Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

"Little Swallow?"

Several children gathered around and saw the little swallow inside the box.

With so many unfamiliar people suddenly appearing, Little Swallow was clearly flustered. The little princess quickly covered Little Swallow with her small hand and then put a finger to her lips.

"Shh~"

The children realized that their excitement had frightened Little Swallow, and quickly fell silent.

The little princess then withdrew her hand, allowing the other children to see Little Swallow.

Swallows are common to these children; after all, what family doesn't have a swallow's nest? In addition, they have never experienced feeding baby swallows before, so at first they were just curious about why there were baby swallows, which is why they came over.

Now that they could see clearly, Little Swallow instantly lost her appeal to them, so they said, "Let's go play hide-and-seek instead."

The little ones hesitated for a moment, but actually, playing hide-and-seek with everyone was quite appealing to the little princesses.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran also said, "Little Swallow is going to sleep too. You guys go play. Just play in the yard."

The adults are all busy farming, so there's no one to look after the children. The river in the village has also thawed, and it would be bad if these children accidentally ran to the riverbank and got into trouble.

That's why Xiao Ran let them play in the yard.

"That way, you can come and see Little Swallow when you're tired of playing," Xiao Ran said.

In that instant, the little ones were free of any worries.

"Okay, okay!" the little princess clapped her hands in agreement.

The children didn't care where they played, and since Xiao Ran's house was a place they had never been before, everything was new and exciting to them, and they were happy to play there.

The front yard has all sorts of artificial landscaping, including rockeries and bamboo groves. It's much more fun than being in the village, where you can only hide behind big trees and rocks. It's also more troublesome to find, but it's more interesting.

The little ones first chose who would be "it," and then ran away while he was counting.

Xiao Ran sat at the stone table watching them play. Xiao Yanzi was sent back to her room, and the place where Xiao Yanzi used to be had been replaced with fruit tea and pastries.

This fruit tea was made in the last couple of days. The raspberries on the mountain were ripe, so I added honey and other ingredients to make it. It tastes sweet and sour and is very delicious.

Xiao Ran was drinking tea when he saw the little princess running towards him with her short legs.

He thought the little princess wanted to hide with him, but to his surprise, she ignored him and ran away without even glancing at him.

Xiao Ran picked up his teacup and smiled helplessly.

After the count was finished, the child came to grab people.

The child wasn't shy at all. After wandering around for a while, he found a few that weren't well hidden and then walked towards Xiao Ran.

"Young master, do you know where they are?"

Xiao Ran shook his head. "I can't tell you, you'll have to find it yourself."

The child wasn't disappointed and said, "Thank you, young man. It seems they're definitely not with you. I'll go look for them again."

This piqued Xiao Ran's interest.

"Why do you say they're not with me? I have plenty of places to hide them."

Behind the pavilion where Xiao Ran was was a small artificial hill. Although it was small, the children were not very big, so they could hide behind it.

The child scratched his head. "Because you said 'cannot say,' not 'don't know.'"

The child wanted to say something more, but seemed to have difficulty explaining his thoughts in words. In the end, he could only scratch his head and say, "I just feel that it's different. I feel like I can't say it. I know, but I'm not here. If I don't know, it means that I'm here, but you're helping them hide."

Looking at the child in front of him, who was probably six or seven years old, Xiao Ran was genuinely surprised.

These subconscious words don't really have any meaning; they mainly depend on tone of voice and facial expressions. It involves psychology, but since no one teaches that here, it can only be described as talent.

Although it might not be of much use here, Xiao Ran still marveled at the importance of talent. Moreover, now that these children are able to study, who knows, they might become officials and be very accurate in judging cases in the future?
However, that's all for the future, so Xiao Ran simply said to the child, "You're right, they're not with me."

The child thanked Xiao Ran again, then ran off into the distance to start looking for someone.

Before long, he found all the children, including the little princess and the others.

The first child to be found started playing tag again, and Xiao Ran sat to the side watching them play.

After watching them play for a while, Xiao Ran called them all over.

"Aren't you tired from running around like this?" Xiao Ran asked.

The children's foreheads were shiny, and they were shaking their heads, saying they weren't tired.

