They, of course, referred to the group of little friends.
"Where is everyone?" Bai Junjun looked around; it was only Li Wenli here.
"They’ve wandered off around here," replied Li Wenli with ease.
At that moment, the elderly couple running the noodle stall also saw Bai Junjun and couldn’t help but greet her, "Young miss, you’re here, we were wondering why we hadn’t seen you with the big crowd."
"Would you like a bowl of wontons?"
"Uh, no need, I’m quite full," Bai Junjun said, a bit embarrassed.
"Ah, that’s all right, indeed one shouldn’t force themselves after eating a full meal; it can lead to indigestion."
The old lady was quite happy, instead, and after a few words of praise, she went on to serve other customers.
Bai Junjun sat quietly next to Li Wenli, watching him eat.
Li Wenli asked with a smile, "How’s the royal court food?"
"Bland and tasteless," critiqued Bai Junjun.
Li Wenli’s eyes curved with amusement, "The imperial chefs always aim for stability. You eat what’s good for health; after all, tasty foods are often unhealthy."
"Exactly, they even stuff meat into a bean sprout, and after stuffing they just blanch it, it’s incomprehensible," Bai Junjun complained about the dish that Wenren Pingting had praised to the skies.
Li Wenli just smiled without saying anything; he looked behind him seemingly inadvertently and noticed that there were still guards following at a distance, which caused his eyes to darken slightly.
"Didn’t you just finish the meeting? Why are they still here?"
"It looks like they’re going to the whole way."
"?" Li Wenli didn’t understand.
"Wenren Pingting thinks that Yuwen Jun set me up, and you, playing the hero, rescued me and brought me back to the Imperial Capital. In her eyes, the enemy of her enemy is a friend; so now the two of us, once enemies, have become temporary allies," explained Bai Junjun briefly about what had happened at the Hongmen Banquet and its outcome.
Li Wenli instantly understood their current situation.
The moment they were discovered by Wenren Pingting, it was certain that their journey to the Imperial Capital would no longer be free.
Rather than hiding here and there, it’s better to brazenly stay under her watch, at least they could benefit somewhat by association.
Li Wenli, who knew the young lady’s temperament well, glanced at her and smiled without a word.
Li Wenli was leisurely eating his wontons when suddenly Bai Junjun scooted next to him.
Li Wenli only felt a warmth on his elbow and glanced indifferently; it was the young lady who had leaned her whole body against him.
At this moment, their arms touched, and once again, the scent of grass and trees from the young lady’s body wafted over him, lingering at the tip of his nose.
Bai Junjun, unconcerned with propriety between men and women, continued, "Wenren Pingting also revealed some information, our ’cheap father’ died under unusual circumstances."
"?" Li Wenli looked puzzled.
"The original master’s father," Bai Junjun said, poking Li Wenli’s arm with her finger.
It then finally dawned on Li Wenli that she was talking about the father of the body he occupied.
He pondered for a moment and said, "Now that you mention it, the Bai Yang Clan’s departure was too hasty back then; it wasn’t like evading war, more like escaping from disaster. What could have happened for such a noble family to flee entirely?"
"It must have been something that threatened their entire clan; otherwise, why would the Shi clans flee?" Bai Junjun replied, her eyes twirling.
Although the war did eventually reach the Old Imperial Capital and many noble families fled,
it was after Prince Heqing’s troops had broken in.
Before that, the Bai Yang Clan had already caught wind of danger and fled.
It was precisely because the Bai Yang Clan fled that many other noble families panicked and all escaped as well.
At the time, what happened seemed too coincidental; everyone thought the Bai Yang Clan was fleeing the war.
But thinking back now, the Bai Yang Clan’s departure indeed appears both unusual and hurried.