"If I had a knife, I wouldn't be able to kill them with my small frame and weak strength. My little brother is only three years old; he knows nothing and is innocent. If I were to take a life, my life would be over." Hearing her advice, I cried and quietly left the village. But halfway there, I got thirsty and wanted to ask for water in another village I passed through, but a bachelor stuffed me into a bag and sold me to a brothel in Pingyao County.
Xiao Youran and Yueyue were both terrified.
"In the brothel, seeing that I was still young and not bad looking, the madam had me do some chores while teaching me music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. I did benefit from it. By the end of last year, I was twelve years old. In two more years, the madam might send me out to entertain customers. So, while I was out buying needles and thread, I secretly ran away with the money I had saved over the past three years."
I originally planned to find a nunnery to hide in for a few years, and if fate allowed, I even resolved to serve Buddha for the rest of my life. Who knew that instead of finding a nunnery on the mountain, I stumbled into that thieving monk's lair. The name Yan Jin was one I chose for myself to avoid being recognized. It was just to sound good, to make people suspect I was a maid from a wealthy family and thus dare not act rashly.
She kowtowed again, pleading, "Princess, every word I have said is true. Please, Princess, take me in and don't send me away."
Yueyue looked at the little girl in front of her with great sympathy.
Xiao Youran was silent for a moment, then said, "This county princess just wants to know clearly, when did you say you were going to be kicked out?"
Yan Jin's face lit up with ecstasy. "Thank you, County Princess!"
Xiao Youran suddenly pulled a pill from her sleeve. "However... this is a poison. If you don't receive my antidote every month, you'll suffer a fate worse than death. To stay in the county magistrate's mansion, you must take it. Do you dare to take it?"
Without saying a word, Yan Jin took it and stuffed it into her mouth.
Xiao You Ran: ……
She shrugged. "Alright, this county princess is kind-hearted and skilled in medicine. How could I possibly carry any poison with me? This is just a piece of candy. Don't worry, from now on, unless you leave voluntarily, no one will kick you out of the manor."
"Thank you, Your Highness!" Yan Jin kowtowed again.
Xiao Youran suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "Hey, why don't you say thank you to me again?"
Those around her didn't understand what she was doing, nor did they know that "this baby" had another meaning, and they all looked at her in bewilderment.
Xiao Youran didn't explain, she just smiled and looked at Yan Jin.
Yan Jin readily agreed, "Thank you, my little one!"
"bite!"
Xiao Youran seemed to feel the bracelet vibrate slightly.
He quickly closed his eyes and opened his little notebook. Sure enough, he saw a line of text flashing excitedly in the notebook: "Wow, I finally got some gratitude points! It was so hard!"
The words on the page seemed to be dancing and twisting, as if they wanted to burst into flames.
Xiao You Ran: ……
Okay, whatever makes you happy.
However, it really is extremely difficult.
Does this mean that from now on, collecting every bit of gratitude in the little notebook will have to be this difficult?
With the matter resolved, Su Yue and Yan Jin helped each other off the carriage.
Xiao Youran, however, was thinking that this kind of porridge distribution was not going to last.
It is often said that it is better to teach someone how to fish than to give them a fish.
She remembered the trade market that was being demolished and was about to be built, and suddenly an idea came to her!
Seeing that no one else was around, Yueyue mysteriously took out a letter and handed it to her, "It's from my cousin, tucked inside a letter to my mother."
Xiao Youran smiled and took it.
After she returned to Beijing, she did write a letter to her senior brother, Da Bai, but she didn't receive a reply from him for a long time, so she stopped writing.
Unexpectedly, he had included his reply in the letter he was sending to the princess.
She took it; it contained only a few lines of text, just like his usual indifferent expression. Besides asking if she had finished her homework, he asked if she was thinking about delicious food again.
She angrily crumpled the letter into a ball and stuffed it into her bosom, humming and refusing to speak.
Yueyue asked curiously, "What did my cousin say? Are you angry?"
"Hmph, I wrote him three pages and he only replied with three lines! This Senior Brother Da Bai is so unlovable, I'm ignoring him!" Xiao Youran said angrily.
Yueyue's eyes widened. "What? He wrote three lines?"
Xiao You Ran glanced sideways, "What do you mean?"
Yueyue blinked her big, round eyes. "You don't know, the letters he wrote to my mother each time only had a few words!"
"What?" Xiao Youran was shocked.
“Do you remember the tiger your village sold last year? He bought the tiger skin and had someone deliver it back, along with a bear paw. Each time, there was only three words in the accompanying letter,” she paused, held up three fingers, and asked with a grin, “Guess what those three words were?”
Xiao Youran thought for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "Please accept this?"
Yueyue shook her head. "Three words: 'Peace, don't worry.' It's the same this time! They won't write a single extra word!"
Xiao You Ran: ……
Yueyue pestered her, "Let me see, how many lines can my cousin write? What did he say?"
Xiao Youran clutched her chest tightly, "No way!"
"Come on! Just one look! Just let me see it!"
Unable to persuade her otherwise, and thinking that there were no secrets in the letter anyway, Xiao Youran had no choice but to take it out and show it to her.
She unfolded it and was even more shocked. "What? Three lines of text? There are clearly three and a half lines!"
Xiao You Ran was speechless: ...
Yueyue glanced at it twice and said, "No wonder you were angry. Besides asking about your homework, you also asked if you're a foodie. If I were you, I would be angry too! Hehe!"
At the end, she asked again, "But... why did he ask you about potatoes?"
Xiao Youran blinked. "Maybe... he wants to buy land in Sanyang Village to grow crops? Oh no, Sanyang Village has already been emptied out, the coal mine should have started operating by now, right? Perhaps he wants to cultivate land in other villages?"
"What? Farming?" Yueyue burst into laughter. "Impossible! How could someone as dignified as him possibly go to farm?"
Xiao Youran said slowly, "Why is it impossible? The potatoes should already be mature and sprouted, with extremely high yields per acre. If the planting is successful, it will be a great thing for the country and the people. Don't you think he might be going to take this great achievement back to the capital?"
Yueyue's eyes widened.
Is this little girl really only five years old?
After Xiaoyou finished speaking, she jumped off the carriage again.
Yueyue exclaimed "Hey!" but couldn't stop her, and followed her down.
Then Xiao Youran began her speech again, "This county magistrate has a place under construction that needs strong men. They will provide three meals a day with rice and pay an additional thirty coins. Is there anyone willing to do it?"
The formation immediately broke down as a group of people rushed towards her, shouting, "Little County Princess! We can get work done!"
"I can do it too!"
"We can work, but there's nothing we can do! We can't even get through the city gate!"
"It didn't say we had to go to the city, anywhere is fine! Little County Princess, you can use me! I'm strong!"
"I have a wife and children at home, can they work together?! The children don't need money, they just need food to eat!"
Xiao You Ran: ……
That was too hasty; I should have thought through all the details!
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