The two of them traveled through the Tang Dynasty to open a supermarket, and the little Sizi was sup

Xiao Ran took it out and looked at it, and found that the bamboo rat was dead. No wonder it hadn't moved in the basket.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Ran bent down and asked, "Does Sizi still remember what the person who gave you the bamboo rat looked like?"

The little princess nodded, "I'm from Jidao~ and I'm a beautiful older sister~"

Xiao Ran laughed. The little princess's words were no different from saying nothing at all. No matter which girl she met, she would call her a pretty older sister.

All we know is that the woman who gave her the bamboo rat was not very old; that's all we know.

But there was no use thinking about it anymore. Xiao Ran put the bamboo rat back into the leaf and wrapped it up, then asked, "Does Sizi want to take this bamboo rat with her?"

The little princess nodded repeatedly, "Yes~ I want seven ducks~"

Xiao Ran smiled, "Sizi, don't rush, we'll eat at lunchtime."

The little princess nodded, turned around, and asked Xiao Ran to put the bamboo rat into the basket on her back. In addition to the bamboo rat, there were also bamboo shoots inside.

Xiao Ran weighed the basket in his hand; it was already quite heavy. He asked, "Sizi, shall we put these bamboo shoots down first? Otherwise, they're too heavy."

The little princess looked up at Xiao Ran.

"I really want to eat bamboo shoots~"

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "Even if it's put down, it's still a rhinoceros, and you can still eat it when it's time to eat."

Upon hearing this, the little princess agreed.

Xiao Ran emptied the baskets from the three little princesses' backs together and said, "These are yours. I'll put them all here for you. No one will take them."

The little princess was delighted; the basket felt weightless, and even the bamboo rat was placed with the bamboo shoots.

The little princess shook her empty basket, then grabbed the hands of the Chengyang and Gaoyang princesses and skipped away.

"Second Sister~ Seventeenth Sister~ Let's go dig bamboo shoots~ and find the rat-duck~"

Princess Chengyang and Princess Gaoyang readily agreed.

Xiao Ran smiled as he watched their cheerful figures disappear into the distance, then sat down to rest.

This spot is sheltered from the sun and has a large, flat rock, making it perfect for resting.

When Xiao Ruoying and Li Lizhi arrived here, they saw Xiao Ran sitting and resting.

"Brother, how much have you dug up?" Xiao Ruoying asked.

Xiao Ran looked to his right and saw Xiao Ruoying and Li Lizhi.

"Ruoying, Changle, what are you doing here?"

At this moment, Xiao Ruoying and Li Lizhi also approached. Since there were no more stones around, Xiao Ruoying simply emptied the bamboo shoots out of her basket, turned the basket upside down, and sat directly on it.

Li Lizhi followed suit.

Xiao Ruoying took a sip of water, exhaled, and then answered Xiao Ran's question.

"We dug bamboo shoots all the way here without even realizing it. Oh, right, brother, you still haven't answered me. How many did you dig? Did you dig these?"

Xiao Ran shrugged. "I didn't dig it. Si Zi and the others dug it."

Xiao Ruoying looked at Xiao Ran with disbelief, "You didn't dig up a single one?"

Xiao Ran replied calmly, "Yes, bamboo shoots are so hard to find, but I found some."

Xiao Ruoying scoffed and exposed her without hesitation: "I think you didn't even look for it. You're just being lazy. You didn't even break a sweat. You probably didn't even walk two steps."

Xiao Ran gave Xiao Ruoying a thumbs up, "As expected, my sister understands me best."

Xiao Ruoying rolled her eyes at Xiao Ran, then turned to Li Lizhi and said, "Let's not give him lunch today!"

Li Lizhi smiled and nodded, "Okay, but that probably depends on Sizi, haha."

Thinking of the little princess, Xiao Ruoying smiled.

Xiao Ran, with a wicked thought, pointed to the bamboo rat wrapped in leaves.

“There’s something really good inside. It was a gift for Sizi. Ruoying, could you open it for me and see what’s inside so I can give them a return gift?”

He spoke so convincingly that Xiao Ruoying had no doubts whatsoever.

"Oh, Chang Le, could you bring that over here for me?"

Li Lizhi looked at it, picked up the bamboo rat wrapped in leaves, and felt that something was wrong with the texture, so she said, "Let me open it and take a look. This feels so strange."

Before Xiao Ran could stop her, Li Lizhi had already opened the leaf.

In an instant, a scream soared into the sky.

Xiao Ruoying quickly asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Li Lizhi was startled by the bamboo rat and instinctively screamed before throwing it towards Xiao Ruoying.

Xiao Ruoying took a look and felt a little uneasy at first glance, but she quickly realized what was going on.

