“All right, let’s start our little brain game now. You’d better listen carefully.”
“What has a head and a tail, but walks only by swaying?”
After hearing this, the two of them lowered their heads, deep in thought.
“I’ll give you a hint—it’s an animal.”
Xiao Zimo whispered softly, “Sway, sway… what sways… tail?”
Xiao Zian’s eyes lit up. He jumped up and shouted, “I know! A fish! It’s a fish, right?”
“Hehehe, very good, that’s the correct answer,” Shen Jingyi said, raising her thumb in approval.
Xiao Zian scratched his head and laughed, “Hehe, I was able to guess it so quickly, but Third Brother also deserves some credit.”
Xiao Zimo pouted, looking a bit smug: “Hehe, next time I won’t say anything first. I was almost about to guess it myself!”
“All right, all right, Stepmother Consort, let’s continue playing.”
Xiao Zimo, still unwilling to admit defeat, urged Shen Jingyi to give the next question quickly.
“No problem, listen carefully to the next one.”
“There’s a poisonous snake in the forest, but it never bites anyone. Why is that?”
Xiao Zimo immediately said, “I know, because it’s become a spirit, so it doesn’t bite people.”
“No, keep guessing,” Shen Jingyi shook her head.
Everyone in and around the pavilion was thinking about the question.
Why doesn’t the snake bite anyone?
Xiao Zian suggested another possibility:
“Maybe it’s because anyone passing through the forest has applied snake repellent, so the snake doesn’t dare bite.”
Shen Jingyi still shook her head with a smile, indicating that wasn’t the correct answer either.
At this moment, Xiao Tingting suddenly spoke: “Snakes bite people. It bit Tingting, ouch.”
Xia Zhu, standing next to Shen Jingyi, heard the little princess and her eyes lit up as if she had thought of something.
Excitedly, she said, “Stepmother Consort, I know the answer!”
“Oh? Then tell me.”
Xia Zhu confidently answered, “Because there’s actually no one in the forest.”
Shen Jingyi smiled and nodded. “Correct! Here’s a reward of one tael of silver.”
Hearing there was silver as a reward, Xia Zhu thanked her happily: “Thank you for the reward, Mistress.”
The others, hearing that Xia Zhu received a reward, were also excited—it meant if they answered correctly, they might get one too.
Everyone perked up, waiting for the next question.
Shen Jingyi, however, ignored their thoughts and happily lifted Xiao Tingting’s little face, kissed her forehead, and said with a smile, “Our Tingting is so smart, even giving hints.”
Xia Zhu also smiled and bowed to Xiao Tingting. “Thank you, little princess.” The whole scene was filled with cheerful laughter.
It really was just a hint—there’s no one in the garden, so who would the snake bite? When the little princess went to pick flowers, that’s when she got bitten.
Xiao Tingting was a bit confused; she hadn’t said anything—snakes just bite people.
“All right, here comes the next question.”
“What’s the first thing we should do to make a dream come true?”
This question was deliberately easy. As soon as Shen Jingyi finished speaking, Xiao Zimo immediately jumped up and shouted, “Wake up!”
“Correct! Congratulations, Zimo, you got it right.”
Xiao Zimo said confidently, “Piece of cake. I can answer the next ones too.”
Shen Jingyi, however, didn’t give another question. Instead, she looked outside and said, “Our kites have arrived. Let’s go fly them. We’ll continue the questions at noon.”
It was just too hot at noon to fly kites.
Sure enough, when everyone looked outside, Qiukui and Xia Xue each had two kites in hand and walked briskly over.
Shen Jingyi looked at the snacks on the table and said to Chuntao, “Chuntao, distribute these snacks to everyone.”
Everyone happily thanked her because there were many people, so each could get a piece.
These pastries were something people around Shen Jingyi often got to eat.
So first, they offered various pastries to the little masters’ attendants to choose their favorite flavors. Once everyone had picked, the remaining pastries would be divided among themselves.
Once the table was cleared, the kites were laid out. The colorful and bright kites were very eye-catching.
They were in the shapes of two butterflies, a dragonfly, an eagle, and a fish.
