Kengkeng sniffed and suddenly pointed at Shen Weiwan's nose: "Bad mother! Sugar and spicy!"

Xiao Yu heard this when he came in through the curtains. Looking at his son's swollen lips and Shen Weiwan's stifled laughter, he shook his head helplessly: "Using chili candy to coax your son again? Look, his tongue is red from the spiciness."

"This is called practical training!" Shen Weiwan raised an eyebrow to help Kengkeng calm down, "How else can we deal with those lingering remnants of the Liu family? We can't wait until they put a knife to our necks before reacting, right?"

Xiao Yu picked up Kenkeng and looked at the candy stains on his mouth, feeling both amused and helpless. "Can you use honey candy next time? Look at his little face, it's as spicy as a red apple."

"I know, I know," Shen Weiwan curled her lips and poked her pitted cheek with her fingertips, "Next time, use pepper candy to numb them so that they can't say anything bad."

"You..." Xiao Yu sighed helplessly, but couldn't help laughing. He knew that as long as Shen Weiwan was there, there would be no peace in the Prince's Mansion, but this chaotic life was a hundred times more comfortable than following the rules in the palace.

As he was speaking, a young eunuch from the Empress Dowager's palace came running in breathlessly, his hat tilted askew: "Seventh Prince Consort, the Empress Dowager invites you to the Cining Palace. She says she has made some new non-spicy jujube paste milk cakes and has also prepared a gold and jade rattle."

When Kengkeng heard there was food, he immediately jumped into Xiao Yu's arms: "Grandma! Gao Gao! Gu!"

Shen Weiwan looked at her son's back as he crawled out and said to Xiao Yu, "Look, your mother loves him, unlike you who only knows how to nag him."

Xiao Yu scratched her nose, his fingertips touching her delicate skin: "Yes, yes, my Weiwei loves her son the most, but her way of loving him is different from others. She always gives him chili candy as a reward."

The two smiled at each other. The copper stove in the warm room was burning brightly, making the scattered hair on Shen Weiwan's temples shine. Suddenly, outside the window, there was a shout from Hekeng. He ran to the corner door and turned back, gesturing with his chubby hands: "Mom! Next time you make me green tea, use the itching powder that grandma gave me! Sprinkle it on her neck!"

Shen Weiwan was stunned for a moment, then laughed and slapped her thigh: "Okay! Mom listens to you!"

Xiao Yu held his forehead, watching his son's back as he ran away, feeling helpless yet doting. "It seems his ability to trick people has truly surpassed his father." He couldn't help but laugh as he recalled how Keng Keng had stuffed sand into his boots a few days ago, and now he'd learned to use itching powder. "I'll have to carry protective gear with me when I go out from now on."

At that moment, in the Shuntian Prefecture prison, Liu Qingqing was rolling on the ground, clutching her stomach. The spiciness of the chili candy hadn't worn off yet, but her voice had already been hoarse from her shouting. She couldn't understand how a swindler like her, a country swindler, could fall prey to a child. The water in the prince's mansion was much deeper than the dry well back home.

Shen Weiwan stretched lazily and said to Chuntao, "Go to the account office and withdraw five taels of silver. Ask the kitchen to add a squirrel mandarin fish dish tonight, and stew a pot of rock sugar and snow pear to cool down the pit, to celebrate my son's victory in the first battle!"

"Oh!" Chuntao responded with a smile, thinking to herself that she had to hide the chili candy higher up at night so that the little prince wouldn't get it.

The setting sun dyed the eaves of the Prince's Mansion golden. When Xiao Yu came back with Kengkeng in his arms, the little guy was holding the gold ingot given by the Queen Mother, which was still stained with date paste. "Mom! Grandma, give me money to buy candy!" He stuffed the ingot into Shen Weiwan's hand, and his palm was full of sticky candy stains.

Shen Weiwan took the ingot and raised her eyebrows at Xiao Yu: "Look, your mother is still generous, unlike you, who even hides a candied fruit."

Xiao Yu pulled out an oil-paper bag from his sleeve pocket. Inside was a crystal-clear sweet osmanthus preserve. "I prepared it for you a long time ago. I knew you would keep talking about it."

"You have a conscience." Shen Weiwan peeled one and put it in her mouth. The sweetness mixed with the fragrance of osmanthus filled her mouth.

The family of three sat around a round table. Henkeng tapped his bowl with a silver spoon and told a story in his baby voice about the fun things he had experienced in the Empress Dowager's palace. He said that the Empress Dowager had given him a gold-inlaid jade rattle, but he had used it to hit a young eunuch on the head. Xiao Yu picked up a piece of fish for Shen Weiwan and watched his wife and children smile with their eyebrows curved. His heart felt like it was soaked in warm water, warm and soft.

Perhaps this was the life he wanted, without the intrigues of the court, only the quarrels at home. As for those blind clowns, let them come. He believed that with Shen Weiwan and Keng Keng around, any trouble would become a snack in life.

Late at night, Henkeng fell asleep in Shen Weiwan's arms, mumbling "green tea" in his little mouth. Shen Weiwan tucked the corners of the quilt for him, looked at his chubby little face, and said to Xiao Yu beside him: "Do you think that when Henkeng takes the imperial examination in the future, will he make the examiner's beard fall off?"

Xiao Yu put his arm around her shoulders and looked at the bright moonlight outside the window: "With his ability, maybe he can do it. But it's better that way, so he won't be bullied."

"Of course," Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows proudly, "Don't you see who his mother is? She even dared to trick the emperor back then."

The two whispered quietly, the only sound in the warm room being the flickering candlelight. The Prince's palace's nights might occasionally bring uninvited guests, but more often than not, they were filled with warm moments like this, like a jar of aged daughter's red wine, the more you savor it, the more delicious it becomes. And those who sought to harm them ultimately became the lees in the wine, easily filtered out, leaving only the mellow sweetness.