Chapter 66 Ask him to pay attention to employee benefits
Suddenly, she heard light footsteps. Xie Mianmian had a bad feeling; someone had come in.
The child panicked, twisted his ankle, lost his balance, and was about to fall to the ground.
Xie Mianmian quickly waved her arms backward like a bird flapping its wings, trying to return her body to its original position.
But it was all in vain. In the blink of an eye, the child lunged from the table toward the portrait on the ground.
"Ah!" Xie Mianmian exclaimed in surprise, feeling her limbs scrape against the cold, hard floor tiles, which stung painfully.
Hearing the child's screams coming from inside, his footsteps quickened.
Soon, the person who came in was the Seventh Prince, with a cold and aloof expression on his face.
The seventh prince spotted the scruffy child sitting on the ground like a duck at a glance.
The sunlight shone on the pile of fabric beside her, reflecting a red glow onto Xie Mianmian, making her look radiant.
However, the child's appearance was so unbearable for the Seventh Prince to look at.
The person on the ground had clothes that were all messy and wrinkled, covered in dirt and grass clippings, and a messy, frizzy head on top of them, like a plump dandelion.
Seeing the child still clutching his elbow in pain, the Seventh Prince quickly stepped forward.
"Seventh Prince, you've come at the perfect time!" Upon seeing the newcomer, Xie Mianmian immediately became excited, as if she had found her pillar of support.
The Seventh Prince remained silent, pulling up the child's sleeve and seeing the bright red mark on her elbow, his face darkened further.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"You haven't been to class for so long, and the first thing I see you do is make yourself look like this," the Seventh Prince said sullenly.
Hearing that a student had seen a child in the Dengke Corridor, he waited for a long time in the Wenhua Hall, but the child did not appear. So he sent Eunuch Li out to look for him.
They searched all the way from Dengke Corridor to the Animal Garden, but still couldn't find anyone. Finally, a sharp-eyed eunuch spotted the child heading towards the third brother's direction.
He searched for a long time before finally finding the missing person.
"That's not important, look..."
Seeing that the child was still trying to argue, the Seventh Prince gently poked her knee, and the child groaned in pain.
"You're injured." The Seventh Prince even tried to roll up Xie Mianmian's trouser leg to check.
But the child stopped her. She wobbled to her feet and pointed helplessly at the burned portrait with her little hand, "This seems more important now."
Seeing those large and small, charred holes, even the usually calm and collected Seventh Prince couldn't help but tremble.
Good heavens, they just burn the emperor's portrait like that!
Xie Mianmian stammered out the whole story, gripping the Seventh Prince's forearm fearfully, "Seventh Prince, what should we do?"
The Seventh Prince thought for a moment, "Don't worry, the Ministry of Rites will have a spare portrait. Let's go find it."
"Oh, that's great, there's hope!" Xie Mianmian excitedly shook his arm.
The seventh prince rolled up the tattered painting, pretended to hold it casually in his hand, and put it behind his back, acting as if it were perfectly natural, without any sense of guilt about stealing other people's things.
The two children went out, and Xie Mianmian followed closely behind the Seventh Prince with her head down.
Suddenly, the seventh prince stopped, and the child almost bumped into him. She curiously peeked out and was startled.
They were those two huge and ferocious Tibetan mastiffs.
They bared their teeth and growled.
"That little mouse is right behind the Seventh Prince."
"I've been starving all morning, so taking a bite isn't too much to ask, is it?"
Seeing that things were going badly, the seventh prince reached out to protect the child behind him while looking around, but he didn't see any palace servants.
One of the Tibetan mastiffs, with a ferocious expression, slowly approached.
Suddenly, a piece of pastry was thrown from behind him and landed on the ground in front of the Tibetan Mastiff.
The Tibetan Mastiff sniffed lightly, "Heh, I'm a carnivore. Even if you put a bucket of this stuff in front of me, I wouldn't even glance at it."
Another soft pastry came flying at it. Even though it was holding its breath, the sweet aroma forcefully entered its nostrils, and its mouth involuntarily began to salivate.
