When Lu Taobao, curious about something, asked them a question that had intrigued everyone, they all perked up their ears, ready to hear the reason.
However, in the end, they heard nothing.
Seeing their masters all enter the main gate, the remaining people exchanged bewildered glances. After a moment of stunned silence, they followed suit and walked in.
The group walked along the corridor to the main courtyard and entered the central room, where they heard the laughter of children coming from the east wing.
The faces of Zheng Wei and Sima Han instantly lit up with smiles.
No matter how many troubles they faced outside, once they returned and heard the clear laughter of children and saw their smiling faces, all their worries seemed to vanish.
Perhaps sensing someone entering, Shen Xiaoyan came out from the inner room. Seeing that the group had returned, she asked, "Have they all left?"
Zheng Wei nodded. "They've all left. What are the children doing?"
"I just fed them dinner, and now they're playing together. It's good that you're back too, we can have dinner now."
"Sister-in-law, what's delicious today? I'm starving. No, tonight I'm going to eat three bowls of rice. If I keep working this hard, I'll become skin and bones." Lu Taobao, patting his stomach, grumbled.
"And you have the nerve to say that? What meal don't you eat three bowls of?" Yi Zhixie shot Lu Taobao a sideways glance and said.
Lu Taobao immediately bristled.
Yi Zhixie had already treated him this way at the gate, and now he was still acting like this.
Had he eaten his food? Or worn his clothes?
"I'm telling you, don't think that just because you've revealed your identity as Grand Tutor, I'm afraid of you. If you don't explain the reason to me clearly today, then neither of us will eat."
Yi Zhixie heard this and smiled. This was truly a glutton.
But then again, he was also a glutton himself. The threat of not eating dinner was quite effective.
"Cough, cough, then I, this Grand Tutor, will tell you where you went wrong."
Yi Zhixie put on a serious face and said with utmost sincerity.
Seeing him like this, Lu Taobao also became solemn. "Tell me. If I've made a mistake, I'll definitely correct it."
Yi Zhixie heard this and his lips twitched imperceptibly.
This kid was truly straightforward.
Though he thought this inwardly, on the surface, Yi Zhixie remained earnest.
"You're wrong in that you only talk nonsense and delay my meal."
Lu Taobao: ...
"Are you kidding me?"
"I am being very serious, utterly serious." Yi Zhixie said with a straight face.
"I think you're just talking nonsense seriously."
"You've got it right."
"..."
While the two of them were bickering, Huo Fen had already led the little ones to set the table.
Shen Xiaoyan and the others ignored the two and went to the dining table, picked up their chopsticks, and prepared to start eating.
Lu Taobao had originally wanted to retort, but his peripheral vision caught the actions of Shen Xiaoyan and the others.
He immediately stopped bothering with Yi Zhixie and darted to the dining table. Before he even came to a halt, he plopped down onto a wooden chair.
"Wait until I'm done eating, then we'll have a battle of 300 rounds."
Lu Taobao said this, then picked up his bowl, grabbed his chopsticks, and began shoveling rice into his mouth.
Seeing his bulging cheeks, Shen Xiaoyan truly suspected he hadn't eaten for three days.
However, in reality, he had only missed lunch.
Yi Zhixie slowly walked to the dining table and elegantly sat beside Na Muxiu. He picked up the chopsticks on the table with his slender fingers and said casually,
"I have no interest in you."
...
Suddenly, the room fell into a deathly silence.
It was about ten seconds later before bursts of laughter erupted.
No one knew who laughed first, but standing there, everyone started laughing together.
Lu Taobao's face turned red, and he didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
Half an hour later, when Shen Xiaoyan and the others had mostly stopped laughing and gradually calmed down, Lu Taobao finally looked up at Yi Zhixie.
"Rest assured, even if you stripped naked and stood in front of me, I would have no interest in you."
Everyone: ...
"You two are not allowed to speak."
Shen Xiaoyan said with a stern face to the two of them, "If you say anything more, then you won't have dinner today. You can laugh until you're full..."
By the end, Shen Xiaoyan started laughing again.
Yi Zhixie also didn't expect Lu Taobao to answer so abruptly.
It seemed he had known too little about him before.
In the future, he couldn't judge his responses by conventional means.
Lu Taobao's face was even redder than before, looking as if he had just eaten a small, pointed chili pepper.
He himself didn't know why such a sentence had popped out of his mouth just now.
His brain must have gone haywire.
But looking at everyone's gazes, the words he wanted to explain were choked back.
He didn't know about others, but if Shen Xiaoyan heard his explanation, she would probably say it was unnecessary.
It was a case of the more you explain, the worse it gets.
Therefore, Lu Taobao, who had thought it through and was actually consoling himself, calmly ate his meal under everyone's strange glances.
Seeing his composure, everyone stopped teasing him and picked up their chopsticks, starting to eat.
During the meal, although no one spoke, occasional bursts of laughter could be heard.
Lu Taobao knew they were all laughing at his remark, but he still calmly ate his food.
Nothing was as important as eating.
Only when he was full could he have a decisive battle with these people.
However, things often didn't go as planned.
After eating, Lu Taobao yawned.
Then, his eyes filled with tears.
He couldn't go on. He would fight these people tomorrow. Right now, he needed to go back and find his quilt.
Watching Lu Taobao stagger out, covering his mouth with his hand, everyone found it incredibly amusing.
It was estimated that by tomorrow morning, Lu Taobao would have forgotten about today's events entirely.
Indeed, when they had breakfast the next morning, Lu Taobao didn't mention it again.
After breakfast, Zheng Wei and the others were about to go out for disaster relief. Today, with Princess Zande no longer delaying them, they could set off early without waiting for those people to corner them.
Generally speaking, between giving proactively and being forced to give, not only did the giver's mood differ greatly, but the recipient also had different thoughts.
Shen Xiaoyan and Yue Qingxin naturally wouldn't go with them, but they both, without any prior agreement, followed them out of the main room.
"Mimi, you should go back. It's very cold outside."
Zheng Wei said with some distress, looking at Shen Xiaoyan walking beside him.
Shen Xiaoyan shook her head. "I'll just escort you to the gate and then come back. Besides, staying cooped up in the house is very boring."
Hearing this, Zheng Wei said nothing more.
However, he did block Shen Xiaoyan behind him, not wanting the fierce cold wind outside to blow on her.
Shen Xiaoyan looked at Zheng Wei's profile, her eyes curved into a smile, and she felt a warmth in her heart.
However, when her gaze moved away from Zheng Wei's face and looked out into the courtyard, her eyes couldn't help but fill with worry.
Last night, it had snowed heavily all night. Although it had lessened considerably now, snowflakes were still dancing in the air.
With the weather like this, if it continued, no matter how much food they had, it would likely not be enough for many people.
"Ah~"
Just as Shen Xiaoyan was frowning, watching the snowflakes, she suddenly heard Shen Xiaoming's startled cry.
Shen Xiaoyan immediately snapped back to attention. Before she could see clearly what had happened, she had already leaped forward, rushing towards Shen Xiaoming's location.
Upon reaching Shen Xiaoming, Shen Xiaoyan's heart eased by half.
It turned out that Shen Xiaoming was currently being held in Lu Taobao's arms.
Shen Xiaoyan squatted down, took Shen Xiaoming's hand, and asked, "Xiaoming, what's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?"