Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 30

Volume 02

"What? They ate food? Tell me the details." Just as Li Cheng thought, Li Xun was really shocked when he heard this, and even the chopsticks in his hand trembled, but he quickly regained his composure.

Li Cheng immediately began to talk about what happened from the beginning to the end. He mentioned that the two children were the last ones at the beginning, and he even talked about other people's evaluations of those two, including the comments about Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan when they were digging while walking.

Then he talked about the tools the two of them took out at noon when others were complaining that they were hungry, how they cooked the things they dug up, how they set up a tiny tent to nap in, and lastly, he talked about how they ran past people along the way.

"Did you arrange someone to make that thing yet?" After hearing the details, Li Xun felt that it was even more unbelievable. How did the two of them know how to do all of this? Who taught them? The most important person was who taught them. If they can find out who this person was then more can be gained from future survival training."

Even though the items carried on the back might be heavy, being able to eat a warm meal was too important for a person. Besides, a blanket can be carried inside and then be used to create shade when sleeping. He knew . He personally knew what the heat was like in the afternoon. He found it hard to believe that the two of them napped and still managed to arrive here without any delay.

Right now there were tents for everyone to rest in, but what if there weren't tents? The two of them can sleep wrapped in a blanket, while the others can only lie on the grass, be bitten by mosquitoes, and perhaps fall sick from the cold.

"Young Childe, I have arranged for someone to make it already, and it will be brought to you at a later time. If you want this to be used tomorrow, we absolutely must tell everyone what can be eaten and what cannot. If they eat the wrong thing, they might get food poisoning."

"Yes, they're even capable of this. Remember to contact the Zhang and Wang Manors more often in the future. Ttry to find out who's the one behind them; I have use for that person." Li Xun heard Li Cheng's words and thought of the same thing too. He had to pay close attention to the person behind the two children.

Li Cheng nodded, and then asked, "Young Childe, do you still want to buy their restaurant and land? Through the past few days, I have finally realized that they deliberately made excuses. If you want to buy it, I'll go find the local government to pressure them."

"No, since it's hard to buy, why put that much effort into buying it? Don't go looking for the local government; the local government is on good terms with them. If we find someone from the Prefecture, I'm scared that this will anger my father. Even if we do buy the place, where are we going to find them once they leave? We need to observe them more and learn from them how to manage a manor."

Li Xun could tell that the Zhang and Wang manors were not as simple as other small manors. If he wanted to knock them over, then he would have to find his father. Otherwise, it would be difficult. He also didn't have any good excuse to give to his father. Those two auspicious omens were there too. Who would dare to mess with them?

After Li Cheng left, Li Xun picked up something to eat, and while eating, he muttered to himself, "How did a child who's over two years old grow up to be this big? What did they usually eat? Hmm, I have to ask about this. Is the place where auspicious omens appear really different from other places?"

With this decision made, Li Xun quickened his eating pace. While he was in the middle of eating, he looked up and saw a scene that made him dumbfounded. The people here each held a chicken in their hands and gnawed on it. A few of them were eating specifically the chicken butt, and they asked other people to give their chicken butt to them.

"Ahh~! Liar, two little liars." Li Xun sighed helplessly. He knew what was going on. Just now, the two little kids kept boasting that the roast chicken was delicious, and others believed them. If the roast chicken was so good, why didn't those two eat it? Instead, they deliberately picked the actual good foods and stuffed them into their mouths.

Early the next morning, after Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan had a good night's sleep, they set off on the road again feeling refreshed. One thing that they both found interesting was that the remaining 119 people also carried a bag on their backs and a small shovel in their hands.

The two of them instantly knew that they were copying them. They wondered if the other children can eat those things. Their stomach would be uncomfortable after vomiting, and it would affect their performance.

"We have competitors now, that's great. Let's go, let's run to the front first and let them dig at the back." Zhang Xiao'bao adjust the strap of the backpack as he spoke to Wang Juan, and ran to the forward.

Wang Juan was unwilling to compete with others for the stuff here. She followed Zhang behind Xiao'bao, and the two sped up, leaving those who continued to dig far behind.

When the adults saw that the two children today were different from yesterday, they were puzzled again. However, they couldn't leave their children behind so they could only wait to see what was going on when they arrived at that place.

Li Cheng followed after them right away. He had to take note of the things the two did so that he can report to Li Xun later.

After running a certain distance, Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan slowed down and dug around on the ground. Li Cheng saw the scene and he finally understood that there were too many people back there and it would be hard for them to find food.