A soft, sweet voice rang out, "Didn't you skip breakfast? Here, take these, they're delicious."
The Tibetan Mastiff couldn't resist any longer. With a flick of its long tongue, it swallowed the two small pieces of pastry. It smacked its lips, seemingly still wanting more, "So delicious!"
The other Tibetan Mastiff spoke up, "Can you understand us?"
Xie Mianmian poked her head out and said, "Yes, as long as you don't eat us, Mianmian will do anything you want."
The two Tibetan mastiffs' eyes lit up instantly, and the child could finally see their eyes hidden under their fur.
"Oh, you should have said so earlier, then we wouldn't have actually eaten you."
"Could you help us pass on a message to the Third Prince?"
Xie Mianmian, the little chick, nodded.
The two Tibetan mastiffs then began to talk eagerly.
"We must have breakfast every day!"
"Let's add a few more brothers. It's exhausting for just the two of us to patrol every day."
"Just add two more chickens for a midnight snack!"
"Let us go out for some fresh air once in a while. The original dog hole is too small for us to squeeze through."
"Find me a wife, hehe."
Xie Mianmian carefully wrote down all their needs. "Okay, that's what the Seventh Prince told the Third Prince, right?"
The Seventh Prince nodded helplessly. He was just relaying a message from his Third Brother's subordinate. His Third Brother should listen to his subordinate's requests, right?
The two Tibetan mastiffs were very satisfied and stepped aside.
The two children hurriedly left the Third Prince's palace and headed towards the Ministry of Rites.
Today is the prince's wedding day, and the Ministry of Rites is extremely busy.
No one paid much attention to the two children, and soon they arrived at the room where the portraits were displayed.
The side room was large and filled with tall, sturdy wooden shelves, on which were stacked many scrolls.
"With so many scrolls, how are we supposed to find them?" Xie Mianmian scratched her head.
“The portraits of emperors are of unusual quality; we’ll look for the longest scroll.”
The child obediently searched through the shelves one by one and found a scroll of painting protruding from the corner.
Xie Mianmian tiptoed, stretched out her arms to reach for it, and slowly moved to take it down.
Upon unfolding it, the scroll appeared old and slightly yellowed.
The image on the paper depicts a woman with her hair adorned with gold hairpins, dressed elegantly and luxuriously. She has striking features, especially her eyes, which seem very familiar.
The child found it strange, wondering where he had seen this before.
"I have found it." The Seventh Prince walked over with the portrait prepared by the Ministry of Rites.
Upon hearing the voice, Xie Mianmian turned her head and met his deep, dark eyes.
Ah, she knew it! It was the Seventh Prince's eyes!
Seeing the child staring blankly at him, the Seventh Prince straightened his posture. It was just a portrait; there was no need to worship him so much.
"Seventh Prince, look."
The seventh prince approached suspiciously, and with just one glance, he felt as if his heart had been squeezed hard, and his blood had frozen.
His hand slowly caressed the face of the woman in the painting. He felt a strange sense of familiarity, as if he had a deep connection with the person in the painting.
"Knock knock." Someone knocked on the door. "Is the Seventh Prince inside?" It was Eunuch Li.
The Seventh Prince took one last deep look at the person in the painting, put the scroll back in its place, and then left with Xie Mianmian.
He handed the burned scroll to Eunuch Li, saying, "Burn it completely, and don't let anyone find out."
Eunuch Li took it, opened it shakily, and then closed his eyes, regretting that he had such sharp eyes; this was a job that could cost him his head.
But he was extremely loyal to the Seventh Prince. Back then, he was just a lowly eunuch in the Imperial Examination Hall, but thanks to the Seventh Prince's appreciation, he is now the steward in the Seventh Prince's palace.
"This old servant obeys."
"Give me the things."
Eunuch Li took out a small box and carefully placed it in the Seventh Prince's hands.
That was something he specially commissioned to be made as a gift for Xie Mianmian.
No one dared to refuse my reward, but they clutched the small box tightly in their hands, a hint of inexplicable tension in their expressions.
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