C39 Mailing

Little Yunshu's cheeks bulged from the coldness in his voice as she picked herself up from the ground and patted the dust off her dress. "I'll go to the kitchen and get you something to eat, but if you don't want to stay in my house, you can come out through that dog hole. Do you want to come and see yourself?" After saying that, she pointed to the dog hole that a moderately built adult could pass through.

The youth glanced at her fingers and could not help but frown. In the end, he was so conflicted that he propped up his exhausted body and followed the little girl who had already come to the corridor to the kitchen.

On the way, she was afraid that he would suddenly fall to the ground and wake up those who were still napping, so she tried to reach out to help him. But when the boy saw her reaching out his hand, he dodged to the side and almost bumped into a nearby pillar.

"Be careful, if you wake them up, I'll be in trouble." The youth didn't want her to get close, so she could only stay away from him, lest she cause any disturbance and attract others to her.

After much difficulty, she finally managed to bring the toddler into the kitchen. However, the unlucky teenager accidentally stepped on a poker that was randomly placed by the door. In the blink of an eye, he fell flat on his butt.

The snoring in the room next door immediately stopped. Xiao Yunshu thought that the kitchen lady had been woken up by the noise and did not care that the youth would avoid her. She quickly pulled the kitchen door shut and hid inside the pile of firewood.

She turned her head and made a silencing gesture towards the youth, moving the firewood next to her to completely cover them.

Only then did she lead the teenager out of the woodpile. She lifted the lid of the pot and placed a cup of chicken soup and a plate of steamed buns on the square table, then she took a spoon from the cupboard and handed it to the teenager beside her. She whispered, "Eat quickly, I'll take you out of the dog hole after you're done eating."

The soup was still rather hot, so after the youth blew at the steam rising from the pot, his stomach rumbled loudly. He looked at Xiao Yunshu with some embarrassment.

Little Yunshu held back her laughter as she pushed the steamed bun towards him. Suddenly, she felt that this person wasn't that difficult to get along with. If she was as hungry as everyone else, her stomach would growl.

The young man didn't care whether his hands were dirty or not. He directly stuffed the steamed bun into his mouth, causing his cheeks to puffed up without any intention of stopping. Only now did Little Yunshu realize that the youth's hands were dirty. She quickly turned around to grab her chopsticks — she had a bad habit of grabbing food with her hands when she usually ate buns, so she had no idea that she needed chopsticks.

She handed him the chopsticks. "How did you fall by the river?"

The youth took the chopsticks. His lowered eyes darkened when he heard her question. "I'm too sleepy."

At that time, she only thought that this youth was incredible, to think that he could actually fall asleep outside. However, thinking that it would be bad to wake the kitchen maid who was taking a nap next door, he did not say anything, but only revealed an expression of surprise and admiration.

When the boy had finished eating, she asked him if he had anywhere to go.

The youth shook his head.

She frowned and thought for a while before bringing him to the empty room in the west yard. According to her father, it was used to store her mother's things. But she found only a box of portraits. The first painting at the top, which she had opened, was of a young woman squatting on the grass and stroking a lamb. The dress she wore did not resemble the clothes worn by a Yanzhou woman, but there was no lack of beautiful clothes that she had never seen before.

For a while, she had suspected that the West Branch's room wasn't used to hold her mother's relics at all, but was used to give her father a golden room full of tender affection. The girl in the portrait was truly a heavenly figure. She had never seen such a beautiful woman.

Even though those eyes had dimmed slightly in the painting, they still seemed to carry a sort of soul-stirring charm. It was unknown if the painter's painting skills were superb or if the beauty of the woman was already enough to suppress everyone.

However, after sneaking in more times, she found out that there was no one living in the West District. This room that contained her mother's possessions was even rarer for her father. He only came twice a year when it was the seventh day of the first lunar month and Qingming.

"Then you can stay here for now, but don't leave the room, because someone might notice you. If my dad finds out that I sneaked out and brought people back, he'll make me kneel." She pushed open the few windows that couldn't be seen directly from the Lunar Cave door. "These are the most windows that can be opened. Otherwise, people passing by will quickly notice that something's wrong."

Thankfully, the room had not been cleaned for long, and the tables and chairs were fairly clean.

"At the beginning of every month, someone will come to clean up, but I will take you out in advance. "Maybe you won't stay at my house long enough for your family to come look for you?" When she asked this question, she only thought that the little beggar who often caught crickets with them on the street all had a mother. She simply thought that the youth she picked up from the roadside also had a family of his own.

After the child in front of her ate the third bun, he wrapped the rest of the bun in lotus leaves and put it into his clothes like a treasure. He then turned to look at her timidly.

