Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

Di Renjie shook his head with a stern face.

"I just feel that this is wrong, but..."

Xiao Ran understood Di Renjie's meaning and said, "I understand what you mean. The Weaver Girl's mission is to weave cloud brocade, but she broke the law to escape it. However, this mission is not something the Weaver Girl can choose."

Xiao Ran didn't say anything more. Everyone has a different perspective on things, so their ideas are different. Especially since they are still children, they need to think for themselves, not be taught by Xiao Ran.

Before we knew it, as they were telling their stories, it had gotten dark and the sky was studded with glittering stars.

Xiao Ran raised his head and pointed to the Milky Way in the sky.

"See that? That's the Milky Way, and this is Vega, and over there is Altair. The two small stars next to Altair are their children."

A group of children sat in the yard, looking up at the stars in the sky.

Just then, a servant walked up behind Xiao Ran and whispered, "Young Master, some villagers have come looking for the child."

Xiao Ran then realized that it was already very late.

"Okay, I understand. Let them in."

The servants hurriedly went out, while Xiao Ran clapped his hands and said, "Alright, that's the end of today's story. You kids, your families are here to pick you up."

Upon hearing this, the children panicked instantly.

"Oh no, oh no, my mom is definitely going to beat me when I get back!"

"Me too! How could I forget the time!"

Seeing the children's tearful faces, Xiao Ran laughed with schadenfreude. However, when they looked over, he immediately suppressed his smile, coughed twice in a serious manner, and said, "It's alright, it's okay. Your family won't say anything to you. I'll tell them that I left you here to play with Si Zi and the others. Don't worry."

Which child hasn't forgotten to go home because they're playing?

A short while later, a servant led several villagers in.

"Young master." The villagers greeted Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran nodded. One of the villagers pulled his child over, glared at him, and then smiled and said to Xiao Ran, "Young master, we're sorry to have troubled you."

"No, they are very obedient. They came here because they were worried about Sizi and the others who hadn't gone out to play these past few days. I just let them play here."

Hearing this, the parents' expressions softened considerably.

As long as they don't act recklessly, insist on coming over to play, and then refuse to leave, it's fine.

Then, the villagers were about to leave with a few children when Xiao Ran stopped them, took a few boxes from a servant, and handed them to the villagers.

The villagers were startled.

"Young master, what is this?" the villagers asked.

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "There's some food inside. Everyone can take it home and eat it."

The villagers quickly waved their hands. When they came over, they had all seen the food in their children's hands, but they had already eaten some, so they hadn't asked them to return it. But how could they accept food and food at the same time? So they all refused.

Xiao Ran said, "Everyone, take these home and eat them. We can't possibly finish them all."

Seeing that the villagers were still trying to refuse, Xiao Ran quickly said, "Everyone, go back first. We're about to have dinner too."

The villagers hesitated for a moment, but still accepted it.

"Thank you, young man," the villagers said shyly.

Xiao Ran watched them walk away with the child before turning back into the house.

Although he said a few words, it seems like these kids will probably get a beating when they get back.

Thinking this, Xiao Ran smiled again.

Just as Xiao Ran had expected, after the children returned home, they were all hit a few times, but not very hard. When they opened the box, the contents were all the same: some pastries and some beef jerky.

Pastries are precious, but not unheard of; however, beef jerky is quite rare.

There's not enough beef to go around, so who would bother making beef jerky?

A villager picked up a piece of beef jerky and took a small bite.

"This is really delicious."

A gentle breeze was blowing, and the weather was sunny.

The weather was beautiful today. Xiao Ran got up early, breathed in the fresh morning air, and then practiced a set of Tai Chi, breaking out in a slight sweat.

"Little Bag~"

After dinner, the little princess came over to find Xiao Ran with her short legs.

Xiao Ran pulled the little princess up and said, "Shall we go plant tomatoes today?"

The little princess's eyes lit up, "Red! Red!"

Xiao Ran nodded, "Yes, it's the tomato that our Sizi likes to eat the most."