They usually run like crazy, and this amount of exercise must make them feel tired, but not to the point where they need to rest.

However, the little princesses and the others were still young and lacked stamina, and they were already starting to run out of energy.

Xiao Ran had some chairs brought over, then had the children sit down, and gave each of them a cup of fruit tea and some snacks.

The children waved their hands as soon as they saw the snacks in their hands.

“Young man, no need, we’re not hungry,” one of the children said, and the others quickly nodded in agreement.

There's no such thing as going to someone's house and eating their food.

Xiao Ran smiled and stuffed a piece of pastry into each of their hands.

"It's okay, eat it. If you're not hungry, just have it as a snack."

Although life in the village is much better now, pastries are made with flour, sugar, honey, and other ingredients, so they are very expensive and few families are willing to spend the money to buy them.

Snacks were still a novelty for these children.

Seeing that Xiao Ran insisted, and that the little princess and the others had already started eating, the children exchanged glances, took a small bite, and then their eyes lit up.

"This is so delicious." A child licked his lips, looking at the unfinished pastry in his hand, cherishing it even more.

After the little princess finished eating half a piece of pastry, she tugged at Xiao Ran's sleeve.

"Little Nangjun~ Little Swallow Duck~"

Xiao Ran pointed to the house, "Little Swallow is already sleeping inside."

The little princess's chubby face showed visibly disappointment. Third Sister, on the other hand, remembered the story Xiao Ran had told them the night before.

"Young man, I want to hear the story from yesterday again."

Last night, the little ones couldn't sleep, so Xiao Ran told them a story.

However, they fell asleep before they could finish listening, and now that they're sitting here, Third Sister has remembered it again.

The other children also looked intently at Xiao Ran, and upon seeing this, Xiao Ran smiled.

"Okay, I'll tell you the story, but we'll tell you a different one. Today, I'll tell you the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl."

The group of children forgot all about eating their pastries and all looked at Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran opened his mouth and said, "There are two stars in the sky, one is Altair and the other is Vega. They are separated by the Milky Way. And how did the Milky Way come about? It was made by the Queen Mother of the West."

The little princess cupped her face in her hands and asked, "Why, duck~"

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "That's what we're going to talk about today. The Weaver Girl was originally a fairy of clouds in the heavens, while the Cowherd was just an orphan who herded cattle on earth. But the Cowherd had a magical old ox that could talk."

A village child scratched his head and said, "So cows can talk? Why can't my cow talk?"

Xiao Ran explained, "Oxen don't usually talk, but the ox that the Cowherd has is special, which is why it can talk."

The children nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

Xiao Ran continued, "One day, the old ox suddenly spoke. It said, 'There are fairies bathing in the Jade Lotus Pond to the east. If you hide that pink robe, the owner of the robe will become your wife.'"

Princess Chengyang frowned. "How could he steal someone else's clothes!"

Xiao Ran said, "The Cowherd said the same thing. But the old ox shed tears. It turns out that it was the Golden Ox Star in the heavens, who was banished to the mortal world for violating heavenly rules."

The child understood, "No wonder it can talk, it's a deity too."

Xiao Ran nodded. "That's right, so ordinary cows can't talk."

If he didn't explain it clearly, Xiao Ran was really afraid that these kids would chase after his cow and force it to talk.

Although cows are generally docile, they can be deadly if they get really angry, so it's best not to provoke them.

Princess Gaoyang asked impatiently, "Did the Cowherd really steal the clothes as the old ox told him to?"

Xiao Ran nodded. "He went because the old ox said that the Weaver Girl had been forced to weave cloud brocade and hadn't rested for three hundred years. So the Cowherd went and hid in the reeds. Sure enough, he saw seven fairies riding on clouds. The shyest one was the last one. Her clothes were pink dyed by the morning glow and purple dyed by the evening glow. When the fairies went into the water to play, the Cowherd quietly took away the pink cloud dress."

Princess Chengyang, who was older, frowned upon hearing this.

"But that's not right! It shouldn't be like that! Besides, they're taking a bath."

Although she is young, Princess Chengyang already knows the difference between boys and girls.

Xiao Ran nodded. "Yes, that's wrong. So if someone does something to make you uncomfortable, you must speak up. And you boys too, you can play with girls, but you need to be careful about what you say, understand?"

