Now that he knew this child had lived without a father for five years, his heart was even more touched.
"Then... then you can follow us for now." Anyway, since it was a personal expedition by the emperor, there were plenty of carriages, clothes, and medicines, so there was no problem. Anyway, Si Junlin didn't know any martial arts at all, and he would need someone to protect him later. The child could just stay with them.
"No, Your Majesty. We're going to war, not playing around." Si Junlin loudly reminded her, thinking she was being very muddle - headed. Su Wan'er usually seemed calm and composed, but how could she lose her vigilance when it came to such a child?
In the end, because Su Wan'er was now the emperor, naturally everything she said counted. Although Si Junlin was angry and tried his best to dissuade her, it was in vain.
Si Junlin was deeply worried. Things were going scarily smoothly, as if everything had been planned step by step. This child just followed them on the journey without a hitch.
Originally, the child was riding on a horse with a guard who had come to take care of Si Junlin, following beside them. But after a while, he said he wanted to come to Su Wan'er. Su Wan'er told him to be obedient, saying that her horse was too tall and it was a special war - horse that wasn't suitable for two people. But the child showed an expression as if he was about to cry and said he was scared.
Su Wan'er looked over and, sure enough, the guard taking care of him had a cold - faced look. Although those who served beside the emperor should naturally keep their emotions in check, Su Wan'er hated this the most. So without saying a word, she picked up the child.
Si Junlin didn't even have time to stop her.
Si Junlin was frowning and keeping an eye on the child, thinking Su Wan'er was being unreasonable. But unexpectedly, Gu Jingtian was now on his side and took the initiative to come over and talk to him.
"Wan'er, don't you think it's very suspicious that this child got so close to the emperor after just meeting him once?" Gu Jingtian had been quietly observing the mother - daughter pair. Although the mother was very reluctant to part with her daughter when she left, she just held her in her arms and tried to persuade her to stay. He originally thought the mother would watch them go for a while with longing eyes before giving up, but unexpectedly, the mother disappeared from sight not long after they left.
"Of course it's suspicious. Who knows what's wrong with her head." Si Junlin rarely agreed with him. But it was obvious that Su Wan'er was being too careless.
"Wrong with her head? Wan'er, are you talking about the emperor?" Gu Jingtian thought this kind of words shouldn't come from Su Wan'er's mouth.
"Yes, Brother Jingtian. I think we should keep an eye on this child. There might be some conspiracy."
Just as they were discussing how to deal with things if something happened, something actually did happen.
"Ah, Yue'er, what are you doing?" Su Wan'er suddenly felt a sharp pain in her arm, but because she was holding the child, she didn't dare to let go.
"Let go of her quickly!"
Although the pain was getting worse, Su Wan'er waited until the horse had slowed down almost to a stop before letting go of the child. The child fell to the ground. Instead of crying like an ordinary child because of the fall, Yue'er got up immediately after falling to the ground and turned to run.
"Catch her!" Si Junlin gave the order, and two soldiers went over and grabbed her.
Su Wan'er looked at the dark - colored marks on her arm and immediately understood everything. She was all too familiar with such marks. She had experienced them the first time she met Xiao Jiu.
After taking out the token that Xiao Jiu had given her, the Gu worm indeed crawled back along the original path and then climbed onto the token and died there. Su Wan'er wiped the token clean.
Then she quietly put it away again. Naturally, no one else knew what was going on. Except for Si Junlin, everyone probably thought she was just injured. After all, only a few people knew about Gu worms.
Yue'er was caught and brought back. Only when the two soldiers were holding her did she start to cry.
Su Wan'er found it very strange. Since she could use Gu worms, she must be a Gu slave raised in the Southern Border from a young age. Why was she crying now? Weren't they all taught from a young age that it was an honor to die for their family?
"Which family in the Southern Border are you from? Is it the Yuwen family?" Su Wan'er looked at her constant crying and thought the educational methods in the Southern Border were simply inhumane. Even if this child was short because of practicing with Gu worms, she couldn't be more than 10 years old now.
"Stop crying. I'm not hurt. You don't have a big crime." Although attempting to assassinate the emperor in the Great Jin was a capital crime, this matter could be either serious or not. After all, she was still a child, and if she said she was okay now, the crime wasn't that serious.
Su Wan'er originally thought she would be extremely grateful as if she had received a pardon. But this child seemed to really have the mental age of a five - year - old. She still kept crying and seemed not to understand her words.
"I've already said you don't have a big crime. Stop crying. How old are you?"
Only then did the child seem to come to her senses. She looked up at Su Wan'er with tears in her eyes.
"I... I'm five."
"Five?" How was that possible? Su Wan'er subconsciously thought of Xiao Jiu, who was thirteen or fourteen years old but only a little taller than this child. And Xiao Jiu had already told her that most women in the Southern Border practiced with Gu worms from a young age and became Gu slaves, so they wouldn't grow very tall.
"Are you really from the Southern Border?"
"Uncle, what are you talking about? Uncle, can you take me home? I didn't mean to hurt you."
Judging from her speech, her intelligence seemed normal. But how could she act as if she had never even heard of the Southern Border and didn't understand what it meant?
"Then why did you try to hurt me?"
"Don't bother interrogating. Just arrest her and send her to prison." Was there any need for interrogation? She must be a Gu slave sent by the Yuwen family to harm the emperor of the Great Jin. There was no need for interrogation. There were plenty of such people in the Southern Border who were willing to risk their lives to harm others. Si Junlin was thinking from the perspective of a monarch. He had seen too much life and death, so he was used to such people and thought they deserved to die. But he didn't understand Su Wan'er's compassion for children.
"I didn't mean to, uncle. I really didn't mean to." The child started crying again. "Someone caught my mother. They gave me that bug and said that as long as I put it on uncle and let it bite you, and then I ran away... they would let my mother go." The child sobbed.
"Mother? Are you from the Great Jin?" It seemed that she was just a child from the Great Jin who had been used by the Southern Border.
"Useless thing! Die!" Just as Su Wan'er was thinking, suddenly several dark shadows sprang out from the nearby woods. One of them rushed straight towards Yue'er.