"This must be a bamboo rat."

No one answered her; Xiao Ran was comforting Li Lizhi.

He originally thought Xiao Ruoying was brave and would only be startled by what she saw when she opened it, but he didn't expect to see Li Lizhi. To Li Lizhi, Li Lizhi was like a mouse, so it would be strange if she wasn't scared.

Xiao Ran put his arm around Li Lizhi, patted her shoulder gently, and comforted her, "It's alright, it's alright, it's a bamboo rat, not a mouse, don't be afraid."

Li Lizhi was genuinely frightened. If she had only seen it on the street, it would have been fine, but she had just been holding it in her hand, so it was no wonder she was scared.

However, Li Lizhi has recovered quite a bit now, especially after hearing Xiao Ran say that it was a bamboo rat, not a mouse.

Taking a deep breath, Li Lizhi said, "Is that a bamboo rat? Not a mouse?"

Xiao Ran nodded, "Yes, it wasn't a mouse. How could I put a mouse in that leaf?"

Xiao Ruoying walked over carrying the bamboo rat and said, "Who knows? What else are you incapable of doing?"

Xiao Ran looked on in disbelief. "No, that's how you see me?"

Xiao Ruoying nodded confidently, "Isn't that what you're doing?"

"Okay!" Xiao Ran rolled up his sleeves.

"You wait for me!"

After saying that, Xiao Ran ran towards Xiao Ruoying, who immediately began to run away.

The two chased and played around, which made Li Lizhi forget her fear and burst out laughing.

Seeing Li Lizhi smile, Xiao Ran and Xiao Ruoying also stopped what they were doing.

Xiao Ran walked to Li Lizhi's side and said with a smile, "Aren't you scared now?"

Li Lizhi then realized, "So you were putting on an act for me."

Xiao Ruoying chuckled.

"No, it's mainly because I also wanted to take the opportunity to beat up my brother a few times!"

As she spoke, Xiao Ruoying went up and patted Xiao Ran a few times.

"Hey!" Xiao Ran rolled up his sleeves and retorted. Li Lizhi covered her mouth and laughed nonstop.

Just then, the three little princesses came running and jumping back, and as soon as they returned, they saw Xiao Ruoying chasing after Xiao Ran.

The three little ones thought they were playing some kind of game and immediately chased after Xiao Ruoying.

Finally, Xiao Ran saw that the three little princesses were panting heavily from running, so he quickly called them to stop.

"Alright, alright, stop fooling around." Xiao Ran raised his hands, saw the little princess running over, and picked her up in his arms.

"Duck~" the little princess exclaimed.

"Let's go, let's rest for a while, then have some water and wait for dinner."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran looked at the little princess in his arms and asked, "Is Sizi hungry?"

Before Xiao Ran asked, the little princess was only thinking about playing. Now that Xiao Ran asked, the little princess clutched her stomach and said, "I'm hungry~"

Xiao Ran sat on a rock with the little princess in his arms. The little princesses of Chengyang and Gaoyang followed Xiao Ruoying and Li Lizhi's example and sat on their little baskets.

Xiao Ran took out a kettle, the lid of which could be used as a cup, and the three little princesses each drank a cup.

The little princess wiped her mouth and exclaimed, "Delicious!"

Xiao Ran laughed and said, "This is just ordinary boiled water. What's so special about it?"

The little princess didn't care; it just tasted good.

After resting for a while, the group decided to go home when it was almost time. However, they had to go see Zhou Jie first before they could go home.

Although Zhou Jie said she was just giving them some bamboo shoots, there was no reason for them to accept them for nothing. If it were just a few, that would be one thing, but these weren't just a few bamboo shoots; if you really counted them, it was quite a lot.

So a group of people went to find Zhou Jie.

Upon hearing the purpose of the visit, Zhou Jie quickly waved her hand, "These bamboo shoots are worth at most a few dozen yuan. There's no need to give me such a small amount of money."

If you think about it that way, it makes sense, but we can't just accept it as a matter of course.

They had prepared a gift for Zhou Jie, since they were going to visit her, but unexpectedly, the group went straight into the mountains, so they didn't bring the gift.

So Xiao Ran went back to the car, took out the things he had prepared, and handed them to Zhou Jie, saying, "These were originally prepared as gifts, but since we're going straight to the mountain, I just left them in the car."

Xiao Ruoying also said, "Senior, let's not talk about money, but please keep these things, just some fruit and stuff."

Seeing their insistence, Zhou Jie accepted the money. "Thank you then. Have lunch here before you leave."

Xiao Ran shook her head, "Thank you, senior. We won't eat here."

They're digging bamboo shoots at home too, and they don't even go home for lunch, just eating the dry food they brought with them. How could they expect us to come back and cook for them when they come?

