"Who treats me gently? Huh? Who treats me gently? There's nothing here, nothing at all, how are we supposed to live?" Xue Family wailed, "We can't leave Zhen An Prefecture, are we to be trapped here to die?"
As she cried, the Great Princess Li Yuwen and the Second Princess Li Yu En also began to sob.
Prince Luling stood with his hands behind his back, sighing deeply.
The Second Young Master Li Xingsheng frowned as well.
Princess Consort Wei asked Li Boxuan, "Prince, what should we do next?"
Li Boxuan frowned, uncertain of what to do.
"Let's go over there." Li Yuzhu pointed in a direction and said, "Let's go borrow some food."
She was very hungry.
In her memory, the original host hadn't eaten anything since yesterday noon and had only drunk a small amount of water.
Moreover, after leaving the Capital a month ago, they had been starving every day.
The Imperial Guards escorting their family only provided each of them with one fist-sized bun and half a bowl of water per meal.
But even this meager ration was often tricked away by Xue Family.
Who told the original host to be a fool?
Additionally, being thrown into a mountain ditch by the Imperial Guards this morning, the family had been walking all day in the mountains to find shelter, and the original host was already severely exhausted.
In such torment, the original host probably starved to death, allowing her to unexpectedly take over.
"Third Sister, are you dizzy again? Let me hold Guoguo?" The young man speaking just now took the little niece from Li Yuzhu's hands.
Li Yuzhu smiled slightly, "Thank you, Third Brother."
Due to speaking late and being slow in speech and stiff in actions later, the original host was regarded as a fool by the whole family and was always the neglected one.
Only this Third Brother didn't mind the original host's foolishness and often came to see her.
"Silly girl, we're siblings, why thank me?" Li Xing'an laughed, then looked at Li Yuzhu as if he'd seen a ghost, "You... Third Sister? You're actually being polite?"
Li Yuzhu replied unhappily, "I understand everything, I was pretending before, because having to learn manners and study every day was annoying, I pretended to be a fool and you really thought I was a fool?"
She rolled her eyes at Li Xing'an.
Yes, she laid it all out, she wasn't a fool!
Li Xing'an said happily, "That's great, that's great, as long as you're not a fool."
Li Yuzhu was speechless, "Don't call me a fool anymore!"
"Yes, yes, yes, I won't say it anymore!" Li Xing'an laughed heartily.
The place Li Yuzhu pointed to was a low hill not far in the distance.
Halfway up the hill, a wisp of cooking smoke was quietly drifting.
Li Boxuan exclaimed joyfully, "Where there's smoke, there are people, that could be a big village, let's go borrow some food."
He excitedly took the lead and walked towards the smoke.
Princess Consort Wei looked coldly at Xue Family, "Get up, and take good care of the children."
"Yes." Xue Family grabbed hold of Princely Heir's hand and got up from the ground.
But she didn't carry the children, and unwillingly walked ahead with her head lowered.
Princely Heir Li Xingmao carried his two-and-a-half-year-old son, silently accompanying her.
The Second Young Master Li Xingsheng took care of the Great Princess Li Yuwen and the Second Princess Li Yu En.
Li Yuzhu and the Third Young Master Li Xing'an, who was carrying the infant, walked at the back.
The family supported one another as they walked forward.
...
An old saying goes, the mountain seems close but it breaks your legs to reach it.
The hill with the smoke seemed right before their eyes, yet it took them three miles to reach it.
Seeing the dwelling before them, the whole family was disappointed and deflated.
Midway up the hill, what kind of village was there?
There was only one household!
In the three low straw cottages, there lived only a skinny boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old.