"Father!"
Duoduo stopped and ran to the Prince of Pingyang's side.
The Prince of Pingyang looked Duoduo up and down.
"What's wrong with your legs?"
Duoduo smiled shyly.
"Father, my teacher tied these to my legs."
Duoduo rolled up her pant legs, revealing the cloth bags tied to her legs.
The Prince of Pingyang examined them.
"What are these? What purpose do they serve?"
At this moment, Li Jin walked over with Yingniang, and the two bowed to the Prince of Pingyang.
"To answer Your Highness, these cloth bags are filled with rice."
"Tying them to the feet adds weight to the legs."
"Once she adapts to it, we can gradually increase the weight."
Li Jin carefully explained the benefits of the cloth bags to the Prince of Pingyang.
Seeing that the Prince of Pingyang was curious about the rice bags, Li Jin had Yingniang remove the one from Duoduo's leg.
"Look, Your Highness."
The Prince of Pingyang took the rice bag; the weight was very light to him.
"How do you control the weight?" the Prince of Pingyang asked, somewhat curious.
"Your Highness, look here. There is an opening. If you undo this, you can add things inside."
"Actually, sand would be best, but I couldn't find any, so I used millet."
"If an adult wants to use this to increase leg strength, they can start by filling it with five catties."
"After adapting, they can change it to ten catties, fifteen catties, and so on."
Li Jin explained.
"Five catties? Five catties each?"
"Correct."
The Prince of Pingyang handed the cloth bag back to Duoduo.
"Continue your practice. I just came out to admire the moon."
Duoduo looked up at the moon in the sky. "Father, the moon is really bright tonight."
"Mhm, practice well!"
After speaking, the Prince of Pingyang nodded at Li Jin and signaled Ling Feng to push his wheelchair away.
It was as if he had really just appeared to look at the moon.
Duoduo tied the cloth bag back onto her leg and resumed practicing with Yingniang.
"Ling Feng, have someone make two cloth bags like the ones just now."
The Prince of Pingyang stopped the wheelchair and instructed Ling Feng.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Ling Feng bowed and went to find a maidservant to make the cloth bags.
Normally, Ling Feng would have definitely asked the Prince of Pingyang for the reason.
However, lately, Ling Feng could clearly sense the Prince of Pingyang's distance toward him.
Before long, Ling Feng returned to the study holding two finished cloth bags.
"Your Highness, the cloth bags you requested are ready."
The Prince of Pingyang took them.
The weight of five catties felt heavy in his hands.
It seemed a bit heavy.
The Prince of Pingyang casually placed the bags on the desk next to him.
As if it had just been a passing whim, a casual order.
"Where are Ling Yu's people?"
"To answer Your Highness, Ling Yu's people arrived at the estate today. We just received the message."
"Then pack up. We will go to the estate first thing tomorrow morning."
"Your Highness, how many days do you plan to stay this time?" Ling Feng asked.
"Two or three days. Pack a few changes of clothes."
"Yes, this subordinate will go right away."
Ling Feng bowed and withdrew.
The Prince of Pingyang examined his wheelchair.
He suddenly had the urge to have someone remake his wheelchair.
It just so happened that the person Ling Yu sent was a master craftsman.
As long as you could describe it, he could build it.
This person was someone Ling Yu had spent a great deal of effort to recruit.
The Prince of Pingyang pushed his wheelchair to the window and looked outside.
Under the moonlight, Duoduo kept a serious little face, practicing her moves with great enthusiasm.
Now that Duoduo had completely gotten used to the presence of the cloth bags, her routine of boxing was starting to look quite impressive.
The Prince of Pingyang pushed his wheelchair back to the desk.
He picked up the official documents on the desk and began to leaf through them.
"Alright, you have worked hard today, Princess."
Seeing that it was getting late, Li Jin called for Duoduo to stop.
Duoduo was covered in sweat, and she stopped reluctantly, still wanting more.
"Sir, Sister, you have also worked hard today."
Duoduo bowed to Li Jin.
"Duoduo, go back and take a hot bath to relieve your fatigue."
Yingniang advised with concern.
"Okay, I'll remember!"
Duoduo flashed a bright smile at Yingniang.
Lüluo, who was waiting in the distance, saw Duoduo wave at Li Jin and hurriedly ran over.
"Princess, is it over?"
"Lüluo, let's go."
It was finally over, and Duoduo was in a great mood.
As she walked, she continued to gesture the moves from her martial arts routine.
"Princess, shall this servant take those things off your legs?"
Lüluo noticed that Duoduo's movements were noticeably slower.
Duoduo lifted her foot.
"Huh, I can actually lift it this high?"
"Haha! Lüluo, look, I can kick this high!"
Lüluo didn't know why Duoduo was so excited.
But she was very happy for the Princess.
"Princess, you are amazing!"
"Right? I think I'm amazing too!"
Duoduo was very proud and even hopped a few times.
Unfortunately, because she lacked the strength in her legs, she couldn't jump up.
But Duoduo was still very happy.
Because this was only her first day.
By tomorrow, she would be just like normal!
When Duoduo returned to her room, Lüzhu came over to greet her.
"Princess, this servant has already prepared your bathwater."
"Good. Lüluo, help me take this off."
Duoduo lifted her foot.
Lüluo squatted down and removed the cloth bags.
"What is this?" Lüzhu was very curious on the side, picking it up to look.
"Ah, which maidservant sewed this? It's so ugly!"
Duoduo puffed out her cheeks.
"You're not allowed to say it's ugly. My teacher made this with his own hands!"
"None of you are allowed to ruin it!"
"Otherwise, I'll... I'll have you spanked with boards!"
Lüzhu and Lüluo hurriedly knelt down. "This servant wouldn't dare!"
Duoduo waved her hand.
"Get up. Put it away nicely for me; I'm going to wear it first thing tomorrow morning."
"Yes."
Lüluo held the cloth bags with both hands and placed them by Duoduo's bed.
Lüzhu then followed Duoduo to the side room to bathe and change clothes.
Today, Duoduo had been doing schoolwork and practicing martial arts.
She was exhausted!
While still taking her bath, she had already drifted off to dreamland.
Lüzhu dried Duoduo's hair and called out to her twice before realizing that Duoduo was already fast asleep.
Lüzhu called Lüluo over, and together they lifted Duoduo out of the bathtub and dressed her in clean clothes.
Despite all their handling, Duoduo didn't wake up once.
It went to show just how incredibly tired she was today.
"The Princess is truly pitiful!"
Lüzhu looked at the bruises on Duoduo's body, feeling a deep heartache.
These bruises were unavoidable from when Duoduo sparred with Yingniang.
Her skin was delicate; even the slightest bump would result in a bruise.
The two maids carefully laid Duoduo on the bed and covered her with a quilt.
Duoduo slept very deeply, without a single dream.
"Princess, please wake up. The Hour of Mao has arrived."
Lüzhu pulled open the bed curtains and hooked them up.
Seeing that Duoduo wasn't moving, Lüzhu gently nudged her and called out again.
Duoduo struggled to open her eyes.
"Is it the Hour of Mao already? Lüzhu, pull me up a bit."
Duoduo reached her hand out toward Lüzhu.
"Oh my, Princess, your hands..."
