Chapter 55

14-18 minutes

Huo Lin’s movement attracted the attention of the father and son in front, and Zhan Xi couldn’t care about the topic of the little widow anymore.
He turned around to pull up the little crown prince.

“Are you distracted while walking?”

Zhan Xi put down the little child and reached out to pull the little prince.

The ridge was not high, so the little prince didn’t fall, but his trousers got dirty.

Zhan Xi looked at his own child’s muddy shoes, then looked at the dirty pants of the little prince.

He sighed sincerely, “Let’s go, let’s change in the car.”

Huo Lin’s cheeks turned slightly red, evidently feeling a little embarrassed about his carelessness.

He didn’t know what happened just now.
When he heard the little child calling himself a little widow, his first reaction was not amusement but a sudden pang in his heart.

“Uncle Zhan, I didn’t bring spare trousers.”

Huo Lin followed behind Zhan Xi and apologetically said in a low voice, “It’s alright, the pants aren’t very dirty.
I don’t need to change.”

Zhan Xi smiled and said, “I brought some for you.”

As a father with many years of experience taking care of children, Zhan Xi wouldn’t go out without being fully prepared.
He not only brought all the necessary items for his own child, but also brought some for the little prince.

The little prince occasionally stayed overnight at their house now, so naturally, there were a few sets of clothes kept there.

Soon, both the muddy-footed child and the one with dirty pants were inside the car changing clothes.

Zhan Xi bent down and, after taking off the child’s shoes, also removed his socks.
“Ningning, you’re not allowed to step on mud or water later.
If you wet your socks again, Daddy won’t change them for you.”

The little child wiggled his tender white feet confidently and fearlessly, saying, “Ningning can be barefoot.”

Zhan Xi: “…”

Zhan Xi tapped his chubby foot lightly and said, “No mischievousness allowed.”

When the little child was changing socks and shoes, the little prince was also changing pants.

While they were both doing their own things, the conversation that was interrupted earlier was resumed.

With great determination, he asked Zhan Xi: “Daddy, am I a little widow?”

“No,” came the voice of Huo Lin, speaking before Zhan Xi could respond.
The little prince, having changed his pants, pursed his lips and looked directly at the little child.
“You are not a little widow.”

The little child tilted his head, a look of confusion on his pretty, soft face.

Huo Lin spoke again, this time offering a serious explanation: “Only those whose partners have died are called widows.
Ningning, you haven’t found a partner yet.”

With this earnest explanation, the little child nodded, seemingly understanding.

He carefully searched his mind and suddenly realized, “Ningning is not a little widow, Ningning is an orphan.”

Wagner, who was with him when they went online, had watched many videos together.
These videos contained various popular phrases and some vocabulary that were popular on ancient Earth.

“Orphan” was a popular word during the ancient Earth period!

Zhan Xi’s mouth twitched as he put the child, who had finished putting on his shoes again, down on the ground.
“Enough with this talk about being an orphan.
It’s just some word you picked up from Wagner.”

“Alright, let’s go around the back of the village.”

The village was abundant in land, with patches of land side by side.
In the areas where no one cultivated, there were various wild grasses and flowers.

Zhan Xi took a few bags and a shovel, intending to dig up some wild vegetables to bring back.

The little child now preferred all kinds of meat on his diet.
When it came to snacks, he either ate extremely sweet ones or savory ones.

Zhan Xi wanted him to eat more vegetables.

The outdoor air was fresh, and it had rained a few days ago.
The soil was loose, and the scent emitted by the grass and trees was pleasant.

Huo Lin walked alongside Zhan Xi, and the little child in front took small steps, earnestly catching grasshoppers.

“Do you want to catch some grasshoppers with Ningning?”

Zhan Xi glanced at the little prince beside him and felt that this little prince had excessively high demands on himself.
If he continued to be so strict, he would probably suffocate.

“No need.
Let Ningning catch them on his own.”

Huo Lin wasn’t very interested in the game of catching grasshoppers.
He found it amusing to watch Ningning jumping around and catching them instead.

“Dad, Brother, look!”

After lurking in the grass for a while, Ningning, with a grass leaf on his head, finally caught a large grasshopper.
“It’s green!”

The grasshopper in Ningning’s hand was about half the size of his palm.
He clenched the grasshopper and ran excitedly over to show his dad and big brother.

Zhan Xi looked at the grasshopper and suddenly said, “Ningning, would you like to eat the grasshopper?”

