Chapter 222 – The Foolish Prince Consort’s Farming Struggles – The Fool Who Cries in the Middle of the Night (05)
Bai Tang waited until Gao Luo’s breathing became steady. He stayed curled up in Gao Luo’s arms for a while longer, making sure he had fallen into a deep sleep before quietly getting up.
He gently slipped out of Gao Luo’s embrace and tucked the blanket around him.
If he opened the door to leave, the noise might wake Gao Luo. After thinking it over, Bai Tang transformed back into a little squirrel and slipped out through the slightly ajar window.
Under the bright moonlight, the little squirrel followed the map given by Xiao A and Qiu’er, carefully avoiding the traps set up by the villagers as he made his way toward the back mountain.
In the dark of night, a small figure darted through the forest. The squirrel moved swiftly, leaping and gliding between the trees.
After swinging through an unknown number of branches, Bai Tang finally reached the herb site marked on the map.
The herbs grew in narrow crevices in the mountain, making them very difficult for ordinary people to harvest. That was why these types of herbs were so rare in the marketplace.
But for Bai Tang, this wasn’t a problem.
His small squirrel body allowed him to easily slip into the cracks. The herbs grew in a slightly more spacious area within the crevice.
These plants had deep roots. After confirming the identity of the herbs, Bai Tang used both paws to carefully dig them out without damaging the roots.
If the roots were damaged, the medicinal properties of the herbs would be greatly diminished. Bai Tang had to dig very gently, trying to preserve the plants as intact as possible.
Qiu’er and Xiao A had even thoughtfully given him a flashlight to help illuminate his work and make it easier for him to move around.
Uncle Gao had previously bought these herbs for Gao Luo, but they had become too difficult to find, so he eventually gave up.
Since these herbs naturally existed in this world, Bai Tang digging them up for Gao Luo didn’t really count as seriously disrupting the plot. After all, Uncle Gao had already tried to acquire such herbs for Gao Luo before. Now, Gao Luo was simply obtaining them again through a stroke of luck. Even the heavens couldn’t call this an intentional disruption of the story.
The little squirrel dug very slowly, carefully loosening the soil bit by bit. He didn’t want to damage even a single root.
…
Back at the Gao residence, Gao Luo was in a state of panic when he turned over and didn’t feel the boy beside him.
At first, Gao Luo thought the boy had just gone to the bathroom. He got up and checked behind the folding screen—but there was no sign of him.
He returned to the bed and saw the boy’s outer garments neatly folded on the table, and his underclothes lying on the floor.
Only two words echoed in Gao Luo’s mind: Oh no!
His wife had run off without even putting on clothes.
As soon as Gao Luo realized that everyone outside could see his Tang Tang completely naked—except for him—he completely panicked.
He thought and thought. Maybe it was because he hadn’t properly apologized to Uncle Gao that afternoon, and his wife got upset and left because of that.
Wuwuwu~~~ his wife left!
This realization made Gao Luo burst into tears on the spot.
He didn’t even bother putting on outer clothes. Dressed only in his undergarments and barefoot, he ran to Uncle Gao’s room and started pounding on the door.
Bang bang bang!
“Uncle Gao, Uncle Gao, I’m sorry…”
“I’m so sorry, Uncle Gao…”
“Wuwuwu, I’m sorry…”
Uncle Gao, draped in a coat, lit a candle and opened the door—only to be greeted by Gao Luo, crying with snot and tears all over his face.
“I’m sorry, Uncle Gao, I’m so sorry…” Gao Luo repeated over and over.
Uncle Gao was completely baffled. Everything had been fine—why was the Seventh Prince crying at his door in the middle of the night, apologizing?
“Wuwuwu… I’m sorry.”
Gao Luo kept apologizing, glancing around frantically—but he couldn’t find any sign of the boy.
Wuwuwu, he’d already apologized to Uncle Gao, he admitted he was wrong, he swore he’d never pick flowers again—why hadn’t his wife come back yet…
“Don’t cry, young master, come, come inside!”
The autumn night wind was strong. Uncle Gao pulled Gao Luo into the room, tried to calm him down, and asked him why he was standing outside his door crying in the middle of the night.
Aside from Bai Tang, Uncle Gao was the person Gao Luo trusted the most. Sniffling and stammering, Gao Luo finally managed to explain what had happened.
From the scattered bits and pieces, Uncle Gao pieced together the main idea: the boy had run away from home in the middle of the night because he was angry at the Seventh Prince.
“He—he left without wearing clothes… He… he’ll be cold…”
Even at a time like this, Gao Luo was still worried that Bai Tang would be cold. Uncle Gao was speechless. Shouldn’t the main issue be that he ran away?
At that moment, Bai Tang—who had just finished digging up the herbs—received a message from Xiao A:
“Gao Luo woke up in the middle of the night, couldn’t find you, and started crying.”
Bai Tang: “Oh no, I have to hurry back.”
He stuffed the herbs into his little pouch-space and scrambled out from between the rocks, using all four paws to dash home as quickly as possible.
Author’s Note:
I’ve completely ruined the image of the ever-wise and composed male lead… looks up at the sky~