After Jun Ning crawled out from the dog hole, he patted the dust off his body and turned to look at the dog hole behind him.
"I don’t know how long they’ll be searching. I can’t just wait here forever."
"No, I need to find something to occupy myself. By the time I’m done, they’ll probably be finished with their search."
"But what should I do?"
Jun Ning tilted his head in thought for a moment, then dashed towards the Imperial Kitchen like a starving ghost.
There’s no guessing where and what he’s up to.
As a food lover, eating is his only pursuit.
Soon, Jun Ning effortlessly snuck out a freshly roasted chicken from the Imperial Kitchen.
Ever since he was caught stealing food in the Imperial Kitchen last time, he never stayed to eat there anymore. Google seaʀᴄh 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚫𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵
He’s gotten much smarter; once he snatches something, he quickly leaves to find a safe place to slowly savor and digest it.
At that moment, he ran with the roasted chicken to a relatively secluded corner of the nearby Imperial Garden, tore off a drumstick, and prepared to eat.
Suddenly, a very low, but hard-to-ignore sobbing sound reached his ears.
The sound was full of grievance, discomfort, and pain.
It seemed like the person crying was trying hard to suppress their emotions, not daring to make too loud of a sound.
Jun Ning put down the drumstick and cautiously looked towards the source of the sound.
In the distance, silhouetted against the light, there was a man-made cave, with a small figure crouched at the entrance, hugging their knees, their shoulders shaking as they visibly cried.
They looked quite pitiful.
Jun Ning stood up and walked towards the figure.
But as soon as the figure’s owner heard someone approaching, they quickly wiped their tears, stood up, and warily stepped back several times, saying to Jun Ning, who was walking towards them, "Who sent you? Stay away from me, don’t come any closer."
No sooner had they spoken, a rumbling noise echoed through the hollow cave, the sound of hunger rumbling like a long-drawn opera note.
Jun Ning was sure it wasn’t his stomach; it was the tummy of the little rascal not far away.
The little rascal looked about the same age as himself, but dressed impeccably, sporting a valuable jade pendant at the waist, signaling an unusual status, likely a Prince or a Princely Heir from a Prince Mansion.
Jun Ning couldn’t understand how someone like that ended up in such a plight.
"Sigh..." Jun Ning sighed deeply, returned to the place he had just been, and brought back the chicken he had snatched.
"Hey, call me boss once, and I’ll give you half of my chicken..."
The little rascal wiped their tears away, stubbornly looking at Jun Ning’s midsection, and asked in confusion, "Half of your chicken?"
Well... well, he didn’t have any weird collecting habits.
"I don’t want it, keep it for yourself!"
"..." Jun Ning hurriedly closed his legs, a black line across his face: "What are you thinking? I’m talking about the roasted chicken in my hand."
"Roasted chicken?" Where is it?
"Isn’t it right here!" Jun Ning waved the roasted chicken in front of the little rascal, "Look."
Having not seen it clearly before, the little rascal now clearly saw what Jun Ning was holding and could faintly smell the aroma it emitted.
"Grumble..." his stomach embarrassingly rumbled again, and he couldn’t help but swallow.
Jun Ning moved a little closer and offered the drumstick he’d just torn off to the little rascal’s mouth, asking, "Do you want to eat?"