Although thinking this, Qiuli still ambled over to follow them.
The group hadn't gone far, just sitting down on the grass by a nearby field ridge. Zhu Changle patted the spot beside her and urged, "Qiuli, hurry up! I'm hungry."
He was hungry too, Qiuli thought. After rushing on the road and fighting, they had expended a lot of energy.
Lan Ping prepared a large flatbread and handed it to Changle. Zhu Changle took a big bite, her cheeks puffing out on both sides.
Qiuli glanced at her, feeling a slight urge to poke her cheeks. Seeing that Lan Ping clearly had no intention of serving him, he very conscientiously took one himself and began tearing it open to stuff meat inside.
"Put in more, put in more! It's only delicious when you stuff it full of meat," Zhu Changle instructed from the side, seeing his inexperienced manner. Then she looked over at Dingding beside her, whose flatbread was already bulging but he was still stuffing more in. She gave his hand a resounding slap. "Do you have a bloody great maw or something?"
Dingding protested, "Hey hey hey, Zhu Changle, are you forgetting old friends for new ones? You let Qiuli put in as much as he wants, but you complain mine's too much?"
Zhu Changle grabbed Qiuli's hand and held it next to Dingding's, clearly showing one round, plump flatbread and one flat one.
It was absolutely impossible to put down meat that had already reached his lips! After a moment of silence, Dingding shoved the flatbread towards his mouth. But it was really too stuffed - he opened his mouth as wide as he could but still couldn't fit it in. Having opened his mouth, how could he resign himself to not eating the meat? He... took a bite of half the bread and meat together, even getting oil on his nose, but still managing to jerk his chin at Zhu Changle in a gesture.
Zhu Changle gave him a look that said "figure it out yourself", then took the chopsticks from Qiuli's hand and stuffed two big pieces of meat into his flatbread.
Qiuli looked at his own flatbread, which though not as round was also quite plump now. He looked left and right but couldn't find a place to start eating, so he tore off a piece and put it in his mouth.
Zhu Changle took another big bite, pondering Qiuli's identity a bit more. Not everyone could still be so particular when there was nothing available in the wilderness. This kind of person, well, she had seen before.
"Hey, Qiuli, your throat's been injured, hasn't it?" Dingding's seemingly casual words reminded Zhu Changle. She nodded repeatedly, saying, "It sounds like it hasn't recovered yet. Must have been quite serious."
Qiuli gave a slight nod. The advantage of not speaking was that nodding or shaking one's head could be ambiguous, and no one could accuse him of lying.
"It's fine, it's not like you have to talk," Zhu Changle patted her waist. "I always carry paper and brush!"
Dingding turned away and took a big bite of his flatbread, rolling his eyes dramatically skyward - whether from anger or choking wasn't clear. Zhu Changle was such a pig! This Qiuli was clearly no ordinary person, and he had wanted to trick some more information out of him, but this pig-brain had gone and shut down the conversation for him.
Only daring to curse in his heart, Dingding gave Lan Ping a meaningful look. When it came to matters concerning Changle, the two of them were on the same side. Lan Ping swallowed her food and asked, "What's next? Are you staying here or going back to your master?"
"I need to stay and keep watch for a while. You never know when some brainless fools might get the courage of a bear and try to assassinate the local officials."
Lan Ping nodded and turned to ask Dingding, "What are your plans?"
"I don't have anything particular to do, so I can stay. What about you?"
"I need to return to the clan. There's a lot going on recently, and my father's health isn't great, so I need to help out." Lan Ping looked towards Qiuli again. "What about you, Sir Qiu?"
Qiuli didn't actually have any pressing matters to attend to. Mother probably knew even better than him how Zhu Maonian had made this journey, and the matters ahead didn't necessarily require his handling. Spending a few days out playing around wasn't a bad idea. He wanted to see if Zhu Changle was really going to dig open that river in Gu'an.
Thinking this, Qiuli nodded.
Lan Ping looked at Changle - was this leaving or staying?
"Qiuli's staying! Hehe, now I can strut around," Zhu Changle said contentedly, hugging his leg and taking a big bite of her flatbread. She thought about how to make good use of this person- no, how to show him a good time. Maybe they should start by opening up that dammed river in Gu'an?
Just the two words "Gu'an" were enough to make Zhu Changle extremely annoyed now. "Even a stepmother shouldn't always favor one well-behaved child to bully. If they've got the guts, they should go pick on the neighboring county."
Dingding snorted. "Why go to all that trouble when you've got an obedient child to bully? They might end up getting beaten if they tried bullying others."
"The well-behaved child has two formidable relatives, you know. My Big Brother may seem mild, but he's actually quite cunning. Just wait, he'll sort them out for sure."
"You're done for, Zhu Changle. I'm going to tell Big Brother you called him cunning," Dingding grinned mischievously. This feeling of having someone to rely on was just too satisfying! After being bullied for so many years, he was finally getting his revenge!
"Little Bottle Cap..." Zhu Changle had only just started to pout, only halfway through her sentence when she saw Dingding jump up and run. She immediately burst into loud laughter. "You coward! I wasn't even going to ask Little Bottle Cap to whip you."
"Don't try to fool me. Every time you start pouting, you're up to no good."
"I was just going to ask Little Bottle Cap to be my witness!" Zhu Changle grinned from ear to ear, sounding as if she was telling the truth. But not a single person present believed her.
Qiuli ate his flatbread methodically while watching them joke and play around. It was a rather curious feeling. In the most rudimentary of places, eating what could be called coarse food, yet the atmosphere was relaxed and casual. Even their probing of him contained no malice; once they got an answer, they didn't pursue it further.
He wondered if it was because they were all this type of person that they became friends, or if it was because they were friends that they influenced each other to develop such personalities.
Suddenly, torches were lit in the simple farmyard. Zhu Changle glanced over and said, "Lady Li must be leading people out to tidy up the carriage. We'll make do sleeping here tonight, and tomorrow when we reach our destination, we can rest properly."
Qiuli put the last bite of flatbread in his mouth, dusted off his hands, stood up, and pointed to the nearby forest.
"Alright, see you tomorrow," Zhu Changle didn't insist. Everyone had different habits; it would be pointless to force him to do things her way.
Watching him walk away seemingly slowly yet quickly disappearing from sight, Dingding clicked his tongue. "Such skill. How does it compare to your master's?"
"Of course it's not as good as Master's," Zhu Changle instinctively took her master's side, but then frowned and had to admit, "It's about the same."
Lan Ping also nodded. "Very strong."
"Strong is good! He's my excellent helper!" Zhu Changle said shamelessly.
Dingding looked at the person who could say such things without blushing. "Little Zhu, teach me. How do you manage to so matter-of-factly boss around someone you've only just met? I want this skill too."
"First, you need to have my beauty, which you don't. Second, you need to have my intelligence, which you also don't. Third, you need to have my cuteness, which you still don't have." Zhu Changle grabbed Lan Ping's hand and stood up, patting her bottom and blinking cutely. "You have no talent at all, so just give up."
For the thousandth time, Dingding wanted to punch Zhu Changle. But looking at her showing off while clinging to Lan Ping's back, he held back. Lan Ping's heavy sword hurt too much when it hit! Grinding his back teeth, Dingding very ambitiously headed back to the room first, waiting for Lan Ping to leave.
