see their original forms.
Now, the two of them, one big and one small, had turned back into human children, so Ah Wu went to open the door.
It was Zhai Bai who entered, and as soon as he came in, he saw the little one’s eyes were still red from crying. He asked, “Were you crying?”
The little one shook his head, “Not crying now.”
Zhai Bai looked at the little bun’s red eyes, then at Ah Wu, seemingly thinking Ah Wu hadn’t taken good care of the little bun.
If the little bun was in his hands, he definitely wouldn’t have let him cry.
They stayed in the room for a while until it was time for evening study. The evening study lasted an hour, and students could choose whether or not to attend.
If anyone had questions, they could ask the teacher during study time.
If not, they could rest freely.
The little one was quite diligent about attending the study sessions.
As time approached, he packed his textbooks into his bag and headed out to class.
“Qin Wu, was the little one always this studious?”
Ah Wu didn’t respond.
The little guy’s enthusiasm for studying came in waves. Back in the capital palace, when his older siblings were all at school and no one was around to play with him, he enjoyed going to school too.
But later, when they moved to the summer palace, and he met a group of kids who played outside, he didn’t want to go to school anymore.
Now at Guan Shan Residence, all the kids followed the teacher’s words and went to school every day.
Since the little one couldn’t find playmates outside, and the teacher in class lured him with rewards, he had gotten back into studying with renewed energy.
Zhai Bai’s words, Ah Wu could easily ignore eight out of ten.
Zhai Bai was used to being ignored by Ah Wu, and whenever he got frustrated, he’d take it out on Teng Liang.
Teng Liang had already clashed with him several times.
While they were still in the room, the little one, carrying his textbook, had already made it to class.
The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, so the cub opened his book and, with great concentration, began reciting the material.
The things in the book hadn’t been taught by the outside teachers.
After a while of studying, the teacher arrived, and the little one quickly grabbed his notebook to ask questions.
Besides the cub, there were always a few scattered children in class every day.
But none of the other children ever asked questions. They just sat in class flipping through their books, sometimes taking ages to turn a page, clearly not reading seriously.
When the study session ended, although the little one still had many unresolved questions, he obediently said goodbye to the teacher.
“Little Seven, don’t you find studying tiring?”
After the session, a child sitting next to the little one asked him.
The little one shook his head, “Teacher said there are rewards.”
“What’s so great about the school’s rewards?” the child replied indifferently.
As the little one tidied up his desk, he softly said, “I want them.”
He thought the school’s rewards were wonderful.
They continued chatting casually, and soon the little one slowed down while packing his bag.
Hesitantly, he asked, “Have you guys ever heard of ghost stories?”
“Of course, who hasn’t?”
“Then, do you know how to catch ghosts?”
“I do.”
It was Jiu Jiu, who had been silent in the corner, who spoke up.
After saying he knew, Jiu Jiu stopped talking.
The little one waited for a while, then asked confusedly, “Jiu Jiu, why aren’t you saying more?”
Jiu Jiu: “…”
Jiu Jiu: “You didn’t ask me to continue.”
Hearing this, the little one hurriedly said, “Then please continue, I really want to know.”
Jiu Jiu was brave and loved hearing about ghosts, so he knew a lot about strange things.
As for catching ghosts, there were plenty of ways mentioned in folk tales.
“Ghosts are afraid of certain things, like peach wood swords, roosters, and…”
Jiu Jiu listed a bunch of things confidently.
The little one listened in awe, “You know so much!”
The other kids were eavesdropping too. Jiu Jiu, noticing the admiring gaze of the little one, huffed, “I know a lot more.”
Even though study time had ended long ago, the little one stayed in the classroom for a while before leaving.
When he left, he walked side by side with Jiu Jiu.
“If you want to find those things, you can ask me. I can help you.”
The little one: “…”
The cub blinked and said softly, “Pretty please.”
Jiu Jiu: “…”
Jiu Jiu was startled, not expecting Little Seven to really ask him.
Awkwardly, Jiu Jiu responded, “Since you asked, I’ll help you find those things. Shall we go now?”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
Driving away ghosts for the big boss was urgent, and the little one didn’t want to waste any time.
