Head Eunuch Li Gonggong followed the sound with his eyes, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks. The handle of the horsetail whisk in his hand nearly slipped from his grasp.
“This is…?”
Xiao Lin nonchalantly adjusted his sleeve robes, pulling the little dumpling closer to his side. He answered the question with one of his own, his tone indifferent:
“Weren’t you in a hurry for this Prince to accompany His Majesty for a game of chess? Lead the way.”
“Yes… yes! Your Highness, please follow this old servant.”
On the palace path of carved railings and jade steps, Luo Luo was like a little sparrow fresh out of its cage, skipping and hopping with every step.
As they stepped into the heavy shadows of the Hall of Mental Cultivation’s portico, she swung her daddy’s hand, looking left and right, and asked in a crisp voice:
“Huh? Where’s the little emperor? Why is he hiding?”
Xiao Lin’s face darkened, and he lightly tapped her smooth forehead with a bent finger.
“Mind your manners. Address him as ‘Imperial Uncle’.”
The little dumpling tilted her head up, her pink little mouth pouting so much you could hang an oil bottle from it. “Imperial Uncle…?”
But when she ran into him in the Imperial Garden before, she had always called him ‘Emperor Gege’!
Besides, the emperor was only eight years older than her, so how did he become an ‘uncle’?
A tiny person with a huge confusion.
Inside the hall, the faint fragrance from the warm stove drifted through the air.
On the Golden Phoebe wood throne carved with coiling dragons, Emperor Yuan, Xiao Chong, was dressed in bright yellow casual robes and had personally risen to greet them.
“Seventh Imperial Brother, you’ve come! I’ve finally been waiting for you. We must have a good few games today!”
Just as he finished speaking, Xiao Chong’s gaze was firmly captured by the small figure beside Xiao Lin.
That exquisitely carved, jade-like little face, the slightly heroic contours of her brows and eyes—they were sixty to seventy percent similar to his own!
An indescribable sense of shock shot straight to his head. “This child…”
Like a protective parent, Xiao Lin wrapped an arm around his daughter and answered curtly, “My daughter.”
The little dumpling, Luo Luo, stared with her big, dark, glistening eyes, curiously sizing up this unfamiliar “Imperial Uncle.” She tilted her little head, her eyes filled with bewilderment.
Who was this person?
She seemed… to have never seen him before?
“Luo Luo, greet your Imperial Uncle,” Xiao Lin’s voice deepened slightly.
But Luo Luo was shockingly honest, shaking her little head like a rattle drum. “Daddy, Luo Luo has never seen Imperial Uncle.”
Xiao Lin’s heart suddenly clenched.
Luo Luo said she had never seen Xiao Chong?
Five years from now, could it be… that the emperor was already dead?
Xiao Chong suddenly burst out laughing, shattering the stagnant air in the hall.
“Hahaha, what a clever and lovable little girl. Imperial Brother, you are truly fortunate!”
His gaze was probing and full of meaning. “I wonder where you came across such a clever child?”
Without even raising his eyelids, Xiao Lin said casually, “Picked her up from a pile of grass by the roadside.”
The little dumpling instantly transformed into an angry little hedgehog, her eyebrows furrowed into caterpillars as she shot her own daddy a glare.
Nonsense! She was her daddy’s legitimate, precious baby!
She wasn’t picked up!
The corner of Emperor Yuan’s eye twitched, but the smile on his face deepened.
“To think there was such a pearl by the roadside? Imperial Brother, your luck is truly enviable. Look at this Little Princess, she’s brimming with spiritual energy. She will surely be extraordinary in the future.”
The moment Luo Luo heard someone praise her, she immediately tossed her dissatisfaction with her “scum daddy” to the back of her mind. Her little paw triumphantly tugged at her daddy’s robe corner as she proudly lifted her little chin.
Did you hear that, did you hear that!
He praised Luo Luo for being clever!
( *′﹀`* )*゜
This uncle seemed like a pretty nice person?
The chessboard was set up, and the smoke from the agarwood incense curled upwards.
