“Stop fooling around!”
Chaochao rudely pulled the silly bird off her head. Hugging Huahua, she decisively turned around, avoiding the gazes from the cell behind her. She stroked the restless Huahua again and again, not making another sound.
Old Madam Luo watched Chaochao coldly, growing increasingly displeased.
As expected of the daughter of that unconventional, shameless woman who had seduced her beloved son until he lost all sense of propriety and forgot his mother after taking a wife!
Old Madam Luo snorted coldly and did not spare the loathsome silly granddaughter another glance. Instead, she beckoned to her eldest daughter-in-law.
“Xiufang, come here. Settle everyone down.”
“Mother?” Second Madam froze, astonished. They had fallen into such a state, with nothing in their hands—what was there left to settle?
Not daring to meet her mother-in-law’s stern gaze, Second Madam hurriedly swallowed the grumbling in her heart. She lowered her head obediently and respectfully to receive her instructions. Only then did Old Madam Luo nod in satisfaction and continue.
“Xiufang, you are the principal wife of the family. Even if the family has fallen into misfortune, you must still shoulder the responsibilities of the mistress of the household. Besides, I do not believe His Majesty truly feels no old affection for us.
“Our Earl Wending’s Residence has produced three generations of loyal subjects. We have served His Majesty faithfully and worked for the imperial court, always conducting ourselves properly. Even without the Red-Inscribed Iron Certificate, the loyalty of our Earl Wending’s Residence is as clear as the sun and moon. We have many relatives by marriage and old friends, while your father-in-law’s former students are spread throughout the land. How could we fall so easily?
“As the principal wife, the more difficult the circumstances, the steadier you must remain!”
“Yes, Mother. I accept your instruction.”
No matter how disdainful she felt inside, Second Madam could only accept her mother-in-law’s words. She performed a proper courtesy and supported the old woman to a corner farther away from the chamber pot. Then she instructed the three concubines to bring Old Madam some straw and take good care of her. Only after that did she turn back to settle and advise all the women behind her.
“Third Younger Brother’s wife, Fourth Younger Brother’s wife, take the children and sit over here. Zhou shi, you and the others stay here…”
By the time everyone had been settled, they had all cried and panicked enough. It was already late. Darkness gradually spread beyond the narrow skylight, and torches were lit one after another along the passageway.
Chaochao, who had remained uninvolved the entire time, rubbed her rumbling little belly. She stroked Huahua in her arms while repeatedly glancing toward the end of the passage through which they had come. The jailers still had not appeared, and the little one could not help muttering to herself.
They had been inside for more than half a day, yet no one had brought them prison food. They were not responsible at all! Even Xiaoyi could get its general knowledge wrong sometimes.
Seeing the commotion behind her gradually die down, Chaochao’s eyes shifted. She decisively tossed the bird in her arms outside the bars.
“Go find my father.”
Huahua, who had been enjoying the stroking, suddenly jolted in fright, its feathers exploding outward as it tugged at the top of its lungs.
“Ah! The bird’s going to be smashed to death! Smash—”
“Shut up!”
Chaochao bared her teeth and scolded the fluffed-up parrot, raising her little fist threateningly.
The bird instantly cowered. It flapped its wings and hovered obediently in midair, not daring to make another sound. Chaochao waved her hand impatiently.
“Go on.”
Only then did Huahua flap its wings and fly, aggrieved, toward the end of the passage where its mistress had pointed. As it flew, it grumbled and cursed under its breath. How filthy!
Fortunately, the bird was still sensible—and very clever.
Relying on the torches lit every dozen or so meters along the passage, it proceeded without obstruction. It avoided the voices coming from the interrogation hall, then darted into the familiar passageway opposite. The bird flew, and flew some more.
Who knew how many cells it passed—five, seven, eight, nine, or more? Finally, deep in the dimly lit passage, Huahua discovered the trace of its mistress’s father in a cell on the left.
It flapped its wings excitedly and was just about to rush over when footsteps sounded behind it in the passage. The clever bird immediately plunged into the pitch-black empty cell next door, shot up toward the identical narrow skylight, and whooshed out through it.
Because it had rushed too quickly, several feathers were scraped off. The bird’s flesh hurt terribly. Outside the Imperial Prison’s underground cells, it flapped up and down in heartache for a long while. Only after it had complained to its heart’s content did it determine the direction where its master was and fly off at top speed, deciding to return and make its master properly compensate this injured bird’s heart.
“Chaochao, Chaochao…”
Seeing the bird crawl back in through the narrow skylight, Chaochao felt exhausted.
“Why did you come through the window again?”
