Watching the young man ride away, Xiao Ran found the little princess's adorably dazed appearance surfacing in his mind.
Thinking of the little girl, the corners of Xiao Ran's lips lifted slightly. He truly had never seen such an adorable child before.
Returning to the folding chair and sitting down, Xiao Ran continued fishing.
He did not feel like preparing lunch inside the motorhome either. It was somewhat cramped on the motorhome, and he preferred cooking by the shore.
He would make braised carp with plenty of chopped chili peppers to go with the rice!
Lizheng Palace
The two little princesses chased each other around, filling the hall with laughter.
Empress Zhangsun and Li Lizhi sat before the medical table with books in their hands, occasionally looking up at the two little princesses.
Yushu stood outside the hall and glanced at Li Lizhi.
Li Lizhi set down her book, slowly rose, and walked out of the front hall.
“Your Highness!”
“What is it?”
“The person who delivered the letter has returned!”
Li Lizhi brightened and hurriedly asked, “Did they bring a reply letter?”
“No reply letter. He said he appreciated your kindness, but there was no need for it for the time being.”
Li Lizhi nodded. “Understood!”
“Your Highness, he also brought back some things.” With that, Yushu held up a transparent plastic bag.
Li Lizhi had never seen a plastic bag before, but she was familiar with the calcium milk biscuits inside.
There was no mistake—such rare items could only have been given by Xiao Ran.
Li Lizhi accepted the bag and smiled.
She had originally wanted to keep it a secret, but it seemed that would not be possible.
Li Lizhi carried the bag into the front hall and sat down beside Empress Zhangsun.
Only then did Empress Zhangsun notice the items. “Girl, where did these come from?”
As she spoke, Empress Zhangsun reached out and touched the plastic bag. She had never encountered this sort of texture either.
“I previously had someone send a letter to the young master as a token of thanks. I did not expect the young master to send something in return,” Li Lizhi explained.
“There are quite a lot of these calcium milk biscuits, just like last time.”
Li Lizhi nodded with a smile. “Second Lady Sizi has been talking about them constantly these past two days. She should be delighted to see them.”
Empress Zhangsun smiled and nodded. “Second Lady Sizi, come here quickly!”
Hearing the old mother's call, the two little princesses ran back.
“Mother~ What are you doing~”
Li Lizhi picked up a Calcium Milk Biscuit. “Would you like one?”
The little princess's eyes lit up. “Wow~ I want to eat~”
The little princess took the biscuit and bit into it, looking completely satisfied. It still tasted the same—crispy and fragrant.
“Elder sister~ Is the Little Gentleman here~” the little princess asked indistinctly.
After eating the Calcium Milk Biscuit, the little princess thought of Xiao Ran and Xiao Hei.
“Not this time!”
“When will father take me out to play~”
“Only when father has some free time.”
The little princess continued asking, “Then when will father have free time~”
“Father will have free time once he finishes his work!”
The little princess froze for a moment. “Elder sister is so annoying~”
Li Lizhi smiled and gently rubbed the little princess's head.
Li Lizhi found a clean box and put away the remaining calcium milk biscuits. She treasured the plastic bag.
She had never seen anything like it before and felt that it was extraordinary.
“As we said before, we owe him a favor. Now that he has sent us biscuits as well, we should return a gift.” Empress Zhangsun took the plastic bag from Li Lizhi's hands.
“Mother, what would be appropriate? The young master does not seem to lack money. Everything he has is worth a fortune—even father wants some of it.”
This stumped Empress Zhangsun. Giving money would be vulgar, and the impression Xiao Ran gave Li Shimin, Li Lizhi, and the others was that he was not short of money.
Zhang Erya put down the broom and, seeing that the weather was fine, said, “Third Lady, let us go wash clothes.”
“Elder sister is here!” Third Lady, who had been turning over millet ears to dry on the other side of the courtyard, came running over.
Zhang Erya fetched a wooden tub and a laundry club, then brought out all the clothes that the three siblings needed to wash.
Third Lady also brought the kaolao so that they could pick up some millet ears from the fields along the way.
