Chapter 69 The Journey Home (2)
As soon as Li Xiaoxiao pulled the offering table away, the body of the half-Buddha fell straight down and shattered into a lump of mud.
Li Xiaoxiao pushed the mud aside, walked to the ground, picked up a sword from the man in black, and chopped the offering table into a pile of firewood in a few strokes. She called to Zhao Jian, "Brother Jian, Asheng, come and help start the fire."
Zhao Jian and A Sheng were already shivering from the cold. Upon hearing this, they immediately shuffled out, grabbed some firewood, and started a fire in another corner.
When Li Xiaoxiao was chopping the offering table, His Highness the Crown Prince needed to go out to relieve himself. Pang Shi and Wan Quan were worried and, despite their physical limitations, followed him out.
After they finished arranging things outside the woods, the Crown Prince suddenly stopped and asked, "Pang Shi, what do you think of that maid's abilities?"
Pang Shi replied without hesitation, "It is unfathomable, and we may only be seeing a part of the whole picture."
Wan Quan had personally witnessed Li Xiaoxiao defeat four men in black with a mere flick of her wrist. Her strength was so formidable that they did not hesitate to commit suicide, demonstrating her formidable power. Upon hearing Pang Shi's assessment, he nodded in agreement, deeply agreeing with it.
The Crown Prince asked, "What if you faced her at your peak?"
Pang Shi fell silent: "I haven't fought her myself, so it's hard to say, but she is extremely strong, and I'm afraid I'm no match for her in terms of strength." However, the victory or defeat between masters is not always determined by strength; it can also be a matter of using light force to overcome heavy force. Therefore, since he hadn't fought Li Xiaoxiao himself, he dared not say that he could definitely win.
The crown prince asked, "Do you think this person is capable?"
Pang Shi said, "Your Highness, this person is exceptionally skilled and likely has an extraordinary background. If Your Highness truly wishes to employ her, perhaps we should wait until we are freed before sending someone to investigate her background. If her background is indeed clean, it would not be too late for Your Highness to recruit her."
The Crown Prince pondered, "Given the resources of the Meng family's direct line, it's not surprising they could recruit such talent. But Meng Ying is a son of a concubine, and he's been separated from his family by Minister Meng, essentially a discarded son. Why waste such a skilled protector on his son? Quite interesting~"
Wan Quan said, "Since Your Highness is pleased with her talent, why don't you let this old servant help you test her character first?"
The prince asked, "What do you intend to do?"
Wan Quan said, "Your Highness and General Pang, please wait here for now. Let this old servant go in first and give her a difficult problem to see how she handles it."
The Crown Prince's selection of talent requires more than just one skill; it must consider all aspects, especially the ability to cope with various difficulties. Eunuchs, on the other hand, can come up with a thousand ideas in an instant if they want to set difficult questions for others.
His Highness the Crown Prince was extremely curious about this maid, so Wan Quan naturally wanted to find a way to help him probe and find out what kind of character she was.
The Crown Prince and Pang Shi indeed stopped in their tracks.
Zhao Jian and Asheng had just lit the fire with trembling hands when Wan Quan strode in with a cold face: "Wait! Who told you to bring this firewood? Bring it all over here!"
Zhao Jian and A Sheng were startled, their faces turning deathly pale. They instinctively looked at Li Xiaoxiao and Meng Guanqi, who were waiting by the fire.
Li Xiaoxiao frowned, and Meng Guanqi knew something was wrong. He quickly spoke to Zhao Jian in front of her, saying, "You guys take the firewood over there."
Zhao Jian and Asheng didn't dare to hesitate and carried all the firewood over, not daring to leave a single piece behind.
The crown prince's closest eunuch was not someone they could afford to offend.
Li Xiaoxiao watched helplessly as every single piece of firewood she had chopped was taken away, her hard-earned harvest from a whole night being claimed by someone else with a single, casual remark.
Her face turned cold.
Meng Guanqi reached out and grasped her hand firmly, gently shaking his head and saying almost silently, "Don't speak."
A small pile of firewood had been chopped from an offering table. Wan Quan looked at the quantity and nodded in satisfaction: "With so much firewood, it can be guaranteed to burn all night. Young Master Meng, please arrange for someone to help keep watch so that His Highness can have a good night's rest."
