Eavesdropping on Fu Bao's inner thoughts, emptying the stored grain and fleeing the famine

"Chuntao?" Lian Rongrong rubbed her temples, looking at the still dim sky outside with some confusion.

Chun Tao quickly came in, rubbing her eyes. "What's wrong, Miss?"

"How long have I been asleep?" Lian Rongrong asked, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart.

"Miss slept quite a bit yesterday, perhaps because she drank some wine and received news from the master and the others."

With nothing on my mind, I lay down and slept until now. Miss, if you ask me, you should have gotten some rest a long time ago.”

Lian Rongrong only caught the most important part of Chuntao's words, and she frowned as she asked again:

You mean, I've been sleeping until now?

“Yes!” Chun Tao looked at Lian Rongrong with some surprise. But Lian Rongrong suddenly looked at Fu Bao beside her.

Seeing that her son was breathing evenly and still fast asleep, Lian Rongrong asked again, "What about Fu Bao? He hasn't woken up either?"

When Lian Rongrong asked this question, Chun Tao finally realized that something was wrong.

"Yes, why hasn't the young master woken up yet? He usually wakes up twice at night."

Lian Rongrong's bad feeling grew stronger, but her first priority was to make sure that Fu Bao was alright.

Lian Rongrong got up and gently shook Fu Bao twice. The little guy pouted and woke up whimpering.

[What's wrong, Mommy? Fu Bao still wants to sleep!]

Seeing that Fu Bao was alright, Lian Rongrong finally breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that she had been overreacting.

Just as Lian Rongrong relaxed, Chun Tao shouted, "Miss! Where's your ring?"

Upon hearing this, Lian Rongrong immediately looked down at her hand, where the amber ring had once been worn, now only bearing the ring's mark.

But the amber ring was nowhere to be found. In an instant, Lian Rongrong felt as if her heart had stopped.

You should know that she was able to escape danger here many times thanks to this amber ring.

The ring's mysterious disappearance must have been intentional.

The first person that came to Lian Rongrong's mind was Lian Xiuyan, who had been behaving strangely lately.

Why would Lian Xiuyan steal this ring? Could it be that she discovered some secret?

Lian Rongrong was flustered and found it difficult to calmly analyze the situation. The quickest solution right now was to confront Lian Xiuyan directly.

If it really was Lian Xiuyan who took the amber ring, given her shrewdness, she would surely have slipped up.

If not, even Xiuyan must know the inside story.

"Chuntao, take Fubao to your sister-in-law's place, I'll be right back!"

Lian Rongrong stood up nimbly, got out of bed, and took the long sword from beside the bed.

Seeing the young lady's fierce appearance, Chun Tao knew that trouble was about to happen again.

"Miss, do you know who took the ring?"

"I can't be sure, but it's probably very likely!"

“Miss, I just remembered something. Last night, when you were asleep, my great-aunt came by.”

But I was worried she might do something while the young lady was sleeping, so I didn't let her in.

Chun Tao's words made Lian Rongrong even more convinced that the ring matter must be related to Lian Xiuyan, and Lian Rongrong could no longer suppress her anger.

Just as Lian Rongrong was about to rush out to confront Lian Xiuyan, the bell connecting the house to the village entrance rang.

Every house in the village has such a bell, which was originally designed to facilitate the timely transmission of information.

There are people on duty at the village entrance every twelve hours. If any danger is detected, the bell will be rung immediately, and everyone who hears the bell must hide in the secret passage without hesitation.

This rule was set by Lian Rongrong, and Lian Rongrong knew that the person on duty would never joke about this.

Therefore, no matter how angry she was, her top priority was to take Fu Bao and Chun Tao and hide in the secret passage.

After entering the dark passage, Lian Rongrong used her powerful flashlight to illuminate the forks in the road, and there were lights responding from all four directions: east, west, south, and north.

It seems everyone heard the bell and managed to hide inside.

As previously agreed, if danger is encountered, everyone must gather at the exit behind the mountain.

All the horses were tethered outside the village, so that if danger arose, everyone could escape through the secret passage and ride away on horseback.

Lian Rongrong, carrying Fu Bao and with Chun Tao by her side, hurried toward the exit.

When Lian Rongrong arrived at the exit, everyone was there except for Lian Xiuyan and the old lady.

"Where is Grandmother?" Lian Rongrong asked anxiously.

“Your grandmother is slow on her feet, so she should be behind. But don’t worry, your aunt was with her just now.”

Lian Rongrong became furious the moment her mother mentioned Lian Xiuyan.

"I won't feel at ease with her around!" Lian Rongrong snorted coldly. Seeing this, Lian's mother guessed that something must have happened again.

However, with so many people around, even her mother couldn't ask too many questions, and Rongrong didn't have time to dwell on other things; she needed to know what had happened at the village entrance.

The person on duty today is Xiao Liu. That kid is very clever and will definitely not ring the bell for a trivial matter.

"Xiao Liu, what exactly happened?" Lian Rongrong placed the high-powered flashlight on the lamp holder she had designed earlier, and then asked Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu looked at Lian Rongrong with some hesitation, her voice full of uncertainty.

"Miss, I..."

"You kid, you didn't just poop randomly, did you?" Chen Si had always taken care of Xiao Liu and had long treated him like his own younger brother.

Upon hearing Chen Si's question, Xiao Liu immediately shook his hands and explained:

"I didn't pull it randomly. Miss said this bell is very important, how could I pull it randomly?"

Seeing Xiao Liu like this, Lian Rongrong stepped forward and gently patted his shoulder, comforting him:

"It's alright, I believe you. You must have discovered something unusual, right?"

Xiao Liu nodded, then looked up at Lian Rongrong and said:

"Miss, I don't know if I did the right thing. But I saw a group of people who looked like refugees coming towards us at the village entrance."

"What? Just a bunch of refugees?" A sharp voice came from behind the crowd. The voice belonged to Lian Xiuyan, who had arrived late.

Mother Lian guessed correctly; the old lady was indeed with Lian Xiuyan. However, it seemed that Lian Xiuyan was taking good care of the old lady.

Lian Rongrong glared angrily at Lian Xiuyan, but she knew now was not the time to lash out. If someone with ulterior motives found out about the ring, it would only become more difficult to retrieve it.

"Xiao Liu, don't worry about it, keep talking!" Lian Rongrong turned to look at Xiao Liu again and said in a gentle tone.

Xiao Liu swallowed hard, looking extremely nervous. But he continued:

"But those people don't look like refugees to me."

"How so?" Lian Rongrong pressed.

"Those people were dressed in rags, but their steps were not faltering at all. We have seen too many refugees along the way."

None of them were like them. Those people walked very fast, seemingly with a very clear goal.

Oh, and their eyes look wrong too! If they were really refugees, their eyes would be shifty and they would look around constantly.

After all, food can be found anywhere, but those people didn't; their gazes... were very determined.

I also noticed something strange: one of the people's shoes. I had seen those shoes before.

At the foot of Kunshan Mountain…

Xiao Liu voiced all his suspicions in one breath, and at the same time, the so-called refugees entered the village.