In the warm room of the Prince's Mansion, a gilded animal-head incense burner was burning Shen Weiwan's favorite scent of candied osmanthus. The sweet and warm aroma mixed with the burnt aroma of sugar-roasted chestnuts wafting in from the window, weaving a lazy web in the room. But Shen Weiwan seemed to be completely oblivious to it. She lay on the long pearwood table, her nose almost brushing against the spread of "Memoirs of My Ancestors Who Scammed People". Her fingers were still stained with a little soy powder, leaving tiny marks between the yellowed pages.
Kengkeng squatted under the table, carefully building a "castle" out of croton powder. His chubby face was covered in powder, like a puppy that had drunk some flour. Wawa, standing beside the couch, grabbed a handful of soybean powder and sprinkled it on the carpet. The gold-dusted particles fell in a flurry, creating winding, shiny lines on the scarlet Persian rug, as if a wealthy young man had casually spilled a bowl of gold.
"Madam, dinner has been warming in the food box for half an hour." Xiao Yu opened the door curtain trimmed with silver fox fur and entered. A few fresh sycamore leaves clung to the shoulders of his dark brocade robe, clearly having rushed back from the Imperial Garden. He looked at Shen Weiwan's back as she buried her head in the book. Her peach blossom eyes, always smiling, were now filled with helplessness. Ever since she dug out this tattered book from the cellar, his wife had been possessed by it, holding it in her arms while eating and sleeping, and even he, her legitimate husband, had become a mere decoration.
Without even looking up, Chen Weiwan traced a cinnabar mark across the page with her fingertips: "Wait a minute, I'm researching a modified version of our ancestors' 'Beauty Trap.'" Crumbs of the candy cake she had eaten that morning still stained the corners of her mouth as she spoke, and her lips trembled slightly as she spoke. "Look at this 'fake fall to trick the bully,' originally it was for the strong man to pretend to be pushed down. Now if we replace it with a beauty with tears and a weak willow in the wind, coupled with a few words of 'Ouch, that hurts,' the effect will at least double..."
Xiao Yu walked up behind her, looking at the crooked illustration on the page—a little figure with twin buns pretending to cry while hugging a burly man's thigh, accompanied by the caption "Tears of sweetness, swindling all the family's belongings." He couldn't help but chuckle, then bent down and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. His chin rested lightly on the top of her head, causing the red-gold and kingfisher-embellished hairpin to sway slightly. "What's so interesting about that lousy book? I'm a living beauty... no, a handsome man. Isn't that much more interesting?" He deliberately softened his voice, the last syllable rising slightly, a coquettishness that he himself didn't even notice.
Shen Weiwan was watching intently, and her body stiffened when he suddenly hugged her. She turned her head sharply, looking him up and down with wide eyes: "Your Highness, your tone..." She stretched out her finger dipped in soybean powder and poked Xiao Yu's well-defined chin, "Why does it sound like the calico female cat at Chuntao's house, the one who always cries when she fights with our Dahuang for dried fish?"
Xiao Yu: "..." The veins on his forehead jumped, and he snatched the memoir in front of Shen Weiwan and closed it. The jade ring knocked on the cover of the book with a crisp sound: "Stop studying, and talk to this prince."
"Stop it," Chen Weiwan quickly snatched the book back and tapped Xiao Yu's slightly pouting lips with her fingertips. "Our ancestors said that to trick someone, you have to 'take them by surprise and attack them when they are unprepared'. If you just said 'This king is much more interesting than that' on the enemy, it will definitely make them stunned for a few seconds, and we can take advantage of the opportunity to..."
"Chen Weiwan!" Xiao Yu pinched her chubby cheek, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "I asked you to accompany me, not to use me as a case study in a textbook on cheating people!" He leaned in close, his nose almost touching hers. "Ever since you got this book, do you still have eyes for me? Yesterday at dinner, you sprinkled croton powder into my soup as pepper. This morning, when you woke up, you shouted at me, 'Our ancestors said it's good to cheat people when you get up early.' Now, even looking at me is like looking at... what are you looking at?"
"It's like looking at the latest trick props." Shen Weiwan said seriously, but was suddenly amused by her own metaphor. She lay on the table and laughed so hard that her shoulders shook.
"Mom!" He suddenly raised his croton powder "castle," his chubby hands turning red from the effort. "Does this castle look like... does it look like the cesspool at the butcher Wang's house on West Street?"
"Similar! So similar!" Shen Weiwan laughed even harder, pointing at the raised part of the top of the "castle", "Especially this spire, it's exactly the same as the thatch on the manure pit at Butcher Wang's house!"
"Dad!" Wa Wa also came over, holding half a handful of soybean powder in his little hand, and looked up at Xiao Yu, "The way you acted like a spoiled child with Mom just now was just like the little puppy next door, wagging its tail!"
Xiao Yu: "..." He took a deep breath and decided to change his strategy. He pointed to the chrysanthemums in full bloom outside the window: "Madam, the chrysanthemums in the imperial garden are in full bloom. The yellow and white ones are piled up into small hills. Will you accompany me for a walk?"
"No, no," Chen Weiwan turned to a new page, her eyes shining as if she had discovered a treasure. "Our ancestors said, 'Dig pits when the weather is fine, and use chrysanthemums when they are in bloom.' I'm researching how to dry and grind chrysanthemums into powder, and mix it into other people's incense powders. When he sneezes, yellow petals will spray all over the ground, just like he's been hit by a magic spell!"
Xiao Yu couldn't stand it any longer, so he picked up Shen Weiwan and carried her to the soft couch beside him. Shen Weiwan screamed, and almost dropped the book in her hand: "Hey hey hey! Xiao Yu, put me down! I haven't even finished reading the page about 'The Beauty Trap'! Our ancestors said that the beauty trap combined with laxatives is as effective as a god!"
"I don't know if she's as good as a god or not," Xiao Yu gently placed her on the couch, then sat down himself and ruffled her hair. "I only know that if I don't distract you, I'll lose my wife to that lousy book!"
The two were quarreling when Chuntao came in with a bowl of lotus seed soup. Seeing the two people entangled on the soft couch, her face flushed red. She lowered her head and backed away quickly, her voice as thin as a mosquito: "Your servant... Your servant didn't see anything. Your Madam, enjoy your meal..."
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