The Emperor keenly understood Duoduo's words.
"Are you saying this pearl is not yours?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Emperor suddenly realized something.
Although this pearl was quite ordinary in his eyes, such a round and large pearl was by no means a common item.
From head to toe, Duoduo did not have a single valuable piece of jewelry.
Her only valuable possession was the jade pendant given by Prince Ling!
The Emperor quietly observed Xiao Yi and Su Xian.
The clothes they wore were clearly newly made.
However, the fabric was not rare or expensive.
It was just ordinary brocade.
The Emperor looked at the pearl on the table again; he found it somewhat familiar.
He remembered that at the beginning of the year, the southern region had presented a batch of tributes, which included a box of such pearls.
At that time, swayed by pillow talk, he had rewarded half a box to the Noble Consort...
"To answer Imperial Grandfather, if this pearl belonged to your granddaughter, your granddaughter would definitely cherish it very much and would never throw it around!"
Duoduo had a look of envy on her face.
"Nonsense! Imperial Grandfather, do not listen to her nonsense!" Xiao Yun'an stood out angrily.
"She clearly threw this pearl on purpose, your grandson saw it all!"
"You must be jealous of Shuyu! You tried to frame her but ended up harming my father instead!"
Duoduo saw golden words constantly rolling in the void.
[It was clearly Song Shuyu who wanted to harm someone, but she didn't expect that instead of harming her target, she would harm her own backer!]
[Just now, if it weren't for her final push, Prince Ling wouldn't have fallen on his tailbone.]
[To shirk responsibility, she deliberately spoke vaguely, saying she saw Duoduo throw the pearl.]
[She's pulling this trick again. She clearly made the mistake, but in the end, she shifts the blame onto Duoduo.]
[As a result, in the end, Duoduo becomes the jinx.]
[Duoduo, hurry up and refute!...]
...
Seeing Duoduo standing there in a daze, Xiao Yun'an immediately acted as if he had caught her red-handed.
"Imperial Grandfather, look, she has nothing to say! She must be trying to think of an excuse!"
Xiao Yun'an clenched his fists with righteous indignation, wishing he could beat Duoduo up right then and there.
Seeing Duoduo's appearance, Su Xian couldn't help but worry and prepared to step forward to help.
Unexpectedly, her sleeve was caught by Xiao Yi.
Su Xian lowered her head and saw Xiao Yi shaking his head slightly at her.
Su Xian stepped back with great concern, the nails of her hands hidden in her sleeves digging deeply into her palms.
Xiao Yi looked up, his gaze calm and rippleless, as if everything had nothing to do with him.
In reality, upon careful observation, one could see Xiao Yi's hands tightly gripping his knees, his knuckles turning white.
The Emperor looked at his aggressive grandson on one side and the isolated and helpless Duoduo on the other, his eyes deepening.
"Changle, do you have anything to say?" the Emperor asked slowly.
Hearing the Emperor's question, Duoduo slowly raised her head, very, very slowly looking up at the Emperor.
"To answer Imperial Grandfather, he is right!"
Surprise and joy appeared on the faces of Xiao Yun'an and Song Shuyu.
Duoduo did not give them a chance to speak; she continued.
"Your granddaughter is jealous of Commandery Princess Funing. I am jealous that she has beautiful clothes and beautiful jewelry!"
"Even her shoes are inlaid with pearls as large as that one!"
Hearing Duoduo's words, Song Shuyu raised her chin proudly.
Hmph! She just wanted to stun everyone and make the Emperor look at her in a new light!
"It is the first time your granddaughter has seen such beautiful pearls used to decorate shoes!"
Duoduo said, looking enviously at Song Shuyu's feet.
Song Shuyu suddenly felt all eyes fall upon her feet.
She hurriedly pulled her feet back under her skirt.
Even so, the Emperor saw clearly that the pearls on Song Shuyu's shoes were exactly the same as the one on his imperial desk.
"Noble Consort Li requests an audience!"
As soon as the eunuch's announcement fell, a woman dressed in bright red brocade and wearing a phoenix hairpin hurried in.
The moment she entered the hall, her eyes landed on Prince Ling, who was resting on a lounge chair.
"My imperial son! What happened to you?"
Today, Noble Consort Li had received news that Prince Ling was entering the palace to seek an audience with the Emperor.
Noble Consort Li knew her son would definitely come to pay his respects.
She had waited early in the Yonghe Palace for her son and daughter-in-law to arrive.
Ever since the incident with the Prince of Pingyang, the Emperor had driven all adult princes to their fiefs.
She had not seen her son for a long time.
However, she waited and waited, yet still did not see the figures of her son's family.
The eunuch sent out to look for them ran back to report that His Highness Prince Ling had taken a fall as soon as he entered the palace and had been carried into the Hall of Mental Cultivation for an audience with the Emperor.
Noble Consort Li was frightened out of her wits and immediately rushed over in her sedan chair.
Seeing Prince Ling lying on the lounge chair, Noble Consort Li's heart ached terribly.
When Prince Ling saw his mother, his eyes turned red, and his voice trembled slightly.
"Mother, your son is fine, it was just a fall."
Noble Consort Li was very anxious. "You are not a child. How could you fall while walking perfectly fine?"
"It must be those lazy servants who didn't sweep the path clean!"
"Grandmother, it was that jinx who deliberately threw a pearl, causing Father to fall!"
Xiao Yunli immediately complained upon seeing his grandmother.
Hearing this, Noble Consort Li immediately turned to look at Xiao Yunli. "Who are you calling a jinx?"
Her gaze swept back and forth between Song Shuyu and Duoduo.
Her son had written to her, asking her to persuade His Majesty to adopt the jinx from Magistrate Song's family to the Prince of Pingyang.
While Prince Ling wanted to adopt the lucky star of the Song family.
Noble Consort Li did not know which of the two girls before her—one plump and one thin—was the jinx.
However, looking at the two children's attire, she had a rough guess in her heart.
"It's her! She just admitted it. She was jealous of Shuyu, so she deliberately framed Father!"
Xiao Yun'an's words made the Emperor, seated above, frown slightly.
From beginning to end, Duoduo had never said a single word about framing Prince Ling.
The pearl was not hers, which meant she was not the one who threw it.
However, in response to the Emperor's questioning, she had generously admitted to being jealous.
What did jealousy between children matter anyway?
The Emperor himself had grown up from childhood.
Hearing Xiao Yun'an's words, Noble Consort Li stood up and walked over to Duoduo.
Just as Duoduo was preparing to bow to Noble Consort Li, the Noble Consort raised her hand to strike Duoduo.
Duoduo froze, not knowing whether she should dodge or fight back.
Suddenly, Noble Consort Li's hand was grabbed.
Duoduo blankly followed the arm with her eyes and saw that the person who intervened was Xiao Yi.
Xiao Yi's left hand forcefully supported his body, the veins on his forehead bulging out.
"Your Highness Noble Consort, Imperial Father has not even spoken yet. By striking someone just like this, are you completely disregarding Imperial Father?"
