Chapter 4
"Xue'er!"
"Auntie Xue!"
As soon as Xiaoyueer saw Gong Mingxue behind Gong Yuchen, she immediately changed the target of her entanglement.
"Why do you call me Aunt Xue? Do you know my name?" She squatted down and looked at the little girl at eye level.
"Didn't daddy call you Xue'er just now?" He rolled his eyes and spoke without hesitation.
"You're so smart, what's your name?"
"Auntie Xue, I'm Yue'er." A clear and pleasant voice uttered from her lips.
"Is this child so fearless?"
"Cousin, Miss Yue'er is very discerning about who you are. When she's in a good mood, His Highness will instantly turn from uncle to father. When she's in a bad mood, she won't even say a word to you for a long time."
"Uncle Liefeng is really weird. Why would I bother with someone I don't know? Do you want me to be deceived? Aunt Xue, don't you think so?"
"Lie to you!? You little rascal, it's good enough that you don't lie to others."
"How could I not! Aunt Xue, look at him, he bullies children." Xiaoyue shook Gong Mingxue unwillingly.
"Don't worry, your father is here, no one dares to bully you." Gong Mingxue looked at the two people who were bickering with amusement.
"Auntie Xue is right, but..." The mischievous look turned back to Gong Yuchen.
"Speaking of which, Daddy, you didn't forget about Xiaoyue'er's gift, did you?"
Looking at Xiaoyue'er's hopeful eyes, he originally wanted to ask Master Wu for a peace item to give her, but he didn't get it, and he forgot to buy anything else for her.
"I'll buy it for you in two days."
"That's because he forgot. Aunt Xue, look at daddy, he's so old but has such a bad memory. What will he do when he marries mom in the future?" After saying that, the impudent man sighed.
Looking at the cousin who was in a dilemma and Xiaoyue'er with a mischievous look on her face, it was a perfect picture of father and daughter in the same frame.
"Little brat, what have you been doing in the mansion these past two days?" "Return your mother?" Just a beauty like her was enough to make him so anxious. With her habit of randomly claiming fathers, who knows, she might actually find a mother one day.
"Dad...ah! Xiaoyue is very good and stays at home very well." She didn't lie, she really stayed at home, but...
With an erratic look and a guilty expression, Gong Yuchen looked at the manager beside him.
"Xiao Yue'er, what has she done these past two days?"
"this..."
"Ah! Aunt Xue. I want to eat almond pastry. Can you make it for me?"
"Almond pastry? How do you know my almond pastry is the best?"
"Of course I've eaten. Let's go, let's go." After saying that, he hurriedly pulled Gong Mingxue towards the kitchen.
Oh, so that's why. That might be because she had eaten the almond cakes she made for her cousin. She was so careless that she had completely forgotten that the last time she made almond cakes for her cousin was half a year ago.
Watching Xiaoyueer pulling Gong Mingxue away as if fleeing.
"Tell me, what trouble has she gotten into again?" he asked as he walked towards the study.
"Your Highness, the young lady is here, uh...watching birds...picking flowers...painting...feeding the cat."
It sounded like there was nothing wrong with it, but based on his understanding of Xiaoyue'er, things might not be that simple.
"Tell me more details."
The helpless manager had no choice but to continue speaking.
"On the first day, the young lady saw a bird's nest on the camphor tree in the front yard and said she wanted to check if there were any birds. Then she climbed up the tree and took out the nest."
Climbing a tree? He knew Xiaoyue was a restless child, but climbing a tree? He had never heard of that rich family's daughter climbing a tree. Hmm. He would warn her not to climb trees in the future.
"Anything else?"
"After coming down from the tree, the young lady saw the lotus flowers in the pond in full bloom, so she picked a few more to paint."
It is okay to appreciate flowers and paint pictures to cultivate your sentiments.
"The next day, the young lady went out to pick flowers, paint, and...feed the cat."
"Picking again?" He felt something was strange when he walked into the study from the courtyard just now.
Huh? What's that on his desk?
this.....
"Is this the painting Yue'er drew that you mentioned?!"
The lotus painting that had once hung on the wall now lay quietly on his desk. The ink-and-wash lotus had been smeared with pink and white, and the leaves had been painted green. But that wasn't all that was missing. If he wasn't mistaken, there were two little turtles beneath the green lotus leaves. He had to admit, the turtles were incredibly lifelike, truly impressive.
Suddenly, as if on a whim, he rushed to the courtyard. Inside, two lotus jars held only leaves, but no flowers. The lotus branches, still standing tall, displayed their upright forms. Looking into the jars... two small turtles were swimming freely.
"Where's the koi?" A gritted teeth voice escaped his mouth.
"The young lady said she couldn't draw, so she fed the paper to the cat." The steward, covered in cold sweat, looked at his master's expression and lowered his head even lower.
"Xiao Yue'er!!" An angry roar reached the sky.
Xiaoyue, who was far away in the kitchen, seemed to have heard Gong Yuchen's roar and shrank her head timidly, really a bit like the two little turtles.
Gong Mingxue felt as if she were under a spell, staring blankly at the jade pendant lying on the ground, where she had broken it in two. She tried to console herself by thinking, "Perhaps it was just a piece of inferior jade. Yes! It's just that its color resembles fine jade."
