"Where did you find these sugarcanes? Or did you plant them?"
In her excitement, Li Lanzhen grabbed the little boy's arms with both hands, forgetting that she was strong.
Seeing the little boy frown and twist his arm, she realized that she had used too much force.
She quickly rubbed the child's arm, saying, "Sorry, sorry, Auntie was just too happy and pinched you too hard, didn't she?"
"Here, let your auntie treat you to some cornbread."
As he spoke, he took out four black cornbread buns from the basket on his back, which was actually from his spatial storage.
They each received two, and he said with a smile.
"You two eat first, then tell your auntie when you're done. No rush."
The little boy hesitated for a moment, glanced at his sister leaning against his lap, and thought that his sister hadn't eaten any proper food for more than ten days.
Seeing her younger sister already sucking on her fingers, she took a steamed bun and handed one to her.
"Sister, please eat. Thank you, Auntie."
My daughter said in a voice as soft as a cat's, "Thank you."
The two children looked very hungry, but they did not wolf down their food.
One hand held a steamed bun and was biting into it, while the other hand was catching the crumbs that fell from the bun.
The boy ate one, and wrapped the other one in a large leaf and put it in his pocket.
Then he looked up and said to Li Lanzhen.
"Auntie, I didn't plant the intestinal herb. I found it in that mountain gully over there. It's growing in a patch."
My sister and I were starving, so we pulled up some thin stalks, cut them off, and chewed them. We found they were sweet, so we ate them often.
As he spoke, he pointed down the mountain.
"Okay, Auntie, I understand. Can you take me there to see it?"
"Oh, your sugarcane, yes, it's this 'intestinal cleansing herb' that can be exchanged for grain."
The boy was delighted when he heard that he could exchange his money for food.
Seeing the little girl stumbling along, Li Lanzhen picked her up, put her in a basket, and carried her on her back.
Follow the little boy as he walks towards the back of the mountain.
As the two walked and chatted, Li Lanzhen learned that the brother and sister originally had a happy family.
Their father was an expert fisherman, and the family owned a fishing boat.
The fish caught each day were either sold together in the village or cleaned and dried into dried seafood.
But one day, their father went out to sea to fish with the village's fleet and never returned.
At the time, her mother was pregnant with her younger sister. Upon hearing this devastating news, her mother went into premature labor, gave birth to her sister, and passed away three days later.
From then on, only the boy and his sister remained.
The boy first sold his fishing boat, and then, using the family's food supplies, he ate all the food in the village while holding his three-day-old sister.
Several aunties who had breast milk would give their younger sister a couple of bites.
However, every family was very poor and had no extra food to feed the new mother.
Therefore, they had very little breast milk, and the younger sister mostly ate fish soup that was cooked to a slightly thicker consistency.
Later, when my younger sister was able to eat grain, the family's grain supply was running low.
Since it was just the two of them, they spent some food on burying their parents.
In order for his younger sister to have a breast milk, he also traded the family's grain for milk.
All the dried seafood in the family was given to the village chief to sell, and very little grain was bought back.
They've been living off their savings, and now life is getting harder and harder.
Fortunately, the villagers are all kind people, and each family is willing to help these two poor children.
Hearing the child's story, Li Lanzhen felt a pang of pain in her heart.
It felt like I was back on the road of fleeing famine, encountering homeless children, their pitiful and helpless state.
"Don't you have any relatives here? Don't you have a grandmother, uncles, aunts, or other relatives?"
The boy shook his head. "No, my grandparents have both passed away. I only have my father. My mother was picked up by my father. I have no family."
Seeing the boy's dejected expression, Li Lanzhen walked a few steps in silence, unsure of what to do.
They wanted to take the two children to Peach Blossom Spring, but they didn't know if the children would be willing to leave their hometown, since their parents were still buried here.
So she didn't say anything.
After walking for nearly half an hour, Li Lanzhen finally saw a sugarcane field.
Calling it a sugarcane grove is a bit of an exaggeration; there are only a dozen or twenty sugarcane trees.
Furthermore, they don't grow very well; they're crooked and the sugarcane stalks are thin and not very tall.
