The longer Nangong Shiyuan looked at her, the more tightly his brows furrowed. Just how had such a tiny little thing been raised?
While fast asleep, Xiaobao felt someone pinch her little cheek. Her small head nuzzled closer and closer to the person beside her. Resting her head on Daddy’s arm and nestled against his chest, she smacked her lips softly and slept soundly.
Nangong Shiyuan’s dark eyes, as deep and still as an ancient well, fixed on the little thing’s face. Her brows and eyes did indeed bear some resemblance to his own. Today was the first time he had seen this daughter who had been found and brought back from outside.
Without realizing it, Nangong Shiyuan closed his eyes as he watched Xiaobao.
In his sleep, this was the first time he had not dreamed at all. It was only that, at one point, he suddenly felt something grow heavy on him, as though something had been placed on top of him.
Nangong Shiyuan’s brows drew together slightly, but the weight soon disappeared again. A faint sound reached his ears.
Nangong Shiyuan was far too exhausted. It had been a long time since he had fallen asleep so naturally, and he had nearly succumbed to an illness again that day. His already-weary body had expended too much mental energy, so even though he sensed the sound in his half-conscious state, he did not wake.
The next morning…
Daylight had already brightened the sky, but the eunuchs and palace maids standing guard outside the palace had still not heard His Majesty summon them. It was nearly time for him to attend the morning court.
Eunuch Fuhai paced anxiously in place. “Why hasn’t His Majesty summoned this servant yet? Could something have happened?”
At last, seeing that it was almost time for the morning court, he gritted his teeth and decided to lead the palace attendants who had come to serve His Majesty cautiously toward Qinzheng Hall.
Everyone kept their heads lowered, their hearts trembling with fear. All the palace servants knew what had happened back then, and the rumors circulating in private were even more frightening. Thus, everyone’s heart was in their throat at that moment, afraid that if anything went wrong, they would become souls beneath His Majesty’s sword.
Fuhai told the others to wait outside the door, then personally pushed it open and tiptoed inside. Through the door, he called softly, “Your Majesty? Your Majesty?”
The person he was calling was still lying on the bed, though he had already opened his eyes.
Nangong Shiyuan abruptly sat up. When he saw the light outside, his pupils contracted.
His expression remained cold, but inside, his heart was surging like a stormy sea.
He had actually fallen asleep. He had fallen asleep without burning incense to induce it, and… he had dreamed of nothing all night.
More than ten years. Since the age of nineteen, this was the soundest sleep he had ever had.
Coming back to himself, Nangong Shiyuan felt somewhat cold. He lowered his head and glanced at the bed, then paused.
Where was the bedding?
He looked down beside the bed, and his eyelid immediately twitched.
The quilt that had originally been lying properly on the bed had all ended up on the floor, and a snow-white little dumpling was sprawled on top of it, sleeping like a log.
The shouting outside seemed to have woken her as well. Her little mouth, which had been hanging open, slowly closed. She was as lazy as a piglet as she rolled over onto the bedding, stuck her little bottom up in the air, and wriggled around. Only then did she reluctantly open her eyes.
Still groggy, she sat up and looked at herself, then at Daddy on the bed.
She blinked her round, bright eyes. After thinking for a moment with her not-too-bright little head, she mumbled, “Daddy, how did I end up down here?”
The little one genuinely did not understand.
Nangong Shiyuan: “……”
Shouldn’t you be asking yourself that?
He was silent for two seconds before reaching out and lifting the little thing back onto the bed.
“Do you still want to sleep?”
Su Xiaobao flailed her limbs as she sprawled across Daddy’s thigh. Stretching out her body and craning her little neck, she looked outside the window.
“It’s not even light yet. Daddy, you’re not sleeping anymore?”
Nangong Shiyuan answered with an indifferent hum. “I have to attend the morning court.”
“Then Xiaobao will get up too.”
Muttering, she rubbed her eyes and yawned.
“After washing my face, Xiaobao will be awake.”
Nangong Shiyuan hauled the bedding back onto the bed as well. Looking down at the little thing lying across his legs, he found his mind returning to what had happened the previous day.
He had been about to succumb to an attack the previous night, but had somehow regained consciousness. He had also somehow fallen asleep and had not dreamed at all.
Was it a coincidence?
Nangong Shiyuan did not believe so. The only unusual thing about the previous night had been this little thing—his daughter.
“Your Majesty.”
Fuhai’s voice from outside interrupted Nangong Shiyuan’s thoughts. He closed his eyes, concealing the thoughts in their depths, and stood up.
“Enter.”
His voice was as cold as ice, without the slightest trace of emotion.
However, when Fuhai heard that voice from outside, he let out a sigh of relief. He wiped away the cold sweat that nervousness had brought to his forehead. If His Majesty had not answered soon, he would have had no choice but to barge in.
Fuhai immediately led the palace attendants inside in a steady stream. He kept his head lowered and did not dare look directly at his master’s face, but unexpectedly found himself meeting a pair of round, clear eyes filled with curiosity.
Fuhai: “!!!”
How could there be someone else in His Majesty’s bedchamber?!
He had weathered countless storms at Nangong Shiyuan’s side and had always considered himself steady. He thought that, apart from His Majesty, no one could cause his emotions to fluctuate greatly.
But now, why was there a child in His Majesty’s bedchamber? And she was even on His Majesty’s bed—and had not been thrown out!
All sorts of thoughts turned over and over in Fuhai’s mind. As the Chief Eunuch, he quickly regained his composure, but inside, he was desperate to know what was going on. He did not dare show any of it on his face.
“Your Majesty, the ministers are all waiting.”
Nangong Shiyuan gave a faint hum. He spread his arms, and a palace maid immediately stepped forward to help him change.
“Prepare breakfast and attend to the Little Princess’s washing.”
“Yes.”
Fuhai hurriedly signaled for the palace maids to dress Su Xiaobao and wash her face.
“I’ll do it myself. Xiaobao can do it herself.”
The little one was very proud. She could put on her own clothes, wash her own face, and rinse her own mouth.
There were no clothes for her at present. How could there possibly be children’s clothes in Nangong Shiyuan’s bedchamber? The palace attendants had not prepared any in advance either, so they had to go to Changxin Palace, where Xiaobao had lived before, to fetch some.
Xiaobao wrung out the washcloth herself and washed her face, then brushed her teeth with sweet-smelling tooth powder.
After she had finished all that, she saw that Daddy seemed about to leave. She hurriedly planted her bare, pale feet on the floor and wrapped her arms around him.
At the sight, Fuhai’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head. The other palace attendants also stole curious glances. Even with their heads lowered, the astonishment on their faces was impossible to conceal.
“Daddy, where are you going? Aren’t you taking Xiaobao with you?”
The little dumpling’s soft, childish voice made everyone’s mouths fall open and their eyes widen.
How had she dared to do that?!
That was what everyone was thinking at that moment. More than that, they were worried whether His Majesty would throw the little girl away in the next instant.
Their His Majesty was cold and heartless, indifferent to human feelings. Forget the Little Princess—even the princes in the palace had never once been held by him.
During the few seconds in which Fuhai and the others waited in terror, countless thoughts raced through their minds. It seemed as though they could see, in the next instant, the tiny little bundle being flung away.
But after several seconds passed, their cold and heartless His Majesty not only did not throw away the child clinging to his leg—he picked her up instead.
He picked her up!!!
Although the way he did it looked more like lifting her by the scruff, that alone was shocking enough.