Father came so soon? Li Hong was a little confused. It seemed that he came straight to his mother's place after the court session. He didn't know whether Xiaohan had delivered the popsicles.

As Li Zhi appeared in front of Li Hong, his doubts were dispelled. But what surprised him was that Li Zhi was actually holding a popsicle in his hand, eating it with relish, making sucking sounds from time to time, and it was obvious that he was enjoying this new thing that was refreshing and cooling.

"Zhaoyi, come and see what good stuff I have brought you. This thing tastes cool and refreshing. It's rare that Hong'er is so filial. He is worthy of being my son. This thing... huh? Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong?" Li Zhi said as he walked. He looked at Wu Mei hugging Li Hong. Both of them showed surprised and strange expressions on their faces.

Seeing the obvious smiles in the two people's eyes, Li Zhi lowered his head somewhat unnaturally and looked at his clothes. There was nothing wrong with it. Why were the mother and son looking at him like that?

Wu Mei looked at Li Zhi's silly look, with some paper scraps still on the corner of his mouth, and burst out laughing. She slapped Li Hong on the butt and scolded him with a smile: "Look at what you have done. You have made your father look bad."

Li Zhi still looked puzzled and asked, "Why did Zhaoyi speak like that?"

Wu Mei pushed Li Hong away from her arms, stopped smiling, walked up to Li Zhi and saluted. She first gently wiped the paper scraps from the corners of Li Zhi's mouth, then slowly took the half-eaten popsicle in Li Zhi's hand and handed it to Yang Wu next to her.

Wu Mei sighed and said, "Your Fifth Prince has embarrassed you and doesn't even realize it. This popsicle, you have to tear off the outer paper before you can eat it." After saying that, she turned around and took out another popsicle from the basket, carefully peeled off the thin white paper on the outside, and then handed it to Li Zhi: "This is how you should eat it."

Li Zhi was obviously slow to react. He took the popsicle from Wu Mei and muttered, "No wonder it always feels sticky and not very refreshing when I suck it."

...

...

Li Hong was looking at the two people with a sly grin while holding a popsicle in his mouth. Li Zhi didn't care, nor did he care that eating the paper outside the popsicle would be disrespectful to the emperor. Even if he felt it, he could just laugh it off in front of his favorite prince. So he waved to Li Hong lovingly, signaling him to come over.

Li Hong walked up to him and saluted obediently: "Your son Li Hong greets the emperor."

"Tell father, you made this yourself?" Li Zhi bent down and stroked Li Hong's head, his eyes full of satisfaction and pride. He really gave birth to a smart prince who gave him surprises everywhere these days.

"Yes, father, this is what I saw that day during the Menghua and Grain in Ear Festivals. Oh, my servant was holding ice cubes in his mouth to cool off, and suddenly I thought if adding some sugar would make it taste better, so I made this popsicle." Li Hong said honestly, with a smile on his pink face.

"My son is smarter than me. Such a simple yet practical food has never been discovered by anyone..."

"Smart? I think he's just a complete foodie. Why don't you ask him how much candy he took from the Shangshi Bureau?" Although Wu Mei poured cold water on him, Li Hong's intelligence had obviously made her proud to the core.

As a mother, Wu Mei was naturally proud of her clever and intelligent child. Moreover, having such a son was the real foundation for her to gain a foothold in the harem. Not only did she know how to please her father, she also knew how to give gifts to Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao.

With such a benevolent and filial behavior, no one in the harem would think that he was ostracizing Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shufei. And he could rely on Li Hong to achieve his goal more legitimately.

When Li Hong heard his mother say this, he knew that there was no reward to be asked for in front of his father. Even if there was, it would probably be rejected by his mother. She would say something like "The Prince of Dai is still young and needs to learn to be frugal. Don't spoil him with too many rewards. Let's talk about it when he grows up."

Seeing that his father had no intention of rewarding him, Li Hong lifted the curtain of his mother's bedroom. Little Li Xian should be sleeping at this moment. He hadn't seen him for a long time, so he went to see him.

A maid who was obviously Wu Mei's personal maid was sitting next to him guarding the sleeping Li Xian. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around hurriedly. When she saw it was the King of Dai, she immediately stood up and saluted.

Li Hong stretched out his hand to signal her to excuse herself, and walked quietly to the bedside. He looked at Li Xian who was sleeping soundly and mumbling, as if he had dreamed of something delicious. A small bubble was spitting out of his mouth.

Li Hong was curious, so he stretched out his little finger and gently popped the small bubble, then turned his head and looked at the palace maid with a sly giggle.

"Was I like this when I was a child?" Li Hong touched Li Xian's little nose, little hands and feet, and then mischievously put his little finger to Li Xian's mouth for Li Xian to suck.

The maid looked at Li Hong's self-satisfied prank, smiled, and replied to Li Hong: "I am not so lucky. When you were a child, you were served by Xiazhi and Bailu."

"Oh, that's right. The question I asked was very stupid." Li Hong patted his head and said self-deprecatingly, which made the palace maid next to him laugh.

