Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 27

Volume 02 Chapter 27: Who's Better, Who's Worse

Li Xun really didn't want to continue waiting. There were 133 people: 77 people in the older group, and 58 people in the younger group. Actually, there were only fifty-six in the younger group---the other two were Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, who weren't old enough. Therefore, including them, the total number of participants was 135.

The intelligence game at the Between the Water and Clouds Restaurant was still commencing. According to the arrangement, it will take at least half a month for the game to end. The restaurant not only brought in some advertisement money, but the money they earned from selling wine and food was also greater than before.

The people from those fourteen stores also prepared the items they had to prepare. The one hundred plus children were not from ordinary families, so if they can get the children to like any of their products, a lot of business opportunities would be guaranteed in the future.

The carriage sellers drove beautiful carriages to Tu'qiao Village. Early the next morning, the children were accompanied by their families to the place. Each one of them were beautifully dressed. It was hard to tell whether they were preparing for an outing or preparing to spend a few days in the grassland.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were close to that place. After they tidied up, they carried a backpack and left the house with the company of people from their household. Wang Juan's father wanted to follow them, but after Wang Juan persuaded him to stay home, he finally gave up. The two men and two women that went with them were people from the two manors. The women were responsible for taking care of them, and the men were of course responsible for protecting them.

Li Xun brought a lot of people out with him. He was the one who organized the activities so it was a given that he had to take good care of other people. When everyone got onto the carriages, the carriages majestically headed towards Luo'chuan County.

The adults didn't interfere; it was fine as long as the children were not in danger. They saw this as an opportunity for their children to play. Furthermore, it was not easy to encounter a chance to play with the Emperor's nephew.

Seeing their children running around, they thought it was a good thing because at least it showed that their children were incredible and it was impossible to deplete their energy levels. They were hoping that when they arrived at the pasture, they could show that their children were better than other children.

In the end, it took them two days to arrive even though the travel time was supposed to be just one day. Along the way here, they had to stop several times to rest. The children were still young, so after becoming tired from playing, they didn't want to sleep, but instead they wanted to eat good food.

The carriages stopped, and the children got out of their own carriages. They felt that the sight was novel when they looked at the vast grassland in front of them that seemed to extend on forever. The children looked at each other, and an idea of racing each other arose in their minds.

When Father Zhang told Li Xun about this matter, he never mentioned any specific details. Li Xun found someone to figure out how to tell the children which direction they should go in. However, how far they need to walk depends on each child's ability.

In order to help the children identify the direction, people planted a flag every ten or so zhang1 in the grass field. There were also people standing guard not too far away, so if the child ran to the wrong place, these people could go over and correct them.

In order to physically train the children, Li Xun came up with a way, that is, the children were not allowed to bring their own food. All the food the children carried had to be removed. They were only provided with a meal in the morning if they woke up, and nothing was given in the noon. In the evening, tents would be set up and people would prepare food for them. This time, he was determined to make these children suffer.

He also received the same treatment, and the snacks in Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan's bags were taken away. They didn't plan to eat them at the beginning; they just brought them along just in case.

The group of children rested all night, and early the next morning, all of them got up excitedly, got dressed, and followed the team to advance forward.

As soon as they set off, all the children except Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan ran ahead like wild horses. Even Li Xun was no exception.

"Let's go, don't expect to catch any wild animals. They have cleaned the place up. Let's eat some plants at noon." Wang Juan saw Zhang Xiao'bao looking around so she thought that he wanted to catch something to eat at noon. She briefly tried to persuade him and she went ahead first.

Zhang Xiao'bao looked around again. He looked up at the blue sky, took in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. He followed after Wang Juan while saying, "I wasn't expecting to catch something, I just wanted to see what kind of plants are there. Later we can dig and eat the stuff near the roots of the plants."

"Have you found any then?" Wang Juan saw several wild vegetables. On the pasture here, the grass was tall. Even though the place had been specially cleaned, some patches of grass were more than half a meter high, and when she and Zhang Xiao'bao walked in there, the tips of the grass reached their waist. Fortunately, some of the grass has been cut to feed the horses, so there was a unmarked path.

