After Ai Cao moved the bed to the main room, a period of peace and tranquility followed.

She accompanied Songtang in his studies, painting, and medicine making, and even discovered the current emperor's biography in the study.

With the system's explanation, Ai Cao understood a bit more.

The current emperor is a woman.

His Majesty took over the responsibilities of the Holy Emperor and ascended the throne at the age of fifteen.

His Majesty is now over thirty, and still has only one imperial consort in the palace; he has an eldest daughter, a second daughter, and a youngest son. His eldest daughter is approaching marriageable age and is a popular candidate for the throne in the capital. But for some reason, there are always rumors that His Majesty intends to pass the throne to his youngest son.

Ai Cao sighed and said, "This one is not easy to kill."

The system was startled. If it could actually influence Ai Cao, it would have covered her mouth: "Don't even think about killing people!" it emphasized painfully, "I'm a male fertility system, not an all-killing system!"

Ai Cao sighed again. The world may seem calm on the surface, but it's actually full of pitfalls.

She counted on her fingers. The Emperor herself was a woman, but she didn't stop until she gave birth to a son.

Although the Emperor had previously kept his eldest daughter by his side to learn about court affairs, he stopped keeping her after she gave birth to a son.

No wonder there were rumors that the emperor wanted to pass the throne to a young boy.

The fishing rod in her hand swayed slightly.

The mugwort came to her senses.

She lifted the fishing rod, unhooked the fish that had taken the bait, and put it into the fish basket.

Her fishing skills were passable, but still not as good as Songtang's. Songtang had already filled her fish basket and was sitting by the river watching the small shrimp and fish swimming inside.

Ai Cao peeked out and looked at the small animal trap that she had set and then filled in not far away.

At first, she set traps with the intention of catching rabbits or other small animals, but after each time she checked the traps, the small pits were filled with panicked animals, she lost her enthusiasm for hunting.

After all, it would take some time to release the extra small animals and fill in the small pit.

Songtang hugged her knees and said, "I miss my mother."

She mentioned her mother for the first time. Ai Cao reeled in her fishing rod, added a large ball of bait to the empty hook, and cast it out again.

"After we moved here, Father went to the capital to take up an official post. Mother went to the capital with Father." Songtang stared at the river and asked, "Why did you leave me here alone...? If their lives were better, would they have remembered me and taken me to the capital too?"

Artemisia silently stared at the fishing rod.

Songtang hugged his knees even tighter. Several large fish leaped out of the river and landed in Songtang's full fish basket, only to be swatted back into the river by the tails of the fish inside.

Ai Cao picked up her fishing rod. Her fish basket was almost full, so she didn't care about the bait that the fish had eaten.

Ai Cao asked, "Why don't we go directly to the capital?" She continued, "Even if we need an elder to accompany us to the capital—I can pretend to be your elder, like your distant cousin."

She has read many books and has developed her own ideas about the world.

Songtang looked up, her wet eyes staring at Aicao: "...Can I go to the capital too?" She lowered her head again, "But what good would it do me if I went to the capital? I'm just a child... I can only live here."

“If you want to go to the capital…” Ai Cao thought for a moment and swallowed back the words that almost came out: “The whole world will help you.”

Ai Cao said, "If you want to go to the capital, then we will go to the capital."

Her brain's system gave her a panoramic map of the current world and then drew the route from here to the capital.

Song Tang stared at the river: "It will cost a lot to travel there..."

Ai Cao continued, "Are you worried about the travel expenses? Why don't we go to town first and ask how much silver you can sell those herbs you picked for?"

Songtang was slightly cheered up by her coaxing: "They're not worth much, are they?"

“How will we know if we don’t try?” Ai Cao finished another round of feeding the fish. “How about we go and scrape together some travel money?” She stood up and reached out her hand to Song Tang, who was still sitting by the river.

Songtang smiled gently and gently took Ai Cao's hand.

Ai Cao carried two fish baskets in one hand and held Song Tang's hand in the other.

The two walked home slowly.

After dinner, Songtang took out some of the herbs she had dried and spread them out on her bed. Aicao followed her instructions, arranging the different herbs together and tying them into small bundles with string.

After they finished tidying up, they put the herbs back into the cloth bag.

All the necessary preparations have been made. Now all we need to do is take the cloth bag to town and ask the local pharmacy if they accept these herbs.

That night, Songtang tossed and turned in bed all night, and Ai Cao heard her turning over. But Ai Cao still slept soundly—children are always a little too excited before a trip.

The next day, she accompanied Songtang, who had dark circles under her eyes, into the town's pharmacy.

The elderly pharmacy manager adjusted his glasses and examined the medicinal herbs they had brought, a kind smile spreading across his face.

She praised the quality and processing of the medicinal herbs without reservation, and warmly invited Songtang to become a pharmacy apprentice.

Songtang blushed and politely declined the grandmother's invitation.

They entered the pharmacy carrying only one cloth bag, but left carrying two. The larger bag contained small gifts from the matriarch, while Songtang carried the smaller one herself, containing their purchases from the trip.

That's enough money for them to travel by carriage to the capital and stay there for several months.

That night, Songtang suffered from insomnia again. She tossed and turned in bed, clutching her cloth bag, unable to fall asleep.

The steady breathing of the mugwort could be heard in my ears.

Why am I the only one who can't sleep well?! Song Tang thought angrily. She simply hugged the cloth bag and crawled to the side of the mugwort bed, glaring angrily at the adult's sleeping expression.

She reached out to pinch the mugwort's nose. But the sleeping mugwort, like a nimble snake, cunningly dodged her outstretched hand each time.

Songtang got angrier and angrier as she pinched him, until she yawned.

She fussed over the mugwort for so long that she started to feel sleepy.

Songtang rubbed her eyes. She whispered to Aicao, who had her back to her, "Sweet dreams."

She lay back down on her bed and carefully placed the bag of silver under her pillow.

She fell into a deep sleep.

After she had been asleep for a long time, Ai Cao finally heard the system calling her. She pieced together the scene from the system's fragmented description, then turned over and vaguely glanced at Song Tang, who was fast asleep.

Ai Cao thought that Song Tang was indeed very lucky, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to pinch her nose so many times...

Even if she had her nose pinched, she wouldn't do anything to Song Tang.

Ai Cao yawned and drifted off to sleep again.