272. Scared? Pretending.

During the few days that the little dumpling lived with her grandparents, every meal consisted of a random cycle of dumpling soup, pickled vegetables, coarse flour steamed buns, cornbread, roasted potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, and roasted yams.

Fortunately, the little dumpling is a good child who is not picky about food. She eats whatever is given to her, and since she had never eaten anything new before, she ate with great relish.

However, Xie Wenling felt somewhat uncomfortable listening to this.

Potatoes without any seasoning won't taste very good.

He believed that those people must have driven the county magistrate to the point where she considered even this a delicacy.

His murderous intent resurfaced.

"Brother Xie?" The little dumpling tilted its head and looked at her in confusion.

Xie Wenling forcibly suppressed his murderous intent: "It's alright, let's eat roasted potatoes first, and we'll set off tomorrow, hunting and finding some meat along the way."

"Meatball!" The little dumpling's eyes lit up. "Yay! Meatball!"

Xie Wenling squatted down to wipe her face, took the potato from her hand, and then found two flints next to the stove.

He does know how to use a flint and steel.

only……

The old man and woman's house had a traditional earthen stove with a large pot on top and two openings underneath.

Xie Wenling, who had never cooked before, fell into deep thought as he faced the stove, which was completely unfamiliar to him.

Where should we light this fire?

It can only be said that learning has no end. Xie Wenling, who had never been stumped by poetry, songs, music, horsemanship, archery, military affairs and politics, was now stumped by the small stove.

After all, although he came from an ordinary background, his family did have a few servants, and he had never actually been to the kitchen.

"Thank you, brother! Here, here!" Fortunately, the little dumpling knew.

The little dumpling pointed to the hole above.

"Ah, Your Highness is wise; I was ignorant." Xie Wenling praised the little dumpling and lit the fire at the middle entrance of the cave.

The flames burned fiercely.

But soon, he encountered a new problem—

Where should the potatoes be stored?

He held the potato and fell into deep thought again.

Logically, it should be placed in the pot, but the problem is that the pot has already been moved.

Then put it on fire?

The fire was very big, but the opening was very small; it didn't look like a suitable place for barbecuing at all.

"Thank you, brother, thank you, here, here." The little dumpling pointed to the bottom of the hole again with her finger.

"Huh? Is this the place?" Xie Wenling was somewhat surprised, because this seemed to defy common sense.

“It’s here. Bury the duck in the ashes, and the beans will cook.” The little dumpling nodded vigorously, trying her best to convey to Brother Xie the message that “she is reliable and trustworthy.”

Although she has only spent a few days with the elderly couple, she has already learned a lot of little things!

"Alright, thank you for your guidance, Your Highness." Xie Wenling, who had absolutely no relevant experience, decided to trust the little dumpling.

He looked down into the bottom of the hole and found a lot of piled-up wood ash, so he buried the potatoes inside.

As the flames burned the wood, more ashes fell, occasionally mixed with tiny pieces of charcoal.

Two figures, one tall and one short, stood in the same spot, intently staring at the stove.

Xie Wenling had good stamina and didn't feel anything, but the little dumpling couldn't keep up.

The little body wobbled, then plopped down on the ground with a thud: "Ouch..."

The little dumpling paused for a moment, then patted its little bottom and stood up, looking bewildered.

Xie Wenling couldn't help but laugh at her adorable appearance. Then he casually grabbed a relatively clean piece of cloth, dusted it off, and laid it on the ground as a cushion: "Sit here."

"Okay, Brother Xie, please sit down too."

So the two of them sat down side by side.

The little dumpling hugged its knees obediently with both hands, staring longingly at the stove.

Perhaps bored while waiting, the little dumpling started making conversation: "Brother Xie, can you cook?"

"To be honest... no, this is my first time in the kitchen."

"Yue'er went into the kitchen several times!"

"Your Highness is knowledgeable and insightful; I humbly admit my inferiority."

"hey-hey……"

Xie Wenling managed to cheer up the little dumpling with just a few words, just like he did with Wei Xiuming.

The two chatted somewhat awkwardly for a while, then Xie Wenling went to check the potatoes in the ashes.

He looked at the two dark-colored pills that had been taken out and had a bad feeling.

He reluctantly cleaved it open with his longsword.

Thank goodness, there's still a small portion inside that isn't burnt, so it's still edible.

"Why did it burn without an open flame?" Xie Wenling couldn't understand it. He decided that if he could return to the capital, he would definitely find some scholars to discuss this issue.

