Chapter 194
Chapter 194
Previously, Xiaosui was taken back to the Second Princess’s palace.
Zhiyu Jiang finally had an opportunity to be alone with Shengsheng Zhou and immediately wrapped her arms around Shengsheng’s waist to act spoiled.
“Shengsheng, where did you find that person? He’s really strange.” Zhiyu pouted.
Shengsheng stroked her hair lovingly and stuffed a large chestnut into her mouth. “What kind of strange? Strangely adorable?”
Zhiyu: “…That joke was cold.”
Shengsheng threw back her head and laughed.
Xiaosui was indeed somewhat suspicious. Ever since he arrived, problems had repeatedly occurred on A-Pang’s end.
But Xiaosui had not done anything evil either. For now, whether he was good or bad remained unclear.
Shengsheng had not wanted to place him beside the female lead so soon, but A-Pang’s condition was truly poor.
“Why did you shoulder-throw him just now?” Shengsheng asked while playing with Zhiyu’s hair.
Zhiyu honestly described what had happened.
Shengsheng paused.
What kind of romance-drama development was this?
She glanced at her precious daughter’s flower-like face and thought, *Surely not.*
Judging by appearances alone, the two belonged to the same type. Two of the same model had no future together.
“Good throw. If he dares flirt with you again, give him a hard slap,” Shengsheng said.
Zhiyu nodded.
Come to think of it, when she first entered the palace in the Zhu Kingdom, she had even fantasized that Weiqing Song might have taken a fancy to her.
Remembering it now…
Dark history. Absolute dark history.
Embarrassed enough to dig a three-bedroom home with her toes, Zhiyu burrowed deeper into Shengsheng’s arms. “Shengsheng, where exactly did my parrot go?”
“And why does that Xiaosui have the exact same name as my parrot?” Zhiyu lifted her head from Shengsheng’s embrace.
Shengsheng: “…” She had forgotten to patch such an enormous bug.
“You can think of Xiaosui as your parrot’s Stand user.”
Zhiyu: “??? What is that?”
“It means ora ora ora ora ora~” Shengsheng played the fool and muddled through.
But Zhiyu was no longer the little fool she used to be. Since becoming State Preceptor, Weiqing had trained her into a remarkably shrewd person.
Especially when it came to dealing with those crafty old ministers trying to dump blame on her.
Since Shengsheng refused to explain, Zhiyu decided to ask Xiaosui herself.
After he returned from becoming a real man.
Meanwhile, Xiaosui, whom she was thinking about–
The Second Princess shoved the flustered, helpless-looking young servant onto the bed and pressed herself over him.
Then her head tilted, and she collapsed on top of Xiaosui.
Xiaosui pushed the deadweight woman off, rose, and straightened his slightly wrinkled robe.
Every trace of his earlier panic and youthful innocence had vanished.
If the Second Princess refused to lend Shengsheng the object needed for the Plot Point “an instrument no one has ever seen,” then how did Shengsheng intend to complete this mission?
Xiaosui rolled a tassel hanging from the bed curtain between his fingers, an intrigued smile curving his lips.
…
“Oh, my precious. You should probably give up on this skill tree.”
Shengsheng took the spectacularly ugly purse Zhiyu had embroidered and teased her.
“Isn’t it pretty?” Zhiyu had discovered embroidery thread in Shengsheng’s room and tried it on a whim. Now she pouted.
“It’s beautiful. Look, that big butt even has two patches of blush. How adorable.” Shengsheng raised a thumb in praise.
Zhiyu: “…That’s a parrot.”
Shengsheng: “…” What kind of parrot looked like a butt?
This was absolutely not the result of her teaching.
Handing it back, Shengsheng said solemnly, “Whatever you do, don’t tell anyone outside that I taught you.”
Zhiyu Jiang pouted. Her gaze landed on the large pile of handkerchiefs. “Those are for the Noble Consort, aren’t they?”
Shengsheng Zhou had already told Zhiyu that she and Fusheng Duan had reconciled.
Of course one shared news of a romance with one’s best friend~
“Mm-hmm. How did you know?” Shengsheng walked over and touched the completed handkerchiefs. A trace of sadness entered her eyes. Because of her identity, she had embroidered them in secret and could only keep them inside this hidden room, which no one was permitted to enter under pain of death.
“I’ve seen the bluebird pattern many times. But…”
Zhiyu remembered something.
“After you ‘died,’ I rarely saw him use it again.”
Shengsheng nodded, looking at the handkerchiefs with gentle eyes. “Mm. I know.”
After all, he had not had many left in reserve.
“All right, you should leave the palace now. I need to visit the Fifth Princess. Do you remember what I just told you about Imperial Father’s birthday banquet?” Shengsheng repeated herself as though prepared to explain everything again if Zhiyu missed a single word.
Zhiyu hurriedly waved her hands. “I heard you clearly. I should go. Goodbye, Shengsheng.”
She scurried away, looking faintly panicked. Yet the instant she stepped through the door, every emotion vanished. Her back straightened, and she assumed the profound, otherworldly air of an exiled immortal.
As expected, Shengsheng heard several young palace maids suck in sharp breaths.
Well, then.
It would have been a terrible waste if Zhiyu had never pretended to be a man.
Jian Zhang truly ought to study her. This was real expression management.
But Siran Ming had already been delivered. Why had Jian Zhang not returned?
Meanwhile, the person she was thinking about–
Jian Zhang, who had “accidentally” injured himself, lay in bed and looked guiltily at the refreshing young woman before him. Her long hair was tied high, and she wore no scent of cosmetics. “Miss Rong Li, I apologize for troubling you.”
Rong Li wanted to ask whether he could take his own medicine by now. But when she saw the man suddenly cough as though half his life had left him, she silently swallowed the words.
Forget it. They had once been comrades in adversity, hiding in a bamboo grove while watching Miss Shengsheng plan a spectacular lightning-strike performance.
She would endure.
…
The instant Zhiyu stepped into her residence, she heard a familiar voice.
“Master, welcome back.”
The gray-robed youth stood nearby. When Zhiyu looked his way, an exceptionally pure smile rose on his face.
Zhiyu blinked. “Weren’t you taken away by the Second Princess?”
Xiaosui straightened and answered with perfect respect. “The Second Princess said I was stupid and incapable of serving her, so she sent me back.”
Zhiyu studied him from head to toe.
Under Xiaosui’s baffled gaze, she rose onto her toes and patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know before that you weren’t a man.”
Then she casually tossed him something. “Take this as compensation, and to celebrate your successful transformation into a real man.” Her expression was perfectly serious.
Ah, she had finally disposed of that ugly purse.
Xiaosui blinked. ??
He stood frozen, looking as though he had no idea what had happened.
When Zhiyu’s figure disappeared into the distance, he looked down at the object she had shoved into his hand.
It was an ugly purse. When he turned it over, an odd pattern appeared on its surface.
“A blushing butt?” Xiaosui raised a brow.
He lifted the purse to his nose and sniffed it. His expression became strange.
Blank and confused.
Then, with an unfamiliar gentleness in his movements, he put the purse away.
This was the first gift anyone had ever given him.