Chapter 3
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As she spoke, she pushed a plate of rabbit meat in front of Ling Rui.
Ling Rui’s eyes lit up at the sight of the rabbit meat. Unable to use chopsticks, he grabbed a small spoon, ready to scoop the meat into his mouth.
“Niang Niang, no.”
Cuixi, attending nearby, quickly intervened: “The Seventh Prince is too young to eat rabbit meat.”
The stir-fried rabbit meat was spicy and fresh, but the Seventh Prince, who only had a few baby teeth, couldn’t chew it at all. Even if he could, his young stomach couldn’t handle it.
Just as Cuixi was about to say it was not suitable, the piece of rabbit meat that Ling Rui was about to eat was slapped away by a hand.
Without the meat, Ling Rui opened his mouth, his expression changing from confusion to grievance. He held the empty spoon in his hand, looking pitiful: “Hungry tummy.”
Seeing Ling Rui deprived of his meat, Noble Consort Yi sighed, “…”
Noble Consort Yi scolded him irritably, “It’s just a piece of meat. Who are you trying to show your grievance to? Cuixi, bring him something he can eat. Watch him eat and don’t stop until he’s full.”
Cuixi lowered her head and murmured an agreement.
In less than half a cup of tea’s time, the nearly starving Ling Rui finally received his exclusive breakfast, which included tender meat porridge, finely chopped vegetable noodles, small wontons, egg custard, and more.
The small bowls of food were beautifully presented, flavorful, and in moderate portions.
Ling Rui eagerly resumed using his small spoon and ate heartily, finishing all the food in the little bowls.
Seeing him enjoy his meal so much, Noble Consort Yi herself ended up eating more than usual.
After finishing, she had Qingdai assist her in rinsing her mouth.
“Niang Niang.”
Ling Rui, now with a full stomach, raised his little hand and showed Noble Consort Yi his empty bowl: “Not spicy.”
Noble Consort Yi glanced at the bowl, noting it was completely clean.
Although she had threatened to stuff Ling Rui to death, the few small bowls of food were far from enough to accomplish that. She didn’t give him any more food.
They exchanged glances before Noble Consort Yi stood up and walked away from the table. She had a habit of taking a walk after meals, a routine she never broke.
Seeing her walk away, Ling Rui instinctively wanted to follow.
Cuixi noticed and stepped forward to wipe his face and hands before lifting him down from the chair.
As his feet touched the ground, Ling Rui looked up and politely thanked Cuixi.
After thanking her, he continued to follow Noble Consort Yi.
Meanwhile, Qingdai, seeing the Noble Consort walk away, mockingly said to Cuixi, “I never realized you were so good at taking advantage of situations. Even a little prince, treated like a toy by the Noble Consort, gets such fawning from you.”
Qingdai firmly believed the rumors about the bad blood between Noble Consort Yi and Consort Xi.
To her, the Seventh Prince wasn’t worth the trouble of serving.
Since she didn’t want to serve him herself, she couldn’t stand seeing others do it either.
Cuixi, having a lower status in Fenghua Palace than Qingdai, silently endured the scolding with her head down.
Only after Qingdai had vented and left did Cuixi continue with her duties.
On the other side, little Ling Rui, running with his short legs to catch up with Noble Consort Yi, bumped into her leg for the second time. This time, having learned from before, he quickly grabbed onto her leg to avoid falling on his butt.
“Niang Niang, slow down.”
Hugging her leg, Ling Rui softly asked Noble Consort Yi to slow down.
By now, he was no longer afraid of her.
Consort Yi also noticed this bold attempt of the little kid. She lowered her eyes and looked down at this audacious little one who wanted to get close to her, wanting him to realize the reality—
She wasn’t a good person, nor was she someone who would be kind to him.
“Why should I slow down? Are you eager to be bullied by me?” she asked coldly.
Ling Rui’s true nature is that of a young divine beast, endowed with the natural intuition of such a creature. In his intuition, the noble consort is someone that young ones like him would naturally be fond of!
He is very confident in his intuition; after all, it was with this intuition that he partnered with Ah Wu in the first place!
So, when his intuition strikes again, Ling Rui did not hesitate at all to trust himself. With his soft, chubby face held high, he firmly declares to the noble consort, “No, you won’t bully me!”
Noble Consort Yi: “?”
Very well, she thought. She would show him what cruelty was.
Determined to make him understand, Noble Consort Yi took Ling Rui to a secluded courtyard where outsiders were not allowed. The courtyard had an open space with martial arts equipment and wooden stakes.
Nearby was a grassy area with more exercise apparatus.
Pointing at the wooden stakes, she said, “See those? If you dare follow me again, I’ll make you stand on them. And those shot puts on the grass? You’ll have to throw ten of them before you can leave.”
The Noble Consort Yi outlined how she would discipline this young one.
She talked for a long time, expecting this young one to be scared, eyes brimming with tears, shaking his little head, and pleading again, “Please, please spare me.”
But to her surprise, the young one looked excited, his short legs ready to jump into action.
“Niang Niang, let’s do it together!”
After Noble Consort Yi finished speaking, Ling Rui, who had been climbing on the wooden stake with his short legs, sat down on it. Instead of shaking his head at Noble Consort Yi, he excitedly waved his little hands.
The wooden stake is fun!
