Little Xi'er was overjoyed to drink the goat milk. Sitting on her father's lap, she swung her little legs.
Little Xi'er rocked herself until she fell asleep.
Qin Jue carried the sleeping Xiao Xi'er to the dragon bed, covered her with the quilt, and then left the palace.
With Xiaoxi gone, she lost her appetite, so she put down her chopsticks, got up, and left the table.
"Sanhezi"
"Your servant is here."
Sanhezi responded, but didn't hear His Majesty's next words. Just when he thought Qin Jue wouldn't speak again, His Majesty spoke.
"Sanhezi, what am I usually doing at this time of day?"
Sanhezi thought for a moment.
"His Majesty usually spends this time taking a nap with the little princess, and when there are many memorials to submit, he will be reading them in the Imperial Study."
"Is that so? Why does time seem to be passing so slowly today?"
Sanhezi didn't know how to respond, so he shut up.
"What was I doing when the little princess wasn't around?"
Sanhezi listened and thought about it again.
"Before the little princess was born, His Majesty and the Empress would play chess together after lunch."
"When the weather is nice, His Majesty will sit in the courtyard of Futang Palace to keep the Empress company."
"Really? Why didn't I notice this before?"
Qin Jue murmured to himself, but Sanhezi didn't hear him clearly. Just as he was about to ask again, he sensed Qin Jue's low spirits and didn't speak.
Qin Jue walked along the palace path, and when he looked up, he saw that he had arrived at the entrance of Futang Palace.
——————
Two furtive figures were slowly approaching the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
"Brother, do you think we've been poisoned again?"
When Qin Jingtai arrived at the entrance of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, he remembered the hallucinogenic poison his father's men had given him.
He was crying and laughing while hugging the shoes, calling them his wife, and even putting them in his mouth to chew on.
He had thoughts of backing down.
Qin Jingmu could see through his younger brother's thoughts at a glance.
"Atai, you said you wanted to be a great general when you grew up."
"Which general would desert on the battlefield? If the general runs away, what will happen to the soldiers? What will happen to the millions of civilians?"
"If that's the case, you don't deserve to be a general."
Looking at his twin brother's serious face, Qin Jingtai felt a pang of shame.
He wanted to be a general, and if he had to back down even to see his younger sister, then he didn't deserve to be a general.
"Brother, don't worry, I understand."
"I will not back down. I still want to see my sister, and I still want to fight on the battlefield and be a good general."
Seeing his younger brother's serious expression, Qin Jingmu felt much more at ease.
Qin Jingmu and Qin Jingtai hid in a corner of the Yangxin Hall, carefully observing the people outside.
"Brother, nobody's around right now, shall we go in?"
Qin Jingmu, however, felt that there were far too few people; perhaps something was waiting for him.
He tried to call out to Qin Jingtai, but it was too late; Qin Jingtai had already walked out.
I had no choice but to go out with them.
"Your Highnesses, it's been a long time."
The two people were so startled by the sudden noise that they froze on the spot.
It's obvious without even thinking, it must be Zou Heng.
"Hehehe, Commander Zou, can't you just pretend you've never seen us before?"
"Third Prince, you mustn't! Your Highnesses have been waiting here for quite some time!"
Qin Jingmu thought for a moment and came up with an idea.
No wonder there were so few people in the Hall of Mental Cultivation today; it seems Zou Heng had already noticed it when he approached the hall.
But he just wouldn't show up, wanting to wait until he appeared first so he could catch them in the act.
"Your Highnesses, please."
After saying that, he grabbed one person by the collar and used his lightness skill to fly towards a palace.
"Ahhh—let go of this prince!"
Qin Jingtai shouted at the top of his lungs, but the punishment he had imagined did not come, so he opened his eyes.
Upon discovering that Zou Heng was using his light-footed skills to carry him across rooftops and walls, his eyes widened in astonishment.
"Commander Zou, could you teach me? I'd like to learn too."
After Qin Jingtai finished speaking, his eyes lit up as he looked at Zou Heng.
Zou Heng flatly rejected the idea, saying "No."
"Brother, Commander Zou is so stingy, he won't even teach me."
Qin Jingtai thought he was speaking very quietly to Qin Jingmu, but Zou Heng overheard everything.
Qin Jingmu glanced at Qin Jingtai, and that glance was filled with utter disdain.
"Brother, why are you ignoring me?"
"elder brother?"
Qin Jingtai was puzzled that his elder brother was ignoring him.
But seeing that her brother was ignoring her no matter what, she didn't say anything.
——————
Consort Shu is looking for Qin Jingmu and Qin Jingtai, but she hasn't found them after searching everywhere.
"Where did those two brats run off to?"
Cuiyun stammered
"Your Highnesses, they've gone...to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to see the little princess."
"What? You went again?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Jiaojiao paced back and forth.
"Oh no, my things are lost again!"
Cuiyun thought back to the past two years, how each time the two princes failed to visit the little princess at the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Even their own concubine would have to pay for it.
The first was a 'Hibiscus Moon' vase, the second was an 'Emerald' bracelet, the third was a luminous pearl the size of a seven or eight-year-old child's fist, the fourth was a box of South Sea pearls—though relatively small, there were a total of eight—and the fifth…
The Empress's elder brother and father would bring her all sorts of good things, but the two princes kept "giving" them away.
"Cuiyun, go to Consort Li's place and tell her that my father is critically ill and I need to go back to visit him."
Cuiyun never expected that her mistress would use the master as an excuse to avoid giving them anything, and this excuse...
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