As soon as Xiao Zimo’s eyes fell on the eagle kite, he immediately grabbed it tightly, unwilling to let go.
“Stepmother Consort, I want this one.”
Shen Jingyi smiled and nodded. “Okay, then you can fly the eagle!”
Then she turned to Xiao Zian and softly asked, “Zian, which one do you want?”
Xiao Zian’s gaze hovered between the remaining butterfly and fish kites. In the end, he chose the fish kite.
Shen Jingyi looked at the remaining two butterflies and said to the eager Xiao Tingting, “Tingting, how about this butterfly kite?”
She placed a butterfly kite in her hands.
Xiao Tingting was overjoyed, holding the kite with delight, and said, “Yes, yes, I like butterflies—they’re so pretty.”
Shen Jingyi felt that was still not enough, so she suggested, “Let’s have a contest to see whose kite flies first and highest!”
Xiao Zian immediately responded, “Okay! Can we ask others for help?”
Shen Jingyi generously replied, “Of course! If you couldn’t ask for help and later complained I was bullying you, that wouldn’t be good.”
Hearing this, Xiao Zimo giggled and said, “Don’t worry, definitely not! I’ll find a place first.”
He ran off impatiently with the kite in his arms, shouting to Shunzi behind him, “Shunzi, hurry up! Let’s go fly our kites!”
Xiao Zian quickly shouted, “Third Brother, that’s cheating!” But before finishing, he also ran after him.
“Jixiang, keep up!”
“Master, don’t run too fast, or you’ll fall,” Xiao Zian’s servant called after them.
For a while, laughter and shouts echoed throughout the courtyard.
“Hahaha, what two impatient ones! Tingting, let’s go too, or we’ll lose.”
“Yes, yes, let’s go fly our kites!”
The group arrived at an open area.
Xiao Zimo’s servant had already started running with the kite.
But the kite flew crookedly for a short distance, then wobbled and fell.
Xiao Zian’s kite had the same result.
Watching the two kites fall one after another, Jingyi laughed and shouted, “You won’t be able to fly them like that. Come here, I’ll teach you.”
Hearing this, everyone came over. They had tried several times and couldn’t get the kites to fly.
They even suspected the kites Shen Jingyi made were faulty.
Now, hearing her say this, they hurried over.
“While running, feel the wind pulling on the string, then slowly let out the line. When the kite starts to fall, pull the line quickly, then let out again when it catches wind. Flying a kite is actually easy. Just follow my instructions and get a feel for it.”
“We understand.”
The two of them ran again with their servants. This time it went better; the kites flew higher before falling.
Shen Jingyi, however, couldn’t run—rules didn’t allow it.
Xiao Tingting was too small to run, so she entrusted Qiukui and Dongxue, who were a bit older, to fly the kites.
After they got the kites airborne, Shen Jingyi took the one from Qiukui and played with it herself.
Xiao Tingting’s was entrusted to Dongxue.
The others watched from the side; there were only four kites, so each of the four children got one.
“Higher! Higher! Pull the string!”
“Master, you can’t let out more line, wait a moment.”
“Oh no, Stepmother Consort’s kite went higher than mine! Pull the string quickly!”
“Master, if you keep letting out line, it will fall. Feel it—you’re almost out of lift.”
“Oh no, the little princess’s kite is falling!”
“No worries, we’ll get it up again. Little Princess, wait a moment. I’ll hold the kite for you first, then you can fly it.”
“Yes, I’ll watch Stepmother Consort. Hers is so high!” Xiao Tingting tilted her head, looking at the sky.
Hearing all this, Shen Jingyi felt happy, with no guilt about treating the children too strictly.
She immersed herself in the joy of flying kites, keeping her eyes on the sky, thinking they could fly even higher.
She didn’t notice the sounds beside her had stopped.
Slowly stepping back, she then realized, “Huh, I ran into a wall… wait, there’s no wall here.”
Turning around in confusion, Shen Jingyi saw the Crown Prince Xuan, whom she hadn’t seen in over ten days, standing there smiling at her.
Oh, it wasn’t a wall she ran into—it was a golden leg.
“Are you bullying the children?”