168. Foolish, rich, and loves to pretend.
After appeasing the little princess, the little dumpling turned to the little prince, picked up a new piece, and handed it to him: "Little prince, here you go."
The little prince took the pastries, his brows gradually relaxing: "Little Moon, next time you talk to someone, remember to tell me too, otherwise I'll be unhappy."
"Okay, Yue'er understands."
The little dumpling then turned to Wei Liangchun and handed him a piece of pastry: "Young Master, this pastry is for you."
Wei Liangchun smiled and accepted the gift: "Thank you, Princess Fukang. Your pastries must be delicious."
The second brother couldn't wait any longer. He went up to the little dumpling and reached out, asking, "Little sister, where's mine? I want the biggest pastry!"
The little dumpling picked up the biggest piece and handed it to her: "Here you go, second brother."
After going around once, the little dumpling had almost finished distributing the snacks. Looking at the few pieces left, she walked over to Bai Qingzhong and handed him the snacks, saying, "Brother Bai, these are all for you."
Bai Qingzhong quickly waved his hand, not daring to accept it: "No need... no need, Princess, you have already given me so much, I can't take any more."
"It's okay, Yue'er can't eat this much, you can take it," the little dumpling stuffed the snacks into his hand, and then leaned closer to him and whispered, "If anyone bullies you in the future, just tell Yue'er, and Yue'er, the little prince, and the little princess will all help you."
Bai Qingzhong clutched the pastries in his hand, his eyes welling up with tears, and nodded vigorously: "Okay... thank you, Princess."
The little princess watched as the little dumpling spoke to Bai Qingzhong again. Just as she was about to speak, the little prince tugged at her sleeve.
The young prince shook his head at her: "Let Little Moon talk to him. He's all alone and looks so pitiful."
The little princess paused for a moment, looked at Bai Qingzhong's reserved appearance, then at the little dumpling's smiling face, and finally nodded without saying anything more, just lowered her head and ate the pastry in her hand.
Watching this scene, Wei Liangchun smiled and said to the young prince, "Princess Fukang is a kind-hearted person. With her around, Bai Qingzhong can be more at ease."
The little prince didn't say anything, but he picked up the pastry the little dumpling had given him and took a bite.
...It was indeed delicious, even more delicious than what he usually ate.
After finishing his peach shortbread, the second brother clapped his hands and said, "Since everyone has something delicious to eat, why don't we play a word puzzle game?"
"Okay, okay!" The little dumpling immediately raised her hand in agreement.
The young prince and princess nodded in agreement.
Bai Qingzhong hesitated for a moment and said softly, "I...I also want to try."
The atmosphere in the warm pavilion became increasingly lively.
[Task Completed]
You successfully made sure everyone saw what you secretly placed at Bai Qingzhong's place.
Faced with the strange looks from the crowd, Bai Qingzhong was speechless and utterly ashamed.
You are very satisfied with this.
[Reward Received: Lottery Potion]
The little boy turned to look at Bai Qingzhong. He gradually integrated into the group and even participated in solving a few word puzzles.
The little dumpling thought to herself, "I didn't harm Brother Bai Qingzhong, and Brother Bai Qingzhong isn't speechless or ashamed."
but……
The system auntie is right, she is indeed very satisfied now.
-
As the banquet ended, the setting sun had already painted half the sky red.
As soon as the little dumpling and her second brother stepped out of the warm pavilion, they saw Xie Wenling waiting for them.
"Thank you, Brother Xie!" The little dumpling skipped over and tugged at Xie Wenling's sleeve, "Today's banquet is so lively!"
Xie Wenling patted her head: "I was just about to ask you what happened. Let's talk about it on the way."
He led them outside.
The little dumpling started chattering about what happened at the banquet.
From shadow puppetry to Wei Zhenhua leading the discussion on gender, and then to Dou Shichen's sharp tongue driving away those ill-intentioned princes.
Even when Bai Qingzhong was bullied, they didn't miss the lively scene of everyone guessing riddles together.
"Thank you, brother! Those wicked princes went too far! They not only said that Yue'er and the little princess shouldn't be there, but they also cursed Brother Bai Qingzhong. Luckily, Prince Shanliangliangdou helped us teach them a lesson!" the little dumpling said, her face still showing some anger.
Xie Wenling's expression wasn't pleasant, but he showed no surprise.
