143. Seemingly a compliment, but actually a sarcasm.

The brother and sister's faces scrunched up like bitter gourds.

The little dumpling sniffed: "It's fine if the Grand Tutor punishes Yue'er! Don't punish Second Brother..."

The second brother was moved to tears upon hearing this.

Good sister, you're truly loyal!

No wonder you're with him!

He quickly shielded his sister behind him, saying, "It's not my sister's fault! I forced her to ask for it!"

"It was Yue'er's own choice!"

"It was my idea!"

The two little ones argued and insisted on admitting their guilt, which made Qu Zijin's head ache even more.

He rubbed his temples, watching the brother and sister protecting each other, feeling both annoyed and amused.

“Since neither of you is willing to tell the truth,” he said, raising the ruler, “then we shall all be punished together.”

“I’ll accept the punishment!” The second brother turned his head and stretched out his hand with a generous and calm expression.

If you ignore the way he turned his head away with his eyes tightly shut, he does seem quite brave.

Faced with a naughty child, Qu Zijin finally used the ruler for the first time.

"Smack!"

The ruler struck his palm, and the second brother winced in pain, yelling, "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

The little dumpling trembled, tentatively reaching out its hand, and, imitating its second brother, closed its eyes in fear.

The ruler gently tapped her palm, but hesitated to fall.

"Alright," Qu Zijin put away the ruler, "Considering your young age, I'll punish you by making you copy the book three times. As for you—"

He looked at his second brother: "Twenty times."

"Go copy it now," Qu Zijin was still angry. "You're not allowed to have lunch until you finish copying it."

-

The two little ones slunk to the desk, looking like two little dogs soaked by the rain.

After all that fuss, it was getting late, so the little princess and the little prince arrived at the Wenhua Palace.

The two heard about what had just happened from the palace servants, and when they looked up, they saw two pitiful little creatures, one big and one small, copying books.

"You two have gotten into trouble again?" the little princess asked, leaning closer.

The young prince strolled over with his hands behind his back, looking like a little adult: "As expected, you've done something incredibly stupid again, angering the Grand Tutor."

The second brother immediately bristled: "What do you mean 'again'! This time...this time..."

He hesitated for a long time, then suddenly slumped down in dejection.

The little dumpling whispered in protest, "It wasn't Second Brother's fault..."

“Who else could it be but him?” the little princess said with certainty. “That’s such a stupid idea.”

The young prince nodded in agreement: "It must be another stupid idea he came up with."

The little dumpling was very sad.

Is her idea really that stupid?

[Task Completed]

You've successfully caused Jin Lizhi a lot of trouble.

Thanks to your brilliant idea and masterful execution, Kim Yee-ji has been punished.

[Reward Received: Basic Healing Talisman]

The system's unexpected task completion notification dealt another blow to the little dumpling.

It looks like a compliment, but it's actually pure mockery.

The little dumpling's eyes reddened, and her little mouth twitched; she really wanted to cry.

She clearly intended to help her second brother at first...

She lowered her head and wiped away her tears with her small hands: "Waaah, it was Yue'er... it was Yue'er's stupid idea..."

The classroom fell silent instantly.

The little princess and the little prince stared in disbelief at the little dumpling who was about to cry, and then looked at their second brother who was scratching his head in frustration.

"Nonsense!" The second brother jumped up suddenly. "It was clearly me who forced my sister to ask for it! It was our siblings' idea, and we don't need your opinions!"

He stood menacingly on the table, glaring at the little princess and the little prince.

It's all their fault for making my sister cry!

The little princess was the first to react. Instead of being angry, she quickly took out her little handkerchief to wipe away the little dumpling's tears: "Oh dear, I mean, this idea is brilliant! It almost fooled the Grand Tutor!"

The young prince awkwardly offered his consolation: "Indeed...quite innovative."

The little dumpling cried even harder: "But...but Yue'er lied and didn't help Second Brother...Yue'er isn't a good child..."

