Chapter 27 Huanbi Awakens

"It's just red and green, very tacky. I hope Fourth Prince will forgive me."

When Huanbi was asked such a gentle question by Hongli, she couldn't help but feel a lump in her throat. She thought of the emperor's words and couldn't help but laugh at herself.

"Tacky?" Hongli suddenly realized and comforted him, "Some people don't like red and green together, so they think it looks bad. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone's aesthetic is different, so naturally their opinions will be different. I think it looks pretty good."

"Fourth Prince, there's no need to comfort me."

Looking at the upright and dignified Fourth Prince, Huanbi felt even more inferior. At this moment, she suddenly understood An Lingrong's humble and timid behavior in front of the young master.

"How am I trying to comfort you? It's like how I love the flowers in spring; most of them are red blossoms with green leaves, so who can say they aren't beautiful?"

Gradually touched by Hongli's gentle attitude, Huanbi felt a warm glow in her heart and couldn't help but agree: "Yes, who can say that spring flowers aren't beautiful?"

"It's good that Miss Huanbi is thinking this way," Hongli said with a relieved smile. "These clothes are meant to be worn. As long as you like them and they're comfortable, that's all that matters. Why care about what others think? Besides, clothes are just external things. Compared to clothes, I think a person's inner qualities are more important..."

...

"My lady, Huanbi is back."

Zhen Huan was still angry and didn't react to Liu Zhu's words. However, Huan Bi, who had run out crying, returned quietly.

Upon returning, he knelt before her, looking quite ashamed. "My lady, I was wrong."

Zhen Huan was surprised for a moment, but more doubtful and suspicious. She looked coldly at Huan Bi, wanting to see what kind of act Huan Bi was putting on this time.

With the tapioca flour incident just over, could it be that Cao Qinmo has given her another idea?

"My lady, this servant, this servant..."

Huanbi looked at the servants in the hall, hesitant to speak. Seeing this, Zhen Huan waved them away, saying, "Say what you want to say."

Huanbi gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her face as she apologized, "My lady, I was bewitched, I was wrong."

After saying that, he started kowtowing to the ground with a thud, startling Zhen Huan. "What are you doing?"

"My lady, it's all my fault. That tapioca flour earlier, it was me, it was me who listened to Consort Xiang and brought it back..."

Although she had suspected it before, Zhen Huan still felt a chill run down her spine when Huanbi actually admitted it, and questioned, "Have I been bad to you? Why did you do this?"

Huanbi, tears streaming down her face, explained, "My lady, it's all my fault. I secretly burned paper money for my birth mother before, and Consort Xiang caught me doing that. She threatened me to obey her, and kept saying, saying..."

Not expecting such a thing to happen, Zhen Huan pressed, "What did you say now?"

"She also said that only if I listen to her, she can help me become a concubine and bring honor to my birth mother. My lady, my birth mother is the person I care about most in this life. So I made this mistake in a moment of weakness."

Huanbi spoke evasively, but Zhen Huan understood her meaning, and her heart was filled with mixed feelings. After all, Huanbi was her half-sister, and because of her status as the daughter of a disgraced official, neither she nor her birth mother could be seen in public.

Zhen Huan could understand her thoughts. Although she was still unhappy, she also understood that Huan Bi was unaware that she knew her identity and it was possible that she was trying to find her own way out on her own.

In order to completely win over Huanbi and eliminate any future worries, Zhen Huan changed her mind and decided to confess the matter.

“I understand your filial piety, but Huanbi, your status as your birth mother is indeed difficult to handle.”

Huanbi wasn't someone who couldn't understand words; upon hearing this, she looked at Zhen Huan in shock.

“Huanbi, you should call me elder sister.”

"Elder sister..."

Huanbi threw herself onto Zhen Huan's knees and wept bitterly, but her eyes, buried in Zhen Huan's legs, were completely indifferent.

For some reason, after exchanging a few words with the Fourth Prince, she seemed to be enlightened, and all her past inappropriate behaviors came to mind. Knowing her awkward situation, she realized that confessing to Zhen Huan was her only way out.

However, Zhen Huan was still somewhat surprised when she learned the truth, but only for a moment. What lingered in her mind was Zhen Huan's actions of treating her as a servant even though she knew she was her sister, and Zhen Yuandao's behavior and hypocritical face of turning her into a maidservant by the side of the legitimate daughter without hesitation.

Huanbi's heart was filled with hatred for the Zhen family, Zhen Yuandao, and Zhen Huan, but for the moment she could only feign compliance. In the past, her ambition had been too overt, making her a laughingstock in the eyes of others. From now on, she would assess the situation and proceed slowly.

The Fourth Prince is right. External things don't mean anything; what matters is one's inner qualities. She will study hard and grow well...

As soon as the Fourth Prince Hongli returned to his courtyard, the two little systems couldn't wait to pounce on him.

"master!"

Li Yu, who was in charge of looking after a cat and a dog, was very flustered when she saw the cat and dog suddenly pounce on her brother.

"It's alright." Hongli waved away Li Yu, who was trying to approach, and hugged the kitten and Shiba Inu into his arms. "Shuanghua and Shuangju missed me, didn't they?"

"Meow--"

"Woof woof—"

The cat and dog snuggled affectionately into Hongli's arms.

Seeing that his master didn't mind, Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief as he carried the two young masters into the house. However, he was still glared at sternly by Wang Ren, who was following behind.

"Master, the book has been placed on the table for you."

"Okay, go downstairs. I'll stay with Shuanghua and Shuangju for a while."

Once everyone else was in the hall, the cat and dog began meowing impatiently. Of course, to others, it was just a cat meowing and a dog barking, but to Hongli, it sounded like two little systems talking to him.

That's right, this cat and dog are the embodiment of System 555 and System 556.

Originally, Hongli had accumulated a lot of points from the System Bureau. However, on the one hand, the System Bureau held them accountable and shut down the 555 points mall; on the other hand, Hongli had already taken everything he was interested in from the System Bureau's treasure trove.

Therefore, the existing points were practically useless, so Hongli invested them all in the skins of the two small systems, causing the skin levels to skyrocket, to the point that the two small systems could appear in the small world as physical entities.

Since they've been materialized, they can't just keep calling each other 555 and 556. So initially, Hongli planned to name them Xiaobai and Xiaoju. But the two little systems firmly rejected this, arguing that they couldn't embarrass him and needed to showcase his literary talent, so they racked their brains to come up with names themselves.

555 transforms into a white cat and is renamed Shuanghua; 556 transforms into a Shiba Inu and is renamed Shuangju. In reality, these are just slightly more elegant names for white and orange.

[Meow - Host, host, why did you give the Rationality Aura to Huanbi?]

Although they now have physical forms, Hongli has not revoked their corresponding permissions, so they can still see what is happening around him.

Not only was Shuanghua curious, but Shuangju's tone also revealed a hint of jealousy: "Woof woof - that's right, this is the first time Master has used his 'Charming Person' points to redeem something from the shop, and he gave it to her?"

Hongli skillfully petted the cat with one hand and the dog with the other. "It was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. Don't you think it'll be interesting? A foolish, ambitious personal maidservant, unnoticed by anyone, becomes a sharp knife. Who will get hurt then? Unexpected developments are what make things interesting—"