The two of them went together to the street, where they bought a peach wood sword, a large rooster, a lot of cinnabar, and some glutinous rice.
These things looked like a random assortment.
The little little one spent all his money buying them. He had originally wanted to treat Jiu Jiu to something to eat, but now that wasn’t possible.
“It’s fine, after we use the rooster, you can still eat it.”
Jiu Jiu said, “I can make beggar’s chicken. After we’re done with it, you can take it out, and we’ll cook it outside and eat it with some rice wine. It’ll be really nice.”
“Okay!”
The little one nodded vigorously, agreeing to his suggestion.
They brought the items to Jiu Jiu’s room, where the little one also had a bed, but he rarely slept there. At night, he usually went to find Ah Wu.
“Let’s put it on your bed, it’s empty anyway.”
As for the crowing rooster, they tied its legs and placed it in a quiet courtyard where there weren’t many people around.
“I’ll come and get it later.”
After putting everything in place, the little one waved goodbye to Jiu Jiu.
Jiu Jiu acknowledged him with a sound, but didn’t wave back, just watched as he left the room.
As soon as the little one was gone, the other kids in the room surrounded Jiu Jiu. “Hah! Weren’t you the one who didn’t want to play with Little Seven, and even told us not to? How come you’re hanging out with him now?”
Jiu Jiu’s face flushed as he defensively explained, “It’s not like I wanted to be with him. He begged me, so I went along.”
“Stop pretending. If you hadn’t said those things in class, there’s no way Little Seven would have stuck with you.”
One of the kids who had been in the study group at the time exposed Jiu Jiu’s lie.
The room erupted with the kids arguing noisily.
Meanwhile, the little one, now having prepared everything for his task, felt a bit more at ease. When he returned to his room, he saw everyone was there and greeted them one by one.
At first, he used to sneak in, but now he didn’t hide it anymore. He sat on Ah Wu’s bed, swinging his little legs while munching on some fruit Ah Wu had given him.
Anyone unaware might have thought he lived there.
With Ah Wu in the room, the other two rarely had a chance to talk to the little one, so they didn’t waste time trying.
After the little one finished his fruit, Ah Wu handed him clean clothes and took him to bathe.
There was a public bathing area, and while the little one soaked in the bath, Ah Wu unfolded a letter he had received earlier and let the little one read it aloud.
The little one could recognize many characters now.
Holding the letter, in his soft voice, he read to Ah Wu: “Little Seven, how’s your studying going? Is the teacher still kind…?”
This letter was from Emperor Ling, written to the cub.
Besides Ling Emperor’s letter, there were also letters from Noble Consort Yi, several princes and princesses, the young masters of the Li family, and even Zhuzi from the village. All these people wrote to the little one.
Jiang Yan and Chen Zhou were heading back to the capital with everyone, so they could no longer teach Zhuzi and the others. They had arranged for a scholar to teach them literature, as well as a martial arts master, so the boys could learn both.
The little one had received more letters than any other child at Guanshan Residence combined.
After soaking in the bath for a while, the little one had only managed to read three letters. He rubbed his eyes, feeling drowsy from the bath.
“Ah Wu, carry me.”
Holding a letter in one hand, the little one stretched out his arms to Ah Wu.
Ah Wu lifted him out, dried him off, dressed him in clean pajamas, and took him back to bed.
“Ah Wu, Father and the others went back to the capital.”
“Third Brother said Father’s head illness still hasn’t healed.”
The little one’s father’s head illness had been diagnosed by the imperial physicians. They said it was caused by excessive worry, and the only cure was rest. However, even after a long period of rest, the illness hadn’t fully healed.
When the little one mentioned his father’s illness, his little head began to ache too.
Ah Wu didn’t have much feeling toward Emperor Ling. He wasn’t a great emperor, not much of a husband either, but in terms of raising the little one, he was passable as a father.
For the sake of this, Ah Wu was willing to chat with the little one a bit about Ling Emperor: “Doesn’t Shui Shui know how to treat illnesses? You could ask him to take a look at your father.”
“Father won’t allow it.”
