Back Garden.
Two little pink bundles dressed in exquisite brocade instantly tangled together, embroidered shoes kicking wildly, tiny fists swinging, their skirts gathering dust as they rolled on the ground.
“Oh heavens! My little ancestors! Stop fighting! Please stop!”
Eunuch Li was terrified out of his wits, rushing forward with several young palace maids to separate the brawling children, creating a scene of complete chaos.
Amid the confusion, Luo Luo’s small frame proved unexpectedly agile. Seizing an opportunity, her two little paws accurately grabbed Seventh Princess’s ears.
“Waaah!”
Being royalty born with a silver spoon, Seventh Princess instantly teared up from the pain, her small mouth quivering as she completely lost the upper hand.
“Let go, let go! I’ll tell Father Emperor to punish you!” Seventh Princess threatened with a sob.
Luo Luo tightened her grip, her little face stern and serious.
“Hmph! Still being mean? Dare you call Luo Luo a found wild child again?”
(ω′)
The sharp pain in her ears made the young Seventh Princess completely surrender, sniffling as she begged for mercy:
“Wuu… no… I won’t… I won’t dare anymore.”
Just then, Luo Luo’s little eyes darted around and suddenly spotted something that had slipped out from Seventh Princess’s exquisite collar during the struggle.
A small, delicate gold-filigree mutton-fat jade milk bottle inlaid with ruby and emerald!
Ah!
Her beloved treasure!
Her own milk bottle had just broken yesterday, and she’d been heartbroken.
Luo Luo’s other little paw shot like lightning toward the milk bottle’s hanging cord, giving it a strong tug.
Successfully acquired.
Both little paws firmly clutched the regained “treasure”… no, rather, the treasure “found” from Seventh Princess.
The dark clouds instantly cleared from Luo Luo’s face, blooming into a little sunflower smile.
ε(′｀)з
Not even bothering to dust off her clothes, she hugged the milk bottle and turned to run.
Leaving behind only a red-eared, weeping Seventh Princess.
Inside the Hall.
Jade pieces landed on the board with sounds like shattering jade.
The air in the hall was heavy and still, with only thin wisps of eaglewood smoke drifting.
A young eunuch scrambled into the hall in panic.
“Yo-Your Majesty! Your Highness! Terrible! Little… Little Princess she…”
Xiao Lin’s hand holding the chess piece paused, his sharp gaze shooting over like lightning: “What happened to Little Princess?”
The young eunuch was so frightened his tongue tied: “Little Princess… and, and Seventh Princess in the garden… are, are fighting!”
Emperor Yuan frowned: “Children playing around, hardly worth such panic.”
The young eunuch closed his eyes, deciding to go all out: “Little Princess also stole Seventh Princess’s milk bottle!”
“What?!”
Xiao Lin shot to his feet, “Say that again? Stole what?”
The young eunuch trembled like a sieve: “Reporting to Your Highness, Little Princess stole the Princess’s… gold-filigree mutton-fat jade milk bottle inlaid with gems!”
Emperor Yuan Xiao Chong was also momentarily speechless at this outrageous act, then struggled to maintain composure, smiling to smooth things over.
“Just pulling hair, snatching toys…”
“Stealing a milk bottle??”
Xiao Lin’s voice practically squeezed through his teeth: “Would my daughter need to steal someone else’s milk bottle?”
“I’ll go back and have all those jadeite and mutton-fat jade milk bottles stored in the treasury brought out—seven or eight won’t be too many.”
“From now on, let Luo Luo smash them for fun, however she wants.”
Before the words faded, Xiao Lin had already strode swiftly out of the hall.
Emperor Yuan’s spring-breeze-like smile instantly receded like the tide.
Under the carved corridor, as Xiao Lin’s black python-patterned boots stepped into the rear garden, a soft, pink blur shot toward him like a cannonball, tightly wrapping around his leg.
Luo Luo rubbed her delicate little face against her father’s brocade robe, her nose sniffling as she looked utterly aggrieved, yet she clutched a newly acquired “spoils of war” tightly in her arms—a small, colorful enameled milk bottle.
“Waa waa, Daddy,” she drawled in her milky voice, “Luo Luo is so scared.”
Despite her words, her large, dark eyes showed not a single tear, her dry wails remarkably earnest.
In contrast, the Seventh Princess, dressed in cloud-patterned palace attire nearby, had completely lost her usual dignified grace. Hairpins askew, strands of hair clung messily to her tear-streaked cheeks, her embroidered horse-face skirt crumpled and wrinkled. She was crying with all her might, her wails echoing through the garden.
Xiao Lin’s brow furrowed slightly as his tall frame crouched down, his deep voice carrying a trace of concealed concern: “Where are you hurt?”
Luo Luo immediately raised a chubby, lotus-root-like arm, first poking her pink cheek, then her little arm, and finally sweeping over her legs, pointing everywhere across her body.
“Waa… Daddy, Luo Luo hurts here, and there, and everywhere aches so badly.” Her tiny brows even cooperatively scrunched into a knot.
“Hurt?” Xiao Lin’s eyes darkened as he drew the little one closer, his slender fingers carefully examining her entire body. Pink and jade-carved, not a single scratch was found—only a few strands of soft hair slightly tousled from the earlier “battle.”
Just then, Emperor Yuan arrived with somewhat hurried steps. The Seventh Princess, seeing her savior, threw herself into her father’s broad dragon robe, sobbing an accusation: “Father! Waa waa… You must uphold justice for your daughter! That… that little… little abomination!” She shrilly pointed at Luo Luo, “She dared to hit me! And… and stole my milk bottle!” She then cried even more dramatically, as if suffering a grave injustice.
Xiao Lin’s entire being instantly radiated coldness, his face darkening like gathering storm clouds. “What did you just call her?!”
The Seventh Princess shrank back in fear within Emperor Yuan’s embrace but, emboldened by her father’s presence, stiffened her neck and repeated: “Little abomination! She’s just some wild girl who crawled out of nowhere, a rude little abomination!”
Emperor Yuan’s expression shifted slightly as he hurriedly intervened: “Xiao Qi, stop this nonsense! This is your Seventh Imperial Uncle’s treasured daughter, your little cousin!”
“Cousin? I refuse to acknowledge her!” The spoiled Seventh Princess angrily shouted, “How could a vulgar country girl like her be worthy of being my sister? She’s just an outsider clinging to the palace.”
“Outrageous!” Xiao Lin rose abruptly, his oppressive aura causing the garden’s atmosphere to plummet, his voice icy. “What did you say?”
The Seventh Princess, always fearful of this imperial uncle, was terrified out of her wits, burying herself in Emperor Yuan’s arms and trembling like a leaf.
Seeing this, Emperor Yuan quickly said, “Imperial Brother, calm your anger. Xiao Qi is young and ignorant—children’s words carry no harm, don’t take it seriously.”
The Seventh Princess, born of the primary empress, had always been pampered in the palace, and Emperor Yuan doted excessively on this youngest daughter.
Xiao Lin’s expression remained impassive, the chill in his eyes undiminished: “Apologize.”