Chapter 19: Facing the Troubles of Growing Up While Serving a Little Tyrant

He carried two quilts, bringing his own over as well.

“I’m sleeping here tonight too.”

Xia Mo, enduring the pain in her stomach, weakly responded, “What did you say to me last time when you found a cave?”

“Forgot.”

Xia Mo: “…”

“This is my cave. Get out.”

Xiao Jingyuan ignored her and directly laid out a makeshift bed in the adjacent cave.

“You’re the older one, you should let me have it.”

Wow, his skin was thick.

“Besides, it’s not like I’m squeezing into your cave. This place is big enough—even a black bear could fit in here.”

Xia Mo snatched one of the quilts, ignored him, and prepared to sleep.

Unexpectedly, after Xiao Jingyuan finished setting up his bed, he reached over from the next cave and tugged at her hair.

“Hey, get that Guanyin lady to conjure up some food. I only had half a steamed bun for dinner, and I’m starving.”

Xia Mo: “It’s late. If you eat now, you won’t be able to sleep. Just bear with it.”

“I’m so hungry I can’t sleep.”

Xia Mo was speechless. She had trudged through mountains despite her cramps, nearly got bitten by a black bear—was that not enough? And now, she had to serve him?

All she wanted was to rest. Why was it so hard?

Annoyed, she rummaged through the store and pulled out a huge pile of snacks, dumping the entire bag on him.

Eat. Stuff yourself to death.

Xiao Jingyuan stared at the brightly colored packaging and rubbed his eyes hard.

For some reason, he felt like there was something off with his vision, as if these packages had words on them—but no matter how he looked, he couldn’t make them out.

“Are there words on this?” He held up a bag of chips.

Xia Mo paused and gave him a strange look, then glanced at the bag in his hand.

“You can’t read it?”

Xiao Jingyuan shook his head.

He even used a flashlight to illuminate the bag—he should have been able to see it clearly. But his question wasn’t “What does it say?” It was, “Are there words on this?”

“What do you see?”

“Just a bunch of colors.”

Got it. Aside from her, no one else could see these futuristic products clearly.

She had been so cautious, always repackaging the food into oil-paper bags to avoid disrupting history. Turns out, he couldn’t see the writing anyway.

Xia Mo let out a sigh of relief and said, “Oh, I see the same thing—just colors.”

Xiao Jingyuan shot her a suspicious look, clearly not buying it.

He wasn’t stupid. The more time he spent with ‘him’ on this journey, the more he felt ‘he’ was full of secrets.

But Xia Mo was cunning. Even if he asked, ‘he’ wouldn’t tell him anything. Whatever.

“How do I eat this?”

This guy was so used to having things prepared for him that he couldn’t even open a snack bag.

“Use your watermelon knife to cut it open.”

Xiao Jingyuan pulled out his large knife and hesitated, finding it ridiculous to use such a massive blade on a bag of chips.

When he looked up, he saw Xia Mo grinning at him. Instantly, he realized he’d been tricked.

“You think it’s funny to mess with me after all the concern I’ve shown you?”

Uh… cough, cough…

“You care about me?”

“Hmph, what do you think? You’re injured, aren’t you? If I weren’t worried about you getting into trouble alone in the cave, I wouldn’t have come in.”

So tsundere.

Then, he tossed the bag of chips at her. “Open it for me.”

Xia Mo: “…”

“Don’t look at me like that. Shouldn’t you take care of me? Everyone knows you’re my fourth brother.”

Good thing she wasn’t drinking water, or she would’ve choked to death.

What did she do in her past life to deserve this? She was already escaping famine, and now she had to serve a little emperor too.

Xia Mo, feeling defeated, decided she might as well teach him how to tear the bag open properly along the serrated edge.

Usually, she only took out prepared foods from the convenience store—steamed buns, sausages, oden, porridge, soy milk, tea eggs… and sometimes milk and instant meals. She had never given him snacks before.

Tonight, however, he got to taste all sorts of junk food for the first time. It was like a whole new world had opened up for him.

Ahem, well, he was still a kid.

Like any child, he had zero resistance to snacks. As he devoured them, he looked utterly content, a bit innocent even—nothing like the cold-blooded boy who had just taken down a black bear.

Seeing that, Xia Mo instinctively let her guard down a little.

“It’s not good to eat so much this late, especially sweets. Eat too much, and your teeth will rot.”

“Here, take some water, and your toothbrush and cup. Make sure to brush your teeth before you sleep.”

“Nagging again. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

Xia Mo: “…”

Fine, she was off to bed. Her cramps were finally easing, but she was exhausted.

Xiao Jingyuan, after finishing his feast, carefully packed all the wrappers into a transparent bag.

He knew these things didn’t belong in this world, so it was best not to leave any traces behind.

Once he finished washing up, he listened to Xia Mo’s slow and steady breathing as she slept. Quietly, he moved closer, his gaze landing on ‘his’ stomach.

The smell of blood had been masked by medicinal herbs, but the scent of mugwort was strong.

He was sure now—Xia Mo was injured in the stomach.

What kind of useless ‘older brother’ got hurt right on the stomach despite wearing so many layers?

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The Next Morning

Xia Mo sneaked off to take care of her monthly issue.

When she returned, she overheard Old Zhou discussing how to handle the bear paws with the group.

Bear paws were the most valuable part of the animal, but there were over a hundred people in their group—if they just ate it themselves, each person wouldn’t even get a bite, which would be a waste.

So, Old Zhou suggested having a few strong hunters take them to a nearby market to sell. With the money, they could buy food for everyone.

It was a great idea, except…

Any city that could afford to buy bear paws wasn’t small. They would need travel permits to enter.

They had none. Their household registrations were from Tongzhou, which meant they couldn’t enter the capital of Bianzhou.

Their only option was to sell the bear paws outside the city to middlemen.

But those guys were notorious for ripping people off. If something was worth ten coins, they’d be lucky to get three. Who would be willing to accept that?

As the debate continued, Xiao Jingyuan strolled out of the cave, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

“I’ll go. I have a travel permit, so I can enter the city.”

Everyone turned to him in shock.

Including Xia Mo.

Feeling the pressure of all those stares, she had no choice but to say, “Yes, we have a travel permit.”

Old Zhou frowned. “Then yesterday…”

Then, realization dawned on him.

“You two could have passed through the checkpoint, but you stayed behind for us?”

Xia Mo could only nod.

The group was deeply moved. They had thought the Xia brothers were the ones being taken in, but in reality, the brothers had been looking after them.

“Alright then. You two will go into the city.”

“Everyone, let’s get breakfast ready. We’ll eat before hitting the road.”

Just as Xia Mo returned from outside, she said, “Old Zhou, I don’t think we’ll be traveling today.”