Wang Juan nodded. She also knew that these things were edible. Although some of them had parasites on them, the chance of becoming sick was very low and the parasites can be killed with salt. Despite the low probability, it was better to avoid anything that was avoidable.

The two of them walked at the back, but of course, there were adults who followed them. Some of these adults were sent by Li Xun to protect them, and some were parents who wanted to see their children act brave and heroic'.

At this time, they looked at the two children walking at the back and felt that they were much worse than their own children, who were running at the front. They shook their heads, thinking that in just a short while the two children would leave here crying.

"Li Cheng, those two children belong to the Zhang and Wang manors, right? They're walking a little bit slow. They're far worse than the children on their manors that we saw last time. They lack the enthusiasm that other children have."

Li Xun's teacher, the middle-aged man, also followed behind. After seeing Wang Juan and Zhang Xiao'bao, he spoke to Li Cheng, who was beside him.

"My lord is correct. After all, they're just a bit over two years old, so they're not as good as others. I got people to fully prepare everything; nothing dangerous can happen." Li Cheng agreed and went along with what he said.

The other adults were also chatting while walking and each of them were excited like little children. They specifically compared Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan with their own children.

"Brother Xin, take a look. Those two children have come here too---that's ridiculous. According to their current pace, I have no idea how many days it would take for them to get there. I saw your son earlier; he can run so fast. How wonderful, he indeed possesses the demeanor of Brother Xin from back then. "

An adult watched Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan while talking to another person next to him. There was a smile on that person's face, and he also replied, "Look at what Brother Lei said. Your kid is not ordinary either. I think your son was the second one to start running. Look, you can't even see him anymore."

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan didn't know that they had become the negative exemplars in the mouths of others, and became targets of criticism. Each time after they walked a bit, they stopped for a short while to dig with a small shovel. They found tender wild vegetables, some small larva in the soil, and they even dug up a few earthworms.

They took out a small box, which was made from iron sheets, from their bag. They placed these things inside and sprinkle some salt on it. Afterwards, they continued forward and continued digging.

The group had set out at seven in the morning, and two hours passed away quietly while the children were running and jumping around. Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan were done preparing enough food for noon and night. They fixed their backpack and started to walk more quickly. The two of them took turns carrying the backpack and they moved forward with their heads lowered.

The people walking in the front were responsible for looking for the path to go through, and the people following behind could relax since they only needed to follow the pace of the people in front. This way, they didn't have to use up too much brain power and physical stamina. Travelling at the same pace also reduced the resistance created by the grass.

"Older Brother Xin, look, those two little kids are rushing now. What a pity, even if they rush right now, they will get tired soon. The children in front have already run far ahead already."

The person surnamed Lei saw that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan had sped up, and started talking to the person next to him again. The person surnamed Xin also nodded a little bit, acknowledging this, and went along saying, "Indeed. It's too late. I can't even see the shadows of those boys now. They won't be able to walk anymore in just a bit."

The two of them didn't say a word. They adjusted their breathing rate, their walking posture, and rushed forward bit by bit.

Two more hours passed, and the sun in the sky seemed a little bigger. The children running in front finally ran out of energy, and all of them were hungry and they drank water continuously. At every few flags in the front, there was water placed there for them to take.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan rushed the entire way. They finally saw the figures of the children in front of them, and hurried forward. Some of the little children couldn't walk anymore so they laid down at the camp set up for the five to eight-year-olds. Some children persisted on because they wanted to get ahead of others.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan stopped at a spot that provided water, and took out two iron bowls from their bags. One was large and one was small. The larger one had a diameter of 20 cm and the small one was about 10 cm in diameter.

They placed the bowls down neatly, and took out a paper bag from the backpack. After opening it, they poured out the small white chunks and powder into the big bowl. Then, they placed the small bowl into the big bowl. They got some water, and placed the collected wild vegetables and bugs into the small bowl. The water they prepared was poured onto the powder mixture in the big bowl.

The powder mixture immediately began to bubble and it released a lot of heat. The two of them looked at the small bowl and occasionally, they poured out more of the powder into the big bowl. By the time the third pack of powder was used up, the water in the small bowl finally boiled, and the contents in the small bowl became soup.

Translator's Notes

1. Zhang

A length unit; each zhang is about 330 cm.