Jin Lanyue circled around the princess, counting on her chubby little fingers.
The princess looked just like her—she had eyes, a nose, a mouth, as well as two little hands and two little feet… Mm, the princess was entirely whole.
So, she extended her arms and wrapped them around the princess.
The two little toddlers were pressed flat against each other. The princess looked at her in utter shock. “W-what are you doing?”
“I want to be friends with you,” Jin Lanyue said earnestly as she let go of her. “We will become very, very good friends in the future.”
There were some words from the strange voice that she didn’t quite understand, but she did understand the words “true friend.”
Her mommy had told her before that a true friend meant a very, very good friend.
【Mission Completed.】
【Amidst the crimson downpour, you have sewn the princess’s corpse back together. Holding her, you walk toward the graveyard you chose for yourself and bury her.】
【At this moment, you are in agonizing pain. The fires of vengeance burn within your heart. You swear that you will make your enemies repay this suffering a thousand times over, no matter the cost.】
【Reward Obtained: Mastery of Early Education Knowledge (Literature Edition).】
The voice started spouting strange things again.
She couldn’t understand any of it.
Jin Lanyue shook her little head and looked at the princess in front of her.
To show her sincerity, she decided to offer up her favorite thing.
Taking one last reluctant look at the pastry box, she held it out to the princess. “I’ll give you all of my pastries to eat!”
“Who wants to be friends with…” The princess’s voice grew softer and softer. Finally, she turned her head away and accepted the pastry box. “Fine, for the sake of the delicious food, I reluctantly agree.”
“Yay! You are the first friend Yue’er has ever made,” Jin Lanyue said happily, taking the princess’s hand. “From now on, whatever delicious food I have, I’ll share half with you!”
“Hmph, I’m a princess, I don’t need you to share with me,” the princess said haughtily. “It should be me sharing half with you instead.”
“Okay,” Jin Lanyue nodded. “In the future, you share half with me, and I share half with you.”
The two little toddlers—one slightly taller, one slightly shorter—held hands. The princess looked down at Jin Lanyue, who was a head shorter than her, and the first thing she saw was her fuzzy little head.
She instinctively wanted to reach out and pat it, but she stopped herself halfway, trying to maintain her dignity.
No, she was a noble little princess! She still needed to properly evaluate this new study companion!
However…
Jin Lanyue blinked her large eyes, watching her movements.
Then, she came to a sudden realization.
“Do you want to pat me?” She happily offered up her head. “Pat it, you can pat it…”
Daddy, Mommy, and her big brothers all loved to pat her head!
Now that the little princess was her friend, the princess could pat her head too!
Caught off guard, the princess’s hand landed on the small head.
The hair was soft and fluffy. Jin Lanyue’s eyes curved into crescent moons, and her smile was incredibly sweet. She looked entirely soft, cute, and harmless.
Like…
The little princess instinctively gave another pat.
Like some kind of soft, fluffy baby animal.
“S-so cute…” Even though she was a toddler herself, the bigger toddler couldn’t help but sigh in admiration at the smaller toddler.
“What do you two think you are doing?!”
A cold shout rang out, startling both toddlers into a sharp flinch.
Jin Lanyue’s large eyes instantly grew wide and round. She turned her head to look and saw a mean-looking man striding toward them.
He scolded loudly, “To be late on the very first day of school, do you both want your palms beaten?!”
B-beating palms?
Jin Lanyue trembled. She instinctively shuffled with tiny steps over to the princess’s side, her little hand tugging at the princess’s hem. “A-are we gonna get beaten?”
But before the princess could answer, the strange voice echoed in her mind once again—
【Once more, you see the Grand Tutor who taught you and the princess—Qu Zijin.】
【You never would have thought that this man, who had always disliked you and the princess, would ultimately choose to stand by your side without a second thought when you were at your lowest, submitting petition after petition for your sakes.】
【He believed you were innocent, and he believed the princess was falsely accused—but it was of no use. It was nothing more than an ant trying to stop a chariot, and it brought a death sentence upon him instead.】
【He was sentenced to immediate decapitation. You saw him, hovering on the brink of death, inside the prison cart transporting convicts.】
【You made a treasonous decision—you are going to raid the execution ground and rescue him!】
【Mission: Raid the execution ground and rescue Qu Zijin.】
【Reward: Mastery of Early Education Knowledge (Arithmetic Edition).】
【Beep—】
【The system has detected that this mission is extremely difficult. The reward has been upgraded.】
【Reward: Protection Amulet (Can block fatal damage once).】
*Huh? Is this grown-up a friend of hers too?*
*But he looks so fierce.*
*Yet, he sounds so pitiful…*
Before Jin Lanyue’s tiny brain could wrap itself around the situation, arguments erupted beside her ears.
The princess glared at Qu Zijin with puffed-up cheeks. “I am a princess! What right do you have to discipline us?!”
Even when facing a five-year-old child, Qu Zijin still argued his case according to reason. “I am the Grand Tutor. Why can I not discipline you?”
“I’ll have Imperial Father replace you tomorrow!”
“Absurd. His Majesty’s words are gold and jade; the imperial decree has already been issued. How can an edict be changed at a whim?”
“Blah blah blah, what are you even saying? I can’t understand you at all!”
Jin Lanyue looked at one, then looked at the other. Her little mouth opened and closed several times; she wanted to break up the fight but couldn’t wedge a word in.
She watched with her own eyes as the Grand Tutor grew angrier and angrier, raising the terrifying wooden ferule in his hand.
Anxious, she stamped her little feet in place.
*Please stop fighting!*
In the end, the argument concluded with Qu Zijin shouting in rage, “Utterly scandalous! As a princess, you respect neither teacher nor elder. You are arrogant, willful, and completely uncultivated…”
“I already said I don’t understand!” The little princess crossed her arms proudly. “Anyway, you can’t outtalk me, hmph.”
Standing to the side, Jin Lanyue’s little heart was thumping wildly. She couldn’t help but poke the princess with her little hand. “U-um…”
H-he might not be able to outtalk the little princess, but…
He could beat their palms!
On the other side, Qu Zijin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
It was truly a case of a scholar meeting a soldier—there was no reasoning with her.
He repeatedly told himself not to argue with a five-year-old child. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the shorter little toddler trying her best to pull at the princess, straining on her tiptoes to whisper a secret to her.
“What about you?” he spoke up out of nowhere.
Jin Lanyue flinched. She turned her head nervously to look at Qu Zijin, offering a placating smile. “Grand Tutor… what did yu say…”
*Oh no, I’m so nervous my accent is completely wrong.*
Jin Lanyue wept silently in her heart.
“I mean, do you share the same thoughts as the princess?”
“Of course she does!” The princess protectively shielded Jin Lanyue behind her like a boss. “Don’t you threaten her! If you have the guts, come at me!”
“Let her speak for herself!”
“It’ll be the same even if she speaks for herself!”
Both of them turned their heads simultaneously to look at Jin Lanyue.
Jin Lanyue… Jin Lanyue’s mind went completely blank.