Chapter 53: A Warning
Ye Lingyue opened her eyes in alert.
She sensed a few presence, someone’s steady breathing and light footsteps.
At first, she thought that they must have been the imperial guards, but... it didn’t seem to be the case.
These imperial guards wouldn’t act so discreetly. Moreover, with Yan Luo’s and his men recently receiving punishment, most of them didn’t dare to cause trouble.
Commander Leng had agreed to let their family keep what they found on the way, so it wasn’t them.
The answer was rather obvious.
She calculated the position of the thieves, not too far from their carriage, and judging from the increasingly louder noise in her senses, they were heading to their carriage.
Now, they were just outside, stopping, analyzing their carriage, making sure everyone was asleep.
The thieves slowly reached their hands inside, and pulled open the curtain slightly then slipped in.
Ye Lingyue let out a light chuckle.
The thief was startled. He turned around, meeting her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" She asked calmly.
On the other side, Ye Lanxi also slowly opened his eyes. Shen Jingyi did the same.
They didn’t expect that the thief would be someone so young, perhaps a child around ten or twelve years old.
The little thief could feel himself to be in danger at this moment. Without dawdling any longer, he jumped outside the carriage, running out.
Ye Lanxi’s hands gripped the empty air.
He turned his head awkwardly when he saw the look on Ye Lingyue’s face, letting out a soft huff.
The moment he was about to sit back down, someone slipped past again. This time, an even younger child, perhaps around eight years old.
They all glanced at the direction where the two little thieves had left.
"They are as slippery as an eel," Shen Jingyi commented, shaking her head. She didn’t seem bothered that the two thieves had visited their carriage.
Ye Lanxi frowned. "Yue’er, check your quails and eggs."
Upon hearing that, Ye Lingyue got up to check. A second later, a look of surprise crossed her eyes.
"There is one quail and four eggs missing," she commented, slightly bothered. But, as the little thin figures flashed by her eyes, the uncomfortable feeling in her chest faded.
These kids were severely malnourished. No wonder that they only steal supplies and not valuables.
Yan Luo was the son of a noble family in the Capital, and he still carried some valuable things on his person, like a jade ring or pendant.
The thieves never targeted him.
Soon, Ye Lingyue’s sleepiness faded. They had been so sleepy that they let little thieves snuck inside.
Now that they had woken up, they couldn’t sleep anymore.
"Let’s just roast the rest," Ye Lingyue muttered. Ye Lanxi nodded in agreement, and Shen Jingyi merely smiled.
They proceeded to get out of the carriage and started roasting the remaining quails and the eggs. The sleepy imperial guards’ eyelids twitched when they saw the second branch blatantly feasting in the middle of the night.
At some point, other people also woke up, including Ye Jincheng and Song Yulan whom Shen Jingyi and Ye Lingyue had invited to their place.
Ever since they knew about Song Yulan’s pregnancy, they would share some food with her, hoping that the roasted meat would help with her nutrition.
They didn’t want her to eat only coarse plain buns.
Of course, the married couple was also grateful. They had to hide their share too, for fear the other family members from the first branch would also harass the second branch for food.
They were guilty but they had no choice.
"Ah Yu, it’s best if we don’t tell Father and Mother about your pregnancy first." Ye Jincheng had told his wife.
Song Yulan didn’t quite understand his reasoning, but she nodded, showing her infinite trust toward him.
"Husband, I will listen to you."
Until now, only the second branch knew, and they had been really kind toward them.
Amidst the feast, Ye Lingyue sensed a few presence again. She pretended not to see the little thieves hiding behind the bushes and staring at their roasted food.
At this moment, she keenly realized something.
During the last few weeks of their journey, they might encounter more such thieves. After all, famine had ravaged this area.
Further ahead, the condition would be even more severe.
Ye Zhiqiu suddenly let out a startled exclamation. "Hey!"
A small thief had grabbed the scorching roasted quail he had just lifted from the fire. He hissed slightly from the heat on his skin, even dropping it to the ground.
Still, he didn’t give up and picked it up again, running.
"Second Brother," Ye Lingyue grabbed Ye Lanxi, stopping him from going after the little thieves.
The one who had stolen the roasted quail was the older one, bravely snatching it in front of so many people.
She was slightly annoyed, but she had to admire his bravery.
The little thief noticed her little action and suddenly yelled. "Be careful tomorrow, bandits on the road ahead!"
With that, they disappeared into the bushes and never returned again for the night.
Ye Lingyue glanced at the imperial guards in charge. They were Yan Luo’s men. Currently, they had a disdainful look painted on their faces.
"It’s just some bandits. We have weapons on us." One imperial guard sneered.
"These damn little thieves." They ran after the thieves, determined to catch them.
Just as she had expected, they returned empty-handed. Ye Lingyue guessed that there should be more than the little thieves around who had come to steal.
She hadn’t gone out to sneak much during the night lately, so she had never spotted them. Seeing Yan Luo’s lackeys’ condescending tone at the little thief’s warning, she frowned.
"Aren’t you going to report what he said to Commander Leng?" Ye Zhiqiu asked in disapproval.
The imperial guards snorted.
"It’s just some bandits, do you think we can’t deal with them?"
"What if that little devil lied? We will definitely become a joke in front of Commander Leng!"
Ye Jincheng had a look of disapproval on his face. "You can just tell your Captain or Commander what the little thief says and let them decide what to do next."
One imperial guard even pointed at Ye Zhiqiu and Ye Jincheng. They sneered. "Do you think we don’t know what your cunning Ye family is thinking? You want to set us up."
The next day, when they departed again, Ye Lingyue knew that the imperial guards really had disregarded her brother and cousin’s suggestion.