Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 624 - 0581: Take Back and Raise (7)

The little boy hesitated, unsure of whether to step forward.

Guoguo tugged at his other hand, "Come in and play with me."

Li Jing also said, "We’ll play with you, and we’ll eat candy together."

There may be a generation gap between children and adults, but children can easily play together.

Both Guoguo and Li Jing warmly invited him, and after a moment of hesitation, the boy followed them into the house.

Li Xingmao saw Li Yuzhu bringing a child over and asked in confusion, "Third sister, whose child is this?"

"I don’t know, he said he got separated from his mother. I brought him in to play." Li Yuzhu helped the boy sit on a small chair.

Wei San noticed that the child was covered in dust and his hands were dirty, so she immediately brought a basin of clean water and a cloth towel.

Li Yuzhu took the towel, dipped it in the clean water, and washed the boy’s face and hands.

The dishes on the table weren’t finished, and the aroma still lingered in the air.

The boy’s eyes were fixed intently on the table.

Li Yuzhu smiled gently and said to Wei San, "Wei San, is there any extra food? He might be hungry."

"Yes, yes, there’s plenty." Wei San went into the kitchen and quickly brought out a bowl of rice and reheated some dishes.

To accommodate the young boy who might not handle chopsticks well, Wei San placed a spoon in the rice bowl.

Li Yuzhu took the bowl, picked out some boneless and tender dishes that children love, and placed them in the bowl.

Seeing the bowl of rice and dishes, the boy’s eyes brightened a bit.

Li Yuzhu moved a stool in front of the boy and placed the bowl on it, "Go ahead and eat."

The boy pressed his lips together, looked at the bowl of rice, then at Li Yuzhu, his eyes filled with hesitation.

He must come from a well-mannered family, refusing to randomly eat a stranger’s food even when starving.

But not eating isn’t an option when you’re hungry, is it?

Li Yuzhu squatted down in front of him, "Do you want to find your mother?"

The boy pouted and nodded, "Yes."

"But if you don’t eat, you’ll get sick from hunger, and when you’re sick, you can’t walk—how will you find your mother?" Li Yuzhu said softly.

"Without eating, you won’t have strength and won’t be able to walk." Li Jing added.

"Brother Rui, if you eat, I’ll buy you osmanthus candy later." Guoguo also said.

The boy looked at Li Jing, then at Guoguo, and finally at Li Yuzhu.

Li Yuzhu scooped a spoonful of rice and fed it to the boy.

With encouragement from all sides, coupled with his hunger, the boy finally relented. He opened his mouth and ate the rice Li Yuzhu fed him.

Then he picked up the bowl and started eating by himself.

He must have been starving, as he gobbled down large mouthfuls of rice.

Li Yuzhu scooped some radish mutton bone soup and placed it on the stool, "Here, have some soup so you don’t choke."

The boy took two large bites of rice and sipped some soup.

Although he ate ferociously, he didn’t drop any rice grains nor spill soup on his robe.

After finishing, he even said, "Delicious, thank you."

Which made both Li Yuzhu and Wei San laugh.

Li Jing laughed along with them.

But Guoguo didn’t laugh; she just tilted her head, watching him.

After Wei San cleared the bowl, Li Yuzhu began asking about the boy’s situation.

The little boy said he was four years old, from Liangzhou, and his name was Baili Rui.

"Are you from Liangzhou? Liangzhou is in the Northern Land, thousands of miles from here. How did you get here? Who did you come with?" Li Yuzhu asked in surprise.

No wonder his accent wasn’t local.

Baili Rui said, "I traveled with my mother by carriage for many days, moving from a snowy place to a blooming land. At a marketplace, someone was stealing things. I ran with my mother but got separated in the crowd."

"Which market? Do you remember the name?" Li Yuzhu asked.

Baili Rui shook his head, his eyes filled with grievance, "I don’t remember."

"Is that market far from here?" Li Yuzhu asked again.

Baili Rui nodded, "Very far, very far."

"How far? How did you get here?" Li Yuzhu patted his face, comforting him.

"I waited there for my mother to find me, but didn’t see her by nightfall. Someone carried me onto a carriage, saying they would look for my mother. But later, I didn’t see her, and they were also mean to me. I ran away at night and climbed onto a cart carrying firewood, which brought me here." Baili Rui lowered his head, his face filled with sadness and grievance.

"Don’t cry, Brother Rui." Guoguo reached into her pocket, took out a small handkerchief, and wiped his tears.

Baili Rui looked up at her, blinking through tear-filled eyes.

Guoguo gave him a smile, "I’m Li Guoguo, Brother Rui."

"Oh, Guoguo." Baili Rui took the handkerchief, wiped his tears, and handed it back to Guoguo.

Li Yuzhu asked again, "What are your parents’ names?"

Baili Rui replied, "My father’s name is Baili Huang, and my mother’s name is Tao Yalan."

"Who else is in your family? What do they usually do?" Li Yuzhu asked again.

This child seems young and well-dressed, with clear and logical speech, indicating a good family background with someone specifically guiding him.