The little princess quickly said, "A duckling~ It has to be red~"

Today, the little princesses are resting, and the sweet potatoes have all been planted. Xiao Ran looked at his own land and decided to start planting tomatoes.

Of course, the villagers also cultivate their own land. Xiao Ran only grows enough for everyone's daily consumption, while the rest of the village is cultivated on a large scale.

The villagers are very busy this year, but they are happy. Just thinking about the harvest makes them all smile.

Xiao Ran held the little princess's hand with his left hand, and the little ones were all linked together. It was only because the yard was big that they could fit all these little ones in such a long string.

Maintaining that posture, the group walked towards the vegetable garden.

Xiao Ran carried a basket on his back, containing tomato seedlings, a small hoe, and a watering can.

The little princess made cheerful, off-key humming sounds, which were quite delightful to hear.

After humming for a while, the little princess looked at Xiao Ran.

“Little Nang Jun~ We’re a red duck~” the little princess asked.

Xiao Ran nodded. "Yes, plant tomatoes."

The little princess swallowed hard, "It's a red egg~"

Xiao Ran nodded again, "That's right, scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Tomatoes we grow ourselves will definitely taste better." To the little princess, tomatoes were already delicious, but hearing Xiao Ran say that tomatoes he grew himself were even better, she couldn't control her drooling.

“It’s red, it’s duck~” The little princess grinned foolishly.

Princess Chengyang covered her mouth and laughed, "Sizi still likes tomatoes so much."

Soon, the group arrived at the vegetable garden. Xiao Ran first placed the basket on the ground, then squatted down, reached out and brushed aside the weeds, and said to the little princess, "Before planting tomatoes, we need to loosen the soil so that the tomato seedlings can have deep roots and grow well."

He picked up a hoe and turned over the soil. The soil was turned over, carrying a fresh earthy fragrance, mixed with a hint of grass.

The little princess squatted curiously to one side, reaching her little hands into the turned soil, grabbing a handful, and feeling the soil slip through her fingers—cool and soft.

"Little Nangjun~ This soil is so soft~" the little princess said excitedly, kneading the soil in her hand into a small clod, then letting it fall apart.

“They are very soft.” Xiao Ran put down the hoe, picked up the tomato seedlings from the bamboo basket, and gave one to each of the little ones.

"Look, this is a tomato seedling. Its leaves are oval-shaped with tiny serrations along the edges. We need to bury the base of the seedling in the soil," Xiao Ran explained patiently, pointing to the white roots of the tomato seedling.

The little princess carefully took the tomato seedling, gently holding it in her small hands, as if afraid of damaging it.

She looked down at the seedling in her hand, then at the soil Xiao Ran had turned over, and asked, "Little Nang~ where should we put this red one~?"

Xiao Ran used a hoe to dig a small hole in the ground, just deep enough to bury the roots of the tomato seedling.

“Plant it right here,” he said, pointing to the pit.

"Come on, Sizi, put the seedling into the hole, then cover the roots with the soil around it and gently press it down."

The little princess nodded, squatted down, and slowly put the tomato seedling into the hole.

Because she was still small and her movements were a bit clumsy, it took her several tries to place the seedling correctly.

Then she picked up her little wooden shovel and shoveled the soil next to her into the hole little by little. But the shovel was too small and she didn't have much strength. She shoveled for a long time but didn't scoop up much soil. Instead, she got a lot of mud on her little hands and skirt.

Xiao Ran didn't help her; he just watched quietly from the side, occasionally reminding her, "Slow down, don't knock the seedling over."

He knew that for the little princess, the process of planting tomatoes was far more important than the result; he just wanted her to experience the joy of labor.

The little princess put in a lot of effort and finally covered the roots of the tomato seedlings. She stood up, patted the dirt off her hands, and although her little hands were dirty, her face was full of a sense of accomplishment.

"Little Nang-jun~ My seed is so red~" She tilted her head up, showing off to Xiao Ran, her eyes sparkling with pride.

"Our Sizi is really amazing," Xiao Ran praised her with a smile, reaching out to wipe away the mud that had accidentally gotten on her face.

The other kids also took their own tomato seedlings and planted them.

