The sycamore leaves in the west wing of the Prince's Palace had just been swept into a small hill when the copper ring on the corner gate of the side courtyard began to clang. Liu Qingqing, Liu's distant niece, slipped in, her neck hunched. Her indigo homespun jacket, washed pale, concealed within its sleeve a half-piece of sleek, warm jade—a token of love sent by Liu, with the character "Liu" carved into the corner. She smiled at the housemaid, her forehead wrinkled like a walnut. "Mammy, please be kind. I've escaped famine in the south and am a real nurse. I heard the Prince's Palace was hiring a wet nurse, so I came to try my luck."
When Chuntao led her into the warm room, Kenkeng was sprawled on a scarlet felt, stacking blocks. He was wearing a small court robe embroidered with golden pythons, his chubby hands using a jade lion paperweight as a toy. Liu Qingqing's eyes lit up, and she swayed closer, the old silver hairpin in her hair jingling. "Oh, so this is the little prince, right? Look at his delicate, delicate features, sculpted from the exact same mold as the Seventh Prince!" She pretended to pinch Kenkeng's face, but as her fingertips touched the oily skin, the little creature snapped it open.
"Little Prince, stop making trouble," Liu Qingqing lowered her voice, her eyes rolling around in her sockets like a mouse stealing oil, "Look how powerful your mother is. She pointed at your Highness's nose and scolded him yesterday." She secretly glanced at the door, and seeing that no one was paying attention, she whispered in Kenkeng's ear, "Come, avenge your father. When she comes in, slap her. I guarantee your father will praise you for being sensible." She thought a three-year-old child was easy to fool, but she didn't see Kenkeng blinking his almond-shaped eyes, which were exactly the same as Shen Weiwan's, and taking all the words into his heart like picking up beans.
Just then, Shen Weiwan arrived carrying a red-glazed food box. The spicy aroma of chili candy wafted from the crack in the lid. She had been watching through the crack in the door for a while, but now, with a calm expression, she gave Chuntao a look that meant, "Watch the show." Shaking the food box, she said with a smile, "What is Nanny Qingqing teaching Henkeng? Look at his wrinkled face, he looks like a little old man."
Liu Qingqing was so frightened that she shuddered, and the strands of hair on the back of her head stood up. She immediately put on a kind expression: "It's nothing, Madam. I was just playing the 'clapping song' to amuse the little prince." As she spoke, she secretly pinched Kang Kang's thigh, trying to force him to cry to divert his attention.
Kengkeng's eyes were red from being pinched, but he suddenly raised his chubby little hand and slapped Liu Qingqing across the face! With the brute force of a baby, the slap landed firmly on Liu Qingqing's cheekbone, leaving five red fingerprints. The air in the warm room suddenly froze; even the sparrows outside the window stopped chirping.
"You..." Liu Qingqing covered her face and stared at Kenkeng in disbelief, as if she had seen a ghost. She was a grown-up, and she was beaten by a baby?
"Well done!" Shen Weiwan clapped her hands and laughed, picking up a piece of chili candy wrapped in gold foil from the food box and stuffing it into the chubby hands of the pit. "My son is awesome! Mom told me long ago that when you meet a green tea girl, you have to hit her hard, like swatting a fly, it's absolutely right!"
He proudly peeled off the candy wrapper and stuffed it into his mouth. The next second, he was so spicy that he stuck out his tongue and burst into tears: "It's spicy! Damn! It's bad!"
Liu Qingqing took the opportunity to sit down on the ground, slapping her thigh and crying, "Madam, look! The young prince hit me! If this gets out, how can I continue to be a wet nurse?"
"Oh?" Shen Weiwan raised her eyebrows, the jade hairpin swaying at her temples, "My son hit you for no reason? Could it be that you just taught him to hit his mother?"
Liu Qingqing's face turned pale, and she felt as if her bones had been pulled out, but she still held on: "Madam, please don't wrongly accuse me. How could I teach the little prince to do such a thing..."
"Unjust?" Shen Weiwan picked up the rattle on the table, and the red silk tassel swept across the cheek of the pit. "Tell me, what did the nanny say to you just now?"
Kenkeng sucked in his mouth because of the spiciness, but he remembered Liu Qingqing's words by heart: "The nanny said, beat mother to avenge father! And she pinched me..." He lifted up his trouser leg, and sure enough, there was a purple fingerprint on his snow-white thigh.
The maids around them were laughing so hard that their shoulders were shaking. Chun Tao suddenly coughed and covered her mouth with a handkerchief but still let out a laugh. Seeing that her lie was exposed, Liu Qingqing simply tore her face off and pointed at Shen Weiwan and scolded: "Shen Weiwan, don't be so proud! I was sent by Madam Liu. Sooner or later, she will take your position back!"
"Liu?" Chen Weiwan put down the rattle and tapped the edge of the food box with her fingertips, making a crisp sound. "The Liu who was expelled from the capital? She still has the nerve to send someone to seek death?" She winked at Chuntao, and four burly old women immediately stepped forward and held Liu Qingqing down like a chicken.
"Search!" Shen Weiwan ordered, her voice as cold as ice.
Chuntao reached into Liu Qingqing's sleeve and pulled out half a mutton-fat jade fish pendant. The "Liu" character on the back of the jade pendant had been rubbed until it shone. "Madam, I found it! Just as you said, it was Liu's favorite!"
Seeing the irrefutable evidence, Liu Qingqing collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud, yelling incoherently: "It was Madam Liu who gave me fifty taels of silver to make the little prince fall down or eat something bad, and it would be best if you could quarrel with His Highness and lose his favor..."
Shen Weiwan laughed so hard that she fell backwards. She picked up the remaining half of the chili candy, broke it open and put it to Liu Qingqing's mouth: "Just you? My son even dared to bite the emperor's jade seal, would he listen to you, a green tea? Come, try the candy my son likes, and learn his lesson."
Liu Qingqing was pinched by the chin and swallowed the chili candy. The spiciness instantly made her face covered with tears and snot. She kept coughing, but she was still cursing. Shen Weiwan waved her hand in disgust: "Drag her out and send her to Shuntian Prefecture! Just say she intended to murder the emperor's grandson. Let the prefect investigate thoroughly to see how many accomplices she has!"
Seeing Liu Qingqing's disheveled hair being dragged away, Shen Weiwan squatted down and wiped her tears with a handkerchief. The handkerchief was embroidered with a crooked "坑" character: "Son, remember this. If you meet someone with such quick eyes and sweet words again, you should beat her as your mother taught you. Do you hear me?"
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