However, none of this is a problem. As long as there is sugarcane, Li Lanzhen puts it all into her space, lets the space improve the sugarcane varieties, and then plants it in the Peach Blossom Spring Grand Canyon.
If they can grow, they can be planted in large quantities on the mountain.
This way, she can continue her grand project of boiling sugar.
The boy looked at Li Lanzhen and stroked each of the colon grasses with his hands.
I felt so sorry for this auntie; she had never eaten the herb that could be chewed to extract sweet juice.
"Auntie, this can be planted. There was only a little bit here originally."
He gestured with his hand, "Then it was me, I cut the intestinal herb into sections and buried them in the soil, and then it grew more and more."
Li Lanzhen turned her head and looked at the boy with starry eyes.
She discovered that the child was bright and intelligent.
"You have this skill? How do you know it can be planted and grow?"
“When I saw the uncles and aunts in the village planting vegetables, I wondered if I could make them grow more.”
"Okay, I need to dig up a few to plant back home, is that alright?"
I can trade you grain.
The boy nodded vigorously.
"Sure, Auntie, dig as much as you like."
In a couple of days, I'll cut the *Heliotropium indicum* into sections and bury them in the soil. When the weather warms up and it rains, they'll sprout and grow.
Then he ran up to a sugarcane and pointed at it, telling Li Lanzhen.
“Auntie, when you cut the grafting grass, you must be careful to leave the knot between the two stalks. When it sprouts, it will grow from here. You can’t cut it off, otherwise it will have nowhere to sprout.”
Li Lanzhen stroked his head and laughed heartily. What a clever child! He actually figured out this trick.
Having not eaten breakfast, Li Lanzhen was also a little hungry. She picked up the little girl, stood her up, took out a straw mat from her basket, spread it on the ground, and then took out a few white steamed buns and a water bag.
"Come on, let's sit down and have something to eat."
The boy waved his hand, "No, Auntie, we just ate some cornbread. You eat it, we're not hungry."
Li Lanzhen clearly saw the boy constantly swallowing his saliva.
The little girl's eyes were also fixed on the steamed bun.
"Come on, consider it helping your aunt. These will spoil if we don't finish them."
The boy then sat down with his sister in his arms. Li Lanzhen gave each of them a white steamed bun, and took one for herself to eat.
"Since you have no relatives here, would you like to come with your aunt?"
Unexpectedly, as soon as Li Lanzhen said those words, the boy immediately became alert, hugged his sister tightly, and stared at her with hostile eyes.
Li Lanzhen felt that he was looking at her like she was the Big Bad Wolf, and she smiled slightly.
"Child, you don't need to be so wary. I'm a good person, not a kidnapper."
I have several grandsons your age in my family.
However, my home is far away, in Youzhou City. To get to Youzhou City from here, I need to take a carriage and then a large boat.
As Li Lanzhen recounted the story, the boy gradually lowered his guard and tilted his head to ask her a question.
"Then why did you come here?"
Li Lanzhen said, "I brought my grandson to visit my son, who is a junior general in the Southwest Border Defense Battalion."
The little boy immediately looked at her with admiration.
“I know, I know. Grandpa Village Chief said that the generals of the Southwest Border Defense Battalion are very powerful. They are the ones who drove away the barbarians.”
"Would you like to come with me? There are many children like you in our village."
"It was my aunt's family who found these children and took them there to live."
The boy didn't agree immediately; he thought about it before speaking.
"Auntie, can I tell Grandpa Village Chief about this?"
"Sure, tell him and see what his opinion is."
But it mainly depends on you. You can come with me if you're willing.
The boy glanced at his little sister nestled in his arms.
He raised his head, as if he had made some kind of decision.
"Okay, I'll ask Grandpa Village Chief after I get down the mountain."
"Auntie, if my sister and I go with you, please take all these 'heart-clearing herbs' with you; consider it a gift from us."
He knew that Li Lanzhen liked these things very much, so he wanted to give them to Li Lanzhen, thinking that it might be better for him and his sister.
Li Lanzhen seemed to see through his little thoughts and knew that the boy probably wanted to go with her.
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