"Xiao'bao, do you think the two of us can be the first ones to arrive today? Whoever gets there first gets to eat better food." Wang Juan asked Zhang Xiao'bao while digging around. She found it funny after thinking about how yesterday Shi'liu said that there were many people eating chicken in the tents.

"Definitely. They were exhausted yesterday, so their bodies must still be tired today. Even though children's bodies recover quickly, they are not accustomed to this level of physical exertion. Besides, they were tired yesterday and no one gave them massages. Don't move. Quietly take your slingshot out. I see a large mouse; we get to eat meat for lunchafternoon."

Zhang Xiao'bao was analyzing the situation, and suddenly he motioned to Wang Juan and pointed his hand to the front. He gently opened his backpack and took out the slingshot from inside.

She watched Zhang Xiao'bao nod his head, and when he nodded the third nod time, they both shot the iron pellets together, and the pellets hit the mouse at almost the same time. One of the iron pellets had hit the mouse's stomach, and the other one had hit it in the head.

The mouse did not die right away, since their shooting strength was still too weak. After being hit, the mouse was twitching.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan ran forward and quickly stabbed it. They were afraid that the mouse would recover shortly and run away. With this mouse, the two of them stopped digging for other insects, and ran directly to the water station up ahead. They cleaned up the mouse first and saved it for later.

Li Cheng followed behind them, and suddenly the two of them were motionless. He was about to get closer to look, and he was surprised to see that both of them brought out their slingshots. While he was still feeling puzzled, he saw Zhang Xiao'bao holding a mouse in this hand and moving forward.

The mouse looked heavier than a catty. Still feeling surprised, Li Cheng continued to follow them from behind. He wanted to see what the two little kids were going to do. When he arrived at the water station, he saw Zhang Xiao'bao skin the mouse with a knife, remove its organs and then slice its flesh into tiny pieces.

Seeing this, Li Cheng couldn't help but shudder. He knew what the two little kids were going to do: they were going to eat the mouse. There was nothing wrong with eating mice; he ate it before too. Before entering the Prince Palace, he was a beggar on the streets. He had to squeeze in with other children to stay at an abandoned temple and if he could catch any mice, he would eat it. It was actually quite good.

But these two little kids don't seem to have ever lacked food, right? Why do they dare to eat mice? From the looks of it, it seemed like they were going to have a good meal today.

"Okay, let's pick wild vegetables. We don't need to dig for bugs anymore. At noon, we can just boil everything together. The lime powder we brought should be enough, but we'll see then, if it's not enough, we can light up some dry grass. We need to keep in mind fire safety though."

Zhang Xiao'bao sprinkled the prepped mice with salt, placed it in the bag, and informed Wang Juan. The two began to dig wild vegetables. It didn't take much time to dig up enough wild vegetables for lunch. The two people were relaxed now that they didn't have to spend effort on finding bugs and a lot of time was saved. They sped up and rushed towards today's designated area.

"Let's change our strategy today. We'll run first, then have a two hour nap after eating at noon." Now that Wang Juan didn't have to worry about lunch, she was now focused on how to increase the other children's psychological pressure.

Zhang Xiao'bao also agreed, and the two ran with one person in front of the other. .

When Li Cheng, who was at the back, looked at them, he discreetly said, "Oh no, I can't get first place today."

Just as Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan predicted, the children in the back were all frowning as they were digging holes. They looked disgusted and didn't want to eat it at all. They only dug for those things because they were persuaded by their family. There were a lot that they wouldn't eat, and they just dug for some wild vegetables.

Li Xun didn't look as disgusted as the others. On normal days, he sometimes ate silkworm pupae. The only difference was that the ones found in the fields here were a little bit smaller. Besides, those two little children can eat it, so what can't he? To survive in the wild, how could one not eat?

Those grown-ups watched the children dig, and asked a guard if the items dug up were poisonous or not. If it was, then it was thrown away, but if it was not, then it was kept.

Li Xun was in the middle of digging when the guard, who was sent by Li Cheng, ran over to him. "Young Prince, Li Cheng said that Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan shot a rat with a slingshot. They're probably going to eat it at noon today, which will save them a lot of time."

"Shot a rat with a slingshot? They brought slingshots? Wasn't this place cleared already? Could there be snakes here too then?" Li Xun understood once he heard the news. The two of them would be able to move more quickly now, but he was also worried about everyone's safety. What if someone gets bitten by a snake?

"Young Prince, don't worry, there are no snakes. We sprinkled realgar1 everywhere already. How about I catch a rat for you too?" The guard whispered.

Translator's Notes

1. Realgar

Realgar, an arsenic sulfide mineral, is commonly used as a repellent against snakes and insects. In Chinese medicine, it is also used as a universal antidote for poisons.