The tops of the sycamore trees in the west wing of the Prince's Palace were just beginning to be stained by the first hints of autumn frost. The edges of the leaves shimmered like broken gold, trembling slightly in the afternoon sun. In the cracks between the bricks in the corner, a glossy cricket fluttered its wings and chirped, its long, drawn-out chirp seeming to measure the shrinking daylight. Chen Weiwan squatted on the bluestone slabs of the corridor, sifting chili powder. The bamboo sieve swayed gently on her knees, and the crimson powder fell in a cascade, creating a crimson mist in the sunset, staining the tip of her nose with tiny drops of red.
"Madam, where's the young master?" Chuntao came in through the moonlit door, carrying a celadon bowl filled with freshly brewed autumn pear paste. The amber paste rippled as she walked. "Just now I saw him fighting with Dahuang for a bone, and now he's gone in the blink of an eye."
Chen Weiwan's hand trembled, and half a sieve of chili powder spilled onto the hem of her moon-white skirt, casting a glaring red. That troublemaker, Kenkeng, was always by her side—unless he discovered some new and more interesting trick. She stood up abruptly, the bamboo sieve clattering to the ground. The chili powder sent up a choking dust that startled the sparrows nesting under the eaves. "Go look in the front yard! Could he be hiding behind the Taihu rocks again, waiting to scare the old housekeeper?"
The Taihu rocks in the front yard were exquisitely carved, but the cracks between them were empty, save for a few withered yellow leaves swirling in the wind. The old housekeeper stood by the moon-shaped gate, leaning on a jujube-wood cane, his silvery beard trembling like a reed in the autumn wind. "Madam, just now a man in a gray cloth coat passed by the corner gate. In his arms... in his arms, he seemed to be holding a little child in a red coat..."
Shen Weiwan's pupils suddenly constricted. This morning, she had personally dressed Kangkang in a pomegranate-red jacket, with a crooked tiger embroidered on the collar—a crude creation she'd made last year when she was just starting to learn embroidery, but Kangkang treasured it dearly. She grabbed the old housekeeper's wrist, her fingertips practically digging into the man's skinny flesh. "What does that person look like? Triangular eyes, and a pea-sized black mole beside his left eyebrow?"
That was Liu Ming, Liu's nephew. Three years ago, when the Liu family was expelled from the capital, this bastard knelt at the city gate and swore a poisonous oath, saying that he would make the Shen family extinct. At that time, Shen Weiwan just thought it was a mad dog barking at the sun and was too lazy to pay attention. But she never thought he would actually have the courage to sneak back to the capital.
"It's him!" The old butler slammed his cane down on the bricks in shock. "Triangular eyes, and a few black hairs growing on the mole. That's right!"
At that moment, the sound of a jade belt hook scraping against the door frame could be heard from the corridor. Xiao Yu rushed in, holding the hem of his black court robe. The goldfish bag on his waist was rattling, and he had obviously come all the way at a fast pace. "Weiwei, what's going on? The doorman said you were yelling..."
"Liu Ming!" Shen Weiwan gritted her teeth, her knuckles turning white. "He kidnapped Kengkeng!"
Xiao Yu instantly drew the soft sword from his waist. The cold green light of the unsheathed blade made his usually smiling eyebrows sharp as ice: "Prepare the horses! Order the guards of the Prince's Palace! Seal all the city gates!"
"Wait!" Shen Weiwan held his wrist, a cold smile flashing in her eyes, that was a kind of confidence. "That idiot only knew the dilapidated temple in the west of the city in the capital - the place where Liu hid the stolen silver. It was I who personally led the officers and soldiers to confiscate the house."
The ruined walls of the dilapidated temple west of the city resembled a crouching monster in the twilight, its moss-covered halls humming in the wind. Shen Weiwan crouched behind a half-broken screen, her ears catching any sounds from within. A pitter-patter voice, mingled with the scent of dust and cobwebs, drifted out, childlike in its clarity yet tinged with a hint of cunning: "Uncle, are you kidnapping me for money? I'm telling you, my father has tons of it, all hidden in our outhouse!"
Liu Ming's hoarse voice sounded like it had been rubbed by sandpaper, revealing an impatient and violent tone: "You've got some sense, little bastard! Tell me, which brick is it hiding under?"
"It's under the third blue brick in the toilet!" Kengkeng's voice was full of unguarded innocence. Shen Weiwan could even imagine him blinking his big eyes and pretending to be ignorant. "But uncle, you have to let me go first, then I can take you to get it."
Shen Weiwan covered her mouth, nearly laughing out loud. She had secretly renovated the Prince's mansion's toilet long ago. Under the third blue brick was a hollow space, connected to a three-foot-deep cesspool—that's where Liu had fallen flat on her face, dropping all the pearl hairpins she'd hidden for ten years into the cesspool. She hadn't expected this scoundrel to have secretly learned her tricks and was using them right away.
Sure enough, a moment later, the sound of Liu Ming's cursing footsteps could be heard, mixed with the deliberately drawn-out cries of Kengkeng. Shen Weiwan gestured to the guards behind her to silence them and was about to lead them in when a loud "bang" suddenly erupted from the direction of the toilet, followed by a pig-killing scream: "Fuck him! What exploded?!"
Then came the clear laughter of Kengkeng, echoing in the dilapidated temple like a silver bell: "Uncle, this is the 'opening gift' my mother specially prepared for you!"
Shen Weiwan kicked open the rotten door of the toilet, and the sight before her made her double over. Liu Ming was covered in dark blue filth, a broken toilet seat on his head, a few strands of wet hair stuck to his feces-soaked face. He was holding his head and jumping up and down in the cramped toilet. Keng Keng stood outside the toilet door, holding a burnt firecracker fuse in his hand, his face flushed, his eyes shining like stars. "Uncle, look, your 'shit hat' is really beautiful! It smells better than the mud figurine I made yesterday!"
It turned out that Kengkeng had secretly tied the small firecrackers that Shen Weiwan had stuffed into his pocket to the toilet lid. When Liu Ming lifted the toilet lid, he was blown up. What's even more amazing is that this bastard found a thumb-thick branch from somewhere and forcibly fastened the bolt of the toilet door. No matter how Liu Ming kicked and banged it, the rotten door panel didn't budge at all.
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