30. Everyone gets a share.

Jin Qizhi casually picked up a plum. It tasted sweet and sour, not particularly delicious, but since it was a gift from her sister, it became the best plum: "Delicious! This is the best candied fruit I've ever eaten."

"Where's mine?" The second brother rushed in, having just heard that his younger sister was sharing food, and had put down his book to come over.

"Wow!" As soon as he came in, he saw a high pile of snacks, and the servants were still carrying them in one by one.

His mouth dropped open: "Little sister, did you go to rob someone?"

"No, it was Yue'er who bought it. Yue'er bought it with money!"

My second brother, with a candied hawthorn in one hand and a candied apple in the other, ate with both hands, his face beaming with happiness: "Hooray! Hooray!"

After Jiang Xiyue directed the servants to bring the things in, the little dumpling immediately ran over and hugged her mother's leg: "Mommy, play with Yue'er! Hello, Mommy! Yue'er thanks Mommy!"

Jiang Xiyue bent down and kissed her daughter's little face, which was covered in sugar crumbs: "You're welcome. Yue'er is my precious baby. I love spending time with Yue'er."

Marquis Beiding smiled as he watched this scene. Suddenly, he turned around and brought out an exquisite wooden box, which he opened in front of the whole family. Inside were twenty small silver ingots neatly stacked, gleaming in the candlelight.

Jin Lanyue froze upon seeing the box, her small hands unconsciously clutching the hem of her clothes, her big eyes filled with guilt.

She recognized the box; it was the one she had secretly opened earlier that day…

"Moon," Marquis Beiding squatted down to be at eye level with his daughter, "These are what your father prepared for you."

The little dumpling blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering like tiny fans: "But...but Yue'er did something wrong today, Yue'er..."

"I know, Yue'er, you only took three ingots in advance." Marquis Beiding smiled and pinched her little nose. "Seeing how sensible our precious daughter is, taking the money but thinking of buying snacks to share with us, Daddy will make up for it for you. Now these twenty ingots, and this box, are all yours."

Jin Lanyue was stunned, her little mouth agape.

Suddenly, she cried out and jumped into her father's arms, rubbing her little head against his chest: "Daddy is the best! Yue'er loves Daddy the most!"

"What about me?" the second brother asked. "We're great partners, great partners who will fight for justice together!"

The little dumpling crawled out of his father's arms and hugged each of them, saying, "I like second brother too! I like big brother too!"

Finally, she threw herself into her mother's arms: "I love you the most, Mother!"

The Marquis of Beiding laughed and stuffed the wooden box into his daughter's arms: "Our Yue'er is the best. From now on, she can take the money and buy whatever she wants."

-

morning.

Wenhua Hall.

Jin Lanyue was struggling to drag three large bundles inside.

"Princess! Grand Tutor!" the little dumpling called out in her childish voice, "Yue'er brought lots of delicious food!"

Qu Zijin put down his calligraphy brush, looked up, and was surprised: "Why did you bring so much stuff?"

Outsiders couldn't enter the palace, so the little girl had to drag three bundles, each bigger than herself, along by herself.

It wobbled and swayed, and several times it almost fell over because of the bundle.

Qu Zijin quickly stepped forward, took the bundle from her hands, and led her into the Wenhua Hall, holding her hand with one hand and carrying the bundle with the other: "What are these?"

It smells very sweet.

The little princess chimed in, "What a huge bundle!"

The little dumpling tilted its head back, happily opening the package: "It's delicious! Ta-da!"

The bundle was unwrapped, and a sweet fragrance immediately filled the entire study.

It's all kinds of snacks.

It contained a huge variety of snacks, filling three large packages.

"Are these all traditional folk snacks?" The little princess looked at these snacks, which she had never seen before, and which looked a bit rough but smelled incredibly delicious. She swallowed hard and poked at the flaky pastries with her finger.

"Mmm!" Jin Lanyue tiptoed and unwrapped another bundle, listing all the various delicacies with great familiarity, "This is donkey roll, this is shortbread, this is maltose, this is osmanthus cake, and this is..."

She suddenly paused, turned around and tugged at Qu Zijin's sleeve: "Grand Tutor, Grand Tutor, what kind of cake is that green thing?"