"Excuse me." A slightly anxious male voice vibrated in the air.
She turned around very slowly and looked at the man who spoke. A familiar face with a pair of bright black eyes came into her sight. However, what frightened her the most was the broken jade pendant rope around the man's waist. It looked like they were a set with the jade pendant at his feet.
"It turns out to be Miss Gong."
"Do you recognize me?" "No way! Are you so unlucky?"
"So you didn't recognize me." His smile turned into embarrassment.
"I'm Li Fei, the bastard son of Prime Minister Li Wu. We've met a few times."
"You are that Wan..." She swallowed the remaining three words back into her stomach.
"Yes, it's me." Li Fei's eyes flashed, as if she understood the comment she almost blurted out.
"Are you looking for something?" She struggled with a glimmer of hope.
"To be honest, I left a jade pendant in the Jade Pavilion. I wonder if Miss Gong has seen it?"
"That...that piece of jade, is it very expensive?" Looking at the brightly dressed man in front of her, Gong Mingxue asked guiltily.
"It's okay. As far as the material is concerned, it's something that both your family and mine can afford." He shrugged his broad shoulders and didn't seem to care much.
Is he sure her family can afford it? Then it shouldn't be expensive. She couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
A gift from the Emperor wouldn't have a price, but Li Fei wasn't about to reveal it. For some reason, this young lady seemed to have assumed he was just some idle, 'spoiled dandy' who relied solely on his family's protection. While he normally didn't care about such things, the feeling of being so casually looked down upon was still uncomfortable.
"Uh...well..." She racked her brains trying to think of how to respond.
The more Li Fei looked at her, the more she felt something was wrong. Her expression was very similar to that of a servant who had stolen from Yu Yue's mansion a few days ago.
He looked at Gong Mingxue from head to toe until his eyes fell on a piece of rope under her skirt. This was...
"Ah...my jade pendant!"
Gong Mingxue covered her ears to try to resist his rage, and glanced around secretly to see if there was any place she could hide.
He pushed Gong Mingxue away, picked up the jade pendant that was broken into two pieces on the ground, and looked at her angrily.
"You did it?"
"Well...it seems so." She lowered her head and answered in a voice as thin as a mosquito.
"I... didn't mean to do that. Besides, who would look at what's on the ground when they walk?"
"Just shut up."
"What's there to be angry about? I can just compensate you. Why bother giving me that face?"
"You pay! What are you going to pay with? Your life?"
She really couldn't understand. Isn't it just a piece of jade? Is there any need to get so angry?
"Didn't you say that both you and I can afford it?"
Hearing this, Li Fei really wanted to slap herself.
"As far as the material is concerned, both your family and mine can afford it, but this jade pendant was a gift from the emperor! Have you ever seen anyone with a brain who dares to sell something given by the emperor?" Li Fei looked at the broken jade in her palm with tears in her eyes.
"Gifted by the Emperor!!" The word "gifted by the Emperor" plunged her into the abyss of despair. It was over, it was over. Just now, she had been hoping it was a piece of inferior jade. Her cousin was the crown prince of Xiyi, and Xiyi was rich in fine jade. At most, she could ask her cousin for a piece to keep him company. Now, the jade was still jade, but it was a beautiful jade gifted by the Emperor. From her limited understanding of Li Fei, his father, Wu Xiang, doted on this illegitimate son, even protecting him. Moreover, he was the Empress's cousin, and one day he might even become a consort to the Empress. She secretly groaned. Could she escape now?
"I really didn't mean to do it. I had already stepped on it when I found out." Gong Mingxue's face fell. My life is over!
"Come with me."
"Where are you going?"
"Where else can I go! I'll ask the shop's technician if there's any way to fix it." He didn't even have the strength to groan.
After inspection by the craftsmen in the store, the final solution was to use other jade powder to repair it, but the price of repairing it to its original appearance is very high.
"Tell me, how are you going to compensate me?"
Compensation? Could she afford it? Her father, though a duke, had no business sense. The family's land and shops, though doing well, were barely enough to cover the family's daily expenses. How could she afford to ask for more money from her family?
"I will compensate you, why are you in such a hurry?" Let's delay it for a while longer, until she figures out how to deal with the aftermath.
He stared at her bluff and somewhat guilty expression. This was the first time she had shown such emotion in front of him. In the past, whenever he walked by her, she would ignore him. She didn't know if she didn't notice or...
"Okay, since you say so, I'll let them fix it first." Never mind, it was his bad luck that this happened, so he should just accept it! As for who would pay in the end, that person definitely wouldn't be her.
"But first, write an IOU."
"Write an IOU?!" Gong Mingxue was extremely disgusted by his domineering tone. Even if she didn't write it, they would have many opportunities to meet in the future, and she couldn't avoid it even if she wanted to.
Reluctantly, she asked the shopkeeper for paper and pen and wrote an IOU to Li Fei. Seeing her frowning expression, it turned out that the unassuming Gong Mingxue was actually quite adorable when angry. Li Fei took the note and carefully concealed the slight smile on her lips.
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