The young girl looked at Zhongli Ting with a sense of trepidation, clearly at a loss.
Zhongli Ting tilted his chin upward and tossed a piece of candy into his mouth. As a grin tugged at the corners of his lips, a sharp canine tooth peeked through. "Eat up. It’s fine."
Only then did the girl lower her head. She gave the pine-nut candy a tentative lick, and her clear, deer-like eyes squinted in satisfaction. Then, she hesitated. "...I don't know where my home is. I can't remember. My head hurts so much..."
"Hmm." Zhongli Ting nodded. "Then let's try another question: What is your name?"
The girl nervously twisted her fingers. She hesitated. "I... what is my name?"
Zhongli Ting: "..."
Wei Ling: "..."
Zhongli Ting really felt a headache coming on.
Not knowing where she lived was one thing—he could at least assume she was some sheltered young lady who never stepped beyond her own doorstep—but not even knowing her own name? Was that even remotely reasonable?
In the military camp, orders were absolute, and discipline was strict. He had never encountered anyone so indecisive and dawdling. After questioning her for ages and getting absolutely nowhere, Zhongli Ting couldn't help but frown. "Report this to the authorities."
It was rare to see Zhongli Ting lose his patience. Wei Ling stepped forward, teasing, "Oh, come on. Why report it? You're not training soldiers right now. Have a little patience with the girl... Someone must be missing her, and they’ll definitely be looking for her. How about this: later, I'll send a few men to the nearby villages and towns to ask around and see who lost her."
The girl pressed her lips together. Even if she were slow on the uptake, she could tell that the older brother who smiled so handsomely and gave her candy was angry. She swallowed hard, looked up, and said cautiously, "Giving Brother candy... Brother, don’t be angry."
She extended her hand. In her soft, pale palm lay the two pine-nut candies he had just given her, one of them still glistening with a trace of her saliva.
"Huh?" Zhongli Ting’s surprised gaze shifted from the candies to her face.
Taking his own things to curry favor with him?
How could this little girl manage to do something like that with a straight face?
The girl truly thought she had done something wrong, and her head slowly drooped.
Watching her lowered head, Zhongli Ting found it somewhat amusing. He reached out, took one of the candies from her palm, and tossed it into his mouth. "Knowing how to return a favor—I suppose you have a good heart."
He didn't really like sweets. Added to the one he’d popped in earlier, the two candies colliding in his mouth left his throat feeling cloying and sugary. He reached out, grabbed a military water skin from the side, flipped open the stopper with one hand, tilted his head back, and took a large gulp to wash the candy down. "Forget it. No rush. You can remember at your own pace."
The girl stared at his bobbing Adam's apple and swallowed silently.
She was so thirsty...
"Want a drink?" Zhongli Ting, observant as ever, saw this and slightly raised the water skin, arching an eyebrow. "Call me 'Brother'."
The girl obeyed honestly: "Brother."
Zhongli Ting: "..."
She was too damn obedient. There was no sense of achievement in it at all.
Zhongli Ting shook his head, rummaged through a corner, and found a small teapot that hadn't been used in a long time. He went to the earthen stove and poured out some hot water that had been kept warm. He dropped a few pine-nut candies into a teacup, poured in the hot water, and pressed it into the girl's hands. "It's hot. Drink slowly."
"Good person."
The girl sat on the edge of the bed, holding the steaming teacup in her palms. She looked at Zhongli Ting, and these two words suddenly popped out of her mouth—words that seemed completely unrelated to anything.
"Huh?"
The girl opened her clear eyes and said, word by word, with absolute sincerity, "Brother is a good person."
Zhongli Ting? A good person?
"Pfft—" Wei Ling tried to hold it back, but the harder he tried, the funnier it became. "A good person, hahahahahaha..."
Zhongli Ting’s eyelids twitched. He lifted his gaze calmly and cast a glance at Wei Ling.
"...Haha—cough." Wei Ling felt a chill run down his spine and used every ounce of his energy to choke back the laughter.
Zhongli Ting wrapped a long arm around him. "Let's go. Let’s step outside and talk."
Wei Ling’s whole body tensed up. He quickly tried to beg off. "No, no need, Brother, really no need... Ah!"
To be honest, he wasn't just being polite; he couldn't beat him. He really couldn't beat him.
Wei Ling struggled, but he ultimately could not escape the fate of being dragged out of the tent by his shoulder in a "friendly" manner by Zhongli Ting.
As the felt flap fell, miserable cries of pain immediately echoed from outside.
***
The girl finished the sweet candy water in the small teapot and stepped off the bed. She had been so hungry she felt faint, and while the sugar water slightly soothed her rebelling stomach, it only piqued her taste buds and made her feel even hungrier.
Just as she was about to head outside, the tent curtain was lifted again. Zhongli Ting walked in and tossed her a piece of dry ration. "Hungry? It’s not mealtime yet, and the food in the galley isn't ready. Just eat this to hold you over."
The ration was hard as a rock and looked extremely difficult to swallow.
The girl held it, looked at it, and took a hesitant bite. It was tough; she had to use quite a bit of effort just to tear off a piece. She held it in her mouth, seemingly unable to swallow, and looked like she wanted to spit it out.
Zhongli Ting sat on the desk with a bold, masculine posture. "Swallow it. Wasting food is shameful. Every grain is the blood and sweat of the common people."
The girl looked up at him while holding the ration, speaking indistinctly. "But this tastes terrible."
"Kid, here's a piece of life advice: don't let your brother's words go in one ear and out the other." The boy hadn't fully grown into his frame, but his build was well-proportioned, his physique undisguised beneath his close-fitting training uniform. One of his long legs was planted on the chair, the other resting casually on the ground. His attitude was clearly relaxed, yet he radiated an undeniable pressure that left the girl feeling she could not refuse.
So, she struggled to swallow the ration, tearing up as she choked it down.
Zhongli Ting wasn't really trying to give her a hard time. He understood that for a girl this small, it was normal to not be used to hard rations; he himself hadn't been used to them when he first arrived at the camp. However, wasting food was a major taboo in the military.
Sighing, he reached out his hand. "Give it here."
His intention was to stop her from forcing herself, but the girl misunderstood and thought he was hungry too. She thought for a moment, then lowered her head and "snap"—she broke the ration in her hand in two. She examined them, and without hesitation, handed the half without any bite marks to Zhongli Ting. "Brother, eat."
She had nothing else, only this piece of ration.
Zhongli Ting paused, his heart softening. He didn't refuse, took the half, and finished it in a few bites.
The girl didn't eat as quickly as Zhongli Ting. The ration was very hard, and she could only gnaw on it in tiny bites. It took her ages to finish that half, and after she drank some of the hot water Zhongli Ting handed her, she realized her stomach discomfort had improved significantly. She said earnestly, "Thank you, Brother!"
She was a bit silly, but she certainly had a sweet mouth.
Zhongli Ting didn't speak. Wei Ling, having been dispatched by him, returned with the military physician.
After a thorough examination, the physician said, "She has some frostbite on her hands and a bump on the back of her head. There's no external bleeding, so there shouldn't be any major issues."
An incredulous expression appeared on Zhongli Ting's face. "If you bump your head, can it make someone stupid?"
If that were the case, her knowing nothing at all would be understandable.
The girl was very sensitive to this question and immediately spoke up. "I am not stupid."
Zhongli Ting clearly held a different opinion, nodding dismissively. "Ah, yes. Not stupid."