Yu Xiaoxiao followed the cries to a bedroom, where she saw a single candle illuminating a small space at the head of the bed. There was a ball huddled up beneath the satin covers that was the source of the crying.
She walked to the bed and lifted the covers, then asked the small child underneath, “Who bullied you?”
The little child was caught off-guard and scared to death. He looked up wordlessly at Yu Xiaoxiao, who noticed that he wasn’t as well rounded at the two little Gu atbuns back ho. If anything, this boy was more like a beansprout, his thinness accentuating his tiny face and large eyes brimming with tears. They shimred in the light, making him rather cute.
“Why are you talking?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked. “Are you hungry?”
The little boy wiped his years and asked, “A-are you an assassin?”
Well dang. Yu Xiaoxiao felt that this child must have a high IQ. He was only a tiny beansprout, but he already knew the existence of things like assassins.
“Are you here to kill ?” the boy asked next.
Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Am I an assassin just because I’m wearing black? Who are you, ah? Tell a na.”
The boy couldn’t be more than three or four years old, so he thought over Yu Xiaoxiao’s words for a bit before he said, “My na is Yu Ziming. I’m His Sixth Highness.”
S-screw it!
This is Consort Zhao’s son!
Yu Xiaoxiao’s expression was blank as she stared at the little beansprout. For the sake of preventing Consort Zhao’s rise, should she throttle this kid to death? Or choke him dead?
“If you’re going to kill , just do it,” Sixth Prince Yu Ziming was officially three and a half years old, but spoke clearer than Gu Jin, that four-year-old atbun. “In, in any case, my–my imperial mother doesn’t want anymore.”
Seeing the little beansprout face death calmly in the face, Yu Xiaoxiao had a fantastical thought. Go to Hell, Consort Zhao’s son already learned how to face his death!
“Assassin,” Yu Ziming said, “C-can….can you do it fast? I don’t want it to hurt.”
Yu Xiaoxiao curved her fingers and rapped it against the beansprout’s head. She didn’t dare to use too much strength in case she smashed a hole through his skull instead. “What assassin? I’m your big sister,” Yu Xiaoxiao said as she sat on the edge of his bed. “You don’t recognize ?”
Yu Ziming crawled out of the covers and looked intently at Yu Xiaoxiao by the candlelight.
“No need to stare,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “I really am your big sister. If I was an assassin, I’d have killed you ages ago, much less waste ti chatting with you here.”
“Eldest imperial sister?” Yu Ziming tried.
“Mhm,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied. “How could I have entered the palace if I wasn’t your sister? Tell why you’re crying?”
Yu Ziming bought Yu Xiaoxiao’s words. After all, not just anyone could saunter into the palace. He deflated with a pout as he said sadly, “I’m going to leave.”
“Oh,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “I know that. You’re going to Zhuri.”
“Imperial mother doesn’t want anymore,” Yu Ziming wept.
Yu Xiaoxiao recalled the two attending momo who were sleeping like pigs outside and knitted her brows. The beansprout’s cried his eyes red, but no one ca in to check on him. That ans the nannies are slacking, but he hasn’t even left the capital yet. Has Consort Zhao already stopped caring whether he lives or dies?
“I heard–I heard the momo say,” Yu Ziming said while touching his fingers together, “That imperial mother will–will give birth to another little brother in the future. Imperial mother doesn’t want anymore.”
“Tch,” Yu Xiaoxiao spat. Is it that easy for won to get pregnant? Then why did Consort Zhao only birth one son after all these years with the fatuous ruler? She must be addled in the brains.
“I don’t want to go,” Yu Ziming sniffled.
If soone was kind and soft-hearted, they’d probably feel guilty. After all, it was supposed to be Yu Ziyi suffering this fate in place of Yu Ziming. Yu Xiaoxiao was no villain by any ans, but her heart never went soft. She was quite pragmatic about the whole thing. A prince would have to go to Zhuri as hostage eventually, so if she sympathized with this beansprout now, who would pity Yu Ziyi later? Furthermore, rather than hang around a fatuous ruler like Xianzong and that little biyatch Consort Zhao, it was better to go far away. Yu Ziming might even grow into a promising youth in Zhuri–who knows?
“It’s not so bad to go to Zhuri,” Yu Xiaoxiao told Yu Ziming.
The sixth prince’s eyes filled with fresh tears.
“In any case, your mom–I an, your imperial mother–is planning to have another baby. Will she have ti to care for you after she has a new son?” Yu Xiaoxiao did her best to sar Consort Zhao’s na. “Right now, our country’s having a bad ti. If you go to Zhuri and study well, then you can co back with real skills and make our nation stronger. Isn’t that great?”
The three and a half year old beansprout couldn’t understand all of Yu Xiaoxiao’s words, but he sensed that leaving for a faraway land might not be as bad as it sounded.
“Do you understand ?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked.
“But–but if I go to Zhuri, I’ll be all by myself. I won’t know anyone there, ah. Will I still be able to co back ho?” Yu Ziming stamred.
“I’ll go pick you up soday,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “I never lie to little kids.”
“When?”
“Mm…when you grow up.”
As to when he’d grow up, Yu Ziming didn’t consider this problem. Now that he had his big sister’s promise, he felt less hopeless than before.
“Jing Mo’s in the capital city right now,” Yu Xiaoxiao said while letting her brother dress himself. “After you et him, you’ll have soone you know in Zhuri. How’s this? I’ll take you to see Jing Mo.”
Yu Ziming didn’t know how to dress himself, but he grew excited at her words. “Eldest imperial sister is taking out of the palace?”
Yu Xiaoxiao carelessly wrapped Yu Ziming up in so clothes and nodded. “I don’t know when Jing Mo’s leaving, so I’ll take you out tonight. Scared?”
Yu Ziming was almost wild with joy at the prospect of going out with his big sister. He only nodded furiously with a grin. Yu Xiaoxiao pinched Yu Ziming’s body and saw that he had the sa physique as his mother. Most likely, he’d never be the “strong and sturdy” type. But she couldn’t fathom where he got his guts from. First he’d spaced out at the sight of her and didn’t cry, then grew suprely happy like he was celebrating New Year’s when she said she’d take him out. He was a foolishly gutsy child.
With Yu Ziming in her hands, Yu Xiaoxiao easily left the palace and headed for Complacent Winery. Brightness Palace (明光殿) had just lost its young master, yet everything continued as if nothing had happened.
—
Jing Mo was currently ploughing a young maiden with all his might on the bed. The female beneath him had co in as a girl, but now blossod into a woman. Despite the pain piercing her body, she never forgot to smile at the eldest Zhuri prince. Her expression was flattering and full of charms, because everyone knew Eldest Prince Jing only liked the won beneath him to smile.
By the ti Yu Xiaoxiao landed outside of Complacent Winery, Jing Mo had finished his fun and turned over to lie by the girl. “No need to leave, sleep a night with ,” he said.
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