"Who are you!"
Xiao Yizhi stared intently at Zhen Wanwan with his captivating eyes, his gaze filled with wariness.
"Xiao Yizhi, what are you doing here?"
Yuan Huizhou was full of surprise when he saw a familiar face.
The two had known each other since childhood. When their father was alive, he would often take him to the training ground to play.
Because Xiao Yizhi's father was a military officer, he grew up in the training ground when he was only three years old, waiting to learn martial arts so that he could inherit his father's position.
Yuan Huizhou never expected that after being rescued by his uncle, he would meet his friend again.
Seeing that Yuan Huizhou recognized him, Xiao Yizhi didn't have time to learn about Zhen Wanwan.
Instead, she took two steps forward, hugged Yuan Huizhou, and said in a tearful voice, "It really is you! I thought I would never see you again!"
That day, His Highness the Crown Prince and his concubine died in the fire, and Yuan Huizhou disappeared without a trace. The Third Prince and the Fifth Prince's men searched the entire capital.
In the suburbs, they found a boy who was the same size as Yuan Huizhou, wearing the same clothes, but whose face had been burned beyond recognition.
Led by Xiao Hansong, he lay on the outside of the small coffin and cried himself unconscious.
Seeing my dear friend again now, tears streamed down my face.
Yuan Huizhou looked at Zhen Wanwan helplessly. His uncle had already given him instructions before sending him to his aunt.
From now on, he is Li Yuanzhou, his aunt's nephew. He must forget his former identity and start a new life.
But now that his old friend has recognized him, he doesn't know what to do.
Therefore, he could only pitifully ask Zhen Wanwan for help.
Zhen Wanwan had just finished processing the explosive information in her mind when she happened to see Yuan Huizhou's pleading expression.
I quickly suppressed the turmoil in my heart and focused on dealing with the immediate issue.
She stepped forward and separated the two, subtly hiding Yuan Huizhou behind her back, then looked at Xiao Yizhi and asked.
"Where did you come from, kid? Where are your parents?"
Xiao Yizhi glanced at Yuan Huizhou, then pursed his lips and looked back at Zhen Wanwan.
"My father is Xiao Hansong, I came here with the others!"
In fact, Xiao Yizhi had secretly read General Xiao's letter and then sneaked out with his confidant.
He possessed both the wit and luck of a male protagonist. After wandering around for many days, he finally reached Zhen Wanwan on his own.
Zhen Wanwan feigned surprise and turned to ask the others. Seeing them nod reluctantly, she then composed herself.
She looked around but didn't see any unfamiliar faces, so she asked with some surprise, "Did you come alone?"
Xiao Yizhi nodded guiltily: "So what if it is?"
Seeing Little Pudding's irritating look, Zhen Wanwan gritted her teeth and suppressed the urge to slap him.
"Does General Xiao know about this?"
If this child were to run away from home on his own, the Xiao family in Kyoto would probably be in an uproar.
"He...of course he knew!"
Xiao Yizhi spoke hesitantly, clearly lying.
But since the person had already come, Zhen Wanwan had no choice but to accept the gift with tears in her eyes. She couldn't just throw such a small child away!
General Xiao was away protecting the country, and Zhen Wanwan couldn't bear to drive away his only son.
"Forget it! Let's go inside!"
It's so cold today! I wonder how this child came all the way from so far away.
Zhen Wanwan temporarily attributed this to the male lead's good fortune.
Raising one child is raising one child, and raising a group of children is also raising one child.
Fortunately, she still needed to win over the young male lead, and keeping him under her nose made things much easier.
Zhen Wanwan first went to the room to check on Guabao and Tianbao. Seeing that they were sleeping soundly, she felt relieved.
Grandma Li looked outside and asked in a low voice, "Wanwan! That child is General Xiao's flesh and blood. Your eldest brother found him at the village entrance this morning after you left."
“We initially thought he had gotten separated from his parents, but he kept saying he was going to stay with relatives. When we asked him which relatives, he initially refused to tell us.”
"It was your sister-in-law who cooked a bowl of noodles for the child. After he finished eating, he let slip that he came to see Xiao Yuan."
Zhen Wanwan paused for a moment. The male and female protagonists were indeed chosen ones. Such young children, yet they didn't encounter any human traffickers.
Thinking of the way the villagers looked at them, Old Lady Li muttered, "When the villagers came to ask for information, I didn't explain. Everyone guessed that he was Xiao Yuan's illegitimate child!"
Otherwise, the villagers simply couldn't believe that a man like Zhuyuan would be willing to marry into the Zhen family.
The only explanation is that they caught Zhuyuan in a compromising situation: he had an illegitimate child.
The Zhen family pressured Zhu Yuan to agree to marry into the family before they would allow him to bring the child back.
Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that Zhu Yuan left right after his engagement, and the next day the child was brought back by Zhen Fugui?
Hearing this, Zhen Wanwan couldn't help but applaud and cheer for them. They were so thoughtful; it would be a shame if they didn't become storytellers.
"What do you plan to do with this child? Should we send a letter to Xiao Yuan, asking him to inform General Xiao to come and pick him up?"
After a few seconds of silence, Zhen Wanwan shook her head decisively: "Mother! I've thought about it and this isn't appropriate! I will definitely write the letter, but as for sending someone to pick me up, let's leave it for now."
Even though she knew it was the male protagonist, Zhen Wanwan still couldn't believe that a seven or eight-year-old boy could walk here unharmed.
This whole thing just doesn't look right.
Moreover, Kyoto was far from safe, and war between the two princes was imminent.
This war was inevitable.
Those with connections in the family have probably already sent their children to a safe place.
Zhen Wanwan had a guess that General Xiao was probably using this opportunity to send Xiao Yizhi out.
As for why it was sent to her...
Considering how Yuan Huizhou came to be, it's not hard to understand.
Grandma Li hadn't thought that far ahead; she just felt sorry for the child and readily agreed, saying, "You're right. It's freezing cold, and the New Year is just around the corner. I heard that this child has lost his mother, and it would be so pitiful for him to go back home."
"Why don't we stay here for the New Year and talk about it again when spring arrives!"
Anyway, we have enough food at home. We can send the child back after our daughter and son-in-law get married in the spring.
And so Xiao Yizhi stayed.
Since each person had their own room and there were no extra rooms available, Xiao Yizhi had to squeeze into one room with Yuan Huizhou.
Fortunately, the two had slept together before and had no objections.
Instead of working inside the space at night, Zhen Wanwan lay in bed and cleared her mind.
There are some things she needs to sort out first.
She had always had some doubts, but now she was absolutely certain that she had transmigrated into a novel where the characters were the most beloved by the group.
Moreover, in the book, she is the foster mother of the wronged child.
She became pregnant out of wedlock and raised her daughter with great hardship, but ultimately her lifespan was shortened due to physical exhaustion.
After an accidental rescue of his daughter, he tragically died in the wild.
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