Seeing that the child seemed to have filled his stomach, Yun Zhui stood up and patted his wrinkled skirt. "In the future, you should do less of this kind of thing. If you're caught by that kind of person just now, you'll have to shed a layer of skin. I still have things to do, so I'll be leaving first." Then she turned and left.

However, she looked for a few worn-out temples where beggars and homeless people could easily gather, but she didn't see anyone who could help her deliver a letter. Walking out of the eighth temple, she could not help but turn dejectedly into a side alley. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of the child still following behind her.

She turned her head to look at him, and he stopped in his tracks, biting the corner of his lips as he stood to the side. His pair of bright eyes looked at her with some persistence, but from time to time, he revealed an unconcealed cowardice.

"Why are you following me?" Yun Zhuang asked with a chuckle.

The child shook his head.

Yun Shu took out her purse from her sleeve and pinched it. "But I don't have any extra silver on me." Right now, she only had the silver ingots that Pei Hongqing had given her to pay the messenger. The silver taels that he had given her for the steamed buns were actually just for a bowl of noodles. The few silver notes in her purse couldn't be used on the beam.

Daliang and Yanzhou, whether it was silver notes, gold, silver, copper, all had their country names and year numbers when they were manufactured. The prices of the two countries were not exactly the same, so neither country was able to exchange money in the other country. Giving a banknote to this child was no different from exposing his own identity. It might even bring this child an unexpected calamity.

However, the next moment, the child took out a piece of paper from his waist that was crumpled up but still wrapped into a roll and handed it to her.

Yun Shu opened it and saw the word "Help" written crookedly on it.

Yun Shu returned the slip of paper to him, a little puzzled. "If there's anything you need help with, you can tell me. But I really can't give you money or buy you food right now."

The child shook his head and pointed to himself, then pointed to the piece of paper that he took from him and placed in his palm. Finally, he pointed to her before he returned the piece of paper back to his waist.

Yun Shu blinked, she suddenly understood what he meant: "You want to help me?"

The child nodded and took out another piece of paper, which he handed to her. "Thank you," he said.

"You want to thank me for buying the bun for you?" Yun Shu confirmed again.

The child nodded again.

It wasn't impossible for him to have his child deliver the letter. The contents of the letter were originally very obscure, and he wasn't afraid of being peeped on. The person who delivered the letter shouldn't be in danger because of the letter's contents …

Seeing that there are no people around, Yun Zhui took out an envelope and a money pouch filled with fees, then asked him to help deliver the letter to the Jia manor. "If they ask you anything, you don't have to answer, or you don't have to know. If you ask who asked you to send this letter, just say that you've forgotten what that person looks like, okay? " A child might be born unable to speak — she hadn't heard a word from him, anyway.

Perhaps this was a good thing for him. The people from the Jia family would not make things difficult for a teenager who could not speak.

The child nodded his head. He looked at the money pouch that Yun Shu was about to give back to him, but Yun Shu immediately stopped him. "This is what you deserve."

"Besides, I really hope that you won't do anything dangerous like before. This money is enough for you to start a small business or something." She pulled the string from her purse and tied it around his belt.

The child looked at her with a puzzled expression. After a moment, he took the letter and ran away.

Yun Zhui's hand, which had just moved away from the knot, was still in midair.

As soon as the child reached the Jia residence, he immediately went up the steps and knocked on the door.

The door was opened by a young, childish man, who handed it over.

When the young man saw that the word "mayor" was written on the envelope, he asked where the letter had come from. The child calmly shook his head, then pointed to his throat and waved his hand at the young man, indicating that he could not speak.

The young man looked at him and waved his hand impatiently, indicating that he could go. In the next moment, the Jia Residence's main door was closed.

However, just as the child descended the steps, he caught sight of two familiar figures coming from the street to his right. He turned his head to look and quickly ran through the crowd towards the small alley diagonally across the street.

On the other side of the street, the well-dressed man glanced at the small figure who was rushing through the crowd. He could not help but feel suspicious as he turned his head to look at his subordinate, who was holding onto a saber.

"Yes, the people that were lying in ambush around us told us that."

"They actually sent a child to deliver a letter. Why are the people of Yan Country so cowardly? Is there no one left?" The man's lips curled up into a ridiculing smile, but when he saw the side of the child's face that had accidentally bumped into someone else, he suddenly froze. "Qin Prefecture, why does this child look somewhat familiar …"

Qin Zhou followed his line of sight, only to see the child hurriedly climb up from the ground and scurry into the alley. He slightly creased his brows, "How could Young Master possibly know that kind of person? Maybe it's because he's been too worried recently and decided to take it seriously."

The man retracted his gaze and slightly frowned. He raised his hand and pinched the center of his brows. "It might be so."