The little princess frantically tried to appease her: "Who said that! Little Moon is the smartest! That's a great idea! It's just that the old-fashioned Grand Tutor doesn't know how to appreciate things!"

"Exactly!" the young prince exclaimed, his face flushed. "Much better than Kim Jong-un's terrible ideas!"

Second brother: "..."

He held back: "...Fine, you're right."

In the very end...

The little dumpling finally stopped crying and started smiling.

To ensure she wouldn't miss lunch, the little princess and the little prince rolled up their sleeves and joined the book-copying team.

Several children huddled around a desk, frantically copying from a book, occasionally arguing amongst themselves.

"It has to rhyme!" the little princess exclaimed, holding up her calligraphy brush.

“Copying books doesn’t need to rhyme, just copy it,” the young prince retorted.

The second brother had a sudden inspiration: "I've got it! We can write the words bigger, that way we can write fewer pages..."

The young prince rolled his eyes: "Why don't you suggest writing the words smaller and copying it all onto one sheet of paper? That way, it's equivalent to only copying it once!"

The little dumpling clapped her hands: "Great idea!"

The young prince: "..."

The young prince said, "Actually, that's not the case."

It was noisy, but no one stopped writing.

After a while, I finally finished copying the little dumpling's three times.

The little princess stretched, glanced out the window, and then, startled, quickly pulled the little prince aside: "Run! The Grand Tutor is coming! We can't be found!"

The young prince hurriedly threw down his brush and ran away.

The two of them quickly ran out, leaving the little dumpling and her second brother sitting there anxiously.

Qu Zijin, whose anger had mostly subsided, entered and saw the brother and sister sitting upright, looking ready for battle.

He coughed lightly and spoke first: "Do you know you were wrong?"

"We know we were wrong!" they both said in unison.

"Where did we go wrong?"

The second brother quickly answered, "The mistake was in trying to take shortcuts!"

The little dumpling added softly, "I... I shouldn't have lied..."

The Grand Tutor finally smiled for the first time that day: "Anything else?"

The brother and sister looked at each other blankly.

“The mistake was—” Qu Zijin gently tapped the piece of paper that had caused the trouble, “that you ruined such beautiful calligraphy. Tomorrow, take a gift and apologize to the owner of this calligraphy.”

-

After school, the two little ones, with courage shattered into eight pieces, dawdled and slowly made their way to the vermilion gate of the Duke of Anguo's mansion.

The second brother looked up at the plaque hanging high above and nervously tugged at his little sister's hand: "Sister, are you sure that older sister lives here?"

The little dumpling tiptoed to reach the door knocker but then pulled her hand back: "Big sister and Sister Fufu both live here, but wouldn't it be inappropriate for us to just go in?"

Just as the two were pacing around the door like headless flies, the side door creaked open.

A young maid with her hair styled in two buns peeked out: "Are you the county princess? Who is she looking for?"

The second brother was startled.

The little dumpling stammered, "Find...find big sister..."

The maidservant smiled and said, "What a coincidence! I am from the eldest young lady's room, and I was just about to go out to buy some things. I will take the county princess to find the eldest young lady right away."

"Really?" the little dumpling exclaimed in surprise. "Thank you, sister!"

The second brother also breathed a huge sigh of relief.

The two followed the maid into the Duke of Anguo's mansion and arrived outside Lin Lingrong's courtyard.

Lin Lingrong was playing in the courtyard when she saw the two of them and her eyes widened in surprise: "Princess? And who is this...?"

The second brother strode forward, held the pastries he had just bought as an apology above his head, knelt on one knee, and looked like he was carrying thorns to beg forgiveness: "I am Jin Lizhi! I have come to apologize!"

Lin Lingrong was startled by the scene and took a few steps back. The little boy quickly said, "Big sister, don't be afraid! This is Second Brother Yue'er. Second Brother is not a bad person!"

"Is...is that so?" Lin Lingrong's expression was complicated.

She didn't suspect her second brother was a bad person, she just felt that he seemed a bit...

Hmm... doesn't seem very bright.