Chen Weiwan held her daughter and pretended to be embarrassed, but her tone was filled with an imperceptible smile: "I'm so sorry, my Wawa just likes your earrings so much..." But she secretly glanced at Xiao Yu, only to see him shaking his head helplessly - it seemed that his wife's ability to lie with open eyes was perfectly inherited by her daughter.
The farce reached its climax during the hundred-day banquet's "Zhuazhou" ceremony. Shen Weiwan had arranged a red silk cloth with objects: a brush symbolizing literary luck, an abacus for wealth, a jade pendant representing prosperity, and even a small itching powder packet and a fake snake toy she had sneaked in. Keng Keng scrambled over, grabbed the itching powder packet without hesitation, and excitedly shook it. White powder immediately flew into the air, causing the surrounding guests to sneeze and causing a momentary chaos.
Wa Wa, on the other hand, set her sights on the warm jade pendant. Her chubby little hand barely grasped it when it dropped to the ground with a thud. Amidst the shattering sound, she spat on the fragments, making the emperor laugh so hard he slapped his thigh. "Great! Such a sly scumbag! Itchy powder, from now on you'll only be used to swindle the bad guys! Such a shrewd Wa Wa! You've thrown the jade pendant away, not even interested in fame and fortune!"
Xiao Yu looked at the mess on the ground, rubbing his brows and wanting to cry: "Father, this is not a one-year-old celebration, it's clearly a practice of tricking people in advance..."
Shen Weiwan hugged her son and kissed him on the chubby face: "Your Highness doesn't understand this, this is called talent!" She lowered her voice and leaned close to Xiao Yu's ear, "I heard that there are mechanical balls in the Western Regions that can spray smoke. Do you want to prepare some for the children?"
Xiao Yu quickly covered her mouth, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Enough! If you keep teaching me this, I'm afraid these two little devils will overturn the entire palace!"
However, his fears were soon realized. It wasn't long before Kengkeng and Wawa demonstrated their exceptional ability to tamper with others, surpassing their master. Kengkeng mastered the art of stuffing sand into Xiao Yu's court boots, causing them to creak all the way through the morning court session. The Imperial Censor then jokingly said, "Sand on your feet must be a sign of a deep mind." Wawa, on the other hand, delighted in attacking the Grand Tutor. Once, while the old man was bending over to review memorials, he ripped off his wig. The bald head, revealed to the public, was met with silence, then a roar of laughter. The Grand Tutor was so enraged that he resigned overnight. Had the Emperor not personally sought to retain him, he would have retired.
The most outrageous moment was the palace banquet that year. Hedeng had dug out some chili powder that Shen Weiwan had hidden from somewhere and secretly sprinkled it on Li Xiu's snack. When the down-and-out, lame scumbag took a bite, the spiciness instantly sent him twitching, tears and snot coating his face. His grotesque performance at the banquet completely erased the humiliation of being tricked into marriage. Shen Weiwan, holding Wawa, stood in the crowd, watching Li Xiu's plight with a smug smile.
As dusk deepened in the Prince's Mansion, Chen Weiwan leaned against Xiao Yu's shoulder, watching two small figures chasing and playing in the courtyard. Keng Keng was stuffing the jade ring given by the Empress Dowager into his mouth, saliva dripping down the ring onto his clothes; while Wawa, holding a small packet of itching powder, chased Chuntao around the courtyard, her silvery laughter filling the air.
"Your Highness," Shen Weiwan asked with a smile, "Do you think that when they grow up, they will be more capable of cheating than me?"
Xiao Yu put his arm around her shoulders and looked at the two children's innocent smiles with his eyes full of doting: "Of course. But it doesn't matter. At worst, our whole family can come together and turn the capital upside down again!"
The golden glow of the setting sun gilded this heartwarming yet chaotic scene, stretching the three people's shadows. The foolish legitimate daughter, once clubbed to death in the snow, now had the warmest home. And these twins, with their talent for "deceiving others," were destined to continue Shen Weiwan's legend, leaving behind the most vivid, amusing, and hilarious chapters in the history of the Dasheng Dynasty.
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