Qu Zijin bent down to examine it: "It's mung bean cake."

He picked up a piece and noticed that the character "月" (moon) was carved on it: "This is..."

"They're Yue'er's and the princess's names!" The little dumpling excitedly tugged at the princess's sleeve. "Yue'er specially asked the shopkeeper to make them!"

The princess held up the mung bean cake with the character "cloud" engraved on it, her eyes sparkling: "Thank you, I love it!"

She hugged Jin Lanyue and placed the pastries with the characters for "moon" and "cloud" written on them together: "Little moon and little cloud, you will be best friends for life!"

The little dumpling's arms, as thin as lotus roots, clung tightly to her: "For a lifetime! For all eternity!"

The two little ones were happily snuggling together, taking turns eating mung bean cakes; their relationship couldn't be better.

"Oh right," the little dumpling chewed, "Where's the little yellow paper?"

"He was late, that's why," the little princess chewed, "but he's the best!"

"But..." the little dumpling continued chewing.

"Take this tonic, and you'll have to eat this!" The little princess popped a piece of candy into her own mouth and then another into the little dumpling's mouth.

"Hah! Hah!"

The little ones fed each other, completely absorbed in the delicious food.

Meanwhile, Qu Zijin looked at the table full of snacks and suddenly felt his sleeve being tugged.

He looked down and met Jin Lanyue's bright eyes. She seemed to have finished eating and was now offering him a suggestion: "Grand Tutor, please try this!"

She held a few pieces of amber-colored walnut candy in her hand: "The shopkeeper says that this is the best thing for scholars to eat!"

He was taken aback: "Was this bought especially for me?"

Yes, yes!

Qu Zijin took the walnut candy, his fingertips stained with some sugar, and put it in his mouth. The sweetness instantly spread across his tongue.

"Is it good?" The little dumpling clung to his knees, eagerly awaiting an answer.

Qu Zijin smiled and said, "Yes, it's delicious."

He knelt down and hugged the little boy: "Thank you, teacher, I like it very much."

The little dumpling was delighted. She stood on tiptoe and held a piece of sesame candy to Qu Zijin's mouth with her little hands: "Grand Tutor, try this, it's so delicious!"

"And this too!" The little princess was unusually considerate, breaking off a piece of rose pastry and handing it over.

Qu Zijin smiled as he accepted the pastries, and just as he was about to take a bite, he suddenly heard a loud bang from the palace door.

The young prince stood panting at the door, his hair ornament askew and his clothes loose, clearly having rushed over.

Everyone was taken aback and turned to look at him.

The first thing the young prince saw was the scene of the three of them sitting around sharing food—

Qu Zijin held some pastries in his hand, the princess had an oil paper package spread on her lap, and Jin Lanyue still had sugar residue on her lips.

The table was laden with a dazzling array of pastries, indicating that they had been eating for quite some time.

However, no one came to inform him.

OK……

The young prince gritted his teeth.

They secretly divided the food while he was late, they must have deliberately left none for him...

The Grand Tutor is biased! The Princess is domineering! She even dares to ostracize that little brat!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and his nose stung with tears, but he forced himself to hold it back.

“Young Prince…” Jin Lanyue was about to get up when she saw the young prince suddenly raise his head and take out a gilded and jeweled Western object from his sleeve.

"This is a telescope presented as tribute by the French envoy!" He deliberately raised his voice, stretching the brass tube out to its maximum length. "It can see birds flying ten miles away! There's only one like it in the entire dynasty!"

As he spoke, he turned his back to everyone and pretended to make adjustments while looking out the window.

The gems on the copper pipe glittered in the sunlight, but he secretly glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh my, the peacocks in the Imperial Garden are displaying their plumage!" the young prince exclaimed dramatically. "The golden spots on their feathers are clearly visible!"

The princess rolled her eyes and whispered in Jin Lanyue's ear, "He's showing off his broken mirror again. Last time he even said he could see Chang'e."

Qu Zijin coughed lightly: "Your Highness..."

"Wow! He can even count the whiskers on Mother's Persian cat!" The little prince's voice grew louder, and he deliberately spun the telescope around loudly. "It's definitely a Western product, much better than some people's lousy snacks!"