The little one sighed, “Father doesn’t trust Shui Shui because he thinks he’s too young. When Shui Shui treated Third Brother’s illness, they had to do it secretly. The Empress doesn’t believe in Shui Shui either, she says he’s too young to know how to heal people.”
Neither Ling Emperor nor the Empress respected Shui Shui.
They only trusted the imperial physicians and the doctors they hired themselves.
“Let’s not talk about this anymore. The teacher started a herbal medicine course, so you should learn more about that. Maybe you’ll be able to treat your father yourself.”
“Okay!”
The little one nodded, “I’ll work hard to learn.”
Hand in hand, they returned to the room and went to sleep.
The night air was cool, and the little one kept shifting his sleeping position. Ah Wu slept on the outside of the bed to keep him from falling off.
If he fell, there’d be tears for sure.
The next day.
The little one upgraded his ghost-catching gear. One of the kids in class gave him a small yellow Taoist robe: “Little Seven, I heard you’re catching ghosts. Wear this, I heard ghosts are really scared of it.”
“Thank you, you’re so kind.”
“Little Seven, I know a spell. I’ll teach it to you.”
“Mm-hmm! Sure!”
The class, usually full of rowdy kids, was in a surprisingly good mood. The little one sat quietly and sweetly, talking to them about his father.
He smiled with squinted eyes, the warmth on his little face like the gentle rays of sunlight.
All the little rascals in the class wanted to get closer to that warmth.
The little one was fully prepared, and before setting off, he quickly read through another family letter. There were so many letters, he had to work overtime recently just to finish reading them all.
After reading, he had to reply to just as many letters.
In short, reading and writing letters had become quite a project for the little one.
In a letter from his eldest brother, the little one found a misplaced one. It wasn’t meant for him but for someone else.
The letter mentioned this year’s natural disasters, which caused a reduction in crops, and many farmlands had been damaged.
There were many words in the letter that the little cub didn’t understand.
He went to Ah Wu, who patiently explained all the difficult words to him. After understanding the vocabulary, the little one could comprehend the letter.
His little face became worried: “Our land isn’t good for growing crops anymore.”
Without crops from the fields, what would the people eat?
No wonder his eldest brother was worried in the letter too.
Despite his concern, the little one didn’t let it stop him from gathering all the items he had collected over the past few days. He hadn’t told Ah Wu about his plan to catch ghosts because he was afraid Ah Wu wouldn’t allow it.
He knew Ah Wu’s temperament well.
Since the chief examiner had been so hard on Ah Wu, there was no way Ah Wu didn’t care, and he might even be worried about the examiner.
The cub had already come up with an excuse for why he wouldn’t be sleeping with Ah Wu tonight.
In their small class, the teacher would check on them at night to see if they were asleep.
Everything was ready.
The night was dark, the wind strong, and the surroundings silent. The little one, wearing a small Taoist robe that didn’t quite fit and hung loosely, had a bag of glutinous rice around his neck, a bag of cinnabar and talismans slung over his shoulder, a small peach wood sword in his left hand, and a large rooster in his right. Bravely, he set off.
As he walked, he kept encouraging himself: “I’m not afraid! I’ve brought so much equipment.”
With all this gear, surely the bad ghost wouldn’t dare hurt him!
The little one was already familiar with the path to the chief examiner’s house.
He had brought so many things that by the time he arrived, he had to sit down and catch his breath for a while.
Going through the front door was out of the question; the bad ghost would spot him.
He remembered the hole from last time, so without hesitation, he crawled through it again.
However, with all the stuff he was carrying, crawling through the hole was tough. By the time he made it through, his little face was smudged with dirt.
“Phew, that was exhausting,” the cub sighed, wiping his forehead. He gathered his equipment, got up, and set off to find the chief examiner.
To avoid alerting the ghost, the little one had even tied up the rooster’s beak.
He searched through the house for the chief examiner, who was sitting in the study reading a book.
Coincidentally, the chief examiner was sitting in the same spot where the cub had accidentally thrown something at him last time.
As he read, the chief examiner absentmindedly thought to himself—
Children really are easily scared.
He had pretended to be a ghost, and sure enough, the little one had been too scared to come back.
