OFTLHFRO C147

Chapter 147: Acting as if Overfed and Restless

Inside the room, Hua Niang was embroidering when she heard a knock on the door. Opening it, she looked at them puzzled.

It was mainly because she seldom saw Luo Mingchen and Huo Yan together at this hour, especially with the three children in tow.

Huo Xiang held the pigeon’s egg-sized diamond and asked, “Aunt Hua, is this yours?”

Upon seeing the diamond in Huo Xiang’s hand, Hua Niang paused, then shook her head. “No, it’s not mine. Mine is left at home, still set in a necklace.”

Afterwards, seeing their uneasy expressions, she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Luo Mingchen explained, “Xiao Bai brought it back from somewhere unknown.”

Hua Niang was uncertain, having not brought it herself. “Perhaps it was found in some corner?”

“Sorry to disturb you, sister-in-law.”

Luo Mingchen glanced at Hua Niang’s embroidery and smiled, “You can go out and take a walk sometime. Staying indoors all the time must be boring.”

Hua Niang smiled back, “I did go out. The city has changed a lot, but feeling unable to help, I returned.”

“No need to help.”

Speaking of which, Luo Mingchen suddenly remembered, “Sister-in-law, can you make clothes?”

Hua Niang was caught off guard by the question and paused before answering, “Yes. Who do you want me to make them for?”

“I want to gather a group responsible for weaving cloth and making clothes.”

In truth, Luo Mingchen wanted to raise silkworms but had no idea where to buy the larvae.

If he could make things himself, he preferred not to buy from outside.

There were so many people in Hancheng. Wearing old clothes year after year wasn’t feasible, but with military wages heavily deducted, their income was only slightly better than disaster relief funds.

Light garments were tolerable, but many cotton-padded jackets were shoddily made with uncertain amounts of material stolen.

“I can weave, but I lack a loom or spinning wheel.”

Luo Mingchen laughed, “No worries! Cotton is still growing in the fields. I just wanted to inform you now; once ready, we’ll ask for your help.”

Hua Niang nodded faintly.

After leaving Hua Niang’s place, Luo Mingchen looked at the pigeon’s egg diamond and sighed.

Huo Xiang imitated him.

Huo Xinyue blinked and sighed as well.

Huo Yan found it amusing and sighed along.

To avoid seeming too unusual, Huo Yuhui sighed too.

Luo Mingchen turned to look at them, utterly speechless.

Seeing Huo Yan still smiling, Luo Mingchen secretly pinched him—gently, of course.

“Should we keep it, since we can’t find the owner?”

Luo Mingchen said this to Huo Yan.

“Alright.”

With the decision made, Luo Mingchen no longer dwelled on it, packing the letter safely in the space, planning to store the boxes until night.

Though unsure whose diamond Xiao Bai had brought back, the item was now theirs.

That night, Luo Mingchen cooked a feast for Xiao Bai—duck meat, chicken leg, and fish—all from his space’s provisions, leftovers from the road.

Meanwhile, the chicks and ducklings brought from Yancheng by Huo Yan and Hu Zhongyi were still growing.

Perhaps encouraged by the reward, at dawn Luo Mingchen heard a cat calling outside the window and frowned, gently tapping Huo Yan’s shoulder, murmuring, “Go see what’s up.”

Huo Yan kissed Luo Mingchen’s forehead, moved his hand aside, and got up to open the window, letting in a gust of cold wind.

Luo Mingchen looked up, his gaze catching the glowing eyes of the cat.

Huo Yan, holding a sapphire, sat beside Luo Mingchen. “Why don’t we follow it and see?”

The sapphire before Luo Mingchen’s eyes shimmered, wiping away his sleepiness. “Where does it find these things?”

“Shall we ask?”

Hearing that Huo Yan was serious, Luo Mingchen thought for a moment. Dressed, they went to find Xiao Bai.

Finding Xiao Bai in its nest, Luo Mingchen placed a tomato before it. “Take us to where you found the diamonds, how about that?”

Xiao Bai stood and nibbled on the tomato.

They watched as it finished. Luo Mingchen repeated his request, but Xiao Bai just lay back in its nest licking its paws.

Luo Mingchen glanced at Huo Yan, finding their behavior rather foolish.

After a silence, Huo Yan said, “If it leads us, you can give it more fruit.”

Only then did Xiao Bai look over and meow softly.

Seeing Xiao Bai’s reaction, Luo Mingchen said, “No lead, no food.”

After a while, seeing Xiao Bai still unmoving, Luo Mingchen sighed helplessly, “Are we just overfed and restless?”

Talking to a cat was one thing; negotiating with one was another entirely…

Huo Yan waved the sapphire before Xiao Bai. “Take us to find him.”

Xiao Bai sniffed, rose, gracefully leapt through the window, and after running a distance, realizing they lagged, called back: “Meow!”

Luo Mingchen and Huo Yan exchanged a glance and followed.

Zhu Qing and Bai Xue, on night watch, were puzzled by their actions.

Since Zhu Qing spoke little, Bai Xue asked, “Masters, where are you heading?”

Luo Mingchen said, “Tell Hong Xing to prepare breakfast. We have business and aren’t sure when we’ll return.”

Bai Xue nodded reluctantly.

Xiao Bai’s path was peculiar but perceptible to Luo Mingchen. Though twisted, they could keep up.

Xiao Bai exited the city through tunnels.

To keep pace, Huo Yan pulled Luo Mingchen, using water spheres for leverage, and the two cooperated to leap over the city gates.

The city’s soldiers watching thought: “If not for recognizing them, we’d think we had to chase thieves.”

Once outside the gates, they ran toward the woods for about half an hour.

Luo Mingchen joked, “This cat must be a spirit, running so far.”

“Maybe it’s a spiritual cat,” Huo Yan said.

Luo Mingchen took it as a joke and let it drop.

Xiao Bai led them windingly to a valley filled with poisonous mist, stopping above a large cave, elegantly turning to look at them. “Meow.”

Although Luo Mingchen was unharmed, Huo Yan had fed him a pill to temporarily resist the poison.

How the cat avoided poisoning was a mystery.

The two stood before the bottomless cave.

The advantage of strong perception was not needing to descend physically to know what lay below.

After a while, Luo Mingchen asked in puzzlement, “Is it a human? A child?”

Water tendrils lifted the figure from below, and Huo Yan fed him another pill.

Ready to leave, Xiao Bai brushed Luo Mingchen’s calf with its fluffy long tail and meowed.

Recalling something, Luo Mingchen sensed below more gold and silver treasures.

So the diamonds and sapphires Xiao Bai brought must have come from there.

They likely belonged to the fainted young boy.

With a light sigh, Luo Mingchen retrieved all the treasures from below and began heading back.

Huo Yan glanced at the items Luo Mingchen had lifted, including a Wolf King’s Fort token. Yet he wondered how an eight or nine-year-old boy had wandered here and fallen into the deep cave.