Wu Mei and Li Zhi were sitting in the outer hall talking. Li Zhi glanced around and saw that Li Hong was gone. He couldn't help but ask, "Where is Hong'er? Doesn't he want me to reward him?"

After Li Zhi's reminder, Wu Mei also noticed that the wild boy had disappeared at some point, but seeing that his maid was still waiting, she turned to look at her own maid.

Seeing Wu Mei looking at her and asking, the maid said respectfully, "Prince Dai, he..."

"Ah...wow...wow." Before the palace maid could finish her words, the loud cries of little Li Xian were heard from Wu Mei's bedroom.

When Wu Mei heard this, black lines suddenly appeared on her jade-white forehead. She gritted her teeth and said angrily, "This wild boy is teasing Xian'er again, Li Hong...!"

Before he finished speaking, the bedroom door curtain suddenly lifted up, and the wild boy ran out like a gust of wind. His short legs were like a whirlwind, and before Wu Mei and Li Zhi could react, the wild boy had already run to the palace gate, shouting anxiously, "Xia Zhi, Xiao Han, run!"

It was obviously not the first time that the two palace maids were called to an "emergency assembly" by the King of Dai. Xia Zhi and Xiao Han were shaking like sieves, and it was not known whether their faces were pale due to nervousness or because they felt ashamed of their master's wretched image. In short, they were three parts nervous and seven parts embarrassed. After hastily saluted Li Zhi and Wu Mei, they ran out in a hurry to chase the figure that was getting smaller and smaller.

Wu Mei looked at Li Hong's back as he disappeared at the door. She stood up angrily and walked to the door and shouted, "Li Hong, come back here. You're making me so angry. Don't let me catch you. Your Majesty..."

"Hahaha...hahaha...haha, interesting, interesting, interesting." Li Zhi still saw the interesting scene of Li Hong's hasty escape. He laughed breathlessly, and tears came out of his eyes. He gasped and said, "What a strange boy. He has the demeanor of his grandfather. I, Li Zhi, am worthy of my ancestors. I thought I had a weak character, but Zhaoyi, you gave birth to an excellent prince for me."

Wu Mei looked at Li Zhi, whose face was flushed with excitement, and showed her rare little girlish behavior. She stamped her feet and said angrily, "I am almost confused by this wild boy, and you still have the mind to laugh at my joke."

"Haha, this little devil, just let him run away. Let Shangguan Yi teach him a good lesson tomorrow. He still needs to learn the royal etiquette." Li Zhi was obviously trying to please Wu Mei. From his expression, it was clear that he liked such a prince very much. Just like his royal brother Qingque in front of their father, smart and studious, but he did not respect etiquette.

Li Zhi wanted to learn to be as free and easy as Qingque, but his weak character prevented him from disrespecting dogma like his elder brother. Moreover, he had been with his father since his mother passed away and had no such opportunity to release his nature. Seeing Li Hong like this, he was envious from the bottom of his heart.

The palace maid who was guarding Li Xian was obviously used to Li Hong teasing her younger brother, and she had taken every precaution in the bedroom just now, but failed to prevent Prince Dai from making Prince Lu Li Xian cry.

At this moment, he hurried out with the crying Li Xian in his arms. Seeing Wu Mei still standing at the palace gate angry at Li Hong, he didn't know what to do. He only heard Li Zhi say, "Bring Xian'er here. I will comfort this little guy."

The maidservant hurriedly and obediently carried Li Xian to Li Zhi. Li Zhi took it with both hands, swaying and shaking his arms, and said softly: "Xian'er is good, Hong'er is bad, Hong'er's brother is a big bad guy, he made the baby cry again, right? When father catches him, father will punish him for you, Xian'er, don't cry."

Wu Mei leaned against the door and looked at the father and son with both anger and amusement. She knew of course that Li Zhi's words just now were just a perfunctory way for him to punish Li Hong, but she felt the same way in her heart. If Hong'er could be the only one to receive the favor of His Majesty, it would be a great help to her.

Wu Mei shook her head helplessly and walked towards the door. She had used all her tricks on Li Hong, but none of them worked on that brat.

Li Hong has been staying in his palace these days. He is either on his way to Hongwenguan or on his way back to the palace. In short, apart from making popsicles, he never goes out of the house.

After sending popsicles to Queen Wang and Concubine Xiao Shu, he never sent popsicles to Yule again. The next day, the concubines in the harem also prepared small gifts for him and sent them to him by the palace maids.

Concubine Xiao Shu sent her eldest daughter Princess Yi Yang to deliver the ice cream. When she left, Yi Yang took away a basket of ice cream for free. Although Li Hong's ice cream was only provided free of charge to the concubines in the harem, other palace maids and eunuchs had to buy it with money.

Yangwu was the most aggrieved one among them. Li Hong sold it to others for two cents, but sold it to him for ten cents. Even so, Yangwu still felt it was good and was happy every day.

When he found out that he sold it to others for two cents and sold it to himself for ten cents, he felt very aggrieved and had a deeper understanding of the vindictive character of the King of Dai. But before he could go to the King of Dai to argue, the King of Dai found him first.