He drew close, the foul odor from his breath spraying into Gu Qingcheng's face, making her feel sick.
At this moment, the burly slave gestured for Gu Qingcheng to turn around and reached out to untie her ropes.
Mi Guo watched Gu Qingcheng nervously, knowing the ropes had already been cut with scissors. What would happen if the slave discovered it?
Fortunately, the slave didn't look down closely. With a strong tug, Gu Qingcheng loosened her grip, and the rope in her hand fell away.
"Tsk, who tied this? These ropes aren't very strong," the slave grumbled. He was glad it was easy.
Perhaps he thought they were just children, not a threat, and from a farming family, so they wouldn't be cunning.
He put away the lantern and walked out, cursing as he went, telling them to eat quickly and he'd collect the bowls later.
Seeing him leave without further harassment, Gu Qingcheng breathed a sigh of relief. When he had tried to untie her ropes earlier, she had loosely tied them around her hand. She hadn't expected him to be so clumsy and not inspect them carefully.
Gu Qingcheng remained vigilant, ready to strike if he escalated his harassment.
They had narrowly escaped.
"Fairy sister, you're so amazing! You can make the ropes reappear on your hands?"
Mi Guo was completely in awe of Gu Qingcheng, not questioning anything.
Gu Qingcheng didn't bother to explain. If he thought she was a fairy, so be it. Her secrets were already somewhat revealed to him, and the title of "fairy" might help keep him in line.
At this point, Gu Qingcheng and Mi Guo hadn't fully established trust. She had given him food and drink out of pity, and planned to insist she had hidden them on her person.
She had also torn off all the food packaging to remove modern traces, believing Mi Guo's limited knowledge wouldn't detect anything.
Given his experience, he would never have guessed the items were from the Lynx Supermarket.
Gu Qingcheng picked up the bowl from the ground. The black steamed bun smelled sour and foul. Disgusted, she put the bowl back down and said,
"It's too disgusting, I'm not eating it."
Mi Guo had just eaten his fill and wasn't hungry.
The black steamed bun, one per meal, had been his motivation for a little sweetness in life. Now, after eating the good food Gu Qingcheng gave him, this black bun suddenly didn't seem appealing.
But he still cherished it, tucking it into his embrace. "I'll save it for later. I'm too full to eat now. Even if it doesn't taste great, many people outside don't even have these black buns."
Gu Qingcheng acknowledged this was true and asked,
"What is this black bun made of?"
"Acorn flour. There's an oak tree on the mountain with fruit like chestnuts. We pick them, grind them into a white paste, filter it with cloth, dry the filtered liquid, and then mix in a little coarse flour to make these black buns. They're very filling, but..."
Mi Guo seemed embarrassed to continue.
"But what? Hurry up and tell me," Gu Qingcheng urged him.
Mi Guo felt that saying the rest would be blasphemous to his fairy sister and hesitated.
"What is it? Just tell me."
Gu Qingcheng found the child quite amusing and deliberately pressed him, enjoying his blushing.
"Uh, you can't... poop."
Reluctantly, Mi Guo confessed, his face turning completely red.
"Oh, I see."
No wonder it smelled so bad; it wasn't made from proper flour.
She analyzed, "Acorn flour absorbs water and expands, blocking the intestines. It's no wonder it causes constipation."
Gu Qingcheng explained it smoothly, but Mi Guo listened with disbelief. He had never heard such knowledge before.
He had always assumed it was because the dough was too hard that he couldn't pass it.
A moment later, the rhythmic footsteps returned. It was the same burly slave, this time to collect the bowls.
Seeing that both buns were gone from the bowls, he chuckled, "Not bad, you ate well, didn't you? When you ascend to heaven, remember to bless us. See how good Old Master Gu is to you, letting you eat your fill every day? You could never eat this much at home."
After spouting these unbelievable words, he chuckled again before collecting the bowls and leaving, closing the door behind him.
After he was gone, Gu Qingcheng spat and said,
"This black-hearted master is inhuman. He's sacrificing living people. I hope he dies a horrible death. And he wants our blessings? And expects us to be grateful for his rotten buns?"
Mi Guo's eyes widened in fear. "Fairy sister, we can't gossip about Old Master Gu behind his back and speak ill of him. It's truly rebellious!"
"Huh? Why?" Gu Qingcheng was incredulous.
"Old Master Gu is rich and powerful. He's the most important figure in Pukou Village!" Mi Guo said with a look of dread.
"What? What does that have to do with us cursing him? He did bad things and wants our lives, so we should curse him as much as we want! I even want to beat him!" Gu Qingcheng felt Mi Guo had been brainwashed.
To prevent Mi Guo from being intimidated by feudal power, her counter-brainwashing began...
From birth, everyone is equal, with no high or low status. Landlords are merely parasites who exploit the common people by monopolizing social resources. She explained it all.
Hu Lanfang, who had nearly fainted several times, would have likely been amused and tearful if she had seen Gu Qingcheng's passionate, saliva-flying, brainwashing of Mi Guo at this moment.
Was she worrying unnecessarily?
She didn't know whether to praise Gu Qingcheng's carefree spirit or her indomitable will!
Regardless, the advantage of someone from the information age was evident here. Gu Qingcheng almost lectured Mi Guo on how to revolt and overthrow feudal society!
"Sister, you said we're going to the farther south later. Are there no bad people like Old Master Gu there?"
After speaking for over an hour, just as Gu Qingcheng's throat was dry, Mi Guo suddenly asked this.
Gu Qingcheng was overjoyed.
Wow, the seeds of revolution had been sown. This boy finally realized that Old Master Gu, who wanted to take his life, was not someone he had to be respectful and worshipful towards.
They were not pitiful wretches that Old Master Gu could kill as he pleased.
In fact, it was they, the common folk, who supported these parasites!
They should be the true masters, not these landlords who bullied the weak and held themselves high!
Gu Qingcheng's counter-brainwashing was a success!
With the expression of someone cherishing a young sprout, she mused,
"When we go south in the future, we'll acquire a large tract of land, grow lots of crops, and raise many chickens, ducks, and fish. The landlords will all be dead, and we won't be exploited by them anymore!"
The more she thought about it, the more beautiful the vision became. Gu Qingcheng almost forgot she was locked in Old Master Gu's dark woodshed.
However, Gu Qingcheng's words gave the少年 Mi Guo, who faced the threat of death, infinite longing and left an indelible impression.