Zhou Jie originally planned to deliver some bamboo shoots to them after the bamboo shoot harvest, but they were the ones who came to visit, so she couldn't let them delay her work.

However, recalling the person who gave the little princess the bamboo rat, Xiao Ran asked, "Senior, in the forest, Si Zi met a little girl and gave her a bamboo rat, but all we know is that she was about our age, and that's all we know."

Zhou Jie immediately guessed who it was, since there weren't many young people left here.

"You mean her? Her name is Ji Ying. Her family raises bamboo rats. By the way, you want to eat bamboo rats? You should have said so earlier. My family raises them too. Wait here, I'll go catch a couple for you."

Seeing this, Xiao Ran hesitated to make a move, so Xiao Ruoying quickly stopped him.

"Oh, senior! No need, no need. Someone found bamboo rats in the woods, and Si Zi was eager to eat them. Then we ran into Ji Ying, and that's how this happened. We really don't need to catch them for us!"

A bamboo rat isn't cheap either. Here, a pound of bamboo rat costs about fifty yuan, and the smallest bamboo rat weighs at least three pounds, while the larger ones weigh five or six pounds. They can't just take it for free.

But Zhou Jie insisted that they didn't need to pay. The selling price was the selling price, and since they raised bamboo rats at home, they weren't short of money by just one more.

As the two sides were pushing and pulling, Ji Ying appeared.

She originally came to see Zhou Jie, but she never expected to see this scene.

The little princess was the first to spot her.

"She's a beautiful older sister~"

Hearing the little princess call herself a "pretty older sister," Ji Ying smiled and pinched the little princess's cheek.

"The child is so cute."

After saying that, she looked at Xiao Ran and said, "You don't need to give me the money. I gave it to this little girl because I thought she was cute. Besides, this bamboo rat was injured and died. Even if I sold it, I wouldn't get much money. This is a gift for the little girl."

Seeing the firmness in Ji Ying's tone, Xiao Ran could only squat down, put his arm around the little princess, and say, "This young lady said that the bamboo rat was a gift she gave to our Sizi. Did Sizi say thank you?"

The little princess ran up to Ji Ying, facing her, and said, "Thank you, beautiful sister~"

Actually, the little princess wanted to say it from the very beginning, but Ji Ying just left too quickly.

Ji Ying couldn't help but rub the little princess's face again and said with a smile, "You're welcome."

With that, Ji Ying let go of his hand, stood up, and was about to leave.

But this time she was stopped by the little princess.

"Pretty sister, wait for me~"

Ji Ying turned around and teased her with a smile, "What are you waiting for? Are you coming with me?"

The little princess shook her head, lowered her head, took off the badge on her chest, and handed it to Ji Ying.

"I want to be with Little Nang-kun~ But since my sister gave me a personification~ I also want to give my beautiful sister a personification~"

Ji Ying smiled as she looked at the little panda hugging the bamboo.

"Okay, then I'll take it."

Seeing that Ji Ying accepted it, the little princess smiled even more happily.

After saying goodbye to Zhou Jie and Ji Ying, Xiao Ran and his group returned to the villa.

First of all, the bamboo rat needs to be skinned and deboned.

This was really a bit of a challenge for them, but luckily they had the all-powerful Yu Shu and Xiang Cao.

Although they had never cooked bamboo rats before, they were still very skilled at gutting, skinning, and dismembering them.

The two of them were startled when they first saw the bamboo rat.

Looking at the bamboo rat that had been skinned and cleaned, Xiao Ran thought for a moment and said, "How about we stew it?"

Although it should taste good roasted, there's only so much meat on a bamboo rat. Roasting it probably wouldn't even be enough for the three little princesses. If we stew it in soup, everyone can have a taste.

They also brought bamboo shoots, which they used to stew with bamboo rats; I heard it's delicious.

Yu Shu and Xiang Cao went to stew bamboo rats, but it would take at least two hours. When Xiao Ran and the others returned, it was already dinnertime, and Yu Shu and Xiang Cao had already prepared the meal. So Xiao Ran decided that it would be better to eat first, and leave the stewed bamboo rats alone.

Since it's a light stew, they can just have it as afternoon tea.

For lunch, I made scrambled eggs, which the little princess ate with gusto. She was still talking about her bamboo rat, even after finishing her meal. Before her afternoon nap, she asked Xiao Ran, "Little Panda~ When can we get a seven-legged bamboo rat~?"

Xiao Ran was both amused and exasperated. He could only say to her, "We can eat it when our Sizi wakes up from her nap. Be good, go to sleep now."

Upon hearing this, the little princess obediently closed her eyes. (End of Chapter)