Xiao Ran praised them all: "Good, everyone did a great job, but after planting, you need to water it so that it can survive."

Xiao Ran picked up the small watering can from the bamboo basket, poured some water into it, and handed it to the little princess: "Here, gently water the roots of the seedlings, don't water too much, and don't water the leaves."

The little princess took the watering can and carefully watered the base of the tomato seedlings.

Clear water flowed down the soil, nourishing the newly planted roots, and the leaves of the seedlings seemed to become even greener because of the water.

The little princess watched this scene and laughed happily. Her laughter was as clear as silver bells and echoed in the vegetable garden.

After watering, the little princess squatted down and stared at her tomato seedlings for a long time, muttering to herself, "May they grow red and big quickly!"

As she spoke, she remembered the taste of tomatoes and couldn't help but swallow, her little hand unconsciously touching her tummy.

Seeing her greedy look, Xiao Ran couldn't help but tease her, "Has our Sizi already imagined the taste of tomatoes? Should I go get you one now?"

The little princess really wanted to eat tomatoes, but she wanted to grow tomatoes even more, because only by growing them could she have more tomatoes to eat.

So the little princess shook her head and said, "No duck~ I want a red duck~ lots and lots~ lots and lots~"

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "Okay, let's plant lots of tomatoes so we can have plenty to eat."

After saying that, Xiao Ran picked up a small hoe and prepared to dig a few more holes to plant more tomato seedlings.

The little princess also picked up her little wooden shovel and started digging holes like Xiao Ran. Although the holes she dug were either too deep or too shallow and couldn't be used to plant seedlings, she learned to do it very well and was having a great time.

Just then, a slight "fluttering" sound came.

The little princess was intently digging a hole when she heard the sound. She stopped abruptly, looked up curiously, and then pointed in one direction, saying, "Little Nang-kun~ Xi Fu Die~"

Xiao Ran stopped what he was doing and looked in the direction the little princess was pointing. He saw a colorful butterfly fluttering in the flower bushes not far away.

The butterfly's wings were pale blue, dotted with tiny white spots. When the wings fluttered, they looked like a small cloud drifting by, making it exceptionally beautiful.

“This butterfly is so beautiful,” Xiao Ran said.

The little princess exclaimed happily, "So pretty! You're getting chubby!"

The other little ones also gathered around, looking at the butterfly.

The butterfly seemed to sense that someone was watching it, and it fluttered its wings, flew out of the flowers, and flew towards the little princess.

The little princess's face lit up with excitement as she watched the butterfly fly towards her. She reached out her little hand, trying to catch it, and exclaimed, "Fat butterfly!"

But the butterfly showed no sign of stopping. It circled above the little princess's head once, then flew eastward again. The little princess turned and chased after it, calling out, "Fatie~ wait, my duck~"

She was small in stature, and when she ran, she wobbled like a cute little duck. Her pale yellow skirt fluttered as she ran, and pink ribbons danced around her ears, making her look exceptionally adorable.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran quickly put down his tools and hurried after her, afraid that she would fall if she ran too fast.

The butterfly flew neither too high nor too fast, seemingly teasing the little princess. Sometimes it would fly faster, making it too fast for the princess to catch up, and sometimes it would slow down and stop on a flower branch not far away. Just when the little princess was about to catch up, it would suddenly fly away again.

The little princess wasn't angry at all; instead, she ran even faster.

"Get fat~ wait for me~" the little princess called out as she chased after him.

Her little face was flushed from running, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but she didn't notice at all, her eyes were only on the pale blue butterfly.

The other children quickly followed, and Xiao Ran saw a beautiful big butterfly flying in front of him, with a group of children chasing after it.

If Yan Liben were here and saw this scene, he would surely have drawn it.

Although Yan Liben didn't see it, Xiao Ran planned to describe the scene to him when they met again.

"Little Nang Jun~ You've gotten so chubby, but you haven't noticed it anymore~"

The little princess ran over looking dejected.

Xiao Ran wiped her sweat. "It's alright, we'll see each other again in the future." (End of Chapter)