8 – The Little Prince Has a Hole in His Head – Long Kneeling Will Bring Rain
For some reason, Shi Sui had an unusually vivid nightmare that night.
She dreamed she had turned into a plump, white little bunny.
But that wasn’t the scariest part.
The scariest part was when Wen Nian grabbed her by the rabbit ears, lifted her up—no, lifted the bunny up—and headed straight for the kitchen, where an enormous black pot was waiting.
It looked exactly like the pot Gray Wolf used to cook the sheep in Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf!
Shi Sui instinctively knew it was meant for her.
She hurriedly said, “Bunnies are so cute, why would you want to eat a bunny?”
Wen Nian held the rabbit by its ears, a pair of cute little fangs showing as he smiled, his dark eyes full of mischief. “Bunnies are so cute, let me think… should I steam you or braise you?”
Just as Wen Nian was about to toss her into the big iron pot to stew, Shi Sui was so frightened that she bolted upright in bed.
Shi Sui: “Holy shit.”
Before she could even gather her thoughts, she saw Wen Nian standing beside her bed, looking at her with a meaningful gaze.
Honestly, seeing the face that had just wanted to eat her in her dream was truly terrifying.
This was the second time. The damn second time.
What was wrong with this guy? Why did he like watching her sleep? She really didn’t want to wake up and have to deal with this high-maintenance little black flower.
Shi Sui, still scared, ducked back under the covers. The Youth looked at the lump under the blanket, slightly surprised, and asked, “Why are you afraid of me?”
After a moment, Shi Sui emerged from under the covers, having steadied her nerves, and calmly said, “I’m not afraid. How long have you been waiting here for me?”
The Youth sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at her with a smile. “Not long.”
Shi Sui: “Then why didn’t you wake me up?”
The Youth replied naturally, “I was afraid you’d get angry.”
“After all, once bitten, twice shy.”
“…”
For some reason, hearing this made Shi Sui suddenly remember that night when Wen Nian had dragged her out of her sleep, and how she had spoken to him with a rather unpleasant tone, still groggy with sleep.
Well, well, well. What a vindictive little black flower.
Seeing that Shi Sui was now awake and not planning to leave, she simply pulled on an outer robe and wrapped herself in it, not even bothering to comb her hair. Wen Nian didn’t seem to mind, though. He just gently tapped her head and gestured for her to look in another direction.
A large chest had appeared in the room at some point.
Seeing Shi Sui look over, Yuan Youdao sighed reluctantly and slowly opened the chest—
It was filled with jade pendants.
Shi Sui didn’t know much about these things, but even she, who knew nothing about jade, could tell at a glance that they were priceless—so extravagant it was almost inhuman.
Shi Sui: I don’t understand what’s happening anymore, thank you.
The Youth walked slowly to the chest, casually picked up a white jade pendant, and tossed it in his hand. With a smile, he said, “Didn’t I take one of your jade pendants yesterday?”
Shi Sui: “…So?”
The Youth pushed the chest a little closer to Shi Sui. “I’m returning it to you.”
Shi Sui: “…” What kind of plot is this—steal one and return a whole chest? Do you have so much money you don’t know what to do with it?
And so, Shi Sui ended up with a chest full of priceless, high-quality jade pendants, all thanks to one worthless jade pendant.
Achievement unlocked: Being pampered like a salted fish X1.
Li Yue had confined herself for about three days. Although she was under house arrest, her spies were spread throughout the mansion. Upon hearing that Wen Nian had gifted Shi Sui another chest of priceless gold, silver, and jade ornaments—just for Shi Sui to play with and to please her—Li Yue was so enraged that she developed a blister on her lip. Furious and frustrated, she applied medicine for several days before her appearance returned to normal.
Shortly after emerging, she heard that since Shi Sui’s marriage, Wen Nian had only been dining with her and had never stayed overnight in her quarters. This immediately reignited Li Yue’s spirits—didn’t this mean there was no real affection between them?
That very night, she knelt with a thud outside Shi Sui’s hall, weeping so pitifully that one might have mistaken the mansion for hosting a funeral. Passing maids glanced sideways, only to realize—
Oh, it’s Consort Li. Then it’s nothing unusual.
Just standard behavior.
Li Yue knelt outside, claiming she knew she was wrong and had come to apologize, hoping to seek Shi Sui’s forgiveness and, in doing so, gain some favor and recognition from Wen Nian.
