194. Huddled together, trembling.
The carriage slowly drove away. The little girl leaned against the window, watching Xie Wenling's figure grow smaller and smaller, and finally, tears streamed down her face.
In response, Bai Qingzhong hurriedly pulled a piece of candy from his pocket and handed it to the little dumpling: "Here, have some candy. If you eat candy, you won't be sad anymore."
The little girl sniffed, took the candy, and put it in her mouth. The sweet taste spread in her mouth, and she sobbed as she said to Bai Qingzhong, "Thank you, brother."
Her chubby little face was still wet with tears, and her eyes were moist, like washed grapes.
The little dumpling turned to look at Bai Qingzhong beside her. She saw that Bai Qingzhong's eyes were also red, and tears had been hanging on his eyelashes for a while before finally falling onto his clothes with a plop. However, he still bit his lip and did not dare to cry out loud.
"Brother Bai, why are you crying too?" The little dumpling stretched out her chubby little hand, her soft fingers wiping his cheek. "Are you also afraid of that fierce grandpa duck?"
Bai Qingzhong's tense emotions broke down under such questions and concern. With a sob in his voice, he whispered, "I...I'm scared...Will they bully us? Will we...Will we be unable to leave? Will they kill us? They've all been bullying me..."
As she spoke, tears fell even more rapidly.
Seeing him crying so hard, the little boy quickly moved closer to him, wrapping his little arms around his arm: "Brother Bai, don't be afraid! We'll run first, we'll be safe at your house, there are adults there, bad guys won't dare come! Then, we'll think of a way to save Brother Xie..."
Bai Qingzhong sniffed, looking at the little dumpling's serious expression.
The little pom-pom hair accessory in her hair swayed back and forth, and she tried to puff out her little chest, like a plump white steamed bun that had mustered up her courage.
He felt a little warmer inside, and reached out his little hand to gently hug the little dumpling's shoulder: "Hmm... let's wait for Lord Xie to come back together."
The two little ones huddled together for warmth, patting each other on the shoulder, encouraging one another in their childish way.
The candlelight inside the carriage flickered, casting their small shadows on the carriage wall, making them look like they were huddled together, shivering.
-
Finally, the carriage stopped in front of the Prince Wang's residence in Xixiang.
The mansion didn't look very big. Bai Qingzhong got out of the carriage first, and as soon as he stood up with the little dumpling in his hand, the old prime minister's two subordinates followed with cold faces.
The butler hurried out to greet them. Seeing Bai Qingzhong with a young girl and two burly men with unfriendly expressions, he quickly stepped forward: "Young Master, you're back? And who are these gentlemen...?"
“We are from the Marquis of Beiding’s residence. This is the county princess. She would like to stay at the residence tonight,” one of the burly men interrupted the steward, casually fabricating an identity. “We would like to trouble the steward to accompany us to deliver a message to the Marquis’s residence, saying that the county princess is safe and sound and there is no need to worry.”
Although the steward was puzzled, he dared not ask any further questions and quickly nodded, "Okay, okay, I'll take care of it right away."
He was a steward temporarily recruited by Bai Qingzhong after he came to the capital, and he was a fairly honest person.
Since he was not familiar with Bai Qingzhong, he usually just did his job and didn't concern himself with anything else.
There were also several guards in the mansion.
Bai Qingzhong brought a dozen or twenty guards, but they didn't listen to him much. After safely delivering him to the capital, they all relaxed and took turns drinking, gambling, having fun, and slacking off.
The butler was puzzled by this somewhat unusual scene, but adhering to the principle of self-preservation, he chose to ignore it.
The guards, having just finished drinking and gambling, only came to stand guard in a relaxed manner when they saw Bai Qingzhong return, but their minds were still preoccupied with other matters.
So much so that at this moment, not a single person in the mansion raised any objections.
Seeing that things were going so smoothly, the two burly men were quite satisfied.
Turning to face the little boy and Bai Qingzhong, the burly man's face darkened again. He crouched down, staring at them, his voice low and threatening: "You two, stay in the room obediently. Don't run around, don't call for help, and don't secretly pass messages. Lord Xie's life is still in our hands. If you dare to make any trouble, you'll never see him again, understand?"