Ningning exclaimed, “Can we eat grasshoppers?”

Zhan Xi took the grasshopper from his hand, dug a hole in the ridge, and started a fire.
Before starting the fire, he took out a few sweet potatoes and a handful of peanuts from his pocket.
“Go catch a few more grasshoppers so we can have more to eat.”

Ningning nodded and ran back to the grass to continue catching grasshoppers.

Zhan Xi buried the sweet potatoes in the hole and put the peanuts aside.
Finally, he skewered the grasshoppers and placed them over the fire to roast.
“Xiao Lin, would you like to try this? It’s delicious when you eat it.
I used to eat this a lot when I was young.”

Huo Lin hesitated a bit.

But under Zhan Xi’s gaze, he reluctantly nodded.
“Okay, I’ll give it a try.”

Ningning was agile on the grassland.
With a quick grab of his chubby little hand, he could catch a grasshopper.
The task of catching grasshoppers was like a fun game to him!

In no time, Ningning returned with seven or eight grasshoppers.

Zhan Xi strung all these grasshoppers together and grilled them.
When eating, he processed them slightly, resulting in a fragrant, crispy, and crunchy texture.

The three of them started eating shortly after they arrived.

Huo Lin wasn’t really hungry, but seeing the roasted sweet potatoes that smelled delicious and appetizing, his appetite improved a bit.

Although the child had a preference for food, he could finish any type of food properly.

“Daddy, the sweet potatoes are so delicious!”

“They may be delicious, but you shouldn’t eat too many.
Eating too much of this can fill your stomach, and then you won’t eat properly at lunchtime.”

Huo Lin, who was also holding a sweet potato, heard the conversation between the father and son and was surprised.
“Uncle Zhan, isn’t this lunch?”

Zhan Xi: “?”

Zhan Xi was puzzled.

Ningning, sitting on the pile of grass, was also confused.
He looked at his older brother, then lowered his head to look at the sweet potato, and said in a sweet voice, “Brother, sweet potatoes aren’t a proper meal.”

Zhan Xi further explained, “Sweet potatoes are just a snack, not a lunch.”

Huo Lin’s surprise turned into silence.

Uncle Zhan always said not to let Ningning eat too much, but did he realize that his definition of “not too much” was actually problematic?

“Sweet potatoes are coarse grains.
Eating them occasionally is good for your health.”

Zhan Xi explained the benefits of sweet potatoes while emphasizing that he, as a strict father, only allowed his child to eat two small sweet potatoes.

Huo Lin, who was already feeling full after eating just one, saw this scene and wisely chose not to say much.

It took them two hours to reach their destination, and they spent an hour eating.

After finishing their meal, the child continued to frolic around.

He opened a video for Wagner, and the two little children talked about interesting things around them through the screen.
In the end, the little children even made plans to catch grasshoppers together next time.

While the little children were having fun, the old father was accompanying them.

Looking at the village not far away, Huo Lin talked to Zhan Xi, “Uncle Zhan, are there many people in this village? Do they make a living by farming?”

“Yeah, there are quite a few people in this village, and the young people are staying at home.
They rely on farming for a living—wait, that doesn’t seem right.”

Zhan Xi furrowed his eyebrows slightly.
“Farming can’t support so many idle people in their homes.”

He looked at Huo Lin and had a not-so-good guess in his mind.
“Xiao Lin, when we go back, have someone come and take a look at this village.”

In the past, Zhan Xi had done everything necessary for survival, including farming.

He knew well the profit of farming.

Huo Lin responded with a “Hmm,” but he didn’t wait to go back before investigating.
He had his guards sneak in to take a look right away.

His guards had been following him since they left, but they kept their distance so as not to interfere with their play.

Time passed little by little.

The little child was still running in the field.
He was like a little generator filled with energy, running around and generating power.

***

While he was playing here, in a certain street of the White Mist Star, two dirty little beasts were leading a difficult life.
The bag slung over the shoulder of the small mouse was tattered, and he looked miserable, but his spirit remained undiminished.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!“

‘I’m not lying to you.
Give me two apples, and when I find a home, I’ll give you ten in return!’

The small mouse, with the hidden cub behind him, was persuading the stray animals he encountered, saying, “Squeak, squeak!”

‘My new home has a chubby child, and he’s generous!’

He was bragging about the chubby child he hadn’t found yet, trying to trick them into giving him two apples.

