Baby, don't be afraid, I'll accompany you to the heavens and the seas!

"Young Master Luo, hurry up! I can't take it anymore~"

"Young Master Luo, hurry up! Stop dawdling me, I really can't take it anymore! Ning An will make you a footstool, jump now!!"

Gui Ning'an is excitedly using Qianqian as a stepping stone!

He wanted her to sneak out of the palace with him and play before His Highness the Crown Prince returned!

Qianqian bit her lower lip, staring blankly at the boy beneath her who was wiggling his buttocks and making sounds like a wild cat in heat.

Seeing his excitement, which was practically wagging his tail, Young Master Luo wondered if being someone else's stepping stone was really that satisfying!

"Get out! I can jump down myself!!"

Qianqian smiled wryly, rubbed her forehead, and after thinking for a while, she leaped up and landed beside Gui Ning'an.

"Young Master Luo, you're so unwilling to accept Ning An making you a footstool. If Ning An were to make you a stepping stone in the future, you'd probably be even less willing to talk to her!"

Young Master Gui stood up, flicked his hairband, and opened the gold-painted paper umbrella, solicitously holding it up to shield her from the sun.

Qianqian stared at Gui Ning'an, who was blushing, shorter than her, and still clinging to her as a stepping stone, and then slapped him hard across the back!

"Shut up! Get out of here! If His Highness the Crown Prince returns to the palace, we're all doomed!!"

"That's right! Quick, Young Master Luo, get on the carriage! His Highness the Crown Prince is still receiving training in the Emperor's palace!" Gui Ning'an trembled and pulled Young Master Luo's sleeve to get on the carriage.

The carriage, carrying a crimson banner, sped along the cold, damp palace road, quickly leaving the imperial palace and disappearing into the bustling city outside.

The bustling city was teeming with people, a lively scene of hawking their wares, begging, and revelry.

"Please have mercy!! Please, sir, have mercy!"

"Waaaaah, Mom, I'm hungry!!"

"Please, Your Excellency, have mercy!!" A vast horde of refugees surrounded the carriages of high-ranking officials traveling to the capital, their cries of pleading and begging filled with anguish.

"Get out!! You filthy thing, how dare you block my carriage? You're asking for trouble!"

Pang Er was enjoying himself with a courtesan in his carriage when he was disturbed by this group of ungrateful commoners.

Pang Er, with the singing girl in his arms, swaggered open the carriage curtain and glared impatiently at the lowly commoner who dared to block his carriage.

"My lord, my lord, please have mercy!"

"My lord! Please have mercy!"

The old woman was dressed in rags, revealing large patches of her emaciated chest. She was blind and gesturing wildly with her hands, but accidentally grabbed the songstress's thin blouse.

When the songstress saw that pair of dark, bony claws covered in mud were gripping the thin shirt she had just had made that morning, she was so frightened that she huddled in Pang Er's arms and cried!

"Ahhh! Master Pang, this lowly commoner has ripped and touched my spring dress! Waaah~ It's so, so scary!!"

The beautiful songstress, like a white lotus swaying in the wind and rain, nestled delicately into the arms of the powerful young master, her eyes brimming with glistening tears.

"presumptuous!!"

Pang Er was so engrossed in the idea of ​​rescuing a damsel in distress that he drew his sword from his waist, shouted angrily, and then slashed off the old woman's pair of bone claws!

"Ahhh! Grandmother, Grandmother!!" Ping Ge, his face splattered with purple blood, desperately held his unconscious grandmother in his arms.

"Hmph! I'll give you the money for your medical expenses. Next time, remember, if you're begging, you should behave like a dog. Don't you dare grope my precious body!"

Pang Er casually tossed a string of gold beans at the straw-shoe-wearing boy who was clinging to his grandmother and wouldn't move, then disdainfully rode away in his carriage.

Wow! Golden beans, they're golden beans!!

"Don't try to take it from me, it's all mine!!"

The remaining refugees swarmed around Ping'er, pushed him aside, and frantically grabbed the gold beans.

The old woman's severed bony claws were also crushed by the swarming refugees.

The flesh and blood on the bone claws stained the straw sandals of countless refugees who came to snatch the gold beans, and the pair of bone claws disappeared as the refugees left.

The carriage returning home had passed through the bustling market outside Xuanwu Gate, but it was still late, and no one knew what had happened.

After placing her grandmother's lifeless, pale body aside, Ping'er, with a death-defying spirit, turned and crashed into another carriage belonging to a high-ranking official.

bang bang bang! ! !

After several collisions, the coachman, returning home, grew angry and lashed his whip at the wounded boy.

"What kind of upbringing produced such a fine young man?! To so casually offend someone of importance! It's utterly disrespectful!"

"Still smashing? How dare you!!"

Seeing that the boy was getting more and more agitated, the coachman got off the carriage, frowned, and kicked the boy away.

"What brings you here?" Gui Ning'an asked the coachman with a gentle expression, biting into a freshly roasted duck leg from Yipinzhai.

"Young master, I don't know which family raised such a fine young man, who went mad and smashed the carriage!"

As the coachman bowed and greeted the young master, the straw-shoe-wearing boy, his eyes red with rage, charged wildly, slamming the resentful coachman into the carriage as well.

boom! !

"What's wrong? Get out of the car and check. They're not after you, are they?"

Qianqian was so shocked by the impact that she saw stars. She picked up Gui Ning'an, who was still eating and drinking, and got off the carriage.

"Are you alright?!" After helping the coachman up, Qianqian kicked the straw-shoe-wearing boy who was about to bump into her again, making him kneel down.

"Alright, even if we have some kind of grudge, you don't need to hurt yourself like this!!"

"We scum aren't worth you hurting yourself like this! What's wrong with you?!"

Qianqian squatted down and asked the straw-shoe-wearing boy kneeling in front of her in a gentle tone!

"Waaaaah~ Grandmother is dead, Grandmother is dead! Ping'er, Ping'er will have no family left in this world!"

"Waaaaah, my father and mother were eaten by refugees while fleeing south for famine! My little sister too, she was eaten too!"

"Only my grandmother and I survived because we contracted the plague, sob sob sob!!"

Qianqian looked at the boy beneath her who was coughing and crying incessantly, unsure of how to comfort him.

Because Ping Ge had contracted the plague, even his thick hemp clothing couldn't hide the smell of the pus-filled, bloody sores that were caused by the disease.

The poisonous sores and filthy blood also stained the boy's once bright and cheerful eyes.

As he cried, Qianqianluo could see that the boy's eyes were gushing pus and dirty blood from the strain.

"Young Master Luo, get away quickly! This person has a disease, be very careful!" Gui Ning'an pulled Qianqian Luo back a few meters immediately.

"I understand!" Qianqianluo quickly comforted Gui Ning'an, who looked nervous.

"Let's go! Young Master Luo, Ning An will report this matter to the authorities. Let the government handle it!"

Young Master Gui frowned, seemingly lost in thought, and abandoned the carriage. He then took Young Master Luo's hand and made as if to leave.

Ping's vision blurred as he took a bag of precious jade and gold that Luo Gongzi had secretly slipped into his pocket.

He mustered his courage and looked up several times before daring to stare at that slender, graceful figure that was getting further and further away.

The young man's beautiful face, as delicate as jade, truly rivaled the spring scenery of the entire capital and stirred the long-dormant heart of Brother Ping.