Meanwhile, Shi Sui was already agitated over the jade pendant. Lying on her bed, she stared at the original pendant in her hand—it truly felt like a hot potato.
The pendant had to be disposed of, but she couldn’t be the one to do it directly. Given how the plot was unfolding, Mu He would likely come looking for her again in the future. She needed a reasonable excuse to get rid of the pendant and convince Mu He.
On top of that, she was feeling homesick and bored. It wasn’t until later that she realized why she was so restless—it was because she didn’t have a phone.
Her parents hadn’t paid much attention to her, but that didn’t mean there was no affection. After all, they had provided her with everything and raised her to adulthood.
She remembered her mother often calling her a “little ingrate.”
Though her mother said that, if Shi Sui truly felt no attachment to home, she would indeed become an ingrate.
And that wouldn’t do.
In her previous world, she had been inseparable from her phone—always holding it, scrolling through short videos while eating or before sleeping, feeling as though time flew by. Looking back now, it seemed like a waste of time.
When watching palace dramas back then, her mother had once remarked, “Don’t you think ancient women in the palace must have been terribly bored without phones? It seems like all they could do was engage in palace schemes.”
Now that she had actually traveled back in time, she realized it was indeed true. In that fast-paced era, time passed so quickly that there was hardly any leisure to ponder what to do. Now, with everything slowed down and time abundant, she found herself at a loss for how to spend it.
Thus, Shi Sui—a natural daydreamer accustomed to zoning out—genuinely felt, for the first time, utterly and profoundly bored.
Occasionally, she thought of chatting with the maids around her, but before the words could leave her mouth, she felt it didn’t suit her character. What could she talk about? Family matters? Gossip?
None of it seemed appropriate.
Moreover, she noticed these people were terrified of Wen Nian. Whenever he was around, they hardly dared to breathe, as if fearing he might hand them a white silk ribbon to hang themselves with at any moment.
Lost in thought, Shi Sui rolled over and buried her head under the covers. Just as she closed her eyes, Zhuye rushed in frantically, exclaiming, “Consort Li… she’s kneeling outside the door, crying. Crown Princess, what… what should we do?”
Shi Sui: “…”
Here it comes—the fourth cliché of melodramatic TV dramas: prolonged kneeling inevitably leads to rain.
Almost as soon as Zhuye finished speaking, a flash of lightning streaked across the window, abruptly illuminating the room with an intense, stark whiteness. Immediately afterward, torrential rain poured down, raindrops merging into streams that cascaded from the eaves and pounded against the ground. The sound of rain and thunderclaps intertwined, sending an involuntary shiver down one’s spine.
Shi Sui: “…” This rain is truly heavier than the downpour on the day Er Yuehong begged for medicine.
Shi Sui had just managed to feel a bit drowsy when this little white lotus decided to stir up trouble. The weather seemed to be cooperating with her—if she knelt a little longer and fell ill, would she drag her sickly body to Wen Nian tomorrow and falsely accuse Shi Sui?
As she pondered, two or three more flashes of lightning lit up the sky, and the rain gradually eased. Li Yue’s weeping, mingled with the sound of rain, drifted faintly into the room. Shi Sui recognized that sound—it was the same way her relatives had cried when her grandmother passed away.
Shi Sui dawdled for a while, deliberately leaving the little white lotus out in the rain to suffer a bit before going out. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to soothe her own anger.
This little white lotus wasn’t particularly skilled, just annoyingly persistent, like a sticky plaster that couldn’t be shaken off.
Later, while getting dressed, Shi Sui suddenly caught sight of the original jade pendant she had been worrying about earlier. Her eyes flickered, and she paused in her movements, picking up the jade pendant from the bed and glancing once more at the box of white jade pendants Wen Nian had sent over that morning.
Shi Sui asked Zhuye beside her, “Do you think Consort Li’s actions are mostly because she knows about Wen Nian sending jade pendants and accompanying me for meals these past few days?”
Zhuye genuinely admired the Crown Princess’s composure, remaining calm and unhurried even at a time like this. She was truly afraid that if Li Yue fell ill from the rain, His Highness would blame them.
Zhuye replied, “She probably knows.”
Shi Sui tilted her head slightly, smiled faintly, and clasped the original jade pendant in her hand, murmuring softly, “Well, it seems this can be resolved.”
As she spoke, Shi Sui pointed to the box and said to Zhuye, “Move the box to a conspicuous spot—now, preferably where Consort Li can see it.”