"Let's keep it. The ugly thing would probably find it boring living alone."

Helian Nie slightly lifted his eyelids, parted his thin lips, and gave his answer. He stood up, and Changying stepped forward to drape a cloak over Helian Nie's shoulders.

The door to the imperial study opened, and a biting cold wind poured in, instantly dispelling any lingering drowsiness and invigorating the spirit.

"Your Majesty, shall we choose the Empress?"

Upon seeing Helian Nie, Xiao Linzi stepped forward. Although he was wrapped in a thick cotton-padded coat, he still shivered from the cold, his face beaming with a solicitous smile.

Helian Nie raised an eyebrow on his handsome face, his narrow, almond-shaped eyes giving Xiao Linzi a meaningful, cold glance. It was only for a brief moment before he looked away and stepped down the stairs.

Changying's tense face couldn't hold back anymore. He looked at Xiaolinzi with an indescribable expression, and quickly followed the emperor's footsteps.

Until those two tall figures completely disappeared into the thick night,

The two guards standing at the door approached Xiao Linzi, who was standing there dumbfounded, nudged him with their shoulders, and teased him.

"Father-in-law, I didn't realize you were so bold." "Tell me, which lady in the palace gave you this as a reward?"

Another gatekeeper joined in the teasing.

Everyone in the palace knows that since the birth of the Third Prince and the Little Princess that year, the Emperor has never set foot in the inner palace again.

The Emperor is ruthless and cruel, so naturally no one dares to risk their life to mention this matter to him. But Xiao Linzi's mention of it today can be described as a shocking act.

"How...how did you know!"

Xiao Linzi's eyes widened in shock, and his hand, hidden under the sleeve of his brocade robe, trembled violently, almost causing the whisk he was holding to fall onto the bluestone ground.

The two guards at the gate exchanged a glance, their lips twitching violently—a look of utter disbelief on their faces. Each of them held one hand.

He patted Xiaolinzi on the shoulder, shook his head, and returned to his post without saying another word.

Xiao Linzi was already small and thin, and when the two tall and strong guards patted him like that, he swayed and almost died on the spot.

"Hey, you still haven't told us how you knew?"

No matter how much Xiao Linzi pressed for answers, the two gatekeepers remained unmoved and silent, leaving Xiao Linzi completely baffled and at his wits' end.

**

It's a day off, and it's also the dead of winter. The cold wind is howling, and I'm feeling incredibly lazy.

Every day, he would sleep until the warm sunlight streamed into his bedchamber, then lazily crawl out of bed like a caterpillar.

Sleeping, eating, playing games, oh no, teasing the handsome tutor, playing with the second prince by Daming Lake, day after day.

Inside the hall, charcoal fires glowed with silver threads. A certain Sisi lay on a rocking chair, his chubby little legs crossed, holding a hot, fragrant roasted sweet potato in his hand, taking small bites.

Buddha Lotus floated in mid-air, holding a cup of U-Love-Me milk tea in her hands, slurping it enthusiastically, smacking her lips, and shaking her head.

"077, you're at least a person now, yet you're eating and drinking so recklessly, tsk tsk tsk."

"If you just look down at your belly, you'll see all those layers of 'spare tires' around your stomach."

Sisi subconsciously looked down and only saw the flowery cotton-padded jacket. She sucked in her little belly, felt the chubby flesh on it, and pouted, protesting in dissatisfaction.

"There aren't layers upon layers, there's only one layer!" she said, taking another bite of the roasted sweet potato she was holding.

Buddha Lotus, “???” “Isn’t one layer enough? 077, you’ve fallen.”