Baili Rui replied, "Dad is busy, I don’t know what he does, Mom writes, paints, plays the piano, my sister is still nursing, Grandpa plays chess, Grandma listens to music."

Li Yuzhu, "..." Is this work? This is leisure.

However, from this, it’s clear that Baili Rui’s family is quite well-off, living a life of leisure without much labor.

Baili Rui also said he knows how to write.

Li Yuzhu asked Yang Runsen for paper and pen and laid it out in front of Baili Rui.

Baili Rui wrote his own name, then wrote down the names of his parents and sister.

Though young, his handwriting was very neat, even better than Li Jing’s.

"My sister’s name is Baili Xin." After Baili Rui finished writing the names, he pointed at Guoguo’s hair, "My sister has two pigtails like hers."

Guoguo grinned widely.

Li Yuzhu handed the writing to Li Xingmao, "Brother, do you think this will help find his parents?"

Li Xingmao took Baili Rui’s writing, frowned a bit, "It’s a bit difficult. I’ll go seek help from Lord County Magistrate to see if he can pass this information to Liangzhou to look for his family."

Yang Runsen comforted them, "The surname Baili is quite uncommon. Judging from the child’s speech, he must be from a prominent family, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find them."

Everyone expressed hope that they could be found.

After lunch, Li Yuzhu and Li Xingmao, along with the kids, left Yang Runsen and Wei San’s home.

Of course, they brought Baili Rui along.

Baili Rui initially didn’t want to go, but with the invitation from Guoguo and Li Jing, he eventually changed his mind.

Arriving at Li Xing’an’s shop, Li Yuzhu played with the three children, while Li Xingmao took Baili Rui’s writing to County Magistrate Mansion to see County Magistrate Li.

Li Xingmao explained the situation to County Magistrate Li, who gladly agreed to help look for Baili Rui’s relatives.

The County Magistrate wrote a letter of commission and, along with Baili Rui’s writing, placed it in an envelope, assigning a government official to deliver it to the Comfort Envoy’s Office in Liangzhou.

Whether they could find Baili Rui’s family was uncertain. County Magistrate Li told Li Xingmao that with such sparse information in a vast world, it would probably be hard to find them.

Li Xingmao made plans that if they couldn’t find Baili Rui’s family, they would just take him back to the Li Family.

Just one more child, and the Li Family could afford to raise him.

Li Xingmao returned to Li Xing’an’s shop and saw the children playing happily.

Baili Rui had probably bathed; his hair was half wet, his face looked even more cleaned, and he wore Li Jing’s clothes.

The neighboring Chai Tianlang also came over, and the four children sat around a small table, happily eating snacks and laughing together.

With companions and no longer hungry, Baili Rui showed more smiles on his face.

Li Yuzhu gave the children some water and came over to ask Li Xingmao, "Brother, did the County Magistrate agree to help find them?"

Li Xingmao said, "The County Magistrate wrote a letter of commission and sent it along with Baili Rui’s writing to Liangzhou. But he mentioned that the information is too limited, and it will probably be hard to find Baili Rui’s family."

Li Yuzhu had already guessed the outcome.

With only names and no idea what the parents do, it was indeed hard to find them in such a large State Mansion.

Moreover, Baili Rui got separated from his mother during a long trip away.

His parents likely weren’t in Liangzhou City anymore.

"We’ll continue to look, but if we really can’t find them, Yuanxiu and I will take him to the mountains to raise him," Li Yuzhu said.

But Li Xingmao said, "The space on your mountain is limited; let him stay in a house down in the town. He can keep Jingjing company."

"We’ll talk about it when we go back," Li Yuzhu smiled.

Li Xing’an sat by the four children, watching them play.

The children chattered and surrounded him, asking all sorts of curious questions.

Li Xing’an stiffly answered two but the children loved to press for complete answers.

Li Xing’an felt overwhelmed and ran off, holding his head.

Li Jing slapped his leg and laughed heartily.

Baili Rui, seeing him laugh, laughed along.

Li Yuzhu walked over, patted Baili Rui’s head, and said, "Baili Rui, we’ve sent a letter to Liangzhou to find your parents and family, but Liangzhou City is four to five thousand miles away from here. Delivering the letter alone takes a month, and finding people is no easy task. We’ve decided to take you to live with us and send you back when we find your parents. What do you think?"

She then pointed at Guoguo and Jingjing, saying, when Baili Rui goes to the Li Family, he’ll live with them.

Li Jing clapped and laughed, "Great, great, Little Rui will stay with us."

Guoguo, the happiest, said with a smile, "Brother Rui, come live at my house? I’ll treat you to osmanthus-flavored candy."

Hearing that finding his parents would take so long, Baili Rui’s face showed a sad expression again, his head drooped as he sighed.

Fortunately, Guoguo kept holding his hand to comfort him, "I don’t have a mom either, Brother Rui."

Baili Rui looked at her surprised, "Where is your mom?"

Guoguo said, "She left."

Baili Rui sympathetically said, "You’re so pitiful."

But Guoguo wasn’t sad, she smiled and said, "I have another mom, she’s very nice, you can call her mom too."