"Princess, you're being too worried about the Fifth Prince," Green Orchid advised.
“He’s my only child, how can I not be nervous? Besides, she already has so many children, does she still want to compete with me for Hongzhou?” Madam Geng no longer had the calm and indifferent mindset she once had. She had no one to favor but Hongzhou, so she guarded him more closely than anything else.
Hongzhou fired a whole quiver of arrows, his forehead was slightly sweaty, and his arms were a little sore. After all, he was only a three-and-a-half-year-old child.
"Mother, my arm is a little sore, let's rest for a while!" Hongzhou didn't want to shoot anymore. Actually, he wanted to go to the training ground more. Hongli had told him that there were instructors there. Sometimes his father would go there to teach, and they had practiced with him several times, which Hongzhou found incredibly enviable. In his memory, he had never spent time alone with his father, and his father had visited him very rarely.
"Hmm. Chunying, take the Fifth Prince for a walk in the peach grove for a while." Madam Geng instructed the maid who served Hongzhou, "Your mother and Lülan will help you pack your quiver here. You can go for a walk and then come back."
Hongzhou nodded. His favorite thing to do was to escape Geng Shi's watchful eyes and wander around the peach grove, looking for insects hiding underground and watching birds and butterflies perched on the branches. It turned out that Geng Shi kept Hongzhou under very strict control, forbidding him from doing many things, and even forbidding him from leaving the small courtyard.
"Chunying, there looks like a bird's nest over there!" Hongzhou exclaimed excitedly when he saw a bird's nest in a peach tree.
"Yes, it's a bird's nest." Chunying, who was also a teenager, was delighted to see the bird's nest in the tree.
"Chunying, I want to climb up and take a look!" Hongzhou suddenly became playful.
"No, Fifth Prince. If Consort Geng finds out, she will scold me." Chunying hurriedly waved her hand and said. Although Consort Geng was not very bad-tempered and was not usually very strict with them, she was definitely very strict when it came to Hongzhou.
“Chunying, I won’t tell Mother. Don’t worry. Look, that tree is very short. You can lift me up to that branch, and I’ll just take a look to see if there are any bird eggs inside. Okay?” Hongzhou said, tugging at Chunying’s sleeve.
Chunying also wanted to see if there were any bird eggs in the nest. She looked around and then said to Hongzhou, "Alright, let's take a look for a while."
Hongzhou nodded and led Chunying to the peach tree. The peach tree was not very tall, but Chunying was only a thirteen-year-old maid, and the bird's nest was more than three feet above her head.
So Chunying said to Hongzhou, "Fifth Prince, you can sit on my neck and reach the bird's nest. Don't climb the tree, okay?"
“Okay, then squat down and let me sit on it,” Hongzhou said quickly.
Helpless, Chunying had no choice but to squat down and let Hongzhou climb onto her neck and sit on her. Chunying felt the weight on her shoulders suddenly become heavy, and her head started to spin a little.
"Chunying, stand up!" Hongzhou said excitedly.
"Fifth Prince, you are a bit heavy. I need to stand up slowly, otherwise I might fall!" Chunying tried to stand up from the ground, but because Hongzhou was riding on her shoulders, she felt a bit top-heavy and unsteady, so her center of gravity shifted and she couldn't stand up.
"Chunying, what are you doing? Get up!" Hongzhou was only focused on looking at the bird's nest and didn't realize that Chunying was having some trouble.
Helpless, Chunying had no choice but to stand up shakily.
However, when she stood up, she couldn't stand up straight. She was like a drunkard, swaying and unable to stand steadily.
"Chunying, Chunying!" Hongzhou held Chunying's head in his hands and covered her eyes, making it even harder for Chunying to stand.
"Fifth Prince, quickly let go of my head!" Chunying grabbed Hongzhou's feet tightly with both hands. She was afraid that Hongzhou would fall off her shoulders, so she could not use her hands to balance her body.
"Ouch!" Chunying lost her footing and kicked a stone, then her whole body began to fall forward.
Hongzhou was about to fall, so he had no choice but to close his eyes.
However, the expected fall did not happen. Hongzhou was caught by a pair of delicate hands, and Chunying's waist was also held by a pair of hands, preventing her from falling hard.
"How could you be so careless!" a gentle voice came from above.
When Hongzhou opened his eyes, he saw the face of an unfamiliar woman, but he recognized her; he had seen her a few times before. She was one of his father's princesses.
"You silly girl, how are you serving the Fifth Prince? If you drop him, Lady Geng will skin you alive!" Hongqiao said, pulling Chunying up.
When Chunying looked, she realized it was Lady Fucha and her servant! Seeing that Hongzhou was alright and was being held in Lady Fucha's arms, she quickly curtsied and said, "Thank you, Lady Fucha. This servant will never dare to do it again."
Empress Fucha smiled gently and said, "There can't be a next time, Fifth Prince. Why are you playing here with a maid? Where is your mother?"
Upon seeing Fucha's gentle face, beautiful complexion, and soft voice, Hongzhou immediately felt a sense of goodwill towards her, after all, he had just saved her.
My own.
"Princess Fucha, my mother is over there. Don't tell my mother, or she will punish me and Chunying," Hongzhou said to Fucha in a childish voice.
Fucha smiled and said, "Alright, your aunt won't tell your mother, but you have to promise your aunt that you will never do such a dangerous thing again."
Hongzhou nodded cutely and said, "Okay, I won't do it again. Thank you, Aunt Fucha."
“Hongzhou is such a good boy! Come with your aunt over there. There’s a small pond over there, and you’re all tadpoles. Do you want to go and see?” Fucha said, still holding Hongzhou in her arms.
"Alright, Hongzhou wants to play with the tadpoles!" Upon hearing this, Hongzhou's childlike nature was immediately unleashed. Chunying, who was standing nearby, hesitated upon hearing this. Logically, she should take Hongzhou to find Madam Geng. However, she had just been rescued by them, and if she brought it up now, she was afraid of displeasing Madam Fucha. Therefore, Chunying dared not say anything more and could only follow them to a small pond near the peach grove.
Meanwhile, Geng and Lülan put away the arrows that Hongzhou had shot. After waiting for a while, they still didn't see Chunying bring Hongzhou back, and they began to get anxious.
"How about I go look for them, and you wait here, Princess?" Green Lan said, seeing that Madam Geng was anxious.
“I’ll go with you to look for him. How come Chunying has been out playing with Hongzhou all day and still hasn’t returned?” Geng Shi said, frowning.
So the master and servant began to search for Hongzhou and the others deep in the peach grove.
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