Tang Yuan swallowed the pill; he didn’t know what Zhuzi ant by what he said.
But he knew where the pouch was, because a few days ago he had already discovered it.
Hidden by his own mother in a broken jar in the corner of the wall.
The jar was covered with things, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been found at all.
He didn’t know what was in the pouch, but he knew it had to be sothing important.
Hearing Zhuzi say this, he imdiately ran inside, took out the pouch from the jar, hung it around his neck, and stuffed it into his clothes.
Just as Gou Dan was coming out, Ladi had already run over from the backyard holding two pairs of straw sandals.
Ladi was already ten years old, when she had gone to the backyard earlier, she suddenly rembered she had left her brother alone in the front yard. If he ran out, her father would beat her to death.
She hurried back in a rush, and when she saw Gou Dan and Zhuzi waiting at the door for her, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Ladi and Gou Dan put on their straw sandals, carried their baskets, grabbed sickles, and followed Zhuzi up the mountain.
The people in the village didn’t care about this; the kids went up the mountain every day to gather pigweed and chop firewood.
This was sothing every household’s children had to do.
After Zhuzi went up the mountain, he found an open area, and sure enough, he deftly climbed a tree and took two bird eggs from a nest.
Ladi was excited; two bird eggs were still eggs.
Zhuzi took several more bird eggs from other nests on different trees, a total of 12 bird eggs.
Zhuzi climbed down, "Ladi, don’t just stand there, quickly find so firewood so we can make a fire to roast the bird eggs! Otherwise, how can we eat these eggs?"
Looking at the bird eggs Zhuzi held in his arms, Ladi nodded eagerly.
"Gou Dan! Co with , let’s collect firewood and then roast the bird eggs to eat."
Gou Dan sat confused under a tree, looking at Ladi with a bewildered expression.
"What did you call ?"
Zhuzi thought to himself, uh-oh.
Silly Tang Yuan seed to have so reaction now.
"Let him stay here and watch the bird eggs; you go find firewood. I’ll check two more bird nests, maybe we can find more, and we can eat our fill today."
Saying that, he waved the bird eggs in his hand with a grin.
Ladi stubbornly shook her head, "No way, my dad said I must watch Gou Dan. If anything happens to Gou Dan, I won’t be able to live."
Zhuzi panicked; they had co this far, but he still couldn’t take the person away.
But he couldn’t force it; the two of them together only amounted to seven years old.
If he pushed Ladi too hard and she shouted, the villagers would all co running.
By then, they wouldn’t be able to escape; they would probably have their legs broken.
Don’t be fooled by his father’s kind appearance, but he had seen his father break his mother’s leg with his own eyes.
He wasn’t worried about the leg; he just feared he wouldn’t be able to take Tang Yuan and escape.
He could only smile and say, "Alright, Gou Dan, you go with your sister to collect firewood."
Tang Yuan looked at Baozi in confusion.
What was Baozi talking about, calling him Gou Dan, when did his na change to Gou Dan?
"Hurry up!"
Baozi gave Tang Yuan a push, lowering his voice to give Tang Yuan instructions.
"Don’t ask anything, don’t say anything."
Tang Yuan blinked; Baozi was always smarter than him, so he knew Baozi had a reason for saying this.
Imdiately, he obediently followed this unfamiliar little girl to collect firewood.
In fact, he had many questions in his heart.
Just now, he suddenly beca conscious, and everything around him seed so unfamiliar.
This unfamiliar place, these unfamiliar people, except for Baozi, he looked at the tattered clothes on himself and Baozi, especially the straw sandals on his feet, and he could tell.
He had beco dark and thin, his once chubby toes now dry and shriveled.
Baozi had lost a lot of weight; if he hadn’t spent years playing with Baozi, he wouldn’t have recognized this was Baozi.
With so many questions in his heart, he knew it wasn’t the right ti to ask. He followed the little girl to collect a big pile of firewood.
The three of them lit the fire.
Watching Baozi bury the bird eggs under the branches, his stomach began to growl.
Tang Yuan squatted beside Baozi.
Ladi looked at the warm bird eggs with longing.
Baozi felt guilty; he knew if he took Tang Yuan and escaped, this little girl would surely be beaten by her father when she returned.
But what could he do!
He couldn’t let his own compassion keep them in this situation forever.
His parents must be terribly worried.
They didn’t know where they had been taken.
He only knew that day Baozi had left with their second aunt, he heard Baozi say she was taking him to eat sothing good.
He rembered his parents said that this second aunt wasn’t a good person and that they didn’t associate with her.
Still, he followed along.
But after that, he rembered nothing; he just rembered a sharp pain in the back of his head, then he passed out.
When he woke again, he and Baozi had arrived in this small mountain village.
Who would do sothing so heartless?
He knew they had been caught by human traffickers.
From experience, one had to behave here; otherwise, having your legs broken was a light punishnt.
With his intelligence, winning over his adoptive father’s heart was a piece of cake.
After all, he had been through a lot, having encountered so many groups of traffickers, and not living under one roof alone.
How could he not know how to lower an adoptive father’s guard?
He had freedom; the problem was Tang Yuan didn’t have any freedom.
He initially tried to greet Tang Yuan, but he realized Tang Yuan seed to have forgotten him completely.
Every ti he passed by the door, Tang Yuan looked at him with unfamiliar eyes, as if he didn’t know him at all.
This shocked Baozi.
He also saw that Tang Yuan really regarded these parents as his own.
Living as a Gou Dan suited Tang Yuan well. What did this an? It ant Tang Yuan had undergone changes unbeknownst to him.
That’s why he had given Tang Yuan the pill initially, because he thought Tang Yuan’s changes were likely related to their being sold here.
Tang Yuan might have been fed sothing by those people.
Now that Tang Yuan was clear-headed, the two brothers could finally escape.
"Co on, eat while it’s hot; bird eggs don’t taste good when cold."
Baozi divided the twelve bird eggs into three parts, keeping only two for himself, giving five to Tang Yuan, and five to Ladi.
The only way to ease his guilt was with these bird eggs.
Ladi peeled the shells off the bird eggs and put them into her mouth.
She was imdiately captivated by their delicious flavor; even after eating five bird eggs, her stomach didn’t feel full.
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