After resting for a while, the man felt his leg had almost recovered, so he got up and reached out his hand to the baby, saying:

"Little boy, Uncle will take you down the mountain."

The little girl didn't take the man's hand, but said, "Thank you, Uncle, but I have things to do."

The man then realized that his savior was named Little Dumpling.

"Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, what lovely and beautiful names," the man praised.

His greatest wish in this life is for his family to be reunited.

The man looked down and saw that the snow on the mountain was gradually subsiding, but the snow on the ground was already up to his calves.

The little baby was standing in the snow, with his knees and below completely submerged.

The thin cotton-padded clothes were covered with patches, but there were still several tears.

The man felt a pang of pain in his heart, an indescribable sorrow.

He reached out and picked the little dumpling up from the snow.

"Little dumpling, you need to be good. The sun is about to set, and it's dangerous for you to stay on the mountain any longer."

"How about Uncle takes you home?"

It was rare for a man with such a resolute face to show such a gentle expression; if his soldiers had seen it, they would probably have been astonished.

The man's embrace felt strangely familiar, and the little girl's nose turned red as she thought of her brother again.

She lowered her head sadly, remaining silent and only shaking her head.

Seeing the little dumpling suddenly become very sad, the man panicked instantly.

He could only pat the little dumpling's back gently, "Sweetie, tell Uncle what you need to do?"

The little dumpling continued to shake its head in silence, but its eyes grew increasingly wet.

Don't you want to talk about it?

Seeing that the little girl was about to cry, the man panicked even more.

He's a grown man, usually busy with military duties, and he's barely spent any time with his own children. How would he know how to coax a child?

But seeing the little dumpling unhappy made him inexplicably sad.

The man could only say softly, "My dear Tuantuan, there are wolves on the mountain at night. If you stay any longer, you'll be caught by them."

"Then he'll turn into a wolf child."

Hearing this, the little dumpling, who had just been sad, suddenly smiled.

"Uncle, I'm not a three-year-old child, you can't fool me."

She's four years old this year.

"Wolves will eat children, but they won't take children to raise."

man:???

Who exactly told the little dumpling?

He was afraid of scaring the little girl, so he only said that she would be captured and turned into a wolf child, but he didn't dare to say that the wolf would eat her.

Hmph! If he finds out who told the little dumpling such a cruel thing, he will definitely court-martial them!

"That's why you shouldn't stay on the mountain," the man continued to persuade.

The little dumpling thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll come up the mountain again tomorrow."

She has memorized the way up the mountain today, and I believe she will find her brother and mother soon tomorrow.

Hearing that the little dumpling had changed her mind, the man was not happy; instead, he frowned.

It's so dangerous for a small child to go up the mountain!

"Little dumpling, wait for your uncle for a few days. Once I'm done with my work, I'll come find you. Uncle will accompany you up the mountain to do your work, okay?"

The little girl didn't want to say what she was going to do, and the man didn't press her for details, but he would accompany her no matter what it was.

"Really?" The little dumpling looked at the man with bright eyes and asked cautiously.

The man carried the little bundle of joy down the mountain, his tone firm: "Of course, Uncle keeps his word."

He simply couldn't refuse this little baby, nor could he bear to see her suffer any harm.

He hoped she could be the happiest and most joyful child in the world.

If he didn't have important things to do, he would definitely buy her a cartload of candied fruit and sweets right now.

No, it should be that they should directly buy the most famous Honey Fruit Pavilion in the capital and give it all to his little dumpling.

The little dumpling nestled in the man's arms; the way down the mountain was much warmer than the way up.

She believed that the uncle in front of her would definitely help her find her brother.

??

We descended the mountain.

The little dumpling pointed to the alley not far away and said to the man, "Uncle, that's where Little Dumpling's home is."

The man looked in the direction she was pointing and saw that it was indeed only a few steps away. He still had military duties to attend to and needed to finish them quickly so he could come back to be with his little one sooner.

The man put the little dumpling down and took out a gold-inlaid jade pendant necklace from his pocket.

"Little dumpling, this is a gift from your uncle. Thank you for saving my life."

The little girl took the necklace; she didn't know what jade or gold was.

She felt that the white ring looked very similar to the one her mother had left behind.

It also has a gold trim inside, with engraved patterns, which is very beautiful.

The little dumpling looked at the man with bright, sparkling eyes.

"Thank you, Uncle."

The man personally hung the necklace around the little girl's neck and also stuffed a money bag containing dozens of silver ingots into her hand.

"Little dumpling, wait for your uncle. He'll come back to you as soon as he's done with his work."

The little dumpling stretched out his little finger, "Uncle, pinky promise."

The man imitated her, hooking his little finger around hers.

A tall man squatted down in front of a small, chubby girl, smiling broadly as he made a pinky promise with her.

After saying goodbye to the man, the little dumpling skipped and hopped home.

When we came down from the mountain, Qiuqiu said he couldn't go down for the time being and would come back to find Xiaotuanzi later.

The little boy had no choice but to leave him on the mountain, thinking he would go up the mountain to find him when his uncle returned.

"Good, you brat, you're finally back!"

As soon as the little dumpling entered the room, it heard a sharp sound.

She shrank back, her joy vanished, replaced by fear.

The little boy took a few steps back, looking timidly at the fat woman in front of him, with several servants standing behind her.

"Hello, Mrs. Li."

"Damn it, you brat, running around everywhere! I've been looking for you all day."

"And what about your bastard brother? Why isn't he here either?"

Madam Li took a big step forward and grabbed the little girl's ear.

The little girl felt like her ears were about to be twisted off. She cried out in pain, "Brother isn't a jerk. Brother just left."

Madam Li snorted coldly and released her ear, which had been pinched until it was bright red.

"What a bunch of bastards! Your brother probably went to a brothel, didn't he?"

The little girl shook her head with tears in her eyes. She didn't know what a brothel was, but they weren't bastards.

Madam Li spread her fat hands and said, "Where's the rent? Give it to me right now. If you don't get the money today, I'll kick you out."

Madam Li sneered. Now that her brother wasn't around, she could do whatever she wanted with the little thing.

Upon hearing that she was to be kicked out, the little dumpling quickly took out the wooden box, preparing to count out forty-five copper coins for her.

Before the little dumpling could finish counting, the wooden box in her arms was snatched away.

"Bring them all here."

Madam Li looked at the wooden box filled with copper coins, and seeing that there was some loose silver inside, she snatched it away.

"The rent is forty-five copper coins. Give me back the extra."

The little boy was anxious when he saw that all the money had been taken away.

She fluttered her little feet and reached out to grab it, but even if she jumped up, she couldn't reach it.

"You brat, who said it was forty-five copper coins? The rent went up recently, and this whole box of money is barely enough to pay it off."

As Mrs. Li spoke, her eyes gleamed as she counted the money in the box.

That brat is actually quite capable; she can actually make a lot of money.

You're lying!

The little dumpling knew she was lying; the rent increase was a lie, and the real purpose was to steal her money.

The little dumpling couldn't understand why there was such a kind person as that uncle, and why there was such a bad person as Mrs. Li.

Sensing the little girl's aggrieved look, Madam Li glanced at her impatiently, but her sharp eyes spotted the money pouch hanging from her waist.