readytorunbook Chapter 336
Chapter 336
By the time Xu Heming arrived, Li Tianyou and Xu Qingshi had already left.After all, Li Tianyou had never taken that flare seriously.
He just thought it was a toy. To avoid spending another night in the wilderness after dark, Li Tianyou felt they should hurry on their way.
Even though he had no idea where they should be heading now.
However, he just felt they shouldn't stay where they were.
What if the people trying to catch them caught up?
At this moment, the old man and the little boy were walking into the mountains.
"Grandfather, why didn't we wait there for Father to come pick us up?" Xu Qingshi asked in confusion as he climbed the slope.
"How can you be so sure your father will definitely come? If he doesn't, are we supposed to sleep by the river again tonight? Or by the road? We need to find a place to rest," Li Tianyou said between pants.
"But we're walking on a mountain path. Are you sure we can find a place to stay up there?" Xu Qingshi's little brows furrowed tightly. If he weren't so familiar with Li Tianyou, he would have suspected the old man was taking him into the mountains to feed the big tigers.
Hearing this, Li Tianyou looked at the increasingly dense forest.
He was starting to feel a bit unsure himself.
There should be some households in these mountains, right?
"Grandfather, this doesn't look like a place where people live, does it?" Xu Qingshi gulped, sounding a bit scared.
Li Tianyou looked around. To be honest, he didn't really think anyone lived in here either.
Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from not far away.
Li Tianyou and Xu Qingshi's hearts skipped a beat, and they both looked in that direction.
"Grand... Grandfather, could there really be tigers?" Xu Qingshi was terrified.
"It couldn't be that coincidental, right?" Li Tianyou also braced himself to run at any moment.
He thought to himself, they couldn't be that unlucky, right?
Just as he was thinking this, a goat suddenly darted out from the nearby bushes. The two of them didn't even see clearly what it was before they started running for their lives.
Xu Heming led his men on a search around the area and eventually arrived at the small campfire where Li Tianyou and Xu Qingshi had just been.
"Your Highness, they shouldn't have gone far. Look, the fire hasn't even gone out yet," Qingsong said, looking at the campfire.
Just as Xu Heming was about to leave, he noticed a pouch caught on the bushes nearby. The pouch looked somewhat familiar.
"Your Highness, isn't this the pouch Lord Li always carries?" Qingsong recognized it immediately; it was indeed Li Tianyou's pouch.
"Go find them. They must be nearby," Xu Heming ordered upon hearing this.
Xu Heming waited on the spot, looking at the pouch in his hand, praying inwardly that they would find the two soon. Otherwise, he really wouldn't know how to explain this to Li Zhiwei.
Right now, the capital was buzzing with rumors that he couldn't tolerate Xu Qingshi and had caused the boy's disappearance.
Moreover, Li Tianyou was missing along with him. If these two couldn't be found and brought back, he and Li Zhiwei might never be able to get married in this lifetime.
The rest of the men went to search, leaving only Qingsong by his side.
"Let's go. We'll take a look over there," Xu Heming said, looking at the adjacent mountain range.
"Your Highness, Master Li wouldn't take the heir up the mountain, would he?" Qingsong thought to himself, why would Li Tianyou and Xu Qingshi run up the mountain for no reason?
If they were leaving, they should have taken the official road to seek help.
Meanwhile, Li Tianyou and Xu Qingshi were currently stuck in a cave pit, unable to get up.
"Baa!" At the mouth of the pit, a goat was peering down at them, seemingly asking what they were doing down there.
"Grandfather, what do we do now? We can't get up," Xu Qingshi was on the verge of tears.
He hadn't expected to be this miserable this time.
Not to mention nearly burning to death, running away from home, and getting kidnapped, now, to top it all off, he had fallen into some unknown pit. Thinking about the desolate surroundings, were he and Li Tianyou just going to wait here to die?
"How about I lift you up, and then you figure out a way to find someone to save me?" Li Tianyou looked at the height of the opening and asked tentatively.
"Grandfather, are you sure I can find anyone outside if I get out?" Thinking back to the scenery they had seen on their way here, Xu Qingshi didn't think he could find anyone.
"The problem is, even with you here, I still can't get up," Li Tianyou said in a predicament. After all, Xu Qingshi was so small that he couldn't provide any leverage for him to climb out.
"Do you think we're going to starve to death in here?" At this thought, Xu Qingshi was ready to cry.
He hadn't lived enough of his good days yet.
Just as he said this, Xu Qingshi felt something hit him.
"Ouch!"
After crying out in pain, Xu Qingshi looked up at the pit opening. There was a monkey grinning down at them.
What had just been thrown down was a wild fruit.
"Grandfather, there's a monkey!" Xu Qingshi was a child after all, and he became very excited upon seeing the little monkey.
"A monkey can't pull us up," Li Tianyou glanced at the little monkey and finally shook his head in disappointment.
"Oh, Grandfather, maybe the little monkey can pull us up. At the very least, it can feed us," Xu Qingshi said, then picked up the wild fruit and took a bite.
Instantly, Xu Qingshi's brows scrunched up tightly.
"What's wrong?" Seeing this, Li Tianyou was startled, thinking to himself, could it be poisonous?
"It's... it's so sour!" Xu Qingshi was about to cry. He had never eaten anything so sour before.
"Haha, the mountains are full of wild fruits, so it's normal for them to be sour. Besides, this is what the little monkey shared with you," Li Tianyou laughed upon hearing this.
"Grandfather, you'd better hurry and think of a way for us to get up," Xu Qingshi's mood couldn't improve, having eaten a bad fruit and being trapped in this pit.
"Let me think." Li Tianyou sat down and started picking at the dirt wall of the pit with his hands.
Unfortunately, he had no tools and could only dig with his bare hands.
When he first started digging, he only felt that the soil was a bit hard.
He dug for a long time but only managed to dislodge a few stones.
"Grandfather, this stone actually glows." Xu Qingshi picked up a stone nearby, finding it quite novel.
Holding the stone, Xu Qingshi thought it looked pretty nice.
Li Tianyou, who had originally been wondering if he could dig a path out, quickly picked up a stone to take a look upon hearing this.
This stone seemed somewhat different.
"Grandfather, this is my first time seeing a stone like this," Xu Qingshi quickly leaned close to Li Tianyou and said excitedly.
"I have to say, this stone is indeed different," Li Tianyou said with a smile, looking at Xu Qingshi's expectant face.
"Grandfather, do you think this could be some kind of gemstone?" Xu Qingshi suddenly recalled the stories he had heard in the teahouse about people digging up precious stones.
He wondered to himself, could he be so lucky to have dug up a gemstone too?
"That's possible!" Li Tianyou didn't take it to heart. At the moment, he was only thinking about how they were going to get out.
However, Li Tianyou was no longer digging the dirt with his bare hands; he was now using the stone to dig.