Chapter 21 A Big Hole

The next day, when Chu Ran was sweeping the floor, he ran into the old eunuch who had deceived him yesterday at the same place.

The old lady eunuch sat on a stone block with her hands tucked into her sleeves, seemingly closing her eyes to rest.

Chu Ran gave him a strange look.

It's such hot weather, I don't feel hot even if I put my hands into my sleeves.

But after knowing that he had been lying to her, Chu Ran would definitely not be fooled again if he said again that his legs were not good and he could not walk.

Chu Ran was sweeping the leaves on the ground with a broom. When he passed by the old lady, Chu Ran said coldly, "Make way."

The old lady supervisor lifted her feet, and Chu Ran tapped her feet with a broom, then continued to move forward.

After Chu Ran finished sweeping the area, he walked back with the broom in his hand. When he was two or three steps away from the old lady supervisor, the old lady supervisor behind him spoke again, "Hey, I'm tired of sitting here. I want to sit at your place for a while. Come here and carry me over."

After he finished speaking, he extended his hand towards Chu Ran as if nothing had happened.

Chu Ran turned around immediately, with anger on his handsome face. "You can walk on your own, but you still want me to carry you! You old liar."

The old eunuch frowned and said, "How can you, a young eunuch, talk to us like that? Do you know the rules?"

"What's wrong with not knowing the rules? If you have the guts, get up on your own!"

The old lady snorted coldly, "I've already told you that there's something wrong with my legs, and you're still forcing me to stand up."

Chu Ran thought to himself, he didn't fall for it?

However, if the old eunuch had really stood up in front of him, Chu Ran would definitely turn around and leave without any reluctance to leave.

"You little eunuch." The old eunuch sighed, stroking her knees and saying, "My knees are indeed in trouble, and I really can't walk now... It's okay if you don't want to carry me, then you can just help me up, right?"

"Who cares about you?" Chu Ran snorted coldly and walked forward.

But after taking two steps, Chu Ran's face darkened again and he turned around and walked back.

The old eunuch thought Chu Ran had left and was sighing on the spot, but unexpectedly Chu Ran took two steps and came back. He smiled and put his hand on Chu Ran's shoulder while Chu Ran bent down.

"Where are you going?" Chu Ran asked with a gloomy face.

The old lady supervisor said, "Didn't I just tell you? I'm tired of sitting here. Let's go sit over there for a while."

Chu Ran: "Why do you have to sit at my place? Can't you sit somewhere else?"

The old lady gave the reason: "We are comfortable lying on your chair, how about you give it to us?"

Chu Ran: "You wish."

The recliner was the "legacy" that Guo Maoxue left him. Although he didn't lie on it often, maybe in a few years, when he got older, he would fall in love with lying on it. Everything in the palace was very valuable, so he wouldn't give it to anyone casually.

"Hey? What's that got up your sleeve?"

Chu Ran noticed that the old eunuch's sleeves were bulging. No wonder she was still tucking into her sleeves when she first met him in such hot weather. It turned out that she was hiding something in her sleeves.

The old lady supervisor said, "Don't worry about it. It has nothing to do with you. Just focus on leading the way."

Chu Ran curled his lips. This old eunuch really used him as a crutch.

After returning to the yard, the old lady sat on the recliner and asked Chu Ran for a pot of tea as usual, but this time, she only wanted hot water instead of tea.

After settling the old eunuch, Chu Ran planned to look for Li Fu. However, before he could leave, Li Fu arrived at the door first.

Chu Ran grabbed Li Fu's thin arm and dragged him to a corner of the yard. He let go of Li Fu, reached into his arms with his other hand, took out a paper bag, and stuffed it into Li Fu's hand.

"Hey? You two are so sneaky, what good things are you hiding?"

The old lady supervisor yelled at the two of them at the top of her voice.

Chu Ran turned his head and looked at the old eunuch, and said righteously: "What are you doing! What's wrong with us hiding food? Don't think I didn't see it. You hid tea leaves in your sleeves. Old door-snatcher, you are allowed to hide tea leaves, but we are not allowed to hide food!"

The old eunuch was immediately justified by what she said, and her face changed. After a moment, she took out the tea leaves she had hidden from her sleeves, and then said to Chu Ran: "Give the tea to you two kids. Whatever you have hidden, give us a share."

Chu Ran walked over. The tea that the old lady brought was packed in a porcelain jar. Chu Ran opened it and smelled it. It smelled quite fragrant, but it was a pity that he didn't know tea. "What kind of tea?"

The old lady supervisor said lazily, "This is the new white tea this year."

"Is this tea good?" Chu Ran asked again.

The old lady sneered, "Of course, this is all this year's tribute tea."

"Gongcha? Then I have to taste it."

