Exile with Storage Space: Family Fortunes in the Barren Lands-Chapter 627 - 584: People Should Not Be Judged by Appearance (1)
Baili Rui also gave Guoguo a peck on the cheek, "Morning, Guoguo."
Guoguo covered her mouth and giggled.
Baili Rui didn’t know why she was laughing, so he laughed along.
Li Jing stretched with a big yawn, "Time to get up, time to get up."
He pulled off the blanket and slipped out of bed.
Baili Rui also slipped out of bed.
"Brother Rui, wait for me." Guoguo crawled out from under the blanket and backed down off the bed.
Li Yuzhu caught her.
"Did you three sleep in the same bed last night?" As long as there was nothing urgent, Li Yuzhu would come see Guoguo and Jingjing early in the morning.
Li Jing yawned and saw Guoguo was there too. He said, "Huh, Guoguo, how did you get on our bed?"
"I was scared of the dark." Guoguo glanced at Baili Rui, frowning slightly.
Baili Rui looked at her, blinking in surprise.
Li Yuzhu held Guoguo and sat in a chair, "Your brothers aren’t scared, and Guoguo isn’t scared either, okay?"
This little girl afraid of sleeping? Was the sun rising in the west? Li Yuzhu was full of curiosity.
Princess Consort Luling also came into the room, and together with Li Yuzhu, dressed the three children.
"I heard a child crying last night. Didn’t know which child was crying, and when I came to check, they were all asleep. I saw Guoguo was here, sleeping soundly, so I didn’t disturb them." Princess Consort Luling shook her head with a smile.
Li Yuzhu looked at Guoguo, who was looking at Baili Rui.
Baili Rui seemed calm, probably having forgotten last night’s events.
The mother and daughter dressed the children, then took them to wash up.
Baili Rui was more mature than Li Jing; Li Jing needed help with brushing his teeth.
Baili Rui held a small willow toothbrush himself, dipped it in a bit of coarse salt, and brushed back and forth on his little teeth skillfully.
Li Jing watched in a daze.
Guoguo nudged him, "Brother, you should learn from Brother Rui."
Li Jing watched Baili Rui finish brushing and then mimicked his actions.
Princess Consort Luling brought breakfast, and the three children ate together in the North Courtyard Main House.
Breakfast was millet porridge, accompanied by small dried fish and a plain cabbage shrimp soup, plus a small meat bun each.
Guoguo placed her small meat bun in front of Baili Rui and only ate the millet porridge.
Baili Rui looked at her, "Guoguo, why aren’t you eating the meat bun?"
Guoguo smiled sweetly, "It’s for Brother Rui to eat."
Baili Rui was very touched; he loved meat buns the most.
However, after a small bowl of millet porridge, he could only manage one bun and couldn’t eat two.
Baili Rui pushed the small plate with the meat bun back in front of Guoguo, "I can’t eat two, Guoguo, you eat some too."
Guoguo turned to Princess Consort Luling and said, "Grandma, can we only have meat buns for breakfast tomorrow?"
Princess Consort Luling laughed, "Alright, tomorrow we’ll have meat buns, and make plenty."
After eating, the three children played happily in the courtyard.
Baili Rui played with Li Jing and Guoguo, gradually forgetting about looking for his mother as he laughed and chatted with the other two children.
With many children and no one specifically watching them, it’s easy to have mishaps.
For instance, Guoguo liked to lead Li Jing on aimless runs.
Li Jing, being four years old, was warned by adults about bad people who might kidnap children, so he didn’t run off, but Guoguo wouldn’t listen.
Maybe she truly didn’t understand, or maybe she was too young to remember.
No matter how much Guoguo was reminded, she’d still secretly take Li Jing outside to run around.
Now, with Baili Rui added to the mix, to ensure obedience, Li Yuzhu took the three children to Prince Luling’s school after breakfast.
Li Jing wasn’t too interested in school.
If told to go, he would go; if not, he’d happily play at home with Guoguo.
Baili Rui, however, was very eager to go to school.
After staying at the school for one morning, he asked Li Yuzhu during lunch if he could go again in the afternoon.
Li Yuzhu, of course, agreed. Loving to learn is good.
And Prince Luling was also very pleased for him to go to the school.
Because this child was much smarter than Li Jing and even many of the other children in the school.
The number of characters Baili Rui could recognize and his writing ability surpassed even some ten-year-olds.
The books he memorized were more than those of any child in the school.
Prince Luling was amazed—this was a prodigy!
He decided to nurture him well.
Prince Luling would occasionally compare other children with Baili Rui.
For example, if a child couldn’t answer a question, Prince Luling would have Baili Rui answer it instead.
"Look, you’re older than Baili Rui, yet you can’t solve such a simple problem, and he can. Shouldn’t you reflect on this? Hmm?" Prince Luling took the opportunity to encourage the children to think.
The children who took it to heart immediately began reflecting on their studies, becoming more earnest and diligent.
But some, those who are not so ambitious yet have a strong sense of pride, felt uncomfortable inside.
