Chaochao decisively stepped out the door, preparing to head to her troublesome father’s Hidden Radiance Courtyard in the front compound.
Seeing that her master was leaving, Huahua, who had been beneath the corridor, gave her body a shake and hurriedly flapped and hopped about. “Chaochao, Huahua, Chaochao, Huahua…”
Right, she had forgotten the bird.
Chaochao halted her little steps and turned back. She let the chattering Huahua land on her shoulder, then stretched out her little hand and swept it across the pepperwood stand beneath the corridor that Huahua loved dearly. With decisive efficiency, she stored it away.
Now the entire courtyard was empty. As for the maids’ quarters, they had taken their belongings with them when they left earlier.
It could be said that Morning Radiance Pavilion, where Chaochao had lived for seven years, became utterly empty in the blink of an eye, leaving no trace. That was why, when the Embroidered Uniform Guard later came to confiscate the household’s property, they assumed this was simply an unoccupied courtyard.
As for Chaochao, she moved swiftly. After leaving her little courtyard, she headed straight ahead with a clear goal in mind. Along the way, she did not forget to grab Huahua by the feet and give the bird a stern warning.
“Be quiet. Make another sound and I’ll roast you.”
Huahua was so frightened that it tightly covered its little head with both wings. Its claws nervously hooked at Chaochao’s chubby hand. Satisfied, Chaochao quickened her pace.
To reach her father’s Hidden Radiance Courtyard, she had to pass through Bright Heart Hall, where her grandmother lived.
At that moment, Bright Heart Hall was in an uproar. Thinking of the gloomy expression her grandmother usually wore toward her mother and herself, Chaochao could not help stopping her little feet. She crouched behind the open courtyard gate and poked out her little head.
Seeing the maids and servant women bustling about inside, Chaochao grabbed the parrot from her shoulder and tossed it into the courtyard.
“Go in and see whether my grandmother is there.”
Huahua knew very well that the grandmother in its master’s mouth was the frightening old woman in this courtyard who was especially terrifying to birds.
The bird was afraid. The bird did not want to go. The cowardly bird turned its head, only to immediately meet its master’s threatening gestures. For the sake of preserving its magnificent feathers, the bird rolled its eyes and flew swiftly into the courtyard.
Chaochao did not have to wait long before the bird returned and landed on her shoulder. It leisurely preened its feathers. Chaochao unceremoniously seized it with both hands.
“Speak quickly, or I’ll pluck your feathers.”
The bird was aggrieved, its tiny head shaking so fast it was almost a blur. “Not here, not here. Chao bad!”
Chaochao rolled her eyes. She was in a hurry and had no time to coax a silly bird. She released the pitifully aggrieved bird, warned it once more to keep quiet, and then took advantage of the confusion to slip into her grandmother’s Bright Heart Hall.
Thank goodness for the confiscation of the household’s property. The estate was in such a terrible mess that the old-fashioned grandmother was not home, which made things much more convenient for Chaochao to carry out her great undertaking.
In the past, her grandmother had always given the eldest uncle’s sons, her elder brothers, the Four Treasures of the Study and antique ornaments; she gave her elder sisters hairpins, jewelry, pearls, and agate. As for Chaochao, all she ever received was scolding and disdain. Chaochao had carefully recorded every bit of it in her little mental ledger.
Although her mother and father had never been stingy with her belongings, Chaochao could still get jealous!
The petty little Chaochao huffed angrily and decided to secure a tiny benefit for herself. If Grandmother would not give it to her, Chaochao would take it herself.
After the household had been confiscated and the family exiled, every brick, tile, blade of grass, and scrap of paper in the estate belonged to that old imperial fellow anyway. Since Grandmother did not like her, if those things were going to benefit someone else, they might as well benefit Chaochao instead. Right?
Chaochao felt not the slightest burden as she looted.
With the matriarch absent and Bright Heart Hall in chaos, no one paid attention to a little shorty like Chaochao. Thus, she successfully slipped into her paternal grandmother’s bedchamber.
The little one wandered around the room. There were countless jewels on the dressing table, but those were all things Grandmother used regularly. If Chaochao took them and the old-fashioned woman recognized them later and demanded them back, what would she do? That would not be worth it!
Her mother had taught her that even when doing something bad, she had to make absolutely certain nothing could go wrong. Chaochao decided not to be a little fool. She would make off with some of her grandmother’s private savings, such as gold ingots and gemstones, so that Grandmother would feel a sharp pain in her flesh.
