Seeing that her little one had stopped eating, Min Yueqing knew he was full, so she said to him, "Lele, go get the water bag and have some milk. Just leave the rest of the fish here."
Pei Ji was looking at the remaining half of the fish, feeling conflicted, when he heard this he immediately felt relieved. He wiped his hands clean with a half-damp handkerchief and ran off to get his water bag.
A short while later, Pei Ji arrived carrying three water bags, handing them to Min Yueqing, Pei Han, and Shi Tou respectively. Then he turned around and ran back, this time retrieving his own and Xiao Wei's water bags.
Poor little Wei had been smelling the aroma of roasted meat for so long that he was so anxious that he circled around the many roasted fish several times, and would occasionally look at Min Yueqing with a pitiful look, but Min Yueqing seemed to have a heart of stone and was unmoved at all.
Xiao Wei stayed nestled at Min Yueqing's feet, drooling as he watched everyone feast. His intense craving was practically palpable.
Min Yueqing looked at Xiao Wei with amusement and patted its little head. "Little guy, you really can't eat this, otherwise you'll miss out on a lot of real delicacies in the future!"
Pei Ji sat down next to Min Yueqing, first handing her Xiao Wei's water bag, then asked curiously, "Mother, what is real delicacy?"
Min Yueqing took the water bag and said with a smile, "Little Wei will be the mighty and domineering king of beasts in the future. The forest will be full of its prey, and what it catches itself will naturally be the most delicious food."
Pei Ji then realized what was happening and pleaded with Min Yueqing, "Mother, but it seems to really want to eat right now. Can't you even share a couple of bites of the fish I didn't finish with it?"
Min Yueqing patiently explained, "It's too small. It can't eat meat yet, it can only drink milk. It will be about two months old before it can slowly eat meat. Even then, it can't eat cooked food. It's best to eat raw meat. Cooked food is hard for it to digest and it's not good for maintaining its wild nature."
Pei Ji suddenly realized and immediately gave up the idea of feeding it grilled fish.
Pei Han looked at Min Yueqing with great interest. He had known for his wife's gentleness, patience, and kindness. Seeing her take such good care of a little tiger she had met by chance, he couldn't help but feel proud.
Seeing how pitifully hungry the little tiger was, Min Yueqing said to Pei Ji, "Lele, go to the saddle and get Xiao Wei's food bowl."
Pei Ji didn't even notice that she was thirsty herself, and rushed to get a food bowl for Xiao Wei.
After Pei Ji placed the food bowl on the ground, Min Yueqing poured out a small amount of milk and said to Xiao Wei, "Drink up. I know you're not actually hungry, so consider this your snack."
Little Wei glanced at the grilled fish on the tree branch not far away, then looked at the milk in front of him. Although reluctant, he still gave in and sipped it intermittently.
After finishing the two grilled fish, Min Yueqing was almost full, so she said to Pei Han and Shi Tou, "Which of you can still eat? Eat the rest of Lele's fish."
Stone could actually still be eaten, but he didn't respond immediately. Instead, he glanced at Pei Han, fearing that Pei Han might not have finished eating either.
Stone's limited skills were practically invisible to Pei Han. Pei Han simply reached out and pulled out the half-eaten grilled fish that Pei Ji still had, pointed to the untouched one, and said to Stone, "You eat that one."
After hearing Pei Han's words, Shi Tou took the last grilled fish and started eating.
Min Yueqing took a couple of sips of milk, then went to the stream to wash her hands. Although she had just wiped them with Pei Ji's handkerchief, her hands were still a little sticky.
Pei Ji squatted down beside Min Yueqing and couldn't help but say, "Mother, the water here is so beautiful, it's so clear and bright, it's different from anything I've seen before."
Min Yueqing agreed wholeheartedly, and she happily took the little one's hand, saying, "Isn't it special? Let's walk along this stream."
The two began to stroll leisurely, with Wei following closely behind.
As soon as Shi Tou saw Min Yueqing leave, he immediately sped up his eating, finishing the fish in a flash. He then put away his water bag and Xiao Wei's food bowl, said goodbye to Pei Han, and quickly followed after her.
Pei Han silently shook his head. He could see it clearly. These two children were practically Min Yueqing's little shadows, second only to Xiao Wei, the little tiger cub, in their clinginess.
Pei Han extinguished the fire, walked to the stream and washed his hands. He shook the water off his hands, looked at the two children jumping and skipping not far away, and occasionally turned his head to respond to Min Yueqing, who was playing with the children. He couldn't help but smile.
Pei Han strode after Min Yueqing and the others, just in time to hear Pei Ji say, "Mother, now that we've come this far, does that mean that wicked eunuch can no longer harm us?"
Pei Han was startled and quickly asked, "Did Jia Ren make things difficult for you?"
Pei Ji answered truthfully and crisply, "After we left the capital, he sent someone to poison us."
Pei Han looked at her son's innocent little face speechlessly. How could he say something like this in such a casual tone? Was her son too carefree?
Pei Ji's words reminded Min Yueqing of something. She said to Pei Han, "The eunuch sent by Jia Ren has been captured by the shop assistants. His name is Ba Liang. He is currently in the courtyard, living with the shop assistants."
Pei Han found it hard to believe that such an important matter was only being told now. He finally knew where his son inherited his carefree attitude.
Pei Han figured it would be difficult to wait for his wife and children to explain the whole thing, so he could only ask in detail, "What happened with the poisoning?"
Min Yueqing replied slowly and deliberately, "This is a long story. Jia Ren originally gave Ba Liang a packet of poison, telling him to find an opportunity to put it in our food and catch us all in one fell swoop. But Ba Liang wasn't that ruthless. Instead, he found a few thugs to sneak into the backyard of the inn at night, trying to secretly poison our horses, steal our luggage, and prevent us from continuing our journey south."
"Those thugs had their own ideas. They didn't want to poison so many good horses for nothing. Instead, they wanted to keep these strong horses for themselves, so they secretly replaced the poison with croton oil. As a result, they were caught red-handed."
As she spoke of the latter half, a hint of mockery unconsciously crept into Min Yueqing's eyes.
The story took many twists and turns. At first, Pei Han was furious, but after hearing the rest, he found it both funny and absurd.
Pei Han felt extremely fortunate. A man like Jia Ren, who only did evil and never did good, was not only deeply hated by the court officials, but even the eunuchs and maids in the palace did not genuinely respect him.
When carrying out the immoral things he arranges, most people will secretly cut corners, otherwise they don't know what the outcome will be, or whether they will be able to see their wives and children arrive safely.
Pei Han then asked, "Why was this little eunuch willing to travel all that way to the southwest with you?"
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