Unfortunately, he had a stroke of bad luck.
Instead of deceiving anyone, he ended up being beaten up.

The stray animals outside had a bad temper.
They would start fights at the slightest disagreement.
The little mouse tried to resist, but he only ended up getting beaten even worse.

The little rolling beast, who followed the little mouse, huddled in a corner with teary eyes and whimpered, “Squeak!”

‘Didn’t they agree to come out and have a good life?’

In the week since he came out, he had been beaten five times and had gone hungry for about ten meals!

The little mouse nervously stroked the head of the rolling beast and coaxed him, saying, ‘Don’t be discouraged.
Although you lost food, you gained your freedom!’

The rolling beast: “…”

With an air of anger, the rolling beast turned around and closed itself off, becoming a chubby ball.

The two little beasts hadn’t rested for long before they encountered trouble again.

This time, the little mouse couldn’t handle it anymore.
He racked his brain and finally decided to reveal the name of the chubby child: ‘I am the little mouse of Ningning! Ningning will return the fruits you gave me last time!’

As it turned out, using Ningning’s name actually worked.

The little child, who usually went out with his father to collect waste materials, had a good relationship with the stray animals.
Whenever he found edible things, he would give them to the animals.

After realizing the effectiveness of using Ningning’s name, the little mouse would use it every time he encountered trouble.
However, his memory wasn’t very good, and he forgot the address Ningning had given him.
All he knew was that Ningning lived on the Whire Mist Star.

He continued to rely on Ningning’s name as he ventured through the days.

On the day when Ningning and his father went out for an outing, other stray animals dragged the two little beasts and brought to Ningning’s doorstep.

These animals had come to settle their accounts with Ningning.

***

Unaware of everything happening at the doorstep, Ningning was sitting on the grass, having a video call.
Ludwig and Ai Wei were on the other side of the call, talking to him.

“Ningning, aren’t you afraid of bugs?”

The little child proudly spoke about how he caught all kinds of insects that morning.
As he was talking, he even patted his head and exclaimed, “Oh, I just remembered something!”

“I want to catch a caterpillar, a hairy caterpillar, and bring it back!”

When Ludwig heard the words “caterpillar,” his eyebrows raised in confusion.
He asked, “Why do you want to catch a caterpillar?”

In a childish voice, the little child happily replied, “To show the kids in the Green Grass Class! We want to raise caterpillars together.”

Ludwig remained puzzled.
He looked at the chubby child who seemed eager to catch caterpillars and decided not to waste any more time.
He said, “Go ahead, catch one and let me see.”

“Okay!”

The little child ended the video call and asked his father for a cardboard box.
He started to catch caterpillars.

Zhan Xi sat on the grass, watching the child catch caterpillars without intervening.
He understood.
When he was a child, he also enjoyed catching insects.
It was a good thing for boys to have a little more courage.

Huo Lin followed alongside the little child, keeping him company as they caught caterpillars together.

“Brother! I found one!”

The child stood under a small tree, looking at the bug crawling on a leaf.
With a delighted voice, he said, “This bug is so beautiful!”

The bug on the leaf had a layer of fluffy hairs, similar to dandelion fluff, and it had exceptionally vibrant and attractive colors.

It had hairs, on the leaf, and it felt soft.

The little child confidently confirmed that it must be a caterpillar!

Huo Lin had never been to the countryside before, so he couldn’t immediately identify the specific species of the small creature he was trying to catch.
However, from a few steps away, he roughly glanced at it and felt that it didn’t quite resemble a caterpillar.

“Ningning, don’t catch it for now.
I think it looks more like…”

The words following Huo Lin’s name have not been finished yet.
The little child held a box in one hand and reached out with the other hand towards the “fuzzy caterpillar.”

In the blink of an eye, Huo Lin’s eyelid twitched.

The next second.

The little child, who was holding the “fuzzy caterpillar,” slapped it away, raised his chubby face, and cried loudly.

Zhan Xi, who was still sitting in the grass, heard the crying and his expression changed slightly.
He stood up and walked over quickly.

He passed by Huo Lin and pulled the tearful child into his arms.
As he lowered his head, he saw the “fuzzy caterpillar” that the child had thrown away.

Damn.

This wasn’t a fuzzy caterpillar.

This was a prickly caterpillar that everyone in the village was afraid to touch.

Prickly caterpillar, as the name implied, touching it with the hand would make it turn red and feel hot.

***

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Ningning: (╥﹏╥)