He simply asked, "Princess, which specific princes are you referring to? Besides Wei Zhenhua, who else is joining the commotion?"
The little dumpling paused for a moment, then thought carefully: "And there are princes wearing clothes of various colors... Yue'er remembers that they were talking badly with that bad prince, and the Shining Bean Prince even said that they were ignorant."
The second brother nodded in agreement: "Yes, they were speechless after being rebuked by Prince Dou, and in the end they ran away in a sorry state!"
The two of them said nothing at all; they didn't mention a single name or physical characteristic.
However, Xie Wenling didn't count on them.
Anyway, once we catch Wei Zhenhua, it's only a matter of time before we catch the rest.
He stopped, turned around, and said, "These princes are bullying people because of their status, and they even dare to disrespect the princess and the princes. We must go to the palace and report this to His Majesty. We can't just let it go like this."
The little dumpling was taken aback: "But Prince Shining Bean has already taught them a lesson... Maybe we shouldn't provoke them..."
“No,” Xie Wenling said firmly. “If they dare to look down on the princess and prince today, they will dare to be even bolder tomorrow. His Majesty must step in and give them a warning to prevent future trouble.”
Looking at Brother Xie's calm profile, the little girl inexplicably felt that Brother Xie seemed to have planned this all along...
Xie Wenling had indeed planned this all along.
The commotion they caused was quite significant, especially since several princes left early, and some even ran away crying.
Everyone will have their own guesses about this.
Xie Wenling led the little dumpling and his second brother toward the Imperial Study, and the two little ones followed obediently.
As the little dumpling walked along, she felt bored because everyone was silent, so she couldn't help but speak up: "Brother Xie, do you know that the little prince was really angry at the time and wanted to leave? But Yue'er thought it was wrong to run away, and Xiao Yunduo and Second Brother thought so too."
“You are right,” Xie Wenling analyzed. “If the young prince leads you to leave the banquet early, the remaining princes will be dissatisfied. In this way, not only will you offend Wei Zhenhua and his group who left, but you will also offend the other princes at once. Leaving the banquet directly is the stupidest choice.”
The little dumpling nodded as if she understood, then remembered the "rare things" Dou Shichen had mentioned, and said excitedly, "Brother Xie, do you know? Prince Bright Bean is so rich! He said his bird eats, uh..."
The little dumpling had forgotten a bit, so her second brother quickly added, "They eat freshly sun-dried osmanthus rice from Jiangnan, drink spring water transported from the snow-capped mountains, and even the birdcage is inlaid with ivory!"
"It's a duck! It's a duck! That's amazing!"
"Impressive?" Xie Wenling chuckled upon hearing this. "Jiangnan Osmanthus Rice, Snow Mountain Spring Water—it's all just gimmicks. There's no such thing."
"Huh? No?" The little dumpling's eyes widened in surprise. "Really? Is that Shiny Bean Prince lying?"
"These things are scams, but he didn't actually scam anyone."
"Huh?"
The little dumpling was a bit confused. How could it be both deceiving and not deceiving?
Seeing that she didn't understand, Xie Wenling explained, "Those things don't exist. Think about it, why would a bird need to specially transport rice from Jiangnan to eat? The spring water from the snow mountain would be stale long ago if it were transported to the capital."
"I guess the so-called osmanthus rice is just local rice with some osmanthus flowers added for fragrance, and the snow mountain spring water is just ordinary water with some ice cubes added to cool it down."
"They are all the most ordinary things. They are just packaged, given a nice name, and made up a frightening origin, so they can be sold for hundreds or thousands of times more than the original price."
Finally, Xie Wenling concluded: "In short, it's just a scam targeting rich people who are naive, have too much money, and like to pretend to be rich."
He spoke with particular sharpness: "The wealthier a family is, the more they like to use these superficial things to put on a show, to appear knowledgeable and of high status. But in the end, they are no different from ordinary rice and water."
The second brother suddenly realized, "So that's how it is! I thought there really was such precious birdseed. Next time I'll tell others that my dog eats wheat grains from the Western Regions and drinks water from the Jade Pool on the Immortal Mountain!"
Xie Wenling was amused by him, shook his head, and said nothing more.
After pondering for a long time, the little dumpling finally came to a conclusion—thankfully, Shining Bean Prince wasn't here and didn't hear what Brother Xie said.
Otherwise, Prince Shining Bean would probably be so angry he'd cry again.
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