Li Chenjiao already had a guess in her heart about who had been in trouble.
After all, only a few people would enter the palace during the New Year holidays, and the closest one to the garden was Consort Wu in the South Courtyard.
At this moment, Princess Wu is unlikely to go outside. The only place in the garden where she can or wants to go outside is probably the First Prince of the South Courtyard.
Xiao Luzi returned soon, panting. Qiu Hu held up an umbrella to shield her from most of the wind and snow. At this moment, afraid that the Second Princess Li Chenjiao would get cold, she had Chen Shi and Zhong Shi lead the Second Princess to the corridor in the courtyard. The little girl got up very early but was very energetic. She was already sitting on the rocking horse and playing.
When Li Chenjiao withdrew her gaze, Xiao Luzi had already caught his breath. He bowed and spoke in a trembling voice, whether from the cold or something else, it was hard to tell.
"Reporting to Your Majesty. Just now, Granny Cheng, who serves the First Prince, led him out of the South Courtyard. As soon as they came out, the First Prince slipped, but fortunately Granny Cheng reacted quickly and caught him. However, Granny Cheng herself fell. While passing through the garden, a small bead belonging to the First Prince accidentally fell into the icy pond. The ice was deep, and it was quickly pulled out. However, the person was already disoriented when pulled out, and the First Prince was also frightened..."
The roads are difficult to walk on in winter, but the garden is cleaned every day. The past few dozen days have been peaceful. How come something happened on the last day of the year?
Li Chenjiao's eyes stung from the wind, and she was at a loss for what to do. She hissed softly, calculated the time, and asked, "Did the master send someone ahead to say anything?"
Xiao Luzi shook his head: "It happened so suddenly. When I went to find out what was going on, I didn't see anyone yet. The garden is already in complete chaos..."
It was getting late, and Li Chenjiao dared not delay any longer. The eldest prince might not need to go to the palace anymore, but it was unlikely that she would.
She looked inside and called out to Aman. The little girl reluctantly got off the rocking horse, and when she came out last, she was still holding a small pony sewn from soft cloth.
It wasn't made by Li Chenjiao; Li Chenjiao doesn't have that kind of skill.
It was sewn by Lümei last year. The little girl loved it so much that she would often take that little pony with her when she couldn't ride the rocking horse.
Li Chenjiao personally led the little girl outside, with Xiao Luzi and Dongsheng paving the way on either side, followed by Qiu Hu and Granny Chen on either side. Li Chenjiao kept her eyes on the ground, only following the footprints left by Xiao Luzi and Dongsheng.
For nearly half a month, Li Chenjiao had been walking like this. It wasn't just this year; the children's visits to the palace during the New Year weren't a new thing that started this year. It's just that in the previous two years, the children didn't walk very smoothly, and perhaps the nannies had to carry them.
However, as Li Chenjiao walked halfway with the Second Princess in her hand, her heart still felt somewhat heavy.
When I passed through the garden, the commotion had subsided for a while, but the two hexagonal lamps left in the grass still hinted at the earlier chaos.
Li Chenjiao glanced over and, behind them, Qiu Ci and Lü Mei stepped forward and hung two hexagonal lanterns on the branches. The candles inside had long since gone out, but thankfully they hadn't caught fire.
It wasn't yet Chenshi (7-9 AM), and thanks to Qiu Hu and the others carrying lanterns, Li Chenjiao's vision wasn't completely dark, although the sky was still dim.
Li Chenjiao held the Second Princess's hand tightly, but suddenly the little girl looked up with a curious expression and asked, "Mother, what's that?"
The little girl didn't reach out her hand; she just tilted her head to look as if she were pointing at something.
The little girl was already speaking very fluently at this point.
Li Chenjiao looked in that direction and saw something glimmering faintly under the hexagonal lamp in the darkness.
Li Chenjiao had only glanced over and hadn't seen anything yet. Now she vaguely saw something, but she didn't reach out. It was so cold that she probably wouldn't have stopped if the Second Princess hadn't spoken up.
"Go and see what it is?" she said to Qiu Ci behind her. After saying that, she added, "Be careful and take the lantern with you."
Qiu Ci was bold; upon hearing her master's instructions, she took the hexagonal lantern and went off with great pride.
After a while, Qiu Ci squatted down and groped around with the hexagonal lantern in her hand. Li Chenjiao seemed to hear her exclamation from afar. She was about to call Qiu Ci back when she saw Qiu Ci rushing back with the hexagonal lantern in her hand, which seemed to be holding something in her empty hand.
"Master, these are broken beads. I don't know which maid left them here. They don't look very good..."
Even servants have some discernment. Qiu Ci knew from her first touch and a glance down that it wasn't high-quality. The ladies and mistresses in the Left and Right Mansions wouldn't use it. Even among servants like them, only the lowest-ranking ones would use such beads as decorations on their shoes.
Upon hearing this, Li Chenjiao looked into Qiu Ci's palm. Several tiny beads, no bigger than grains of rice, showed signs of discoloration and varied in size, round or flat. They certainly didn't look like high-quality beads.
However, it was getting late, and Li Chenjiao didn't have time to think about it in detail. She just felt that the eldest prince's matter was very familiar. She lowered her head to hide her emotions: "Put all the beads back where they were. Go back and wipe your hands clean. Don't follow me today. Keep one of those beads. We'll talk about it when I come back tonight."
Although the matter seemed a bit strange, she really didn't have any clue about it for the time being.
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