Chaochao was full of confidence. Unfortunately, she was not familiar with Bright Heart Hall. Whenever she had come to pay her respects in the past, her movements had been restricted; she was the one her grandmother disliked. For a while, she truly could not find where her grandmother hid her private stash.
Chaochao could not help rubbing her chin. Before returning home, her mother had emptied the space bound to Chaochao’s mental sea, intending to leave all the strange little toys and precious treasures inside for her.
But because Chaochao was still young, her mental sea had not yet developed stably enough to open a space. Her mother had therefore left her the smart bracelet, allowing Chaochao, as a direct blood descendant, to bind it through her genes.
The bracelet’s space was limited to ten backpack slots, with only ten cubic meters in each slot. Her mother had had no choice but to pick and choose, leaving her two backpack slots filled with little toys.
She seemed to remember that there was a toy inside called a detection scanner. Once, when her mother had taken her traveling and they encountered a village suffering from drought, her mother had even taught her to use that thing to search for a water source.
Her mother had said that the device could detect everything up to a hundred meters underground, including water resources and mineral deposits, much like an ancient CT scan.
Chaochao did not understand what a CT scan was, but that did not stop her from using it now.
Chaochao immediately linked to the backpack in her bracelet and was just about to retrieve the little toy when a sharp, nasty voice suddenly came from behind her.
“Fourth Miss, what are you doing here?”
Chaochao turned around and thought, Oh no. This was the most vicious and formidable old nanny at her grandmother’s side. The woman had even punished Chaochao by making her kneel in the past.
Seeing the other woman charging toward her menacingly, Chaochao’s eyes turned, and she decided to settle both old and new grudges at once. She pointed behind the old nanny and shouted, “Grandmother!”
The old nanny instinctively turned her head. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chaochao immediately linked to her bracelet and took out the stun pen her mother had left behind from among her many collections. She jabbed it into the old nanny’s backside as the woman looked away, setting the power to level two.
Chaochao watched as the fat body twisted, followed by the woman’s hair exploding upward. The entire person then crashed to the ground with a boom, her body convulsing violently as white foam spilled from her mouth. The sight frightened the bird, which instantly became obedient.
Chaochao was very satisfied with the result. She swiftly put away the stun pen, took out the scanner, and scanned around. The little girl could not help grinning with delight as she scampered toward the thousand-work canopy bed in the sleeping chamber behind the screen. As she ran, she muttered,
“Although I really don’t want to admit that Grandmother is my real grandmother, when it comes to hiding things… well, this old lady is just like me! No wonder Mom said genes are such a wondrous thing!”
Muttering all the while, she nimbly climbed onto the bed and lifted the covers and bedding. Beneath the pillow on the inner side, Chaochao successfully pried open a hidden compartment panel and saw a hidden compartment fifty centimeters square, crammed completely full.
To guard against accidents, Chaochao moved very quickly. Without even looking, she opened her bracelet and swept everything into her backpack.
“The old lady hid it so deeply. It must be something good!”
She finished in one second and restored the compartment to its original state. She could not put the bedding and covers back properly, so Chaochao dealt with them carelessly. Just as she was about to leave with the silly bird, she saw the wicked old nanny, who was still unconscious and twitching from time to time.
Chaochao’s eyes rolled. She ran back with quick little steps, grabbed a large handful of hairpins, bracelets, and other jewelry from the dressing table, and stuffed them all onto the wicked old nanny. Before leaving, she deliberately and maliciously pulled a long section of a red coral and agate necklace out over the woman’s collar. She also slipped several jade and gold bracelets onto the woman’s arms.
Only then was Chaochao satisfied. She clapped her hands, deliberately left the main room’s doors to Bright Heart Hall wide open, and slipped out amid the chaos.
Having successfully pulled off a job and vented her anger thoroughly, a certain someone was extremely pleased. Even her footsteps felt much lighter.
She happily ran to Hidden Radiance Courtyard, where her father lived. The courtyard gate was tightly shut, and it was utterly silent inside. Chaochao hurried forward and knocked rapidly, but no one answered. Silly Dad’s personal attendants were nowhere to be seen either. Chaochao could not help frowning as she wondered whether Silly Dad had gone out drinking again and had yet to return.