Seeing Prince Xiao's rare protectiveness, the shopkeeper of Fanlou smiled awkwardly, returned to his seat happily, and shrank his head.

"I'm afraid it's a bit difficult to make this spicy flavor. Although this pepper is produced by my Tianqi, it is scarce and it is really difficult to make it into a large-scale dish..."

Shopkeeper Lin originally wanted to find a few more excuses to explain himself, but seeing that Prince Xiao's expression was becoming increasingly unhappy, he quickly changed the subject.

"But if I make spicy dishes just for the young lady, that's fine too!"

Jiang Qingqing often ate dishes with chili peppers in the palace, and she always thought that the fertile land in Tianqi happened to be able to grow chili peppers. But after listening to what Manager Lin said, she realized that this chili pepper product was not popular in Tianqi.

Xiao Linting asked the servant beside him to pay the bill before he took the little princess out of Fanlou.

"Isn't this pepper available to everyone?" Jiang Qingqing was still talking about it.

Xiao Linting picked up the little guy and put him on the horse's back. Looking at the silhouette of the little body sitting upright on the horse's back, he squinted his eyes to block out half of the glaring sunlight.

"Your Highness can rest assured. Although chili peppers are not widely available in Apocalypse, they are generously supplied to the nobles."

He knew that the little princess's train of thought was always peculiar, and it was hard not to think that she might not want to eat chili peppers because she was afraid that it was uncommon.

However, this time, Xiao Linting's plan was in vain.

[Fortunately, I still have the royal privilege to own my own chili peppers. ]

Xiao Linting was just climbing onto his horse at this moment. Hearing this sweet voice, he couldn't help but curl his lips and smile lightly.

He tightened the reins and led the horse slowly towards the other direction of Kyoto.

Arriving at the side courtyard, Jiang Qingqing was led by the palace maid into the side room. The little girl had slowly woken up and was drinking the medicine in small sips.

The little girl heard the noise and looked over vigilantly, until she saw a pink robe pass by the door, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"How are you? Are you okay?" Jiang Qingqing asked softly, tilting her head.

The little girl quickly put down the medicine bowl in her hand, staggered to get out of bed, and said gratefully: "Thank you for your help!"

Jiang Qingqing curled her lips and smiled. She looked back and found that Xiao Linting did not follow her. She first comforted the slightly agitated girl while asking the servant who followed her to the door.

"Where did my brother go?"

"The master has gone to the study. If you want to look for the master, I can take you to the study."

Not nearby?

Jiang Qingqing nodded contentedly, waved her hand to indicate that it was not necessary, and then began to ask the girl a series of questions, including the situation in the village, her name, why she came out, etc.

"My name is A Jing. Since the first half of the year, the water in Ba Village has become less and less day by day. Later, when the only water source in our village dried up, the people in this village left or moved away. No one wanted to live in a village without water."

"Then where is the nearest water source?" Jiang Qingqing couldn't help but ask.

Ah Jing shook his head. "We thought about this method at the beginning, and even walked around the village. But the nearest place to us would take half a day to get there even if we took a donkey cart. In addition, water itself is heavy, and the whole village needs water. So, even if we carry water frequently, the farmers in the village cannot stop working..."

After hearing this, Jiang Qingqing understood why everyone in Ba Village was leaving.

Yes, there are so many good places around, but water is hard to come by here. It wouldn’t be too embarrassing to leave here and go somewhere else.

"How many people are there in the village now?" Jiang Qingqing asked again.

Ah Jing looked young, only reaching her waist. She looked like a carefree rich lady who lived a life of luxury.

Ah Jing thought she was just curious about the life in the villages and didn't think much about it, and simply told him everything.

"The people who stay in Ba Village now are all elderly people who have lived here since childhood. Most of them are nostalgic and don't want to leave their homes. There are four or five elderly families in this situation."

There are quite a few people, and they all seem to be old, weak, sick and disabled.

Jiang Qingqing was sitting on the armchair, swinging her little feet back and forth. She looked relaxed, but in fact she was thinking about something in her mind.

"What is the purpose of your visit to Kyoto?"

The previously silent room suddenly had new sounds.

For the first time, Ajing felt that this little girl was not as naive as she had imagined.

Inexplicably, she responded in a serious tone, "I just want my grandparents to not have to suffer in their old age because of these things. In the past, the village of Zaoqiba was a bit desolate because it was remote. Later, with great difficulty, some people came to live here because of the dam. I didn't expect... not long after it became stable, something like this happened."

Ajing's words made Jiang Qingqing think more deeply.

She stood up and closed the door, blocking out the outside world.

Only she and Ajing were left in the room.

In the dimly lit room, one could only vaguely see the five-year-old's body, with his back straight and an air of calmness.

A Jing mentioned it with some seriousness.

"Why are you called Ajing? This name doesn't sound like a girl's." Jiang Qingqing asked softly.

Ajing sat in the chair, feeling a little uneasy, but also with some inexplicable expectation in his heart.

"When naming me, grandpa said that girls don't have to be weak. They should shoulder their responsibilities like boys and work hard for them." Ajing's voice was gentle, as if he was recalling the warm past.

Jiang Qingqing lowered her eyes and looked at the token for leaving the palace around her waist, looking a little leisurely.

She said softly, "If I give you a chance to support your family, are you willing to take it?"

"If my savior needs A Jing, A Jing will do his best to help me!"

A Jing probably realized Jiang Qingqing's intention, and quickly suppressed the emotion on her brow, and she stood up suddenly.

A young girl who has just reached marriageable age, who looks a little frail, can utter these words so powerfully.

Jiang Qingqing chuckled in her heart. This A Jing looked like a person who didn't want to live an ordinary life. Maybe she was right about him.

However, out of caution and because she urgently needed manpower from outside the palace.

Jiang Qingqing thought that she still had to give him a chance to take the test.

"If I asked you to kill people or set fire, would you be willing to do it?" The childish voice clearly sounded like that of an innocent child, but the weight of the words was very strong.

A Jing stood there in a daze. It seemed that after a while, she slowly realized that the person in front of her was not as simple as she saw.