The little dumpling shrank back behind Bai Qingzhong in fright. Bai Qingzhong also gripped the little dumpling's hand tightly and whispered, "I...I understand."
The burly man nodded in satisfaction.
Bai Qingzhong led the little dumpling into his bedroom under supervision.
The room was very simple, even less so than Xiaotuanzi's bedroom.
The reason for this was that Xie Wenling arranged the residences for the princes, providing them with a place to stay and all the necessary facilities.
However, similarly, considering that the princes must have brought a lot of things with them to the capital, and most likely wouldn't be willing to use what he prepared.
Therefore, apart from a few essential items, he didn't make many other arrangements.
As the only exception, Bai Qingzhong, who was penniless, used all the items and furniture arranged by Xie Wenling, and put very few things of his own.
Therefore, the room will appear exceptionally simple.
The door was closed from the outside, leaving only two children inside.
The two little ones both became listless.
"Princess, I'm sorry..." Bai Qingzhong lowered his head and said in a soft voice, "My home is not as good as yours, and we don't have any fun things to do. I've also made you worry..."
"No way!" The little dumpling shook her head quickly, her little head bobbing like a rattle drum. "Brother Bai's house is very warm! And you even gave Yue'er candy. You're not mean at all!"
Bai Qingzhong felt a little less inferior and relaxed a bit.
He rummaged through the drawer and pulled out a small bag of roasted sunflower seeds, opened it and handed it to him: "Here you go, let's eat together."
The little girl picked up a melon seed but didn't know how to peel it. Seeing this, Bai Qingzhong carefully peeled it for her and put the kernel into her mouth.
The two little ones sat on the edge of the bed, one peeling sunflower seeds and the other eating them, taking turns eating, and their earlier fear gradually faded.
The little girl swallowed the sunflower seeds in her mouth, her face full of seriousness. She held Bai Qingzhong's hand and stood up straight: "Brother Bai, we have to think of a way to help Brother Xie! We can't just wait like this."
Inspired by her enthusiasm, Bai Qingzhong nodded vigorously: "Yes! We have to think of something! But... what can we do?"
The two little ones frowned and began to ponder deeply.
The little dumpling first suggested, "We can shout 'Help!'"
As she spoke, she cleared her throat, about to speak, when Bai Qingzhong quickly covered her mouth, glanced nervously at the door, and whispered, "No! People outside will hear!"
"Mmm..." The little dumpling nodded, also feeling that this method was inappropriate.
"Then... Yue'er can pretend to have a stomachache, get the adults to take her to see a doctor, and then run away?" The little dumpling came up with another idea.
“No, no,” Bai Qingzhong quickly shook his head, “They will definitely be watching us, we can’t escape.”
The two little ones talked back and forth, coming up with several ideas, but none of them seemed quite right.
In her haste, the little dumpling accidentally knocked over a teacup on the table, the loud crash sounding particularly jarring in the quiet night.
"Who's making a fuss in there?!" A burly man's impatient voice immediately came from outside. "Stay put, or you'll regret it!"
The little dumpling and Bai Qingzhong huddled together in fear, too scared to make a sound.
After a while, once he was sure there was no more noise outside, Bai Qingzhong said in a low voice, "Princess, let's not make a fuss over this. Let's wait until tomorrow."
The little dumpling also deflated, her little shoulders slumping: "But... Yue'er is so worried about Brother Xie."
"But there's nothing we can do right now..."
After all that fuss, the two little ones' eyelids started to droop.
The little dumpling yawned, its little head bobbing up and down.
Bai Qingzhong rubbed his eyes, feeling sleepy.
"Brother Bai, Yue'er is so sleepy." The little dumpling's voice was soft and sweet.
“Me too,” Bai Qingzhong said, moving closer to the bed. “Let’s sleep for a while. When we wake up, it will be dawn, and maybe we’ll be able to see Lord Xie.”
The little dumpling nodded and lay down on the bed with Bai Qingzhong.
The bed wasn't big, but the two little ones squeezed together and felt very safe.
"Goodnight, Brother Bai." The little dumpling's voice grew softer and softer until it disappeared completely, and her breathing became even.
Good night, Princess.
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