And the shot put is fun too!
As a young beast with a naturally active nature, Noble Consort Yi’s martial arts training ground might be intimidating for other young ones, but for Ling Rui, this divine beast cub, it was absolutely fantastic.
Noble Consort Yi looked at the gleefully happy child and couldn’t believe it.
With a determined expression on her charming face, she rolled up her sleeves. “Come, I’ll show you how it’s done!”
After nearly an hour of demonstration,
Ling Rui’s little face was flushed from exhaustion, but he still had plenty of energy left. He ran over to Noble Consort Yi, who was sitting on the grass and didn’t want to compete with him anymore, and reached out his small hand towards her.
“Come on, come on.”
He wanted to play more.
Noble Consort Yi, looking at the energetic little child, clenched her jaw.
She backed away, keeping him at a distance: “Do you think I’ll come just because you want me to? I’m tired and need to rest.”
Mentioning rest made Ling Rui realize he was also a bit sleepy.
Seeing him rub his eyes, Noble Consort Yi picked him up and walked out briskly: “Alright, you should go to sleep too. I don’t want to see you anymore today.”
She handed him over to Cuixi to be taken away.
Cuixi carried the sleepy prince back to Chaoxi Palace. Along the way, she tucked a packet of snacks into his clothes.
“Seventh Prince, I must go now. Rest well.”
When she delivered him, she observed the palace’s state and noticed the absent Momo who was supposed to be on duty.
Without showing her displeasure, she prepared Ling Rui’s bed, tucked him in, and then left.
Afternoon.
Ling Rui woke up in the afternoon and, after sitting on his bed in a daze for a while, started to climb down with a clear goal: Fenghua Palace.
He liked being with Noble Consort Yi, even if she didn’t give him food.
Since his birth, apart from Ah Wu, only Noble Consort Yi played games with him.
After a difficult descent from the bed, Ling Rui set off without delay. Despite his small steps, he always managed to find Fenghua Palace as long as he kept moving.
Before reaching Fenghua Palace, Ling Rui encountered a chubby boy squatting on the ground, seemingly trying to eat some grass.
Startled, Ling Rui stopped him, “Don’t eat that.”
That grass cannot be eaten.
The chubby little one who was about to pull out grass to eat was startled by his voice: “You scared me! Where did you pop out from?”
Ling Rui: “…”
Ling Rui silently pointed to the path he had just walked, indicating that he came from there.
After his initial shock, the chubby boy quickly regained his composure and looked at the younger child, unsure which palace he belonged to.
“Are you out to play?” The chubby boy patted the grass beside him. “Do you want to join me?”
He intended to invite Ling Rui to sit and play with him.
However, Ling Rui, misunderstanding the gesture as an invitation to eat grass together, hesitated.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Ling Rui, who didn’t want to eat grass with the chubby little one, reluctantly handed over the snack he hadn’t eaten yet.
Though he himself wasn’t doing well, this chubby little one who was about to eat grass looked even more pitiful.
The chubby little one saw the snack and quickly snatched it with chubby hands.
“Thank you!”
After thanking him, the chubby little one quickly devoured the snack in a few big bites.
Ling Rui, who hadn’t eaten lunch, looked at the empty oil paper and then at the chubby little one. He opened his mouth, looking completely dumbfounded.
After finishing his snack, the chubby little one lowered his head to look at the grass again.
His mother secretly told the palace servants that he was overweight. Just now, he saw in his mother’s book about a kind of slimming grass.
He came out in broad daylight just to find this slimming grass!
He wanted to secretly lose weight and then surprise his mother!
The chubby little one’s thoughts were very beautiful. The more he looked at the grass in front of him, the more it looked like slimming grass.
“Hey, look at this grass. Doesn’t it have four leaves?”
Ling Rui leaned over and looked for a while, then shook his head.
He didn’t know how to count yet.
Two cubs with an age difference of over two years squatted on the grass, looking at it together.
After watching for a while, Ling Rui was called back by Li Momo who was rarely seen.
“Seventh Prince, your clothes are dirty. Let me take you to change into clean clothes,” Li Momo said gently, speaking very considerately.
Ling Rui knew this Momo wasn’t good, but as far as he knew, “not good” only meant she didn’t give him food or pay attention to him.
So, even though he knew the Momo wasn’t good, he still followed her back.
He wanted to find the Noble Consort so he had to be cleaner.
As soon as Ling Rui followed the Momo back, she took him into the palace.
Li Momo didn’t bother to change his clothes at all. Seeing Ling Rui was still fine, she was already surprised.
The day after tomorrow was the Autumn Feast, at such a critical juncture, rather than sending Ling Rui to the Noble Consort and letting her torment him to death, she decided to keep the young prince locked up first—
Until the day after tomorrow, she would bring the young prince to the Noble Consort’s palace and let him die there.
“Seventh Prince, stay obediently in the room and don’t go anywhere,” Li Momo stood at the door, speaking with an apparently gentle tone but actually threatening, “Otherwise, I’ll have to spend all my effort looking after you and won’t have time to bring you food.”
“No, no food.”
Ling Rui, thrown rudely into the room, climbed up from the ground and headed towards the door. “I want to go out.”
He wanted to go out and find the Noble Consort!
But Li Momo didn’t wait for him to come closer; she simply closed the door coldly.
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