On the way back, Su Ling could not help but ask him.
"Chen Dashan and the others bullied you. Why didn't you retaliate?"
He did not fight back when he was beaten or scolded. That was why they were so arrogant.
The young man lowered his head in silence, lost in thought.
Su Ling thought that she had said something wrong and could not help but panic. She was also anxious to express that she just did not want to see him being bullied.
"I just… don't want to see others bullying you. How about this? I'll follow you wherever you go in the future. That way, they won't dare to bully you."
The young guy lowered his head and did not speak, but this made Su Ling even more flustered.
She ran ahead of him, grabbing at his shirt.
"Zhao Yan, Zhao Yan, please talk to me…"
The young guy looked down at her and finally said, "Okay."
That afternoon, Xu Fengqiao cleaned the fish they brought back and cooked a pot of fish soup.
The fish soup was fresh. Although there was nothing more to season it, it was still a rare delicacy.
Usually, most of the fish they caught would be sold for money.
Perhaps it was because it was not easy for him to catch it, but Zhao Yan ate a lot that day. Even Wang Cuizhi was a little shocked.
He was usually a man of few words and spoke and did things like an adult. He had never been like this before.
She watched in silence, waiting for him to return to the woodshed before calling out to him.
"Your Highness, we're in a remote place now. It's impossible for those people to discover us. You don't have to tolerate everything. This ser-… my heart hurts when I see this!"
The young guy was silent. After a long time, he said only one word.
Endure.
He had been used to enduring since the moment he was born.
Now that everything had yet to be settled and his mother was still suffering in the palace, he did not dare to make a scene. He was afraid that those people would discover his traces and capture him to threaten his mother.
All he could do now was endure.
And one day, he would make those people who bullied him today pay back tenfold or a hundredfold.
Wang Cuizhi saw the malicious glint in his eyes and decisively kept quiet.
Every time he looked like this, she knew that he was missing the empress in the palace again.
But now…
With a deep sigh, she walked out of the woodshed and into the yard.
Su Ling was playing in the courtyard. When she saw her coming out, she quickly ran over.
"Auntie, why did this flower turn yellow? Is she going to die?"
Wang Cuizhi was pulled over by her and saw the small flowers in the corner of the small courtyard.
Their leaves had already turned yellow. It looked like there was nothing they could do.
She could not bear to see her disappointed, so she squatted down to comfort her.
"Little Su Ling, it might be because the weather is too hot, so they died from the sun. Auntie will bring you to pick more, okay?"
Su Ling agreed happily and went to look for the pickaxe and basket.
After she was done with the basket and hoe, she was about to pull Wang Cuizhi up the mountain when she turned around.
Before Wang Cuizhi could ask her what she was going to do, she ran towards the woodshed.
"Zhao Yan, let's go to the mountain together!"
The little girl's smile was so warm and bright that he could not help but look up at her. Almost the moment she spoke, Zhao Yan felt the haze in his heart suddenly disappear.
He stood up and followed her out. "Okay."
Su Ling was overjoyed. She held his hand with one hand and Wang Cuizhi's hand with the other as they went up the mountain.