There was not enough grain at home, and Third Lady was too young to do anything else.
It seemed that all she could do was pick up millet ears from other people's fields.
Normally, people were not allowed to pick them up, since the other families were not well-off either.
However, everyone in Kaolao Village belonged to the same clan. Knowing that the three siblings had a difficult life, they said nothing when they saw them, tacitly allowing it.
Zhang Erya carried the basin and led Third Lady out of the courtyard.
As they passed the fields, they did indeed manage to find millet ears, though there were fewer and fewer of them.
The two sisters chatted and laughed, soon reaching the water pool east of the village.
There, they saw Xiao Ran fishing.
He looked somewhat familiar from a distance. When they drew closer, Third Lady said excitedly, “elder sister, it is that young master.”
Zhang Erya had not expected to encounter Xiao Ran here either.
They still did not know Xiao Ran's name, but they had received his things before and had a very good impression of him.
“Mm, yes, it is the young master.”
The two sisters quickened their pace.
Xiao Ran, who was fishing, also saw the two sisters and smiled. “What a coincidence!”
Zhang Erya felt too embarrassed to go over, so she found a place with stone slabs and prepared to wash the clothes.
Third Lady hugged her kaolao and stood obediently beside her elder sister.
Although she had a favorable impression of Xiao Ran, she was shy and introverted, and felt too embarrassed to approach him.
Xiao Ran waved at the two sisters.
The two sisters looked toward Xiao Ran as well and smiled in response.
They were very restrained and bashful.
If it had been the little princess, she would certainly have run over to Xiao Ran's side, but Third Lady did not.
It happened that he could give the two sisters some fish to take home later.
Xiao Ran could not eat very much by himself, and most of the fish would have to be released.
Before long, Xiao Ran saw Zhang Erya say something to Third Lady. Third Lady glanced at Xiao Ran, then walked toward him.
She was barefoot, with no shoes on. It looked painful, though perhaps she was used to it.
“Young master!” Third Lady called while hugging the kaolao, a little embarrassed.
“Third Lady, did you come wash clothes with your elder sister?”
“Mm-hmm. Young master, do you have any clothes that need washing? Elder sister can wash them.”
Zhang Erya wanted to do something for Xiao Ran, after all, she had previously accepted his kindness.
Xiao Ran's clothes were not dirty, and there was also a washing machine on the motorhome, so he did not actually need her help.
Still, Xiao Ran picked up the tracksuit jacket beside him. This might make Zhang Erya feel a little better.
“As it happens, I do. Help me wash this.” Xiao Ran picked up the clothes and handed them to Third Lady.
“Mm, all right!” The little girl happily accepted the clothes.
She turned around and left, hopping along cheerfully.
Xiao Ran had no original place of household registration, and if he were repatriated, he would have nowhere to go.
There was one shortcut to obtaining household registration: gaining military merit through war.
That option could be ruled out immediately!
The other option was to find a local person, build a good relationship, and become dependent on them, thereby obtaining household registration affiliation.
A person with household registration affiliation was inferior to others in status. Lack of independence was one issue, while their social position was also lower.
They depended on the principal household, taking on part of its labor service or land rent.
The other party could unilaterally terminate this relationship.
The advantage was that their status became legitimate.
This was only an expedient measure. Once he had household registration affiliation, he could apply for household registration if he managed to reclaim some ownerless wasteland.
He could report the reclamation of ownerless Land through the village head and exchange the right to cultivate it for household registration.
Whether he could obtain household registration would still be decided by the county, but he needed the village head to help submit the application, as well as a dependent principal household to act as his guarantor.
The principal household would issue a guarantee letter to the county office, proving that Xiao Ran had “committed no offense” and was “fit for service.” After review, he could be entered into the household registration.
Xiao Ran had to win over not only the zhang sisters, but also the village head.
Regardless of which path he chose, the village head had to fulfill the duty of reporting upward, but the village head had no authority to grant household registration directly.
If Xiao Ran could not obtain household registration and remained an unregistered person for a long time, he risked being pursued by the government office or repatriated.