Li Xiaoxiao felt an unprecedented anger rising from the bottom of her heart. She was the one who saved the people, she was the one who came up with the idea of burning the offering table, she was the one who chopped the firewood, and she had also checked that the pile of firewood was divided into two halves. Even if it couldn't burn until dawn, it would be enough to dry the clothes on the people's bodies. Who would have thought that this dead eunuch would start bullying people as soon as he caught his breath.
If they take away the firewood, what will happen to the others? She and Zhao Jian are strong and healthy, so they might be fine, but Meng Guanqi has been wearing only a wet undergarment for more than an hour, shivering from the cold in the temple. The four of them have firmly taken over the fire she lit, and even managed to take all the firewood she found.
Is this really the closest person to the Crown Prince of this dynasty? Did he do this on the Crown Prince's orders? Is this the kind of person their future emperor is?
She thought of the villagers in Biyang County, the village called Yezi Village. They paid taxes on all the grain they harvested, and their debts kept piling up. The whole village relied on growing some sweet potatoes to supplement their food supply, and they were all starving and skin and bones. She thought that since they had met Magistrate Meng, their lives would gradually get better.
It seems she was too naive. If the future heir of a dynasty is so selfish and ungrateful, how can one expect him to love the people after he takes the throne?
Meng Guanqi's hands were so cold they looked like they'd been taken out of an icebox. Not only him, but also young Asheng's hands were turning bluish-purple. If this continued, they would really freeze to death.
Wan Quan, however, acted as if he had gotten a good deal, staring at Li Xiaoxiao's increasingly unpleasant expression, and even spoke provocatively: "What? You have a problem with that? We're all servants. It's a servant's duty to make his master comfortable. Besides, my master is His Highness the Crown Prince. You should be grateful for the opportunity to offer firewood. All of you, put on a smiling face, lest His Highness the Crown Prince returns and sees you all looking so unwilling and resentful..."
Li Xiaoxiao could no longer bear it. She shook off Meng Guanqi's hand and stood up, staring coldly at Wan Quan.
Aside from his master in the palace, there was almost no one in the world who could make Wan Quan back down. On the contrary, Li Xiaoxiao, a mere servant of the son of a county magistrate, dared to look him in the eye.
Therefore, neither of them would give an inch.
Wan Quan knew that His Highness the Crown Prince was watching Li Xiaoxiao's reaction from behind the wall. He was also looking forward to seeing how Li Xiaoxiao would behave next. Would she endure and back down? Or would she argue her case?
Li Xiaoxiao suddenly smiled and bowed to Wan Quan: "What you say makes sense, sir. We are all servants, and we should always put our masters first."
A hint of disappointment flashed in Wan Quan's eyes. He's scared already?
Li Xiaoxiao immediately followed up with, "Then please make way for my master so he can warm himself by the fire. We're all servants, so who's more noble than whom?"
Wan Quan never expected her to say something like that, and his whole body turned red instantly: "You, what did you say?"
Li Xiaoxiao looked at him and said, word by word, "I said, you—get—out—of the way!" Seeing that he was trembling with anger and didn't react, she casually pushed him away, and Wan Quan was thrown into the pile of mud that the half-Buddha had broken into.
Wan Quan fell face-first onto the mud pile. He wasn't injured, but he was covered in mud and ash, and his wounds were throbbing with pain. He looked up at Li Xiaoxiao in disbelief.
But Li Xiaoxiao didn't have time to look at him. She pulled Meng Guanqi to sit down in front of the fire and began to massage his hands and feet.
She couldn't offend the Crown Prince, so she could only offend this eunuch. If Meng Guanqi really got sick from the cold, she wouldn't mind overturning the fire.
With the alternation of hot and cold, Meng Guanqi couldn't help but sneeze several times, and his whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Li Xiaoxiao looked at him with concern. He wasn't very strong to begin with, and to make matters worse, he had this bad luck. Judging from his appearance, he must have caught a cold.
She thought for a moment, then took off her raincoat and her outer coat, revealing the wolfskin coat she was wearing.
