The empress dowager nodded repeatedly, with her hair full of jewels and jades fluttering: "Wan'er is right! When I was their age, I would have hidden the empress dowager's phoenix crown in the toilet long ago!" As soon as these words came out, everyone in the room burst into laughter, and the warm room was filled with joyful laughter.
Just as they were arguing, the old butler came in leaning on a cane, his white beard trembling like a reed in the autumn wind. "My lady, the Seventh Prince has asked me to remind you that there's a tutor in the front yard who wants to teach the young prince and princess how to read..."
"Reading?" Shen Weiwan's eyes turned and she suddenly clapped her hands, "That's perfect! Kengkeng wow wow, mother will teach you how to welcome the tutor!" She took out two thin bamboo tubes filled with half-dried itchy grass from the pile of toys and handed them to the two children carefully.
"Watch carefully!" Chen Weiwan squatted down and taught patiently, "When the tutor bends down to salute, pour this into his collar!" Kenkeng and Wawa immediately ran to the door holding bamboo tubes and lay in ambush. Their little bodies hid behind the screen, leaving only their two round heads exposed, and their eyes sparkled with excitement.
Xiao Yu wanted to stop him, but Shen Weiwan grabbed his sleeve: "Don't be anxious, Your Highness, just treat it as a test of your teaching results!" As she spoke, she winked at Xiao Yu with a sly smile on her face.
A moment later, the white-bearded Taifu bowed and entered the room. Just as he was about to pay his respects, two green shadows darted out from either side, and the itching grass precisely doused his collar. The Taifu's entire body suddenly felt itchy, and he couldn't help rolling on the ground. The white-bearded Taifu smiled crookedly, "Your Highnesses, what are you doing..."
Shen Weiwan hurried forward to support him, secretly making a "yeah" gesture to Kengkeng, but with an innocent expression on her face: "Don't be offended, Taifu, the children want to play 'Borrowing Arrows from a Straw Boat' with you!"
The Taifu was at a loss for words. He had just taken out his book when Wa Wa suddenly pointed at his beard and shouted, "Grandpa, beard, pull it!" He immediately grabbed the Taifu's thigh and pulled him back. The Taifu was so scared that he stepped back, but Shen Weiwan stuffed him with a "fake cup": "Taifu, look, this is a gift from the children!"
The Taifu's hand trembled, and the cup fell to the ground and shattered. Shen Weiwan immediately covered her mouth and pretended to cry: "Oh! How could the Taifu drop our heirloom? This is an heirloom passed down from the general's mansion..." She cried while peeking at the Taifu's reaction through her fingers.
Looking at the family before him, the Grand Tutor finally understood why his predecessors had retired. He trembled as he took out two taels of silver and placed them on the table. "This is for the cups. I suddenly remembered an urgent matter at home..." He fled before he could finish his words, his hat tumbling askew.
Looking at the embarrassed figure of the Grand Tutor, Shen Weiwan laughed so hard that she fell backwards and fell straight into Xiao Yu's arms. He helplessly hugged his wife and watched as Kengkeng and Wawa were drawing turtles on his court boots with ink. Suddenly, he felt a headache and his heart softened: "Weiwei, aren't you afraid that the children will get into trouble in the future?"
"Get into trouble?" Shen Weiwan rubbed his chest, her hair brushing across his chin, "I hope they get into trouble! As long as they can make up for it like me, that's what we call ability!" She pointed at the scene where Kengkeng smeared ink on the Queen Mother's face, "Look, Kengkeng's technique is even more skillful than mine back then!"
Xiao Yu followed her gaze. Far from being annoyed, the Queen Mother smiled and clapped her hands on her thigh. Her face was streaked with black and red ink mixed with rouge, making her look like a harlequin cat. He suddenly felt that perhaps Shen Weiwan's parenting skills weren't so bad after all. At least the children lived as carefree and happy as she did, full of spirit.
"Okay, okay," Xiao Yu pinched her face, "but next time, don't teach them to sprinkle chili powder in my tea. My throat still hurts from that cup of tea yesterday!"
"Got it!" Shen Weiwan stuck out her tongue, turned around and went to teach Wawa how to use a magnetic abacus to suck Xiao Yu's jade pendant, "See? This is called 'telekinesis', it's much more clever than the way your father stole my rouge back then..."
The setting sun streamed in through the window lattice, gilding the farce in the warm room. Xiao Yu watched his wife hand-in-hand as they taught their children the art of deceiving others. The children burst into laughter, and the empress dowager cheered them on. Suddenly, he felt that this chaotic atmosphere in the room was the homely atmosphere he had longed for. He glanced down at the ink spot on the corner of his robe, then at the children's innocent smiles. Perhaps, he should really look forward to how they would "deceive the world" in the future. After all, with a mother like Shen Weiwan and a grandmother like the empress dowager, the future of these two little devils was destined to be extraordinary. At this thought, Xiao Yu couldn't help but smile, his eyes filled with doting and anticipation.
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