Huo Chengche was genuinely taken aback when he first heard Emperor Chongjin's stern voice.
However, as soon as he looked up, before he could meet Emperor Chongjin's gaze, he first saw the expression on his grandmother's face.
Immediately, Huo Chengche understood the reason for Emperor Chongjin's sudden serious tone. He quickly adopted a solemn expression and replied very seriously, "Your Majesty, the situation today is indeed thorny. There are hundreds of pythons on the mountain, some of which are several meters long..."
Immediately afterwards, Huo Chengche began to speak a passage of classical Chinese that no one could understand. The little boy nestled in his grandmother's arms, blinking his dark, round eyes, staring blankly at his elder brother, the Crown Prince, who was spouting strange words.
Although she could hear every single word her brother, the Crown Prince, said, she couldn't understand it at all when they were put together.
Just when the little girl thought her prince brother had fallen ill, she heard her godfather also talking nonsense.
"Oh? Is that so? How strange! The Beast Taming Division has concluded today that the giant python that sprang out of Mount De is likely from..."
The little girl blinked her eyes in confusion, staring blankly at her godfather and then at her prince brother. Although she couldn't understand a word, she could sense that her godfather and prince brother were having a conversation.
Of course, it wasn't just the little boy who couldn't understand; even the Empress Dowager was overwhelmed by the pedantic descriptions in the ancient texts and couldn't tell whether the father and son were conspiring to fool her or genuinely discussing something important.
Emperor Chongjin caught a glimpse of the Empress Dowager frowning and picking up her teacup in annoyance, and knew that she was too lazy to care about the two of them anymore. He quickly gave his son a wink.
It was clear that the father and son had done this kind of thing quite often before. Huo Chengche immediately caught the look in his eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly, indicating that he understood.
As expected, this trick worked very well against the Empress Dowager, but the father and son forgot one thing—today the Empress Dowager had a little baby in her arms.
Just as Emperor Chongjin and his son Huo Chengche breathed a sigh of relief and decided to end this serious and earnest "academic discussion," the little baby's soft and sweet voice suddenly rang out.
"Grandma, Niannian helped Prince Gege chase away snakes today! The snakes were all super well-behaved; they were only biting because they were controlled by bad people!"
This unexpected, self-aggrandizing little voice immediately silenced Emperor Chongjin and Huo Chengche's pretentious long-winded speech.
Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager's face immediately darkened.
Although she didn't understand everything, she could still make out the gist: weren't the father and son discussing how to catch snakes? The snakes had already been tamed by Xiao Niannian, so why were they even catching them?!
The Empress Dowager gave the stiff-faced father and son a deep look, then looked down at the innocent little baby in her arms, patted her fluffy head approvingly, and said, "Niannian is so good!"
Immediately afterwards, the Empress Dowager asked with a smile, "Niannian, quickly tell Grandma what happened? Did the snakes become obedient a long time ago? Are the snakes still on your body now?"
The little dumpling, with his rosy cheeks raised, was thinking intently, unaware that his older brother, the crown prince, was giving him a meaningful look.
At this moment, she was thinking that although she really wanted to eat the fresh and tender snake soup, she had already said that if the snakes behaved, she would not eat it for the time being.
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