"Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince has been punished."
Jiaming was surprised, "Huh?"
Xiao Hezi grew anxious. "Master, aren't you worried at all?"
"What's the rush? So what if he was punished by the master? It's not like Hongxuan hasn't been punished by the master before," Jiaming said nonchalantly.
After saying that, she picked up another flower cake and ate it.
“That may be true, but Master, this time is different.” Xiao Hezi said solemnly.
Jiaming made a few "hmm" sounds, chewed a few times, and then leisurely sipped her tea.
Xiao Hezi: "Master, please be serious, this time it's really different."
Jiaming put down the flower cake in her hand, wiped her mouth and hands, and looked at Xiao Hezi seriously, "You say it."
"I only know that the Fourth Prince was punished by Your Majesty, but I am not capable enough to find out the reason." At this point, Xiao Hezi lowered his head in shame, "Please punish me, Your Majesty."
He had always been confident in his ability to gather information, but this time, he ran into a wall.
Jiaming shook her head. "Don't blame yourself. Your abilities have already been proven before. There's only one possibility that you couldn't find out this time."
"What are you talking about, Master?" Xiao Hezi glanced in the direction of the front courtyard, then looked at Jiaming with a guessing look.
Jiaming nodded. "If I'm not mistaken, your ability is such that you can always find out something from the Fujin, no matter how much you ask. But as for the Master, as long as he doesn't want anyone to know, at least we have no way of finding out."
Xiao Hezi's confidence, which had been shaken, was restored.
Immediately, he frowned and asked worriedly, "What exactly did the Fourth Prince do wrong that Your Majesty suppressed the reason and punished him?"
"We don't have enough information to analyze it yet." Jiaming shook her head helplessly, then asked Xiao Hezi, "By the way, when was Hongxuan punished, and what was the punishment?"
Xiao Hezi said worriedly, "I was punished before lunch. My master made me write 300 characters, which I have to finish this month."
Jiaming raised an eyebrow, "That's it?"
Xiao Hezi: "..." Judging from his master's tone, it seems that the Fourth Prince wasn't punished severely enough by the master.
“Your Majesty, such punishment is too harsh for the Fourth Prince, who is still so young. Please do not judge him by your own standards.”
Jiaming: "I didn't use my own standards to judge him."
Xiao Hezi didn't believe it. "Your Highness, you must understand that the Fourth Prince is small, with small hands and not much wrist strength, so writing is already difficult for him. Now he's being punished with 300 large characters. He still has to complete his daily homework, and more than ten days of this month have already passed, leaving only about ten days. With so little time, you can imagine, a punishment of 300 large characters is really not easy for the Fourth Prince."
Jiaming smiled and said, "Hongxuan is still young and his hands are small, but Xiao Hezi, you underestimated his wrist strength."
Xiao Hezi blurted out, "How is that possible?"
Jiaming: "You forgot, Hongxuan is very strong, almost as strong as a ten-year-old boy."
Xiao Hezi: "..." Okay, I forgot that all of my little masters are much stronger than their peers.
"Hmm, you just said that Hongxuan was punished before lunch?" Jiaming said immediately before Xiao Hezi could respond, "Before lunch, I asked Hongtao to send him two plates of flower cakes. When Hongtao came back, she said that Hongxuan asked her to bring back a message."
"What did you say?" Xiao Hezi asked.
Jiaming: "He told me to just take care of myself and Hongjing and not to worry about him."
Xiao Hezi seemed to be deep in thought.
“At first, I thought he was saying not to send him anything anymore, that he could take care of himself. Now that I think about it, his words were probably a preemptive response to his punishment.”
Xiao Hezi: "So what the Fourth Prince means is that we don't need to worry about the Prince's punishment of him this time."
"I think that's what he meant." Jiaming nodded and continued, "Alright, since he said there's no need to worry about it, then let's not think about it anymore."
Xiao Hezi: "..." Master, you're too carefree! The Fourth Prince told you not to worry, and you've really forgotten about it.
She said she didn't care, but Jiaming didn't care. She reached into the plate again to take some flower cakes. She paused, blinked, and knew without counting that a few flower cakes were missing.
Visibly, there was a large gap near the unfinished flower cake; the flower cake that was originally there had clearly been eaten.
Jiaming glanced at her son, Xiao Hongjing, who was happily munching on a flower cake beside her. Her gaze then shifted downwards, and it was clear that the little guy's belly wasn't bulging.
Yes, although the little guy's appetite is smaller than mine, he is definitely a big eater among children.
Thinking that the little guy had eaten so much while she was talking, Jiaming looked at Xiao Hongjing with a mournful expression.
It's frustrating; the little one eats a lot, so I can eat less.
Jiaming glanced at the flower cake in the little guy's hand, which was about to be finished. Hmm, she should hurry up and eat hers too, otherwise, she would have even fewer to eat.
So, I picked up a pastry and took a bite.
The deliciousness of the flower cakes swept away Jiaming's gloom, and she squinted her eyes.
Xiao Hezi: "..." He actually did it, Master, you're too carefree! You're just going to ignore the Fourth Prince being punished like this.
Jiaming continued eating, and as she ate, she took a sip of tea.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Xiao Hezi standing in front of her, looking dazed, and asked in surprise, "Aren't you leaving yet? Is there something else?"
The thought of having something else interrupt her enjoyment of the delicious flower cakes, and glancing at the few remaining cakes on the plate, made Jiaming frown. If she were disturbed again, most of them would probably end up in the little one's mouth.
Xiao Hezi: "Master, are you really going to listen to the Fourth Prince and abandon the matter?"
"Oh, so that's what it is," Jiaming's furrowed brows relaxed.
"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Jiaming gestured for Xiao Hezi to look at what she was holding and said, "I'm busy eating flower cakes and taking care of my stomach, so I don't care."
"But Prince Hongxuan is still so young, what if..."
Before Xiao Hezi could finish speaking, Jiaming interrupted him, saying, "You underestimate him. Not long after he moved to the front yard, it was originally managed by Granny Sun in his previous life, but now he's in charge, and he's been managing it for quite some time. Have you heard of any trouble happening in the yard he's in charge of? No, right? Since he can manage everything in his yard, that proves his ability and methods."
Xiao Hezi suddenly realized, "Master, you are right. This servant underestimated you."
"Is there anything else?" Jiaming asked.
Xiao Hezi shook his head.
Jiaming: "Then you can go now." After saying that, she hurriedly started eating the flower cake again.
The aroma of the flower cakes reminded Xiao Hezi of the delicious taste he had enjoyed before, and his mouth watered.
If he didn't leave soon, he figured he'd get even cravings, but if he couldn't eat, he'd be even more frustrated and miserable. So, Xiao Hezi quickly bowed to Jiaming and took his leave.
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