How could it be acceptable for a little kid to be better than them?
A few mischievous ones found Baili Rui more and more unpleasant to look at.
They secretly planned and decided to teach Baili Rui a harsh lesson.
One child reminded everyone, "He is from the teacher’s family, wouldn’t we be punished by the teacher if we hit him?"
An older child said, "I asked him. He only lives at the teacher’s house, he’s not their child, nor a relative. He’s just a wild kid who got separated from his mother. If we hit him, the teacher wouldn’t say anything."
"Song Baoshun is right, the teacher wouldn’t care about a wild kid," another child agreed.
The older kids, who were already fourteen or fifteen, felt that beating Baili Rui would be as easy as squashing an ant.
Besides, Baili Rui wasn’t a family member of Mr. Li, just a kid taken in. With no one to back him up, beating him was no big deal.
Encouraged by the bigger kids and tempted by some candies, two younger children, Wang Huizi and Liu San, decided to help everyone by luring Baili Rui out.
Baili Rui was four years old, while Wang Huizi and Liu San, these two cousins, were only five and a half.
A four-year-old and five-and-a-half-year-old aren’t too far apart in age, so they quickly became playmates.
In just two or three days, Baili Rui, Wang Huizi, and Liu San had become good buddies who smiled as soon as they saw each other.
That day, Prince Luling had to attend a wedding banquet at a family’s home in the village.
He left school half an hour early.
The children cheered.
The children who had secret plans saw their chance.
The older kids immediately urged Wang Huizi and Liu San to invite Baili Rui.
The two kids, upon receiving two candies, went together to find Baili Rui.
"Baili Rui," Wang Huizi glanced at Song Baoshun ahead, pulled Baili Rui’s arm, and said, "Shall we go catch butterflies?"
As a child, Baili Rui was happy to play, "Sure."
Li Jing also chimed in, "I’ll go too!"
Wang Huizi and Liu San both said, "Great, great, come along."
Guoguo held Baili Rui’s arm, "Brother Rui, don’t go, let’s go home and play."
But Baili Rui replied, "I’ll go catch butterflies for you."
"Yes, yes, we’ll catch butterflies for you to play with." Wang Huizi and Liu San, holding Baili Rui, ran towards Niu Tou Mountain.
These two kids were from Qingshui River Village, and going home they had to pass by Niu Tou Mountain.
Their commander, Song Baoshun, was also from Qingshui River Village.
The other children, upon hearing about catching butterflies, ran along with them.
Li Jing also followed the group.
Niu Tou Mountain was not far from the school. The children often went there to play. When Uncle Gui saw Li Jing and Baili Rui running off with the others, he just reminded them, "Come back soon, Jingjing, Xiao Rui."
A few kids laughing and joking had already run far away.
Guoguo frowned and looked at the group of kids from afar, then lifted her skirt and ran into the house.
As soon as she entered, she saw Mu Yuanxiu and Li Yuzhu walking out, "Aunt, Uncle, someone wants to hit Brother Rui."
"Who?" Mu Yuanxiu asked in a deep voice.
"Song Baoshun and the others, they went to Niu Tou Mountain," said Guoguo.
"Yuanxiu, should we go take a look?" Li Yuzhu asked.
"Let’s have a look," Mu Yuanxiu picked up Guoguo.
They walked quickly towards Niu Tou Mountain.
It was mid-spring in March at this time; on Niu Tou Mountain, both the slopes and the valleys were full of lush woods and brilliant wildflowers.
Butterflies flew now and then among the flowers.
At the foot of the mountain, several crooked willow trees stood, low and easy to climb.
This was a common place for the school children.
On clear weather days, if it was still early before sunset, the kids would play until the sun touched the horizon line before going home.
They played with painting boards, played cops and robbers, spun tops.
When Li Yuzhu and Mu Yuanxiu arrived with Guoguo, they saw the group of children surrounding Li Jing and Baili Rui, already talking.
They were not talking about playing but speaking provocatively.
"If you dare to hit Baili Rui, I’ll tell my grandpa," Li Jing cried.
"Li Jing, he’s a wild kid, don’t speak for him," Song Baoshun pulled Li Jing back, not allowing her to run away to tell.
"He’s not a wild kid, he’s Baili Rui!" Li Jing shouted.
"Baili Rui, I’ve long found you annoying, showing off every day in front of the teacher and getting me scolded!" A child rolled up his sleeves and reached out to grab Baili Rui’s collar.
"Uncle, hurry, help Baili Rui!" Guoguo screamed, tapping Mu Yuanxiu’s shoulder in fright.
Mu Yuanxiu, however, didn’t step forward, instead stood behind a big locust tree and watched, "Let’s see first."
"What’s there to see? Baili Rui is the youngest, and these seven or eight kids are all older than him," Li Yuzhu was very worried Baili Rui might get hit.
"Baili Rui has practiced martial arts, I doubt he will suffer a loss, let’s watch," Mu Yuanxiu let Guoguo sit on his shoulder, allowing her to see more clearly, "You can’t judge people by their appearances, just watch."