The child who had been talking to Xiao Ran immediately said, "Don't worry, young master, we understand."

Xiao Ran was reassured about this, after all, he had lived here for so long and had interacted with the children in the village. In modern times, many little boys are very naughty and would lift up little girls' skirts, but they wouldn't do that here, no matter how naughty the boys were.

After all, the separation between men and women was very strict at that time, so they knew more and were more discerning.

Xiao Ran nodded and said, "I believe in you all; you are all good children."

The little princess was completely confused, so she urged Xiao Ran to continue.

Xiao Ran smiled and continued, "The Cowherd stole the Weaver Girl's clothes. When it was time to go back, the Weaver Girl couldn't find the clothes and had no way to return to heaven. The Weaver Girl was so anxious that she cried. At this moment, the Cowherd came out and said that the clothes were with him. Then the two of them got married."

Yan Yao said angrily, "That gigolo is too wicked!"

Third Sister nodded in agreement, "That's right, that's right. The Weaver Girl was originally a fairy, but he stole her clothes, and now she can't go back to heaven."

Princess Chengyang thought for a moment and said, "But the Weaver Girl is very unhappy in heaven. Now the Weaver Girl doesn't have to go back to work anymore."

Just as Xiao Ran was about to say something, Di Renjie suddenly spoke up: "But that's the Weaver Girl's job, just like the people who work in the glass workshop."

Princess Gaoyang disagreed, saying, "But the people in the glass workshop can stop working, but the Weaver Girl can't stop weaving brocade."

Seeing them arguing endlessly, Xiao Ran interrupted, "Listen to me first."

The little ones immediately turned their gazes toward them.

Xiao Ran said, "What you all say makes a lot of sense. However, every place has its own rules. The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd getting married violated the heavenly rules, just like someone in our country breaking the law. It is not allowed, so they could only get married secretly and even had two children."

As Xiao Ran continued, the little ones stopped arguing and listened attentively to the story.

"No one noticed that the Weaver Girl was missing at first, but at the Queen Mother's Peach Banquet, the Queen Mother discovered that the cloud brocade was missing. She ordered the Thousand-Mile Eyes and the Wind-Following Ears to investigate and found that the Weaver Girl was missing. In the end, they discovered what had happened."

"When the Heavenly Court sent people to capture the Weaver Girl, the old ox suddenly spoke. It told the Cowherd to skin it after it died, but before it could finish speaking, the old ox breathed its last."

A group of children listened intently, holding their breath, when suddenly the little princess's sweet voice rang out, accompanied by the sound of swallowing: "So, does that mean the cow is dry again?"

The tense atmosphere was instantly ended by the little princess's words.

Xiao Ran was both amused and exasperated.

"Is Sizi craving beef jerky?"

The little princess covered her face and giggled.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran had someone bring over a plate of beef jerky. The children knew that beef was precious, so they naturally wouldn't reach for it. It was only after Xiao Ran stuffed a few pieces into each of their hands that they accepted it, and then Xiao Ran continued talking.

"Later, the heavenly soldiers and generals took away the Weaver Girl. The Cowherd remembered what the old ox had said, so he put on the oxhide and unexpectedly flew up as well. Just as the Cowherd was about to catch up with the Weaver Girl, the Queen Mother pulled out her golden hairpin and drew it backward, and the Milky Way appeared. The Cowherd was separated on this side of the river and could only see the Weaver Girl crying on the other side."

Although Princess Chengyang was very dissatisfied with the Cowherd's previous actions, she was still somewhat saddened to hear that they were forced to separate.

"Does that mean they can't be together?"

Xiao Ran shook his head. "That's how it was originally, but the Queen Mother pitied their children for not having a mother, so she allowed them to meet on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month every year. Magpies would fly over in flocks to form a bridge so that they could meet."

The little princess clapped her hands happily and exclaimed, "So awesome!"

Seeing that the little princess clearly didn't understand anything, Xiao Ran pinched her cheek and then looked at the others.

Di Renjie's furrowed brows were quite noticeable, so Xiao Ran asked, "What are you thinking about?" (End of Chapter)