After all, there is no end to learning.

While thinking, he found a broken bowl that hadn't been taken away, cut out the edible parts, put them on a plate, and handed it to the little dumpling.

The little dumpling held the bowl, looking at the not-so-large amount of potatoes in it. The fragrant aroma wafted into her nose, and her stomach rumbled with hunger.

But when she looked at Xie Gege's empty hands, she saw that his arm, which he had rolled up, was injured.

She thought for a moment, then handed the plate back to Brother Xie: "Brother Xie, please eat."

Xie Wenling paused for a moment, watching the little dumpling try to suppress her hunger, and then held up the plate and handed it to her.

Those large, round eyes held no pretense, only pure kindness: "Princess..."

His eyes were a little red. He turned his head away, forcing back the tears in his eyes: "It's alright, Princess, please eat. I'm not hungry."

The little dumpling shook her head: "Brother Xie is hungry, Brother Xie is injured, Brother Xie eats, Yue'er doesn't eat."

"It's alright, I'll be fine soon, Your Highness, please eat."

"Brother Xie won't eat, and neither will Yue'er."

After a few rounds of back and forth, Xie Wenling realized that the little dumpling was very stubborn. Helpless, he divided the food in two: "How about we each have half?"

The little dumpling looked at the two evenly divided portions of food on the plate, blinked, and then gave away half of her own: "Thank you, brother, for being big. Thank you, brother, for eating more. I'm small, so I should eat less."

“There’s no such rule. We need to be fair.” Xie Wenling pushed the food back.

"This is fair, Yue'er." The little dumpling insisted on distributing the food again.

Xie Wenling couldn't hold back his tears. He leaned over and hugged the little dumpling, calmed himself down, wiped away his tears, and stood up with a composed expression: "Then... thank you, Princess."

So the two of them shared the potatoes.

After the meal, Xie Wenling told the little boy not to leave the room, and then went to fetch water to wash his armor.

This was specially commissioned by him for the Prince of Zhennan.

Once he realized that the Prince of Zhennan would not let him go, he began to prepare.

For example, he always wore light armor under his large cloak and coat, and his sword was always sharpened and never left his side.

In addition, the medical workers and soldiers who participated in the disaster relief were divided into several teams and sent away from Qiuhe City, a place of trouble, in small numbers and multiple times.

He knew that the Prince of Zhennan only wanted to kill him and dared not kill too many people.

Because the Prince of Zhennan still harbored illusions, wanting to either become emperor or remain a prince.

After all, as long as Xie Wenling is dead, his sins can be covered up to the greatest extent.

However, Xie Wenling thought that if he could reduce the number of deaths by as much as possible, then he should.

Fortunately, the Prince of Zhennan was unaware that he had already obtained evidence of his rebellion.

Otherwise, everyone in Qiuhe City will die, and not a single person will be able to escape.

-

Xie Wenling went inside to wash his armor, and the little dumpling stayed obediently in the yard, looking up at the stars in the sky.

She heard a sound coming from the wall.

The little girl tensed up immediately. She saw a dark figure on the wall, climb down into the yard, and walk towards her.

The little dumpling nervously backed away, trying to run into the room to be with Brother Xie.

But before she could turn around, the figure strode forward and covered her mouth with his rough hand.

The little dumpling saw his face clearly; it was Zhang San.

"Ugh!" Her face was pinched painfully, and with her mouth and nose covered, she could hardly breathe.

Zhang San looked up into the house and, hearing the sound of water coming from inside, grinned with a lewd smile.

He looked down at the little dumpling, opened his mouth to speak, and his foul breath sprayed onto the little dumpling's face: "Hehe, that woman is taking a bath in there, right? Well, I've come at the perfect time."

He indulged in his own fantasies, marveling, "That woman is really beautiful, and she has a fiery temper. Interesting."

"He's badly injured, isn't he? He took several hits. I can't help but think about it more and more, hehehe... Once tonight is over, he'll be mine. I want to see how arrogant he'll be then."

Clearly, he's blind and still can't tell Xie Wenling's gender.

He glared at the little dumpling and warned fiercely, "You'd better shut up. If it weren't for the fact that I could control him later, I would have killed you, you little bastard, first."

Tears welled up in the little dumpling's eyes, and her expression was frightened.

Zhang San then got up, satisfied, loosened his belt, and was about to take the sickle into the room.

The sickle was sharpened, reflecting a cold gleam in the moonlight.

The little girl saw that Zhang San had his back to her, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Brother Xie, be careful!"