Chu Ran didn't really know much about tea, but could tribute tea be the same as ordinary tea? That was tea for the emperor. If he had the chance to drink the same tea as the emperor, it would be pretty cool to say it out loud.

Chu Ran ran into the house and took out two teacups. He picked up the teapot and poured a cup for himself and Li Fu.

The tea soup is bright green, clear and transparent, and a light and fresh aroma wafts into the air.

Chu Ran lowered his head and took a sip. The tea had a rich aroma and a refreshing taste. Even though Chu Ran didn't know much about tea, he thought the tea was good. So he raised his head and drank the rest of the tea in the cup in one gulp, just like a cow drinking.

"It's delicious. I'll have another drink."

Chu Ran picked up the teapot and poured another cup, drinking it like water, and gulped it down in one breath.

When he was about to pour the third cup, the old lady stopped him with her hand. She frowned and said, "It's a waste to give you such good tea."

Chu Ran curled his lips, "You're so stingy, isn't it just a little bit of your tea?"

The old lady glared at him, "Do you know how precious this tea is? If it were sold to the common people, one ounce of tea would be worth one ounce of gold! You just drank that little bit, and even if you sold yourself, you wouldn't be worth that much!"

"It's so expensive?" Chu Ran said, "Then I have to drink more."

Chu Ran thought that such good stuff would be gone once he left the store, so he had to drink a few more sips.

The old eunuch immediately took the teapot back, staring at it with eyes wide open, as if protecting a monkey.

"Okay, okay, I won't drink anymore." Chu Ran put down the teacup and muttered, "You're so stingy."

Then he succeeded in making the old eunuch very angry.

This bastard! Is it because he is stingy? It is obvious that this bastard knows nothing!

But Chu Ran is a very fair person. Since the old eunuch shared his tea with them, Chu Ran would also share his food with them.

Chu Ran turned around and said to Li Fu, "Give him some of what I gave you."

Li Fu had finished the tea in his hand. He put the cup aside and reached out to open the food wrapped in paper.

Inside are four fresh pineapple cakes.

Chu Ran took one out and handed it to the old supervisor.

"Here, for you."

"Pineapple cake." The old lady took it and took a bite, then slowly picked up the teacup. He ate slowly, taking a bite of the pineapple cake and a sip of tea.

Chu Ran also took one and ate it slowly. He said to Li Fu, "The rest are all yours."

The old eunuch looked at Li Fu and saw the two pineapple cakes in Li Fu's hand.

Li Fu lowered his head, picked up one of the pineapple cakes, lowered his eyes and slowly took a bite. The sweet and greasy fruity aroma of the pineapple immediately filled his entire mouth.

"Is it delicious?" Chu Ran looked at Li Fu and asked with a smile.

Li Fu licked his lower lip which was stained with sweet sauce, then looked up at Chu Ran, smiled slightly and nodded.

In mid-to-late July, as the weather got hotter, there were more rainstorms. Sometimes the sky was clear in the morning, but by the afternoon it was overcast with thunder and lightning.

Recently, the palace where Li Fu lived had fallen into disrepair and the roof was leaking. The sky was gloomy all day, and in the afternoon, Xing Ji felt that it might rain at night, so he thought about repairing the roof as soon as possible before it got completely dark.

Xing Ji was renovating the roof while Li Fu was sitting cross-legged on the bed reading a book.

Li Fu's mother loved reading when she was alive, and these books were all left to Li Fu by his mother. Li Fu cherished these books very much, so even after so many years, these books are still well preserved and not damaged much, except that they are a little old.

However, Li Fu's mother did not teach him much. She only taught him to read and then died suddenly. After that, Li Fu was forced to move to this remote, old, and uninhabited palace. Except for Uncle Xing, none of the palace servants who originally served Li Fu were willing to stay.

But even so, Li Fu still grew up with bumps and bruises.

Li Fu had no idea how many times he had flipped through the book in his hand. There were many parts that he couldn't understand, but no one would explain them to him.

He just watched with a half-understanding, even those sentences that Li Fu did not understand, he could now recite them fluently.

Suddenly, there was a muffled sound above my head.

Li Fu looked up and saw that the roof, which was originally leaking a little, now had a big hole. The cold evening wind blew in from the hole. The next second, Li Fu saw Xing Ji's dazed and confused face appear at the hole.

After a while, there was a "dong" sound from behind the house. Soon after, the curtain was opened and Xing Ji walked in from outside.

He looked guilty and confused, "I don't know... what happened... but don't worry... I'll fix it soon..."

Xing Ji was about to leave after he finished his drawing. Li Fu looked up at the huge hole in the roof for a while and suddenly said, "Uncle Xing."

Xing Ji turned around and looked at Li Fu in confusion.