She asked Mama Mao to make this fur coat with the help of a gray wolf pelt she had hunted. Although the surface was wet, it was waterproof because the inside was made of leather.
She reached out and wrung out the outer layer of fur, and water gushed out. She then placed it over the fire for a short while, and the water on the inner layer evaporated.
She took off all of Meng Guanqi's wet clothes and put the wolf skin on him.
The warm wolf pelt was draped over him, still carrying her body heat. Meng Guanqi finally felt his body begin to warm up, but since the wolf pelt coat was given to him, Li Xiaoxiao was left with only two thin layers of clothing.
Meng Guanqi held onto her hand tightly, refusing to let go, and whispered, "Let's warm ourselves by the fire together. I'll beg His Highness the Crown Prince later; we should be able to squeeze in..."
Li Xiaoxiao glanced back at Zhao Jian and Asheng, then shook her head: "I'm going out to find firewood. Even if it gets wet in the rain, the smoke will warm us up. Jian-ge and Asheng need to roast some too..."
The Crown Prince and Pang Shi couldn't stand it any longer; if they didn't come out soon, their character would be questioned.
He coughed, turned the corner, and saw Wan Quan lying face down on the mud pile, grimacing, unable to get up for a long time. He seemed surprised: "What happened? Wan Quan?"
Wan Quan's wounds ached even more after Li Xiaoxiao's actions. Seeing the Crown Prince emerge, he realized his villainous act was finally over. He struggled to his feet and said, "Your Highness, this servant accidentally tripped and fell..."
Li Xiaoxiao glanced at him in surprise. He hadn't complained?
The prince said, "How could you be so careless? Quickly take off your clothes and come warm yourself by the fire; it's too cold!"
Then, as if he had just seen the pile of firewood, he said to Meng Guanqi in surprise, "Why did you bring all this firewood over? We don't need this much firewood here. Quickly tell your men to start another fire, otherwise people will freeze to death if it stays frozen all night."
Wan Quan immediately apologized, saying, "Your Highness, it was this old servant's fault. This old servant took it upon himself to ask Young Master Meng to bring over all the firewood, fearing that this little bit of firewood wouldn't last until dawn tomorrow..."
The Crown Prince was furious: "How dare you! Your lives and mine were saved by Young Master Meng and his group. How can you repay kindness with enmity and take all the firewood! Now, immediately give half of the firewood to Young Master Meng, and you can carry it back yourself."
Wan Quan responded with a look of fear, ignoring the pain in his wounds, and carefully carried Chai back to Zhao Jian and A Sheng.
So all of this was done by Wan Quan on his own initiative? The Crown Prince never intended it that way at all?
Li Xiaoxiao and Meng Guanqi exchanged a glance, but neither of them would go against their good luck. Wan Quan carried the firewood back, and Li Xiaoxiao immediately went forward to start a fire. Zhao Jian and Asheng were almost frozen.
Meng Guanqi also gave his seat back to Wan Quan, who bowed and said, "It was my presumption that led to this. Please forgive me if I have offended you, Young Master Meng."
Meng Guanqi was truly amazed by her demeanor in public and private, but he still returned the courtesy and said, "You flatter me, sir. My maid has also offended me. She is sincere and a bit impatient. I hope you will not take offense."
The two apologized to each other and then sat back down in front of their respective fires.
Two fires, one on the east and one on the west, were lit, driving away much of the cold and dampness from the dilapidated temple.
Ah Sheng warmed himself by the fire for a long time before finally recovering. He whispered to Li Xiaoxiao, "Sister Xiaoxiao, did the Crown Prince really not know that Eunuch Wan took all the firewood?" At first, he thought that he did it on purpose, but after the Crown Prince came back and scolded Wan Quan, he was no longer sure.
Li laughed and said, "Bullshit, he's been standing behind the wall listening for ages, how could he not know..."
Meng Guanqi hissed and glared at them warningly: "Silence!"
Although the two were whispering, the Crown Prince, Pang Shi, and Wan Quan, who were all martial artists and whose temple was not very large, overheard their conversation clearly.
Three people: =_=~
Being humiliated on the spot was incredibly embarrassing.
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