Xiao Lin and Emperor Yuan sat opposite each other, the black and white jade pieces landing on the board with crisp clicks.
Luo Luo lay on her stomach to the side, watching with rapt attention. One of her chubby little paws couldn’t resist reaching into the chess piece basket and grabbing a warm, smooth piece.
“Daddy, this is fun! Luo Luo wants to play too!”
ω
A glint flashed in Emperor Yuan’s eyes, and he called out, “Li Gonggong, take the Little Princess to the Imperial Garden for a walk first.”
Li Gonggong quickly complied, his face wrinkling into a benevolent smile as he bent down toward the little dumpling.
“Little Princess, many new flowers have bloomed in the Imperial Garden. The Imperial Kitchen has also just prepared honey jujube cakes, chestnut flour pastries, and rose dew. Would you like to go with this old servant to have a look?”
The moment Luo Luo heard the word “pastries,” her big eyes lit up with the brilliance of a starry river.
“There are honey jujube cakes?”
Saliva began to pool on the tip of her tongue.
“Yay, yay! Let’s go, let’s go!”
She cheered and shot out of the hall door like a flash, no longer caring about any chess game.
“Aiyo, my little ancestor! Slow down! Wait for this old servant!”
Li Gonggong resignedly moved his old legs, panting as he chased after that little pink whirlwind.
Did this Little Princess have wind and fire wheels strapped to her feet?
In the Imperial Garden.
Xiao Luoning, familiar with the path, pounced toward a tall golden osmanthus tree. She squatted down her round little body and began picking up leaves of various shapes and vibrant colors.
This was something her mother had taught her.
These leaves could be dried to make beautiful bookmarks, and you could also use a brush to draw little people and write on them.
Before long, her arms were piled high with “treasures.”
“Hey! You there!”
A small, milky voice, yet full of arrogance, sounded from behind her.
“Who said you could touch my things!”
Luo Luo turned her head to see a little girl of about three or four, dressed in a cloud-patterned brocade jacket and skirt of white and pink, with a small golden phoenix hairpin in her hair. She stood with her hands on her hips, her chubby little face full of pride.
Xiao Luoluo’s eyes lit up in surprise. “It’s the Seventh Princess, Xiao Yuyao!”
The Seventh Princess before her was much smaller than the one from five years in the future.
The Seventh Princess’s Imperial Father had died, and she had been so sad. She had even shared her favorite roasted chicken leg with her.
The current Seventh Princess was so fierce.
Adhering to her good quality of being honest, Xiao Luoning blinked her big eyes, and her crisp, milky voice dropped a bombshell:
“Oh, it’s you. I heard your Imperial Father is dead.”
Having just caught up, Li Gonggong, who was panting heavily, felt his legs go weak. He nearly fainted on the spot.
“My… my little ancestor! Watch your words! Watch your words!”
The Seventh Princess was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Her little face turned deathly pale, then instantly flushed with a mortified red. The rims of her eyes turned red with anger.
“You bad seed, you’re talking nonsense! My Imperial Father is perfectly fine. You… your Imperial Father is the one who’s dead!”
Luo Luo tilted her head in confusion, and a few leaves from the little mountain in her arms rustled to the ground with the movement.
“Luo Luo doesn’t have an Imperial Father.”
She only had a single, foolish scum daddy.
The Seventh Princess stomped her feet in anger, pointing a short little finger forcefully at Xiao Luoning.
“Where did this little wild seed come from, daring to curse my Imperial Father and steal my things.”
Luo Luo hugged her “spoils of war” tightly, her little head shaking like a rattle drum.
“These are leaves Luo Luo picked up. They fell on the ground, they’re not yours.”
“They are mine, too! The entire garden is mine!”
The Seventh Princess was used to being spoiled and moved forward to shove her.
“Give the leaves back to me, or this Princess won’t let you off!”
“No, I won’t!”
Xiao Luoning grew stubborn as well.
The Seventh Princess lunged forward in a fit of rage. “How dare you defy me!”
But was Luo Luo a pushover?
She placed her little mountain of leaves on a nearby stone bench and nimbly met the charge.
Bring it on!
She was a professional at this