Duoduo saw a flash of hostility in her father's eyes, while a look of humiliation and anger appeared on her mother's face.
Duoduo gently tugged at Xiao Yi's sleeve.
"Second Uncle, you gave me a meeting gift yesterday, and I haven't even thanked you yet!"
"How about I treat you to some cake?"
Saying this, Duoduo took a handkerchief from her sleeve, picked up the topmost piece, and handed it out the window.
Prince Ling looked at the pastry, which was only the size of his finger, and did not take it.
Xiao Yi let out a cold sneer.
Duoduo seemed a little afraid of Xiao Yi's reaction, looking at him timidly.
"I'm sorry, Father, I don't know the proper manners."
"Second Uncle definitely looks down on my things. This was... made by hand, and I was preparing to bring it to Imperial Grandfather!"
Xiao Yi kept a straight face. "Sit down. What kind of behavior is this?"
Duoduo aggrievedly prepared to withdraw her hand, but Prince Ling outside the window burst into laughter.
"Big Brother, this is where you are wrong. Our niece is still young; you need to reason with her properly."
"Duoduo, Second Uncle will accept this. Second Uncle doesn't like sweets, but I'll make an exception for you this time!"
Watching Prince Ling take the pastry, Duoduo revealed an obedient and sweet smile.
"Thank you, Second Uncle."
Prince Ling looked at the pastry in his hand, then saw Duoduo carefully wrap the remaining pastries up and put them back into her sleeve as if she cherished them dearly.
He pondered for a moment, then tossed the pastry into his mouth.
The pastry was already small and melted in the mouth. Even though Prince Ling didn't like sweets, he found it tasted quite good.
He turned his horse around and returned to the side of his own carriage.
Because they were about to arrive at the palace gates.
The carriage came to a halt. Su Xian pushed the wheelchair and got off first.
Duoduo followed behind. Just as she was about to get off the carriage, she suddenly saw the golden text in the void start scrolling rapidly again.
[Song Shuyu is hiding a bead in her hand.]
[She plans to secretly throw it on the ground in a moment to make someone make a fool of themselves!]
[Last night, Song Shuyu saw the golden hairpin Princess Consort Ling prepared for Commandery Princess Anning and liked it very much.]
[She acted spoiled toward Prince Ling, and Prince Ling made Princess Consort Ling give the golden hairpin to Song Shuyu.]
[Commandery Princess Anning cried all night last night, and right now, she wishes she could kill Song Shuyu.]
As Duoduo got out of the carriage, she looked at the carriage beside them.
Sure enough, she saw Song Shuyu stepping down from the carriage, dressed in full regalia.
A dazzling golden hairpin was pinned in Song Shuyu's hair.
Not only that, but she also wore a thick golden collar around her neck, with a high-quality jade pendant hanging at the bottom.
With her every movement, the golden bracelets on both of her wrists were also revealed.
Even her embroidered shoes were each adorned with a very large pearl.
Duoduo was somewhat surprised.
She remembered what Nanny Li had once taught her.
The attire of a young lady from a prestigious family was subject to very strict rules.
Their outfits and accessories were meant to complement each other as a matching set, rather than piling all their gold and silver jewelry onto their bodies.
Such a way of dressing was, on the contrary, unbearably tacky.
Duoduo looked at Commandery Princess Anning.
Sure enough, Commandery Princess Anning was wearing a complete set of butterfly-patterned jewelry crafted with gold filigree.
It looked lively and dynamic, noble yet not tacky.
This was what a young lady from a prominent noble family should truly look like.
Duoduo thought of the information Shitou had gathered.
She pursed her lips, and then she fixed her eyes closely on Song Shuyu's movements.
The golden text had said that Song Shuyu was planning to make someone embarrass themselves.
Getting off the carriage, Song Shuyu saw Duoduo's shabby appearance, raised her chin high, and let out a snort.
"What are you snorting for? Aren't you going to hurry up and walk?"
The Heir of Prince Ling walked past Song Shuyu with a displeased expression.
Before getting into the carriage, he had heard from his sister that this Song Shuyu had snatched her things again.
If it weren't for his father's grand plan, he really would have wanted to give Song Shuyu a severe beating.
Being scolded by the heir in front of everyone, Song Shuyu's tears instantly fell.
Seeing this, Prince Ling flew into a rage and glared fiercely at his son.
Seeing this, Princess Consort Ling hastily pulled Song Shuyu into her arms and softly comforted her.
Seeing his mother's submissive appearance, the heir had no choice but to come over and bow his head.
"I didn't mean to reprimand you. I just thought that Imperial Grandfather must be waiting anxiously for us, so I wanted you to walk faster."
"Really?" Song Shuyu didn't believe him.
"Yes." The heir nodded.
Song Shuyu was successfully coaxed and wiped away her tears.
Seeing that Xiao Yi's family had already entered the palace gates, Prince Ling hastily took large strides to catch up with them.
Princess Consort Ling led the children and also hurriedly followed them through the palace gates.
Hearing the footsteps behind her, Duoduo slightly turned her body to take a look.
Suddenly, she saw a round object being thrown toward her feet.
Pretending not to notice, Duoduo gently tapped her shoe against it, knocking the bead into a different direction.
The bead rolled toward Prince Ling's feet.
Prince Ling was just leaning over to speak with Xiao Yi when he suddenly felt his foot slip.
"Thud!"
Caught completely off guard, by the time Prince Ling realized something was wrong and tried to regain his balance, it was already too late.
He fell heavily on his backside, landing flat on the ground.
Prince Ling looked up and saw a smile curving the corners of Xiao Yi's mouth.
It was simply too humiliating!
In his heart, Prince Ling wished he could kill everyone who had witnessed this scene!
However, he didn't dare show the slightest bit of this on his face.
"It seems that Second Brother hasn't walked the palace paths in so long that he's forgotten how to walk," Xiao Yi teased lightly.
"Hehe, I missed Imperial Father so much that I was in a rush and lost my footing." Prince Ling feigned a relaxed tone as he prepared to stand up.
"Your Highness! Father!"
Princess Consort Ling and her son and daughter were all frightened and rushed over to him.
Song Shuyu was so scared she froze in place.
She had clearly thrown the bead at Duoduo. Who could have known that the bead would hit Duoduo's shoe and roll right under Prince Ling's foot?
After freezing for a moment, Song Shuyu also rushed toward Prince Ling.
Prince Ling had just stood up when Princess Consort Ling and the children arrived.
Prince Ling hastily held up his hand to stop them. "Enough, I'm fine!"
No sooner had his words faded than he immediately felt a massive force crashing into him.
He had already taken quite a heavy fall just now; he was merely putting up a strong front in front of Xiao Yi.
Now, with this huge force pressing down on him, Prince Ling instantly couldn't hold on and collapsed once again.
Losing their support, Princess Consort Ling and the others were instantly brought down to the ground as well.
Finally, Song Shuyu fell right on top of the pile.
Watching Prince Ling's family fall into a tangled heap, Xiao Yi's mood became incredibly uplifted.
"What are you all standing around for? Can't you see that Prince Ling and the Princess Consort have fallen? Why aren't you hurrying to help them up?"
After a while, Xiao Yi deliberately pulled a long face and reprimanded the servants Prince Ling had brought.
The servants, who had been stunned by the scene just now, finally came to their senses and hurriedly went to assist them.
Song Shuyu was pulled away, and Princess Consort Ling and the two children were also helped up.
Just as the servants were about to help Prince Ling up, they heard him scream loudly.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