The bird looked aggrieved as it nursed its feathers.
“There were people, there were people! Bird scared, feathers fell, hurts, hurts!”
“Heh!”
With iron-handed mercilessness, Chaochao picked up Huahua and examined it from top to bottom. Not finding any missing feathers, she gave an icy snort and said without a trace of sympathy, “Behave yourself and speak properly. Where’s my father? Did you find him?”
The bird froze. It accepted its fate and honestly nodded its little head.
Satisfied, Chaochao hooked an arm around Huahua and stuffed it into her embrace. Once again ignoring the assessing gazes from the cell, she turned her back to them and faced the passageway. Nestling into the corner, she secretly connected to her smart bracelet and took out some food that the bird itself had found. She grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds and quietly peeled them, feeding them to the bird.
The person and bird worked together in perfect harmony.
Unfortunately, Chaochao’s trouble-free behavior offended someone.
“Idiot!”
The scornful insult came from Li Wenxin, who had been scared half to death by a rat and had only just been comforted by her own mother.
By now, Li Wenxin had already resumed her usual bearing as a noble young lady. She sat calmly atop the outer jacket that Concubine Wen had timidly offered her, leaning against Old Madam Luo. As she pitied herself, she also felt ashamed and furious over her earlier loss of composure.
Seeing the entire household reduced to such a miserable state while that silly girl from the Second Branch was still playing with a bird and remaining completely at ease, anger suddenly arose in Li Wenxin’s heart. Her resentment swelled, and with nowhere to vent it, she resorted to vicious words.
Her spiteful appearance made Old Madam Luo, who had been leaning against the wall with her eyes closed and saying nothing, suddenly open her eyes.
She glanced at the eldest granddaughter beside her, who no longer possessed her former innocent liveliness and cleverness, then cast another look toward Chaochao in the corner. Old Madam Luo slapped Li Wenxin on the arm.
“Xin-jie, you are the legitimate daughter our Earl’s Residence carefully raised. Your status is noble. Why bother arguing with an idiot?”
Hearing this, and realizing that Grandmother had not shown favoritism toward the silly girl simply because of the capable Second Uncle’s request, Li Wenxin’s eyes lit up. She hurriedly nestled into Old Madam Luo’s arms and wriggled coquettishly.
“Grandmother!”
With her back to everyone, Chaochao listened coldly. Her emotions did not stir in the slightest, and she was completely unmoved. She continued peeling sunflower seeds and feeding them to the bird. While Huahua was not paying attention, she even stuffed a piece of the hot pastry she had scavenged from the kitchen that morning into her own mouth to fill her stomach.
What grandmother? What family affection? It was all crap!
Her attitude made both Li Wenxin and Old Madam Luo feel as if they had punched cotton, leaving them thoroughly frustrated. However, after the confiscation of the household and their imprisonment, after being frightened and angered and put through a whole day of torment, everyone was already utterly exhausted and had no energy to continue making trouble. Thus, no one spoke again.
When the sound of the watchman’s clapper announcing the first watch came from outside the skylight, snores rose throughout the cell. Only then did Chaochao gather up the sunflower-seed shells and toss them into the PP recycling station. She silently threatened Huahua into flying away, then quietly rose to her feet.
Slowly—very slowly—she poked her head through the gap between the bars, followed by her body, and finally her little feet.
Once she was successfully standing in the passageway, Chaochao planted both hands on her waist.
Ha-ha! This tiny Imperial Prison was completely within her grasp!
She glanced at the cell behind her, then decisively set off, lightly running toward the end of the passage.
When she neared the passageway entrance, Huahua hovered overhead, and Chaochao immediately stopped.
She cautiously poked her head out. In the interrogation hall where they had been taken earlier, several jailers had their backs to her as they drank and chatted. The two who were turned partly toward her had already collapsed over the table, unconscious. Chaochao decisively stepped forward and, like a nimble monkey, swiftly crossed the interrogation room.
After successfully avoiding the jailers, Chaochao followed Huahua’s lead and decisively slipped into the deep passageway opposite.
“This way, Chao-dad…”
“Hush!”
Huahua called out as it flew overhead. Its voice was not loud, but Chaochao jolted in fright, afraid that someone would discover them and ruin everything. She hurriedly snatched down the silly bird, covered its beak, and made a hush gesture.
Fortunately, prisoners had been brought into the Imperial Prison that day, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard from top to bottom had made a fat profit. Even the prison chief and jailers were occupied with drinking merrily and getting drunk. They did not notice Huahua’s tiny warning cry, allowing the person and bird to move through the enormous underground prison as though no one were there.